On Saturday two Striders headed to Carlingford to take on the ever popular half marathon and 10k. With a somewhat undulating first half followed by a flat fast finish it’s marketed as a PB potential course in the right conditions. Andy Haylett completed it in 1:23:54 finishing in 30th place at his first attempt at this course and Norman Mawhinney finished in 1:27:44.

On Sunday, club vice captain Matt Bell travelled to Brighton to run the half marathon there. This was Matt's first visit to the race and he crossed the line with a new PB of 1:25:31.

Also on Sunday outgoing captains Lyndsey Blair and Michael Burgess held this year's captains race which took place at Divis and the Black Mountain. With a 2k option for the juniors and a 3.8 mile race for the seniors there was an option in the first of this year’s 8 Strides for everyone. Hamish Orr-Stewart was first to cross the line in the junior race finishing in 8:05, followed by Joshua Bingham in 8:54 and Heath Farrington came in in third in 9:00. Older sister Willow Farrington closely followed in 9:01 to take first female junior, Iona Chanas was second female across the line in 10:11 with Penelope Davies third female junior in 10:44. In the adults race, running a tough half marathon the day before didn’t deter Andy Haylett as he was first across the line in 26:17. Ismail Karauzum was not far behind finishing in 26:46 closely followed by Gary Lyttle in 26:47. Catherine Cauley was first female to cross the line in 30:52 with Judith Boyd coming in second in 31:50 and Karen Collins making a swift return from doing parkrun in Birmingham the day before to finish third in 32:49.

At parkrun on Saturday Comber was the popular venue as people gathered to celebrate Faye Alexander’s 100th parkrun, which she ran a PB in of 27:33. There were also PBs for Martin Conroy, finishing in 23:14 and Jenna Lavery in 26:51 and course PBs for Gillian Pearson in 28:54 and David Morton in 29:13. Paisley Park saw PBs for the Luce McCready family as Harry finished 3rd with a new PB of 22:19, Calum finished with a new PB of 27:33 while mum Sarah got a course PB of 27:36. Ellen Ross got herself an early birthday celebration with a PB of 35:02 at Bangor. Janice McCartney made a first visit to Edinburgh parkrun finishing in 32:53, Jonathan Keenan made the trip to Fisherman’s Walk finishing in 25:24, Leamington was the choice of venue for Lorraine Adams getting a course PB of 34:52 and Simon Ferguson celebrated his 25th parkrun with a trip to Edgbaston Reservoir which he completed in 22:01. Karen Collins crossed the line in this course in 24:20 while Gavin McDonnell came home in 27:57. There are also great performances from Striders at Knockbracken Reservoir, Stormont, Waterworks, Crawfordsburn and Portrush parkruns.

At junior parkrun on Sunday, Comber again was the most popular venue where four of the juniors took part, where Nathaniel Frazer got a new PB of 11:12, with another taking part in Bangor junior parkrun.

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..

By Jennifer McAteer