Striders Dominate

On Sunday 19th June, a group of Striders competed in the Road to Recovery Half Marathon,  starting and finishing at Eye Kettlby Lakes and organised by Claire Lomas.  This was the 3rd edition with proceeds again going to the Nicholls spinal injury foundation.  This year also included a 5k and 10k race .
In the tough half marathon, Jason Barton defended his title to win for the 3rd year in a row in an excellent 1.19.21.  Next, in 4th overall and also defending her ladies title, was Natalie Teece in 1.28.56.  Then in 9th Ian Howe in a P.b of 1.34.57,  16th Clive Kent 1.38.40, 24th Rich Gray 1.45.11, 26th Michelle Farlow 1.47.12,   32nd Abi Arnott 1.48.44,  39th Rebecca Forester 1.51.15 p.b,   44th Sharon Eshelby 1.54.23,  55th Sarah Lawrence 1.56.49,  59th Mathew Daniel 1.58.19 p.b,
 79th Matt Gayton 2.13.23 (  in a wedding dress , getting married next week!), 84th Daniel Gray 2.17.58,
Ben Pickard , Jenny Kent,  Dan moult , and Kaye Mead finished together in fancy dress in 2.50.46 .
Luke Eggleston showed his return to form to win the inaugural 10k event in 39 min 13 secs.  A fantastic debut in 5th place overall winning the ladies was new Strider Nicola Taylor 43.59. 8th Michael Cooke 46.04, 9th Christie Jones 46.23, 25th Ray Walker 53.44, 26th Rachel Ashmore 53.40,  36th Vanessa Walker 58.09 and  76th Simon Richardson p.b 69.51.
In the 5k , in 2nd place overall and first female was Junior Strider ( under 13 category ) Georgina in an excellent 22 min 53 .

Keswick Mountain Festival 2018

Another group of Striders headed to the Lakes but this time it was the Nicholls and Taylor families plus friends for “KMF” rather than “BGR”. The Keswick Mountain Festival has a wide variety of events to choose from (runs, swims, sportives, triathlons including kids events) with the added bonus of live music in the evenings and stunning scenery.
Saturday began with a 5K swim in the lake for Kristy N and Amy T (Matt’s wife), then a 5K trail run for Luke N.
Sunday started very early with a 50K trail run for Andy N and, during the 8+ hours that took, Matt T did the long triathlon (including cycling the epic Honister Pass).
Andy taking a break to take a selfie!
An early start for Matt.
In the Junior aquathlon, Zoe N, Ella T and Reuben T all finished with podium positions.
Junior Strider Zoe won the 11/12 girls event.
Who’s going to join us next year?

More May Races

Sunday 13th May 2018

A group of Striders travelled to Leicester for the Bosworth half marathon; part of the Leicestershire road running league and also this year the county half marathon championship. In a large field of over 870, first back for Stilton, in an excellent 15th, was Jason Barton in 1.18.58.   67th Luke Eggleston in 1.26.56. Alan Thompson secured another p.b: 1.29.54 , 110th was Ian Drage 1.31.41,  265th was Vicki Lowe 1.43.11,  281st was Julie Bass who also finished 2nd in her category with a time of 1.43.48.  361st was Daniel Howley 1.48.09,  378th was Michelle Farlow 1.49.34,   417th was Dan Giblett 1.51.37 and  508th was Jacqui Riley 1.57.41 .

 

Other Striders competed in the Clawson 10k . A  hilly off road race over fields and styles.  First back for Striders and first lady in an excellent 10th place was Natalie Teece in 46.31. 18th was Matt Gayton 49.27,  36th was Michael Cooke 53.43,   38th was John Houghton 53.50,   41st was Katie Hateley 54.16,   87th was Lou Houghton 60.17, 173rd was Emma Hope 71.06 and  220th was Simon Richardson 80.30 .

 

Sunday 27th May 2018

A group of Stilton Striders travelled to Kibworth for Kibworth 6, a Leicestershire road running league winter race rescheduled from February due to snow. Conditions couldn’t have been more different with temperatures in the twenties for what is one of the hilliest races on the calendar.  First back for Striders was Jason Barton in an excellent 9th place in 36 min 4 secs, next in a brilliant new p.b of 40min 48 secs was Andy Nicholls in 52nd, not far behind in 55th was Alan Thompson in 40.57, 62nd was Ian Drage in 41.27, 115th was  Darren Glover in 45.31,  177th was  Dan Giblett in his first 6 mile race 49.25, 228th was  Liz Goodbourn  in 53.08,  237th was  Ray Walker in 54.14  and 256th was Vanessa Walker in 56.09 .

Dukeries Ultra

For a first long distance event then you probably can’t do better than the Dukeries Ultra, organised by Hobo Pace, with a choice of 30 or 40 miles of predomiantly flat woodland trail largely spent under the cover of Sherwood Forest. Three Stilton Striders entered the 40 mile distance this year; Rich Gray, Simon Bottrill and doing his first ultra distance event Jon Wilson. 
 
