Striders Weekly Update 22/01/2025
January can be a quieter month for races, though many in Scrabo Striders are getting stuck into their training plans for various upcoming races in the Spring.
On Saturday Norman Mawhinney travelled to Templemore Sportsplex in Derry/ Londonderry to race in the NI and Ulster Intermediate and Masters Cross Country Championships. He added another gold medal to his collection with a Masters M65 win for the 2nd year in a row. His time for the 4k race distance was 15:19.
December Member of the Month presentations took place at training this week. The club very much appreciates Boyd Rice Solicitors sponsoring these awards for a number of years now.
Captain Lyndsey Blair presented Naomi Magowan with the female award. A Strider for around three years, Naomi achieved personal bests in 5k, 10k, half marathon and ultra distances in 2024, and finished off a great year with a parkrun PB of 27:22 at Comber just before Christmas. Naomi is a lovely person, trains hard and represents Scrabo at plenty of events. The club wishes her the very best as she works towards her first marathon in Belfast in May!
Receiving the male award from Captain Michael Burgess was Dave Stevenson. A friendly and encouraging member since 2018, Dave holds the club record for 50km (4:29:21), and shares the 12 hour (64.62 miles) and Backyard Ultra (150 miles) club records with Norman Mawhinney and Graeme Black respectively. He achieved a marathon PB of 3:07:26 at Malaga in December, and is currently focusing his training towards his goal of a sub 3 hour marathon in Manchester in April. Dave has also been a fantastic asset to the club as a coaching assistant for the junior Foundations group over the past 18 months.
64 Striders ran at 13 parkrun venues on Saturday morning. The majority attended Comber where Michael Brown celebrated his 50th event with his best time since 2018! Martin Conroy (24:05) and Glenn Campbell (25:32) achieved PBs, while Calum McCready set his fastest time on the Comber course. Also popular with Scrabo members was Stormont. Lyndsey Blair recorded a course PB, while her daughter Lydia ran her fastest ever parkrun in 31:37! There were course PBs for Luke Braniff (Waterworks), Jenna Lavery (Belfast Victoria) and a fantastic 3rd female finish for Jenny Taylor (Bangor). Regular tourists Cheryl Macartney and Michael Burgess were at Yarborough Leisure Centre parkrun in Lincoln, where Michael recorded a PB (20:22).
On Sunday, Comber junior parkrun saw a record breaking 91 runners, of which 16 were Scrabo junior members. Celebrating the impressive achievement of 100 junior events were brother and sister Olly and Keara Simpson. They have also recently celebrated their 50th 5k parkruns along with their dad Craig. After a strong performance at parkrun on Saturday, Calum McCready achieved an overall PB of 9:43, while his brother Harry was 2nd male to cross the finish line.
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Michael Burgess