By Jayne Hatton
Race season is upon us and we had a busy weekend of running from Ashford Striders ❤️
First up though was a Bank Holiday Monday run to kick off May in style, two striders headed over to Whitstable for the 10k event, first home was Simon Pharoah in a fabulous 37:10, with Dee Millen crossing the line in 1:10:13. The conditions were not ideal for this seafront run but both of you ran fantastically well.
Next we head to Saturday and Mandy Watson taking on the Rosè challenge – Mandy managed 8 hot and hilly laps which equated to a marathon, marking her 28th to be exact! Mandy celebrated with a stunning medal and a glass of chilled rosè – sounds like the perfect race!
Also taking on a Saturday race was Luke Marsh! Luke decided he would like to take on some hills and opted for Bewl Water 10k – he finished in 1:06:00 – well done Luke.
Parkrun up next a total of 53 Striders attended a Parkrun on 10/05/25, 39 at Ashford, and 14 on tour.
At Ashford Adam Booth was first strider across the line with a time of 20:48, followed by Mark Niles with a time of 22:31, and Harry Scott third strider, with a time of 22:36, they were followed by first Strider lady Linda-jean Delport in 24:00. Stephen Rumsey flew over the line in 25:14, Kevan Strand back from injury and proving what a good rest can do finishes in 25:22, Claire Green finished in 25:34, Darren Laker crossed the line in 25:44, George Phillips, in a hurry to get back to Isobel and baby Grace in the cafe, managed a 25:56, Daniel Schwartz getting ready for the A&D 10k finished in 26:21, Michael Ruck hot on Daniel’s heels finished in 26:44, Chloe Stott edging closer to her PB stormed it in 26:48, Jayne Hatton in 28:35, Maria Chapman in 29:05, Carole Thomas finished her early risers run with a fab sub 30 parkrun time of 29:10, David Gadsby also prepped for A&D 10k with a cheeky parkrun, crossed the line in 29:34, Vicky Stevenson final member of the sub 30’s in 29:38, Catherine Wall gave an impressive sprint finish for 30:06, Rebecca James overtook at least 4 on the finish straight to her 30:21 finish, Daniel Stott came over the line in 30:34, Jason Sanders in his fresh marathon merch sailed over in 30:59, Ross Mcinnes took it all in his stride in 31:05, Kat Silvester close behind in 31:25, Sharon Mcinnes was taking it easy before her Sunday Runday to finish in 33:39, Robert Harris finished in 33:52, Sarah Martins post early risers finished in 34:43, Rachel Oliver looking strong in 35:14, Aimee Donohue & Josh Stephens, who I am informed stopped at the top of the hill for a cuddle with baby Grace came in at 35:57 & 35:58 respectively, Penny Grigg 36:03, Dave Warner in his first run post Brighton 10k finished in 36:27, Jennifer Watts in 37:52, Clare Nunn in 39:06, Helen Rumsey ever improving in 39:18, Rita Cooke happy to be back at parkrun smashing her goals in 40:43, Danielle Mackenzie in 41:05, Julie Foster in 42:53 and last but not least Rachel Tomsett in tail walker role finished in 1:03:19 – thank you to Rachel for volunteering and every single Strider who took the time out of their days to volunteer this weekend!
Parkrun tourism
A group of Striders decided they would go and complete the 15th hardest Parkrun in the UK. Justin Burden completed the Bevendean Down parkrun in 31:54, closely followed by Nicola Crawley in 35:31, Justine Wearn was close behind in 36:29, enjoying the views was Laura Clark finishing in 45:18.
Simon Pharoah thought he’d give everyone at Ashford a chance and headed to Dover to complete the Dover Waterfront parkrun in 21:02 with his speedy son!
Richard Randle and Delia Millen completed the Folkestone parkrun in 27:09 and 33:00.
Martin Whittingham completed the Foots Cray Meadows parkrun in 47:40 – starting off a new parkrun alphabet challenge! Well done Martin.
Jamie Penfold completed the Hastings parkrun in 22:20.
Lionel and Donna Hammond completed the Norwich parkrun in 32:31 exactly together! ❤️
Lee Standen completed the Tonbridge parkrun in 29:43, Lee Gribbin finished in 31:28 chased down by his mum Lisa Gribbin in 31:30.
Sunday saw the A&D 10k race, through the beautiful village of Westwell and back again, it was a challenging course on a rather warm day but everyone did themselves proud today! First over the line for Striders was Simon Pharoah in 38:14, next up was a very smiley Kevin North in 46:46, he was closely followed by Harry Scott who was embracing the heat finishing in 47:06. Jamie Penfold was next knocking 2 minutes off of his previous course time in 51:31, hot on his heels was Dave Winchester in 53:27. Scott Hawkins was making it look easy but insisting it wasn’t in 57:54, he was being chased down by Dan Schwartz to finish in 58:30. David Gadsby was next in 59:55. Amanda James took the crown of first Strider lady in 1:00:46, well done Amanda! Sharon McInnes gave it a sprint finish to get over the line in 1:11:51 and Dee Millen was in disbelief how she was freezing cold at Mondays race and roasting hot today but still getting it done in 1:14:53. Well done everyone ❤️
Heading over to Bristol for the AJ Bell Bristol Half Marathon was Frank Remigio completing the course in an amazing 1:30:19!
Opting for something slightly different a couple of Striders headed over to East Grinstead for a 30.4km sprint triathlon. Richard Randle came in first in 1:41:59 followed by Andrew Cornwell in 1:51:12 – well done guys fabulous work!
What a busy but amazing week, well done Super Striders! If you haven’t already done so check out Julie’s post about the summer of running we have coming up, some exciting events that everyone can get involved in.
Also please start shouting about the Charing 10k it’s getting close and it’s such a fantastic event that we want as many people involved as possible ❤️
Have a great week everyone x
