About us

Sandbach Striders was born back in 2003. Since the early days, membership has grown with a firm ethos of the club being not just about running but social activities as well. The club is affiliated to UK AAA and has its own qualified coaches. Many other special events take place on various nights too.

The club meets on Wednesdays at 18:30 and Sundays at 09:00 at Elworth Cricket Club.

Whilst many members compete in races from 5k to Marathons, the emphasis remains purely on keeping people motivated and having fun. Why not scan through our race reports to see what we’ve been up to? Having read them, you’re sure to see why Sandbach Striders has developed the motto of being

"No Ordinary Running Club!"

Sunday 11 December 2011

Race Report: Yuletide Yomp 11/12/2011

Two reports for the same race this time from Liz and Alan.

We set off from the club at 9am, the weather in sandbach was cold ,but dry, as we got closer to knutsford the rain started! It wasn’t torrential but enough to dampen spirits and remind me that I really must invest in a sandbach striders shirt and pack my vest away for summer use only.



It was a five minute walk to the start line ,which was the main gate to Tatton ,myself and paul worked our way nearer the front as there were a thousand runners. The chip timing started at the gate, once underway it took me a while to get going and get past people. I set off hoping for a pb, it took about 30 second to realise that this was not going to happen, it took me about 4km to get to a point where i didn’t feel boxed in or stuck. The course was more undulating than I expected, with most of it on grass and mud! (note to self- must buy trail shoes!), you seriously had to watch where you put your feet.


The rain did not let up, but that did not spoil the scenery, although at about 7k I thought about 400+ deer were going to stampede across the course, luckily they set off in a different direction.


Despite the conditions I was pleased with my performance, and I kept chipping away at the people in front of me, the last ¾ of a mile was on the road to the finish, and I was pleased to still have the energy to carry on chipping away at the opposition.

I won a spot prize for being the first santa hat across the line! That will do for me.

Support from the crowd was a bit lacking till the end, but the weather didn’t help there, would I run it again? Yes, it is a good challenge pre- Christmas.

Alan Pearson.


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I lined up with all the rest of the intrepid Santas, Reindeers, Elves, Striders and even Snow White today. The weather was a bit cold with a slight drizzle of fine rain so I thought the conditions were just right. How wrong could I be, a certain person at the club said the course was more like the Sandstone Trail but he neglected to say it was slightly off road, hilly and very muddy. Unfortunately, the fine drizzle turned to a constant downpour of rain with a cross wind. 




This helped the course get even muddier and at some downhill sections you were literally slip sliding past other fellow runners. A few who actually ended falling. This is the first race where I was overtaking people from the very start and when I got to the sign that said “4” I thought at 24 minutes I was blistering with only 2 miles to go. Doh it was “K” markers. However, I worked out my calculations and put my best foot forward to try and catch Evonne who was in my sight, but alas the weather and mud got the better of me and I finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes. Would I do it again? Yeah but I’ll wear my trail shoes. Now to have that well earned vodka and lime.

Liz O'Keeffe


For more information, visit the Tatton Yuletide Yomp website 

 
Runner
Chip time
Chip position
Alan Pearson
00:43:08
23
Paul Barnett
00:45:26
53
Heather Carter
00:47:34
97
Terry Coppenhall
00:50:33
170
Perry Wyatt
00:51:30
206
Michael Escolme
00:52:18
236
Johanna Bulley
00:52:20
240
Tom Mayell
00:53:18
262
Evonne Foulkes
00:53:38
279
Paul Nicholls
00:55:46
352
Jennifer Hockenhull
00:57:13
397
Liz O'Keeffe
01:01:19
518

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