To round off the year three Striders travelled to a very blustery Carrickfergus to take on the second day of East Antrim Marathon series New Year’s Eve Back to Back races. Although a reasonably flat course runners had to battle against very strong headwinds on the way out from the castle as well as contending with some waves at high tide. Jennifer McAteer ran the 10k finishing in 1:18:46 and frequent marathoners Maxine Dynes and Colin Campbell took on the marathon finishing in 5:30:30 and 5:31:19 respectively.

On New Year’s Day eight Striders travelled to the Glenarriff hills to take on the Race over the Glens, a hilly trail 6 mile run, also battling a range of different weather conditions throughout. First across the line for Striders was resident Strider mountain goat, Ismail, finishing in 53:39 and fifth in his age category. He was soon followed by the first female Strider across the line, Jenny Taylor, who was first in her age category in 58:15. Chris Burns crossed the line in 1:03:45 with Heather Baron following in 1:07:03. Karen Collins finished in 1:09:19 and Amanda Martin came in in 1:12:16, finishing fifth in her age category. She was closely followed by Fiona McAvoy finishing in 1:12:47 and Martina Finn finished in 1:21:58.

As with Christmas Day, New Year’s Day also offered an opportunity for people to get in an extra parkrun to kick off the year. Comber was the most popular venue which saw Judith Boyd celebrating her 25th parkrun in 23:46 and Harry McCready got a course PB of 26:26. At Stormont parkrun there was an overall parkrun PB for Ashlyn Hughes who finished in 28:39 and a first visit to the parkrun for Victoria Sloan who finished in 32:16. At Crawfordsburn there was a course PB of 19:52 for Andy Haylett while Rachel Bell celebrated her 100th parkrun completing it in 57:32. Michael Warke had a debut run at Waterworks finisheing in 29:55 and there was a course PB for Sara McMaster at Orangefield of 34:16. There were also great performances from Striders in Portrush, Cutypark and Enniskillen while perennial parkrun tourists Michael Burgess and Cheryl Macartney travelled to Royal Canal parkrun in Kilcock where Michael finished in a parkrun PB of 20:28 and Cheryl completed it in 43:17.

At junior parkrun on Sunday there was a second place finish for Willow Farrington at Comber, finishing in 8:04. Joe Brown was third male finishing in 9:34 and there were six other juniors who ran well. At Bangor junior parkrun Michael Bingham got a course PB of 12:10 and Lyla Rose McNamara finished 3rd female in 12:46.

The first of Scrabo Striders open races for 2025, the Grant Estate Agents Run the Runways will take place on Friday 9th May 2025. A flat course with PB potential if the weather is kind, with a 5k and 10k option as well as a 2k kids fun run, there is an option for everyone and of course the famous Strider post-race hospitality. For more details including entry sign up please visit the Scrabo Striders Facebook page.

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