Pink and yellow power this week for the Scrabo Striders!

On a beautiful Saturday morning our usual purple was put to one side in Bangor Parkrun as 29 Striders headed to Ward Park to support coach Nicola Forsythe’s husband James celebrate his couch to 5k graduation. Nicola’s family and Strider friends all wore pink and yellow as these were our late clubmate Amy’s favourite colours and this week would have been her 23rd birthday. The occasion saw several of our Striders try the three-lap course for the first time: Sarah Johnston, Alyson Graham, Gillian Pearson, David Morton, Lyndsey Blair and Cheryl Macartney. Lynn McGonigal celebrated her 25th milestone, well done Lynn!

Elsewhere Striders were in Parkruns across various locations across NI and England. In Comber, Mark Halus celebrated a super PB of 21.02 and was first Strider across the finish line. Junior Elijah Ferguson celebrated his 25th Parkrun crossing the line alongside his dad Simon and met by Mum Karen who had just run a PB herself! Johnathan Winter scored a course PB and Carol Graham and Elaine McGonigal came in across the line together in style holding hands. This was Carol’s couch to 5k graduation, huge congratulations Carol!

Several Striders tried new locations for the first time. Out west, Sarah Luce and Calum McCready ticked off another NI location, doing Enniskillen for the first time in 28.42 and 28.51. Louise Barnes and Georgia McGonigal tried Queens Belfast finishing in 27.59 and 32.39 respectively while Chris Hollies completed Wallace in 27.08.

Tunbridge Wells in Kent was the tourism location for Norman Mawhinney as he used the Royal Tunbridge Wells Parkrun on Saturday to loosen the legs ahead of Sunday’s British Masters Half Marathon Championships at Paddock Wood.

Races were on the menu for some other Striders this weekend too. On Saturday in the North West, a record breaking entry of over 2700 runners took to the streets of the Maiden City for the 2025 edition of the hugely popular Bentley Group Walled City 10 Mile Road Race. This fast course which hugs the banks of the River Foyle, starts and finishes in St Columbs Park and takes in various sights and passes across the Peace Bridge. Sole strider was Maxine Dynes who clocked up an impressive PB of 1.22.56, wow!

While Maxine was running up North, six Striders were in Castlewellan, the location for the finale of the Born 2 Run Series. This set of six races across various locations in Northern Ireland concluded on Saturday despite the storms playing havoc with some of their dates through the winter. Saturday’s race saw brilliant results for our Striders. In the 5K Willow Farrington was first Strider in with a chip time of 25.44 followed by Rory Braniff in 26.20 and dad Stephen on 39.11. In the 10K, Luke Braniff was our first finisher in 45.05 followed by Wendy Thompson in 55.58. Clubmate Karen Wilson finished in a time of 1.02.55, a super run as this was immediately after Castlewellan Parkrun in which she completed a course PB. For Luke and Willow, it was double celebrations as they were both crowned the winners of their age categories 10K for Luke and 5K for Willow, an outstanding achievement!

The sun was out in strength on Sunday morning and a strong cohort of Striders had their trainers on. In England’s Paddock Wood Half Marathon, Norman Mawhinney ran an incredible time of 1.28.06 in the Vet Men 60-69 category in the British Masters Half Marathon Championships, congratulations Norman!

Also enjoying the Spring sunshine, 12 of our younger Striders were at Junior Parkruns. Iona Chanas and Lyla McNamara ran in Bangor, finishing in 09.53 and 14.57 respectively, well done girls!

In Comber, there was a small element of battle of the siblings as the Farringtons, Simpsons, Frazers and McCreadys were out in force joined by their pals Elijah Ferguson and Lydia Blair. Harry McCready and Keara Simpson were in the top three finishers

with Harry crossing the line first in 08.06 and Keara closely following with a PB of 08.32 taking the first female and third overall spots! Heath Farrington pipped sister Willow to by 23 seconds coming in at exactly 9 mins with Willow coming in as 2nd female on 09.23. Calum McCready was behind Willow on 10.10 with clubmate Elijah just behind him on 10.18. Olly Simpson and Nathaniel Frazer were next in 11.10 and 11.30. Lydia Blair crossed the line on 12.14 and Harriet Frazer completed the set of juniors in 16.49. Super turnout by our juniors and so lovely to see them all enjoying themselves as they ran around.

By Sarah Luce