Awards Evening 24/02/2012

Put this date in your diary!

Sandbach Striders Award Evening 2012

Friday 24th February

The Limes, Sandbach

Hot & cold buffet, variety of awards, live music.

Tickets will be on sale from Wednesday 1st February (price tbc).

Race Report: Helsby Half Marathon 22/01/2012

Blown away, beaten and broken at Helsby Half.

Well what a day that was! After meeting fellow Striders at the club we set off for Helsby just after 9am to make sure we were early arriving to get a parking spot, and only just got into the carpark at the sports club as everyone else had the same idea it would seem. The wind was gusting and very chilly so we sat in the car for a while to stay warm and after a wander around and trip to the loos returned to the car to get prepped for the race. Jason Bulley turned up with his bike to support everyone on the race which was very welcome. 

Perry and Steve- looking good on the finishing straight

Torchlight Run - Delamere Forest 23/01/2012

On Monday night I finally plucked up the courage to join in a torchlight run (thanks to Jason for the loan of his head torch). We met at the club at 6:30 ready for our journey to Delamere Forest - on arrival we were the only people there not on wheels however it was hard to miss us given the hi-viz jackets and the number of head torches illuminating our way! It was quite clear to all that Perry had been a boy scout - head torch, spare head torch, and spare batteries for the spare head torch!!

Race Report: Anglesey Coastal Marathon 21/01/2012

Endurance life Anglesey Coastal Marathon 

As I lay in bed on Friday night listening to the shipping forecast, the man with the Radio 4 voice worked his way round Fisher, Viking, Tyne, Dogger (my favourite), Rockall, Malin and eventually to the Irish Sea when his dulcet tones informed me that for my coastal path marathon I could expect "West or Southwest, 6 to 8 reaching severe gale force 9 at times, rain or drizzle, good occasionally poor". Perfect. Not only am I not marathon fit (still carrying a small orchard's worth of chocolate oranges from Christmas), but marathons on coastal paths are never easy and on top of that the course was advertised as 27.6 miles which as you all know in my book means it's an ultra marathon.

Is this Jason hiding underneath all this kit?

Inaugural Striders' Bike Ride this Sunday!

Greetings to you all from sunny/smoggy Essex. Fear not even though I am far away near the big smoke I have been working hard on setting up the bike ride. I hear there have been a few questions at the club about the what and the when so here goes. We will be meeting at the bears head pub in Brereton for  10:30-Originally I told some people 10 so please spread the word about the new time.

Race Report: Ilford Park Run 21/01/2012

Thanks to the diverse range of park runs and locations hosting these events all across the country I was able to quickly and easily find a park run near me in glorious Essex. The event is hosted in Valentines park in Ilford some 40 mins away from my house in the Essex countryside. Driving through Ilford town I approached the park and was surprised by the green space that unfolded before me, there was a large boating lake, Bandstand and lots of pathways lined with trees. 

Torchlight Run - Brereton Heath 16/1/2012

Last night was my first ever torchlight run. As I left my house my wee hubby shouted it was minus 1 degrees and I was mad to even contemplate running in the dark! – “you’ll end up with a cold again”.  So with his words of wisdom ringing in my ears I legged it to the club. As I parked up I saw Jason and Jo, Jason was just getting dropped off, then Michael 

Race Report: Hanley Park Run 24th December 2011

Well it’s almost ancient history now but here’s the write up for Hanley Park Run on December 24^th 2011 …..

I arrived just before 9.00am with one of my elves dressed as a 12 year old girl and one of the reindeer wearing a dog costume. We met with Snow White, Super Hero Man, a fake Santa and some old bloke who’d escaped from his nursing home.

Congratulations Clare on raising £1,467.70 for the Christie Charity!

Congratulations Clare!

On raising an incredible £1,467.70 this year for The Christie Charity.

For more information on The Christie and to learn about their excellent work, click here.

By the time you read this there might still be time to donate to Clare, visit her JustGiving page here.

Get your entries in for the 2011 Alternative Series Championship

The deadline for the 2011 Alternative Series Championship is fast approaching (it's actually passed but I forgot to tell anyone - d'oh!)

This is open to all members and it'd be great to see as many of you as possible on the final table!

There are 11 categories in total, a race can only be entered into one category.

The points will be allocated as follows:

• Entering any category – 20 points
• Getting a PB in a marathon or a non-Cheshire race – 10 points
• 1st, 2nd or 3rd in any Super 6 or Predictathon - 15, 10, 5 points respectively

Photoshop Competition - Still time to enter!

Time is running out!

The closing date for entries into the Photoshop Grant competition is Friday 13th January 2012

You can see the entries on the link at the top of the page or by clicking here.

Race Report: Sunrise to Sunset 27/12/2011

I found out about this race, not through the usual channels of Runners World or Fetcheveryone, but at mile 18 or so of the Crewe Déjà vu track marathon when I got chatting to Denzil the race organiser.

The race HQ wasn't on fire, it was a brazier to keep the marshalls warm.

Denzil organises a series of small, friendly and informal races which are as much of a