On Sunday, Norman Mawhinney once again travelled to Dublin’s Phoenix Park for the final event of the 2022 Athletics Ireland Race Series – the Irish Runner 10 Mile. With the sun beating down on the park, Norman joined over 850 other athletes taking on the event, which incorporated the National Championships. Continuing his usual impressive form, Norman secured first place in his age category, completing the course in an impressive 1:06:09.

With the second iteration of the Club’s Parkrun Challenge well underway, this week saw 61 club runners across 17 venues on Saturday morning. With this week’s bonus points being awarded for volunteering roles, many more club members were filling up the rosters at various venues.

Comber parkrun saw 3 members securing personal bests, with Michael Johnston in 20:33, George McGonigal in 25:09 and Sharon Gamble in 44:47. Also in Comber, Andy Haylett completed his 25th parkrun and Curtis McCaw finished in 2nd place overall.

Tim McEwan was the sole Strider to travel to Derrynoid Forest parkrun, marking his first time at the venue by finishing in 1st place overall in 20:54. 13 other Striders tried out a new parkrun venue for the first time, and 10 achieved course personal bests.

On Sunday at Junior Parkrun, all the club’s runners were in Comber, with 14 taking part. Riley Hanna claimed 2nd place overall with a course PB, while Willow Farrington was first female and Eva Coey was 3rd female. Well done to all.

Scrabo Striders are pleased to announce the return of their Run The Trails open race at Mount Stewart Estate on 6th August. The ever-popular event will offer a 2K Kids’ Race, as well as 5K, 10K and Half Marathon options incorporating the stunning grounds of the Estate. All competitors will receive a t-shirt, and there’ll be the usual post-race spread and Striders hospitality after. Entries are open now and we look forward to seeing you there!

With multiple training sessions every week catering for all abilities, as well as social runs and regular club events, Scrabo Striders is always open to new members. Newbies are welcome to come and try a few sessions before committing to membership – why not join us and see what you think? More information on Facebook or scrabostriders.com