OPTIMISM is growing ahead of spring marathons as Striders dominate at Berkhamsted.

The Berkhamsted half marathon is an important race for the St Albans club’s runner who are preparing for marathons, and on a tough, hilly course 31 Striders completed the race, nine of which finished under 1hr 30mins.

Simon Riley ran superbly coming second in 1hr 16mins and he was followed in by Mark Castleton in sixth (1hr 18mins), Pablo Plaza Lastras in seventh (1hr 18mins), Blake Vivian in 10th (1hr 19mins), 13th placed Jim McConnell 1hr 20mins) and Martin Whitworth in 21st (1hr 23mins). Two vet 50 Striders also beat the benchmark: Colin Braybrrok (1hr 27mins) and Graham Foster (1hr 28mins). With a number of high finishes the Striders won the first men’s team prize and a number of club members achieved personal best times.

Not to be outdone by the Striders men, Deirdre Heydecker had the race of her life at the Bath Half Marathon winning the Ladies vet 55 race in 1hr 37mins and placing her third in the UK rankings for 2013.

Striders Ladies Ruth Ainley, Caroline Skyrme, Christine Ferguson and Samantha Ferguson all completed the Silverstone Half Marathon and Strider Chris Davies ran the Baldock Beast Half Marathon finishing 136th out of 427 in 1hr 43mins.

Elsewhere Striders Kathryn Hall and Jack Brooks completed the Pitsford Water Trail Marathon in Northampton.

St Albans Striders meet at 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the trackside building in Verulamium Park. Information about the club is available from the Striders website www.stalbansstriders.com