News from the Striders

30th January 2005
Benfleet 15 today and the lovely run across Hadleigh downs and the Seawall. If it was anything like my 2.5 miles around Queens Park (?!?) it should have been a nice day for it! Full results to come (Check towards next weekend), but I have had a modest email from Editor Kevin informing me he was second vet! Well done. See those Tuesday and Thursday sessions do pay!
Next week is the South Weald Cross Country which we Host. So Striders, we need your help to
a. Marshall. Scoring average points in the Club Championship so you don't lose out.
b. Make Cakes. Most important bit. If you can't bake, then shop and bring them along on Sunday.
One point I missed from the Presentation Night last week, but the raffle for Paula's book raised £200. This takes the total The Striders have raised for St. Luke's this year to £1000. WELL DONE everybody!

23rd January 2005
Another hectic weekend! Friday saw the Presentation night at Stock Village Hall. It was great to see the Hall packed (Mr & Mrs Webmaster just about got a parking space). Excellent food, excellent drink (!?!) excellent company and excellent awards! Well done to everyone who collected awards. Full list will follow. Can't conclude without, on behalf of everyone who attended, a very special thank you to Jan and John Pardon for organising an outstanding event. THANK YOU AND WELL DONE.
One question from Friday night. Who is the best looking out of:-
a. Ginger Spice
b. Freddie Mercury
c. Roy Fleming
Saturday off to recover and then onto Stubbers on Sunday morning for the the Essex County Relay's. Great to see three Mens teams out for the Striders with a Girls team as well. I had the anchor leg for the third team with Keith Walker's words ringing in my ears "Don't come last!" Well we managed that and I think that the a and b team were near the top of the field and not far behind one another. The Ladies done themselves proud as well. Full results to follow.
Essex 20
This is short notice, but came up as a little surprise at Stubbers today, but the closing date for the Essex 20 is this Thursday, 27th January. Taking place on Sunday 13th Feruary in Rochford starting at 11am, this is an excellent race if you are preparing for London, and the best bit, as it is a County event, the Club will pay your entry. If you do wish to run contact Kevin Jacob as soon as possible. The best way is to email him. Your very last opportunity is to see him in person on Thursday evening at Hannakins. I have updated the Striders Calendar with some of the Club Championship events that are happening through the year. The dates for later in the year are provisional in most cases, but if and when they do change I will update the calendar and also add it to the newspage.

17th January 2005
As promised the results from Saturdays Essex County Championships Cross Country. Also as promised, I have updated the Striders Calendar with the Great Baddow 10 mile entry form. Also the Calendar now has the correct date! Not a bad week for keeping promises!

16th January 2005
Presentation night is five days away. Hope you have paid your money and made your choices from the the menu. If not, email Jan asap.
Saturday saw the Essex County Championship Cross Country at Gloucester Park. Well, what can I say. Ricky pointed out the hill as we stood on the start line and mentioned something about four laps, so I thought, OK, challenging! But you went up and down the hill three times on each lap. Well, one lap later I went off to the tea shop! Whoever came up with a. this course and b. four laps could be prosecuted for abuse of runners! While Slow Strider Web Master did not make it, many other Striders did, including Jamie in 10th place (he was gutted!) and Chrispian 18th. In all seriousness, this event attracted a 'top' field (Rob Denmark was third), so while some are disappointed, I think the results were outstanding. I must say the ladies had it easy, they only had to do two laps! OK, one more than me!
Full results to follow. And so to a more 'conservative' Cross Country. The entry form to the Brentwood Half Marathon is now on the Website. Remember this is a Club Championship event. Go to Striders Calendar on the Home page and then click on Brentwood Half Marathon. Next week, I should have the Great Baddow form on the site. Watch this space!

9th January 2005
Presentation night is less than two weeks away. So now is the time to first pay up if you are coming, but the good bit is to choose your food! Please get your money and choices to Jan asap. One easy way is to email Jan. One week into the New Year and a double header of Cross Country events. Saturday took the Striders up to a windy Hilly Fields for the last event in the Essex League this season. A full turnout from the Boys with the Girls a bit short with three runners. Full results to come via Editor Kevin, but looks like around seventh place overall for the men and about twelfth place for the Ladies. Considering this is all Clubs, including the top Athletics Clubs, in the county, this is an outstanding result. Well done to all who took part. Sunday saw the club move on to Thorndon Park for the third Leg of the South Essex Sunday Cross Country League. Some great performances here, with Chrispian and Editor Kevin fourth and fifth and Gail Royston and new member Amy Winter seventh and eleventh. These performance along with other top runs, secured second place behind Thrift Green with Benfleet close behind in third. Here are the full results. Next Stop Essex Cross Country Championships at Gloucester Park next Saturday. See you there!

3rd January  2005
A new page has been added to the website following a suggestion by Steve Tidiman. It is called Striders Calendar and can be found on the left hand side of the home page, third choice down the list. The idea is to have all Striders events, races, cross country, club handicap, social all in one place. If there is an event you would like to see in the calendar, please let me know. Best way is to email me.
Also see the clock on the 10K page!!!!!!!!!

2nd January 2005
Welcome to a new year. And on behalf of everyone at Billericay Striders, I would like to wish all our readers a very Happy New Year. May you achieve all your goals, stay injury free, cover many miles and set new PB's!  The New Year opened in tradational style for the Striders when twenty seven members set off from Ron's House covering various distances. The main event was of course Ron's Half Marathon, with most of the members running over this distance via the Hanningfields, Wickford, Ramsden and back into Stock. First home was the man in hot form, Chrispian Bloomfield in just over 1 hr 23, followed by our resident Mag Editor, and someone else in excellent form, Kevin Jacob, inside 1 hr 25. Well done to everyone, and a special well done and thank you to Anne and the Ladies for the excellent food and drink that followed. Full results to follow.
With Christmas over, nineteen Striders took themselves off to Witham to take part in the Annual Five mile road race on Boxing Day. An excellent turnout and a good way to work off the Turkey. Here are the results. A reminder for those that missed it, the lucky (???) winners for the club entries to the London Marathon were:-
Steve Powell
Harvey Bradley
Laurance Harrision
The reserves are Dave Morgan, Sue Hampshire.