By Jamie Penfold
Hello again you lovely people! How the devil are you?? Hopefully not too many sore heads for those who were at the Summer Social or Iron Maiden last night!
Well it’s that time of the week again where we celebrate the achievements of our wonderful club members at events over the week.
We start as per usual with parkrun. A total of 66 Striders attended a Parkrun on Saturday; 34 at Ashford and 32 on tour.
As ever we start at home at Ashford.
Frank Remigio was first strider across the line with a time of 18:12, followed by Kevan Strand with a time of 21:35 and Konrad Gryniewicz with a time of 22:17.
They were followed by Dan Green in 22:35, Harry Scott in 22:57, Linda-Jean Delport in 24:50, Chloe Stott in 25:32, Darren Laker in 26:12, Jamie Bartlett in 28:16, Don Dewar in 28:24 and Jason Sanders in 28:25. A big shout out to Mathew Norman who smashed his target of beating a 30 minute parkrun with a time of 29:07. Well done!!
Scott Hawkins then crossed the line shortly afterwards in 29:09 followed by Carole Thomas 29:13, Rebecca James 29:47, Jason Brice 29:55, David Martins 30:12 and David Gadsby 30:27.
Jayne Hatton was next over in 31:40 then Andy Found 32:08, Russ Berliner 32:10, Eloise Pegg 33:29, Amanda James 33:41, Sara Dewar 35:20, Rachel Oliver 35:58, Sarah Martins 36:38, Penny Grigg 37:45, Heather Fraser 38:14, Kate Bushell 38:30, Amy Hook, completing her first parkrun for 2 years, 40:30 and Nadine Lidbury with Justine Wearn on 52:19.
Well done everyone!
And also a big thank you to the volunteers, without whom we wouldn’t have parkrun. Ashford came close to being cancelled owing to a shortage of volunteers this week so if you can volunteer please do pop your name to the Ashford team.
So onto the tourism.
“If you go down to the woods today you’re in for a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today you better go dressed in Red.
For today’s the day the Striders descend on Bedgebury!”
Poetry was never my strong point so let’s carry on with the weekends exploits! Bedgebury Pinetum celebrated it’s Centenary this week and there was a bumper turn out of over 500 park runners at Bedgebury Pinetum parkrun with a wave of Striders to boot.
Stephen Rumsey was the first Strider home like a speedy spruce in 25:55 followed by Michael Ruck 26:05, Lee Gribbin in 27:06, Justin Burden in 27:32, Lionel Hammond in 27:50, Jack Farrant in 28:27 and Lee Standen in 31:56.
Richard Randle was next like a lively larch in 33:13 followed by Victoria Shrubsole in 34:38, Lucie Shrubsole in 34:42, Andrew Cornwell in 34:48, Lisa Gribbin in 36:11 and Donna Hammond in 36:13.
Finally like brisk birches were Delia Millen in 36:59, Aimee Donohue in 39:17, Josh Stephens in 39:18, Helen Rumsey in 41:28, Julie Foster in 45:03 and Laura Clark in 48:15. Well done to everyone who made it to the Pinetum. A stunning parkrun!
Another stunning parkrun is Squerryes Winery parkrun and representing us were Nicola Crawley (33:07) and Maria Chapman (34:53). I recommend the cafe there! Cracking croissants and coffee there…..as well as wine!!!
Down be the seaside was Simon Pharoah completing the Folkestone parkrun in 18:00 and Tamsin Ritchie in 29:36.
A bit further up the coast was Adrian Green completing the Pegwell Bay parkrun in 33:48 and inland was Amanda Watson completing the Tonbridge parkrun in 30:31.
Going a bit further afield now. At Castle Park parkrun in the shadows of Stansted Airport was Isabelle Froissart completing in 31:20.
Just a bit further up the M11 were Adam Booth and Ombéline Marone-hitz completing the Milton Country parkrun in 33:31 and 33:32 respectively.
George Cromwell conquered the sand at the Hogmoor Inclosure parkrun in 27:56. A great time at a tough venue!
And finally I’ve left these guys to last as they win the prize for the most stressful journey to a parkrun this weekend. Thanks to delays by the airline, they finally took off at 08:50 heading to Jersey and got to the parkrun at 09:40 where the team kindly allowed them to complete the event. Their official times are way out from the time they actually took to complete the course but a huge well done to Rachel Tomsett, Angela Craffey and Hazel Turner for making the day trip to Jersey and getting this event under your belts.
Onto the races over the last few days and it’s been a bit of a quiet one but here it goes.
Last weekend Ashford celebrated its Pride Festival and on Monday the celebrations were concluded with the Ashford Pride 5k. A great little race with possibly the most colourful medal going.
First Strider across the line with a time of 23:26 was Jamie Penfold who was closely followed by Terry Sellen who crossed in 23:51 (and was first in his age category). We then had Stephen Rumsey finish in a time of 25:02 and then Helen Rumsey in a time of 41:20.
On Tuesday the East Kent Road Relays latest event took place at Minnis Bay. A deceptive course with a killer hill and a strong headwind back to the handover area. As ever we took a great squad along!
Senior Male Team A
Kevin North 00:15:52
Jason Caldwell 00:15:33
Jack Farrant 00:15:09
Frank Remigo 00:13:03
Male V40 Team A
Jamie Penfold 00:17:17
Matt Dewit 00:18:19
Andrew Cornwell 00:22:24
Andy Found 00:19:41
Senior Female Team A
Lucie Shrubsole. 00:19:36
Carole Thomas 00:17:53
Elle Weekes 00:17:48
Senior Female Team B
Rebecca James 00:20:18
Vicky Stevenson 00:20:44
Emma Konstantinou 00:18:39
Female V45 Team
Sharon Gardner 00:22:25
Vicky Shrubsole 00:24:10
Nicola Crawley 00:21:09
Well done everyone!!
Then we have Out of the Blue Battle which took place at Ashburnham Place in East Sussex. Complete the 5k course in 37:53 was Donna Hammond and completing the 10k course in 1:01:17 was Lionel Hammond. Outstanding efforts guys! Well done.
We finish the report with two machines who completed two tough events in recent days.
First of all Harry Scott who completed the JLL Property Duathlon in a PB time of 1:25:33. Absolutely superb time!
And finally Matthew Beasley who completed the Peak District Ultra Challenge. Now this is something special! 73km in a pb time of 11hrs 58 minutes and 50 seconds. Which makes my 8.5mile plod along the seafront today look measly. Full respect to you Matthew. Astonishing effort!
And that rounds of our report for this week. As ever if my autocorrect has changed names or I’ve missed anything let me know.
Well done everyone. You should be so proud of your achievements this week. Shout your times from the rooftops and celebrate each others.
