On Saturday, Scrabo Strider Norman Mawhinney travelled to the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth for 26extreme’s Carlingford Half Marathon. The popular event raising funds for St Bridget’s Special School, Dundalk saw almost 800 runners take on the 13.1 mile challenge on a dry but chilly morning. Norman continued his current outstanding form, adding a new Irish half marathon record for the M65 category to his belt; completing the course in 1:21:28 to take 25th place overall and beating the previous record by 4 minutes. Congratulations Norman on yet another incredible run!

Also on Saturday, Atlas Running hosted a number of events at Shane’s Castle. Offering a 10K, Half and Full Marathons, and an Ultra, the mixed terrain course took in the scenery of the Castle grounds, with each loop being half marathon distance. Strider Rachel Boyle was the lone club member competing, finishing the half marathon distance in 2:06:08.

Junior parkrun is a weekly feature in many young runners’ lives, and like the senior equivalent, recognises milestones achieved by attending a certain number of events, starting with 11 runs (a cumulative distance equal to half marathon), then 21 (marathon), 50, 100, etc. This week, 12-year-old Willow Farrington celebrated the fantastic achievement of 250 junior parkruns; having been running regularly since Bangor junior parkrun event number one when she was six years old. Marking the event in style, Willow was first female finisher, and joined by Luke Braniff, Rory Braniff, Eva Coey (2nd Female), Phoebe Coey and Lyla Rose McNamara. Well done Willow on such incredible dedication!

Elsewhere, Olly Simpson ran at Jordanstown for the first time for his 21st junior parkrun milestone, and Joshua Bingham took 2nd place overall and a new PB at Victoria Park. This week’s most popular venue was Comber, where Ethan Lappin was first overall, followed by Joe Brown, Hamish Orr-Stewart with a new PB, Adam Haylett, Archie Lappin, Liam Robinson, Lydia Blair (3rd Female), Rachel Brown, Nathaniel Frazer and Jack Robinson. Well done all!

At Saturday’s senior parkrun events, the club had 52 runners across 10 different venues. Notable achievements included Willow Farrington and Fiona McAvoy with course PBs in Bangor, Louise Barnes as 2nd Female on her first outing at Falls parkrun, Eva Alexander with a course PB at Stormont, and Karl, Kathy and Ameila Henderson all getting course PBs at Colin Glen.

New overall parkrun PBs this week were recorded by Matthew Halus at Dunleath Playing Fields, Daniel Clarke at Knockbracken, George Johnston at Stormont, and David Patterson at Comber. Well done to all!

Scrabo Striders is pleased to announce the return of Run the Runways – the club’s first open race of the season, taking place on Friday 5th May 2023 from 6.30PM at Ards Airfield. The ever-popular event offers a Kids’ 2K race, as well as 5KM (11 years +) and 10KM (15 years +) options. The totally flat route round the runways offers a perfect opportunity for a PB, with chip timing and a distance-certified course.  All entrants will receive a bespoke medal and the usual Scrabo Strider hospitality will be on offer afterwards. Entries are open now, with more details on scrabostriders.com or via the Athletics NI fixtures list. We look forward to seeing you there!

Scrabo Striders is an all-abilities club offering mixed training sessions 4 nights a week as well as 3 social runs a week. Alongside regular training on Monday and Wednesday evenings, we offer a structured 9 week progression programme on Tuesday and Thursday nights, catering to those coming back from injury, looking to tackle 10K distance for the first time, or improve on current 10K performance. Social runs include various distances on road on Friday evenings and Sunday mornings where you’ll be sure to find a group to suit your distance and pace; as well as a group trail run on Sunday evenings. New members are always welcome to come and try a few sessions before committing to membership, so why not come along and see if it’s for you? For more information go to scrabostriders.com or search Scrabo Striders on Facebook.

Ian Frazer