SCRABO STRIDERS SHINE IN CROSS COUNTRY

It may be half term school holidays this week but that doesn’t mean there was a break in the Scrabo Striders running calendar.   This Saturday saw Striders head to Minnowburn in South Belfast for Born to Run Series 5 and 10k race.

The very popular series starts and finishes at infamous Mary Peters Track in South Belfast, while taking in the beautiful scenic Minnowburn Forest.

Striders had three striders who took on the 10k route.  First home with an impressive time of 51.33 was Simon Ferguson.  Next up was first female strider home Karen Collins with a time of 54.40 and next David Morton in a great time of 1.12.44.

Striders had four members who took part in the 5k race.  First home with an extremely impressive time was junior member Harry McCready in 23.53.  Next up was Harry’s mum Sara in a time of 31.07, followed next by Lisa Boal in a time of 35.02 and next Lisa’s sister Mairead Curran in a time of 41.04.

Also on Saturday was the very popular Cross Country event McConnell Shield in Ballyclare.  We had four men who took on the challenging 5-mile route and joint first home for Scrabo Striders was Captain Matt Bell and member Max Burton in a time of 35.14, followed by Craig Simpson in a time of 37.21 and Vice-Captain George Johnston in a time of 42.45.

The ladies had 7 members who took part in a distance of 3 miles.  First home was Sonya Summergill in a time of 26.07, very quickly followed by Naomi Magowan in 27.16 and Gillian Perarson 27.54.  Next was Faye Alexander in a time of 28.35 and Karen Wilson in 29.29, next was Janice McCartney in a time of 30.14 and Cheryl Alexander in a time of 33.24.

As well as adults team we had some junior members who also took part.  Our very own under 16 member Willow Farrington took part in the 2-mile race and came 3rd female with an impressive time of 14.19.  In the under 14 race, there was a touch of sibling rivalry with brother and sister Olli and Keara Simpson taking part.  Big sister Keara was first home with only 7 seconds faster than younger brother Olli with times of 8.07 and 8 minutes.

Not to be outdone we had 3 under 12s who completed an 800 metre route.   First finished was Heath Farrington in 3.03.  Next was Alana Edwards on 3.19, quickly followed by Caleb Edwards on 3.26.

On Sunday 3rd November saw our very own Norman Mawhinney head across the pond to the City that never sleeps to complete New York Marathon.  Norman completed this in an impressive time of 3.07.12 awarding him a course personal best and 5th place in M65 Abbots World Marathon Championships.

A bit closer to home was the weekly fixture known as Parkrun.  Striders had 51 members who took part in 12 different venues.  Most popular venue was Comber parkrun were member Martin Oakman achieved a PB of 22.40.  Other venues were Valley, Belfast Victoria, Bangor, Paisley Park, Waterworks, Stormont, Lurgan Park and Ecos, Falls and Montalto and Lough Head.   10 members took on a new venue for the first time.  Past Captain Andy Haylett achieved first place at Valley Parkrun in a fantastic time of 19.31.