SPA Striders athletes took part in two Warwickshire Road Race League meetings in a busy week for the club’s members.
The club’s athletes created a sea of green and red at Coventry’s War Memorial Park for the first race – the Sphinx Summer 5.
And after two laps around the park the first Strider home was Chris McKeown in 27 minutes 33 seconds who crossed the line in sixth place.
The first female Strider to finish was Laura Peake in 32 mins 38 secs who was the lady home in the entire race.
Just behind McKeown was Chris Wilson (29:42), John-Paul Hunt (29:54), Nathan Morris (31:53), Florian Le Gal (31:57), Jason Hemming (32:25), Trevor Wilkinson (32:26) and Andy Shilling (32:34).
Chris Wallace (32:38) matched Peake’s time and was closely followed by Iain Roebuck (32:56), Katherine Robertson (33:13), Matt Leydon (33:34), Nev Chapman (34:21), Mark Whitehouse (34:23), Paul Kirby (34:25), Anne Hurrell (34:28) and Naomi Paterson (34:30).
Finishing just past the 35-minute mark was Clare Hinton (35:02), Elain Sherwin (35:25), Mark Robbins (35:25), Ben Cohen (35:41), Daniel Hobson (36:34), Paul Carrott (37:49), Doug Rattray (38:17), Rosy Skilton (38:21), Helene Parpworth (39:42) and Lucy Tugwell (39:58).
And finishing just past the 40-minute mark was Rich Lowery (40:15), Amy Butler (40:25), Florencia Brea (40:41), Jude Baum (41:26), Sandra Stokes (41:55), Kate Evans (42:12), Rachel Goldsmith (44:09), Ian Davy (44:19), Paul Palmer (44:25), Lydia Honey (44:40) and Gary Perkins (44:55).
The remaining Striders to finish were Miriam Scullion (45:51), Georgie Acton (45:57), Anthony Claydon (45:58), Gill Walker (46:51), Claire Rawbone (50:28), Katherine Miller (50:36) and Tim Robb (53:55).
Elsewhere, James Robbins and Emma Beck headed to Leicestershire for the Chase The Sun 10k race.
Robbins ran a time of 50 mins 32 secs to achieve a new personal best (PB) whilst Beck finished on the ladies podium with an impressive third-place in a time of 47 mins 36 secs.
Over in Wales, Naomi Paterson was competing in the annual man versus horse race and finished the 22-mile course in 3 hours 58 mins.
Further ahead, a runner beat the horse for only the fourth time in the event’s 42-year history.
A trio of Striders – Matt Leydon, Fiona Ferguson and Charlotte Everard – were in for two consecutive days of racing.
First up was the Coniston 15k Trail Race as Leydon finished in 1:37:35, Ferguson in 1:48:05 and Everard in 1:56:28.
And the trio then took on the half marathon the following day as Leydon (2:06:04), Ferguson (2:37:39) and Everard (2:38:05) all finished in good times.
Over in Devon, Rosie Clarke showed incredible determination in the Exmoor 50k after a fall towards the end of the race saw her miss the final checkpoint only to pick herself and reach the distance by running laps of the car park.
Despite moving away to Edinburgh, Verity Hill donned her Striders vest to run the Hop 10k – a trail race just south of Edinburgh – and completed the race in a time of 1:27:22.
There was also some triathlon action as Mike Pugh completed the Dorney Standard distance triathlon in a fantastic time of 2:06:39 to win his age group and finish 12th overall.
Clare Bryan was in Belgium for the Challenge Geraardsbergen middle distance event. However, she found conditions tough and was unable to complete the run.
One of the most popular races in the Strider calendar the Two Castles 10k concluded the weekend with the start at Warwick Castle and the finish at Kenilworth Castle.
Close to 3,000 runners took on the challenging route in very warm conditions with Joe Wilkes the first Strider home in 37:53 whilst Laura Peake was the first lady Strider across the line in 42:56.
The other finishers were: Chris Wilson 38:11; Marco Frondella 39:41; John-Paul Hunt 40:04; Richard Humphrey 40:08; Luke Bennett 40:13; Mitchell Tap 40:21; Nathan Morris 40:37; Peter Lamb 40:37.
Darren Tosh 41:06; Pete Teevan 42:06; Andy Shilling 42:24; Keth Wilson 42:37; Trevor Wilkinson 42:46; Steve French 42:49; George Smith 43:23; Lauren Turner 43:30; Katherine Robertson 43:37; Andrew Stone 44:08; Iain Roebuck 44:20; Nev Chapman 44:28; Kelsey Wiberley 44:34; Paul Kirby 44:39; Patrick James 44:44.
Ben Cohen 45:06; Clare Hinton 45:16; Glen Mcilreavy 45:21; Mark Robbins 45:53; Jason Hemming 46:12; Dexter Teale 46:30; Martin Carty 46:45; Will Allman 46:52; Rebecca Miles 46:58; James Bryan 47:14; Kevin McKeever 47:27; Catherine Friggins 48:14; Dan Fleming 48:28; Ken Gregor 48:30; Claire Davidson 48:36; Andrew Roach 49:18; James Payne 49:32.
Paul Carrott 50:02; Alex Quinn 50:03; Doug Rattray 50:37; Jenny Mills 51:33; Annie Cox 51:36; Erika Wright 51:39; Shaun Warren 51:56; Paul Harris 52:16; Amy Butler 52:33; Richard Lowery 52:43; Alice Marsh 52:54; Ian McArthur 52:57; Dan Hobson 53:06; Lucy Walton 53:49; Simon Reiter 53:52; Chas Ridgeway 53:58; Dan Donovan 54:28; Gabrielle Freeman 54:38; Daniel Penny 54:30; Jen Goode 54:56.
Sandra Stokes 55:21; James Warren 55:35; Tina Roebuck 56:08; Dale Duffy 56:12; Rachel Bright 57:24; David Buist 58:09; Ian Davy 58:15; Mary Gailley 58:21; Duane Wagstaff 58:36; Louise Arkell 59:14; Peter Hill 59:31.
Geen Grewal 1:00:14; Georgie Acton 1:00:38; Megan Hearn 1:00:49; Lorraine Parsons 1:01:13; Sue Bryant 1:01:38; Kathleen Moscrop 1:02:44; Emma Teevan 1:02:50; Steve Taylor 1:03:13.
Claire Rawbone 1:06:07; Gill Walker 1:07:08; Louise Fielding 1:07:17; Brian Warren 1:09:50; Kathryn Miller 1:11:36 and Mandy Barnett 1:11:54.
Lastly, in Abu Dhabi, Kevin Baskerville completed the Ferrari World indoor 10k in a time of 1:01:10.
