News from the Striders

30th October 2005
For all who are travelling to the 10K next week, please make an effort to arrive early. Due to the relaying of the Astro and the recent wet weather, there will be no overspill car parking on the field at Hannakins. And as Hannakins has probably under a 100 parking spaces, a lot of parking will be in the side streets. So please make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to find a parking space, park up, and get to the start. Thank you! I did not make the Cross Country at Basildon yesterday, but coach Roy tells me that we field full teams in both races. Well done Girls! Full results to follow. Feedback from last week in that the Men finished fourth overall at Hylands Park. Excellent performance! The Vets County Cross Country Championships take place on Saturday 3rd December at Royal Forest Hotel Chingford. If you wish to take part in this contact Coach Roy or email me by 17th November.

22nd October 2005
As our 10K committee predicted, the final five entries were received in the post this morning and the race is now full with 650 entries. The full list of entries can be found on the 10K page. Another good day for the men at the Essex League Country Country, this event at Hylands Park. Crispian took advantage of a slip by Jamie to just beat him home. Worth noting this was 3rd and 4th place. Other men done well too with a team score lower than at Loughton two weeks ago with a higher number of entries. As for the Ladies. Well it was the LADY! Geraldine Howard was our only representative for the Girls. Ladies, where were you? I am sure Geraldine would welcome some more company next week. This is the next event, taking place across those friendly hills in Gloucester Park.

21st October 2005
Today the Striders 10K was declared full. Although there are five places left, the 10K committee are certain that these places will be filled after tomorrows post. So if you missed out, sorry folks! Forms for next years race will be available on the website from July onwards. To those that are in, look forward to seeing you on the day!

16th October 2005
A number of the Striders headed off to Tiptree for their 10 mile road race today to try out their new course and one in hope of retaining his title. And so he did, with Jamie leading the field home. To make us feel sick, his first mile was in 4.39! I dream about a kilometre in that time! Not far behind Jamie came Crispian in fifth. Both recorded PB's as did Alan Clark and Coach / Captain Roy Fleming. Special mention for Barbara Williams, who was the first Lady over 55 home. Well done all! The latest edition of 'The Strider' is now available on the website. Click here for your copy! 10K entries are up to 420. No update to the spreadsheet of entries this week, but I do hope to update during the latter part of the week. Keep checking in!

9th October 2005
News from our own Strider competing in the Triathlon World Championships. Keith finished 31st out of 85 in his age group in Honolulu. Interesting to note, Keith's 10K following a 1500m swim and a 40K bike was sub 44 minutes. Gives me something to work towards!!! Seriously, congratulations to Keith on a great performance at the Worlds in a great location. Memories to carry into an English winter.

8th October 2005
With four weeks to go, time to get your entries in for the Striders 10K. Half full now, it 150 entries received this week. If entries continue to roll in at this rate, the race will be full in two weeks. Keeping checking out the 10K page for the latest on the number of entries. Good turn out of Striders for the first Essex League Cross Country. Ladies were one short of a full team (Come on Girls, join the fun on a Saturday) while there was about ten men running. Don't have the full results. All I know is that Jamie was first Strider home, followed by Crispian and then Coach Kevin Jacob (who came 37th). And I came 129 out 137!!! Next race in Chelmsford in two weeks. Congratulations to Louise Hammond, who, following the Southend 10K, has been crowned the Ladies Club Champion. Excellent performance with one event still to go. As for the men, Coach Kevin Jacob leads Secretary Dave Sweet by 18 points going into the last event. Full details can be found on the Club Championship page. It's that time of year to consider who has contribed most to the club and vote for your 'Strider of the Year'.

4th October 2005
Southend results are up on the Southend Races website. Here are the Striders results. I believe there were PB's for our Secretary Dave Sweet, Louise Hammond, Gail Royston and Mike Wheatley. Congratulations folks!

3rd October 2005
Directions to the first Essex League Cross Country on Saturday have been uploaded to the website. Women have a 6K race starting around 1.15pm with the Men covering 8.5K from 1.50pm. Should be back in time to see England mess up their World Cup hopes!

2nd October 2005
Great turn out of Striders for the latest Club Championship event, the Southend 10K. Even the Web Master made this one! Great support out on the course as well with George and Freda cheering us along at about 2.5K and 7.5K. Many others as well. Apologies for not acknowledging you all but I think I was suffering well before half way! Everyone I spoke to after the race was pleased with their times so hopefully a few PB's maybe? I will try to get the results up quicker than Ingatestone! This just leaves one more event in the Club Championship. This is the last Club Handicap which takes place on 4th December. But if you think you have two months off before then, think again. And time to think Cross Country. The first Essex League race is next Saturday at Chingford. I hope to get details of the exact location from Coach Kevin this week and get a map and dircetions up on the website. Watch this space! This is the first of three Essex League races in October, just to ease you in! While many of us were in Southend, one of our members had moved on from Newcastle (Australia!) to Honolulu. Keith Walker competed in the World Duathlon Age Groups Championship last weekend and came 13th out of 33, in a time of 2 hours 35:14 fourteen minutes behind first home. For those of you feeling good about your 10K time today, Keith's 10K time, the first leg of the event, was 41:46. Back to training! Trithlon World Championship is next weekend. Good luck Keith.

1st October 2005
News that Billericay Striders have retained the Essex 3000 on track, but with a new name. Crispian Bloomfield replace Jamie as our new county Champion. Here is a short report from Crispian. Just to let you know that Billericay Striders retained the Essex 3000 title even though Jamie was only spectating this time. There were only three others in the race including one who was obviously a vet, so I thought I'd probably finish in the top three, but one of the others looked very useful, and had some pretty flashy-looking track shoes, so I didn't know if I'd be able to win it. Jamie told me to hang back on the first lap until I'd sussed out the opposition, but I'd decided I wanted a pb and was just going to try to do 73 second laps. So, I went off, breezed past the others and did the first lap in 69! I was a little worried when I heard that the bloke behind me was only a second behind, but he then dropped off as I did subsequent laps in 73, 73, 74, 77, 75, 38 (for half a lap) and 68, coming home in 9:07 (a pb by 13 seconds) about 24 seconds ahead of second.

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