The 2023 race season is really starting to warm up! With two local races to choose from and lots of Striders training for marathons and half marathons this spring, it’s not surprising that lots of our runners were out there this weekend earning medals and PBs! A particular well done to those who partied the night away at the club’s Valentine Charity Evening on Saturday night, and still made it to the start line the next morning.
Chase the Moon 10k
An unusual start to this week’s report as the first race on the menu was on Wednesday evening. Siobhan Hagan and Lisa Gribbin travelled to London to run 10k in the dark around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Siobhan bagged herself a fantastic personal best of 54:58 and Lisa got a sub-1 hour by the narrowest of margins with 59:59. Well done ladies!
Ashford parkrun
Parkrun numbers are often down if there’s a local race the next day, despite this there was good turnout of runners in red. Terry Sellen was this week’s first Strider with a time of 24:40. Next was Simon Pharoah, finishing in 24:58, then Ian Mccutcheon 25:16, Kevan Strand 28:44, Jason Sanders 29:58 and Martin Whittingham 30:35. First Strider lady coming in with a personal best of 30:55 was Sally Davidson-Daniel, then Jason Brice 31:12, Rita Cooke 31:47, Delia Millen also bagging a PB with 33:32, Leigh Freeman 33:33, Tamsin Ritchie 34:51, Jennifer Watts 35:18, Lee Standen 35:18 and Sara Dewar 41:16
Thanks to this week’s volunteers: Darren Laker, Jason Caldwell, Julie Foster, Lisa Fulcher, Mark Niles, Richard Randle and Terry Sellen.
Parkrun tourism
8 parkruns hosted Ashford Striders on tour this weekend.
Rachel Tomsett was all the way up in Scotland, taking in the beautiful scenery of the Cairngorms at Aviemore parkrun. She finished the course in 42:01. Paul Baker ran the undulating Canterbury parkrun for the second time, earning himself a course PB of 29:59. Danielle Moss travelled to the Cotswolds and completed Chipping Norton School parkrun in 47:01
Amanda Cooper travelled down the motorway to Folkestone and finished in 28:11. Going in the opposite direction were our Chase the Moon runners, at Mote Park to bag a number for the Fibonacci sequence challenge. Siobhan Hagan beat her previous best time on this course with 28:57 and it was Lisa Gribbin’s first time there, finishing in 30:52
Jack Farrant ventured up North to run at Prudhoe Riverside parkrun on the bank of the Tyne near Newcastle. Jack finished in a time of 22:51. The flat course at Victoria Dock parkrun in London was the choice of Nicola Crawley and Justine Wearn this week. Nicky finished in 26:24 and Justine’s time was 30:11. And last on the list of tourists is Justin Burden who went to Wimbledon Common looking to tick off number 777 in the Nelson challenge. He wasn’t the only one as Wimbledon had more than 3 times its average attendance this week! Justin isn’t used to his finishing position being in the 300s, his time was 26:21.
Ashford & District 10k
This race around the country lanes to the West of Ashford is a firm favourite of Ashford Striders members and it always sees a good turnout of red, despite the infamous hill around 3k from the end! Lots of Striders who weren’t running turned out to support and Facebook was flooded with photos from different points around the course. In typical Strider style, everyone stayed to support their teammates until the last Strider had finished.
The results are as follows, good to see so many personal bests despite the hill:
Keith Haynes 0:41:33
Mark Niles 0:42:49
Dave Winchester 0:45:57 – PB
Jack Farrant 0:48:37 – PB
Paul Dunning 0:49:11 – PB
Terry Sellen 0:50:01
Nigel Hills 0:50:37
Simon Pharoah 0:50:48
Richard Randle 0:51:17 – PB
Stephen Cleaver 0:52:23
David Helme 0:53:27 – PB
Graham Troman 0:53:36
Chloe Darling 0:54:05 – PB
Vicky Stevenson 0:55:22
Scott Hawkins 0:57:30
Siobhan Hagan 0:58:52
Michelle Bryant 0:59:33
Becky Somerford 0:59:37
Amanda James 0:59:52
Lisa Gribbin 1:00:11
Jayne Hatton 1:00:50
Karen Edwards 1:01:55
Alison Rice 1:04:25
Peter Broom 1:05:23
Rebecca James 1:05:35
Dee Millen 1:10:20 – PB
Brian Forrester 1:11:56
Leanne Howard 1:13:29 – PB
Hazel Forrester 1:13:46
Julie Nicholson 1:15:46 – PB
Julie Foster 1:32:39
Headcorn Half Marathon
Not far away in the country lanes of Headcorn, this race saw a good turnout of Striders, especially those who needed a longer race for their marathon training plans. Once again, every Strider was cheered across the line by teammates who were supporting or had already finished.
At the time of writing the official results hadn’t been published, provisional results are as follows, with lots of provisional PBs reported:
Hazel Turner 1:51:18
Kevan Strand 1:51:21 – PB
Andy Found 1:59:38 – PB
Gayle Bailey 1:59:57 – PB
Jamie Bartlett 2:04:40 – PB
Mandy Cooper 2:04:58
Darren Laker 2:05:07 – PB
Cristina Adams 2:09:35
Adam Thomas 2:11:50
Kay Hunt 2:11:50
Sarah George 2:38:01 – PB
A fantastic week of running everyone, well done.
Report by Lisa Fulcher.
