by Jamie Penfold
Hello again you lovely people! How the devil are you?
So it’s that time again when we celebrate the achievements of the runners in our club.
As ever we start with the weekend’s parkrun exploits. And before we dive into the results from this weekend’s parkruns, just a personal note. Last week I celebrated my 4th year anniversary since my first parkrun. I’d just moved to Ashford and didn’t know many people. Parkrun was on its second week back following Covid. So I thought why not. From that day in Victoria Park I was hooked and as a result of parkrun I got back into running and it is because of parkrun that I joined Ashford Striders. What stood out that day was the “Wall of Red”. Striders stood out and nit was a no brainer for me to join the club. So I have a lot to thank parkrun for. It’s given me so much.
So onto our parkrun results. A total of 49 Striders attended a parkrun this weekend! And we’ll start at home at Ashford.
Simon Pharoah was first strider across the line with a time of 18:23, followed by Dan Green with a time of 21:51, and Adam Booth third strider, with a time of 21:55.
They were followed by Gary Tiley 22:41, Josh Stephens 26:10, Jason Brice 26:21, Don Dewar 26:38, Jamie Bartlett 27:02, Hazel Turner 27:07, Daniel Schwartz 27:39, Jason Sanders 28:16, Kevan Strand 28:57, David Gadsby 29:11, Carole Thomas 29:38, Joe Fowler 29:42, David Helme 29:46 and David Martins 29:51.
Then came Scott Hawkins 30:45, Catherine Wall 31:25, Vicky Stevenson 31:29, Victoria Shrubsole 32:19, Andrew Cornwell 32:19, Eloise Pegg 32:28, Aimee Donohue 32:29, Rachel Oliver 33:08, Marion Fitzpatrick 33:15, Sara Dewar 33:23, Justine Wearn 33:54, Robert Harris 34:06, Victoria Corby 34:37, Kat Silvester 34:59, Lin West 35:27, Nadine Lidbury 35:28, Sarah Martins 35:40, Pauline Tallett 35:56, Paul Diddams 36:02, Michelle Brice 36:32, Jennifer Watts 37:58, Jamie Weller 38:29 and Julie Nicholson 53:46.
Out and about on the road this weekend and starting down the road at Folkestone where Martin Whittingham completed in 36:32. Not far round the coast was Jamie Penfold completing the new course at Margate parkrun in 23:23.
Justin Burden completed the Mote Park parkrun in 26:51 with Laura Clark in 55:36. Maria Chapman completed the Oxford parkrun in 42:04 and Rachel Tomsett completed the Severn Valley Country parkrun in 35:15. Matthew Beasley completed the Shrewsbury parkrun in 26:06 and finally, clocking in with furthest from home was Nicola Crawley completed the Woodlands Historic Park parkrun in 30:34.
It’s also a good time to give a nod to those who volunteered at parkrun over the weekend. Without the volunteers we have no parkrun.
Now onto the weekend’s races.
We start on Friday night with the Rye Summer Series!
First Strider home was Simon Pharaoh with a stunning time of 17:38. Second over the line was Lionel Hammond with a PB of 24:46. Then coming over the line in quick succession were Donna Hammon with 33:08, Amy Hook with a PB of 33:12 an and Lucey Townsend with 35:21.
Then to Sunday. And we start in Margate with the Margate Superhero 10K where Gary Tiley put in a time worthy of Superman with 48:34.
And then to East London. As we sing at West Ham “Oh East London is wonderful”. And there were some wonderful performances in the shadow of the London Stadium. 6 Striders completed the RunThrough Foundation 10K.
First Strider over the line was Scott Hawkins with a PB time of 49:52. Then, getting a second PB of the weekend was Lionel Hammond with a time of 52:38. Forever blowing bubbles was Hazel Turner with a time of 58:13. Then came Ash Robinson with a time of 1:05:31, Donna Hammond with 1:13:03 and finally Julie Foster with 1:28:56. Massive performances at a massive venue.
And that’s it for the weekend.
