Good evening all, happy Sunday! It’s been a beautiful, albeit cold (and slightly changeable!) weekend and you’ve all been out there putting the miles in for your various challenges, whether they are training runs, races, parkruns, or just-for-fun runs!!
As is traditional, we will begin with Parkrun results.
Ashford Parkrun
A total of 35 Striders attended a Parkrun on 23/03/24 , 21 at Ashford, and 14 on tour.
Adam Booth was first Strider across the line with a time of 18:22, followed by Dan Green with a time of 21:32, and Mark Niles, with a time of 22:49
They were followed by Terry Sellen 24:02, Kevan Strand 24:03, Jamie Penfold 24:18, Alice Foulger 25:23, Daniel Schwartz 25:43, David Gadsby 28:08, Scott Hawkins 28:10, Stephen Cartwright 29:40, Robert Harris 31:10, Dave Warner 32:07, Stephen Rumsey 32:38, Leigh Freeman 34:00, Don Dewar 34:01, Kate Bushell earned herself a lovely new PB and came in at 34:36, Jason Brice 35:39, Raechel King 35:43, Lee Standen 35:43, Julie Foster 40:21.
Parkrun Tourism
Cherith Wright completed the Antrim parkrun in 24:06, Harry Lockhart completed the Bexley parkrun in 27:14, Sally Davidson-Daniel completed the Highbury Fields parkrun in 36:07, Justin Burden completed the Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 26:49, Richard Randle completed the Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 29:34, Tamsin Ritchie completed the Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 32:22, Lisa Gribbin completed the Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 32:48, Amanda Cooper completed the Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 35:14, Delia Millen completed the Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 38:27, Laura Clark completed the Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 40:33, Lydia Huntley completed the University Parks parkrun in 27:50, Nicola Crawley completed the Valentines parkrun in 27:04, Justine Wearn completed the Valentines parkrun in 30:04, Sarah Martins completed the York parkrun in 32:14.
As always, a massive thanks to the Parkrun volunteers, our members volunteering at Ashford were; Peter Broom, Jason Caldwell, Simon Jackson, Don Dewar, Lisa Fulcher, Dermot Carr, Peter Heckel and Carole Thomas – your efforts are appreciated, thank you!
Saturday also saw the very temptingly named SVN Cakeathon! This is a timed event down at Samphire Hoe where you complete as many laps of just over 3 miles as you can within the 6 hour time limit. As long as you complete at least one lap you are a finisher and earn yourself the world’s biggest medal (not officially verified!) as well as the best race goody-bag ever (it includes crisps and chocolate!).
We had 14 Striders who braved the horrendous sea gales, 13 of whom were taking part and one very supportive member – Holly, AKA Support Penguin! As already mentioned, the cold winds were harsh but the sun did shine…and the hail fell briefly, although that did nothing to deter the determination of our members, some of whom were using this as part of their marathon training.
Andy Found completed 2 laps, or just over 10K, Ned Golding, Vicky Stevenson, Rebecca James, Vicky Shrubsole, Sharon Gardner, Andrew Cornwell, and Jayne Hatton all completed 4 laps, the equivalent of a half marathon, Alex Wingrove completed 5 laps, or approximately 16 miles, Jamie Bartlett, Lucie Shrubsole and Rhiannon Little completed 6 laps which was about 20 miles and then last but certainly not least, Josh Stephens completed his 3rd marathon distance this month running 8 laps! Well done all!
Sunday there were two events, firstly we head down to Hasting for the Hastings Half Marathon. Again, the sun shone but the sea winds were biting! Keith Haynes came in first with an incredible time of 1:38:00, followed by Scott Hawkins who achieved a PB and a superb time of 2:15:08, Mandy Cooper ran a great race and was next in at 2:16:47, and then Dee Millen with yet another PB, finished in 2:34:19! Brilliant!
Finally was the aptly named Trosley Park challenge, there was a 5k and a 10k option although the 5k option was apparently a closely guarded secret until you were already committed…! There is a segment on Strava called the Trosley Death Steps, and this pretty much sums them up, both sets, the down ones and the up ones…Anyway, 6 brave Striders’ Souls took part in what was the last ever Trosley Park Challenge. Adam Thomas finished first in 1:14:47, then Kay Hunt in 1:14:48, then, the newly formed band ‘The last of the 10k-ers’ all came through (almost) together – Sharon Gardner’s trainer went over the line at 1:32:15 and Caroline Miller, Victoria Shrubsole and Sharni Copham all finished at 1:32:16!
And so we are done for another week! Next week is Easter weekend and also, the clocks finally change by an hour – I’m not committing to which way because I’ll over-think it and confuse myself! There’ll be more light in the evenings though and we won’t need to wear lights on our runs soon! Have a wonderful week everyone and enjoy your tapering, Marathoners!
