On Saturday 25 January, there was a strong turnout for St Albans Striders at the South of England Cross Country Championships in Beckenham, London.

Seven Striders’ women braved the mud and hills over eight kilometres. Freya Weddell (22nd), Kate Dixon (95th), Lily Seach (97th) and Phoebe Baxter (152nd) were eleventh team overall in a very strong field, just behind Striders’ sister club, St Albans AC. For the AC, Hannah Rayden (35th), Christina Durbin (60th), Caitlin Eckley (82nd) and Lauren Eckley (143rd) made up the team which came tenth.

For the men, eight Striders runners covered fifteen kilometres in a very competitive field. The Striders team finished 34th, made up of Chris Dennell (237th), Richard Davis (354th), Nigel Aston (423rd), Joe McCormick (464th), Jonathan Bird (532nd) and Anthony Nicholson (548th).

Away from the cross country field, Rose McGinness ran the Ferriby 10 mile race in 1.26.53, coming 4th in her age category and improving her ten mile time by four minutes in just a week since the Fred Hughes ten mile race.

Further afield, Ivan Ghouse ran the Marrakech Half Marathon in 1.37.55.

Finally, and closer to home, Jethro Offemaria ran a new St Albans Parkrun Personal Best, of 41.25.