Over the last 5 weeks, Scrabo Striders have been represented in 7 marathons in 6 different countries, with some club members completing more than 1 in this short period of time!

Rounding off this busy period of marathons was the Irish Life Dublin Marathon on Sunday.  Norman Mawhinney achieved an incredible new PB of 2:53:39, also coming 2nd out of 286 runners in his M60 category.  Following Norman were Colin Harper (3:26:41 course PB), Justin Clegg (3:31:39), Catherine Cauley (3:38:03), Stephen McConnell (3:47:34), Jonathan Winter (3:50:26), Rebecca Jordan (3:55:17), Jenny Taylor (4:03:15 PB), Emmanuel Farrelly (4:07:00), Bill McGucken (4:08:43 first marathon), Alison Busby (4:08:54 PB), Amanda Martin (4:20:07), Jonny Kinney (4:33:37), Leanne Campbell (4:33:39), Rachel Boyle (4:35:05 first marathon), Caroline Smyth (5:03:07), Gordie McEwan (5:24:37 PB), Sonya Summersgill (5:44:57), Judith Boyd (5:44:58 first marathon).

As Dublin drew to a close on Sunday afternoon, another group of club runners arrived in Saintfield for the 5 and 10k races, organised by Saintfield Striders.  Finishing the 10k were David Parkinson (41:38), Daniel Clarke (42:09), Michael Burgess (47:06), Deborah Wilson (49:28), Matthew Halus (49:48), Mark Leathem (51:58), George Johnston (53:10), George McGonigal (54:05), Mark Halus (56:22), Clare McIlveen (58:27), Beverly McKee (1:02:00), Lorraine Adams (1:04:23), Cheryl Macartney (1:23:52), Karen Thompson (1:31:24), Sharon Gamble (1:31:24 PB).  Sharon also completed a fantastic challenge during this race to run 100 miles in October to raise money for the National Autistic Society.

The 5k began 10 minutes after the 10k, with some of the speedy Junior Striders giving the adult competitors a run for their money!  Luke Braniff (22:35 17th place), Riley Hanna (23:33 21st), Bobby McGonigal (26:03 33rd), Catherine Dobbin (29:12 PB), Eva Coey (29:31), Kerrie Fox (31:24), Nicola Forsythe (32:06), Kim Cochrane (33:47 course PB), Mariead Curran (42:09) and Donna Dugan (42:11) all completed the race.

57 Striders took part in 15 different Parkruns on Saturday, with 12 making Comber the most popular location.  15 ran at a venue for the first time.  Curtis McCaw (18:42) and Thomas Steele (18:32) finished in 1st place in Comber and Dunleath Playing Fields respectively.  A PB of 34:07 was achieved by Amelia Henderson on her first ever visit to Castlewellan.  Course PBs were recorded by Krystal Clarke (36:49 Comber), Fiona McAvoy (28:06) and Nicola Forsythe (32:52) at Valley, Jenna Lavery (31:26 Knockbracken Reservoir), Catherine Lavery (27:18 Bangor), Steven Pearson (26:38 Stormont).  Furthest travelling Strider was Jonathan Bull with 22:43 at Forfar Loch near Dundee, Scotland.

12 Striders ran at Junior Parkrun on Sunday morning.  Isabella Haylett joined the Junior Parkrun marathon club by completing her 21st event at Comber.  She was also 2nd placed female with a time of 10:07.  Keara Simpson (10:24) was 3rd female, also at Comber.  A total of 11 ran at Comber and 1 (Willow Farrington) ran at Bangor.

Every month, Striders Captains Paul Blair and Amanda Martin present the Member of the Month awards to a male and female Strider.  This is sponsored by Boyd Rice Solicitors.  Picking up the female award for September was last year’s Ladies Captain Barbara McKechnie.  Barbara has worked incredibly hard at her running this year, sticking rigidly to a training plan that led her to an outstanding PB of 3:43:35 at Chicago Marathon.  She also achieved a 1:45:39 PB at Belfast Half Marathon and helped the Women’s Masters Team to an impressive 55:57 time at the 8 mile NI & Ulster Road Relay Championships!

The male award was received by coach Jonathan Winter.  Jonathan travelled to London in September to earn a PB of 1:33:45 at London Big Half Marathon.  This PB was short-lived, as just a couple of weeks later he recorded a time of 1:31:50 at Dublin Half Marathon.  At the start of October Jonathan flew back to London, completing the marathon for Christian Aid in 3:49:53.  In between these races he also found time to compete in Portaferry and Bangor 10ks!  As if this wasn’t enough for Jonathan, he has just completed his 2nd marathon in a month, running Dublin in 3:50:26.

Between 4 training sessions, sessions for kids aged 8 and above, social runs (followed by coffee), trail runs and countless races, there is something for everyone at Scrabo Striders, no matter what your ability.  Come and join in, improve your wellbeing and meet new people!  Search on Facebook or visit www.scrabostriders.com.