Striders Weekly Update 24/08/2023

Posted: 24/8/2023

Another busy weekend of running for Scrabo Striders that kicked off on Saturday with the NI Masters Track and Field Championships at Mary Peters Track.  Striders very own Norman Mawhinney was taking part in both the 3000m and 1500m events.  His first race of the day was the 3000m in which he took an overall 4th place in a phenomenal 11.02:95.  This bagged him a gold medal in the M65 category and another Irish record.  In the 1500m Norman finished 6th  overall, first in his age category giving him his second gold of the day  in a time of 5.23:64.

Saturday morning is well known in the running community as Parkrun Day and this weekend saw 51 Striders run at 11 different venues.  There were Personal Bests from Louise Booth (32.46), her first time at Comber, Marc Neill (16.37), who finished first at Belfast Victoria, Thomas Steele (17.45) also at Belfast Victoria and John Bingham (36.32) at Stormont.  Course Personal Bests were ran by Siobhan Kane (33.53) at Stormont, Willow Farrington (23.29) also finishing 2nd female, Chris Edwards (27.10), Karen Wilson (33.34) and Stephen Braniff (35.45) at Crawfordsburn and Kathryn Chesney (30.23) and Nicola Forsythe (32.46) at Falls.  A big congratulations to Gordon McEwan and Carl Harris who were both running their 25th Parkrun!

The Quinn Estate Agents, Montalto Night Challenge took place on Saturday evening and saw 5 Striders competing in both the 6hour and 12hour endurance challenges.  Montalto Estate is nestled in Ballynahinch and was owned in pre plantation times by Patrick McCartan.  However due to his involvement in the 1641 rebellion the lands were confiscated and then purchased in 1657 by Sir George Rawdon.  The estate is now owned by The Wilsons, who in 2009, opened the house and its 400 acres of land for Private Hire.  Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gaithouse events designed a 5k loop on the trails, giving competitors the opportunity to do as many loops as they could in their chosen time of either 3, 6 or 12 hours.  Michael Burgess, Liam Rodger and Chris Green opted for the 6hour event while Graeme Black and Gavin McDonnell took on the 12hour event.  Michael Burgess covered the furthest distance of the 5 Striders completing 50k (10 loops) followed by Graeme Black 45k (9 loops), Liam Rodger and Gavin McDonnell both covering 25k (5 loops) and Chris Green 20k (4 loops).

Junior Parkrunners were again out in force at Comber Parkrun where Hamish Orr-Stewart was the first to finish in 9.44 with Joshua Bingham close on his heels in 9.47.  First Female finisher was Keara Simpson in 10.14 followed by brother Olly in 11.42.  Running his 21st Parkrun which earned him his Marathon wrist band was Daniel Barnes in 11.54 and completing the line up for Scrabo Striders was Lydia Blair in 12.05.  Over at Belfast Victoria Luke Braniff finished 3rd in a time of 7.59 followed by Willow Farrington who was first female finisher and achieved a course PB with a time of 8.10.  Rory Braniff also ran himself a Course Personal Best in a time of 9.15.

A large number of Striders travelled to Carrickfergus on Sunday afternoon to take part in Seapark Althletic Club’s Chase the Knight and Storming the Castle 10k.   Chase the Knight, the childrens 1k and 2k events, were completed by junior Striders Lydia Blair, Harry and Calum McCready and Alfie and Emma Lindgren in their first ever race!

The 10k race started at the Amphitheatre Wellness Centre snaking through the town onto the coast road before passing the spectacular Carrickfergus Castle enroute to the harbour.  After this the route headed along the carriageway to the turning point, following the same route back to the finish at the Castle.  First over the line for Striders and taking yet another win in his age category was Norman Mawhinney in 38.24 followed by Colin Harper running himself a Course PB of 42.28, Graeme Magowan with a Course PB of 45.23 and Jenny Taylor with a first place in her new age category and a Course PB of 45.26.  Matt Bell was next to cross the finish line in 45.33, Peter Stevens 46.03, Paul Blair 47.45, Steven Hanna 49.31, Gareth Davies 49.33 and sneaking in just under the 50 minute mark was George Johnston 49.49.  Michael Williams followed in 50.29 with Curtis Adams close on his heels in 50.41, Sarah Johnston 51.09 and Chris Edwards with a PB of 52.21.  Third female strider over the line was Amanda Martin in 52.47 followed by John Brown 53.06, Gayle Malaugh 53.55, Katy Lyttle 55.05, Dee Patterson 55.23, Darren Johnston 55.30, Kris Williams 56.06 and, following his fantastic performance at Montalto, Michael Burgess in 57.44.  Finishing under the hour was Catherine Lavery in 59.24 followed by Karen Farrelly with a Course PB of 1:00.30, Clare McIlveen in 1:01.10 and another PB this time for Karen Warnock 1:03.00.  The sea of purple Striders kept coming with Karen Wilson in 1:04.22, Ashlyn Allen with a PB of 1:05.54, Louise Booth in 1:07.45, Naomi Magowan, 1:08.11, Angie Crone 1:11.56, Kim Cochrane 1:12.50, Karen Thompson 1:23.54, Dawn Cudworth 1:24.29, Lynn McGonigal 1:27.06, Mairead Curran 1:30.40, Cheryl Macartney 1:31.48 and Sharon Gamble 1:39.40.

Striders offer 4 training sessions a week at Londonderry Park on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7.15pm along with 2 non coach led social runs from Conway Square, Newtownards on Friday evening at 6.30pm and Sunday morning at 9am along with a trail run on a Sunday evening taking in the beautiful surroundings of Helens Tower.  For further details check out our Facebook Page Scrabo Striders Running Club or pop along to one of the above sessions to see what everyone is talking about.  You won’t regret it!

 

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