Packed week of running for Striders

Running started early this week for our Striders, with a number of runners taking part in the Lisburn 10k and Half Marathon Road race on Wednesday evening. The race organised by Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council took in all the views of the town starting and finishing in Warren Park. Well done to Gayle Marie – Ann who finished the 10k race with a time of 55:25 and Karen Collins with a time of 58:18. Next was the half marathon, and Ismail Karauzum completed this in a time of 1:34:14, followed by Michael Warke with a Course Personal Best time of 1:38:55, and Lorna McMurray with a time of 2:05:04.

Wednesday evening also saw some of our young athletes take part in the North Down Athletics Club Mini Meets which took place at Bangor Sportsplex.  There was a number of disciplines to take part in being 60m run, 600m run, long jump and shot put. Well done to all our juniors who took part!

Thursday night then led Ismail Karauzum off to the final race of the Hill & Dale Series at Drinnahilly!  He finished the race in 30:12 and completed the Hill and Dale series 2nd in his M50 age category.  Well done Ismail on some serious weeks of running!

On Friday night, we had the Comber 10k Race take place. This two-loop fast and flat race was organised by Bally drain Harriers Athletics Club and is Athletics NI Certified. First strider in was Martin Strachan with a time of 35:59. Special Congratulations to the following striders who achieved Personal Bests ; Gareth Davies (40:11) , James Cole- Boyle ( 42:17), Dee Patterson (50:54), Martin Conroy (52:20), Karen Wilson (54:09), Karen Farrelly (54:46), Sarah Luce McCready (54:56), Georgia McGonigal (59:21), Alyson Lee (59:42) Lorraine Adams (1:00:03) and Cathie Lowry (1:01:47). Course Personal Bests were also achieved by the following striders; Colin Harper (40:22), Matt Bell ( 40:22), Graeme McGowan (42:56),  and Jenny Taylor (44:40).

On Saturday, Jenny Taylor took part in the Hard as Oak 10k challenge. This is located in the picturesque Faughan Valley and incorporated cliff jumps, swings, rivers, streams,  open fields and stone stairways.  Well done Jenny for completing this in a time of 1:03.

Jonathan Bull also took on and conquered the Celtman XTRI Solo event. This extreme race was centred around the stunning ancient Torridon Mountains in Scotland and completing it meant a 3.4k swim, 200km bike ride and 42km run. Well done Jonathan on completing this in a time of 8:42:54.

Back in Northern Ireland we had Graeme Black take part in the We Run Wild NI Lighthouse Run. This race started from Whitehead Lighthouse and followed the coastline all the way round to Donaghadee lighthouse.  The race was 41 miles long and was mainly flat with around 200m total ascent and Graeme finished this in a time of 07:09:11.

Alongside the above, we had our weekly Park Run take place.  The club had 53 runners out at 13 venues! The most popular location was Comber parkrun with 13 club members taking part, but we had other members trying out new venues for the first time! We also had 3 Personal Bests with Lyndsey Blair at Victoria Park Run (26:41), and Joshua Bingham (25:17) and Sonya Summersgill (26:15) at Stormont.   We also had 9 Course Personal Bests over various park runs!  We celebrated one 25th Park Run milestone with Cheryl McCartney running in a tie of 41:54 and one 50th Park Run with Richard Bovill running with a Course Personal Best of 24:44. We also had some of our junior striders take part at Victoria Park Run as one of their overall strides.

On Sunday we had several of our striders take part in the Belfast City Women’s 10k. This was the second year of the race, following its debut in 2023 and was sponsored by Belfast Marathon Sponsor Moy Park. The female only event was for women of all abilities and over 2,000 took part. Congratulations to Jenna Lavery who got a Personal Best with a 57:49 and Natasha Graham with a time of 59:50.

Sunday was a busy day for Head Coach Sonya Summersgill who took part in the 6-hour Saintfield Striders event at Florida Manor. Well done Sonya for completing this with 45km ran over 9 laps and placing as 1st Female!

Coach Norman Mawhinney, Mark Arnold and Heather Baron also took part in the Irish Runner 5 mile on Sunday.  This is the second event in the 2024 Athletics Ireland Race Series and took place at Phoenix Park. Well done to Norman for completing the race with a time of 31:11 and retaining his Irish Championship!  Mark also completed the race in a time of 40:45 and Heather 38:49.

We also had our Junior Park Run take place on Sunday.  We had 16 runners out at 2 venues. Our most popular location with Belfast Victoria Park with 11 members taking part.  The club had an amazing 5 Personal Bests, 2 Course Personal Bests and 1 First place finish!

Scrabo Striders meet every week for various training sessions, details can be found on our website and Facebook page. Friday night and Sunday morning social runs are also available for all to try. Why not come along and give it a try?

By Naomi Fleming