On Saturday 2nd June, eight Scrabo Striders slid on their Purple singlet to take on the Larne 10k race. Following on from the success of the 10 mile and 5k races held in March, Larne Athletic club hosted yet another flat as a pancake out and back route. The race started at Ballygally Castle Hotel, heading 5k along the coast and turning at Drumnagreagh, the race boasted some stunning scenery.

The first strider to finish was the main man, Norman Mawhinney in a fantastic time of 38:46. Not only was Norman the first Strider home, Norman also placed 1st in the M60 age category. Next was Andy Haylett with yet another sub 40 min 10k followed by Peter McGonigal in 43:03, Michael Johnston in 43:21 and the returning from injury, Jonathan Winter in 44:19. The first lady finisher with a new PB 48:35 was Andrea Thompson. Andrea was followed by the Lady Captain, Amanda Martin with a new PB of 51:32. Kerrie Fox, a fairly new addition to Scrabo Striders finished in a fantastic 55:41. Well done to all flying the purple flag in the hot and windy conditions.

Saturday was also parkrun day. Scrabo had 42 participants running at 12 different venues at 9.30am on Saturday morning. Amelia Henderson ran her 10th parkrun at comber and achieved another PB of 35:35. Great to see the juniors taking on parkruns. Over at Crawfordsburn, Graeme Farrington and Louise Barnes achieved a new Course PB in a time of 26:53 and 30:22 respectively.

On Sunday 3rd June, We Run Wild NI held their Gullion Way Ultra Marathon which is a celebration of the 4th July American Independence Day. Starting in Newry at the Gateway club, athletes had to journey some 64 kilometres in a combination of 90% roads and 10% trails. We run Wild describe the route as “of the hilliest ultras around covering the Gullion way. Don Hannon was the first finisher in 6hrs 15 and the first lady finisher was Naomi Lusty in 8hrs 30. Scrabo Striders had one entrant in a field of 23. Karl Henderson completed the ultra in 8 hours, 48 minutes and 25 seconds.

Sunday was also the day that the Junior Striders got to lace up their runners and put their training into practice at the Junior parkruns. Willow Farrington was 2nd female and the only junior to attend Bangor finishing a great 9.22. In Comber, Lydia Blair, daughter of Men’s captain Paul Blair and Lyndsey Blair celebrated completing her 50th parkrun and received the ultra marathon wrist band. Luke Braniff was first finisher in 08:47 with Bobby McGonigal coming home third overall in a great 9.07. Harry Harper achieved a new Parkrun PB. Congratulations to all juniors and thank you to the Blairs for the cake.