Author: Liz Simpson

This week saw a good Striders turnout at Stewart Park - where Caroline Horton completed her 300th parkrun. The bulk of Caroline's parkruns have been at Albert Park followed by Stewart Park and the Barrage. However, Caroline has appeared at an impressive 72 different venues including runs in the USA and Australia. Caroline achieved her regular 70%+ age-grading. Izzy Morgan made full use of the benign conditions with a new pb and 3rdfemale finish. Over at Wynyard, Stephen Mcneal hit the 50-parkrun milestone. Kay Stokes (70%+ a-g) got a new pb along with Ian Saul. When Doreen Morris gets a new pb, more often than not, Ian Morris will do the same - and so it panned out at Wynyard. Glenn Cooper and Gareth Maloney volunteered. Hartlepool saw Tom Murphy…

Striders entered two ladies and two gents teams in Wednesday's Neptune relays. The relays are hosted by Sedgefield Harriers and take place at Hardwick Park where the Sedgefield parkrun takes place. Teams consist of 4 runners with each handing on to a teammate to complete their 1.7-mile leg. On arrival we paid for parking and headed to the throng of assembled runners. There was no Striders tent - we didn't need one as conditions were absolutely perfect for running with firm ground and light winds. Our two ladies teams were full of squad members from the successful cross-country team so hopes were high for another good performance. Our second ladies team - Liz Simpson (12.33 minutes) on leg 1, Helen Johnston (13.30), Michelle Ince (13.19) and Charlotte Morgan (12.37) -…

20 Striders at Wynyard this week - where hopefully the course is starting to dry out a little. There were new pb's for Steve Mitchinson, Karen Clarke, Ian Morris, Doreen Morris, Tony Gallilee and Amy Gallilee. Holly Taylor was 3rd lady to finish. Glenn Cooper and Andy Laverick volunteered. Elsewhere, Anna Curruthers reached 100 parkruns at Durham. At Albert I saw Tom Murphy and Sam Johnston deep in conversation during their warm-up. The topic was obviously the need for speed - and the result was all-course parkrun pb's for both. Tom also getting a 70%+ age-grading and 3rd place finish. Nice work chaps. At Sedgefield Helen Mcilvenny (70%+) got a new pb and was 3rd lady to finish. Zoe Cornforth got a Sedgefield pb. Abby Barker and Emma Fleming swapped…

Hi all. I'm writing after viewing the terribly sad news published earlier today on the website. If you're reading this then obviously this weeks report has been put on. I realize that some of you may feel it inappropriate to report on running events this week. If you're seeing this then it's because the sentiment expressed in the website message wished that the reporting continued and a member of the Striders committee has deemed it okay to publish. Thanks. It was the London Marathon this week with five Striders running. More on that later. On Saturday it was parkrun number two at Wynyard Woodland. On another wet day we had 6 new pb's. They went to Kris Allen, Steve Mitchinson, Michelle Ince, Doreen Morris, Melanie Preece and Joanne Cooke. Gail…