The Striders were out in force again at the third and final event of the Hatfield 5k race series, making up around 1 in 10 of the 200 strong field. Callum Bond was the first Strider home in 3^rd place overall in 16:23, closely followed by Jonathan Scott in 16:28 (7^th) and Euan Turner, representing AC, in 16:42. It was a very tight finish in the female race with Lucy Waterlow just pipped into 2^nd place based on gun time, although she shared a chip time of 18:39 with the winner. She was closely followed by Lily Seach in 3^rd place (18.44) and Kate Dixon in 8th place (19:45) making up the winning female team for the evening. The trio won the team event for the overall series based on their cumulative time for the best 2 out of 3 races. Waterlow and Seach also secured 1^st and 2^nd place respectively in the overall series and Bond, Scott, Andrew McKillop and Andy Jordan finished runner up in the team event with the latter 3 also placing in medal position for their age categories. Other notable performances included Nicky Laitner (21:33) and Wendy Walsh (20:10) who were 1^st and 2^nd respectively in their age categories.

Nearly 100 Striders turned up for the club handicap, an event which was originally set up almost 40 years ago in 1985. Run over a 4 mile course this fun and friendly event gives everybody a fair chance of crossing the finish line first by staggering the start time based on each individual’s latest 5k performance. Helen Giffen was the first to break through the tape. A well deserved drink was enjoyed by many afterwards at the King Harry Pub.

Steve Buckle comfortably took overall victory at the Leighton Buzzard 10k in 34:15 with a lead of well over a minute. Patrick Hayes finished in 2nd place at the Spitfire 10K at the RAF Museum in Hendon in a time of 38:23, spurred on by his young son who was absolutely delighted with his dad’s prize of an Airfix kit of a Spitfire. Further north Rose McGinness, Laura Astley and Shanti Johnson completed the Humber Coastal Half marathon, working as a team and passing through the finish line together in a time of 2:02:28