It was another week of fantastic PBs and multiple distances from 2k right up to ultra for Striders.

Louise Meehan took part in the Last One Standing Backyard Ultra at Florence Court. With the objective being to run a 4.1 mile loop within an hour and starting again on the hour every hour until getting timed out or quitting, Louise completed the loop 14 times, a fantastic distance of 58.8 miles.

On Thursday Striders resident mountain goat Ismail took part in the Scrabo Hill Race. With 1,100 feet of elevation taking in Killynether Wood and the Scrabo Quarry before making a final ascent to Scrabo Tower, Ismail finished the 2 lap run in 37:44 and finishing 3rd in his age category.

Carrickfergus was the destination of choice for races this weekend as 21 Striders headed that way for the popular Storming the Castle 10k. First up were four of the juniors taking part in the Chasing the Knight fun run and they were Lyla McNamara (who was the third girl home), Keara Simpson, Olly Simpson and Lydia Blair. All 4 had also run junior parkrun on Sunday morning as well. In the senior race the first Strider home was Norman Mawhinney, who added yet another M65 win to his ever-growing list, finishing in 39:18. He was closely followed under the 40 minute mark by Michael Warke finishing in 39:53 with a new PB. Graeme McGowan followed soon after in 43:02 and James Cole-Boyle was close behind in 43:04. Also coming in under the 45 minute mark was Simon Ferguson in 44:10, and was soon followed by Jordan McIntyre finishing in 45:33. George Johnston finished in 47:27 and Rebecca Robinson was the first of the Strider females to cross the line, finishing in just under the 50 minute mark in 49:50. Craig Simpson was the next in purple to finish, coming in in 50:59. Gayle Malaugh finished in 52:01, Darren Johnston came in in 52:51, closely followed by Paul Blair in 52:59. Louise Barnes then crossed the line with a fantastic new PB of 53:29. Naomi Magowan was next to finish in 58:19, closely followed by Gordie McEwan in 58:54, Martin Conroy in 59:34 and Georgia McGonigal in 1:01:14.

For parkrun this week Comber was the most popular venue, with 27 club members there to celebrate Abrar Hossain marking his 100th parkrun which he completed in 27:00. There were also course PBs here for Gareth Davies, who was second finisher in 18:50 and Gillian Bailie finishing in 41:07. In  addition to this Sonya Summersgill earned herself another parkrun PB crossing the line in 26:00. The Fisherman’s Walk in Portglenone was the tourism venue of choice for the Luce/McCready clan this week with Harry McCready finishing in 25:05, Calum McCready in 29:17 and Sarah Luce in 29:18. Naomi Magowan also had a debut parkrun here volunteering as tail walker and finishing in 1:08:48. Further afield, Matt Bell, Curtis Adams and Katy Lyttle all made a first visit to Sittingbourne parkrun with Matt finishing in 19:44, Curtis crossing the line in 26:01 and Katy also coming in under 30 minutes in 29:00. Gavin McDonnell took on his new local parkrun at Abingdon, finishing in 30:18.  Closer to home there were debut parkruns at Hillsborough Forest for Peter Doggart, completing his 25th parkrun in 25:13 and Joshua Bingham (25:19), Bangor for Andrew Caddoo (27:53), Dunleath Playing Fields for Sara McMaster (36:34) and MUSA Cookstown for Georgia McGonigal (33:00). Richard Bovill  had a PB of 23:40 at Knockbracken Reservoir parkrun and Striders were also represented with great performances this weekend at Crawfordsburn, Portrush, Castlewellan, Stormont and Orangefield parkruns.

At junior parkrun, there was a third-place finish for Harry McCready in 8:24 and Keara Simpson was 2nd female in 10:03. Also finishing in 10:03 getting himself a new parkun PB was Calum McCready. Olly Simpson got a course PB of 10:07 and Leo Williams finished with a PB of 14:16. The Farringtons made their way to Washingbay Wetlands junior parkrun this week where Willow was 3rd across the line in 8:14 and Heath finished in 9:07. There were also great performances from juniors at Lough Moss, Jordanstown and Bangor junior parkruns.

Entries are still open for the remaining Scrabo Striders open race, the Ards 5 Mile. Taking place on Friday 6th September the route follows the road out to Portaferry before coming back in towards Loughries and returning via Bowtown Road. For more information on how to sign up please visit scrabostriders.com or Scrabo Striders Running Club Facebook Page. As the three previous Scrabo Striders races have all been very popular this year be sure to sign up soon to avoid disappointment.

Scrabo Striders is an all-inclusive running club for all abilities with training sessions Monday-Thursday each week, as well as a trail run on Sunday nights. There are also social runs on Friday night and Sunday morning followed by the obligatory coffee afterwards. For more information visit scrabostriders.com or the club Facebook page.

By Jennifer McAteer