Club History
Club History
St Albans Striders Running Club was founded in the mid 1980s. The inaugural meeting of St Albans Striders is recorded as 22nd July 1984. This was attended by:
M Scorer, L Farrant, C Morris, Mike Starr (Chairman), J Beresford, T Beresford, E Enstone, M Mizra, L Ward, K Ward, R Crossley, C Cole, S Black, K Argiolas, R Griffiths, T Knight, D Formay, P Hollman, Roger Lowe, G Faux, Harold Lowe (Zoe's Dad), B Hargrave, P Tooley, E Halahan, S Hill (Secretary), I Hill, R Shutt, S Mullen, and P Knightly.
Since then the club has grown to its current size of over 500 members.
Recently one of our longest standing members, Colin Braybrook, pulled out the infamous “Striders Book” which gives an insight into the early history of the club through AGM minutes and other notes from when the club began to the year 2000. Since then, the website has provided documented information about races and milestones. Below are some notable historical performances from members along the way:
The Early Years: 1984 – 1989
1984 | St Albans Striders founded. |
1985 | Zoe Lowe wins SAS Women’s club 10k champs. |
1986 | December: Liz Walls is first female SAS finisher in St Albans Marathon in 3:27.26. |
| Mob Match against Garden City Joggers won by GCJ. |
1987 | Zoe Lowe is first female SAS finisher in St Albans Marathon in 3:12:42. |
| SAS 3rd in division 2 of Midweek League. |
| SAS Men and Women both first teams in St Albans Half Marathon. |
1989 | SAS assume responsibility for organising St Albans Marathon. |
1990-2000
1990 | Ros Cox, Zoe Lowe and Sue Hill win Women’s prize at ADT London Marathon and AAA Women’s marathon team Championship. |
| SAS Women top of Midweek League division 1. |
| SAS win the Mob Match. |
1991 | Zoe Lowe wins Herts Marathon champs with 2:56:27 at St Albans Marathon. |
| SAS Men top of Midweek League division 1. |
| SAS win the Mob Match. |
1992 | SAS Women top of Midweek League division 1. |
| SAS win the Mob Match. |
| 26th October – Fred Hughes Chairman killed in road accident. |
1993 | 24th January – Fred Hughes Memorial 10 mile race. |
| London Marathon – Z Lowe, Ros Cox and Sue Barnaby 3rd team. |
1995 | Midweek League: SAS Men 2nd; SAS Women 1st. |
1996 | Midweek League: SAS Men 1st, SAS Women 1st; SAS win the Mob Match. |
1997 | SEAA XC – Amanda Yorwerth 22nd, Zoe Lowe 29th (14th team) |
| London Marathon – SAS Women 1st team: Zoe Lowe 2:51:29, Amanda Yorwerth 2:54:56; Paula Craig 3:04:10. |
1998 | SAS Women 1st team: Nicola Scales 2:44 (still the Women’s club record), Paula Craig 3:02; Judy Brown 3:11. |
1999 | Striders join the Metropolitan Cross Country League. |
2000 | Fred Hughes race moved to Francis Bacon school. |
| SAS Women 4th in London Marathon: Zoe Lowe 2:55:01, Paula Craig 2:57:30, Judy Brown 3:04:57. |
2001 Onwards
2003 | Mike Jubb and Amanda Yorwerth top the individual rankings in the Midweek League Division 1. |
| Mike Jubb places 14th in the National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill. |
2004 | Midweek League: SAS Men 2nd; SAS Women 2nd. |
2005 | Midweek League: SAS Men 2nd; SAS Women 2nd. |
2006 | Midweek League: SAS Men 2nd; SAS Women 3rd. |
2007 | Midweek League: SAS Men 2nd; SAS Women 2nd. |
2008 | Midweek League: SAS Men 2nd; SAS Women 2nd. |
2012 | Midweek League: SAS Men 1st, SAS Women 1st. |
| SAS win the Mob Match. |
2013 | Midweek League: SAS Men 1st, SAS Women 1st. |
| SAS win the Mob Match. |
| SAS join forces with St Albans AC for Cross Country and come top of Division 2 of the Chiltern League (overall and seniors). |
2014 | Midweek League: SAS Men and Vet Men 1st, SAS Women and Vet Women 1st; SAS win the Mob Match. |
| SAS Seniors/Vets 5th in Division 1 of the Chiltern League.
|
2015 | SAS sweep the board at the Midweek League for the second year running. |
| New club vest introduced. The old yellow vest with horizontal blue stripe is replaced with a more modern vest - yellow with diagonal blue two tone stripes and bold Striders font. |
| 5th September - The first St Albans Stampede ultra marathon 12 hour running event held in Heartwood Forest and Nomansland Common. |
| SAS Seniors/Vets 3rd in Division 1 of the Chiltern League. |
2016 | 17th June - SAS host the inaugural Summer Solstice 10k in Highfield Park. |
| Midweek League: SAS Men 2nd, SAS Women 1st; SAS win the Mob Match. |
| SAS Men win the Herts County Cross Country Championships. |
2017 | Midweek League: SAS Men 1st, SAS Women 3rd; SAS win Division 1 overall and the Mob Match for the sixth year running. SAS Men win the Herts County Cross Country Championships. |
| James McMurray sets new Men’s senior club 10k record with 30:31 at the Serpentine New Year’s Day 10k in Hyde Park. |
| Tom Crouch wins the St Albans Half Marathon in 1:12:40. |
| Jack Brooks wins “Service to Sport” award at the St Albans & District Sports Awards; Striders are awarded runners up in the Community Club category. |
2018 Onwards
2018: In the Chiltern League, as a combined team with St Albans AC, we came 5th out of 14 teams after five fixtures.
In the Sunday League XC we placed fourth overall out of 20 teams. Men's team - 6th / 20. Women's team - 6th / 20
2019: In the Chiltern League, as a combined team with St Albans AC, we came 5th out of 14 teams in Division 1. In the Sunday League the women's vet team finished in 1st place across the series. The senior women's team finished in 3rd place.
2020: In the Chiltern League, as a combined team with St Albans AC we repeated the previous seasons result by finishing 5th out of 14 teams in Division 1. Most fixtures from March onwards were cancelled due to Covid restrictions
2021: Most races cancelled due to Covid restrictions
2022: In the Chiltern League we finished in 5th place overall, with the men in 5th place and the women in 3rd. We also finished 7th in the Sunday League XC.
2023: In the Chiltern League, as a combined team with St Albans AC, we came 6th out of 16 teams in Division 1 after five fixtures. The senior women’s team was 3rd, the senior men’s team 3rd. The veteran women’s team were 2nd, the mens vets 3rd.
In the Sunday League, the women were 1st A and B team and 2nd veteran team and the senior men’s A team were 4th , with the mens vets 5th. Striders were 3rd overall
In the Herts County Champs, we won both the women’s and men’s senior team place. The senior women’s B team came second overall