Ashford Parkrun celebrated its 10th birthday on Saturday and Striders galore were there to mark the occasion. Jack Farrant was our first runner over the line, finishing in 22:16 and bagging a new PB. Well done Jack! Dan Green was next in 22:39 followed by Justin Burden with 23:17. Jamie Penfold got close to his PB with 23:24 and Cherith Wright kicked off a brilliant weekend for her by taking the First Lady Strider place with 24:16. Daniel Shwartz went round in 26:39 with Claire Green close behind in 27:03. Scott Hawkins achieved a 27:48 finish and Graham Troman 28:12. Mandy Cooper and Darren Laker were pretty close with 28:38 and 28:45 respectively whilst Don Dewar and Vicky Stevenson battled it out behind them with Don just nicking it with 29:33 to Vicky’s 29:35. Jason Sanders and Chris Wicks completed the sub 30s with respective times of 29:51 and 29:56.
Amanda James showed she was finding her pre-holiday form again. She just missed the sub 30 goal with 30:01 (and she promised me she didn’t walk!). Nic Crawley continued her comeback after injury with a 30:48 finish and David Gadsby got round in 31:07. Jo Mason and Justine Wearn were also pretty close. They were probably chatting about the previous weeks Beachy Head exploits and finished with respective times of 31:32 and 31:38. Sharni Copham completed in 33:11 ahead of Rachel Tomsett in 33:43. Lisa Fulcher, Sara Dewar and Michelle Brice were the next Strider trio through the funnel with times of 33:53, 34:18 and 35:12 followed by Dee Millen and Jennifer Watts in 35:24 and 35:25. Siobhan Hagan came through in 35:46 followed by Martin Whittingham in 35:50 and Michelle Bryant in 36:03. Rachel Oliver noted up 37:00 exactly with Julie Foster following in 38:03. Laura Clark completed in 38:33 and Tailwalker Dani Moss rounded the Ashford results up with 58:40.
Volunteers, to whom we are eternally grateful, were Peter Broom, Jason Caldwell, Dermot Carr, Nic Crawley, Don Dewar, Sharon Gardner, Lisa Gribbin, Siobhan Hagan, Simon Jackson, Dani Moss, Richard Randle, Terry Sellen, Kevan Strand and Justine Wearn. A big thanks to you all!
Striders on tour this weekend included Lee Standen who was at Pymmes and completed that in 33:56. Sally Davidson-Daniel completed Tonbridge in 31:05 and Dartford was the choice for Mark Niles and he finished in 22:26.
Sundays main event was obviously the A&D 10 & 5 mile races but we did have a couple of strays. Lorna Cheshire took on the SVN Werewolf Ultra Marathon and completed that in 6:21:27 to earn herself a PB. Well done Lorna! Dave Helme chose to do the Bedgebury Half Marathon and completed in 2:27:28.
Onto the Ashford action and once again Striders were well represented with some choosing to really get into the Halloween spirit with some brilliant costumes being worn by our runners. The course was also flooded in places which only adds creditability to the outstanding performances from you all.
Halloween 10 Mile The notable individual performances were headed by an incredible run by Cherith Wright who achieved a PB of 1:20:14 and a podium place as third lady. Congratulations Cherith. Everyone is extremely proud of you! Three more of our runners also achieved a ten mile PB in the form of Jamie Penfold (1:25:40), Jason Kennedy (1:26:30) and Dermot Carr (1:28:38). Congratulations to you all. Also competing in the ten miler and all putting in great performances were Kate Stroud (1:32:37), Richard Randle (1:34:37), Hazel Winchester (1:35:20) and Dave Winchester (1:35:21).
The Halloween 5 mile also turned up some great Strider results. Notably were Keith Haynes (33:09) who won his age group category. Nigel Hills (40:19) a PB and also first place in his age category and Shiny 5 mile PBs for Justin Burden (39:12), Julie Foster (1:04:06), Pauline Tallett (49:08)and Dee Millen (59:55). Great running all of you and those PBs are well deserved.
The remaining Strider contingent in the 5 mile event finished as follows: Simon Pharoah (42:37), Dan Schwartz (44:32), Sonette Schwartz (52:40), Siobhan Hagan (52:42), Josh Stephens (53:34), Michelle Brice (54:44), Michelle Bryant (55:33), Sharon Gardner (1:00:07), Adam Thomas (1:00:08), Vicky Shrubsole (1:00:09), Jack Farrant (1:00:09) and Sharni Copham (1:00:10).
Once again, well done everyone on a remarkable weekend for our club!
Report by Andy Found.
