St Albans Striders reclaimed the title of overall winners of Division One of the 2022 Midweek Road Race League comprising of over 20 Hertfordshire running clubs.
This was based on the accumulation of male and female results over four 10k races in the last two months with the final event taking place on Thursday evening at Trent Park.
The victory was a fitting testament to the commitment of athletes in representing their club, as demonstrated by the huge turn-out at each event, improvements in fitness levels resulting from the targeted training in the last four months and the support and leadership of Road Captains Errol and Jenny Maginley.
As well as winning first place overall, the Striders also took first place in the veteran category.
In the final race there were 56 Striders in the men’s race, with 12 to score for a team.
The first Strider home was Matthew Cooper in fourth place (35.17), closely followed by Stefano Federici (fifth, 35.20), Steve Buckley (seventh, 35.36) and Philip Evans (10th, 36.36).
There were 33 Striders in the women’s race, with eight to score for a team, led by Victoria Pritchard in second overall in 41.17, Meghan Wilson (third, 41.45), Penny Habbick (sixth, 41.45) and Wendy Walsh (11th, 44.18).
Now that the formal competition is complete, teams from all three divisions will come together to run together in a Mob Match at Welywn.
In other events, Will Bowran earned himself a fantastic new sub-15 minute 5k personal best at the Podium 5K event in Leicester on Saturday with 14.55.
Having pushed the pace on for much of the way he ultimately came home in third place in a very close finish.
Fleur Harvey was third female at the Ware 10k on Sunday with a gun time of 44.51 and Jack Brooks added Walton-on-Thames to his ever growing list of completed marathons, while Roger Biggs made an amazing come back by completing the half-marathon.
The weekend also saw the welcome return of the Striders annual weekend away in Derbyshire with members having the opportunity to participate in numerous activities including running, cycling, hiking, mountain biking, tree top rope climbing and a quiz night.
Taking full advantage of the location, the Striders headed to the breathtakingly beautiful Lyme Park for the Saturday morning parkrun enjoying stunning panoramic views before a well-earned reward of a café stop.
Steve Buckle was first male overall and Jen Convey first female and the occasion served as a worthy farewell to Rose McGinness who is moving out of the St Albans area having made a fantastic contribution to the Striders and will be sorely missed.
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