By Amy Forsythe

Scrabo Striders were out in full force this week, taking part in a range of different events all across the globe.

Georgia McGonigal travelled to Salzburg at the weekend to complete in the gruelling Mozart City Trail Half Marathon. Horrific conditions but a fabulous effort from Georgia.

Cork City was also on the list for Striders, with Maxine Dynes completing Cork Marathon on Sunday. She came over the line in an astonishing 4:28:26.

Matt Bell and Beverly Meredith represented the Purple Pack in the Triathalon Scene this week as he took on the scenic Carrickfergus event.

71 Striders took part in Parkrun in 11 different locations across the country.

Comber was the most popular location with 41 Striders taking part. Andy Haylett was first over the line in an astounding time of 19.00. It was a day for Personal Bests in Comber for Heath Farrington (26.09), Sonya Summersgill (26.38), Faye Alexander (28.22), Alyson Lee (28.47) and Sharon Murdoch (32.06.

Many other Striders also achieved Personal Bests across the province with Chris Burns in Dunleath (21.34), Karen Donaghy in Victoria (25.30) along with Daniel Warke (19.54), Rory Braniff (25.50) and Stephen Braniff (41.50) in Bangor.

Comber Parkrun was also the scene of a Milestone on Sunday, for Junior Strider Hamish Orr-Stewart. Hamish celebrated his 50th Parkrun in a time of 8.17.

Michael Burgess and Gavin McDonnell enjoyed Parkrun tourism this week as they travelled to the Fisherman’s Walk Parkrun in Ballymena. Jennifer McAteer also travelled further afield to take part in Valley Parkrun in Newtownabbey.

With our membership expanding on the daily, it is important that we welcome new coaches to our talented team and a congratulations are in order for Nicola Forsythe, Marilyn Kennedy and Ismail Karauzum.

The three members have now completed their first stage of running leadership called Leader in Running Fitness and is the first step on their coaching journey. Congratulations all.

Member of the month for May was also awarded this week to Karen Warnock. Karen has been a member of the club for over a year, completing her first marathon in Belfast earlier in the month, and always being a willing and enthusiastic volunteer. Ladies Captain, Lyndsey Blair, was full of praise for the very deserving recipient:

“It feels like Karen has thrown herself with full enthusiasm into all aspects of club life. She’s entered races with the club at 5, 10 and half distances and runs them all with such enthusiasm and smiles. It was a pleasure to share many training runs with Karen in the run up to her first marathon.”

Scrabo Striders Running Club has four coach led sessions every week (Monday-Thursday) and a trail run on Sunday evenings. There are also non coach led runs on Friday evenings and Sunday mornings usually followed by an obligatory coffee. To find out more information visit scrabostriders.com.