Lots of activity recently. Hartwig Busch finished in 42:48 at the Cannock Chase 10K with Kate Evans taking 3rd F45 place (and 2nd prize but she ain't giving it back!) in 47:35 and Philip Wood on his Striders debut finishing in 51:12. At the Shakespeare Raceways 10K, Janice Smith came home in 56:54 followed by Steve Atherton in 59:44 and in the Half-Marathon, Sandra Stokes took over 5 minutes off her PB in 1:55:11 with Harki Kalsi completing in 2:02:39. 18 Striders took in the Sphinx Coombe Park 8.25 mile cross-country with Rich Shephard in 4th place (49:26), Trevor Wilkinson in 6th and 1st M40 (50:52) and Richard Merrell 14th (52:45). Next came Mark Urbanowski 54:06, Melissa Venables 60:09 (3rd F35), Celia Wong 62:23, Neil Butcher 62:41, Vicki Smith 63:13 (1st F45), Jo Butler 63:41, Richard Bicknell 65:00, Esther Wollaston 65:22, Richard King 65:39, Sue Cox 67:30, Caroline Whitehouse 67:41, Michelle Clements 68:56, Sean Lonergan 69:48, Richard Brookes 75:05 and Melanie Carty 80:02. Striders Ladies took 1st team prize with the men settling for 2nd place. And down on the south coast at the Gosport Half Marathon, Justin Mallard 1:35:46 and Andy Roach 1:47:18 both recorded PBs.

 At Leamington parkrun event 30, Mark Urbanowski finished 1st in 18:30 with Trevor Wilkinson 3rd in 20:10 and Mel Venables 7th in  20:49. Justin Mallard was next in 21:21 followed by Nick Adams 21:49, Darren Gillman 22:47 and Clare Hinton 25:58. Over in Coventry, Caroline Whitehouse completed their parkrun in 22:26 while further afield, Paul Edwards and Fiona Ferguson completed the Bolton parkrun in 19:17 and 23:43 respectively.

An iconic entry date above - and not a bad few weeks for Striding results either.

2 club records tumbled at the 10 mile Great South Run. Mike Ellis finished in 78th place in a new Senior Mens time of 59:05 while Dawn Clark did the same in the Senior Ladies in 69:31 for 451st place overall. 3 Striders ventured to Venice for the marathon with Nick Adams coming home is 3:24:02 followed by Michelle Clements, back to health and 21st in age category in 3:31:29 and Esther Wollaston 3:40:56. Meanwhile in Leamington parkrun event 28, Mark Urbanowski finished in 1st place in 18:39 followed by Justin Mallard, 8th in 21:05 and debutant Fiona Ferguson, 24th in 23:17. Striders dominated parkrun event 29 with Richard Shephard finishing in 1st place in 18:01 and Melissa Venables doing likewise in the ladies in 22:08. 10 other Striders enjoyed the experience with Will Johnson 6th in 19:37 followed by Richard Brangwin 22:03, Nick Adams 22:07, post birthday celebratory Mark Urbanowski 23:08, Sue Cox 23:22, Dawn Clark 24:02, Jo Hawkins 24:28, Richard Bicknell 24:55 with Harki Kalsi and Rachel Eastaff together at 26:06.

Let's see what he publishes from the below then....

A very busy week-end. In the Rugby 10, the last race of the Warwickshire Road Race League series, the 16 Strider contingent took 2nd place in both the Mens and Ladies team races. Rich Shephard finished in 9th place in 1:02:11 just ahead of Mark Urbanowski 1:03:49 in 11th. Next came Trevor Wilkinson 1:05:48, Will Johnson 1:08:28, Melissa Venables 1:11:18 (3rd Lady), Mike Ellis 1:13:35, Hartwig Busch 1:14:44, Richard King 1:16:35, Bethan Gwynn 1:16:42, Vicki Smith 1:17:33, Dawn Clark 1:20:00, Nadine Fleckenstein 1:21:20, Sean Lonergan 1:27:01, Helen Tudge 1:27:35, Sandra Stokes 1:28:12 and Richard Brookes 1:28:32. Meanwhile at the Bupa Great Birmingham Half, Felix Langley was 1st Strider home in 1:25:40 followed by Steve Goult 1:26:27, Liam Godbert-Brown 1:33:55, Justin Mallard 1:37:13, Kate Evans 1:43:28, Alex Zoro 1:44:46, Philip Wood 1:50:51, Ben Priestley 1:54:03, Amy Phipps 1:55:03, Harki Kalsi 2:00:55, Barbara Gunter 2:05:11 and Ruth Fletcher 2:28:05. The previous week, Richard King improved his PB at Abingdon Marathon by 10 minutes to 3:37:17 just ahead of Darren Gillman in 3:38:41

The annual inter-club race between Kenilworth Runners, Stratford AC and Spa Striders took place this year from Shenington Airfield near Banbury. The near 5 mile route had some interesting variety but 37 Striders enjoyed the experience and once again Striders Ladies took the female prize with the men in 2nd place behind Kenilworth. Thanks to Stratford for hosting an excellent evening

Rich Shephard finished in 6th place at the Raceways 10K Summer Run at Moreton Morrell in 37:49 with Alex Willets coming home in 48:34 and Catherine Shephard in 59:37. Trevor Wilkinson was 1st Strider home in the Hooky 6 in 37:49 followed by Hartwig Busch 42:15, Justin Mallard 43:24 (PB), Kate Evans 47:16 (PB) and Sean Lonergan 51:09. Event 16 of the Leamington parkrun saw Will Johnson finish in 5th place in 19:26 with Joanne Harrison 26:14 and Sophie Robinson 30:24 coming in behind while in Event 17, Justin Mallard posted a PB 22:12 for 14th position with Sue Cox 24:15, Joanne Harrison 25:43 and Ivor Westmore 30:23 following. Finally 7 Striders took part in the 24hour Thunder Run 24 relay at Catton Park in Staffordshire completing 25 10K laps in total – those enduring the experience were Jude Baum, Roz Cox, Harki Kalsi, Rachel Eastaff, Liam Godbert-Brown, Mick Stevenson and John Godbert