Having fallen victim to the weather conditions, junior Striders got a chance to shine at the Schools cross country which took place on Wednesday at Billy Neill Playing Fields. In the Mini Boys race Adam Haylett and Rory Braniff acquitted themselves well, both crossing the line in 9:04. In the Minor Girls race Keara Simpson finished strongly in 8:35. Gus Forster completed the Junior Boys race in 17:12 while Zara Johnston completed the Junior Girls race in 19:09. In the Inter Boys race Luke Braniff took part, finishing in 23:24.

Antrim was the destination for the fifth race in the Born 2 Run Run Forest Run series, rescheduled from the original date due to Storm Eowyn. Three Striders took part in the 5k. Rory Braniff completed it in 26:07, Willow Farrington finished in 41:13 and Tina Hewitt finished in 54:48. In the 10k Luke Braniff bagged himself a 10k PB to finish first in the male junior category in 43:07 and Karen Wilson who was “taking it easy” finished in 57:56, her fastest 10k in six months.

Saturday also saw the penultimate race of the cross country season taking place in Stormont and Striders were well represented across all categories. In the under 13 race Keara Simpson was the first junior Strider to finish, crossing the line in 8:48. She was soon followed by younger brother Olly who crossed the line in 10:50 alongside Calum McCready. In the U15 category Harry McCready flew the flag solo for the Striders finishing in 14:02. In the ladies’ race there was a good turnout from the Striders with eight taking part. Jenny Taylor was first across the line in 24:13, soon followed by Karen Collins in 27:02. Sonya Summersgill was next to finish in 29:20 with Naomi Magowan coming close behind in 29:26.The next runner across the line was Amanda Martin in 30:36, Lyndsey Blair crossed in 31:39, Sarah Luce followed in 32:02 and Emma McCracken finished in 35:05. In the men’s over 60 race Norman Mawhinney delivered another win as he was the first overall to cross the line in 20:50. In the men’s race there were three very strong performances from those who took part as they all finished close together, with Daniel Warke finishing in 30:07, Jonathan Swann in 30:09 and Matthew Halus in 30:25.

At parkrun Comber once again was the most popular venue for Striders which saw PBs for Karen Farrelly who finished in 26:22 and Rachel Brown who finished in 30:32 as well as a course PB for David Morton who came home in 30:32. Ormeau parkrun saw Katie Irvine complete her 50th parkrun in 37:48 and Karen Warnock used this as an opportunity to run this course for the first time finishing in 32:39 while Graeme McGowan ran a course PB of 21:10. It was a first visit to Portrush parkrun for Rachel Bell which she completed in 36:38, and Abrar Hossain and Kathy Henderson took on the hills of Falls parkrun finishing in 23:08 and 38:19 respectively. Nicola Forsythe got a course PB of 30:25 at Holy Cross College parkrun where she was a solo Strider, Georgia McGonigal ticked Bangor off her list finishing it in 32:39 and Luke Mars and Hannah Magee took themselves to Birmingham where they completed Edgbaston Reservoir parkrun in 46:17 and 51:16 respectively. Meanwhile, the pair who accumulate far more miles in the travel than the actual parkrun Michael Burgess and Cheryl Macartney travelled to Isobel Trail parkrun in Staffordshire meaning completion of a parkrun in every UK region. With this Michael gained a parkrun PB of 20:17 and Cheryl finished in 40:09. There were also great parkrun performances from Striders at Dunleath Playing Fields, Hillsborough Forest, Knockbracken Reservoir, Abingdon and Evesham parkruns.

At junior parkrun on Sunday there was a first place finish for Harry McCready at Comber, finishing in 8:19. Keara Simpson was close behind finishing second overall with a new PB of 8:41. Joe Brown was third male finishing in 9:34 and there were eight other juniors who ran well. There were also great performances at Belfast Victoria and Bangor junior parkruns and an unofficial milestone of 150 junior parkruns for Rory Braniff at Musgrave junior parkrun.

The Boyd Rice Solicitors Ladies Member of the Month for January was awarded by Ladies Captain Lyndsey Blair to Jenna Lavery. With running her first marathon in Belfast in May 2024, followed by a huge PB in her second in Dublin in October as well as PBs over every distance in the past year, Jenna has had some fantastic performances. In addition to this she has been working tirelessly behind the scenes as club secretary for the past 18 months, keeping so much ticking over in club matters in the background and handling many queries as well as assisting with new sign ups and maintaining club membership renewals and ensuring that all of us as members are kept up to date with important changes as well as the vital information about training sessions. A very worthy recipient of this month’s award.

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