Last Saturday was very special for St Albans Striders athlete Andy Jordan. He described stepping onto the Tooting Bec athletics track as feeling like seeing an old friend for the first time in ages. Seven years had passed since he last raced there but the intimacy had not faded one bit. That familiarity had started when one day in 2016 he ran just over 220 km (around 550 laps) on the track, repeating a similar feat the following year.

His overdue return on Saturday was for the 2024 Veterans Athletic Club & London Masters Open Track & Field Championships. In stark contrast to race distances that are measured in hundreds of laps, he was there this time to compete in the 400m, 800m and 1500m races which was a mere six and three quarter laps in total!

He raced incredibly well and medalled in the 400m and 800m. He was also delighted with his 1500m time of 4:58.80 which was a new St Albans Striders M60 club record and just over a second behind Clare Elms from Kent AC who set a new W60 world record.

This followed a victory earlier in the week at the Hatfield 5k where he was first in his age category in a fantastic time of 18:20. This was the first of three races in consecutive weeks making up the race series, with the initial race incorporating the Herts Senior Champs. The race boasted a high quality field, with over half of the 260 runners finishing under 22 minutes. The Striders were well represented and secured silver in the men’s team event and bronze in the female team event. Leading the men home was George Booth who was 4^th overall in a superb time of 15:55, with Callum Bond (10^th 16:26), Chris Dennell (13^th 16:42) and Jonathan Scott (18^th and 3^rd in his age category 16:55) completing the prize winning team. Max Campbell was 2^nd in his age category (18:59).

Lily Seach (6^th 18:34), Florence Thwaites Miles (8^th 18:85), and Emily Hodgson (12^th 19:41) made up the Striders medal winning team. Kate Dixon earned herself an individual medal for coming 3^rd in her age category (19:44).

In other news, Drew Thomson knocked almost 3 minutes off his half marathon personal best at The Big Half which he completed in 1:31:02. The race weaved through London from Tower Bridge to the iconic Cutty Sark in Greenwich with the runners benefiting from a huge amount of support along the way.