Saturday 14th February saw Striders attend Cross Country event at Stormont Estate.  Athletes delivered a series of impressive performances at the latest cross country fixture with standout results in the senior, junior and masters categories. Competitive fields, fast running, and several decisive victories marked a successful day for all involved.

Senior Men took on a tough 4.4 mile route in the iconic Stormont Estate, Belfast and first male strider to finish was Matt Bell in 29:31, closely followed by Gary Lyttle in 29:38. Simon Ferguson secured third with 33:48, while Craig Simpson (34:23), Steven Hanna (39:56), and Gareth Gordon (45:49) completed the results.

We had our one and only male veteran runner Norman Mawhinney, who recorded an excellent time of 22:06 in the M60 category.

In our Ladies race of 3.3 miles, first female strider home was Karen Collins in 25:19. She was followed by strong performances from Amanda Martin (29:31), Sonya Summersgill (29:39), Caroline Dwyer (30:10),  Faye Alexander was next in a time of 31:28 quickly followed by Alyson Graham in 31:39, Charlotte Connolly in 31:52 and Sarah Johnston in 31:54.  Sarah Luce completed in 32:56, Joanna Gallagher in 33:00, Rachel Boyle in 33:47.  Karen Wilson finished alongside Sharon Murdoch in a time of 34:17 quickly followed by Emma McCracken in 34:32, Cheryl Alexander in 35:56 and Emma Ruddock in 37:36.

In our Under 15 & 17 Keara Simpson delivered one of the day’s most eye‑catching junior performances, taking victory in 14:27.

Not to be outdone, our Under 13 athletes produced excellent results, led by Iona Chanas in 7:45, followed by Elijah Ferguson (9:13), Olly Simpson (9:38), and Alana Edwards (9:50).

In other events this weekend, Jennifer McAteer completed East Antrim Marathon Series Valentines Challenge, 2 loops of 4.2 miles each a total of 8.4 miles.

Due to the dipping temperatures quite a few parkruns were cancelled but some of our eager striders managed to find some locations.

Past captain Michael Burgess completed his Cowell Club on Saturday morning – 100 different parkrun locations, Michael went off to Burgess Parkrun in London and completed this in an impressive time of 21.32.  Michael has attended parkrun in all of Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Jersey, Shetland Islands, Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Denmark.  Well done Michael great achievement!

In other parkrun news we had 23 members take on 10 locations with the most popular being Victoria Parkrun, Belfast where junior Calum McCready completed his 50th parkrun and young Lyla McNamara got an impressive Personal Best of 31.05.

Other venues were Orangefield, Montalto Estate, Queens, Portrush, Waterworks, Paisley Park, Hillsborough and Sixmilewater.

On Sunday, saw Junior Parkrun with 5 members take on 3 locations.  With no rest for Lyla McNamara who was up and at it again at Bangor Parkrun where she came 1st female in a time of 10.56.  Well done, Lyla, some great running this weekend!

Simpson siblings, Keara and Olly attended Victoria Parkrun and Lydia Blair and Heath Farrington attended Comber.

By Nicola Forsythe