Conditions were near perfect for the day with it being clear and dry with a welcoming cool breeze when under cover. Despite a small navigation error in the first few miles, which was due to not keeping the eyes open to spot the right sign (another race route crossed over with similar signage) rather than any error on behalf of the organisers, this was such an easy route to follow. With such beautiful surroundings the miles were soon eaten up along with the generous supply of food at the checkpoints making the whole run an enjoyable experience. All three Striders completed the course with Rich and Simon finishing jointly in 7:40:42 and Jon Wilson accompanied by daughter Laura (runni​​ng for Abingdon AC) finishing jointly in 10:07:59.
 
This was well organised and well marshalled event clearly signed throughout in a beautiful part of Nottinghamshire. Special thanks goes to SSRC’s Kaye Mead and Debs Wilson both marshalling at the last checkpoint and a very welcome site at mile 34. 

Wymeswold Waddle

Most of us would probably have preferred to be one of the ducks floating down the stream in the duck race rather than running 5 miles in the fierce heat but that didn’t stop a plucky group of Striders amongst 331 runners including some mad fools from the Wymeswold club running in full body duck outfits.  First home was Luke Egglestone 30:54 (15th) followed by Andy Nicholls 32:04, Tam Nicol 36:18, Jon Wilson 40:14, Lora Holmes 43:11, Vanessa Walker 43:59, Kathy Walsh 45:06, Debs Wilson 47:24, Steph Nicol 47:47 plus Vanessa & Ray’s son Seb Walker in 36:08.
The course was an out-and-back route which was mainly uphill to the half way point then a nice fast 2nd half to the race being mainly downhill.  Great feeling to end the race faster than you started and big crowds to cheer you home.  A lovely little race, good value and with a technical T-shirt thrown in too.

Livingston Relays 2018 and Big Leicester 10k

On Sunday a group of Stilton Striders travelled to Leicester for the Livingston relays , one of the oldest races on the local calendar first held in 1928 and the original silver cup is still awarded to the winning men’s team .
Last few years held at Braunstone Park, a mainly flat 1 lap coarse with a small but sharp climb in the last mile, it’s regarded as a quick coarse with some of the fastest men going under 15 minutes for the 3 mile route .
3 ladies per team ,  4 men per team , each runner does 1 lap then passes on to the team mate and the quickest overall time wins .
In the veteran category, Striders Vet ladies came away with a brilliant silver medal for the 2nd year in a row , this year’s medallists were Lou Houghton 21.35, Vicki Lowe 21.39 and Julie Bass 21.13.
Ladies A team were: Michelle Farlow 21.29 , Sarah Lawrence 23.16 , then Sharon Louise 22.01 .
Ladies B team were: Emma Hope 25.33 , Rachel Heggs 24.51 , then Charlotte Allen 23.34 .
Striders Vet men came 10th in their category with Ian Howe 19.50 p.b , Neil Jaggard 21.54 , Matt Taylor 19.35 and Darren Glover 20.05 .
Striders A team came 12th in their category with Luke Eggleston in 18.03 , Jason Barton an excellent 16.25 p.b , Matt Gayton 18.57, and Niall Rennie 16.55 p.b
Striders B team were:  Ross Jackson 21.26 p.b , Sean Elkington 18.31 , Tam Nicol 21.56 and Christie Jones 20.16 p.b.
Striders at Livingston Relays
Also in Leicester a few ran the ‘ Big Leicester 10k .’ A large field of over 1100 runners held in Abbey park. First back for Striders in an excellent 32nd place was Alan Thompson in 39 min 34, then 181st Greeba Heard in 48.31 , the 203rd Jon Wilson in 49.31 , then 401st Anne Craddock in 54.41 , then 434th Lynda Harris in 55.02  and 560th Deb Wilson in 58.58 .

London Marathon 2018

By Andy Nicholls
London looks much nicer in the sunshine and, with the Docklands Light Railway strike being cancelled at the last minute, I caught the train to London the day before feeling fairly happy.  Registration and getting to the race start went smoothly and then it was the small matter of running 26.2 miles.
We’d had lots of warnings about not going off too fast, hydrating enough (but not too much!) and so it was a bit of a surprise when the race started and I felt pretty good.  There were many sights along the way: a lady on massive stilts, many of the Grenfell firefighters walking in full gear and even a man in a full suit of armour which made the first half pass fairly quickly.
After that, the heat must have caught up with me. I slowed down and then started to walk/run from mile 16 but the great support from family, Striders and many random strangers kept me going to finish in 4:09.  Well done to Chris Southam 2:54, Nat Teece who improved on her time from last year at 3:06 and Helen Metcalfe 5:31 also fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Thanks to the Committee for awarding me the place and I hope whoever goes next year has better (i.e. worse!) weather.
Andy at the bitter end!
Chris continued his great form in the capital.

 

Natalie looking strong at mile 20.