Striders Out In Force At Hatfield 5 Mile Race

Storm Bert was no match for the 40 Striders who took on the local 5-mile race despite the extremely windy conditions at the Hertfordshire University campus on Sunday.

With the county 5m championships taking place at the event there was plenty of silverware up for grabs in both individual and team events.

For the women Freya Weddell stormed home to victory in 28:40 to claim first place in the event proper and county gold. She was joined on the podium by Heather Hann who picked up a county bronze. The Striders’ ladies team took overall gold with Weddell, Hann and Hannah Burkhardt collecting the team gold. Weddell set a new club record for the 5 mile distance and judging by her form we may be expecting the next storm to be named after her!

In the men’s Stefano Federici took 4^th overall (3^rd County) to finish in 26:46. He was joined by James Bryden (28:20), Chris Dennell (28:25) and Jonathan Scott (28:52) as the quartet took the overall gold in the county team event. Not to be outdone they were followed by James Chasen, Adam Yorwerth, Karl Tull and Andy Jordan as Striders B claimed county silver as the second fastest men’s team.

Although proving to be a tricky race for obvious reasons there were plenty of smiles at the finish as the Striders shared their experiences in the post-race debrief.

Elsewhere Ivan Ghouse took on the Silverstone Half Marathon in equally notorious conditions. The Strider who has a knack for PBing at every HM this year managed 1:35:45 as the crosswinds on the famous formula one circuit proved a little to much this time.