St Albans Striders were out in full force at the Wheathampstead 10km race on Sunday with just under 40 competitors in an overall field of 350 taking on a challenging but beautifully scenic off-road course. The male Striders had 4 finishers in the top 10, lead by Jake Butterfield (2nd overall in 37.18), closely followed by Adam Yorwerth (3rd overall in 37.46) and then by Max Campbell (8th overall and 1st in his age category in 42.55) and Gwynfor Tyley (10th overall and 2nd in his age category in 43.39). Not to be outdone, the women Striders had an impressive five finishers in the top 10 in the female race. Wendy Walsh and Kate Dixon were 1st and 3rd in times of 43.53 and 45.52 respectively, immediately followed by fellow team mates Helen Cartlidge (4th in 47.02), Stacey Harris (5th overall and 1st in her age category in 47.29) and then Rachel Dixon (8th in 50.01). Other notable performances in their gender age categories were John Cooper (2nd with 46.01) Colin Braybrook (3rd with 46.32), Andrew Maher (4th with 44.20) and Eileen Sindole (2nd with 1.03.20).

Carrie Louise Frazer was the 1st female completing the marathon distance at The Flying S Run event in a personal best time of 03:48:29 accompanied along the way by fellow team mate Thomas Toyer. This is a 7 hour time challenge event which allows athletes full control over the distance they want to run along a beautiful stretch of the River Thames.

Much further away from home, Ruthie Martin completed an incredible 158.4 miles over 6 days for Tribe Run for Love in Croatia describing the event as “beautiful but brutal!” Team mate Hannah Martin joined in the last 14 miles to support her over the finishing stretch home. The route ran through untouched National Parks in one of the wildest areas of Croatia along incredible mountain ridgeways with the event proceeds going to ending modern slavery.

Striders rose to the challenge in the home fixture in the Southern Athletics League on Sunday to gain valuable points for St Albans AC. Despite both having run in the Wheathampstead 10k earlier in the day, Gavin Clifton competed in the 5,000m and 2,000m steeple chase and Kate Dixon completed what went on to be the winning 4 x 400m relay team. Andrew Dobinson demonstrated his versatility and enthusiasm by running the 400m hurdles, finishing in a very impressive 2^nd place.