Author: Liz Simpson

It was another busy weekend of running for the club. Striders were out in force at Saturday's parkruns and we had a great turnout at the Branches & Bays 10k trail race on Sunday. 11 Striders ran at Wynyard with Craig Morgan, Amy Gallilee and Tony Gallilee getting new pb's. Fran Corvesor and Kirsty Alderthay volunteered. Elsewhere, 11 more members chose Hartlepool where Sam Johnston celebrated his 350th parkrun. Sam jogged round with Phil Swash and Tom Marrs. Tom pushed his baby daughter, Thea, round for her first ever parkrun. (Thea was later disqualified after an overzealous run director deemed that the tread on her buggy tyres was too low). Speedster Tom Murphy was 1stfinisher. 14 Striders did the Leazes parkrun where Emma Fleming and Glenn Cooper achieved 70%+ age-gradings.…

More wet conditions for Saturday's parkruns - but a marked improvement for Sunday's Darlington 10k. 13 Striders ran at Wynyard Woodland. Amy Gallilee and Tony Gallilee got new pb's. Emma Fleming (70%+ age-grading) was 1st lady to finish and 2nd overall - just a few seconds from leading the entire field home. Gail R, Gareth M, Glenn C, Joanne C and Michelle Ince helped with volunteering. Elsewhere, Tom Ramsey had an excellent run at Hartlepool. Tom (70%+ a-g) was 2ndfinisher in an all-course parkrun pb. Nice work. Steve Cotton was also in great form at Jesmond Dene. Steve getting an all-course parkrun pb. Good stuff. Sarah Cotton got a new pb. Holly Taylor was 2nd lady to finish at Castle Park (Herts) in a new pb. Andrew Beavers recorded a…

20 Striders took a trip to the Hamsterley Forest parkrun on Saturday. It was chosen as one of the club league events for 2023. Suzanne Brodie and Martin Greensitt are the experts for the parkrun - and were on hand to provide us with advice and a course description. It's ranked as one of the toughest parkruns in the UK and with good reason. The first half is a seemingly never-ending climb to the highest point - before a descent back to the finish. There were warnings of rocks and tree roots to fill us with even more trepidation - and then we were off. The first few hundred metres are about the only flat section of the course and I was hoping to enjoy this brief respite from the…