Striders Article 11th April 2023

On Saturday past Born2Run Events hosted this year’s Glenarm Castle Challenge, which offered runners a range of distances over a scenic mix of forest trails, farmland and views along the Glenarm River. Scrabo Striders Norman Mawhinney and Wendy Thompson took on the particularly tough half marathon due to its elevation gain, completing in 1 hour 33 minutes 36 seconds and 02:37:07 respectively. Norman secured 1st Male 65 age category place and 14th overall. Davy Gordon completed the 10K race in 58:06. Thanks for flying the purple flag at this event guys.

On Sunday sixteen Scrabo Striders took park in the Ballygalget GAC charity 5k and 10k social run. The course was challenging with a stiff onshore breeze and the undulating hills expected of the lower Ards peninsula, however the finish line welcome was warm with lots of tea, sandwiches and buns, all helping to raise funds for Marie Curie. Special mention to club junior member Eva Coey who was misdirected on the 5k to unexpectedly complete the 10k event!

On Easter Monday the oldest road race in Northern Ireland took place, the Whitehead 5 mile and Fun Run, marking its 99th birthday! Sole Scrabo Strider Norman Mawhinney completed the there loops and therefore three hills course on an impressive time of 32 minutes 14 seconds. Well done Coach!

As part of preparations for the “Norn Iron 100” Ultramarathon taking place in June, Scrabo Strider Liam Rodger set off at 8pm on the official reconnaissance run between Articlave and Dungiven, a little over 34 miles in just under 9hrs 8mins, best described Liam’s own words  as “trail - road - trail - road - trail - heavily overgrown and peaty bog - trail - road - trail - road - to finish the steepest decline jarring the knees like nothing I've ever experienced”. This is what ultra running is all about and Liam is brave enough to take it on. Very well done!

On Easter Sunday morning Scrabo Striders annual Easter egg delivery run took please. This is where club members choose a buddy and run to each other’s homes, to deliver a chocolate egg or some other form of confectionery. It’s a popular social event with members taking part getting to run new routes and spread some Easter cheer.

Parkrun, the free weekly 5k timed run at a park near you, remains as popular as ever. Scrabo Striders had 52 members participating across 13 venues on Saturday morning. The most popular was Stormont where Andy Haylett took 2nd place in a blistering new course personal best time of 19 minutes and two seconds, followed by Willow Farrington in 22:43, Daniel Clarke 23:29, George Johnston 24:28, Paul Blair 24:31 and Richard Bovill with a course PB of 24:44

Comber Parkrun was the place to be for personal bests, secured by Gareth Davies 22:32, Darren Johnston 26:20 and Dawn Cudworth 37:09, while Curtis McCaw powered round the four loops in a time of 18:17 to take overall 1st place. The Club’s 4th parkrun personal best was recorded by Rachel Boyle in 25:46 at Belfast Victoria.

Ian Frazer was the first Strider to complete Bangor Parkrun in 26:26, followed by Karen Farrelly with a new course PB of 27.21 and Kerrie Fox in 52:11. Matthew Halus got an outstanding PB of 20:11 at Castlewellan followed in by dad Mark in 25:24. The course PBs just kept coming with Luke Mars 31:21 at Orangefield followed by Hannah Magee in 40:47.

Lots of Striders ran new Parkrun venues for the first time starting with Norman Mawhinney in Larne 26:53, Matt Bell at Queen Elizabeth in 29:14, Victoria Wightman 32:46 at Crawfordsburn, the Henderson family at Citypark Craigavon (Kathy, Karl, Amelia) and Michael Burgess at Eastville (England) 24:11, Chris Hollies Wolford Wood (England) 32:02 and  Paul Magee Brickfields (Dublin) 57:21. Well done all representing your club far and wide!

Scrabo Striders runs an annual internal club competition called the “8 Strides”, where members complete 8 runs or events from a set list, with prizes based on aggregated performance at the Club’s annual awards dinner in November. This week’s Comber Junior Parkrun was one such qualifying event where Joe Brown completed the 2km distance in 9 minutes 5 seconds to claim second place, followed by Hamish Orr-Stewart in 9:12, Liam Robinson 10:04, Keara and Olly Simpson in 10:11 and 12:07 respectively, Faye Alexander 12:30, Isabella Haylett 12:31, Eva Alexander 12:32, Maddie Dynes with a 12:35 personal best and Lexi Brown in 12:42. Then came Jack Robinson 12:53, Lydia Blair 13:17, Nathaniel Frazer with a 13:25 personal best, Rachel Brown 15:35 and Daniel Barnes 17:05. Over at Bangor Willow Farrington took 3rd place with a fantastic personal best of 8:14. Forgive the long list, but the Juniors are a credit to themselves, their parents, and the Club so each deserves a mention!

With the long nights now here why not do some running? Scrabo Striders is open to and caters for all abilities and will help you achieve your running goals, whatever they might We meet Monday to Thursday nights and there’s a time and training style suitable for everyone. Drop in at one of our sessions or find out more at www.scrabostriders.com.