Scrabo Striders have continued to represent their club at various events ranging from 5k Parkrun to a 12 hour endurance race.

The weekend began with Parkrun on Saturday morning.  38 Striders ran at 14 different venues, with Jonathan Winter travelling the furthest to Squerryes Winery in England.  7 Striders ran at an event for the first time, and Course PB’s were achieved by Kim Cochrane, Daniel Clarke, Bill McGucken, Matthew Halus and Mark Halus.  Jenny Taylor (23:52) and Sharon Gamble (42:35) gained new overall PBs.  Katie Irvine ran her 25th Parkrun at Ormeau.  Daniel Clarke and Matthew Halus were 2nd at Comber and Dunleath Playing Fields respectively, and Lynn Sheldon was 2nd placed female at Crawfordsburn.

Club secretary Gavin McDonnell became Northern Ireland regionnaire at Knockbracken Reservoir, having completed all Parkrun events in NI (37 including Stranmillis which no longer takes place).  Gavin ran his first Parkrun in Bangor in 2015.  He has ran 193 Parkruns and volunteered 173 times, including 34 as Run Director at Bangor.  Gavin loves the inclusivity of Parkrun and has enjoyed making lots of friends through it.  When Parkrun started up again in 2021 after the break for Covid, he decided to challenge himself to achieve regionnaire, and he particularly enjoyed Citypark (Craigavon), a scenic single loop of the lake, and Garvagh Forest.  Gavin is now working towards the Alphabet challenge.  This involves running at a Parkrun beginning with every letter of the alphabet.

Volunteers are a vital part of Parkrun, and 16 Striders helped out at Bangor, Comber, Enniskillen, Ormeau and Stormont.

At Comber junior Parkrun on Sunday morning were Ethan Lappin (1st), Willow Farrington (3rd), Archie Lappin (2nd male), Noah Barnes and Lydia Blair.  Lyla McNamara ran at Bangor Junior Parkrun.

Saturday evening saw 5 Striders taking part in the Quinn Estate Agents endurance and trail races at Montalto Estate, Ballynahinch, organised by Gaithouse Events.  First up was Chris Millar, running 10k in 54:34.  The night time endurance races began at 8pm.  The 6 hour race was ran by Clare McIlveen (18.6 miles) and Michael Burgess (28 miles).  Vice Captain Judith Boyd and Sonya Summersgill ran together in the 12 hour race, both clocking up an impressive 40.4 miles on a challenge trail course.

In Carrickfergus, Storming the Castle 10k took place on Sunday afternoon.  Scrabo Striders picked up a trophy for “Best Representative Team 2022”, and Norman Mawhinney received the prize for 1st Male in the 60-64 age category, completing the race in 38:01.  Neil Mearns also came in with a sub 40 time of 39:50.  Sub 50 times were achieved by Jonny Kinney (41:59), Michael Johnston (42:00), Peter Stevens (42:17), Justin Clegg (43:35), Gordie McEwan (44:01), Captain Paul Blair (44:57), Shannon Clegg (46:07), Barbara McKechnie (47:44), Andrea Thompson (48:05), Jenny Taylor (48:45), Gary Clarke (49:18), Johnny Wray (49:25), Cheryl Mulholland (49:34) and Kurtis Hunter (49:35).

Coming in under 1 hour were Mark Leathem (50:16), Captain Amanda Martin (51:47), Olli Seeger (51:57), John Brown (52:13), Marty McConnell (52:26), David Turton (52:27), Heath Graham (52:27), Vice Chair Peter McGonigal (52:35), Leanne Campbell (52:45), Julie Longridge (53:16), Liz Turton (54:27), Louise Barnes (55:34), Karl Henderson (56:20), Gareth Robson (56:57), Kerrie Fox (57:42), Michael Burgess (58:12), Ken Rodgers (58:30), Caroline Smyth (58:40), Richard Murray (58:55), Nicola McNamara (59:09), Steven Pearson (59:14) and Stephen Campbell (59:39).

Completing the Strider’s line up were Mervyn Kinney (1:00:42), Andrea Cairns (1:02:10), Lisa Bell (1:03:56), Gavin McDonnell (1:04:04), Catherine Dobbin (1:04:10), Kathryn Chesney (1:04:21), Kim Cochrane (1:05:56), Kathy Henderson (1:06:56), Angie Crone (1:07:39), Elaine McGonigal (1:09:02), Cheryl Alexander (1:12:11), Leanne Hanna (1:25:16) and Alison Rodgers (1:26:30).  As always, the competitors were cheered on by a strong team of supporters from the club.

Also in Carrickfergus, junior Striders took part in the Chase the Knight races.  Rory Braniff, Phoebe Coey and Lyla McNamara ran in the 1k race for 4-9 year olds.  Riley Hanna won a trophy for 3rd place in the Junior 10-14 2k race.  Competing with Riley were Luke Braniff, Eva Coey, Faye Alexander and Eva Alexander.

Donaghadee Triathlon also took place on Sunday, with Strider David Carberry completing in 1:25:05.

Congratulations go to the male and female recipients of the Member of the Month award for July, presented by Captains Paul Blair and Amanda Martin.  Lorraine Adams completed Portaferry 10 mile race in July, going on to beat her half marathon PB by 6 minutes at Hillsborough Castle Running Festival just 5 days later.  Daniel Clarke has been consistently achieving PBs this summer, including 1 mile at the club 3k time trial, sub 20 5k in Donaghadee and sub 1:40 at Hillsborough half marathon.  Both members are fantastic ambassadors of the club and well deserving of this award.

Based at Londonderry Park in Ards, Scrabo Striders Running Club offer training sessions Monday to Thursday every week, with social runs on Friday evening and Sunday morning.  New members are always most welcome, no matter what their ability.