Stevenage Striders Running Club
This Week’s Highlighted Race: The Valencia Marathon
This week, we turn the spotlight on the Valencia Marathon, a World Athletics Platinum Label event renowned for its flat, urban course and cool December temperatures—ideal for chasing personal bests. The marathon attracts runners from around the globe, and this year, two of our own members, Tony Randfield and Abdullah Athar, took part in this iconic race.
After months of dedication and disciplined training, race day finally arrived on 1st December.
- Tony Randfield crossed the finish line with a fantastic time of 4:15:16, achieving an age grading score of 61.80%!
- Abdullah Athar delivered an absolutely sensational performance, setting a new club record with a breathtaking time of 2:41:52. To put his achievement into perspective, Abdullah maintained a pace equivalent to running nearly 8.5 sub-20 minute 5Ks back-to-back! The club couldn’t be prouder of your accomplishment, Abdullah—what a milestone!
A huge congratulations to Tony and Abdullah for their remarkable performances at such a prestigious event. You’ve done the club proud!
Advent Half Marathon with Phoenix Running Community
Meanwhile, back in the UK, a festive spirit was in the air as Pete Monk, Marc Hagland, Chrissie Thomas, and Alley Brown headed down to London for a Advent half marathon. Well done to all four for braving the elements and embracing the holiday vibes with your runs.
Great achievements all around—keep inspiring us!
Fairlands Valley Spartans
Spartan YUKO GORDON won in the British Masters 5K Championships at Battersea Park Sunday morning. She won GOLD in for women 70 plus, just a stride – one second – ahead of the second W70 lady. Yuko’s finish time was 22:45.
Trail 50K PB
MARTIN JACOB did the St Edmund’s Trail 50K ultra marathon on Sunday. The course was slightly more than 50k. He ran just a bit more than 52k and finished in 5:42:18. That’s a huge PB (personal best) improvement of 1:52:20 from last year’s Lea Valley 50k ultra.
Simon Haigh Lanzarotte
SIMON HAIGH ran the 50K Lanzarotte International Running Challenge in 4 hours 27 minutes 10 seconds and was 88th out of the 380 male participants. His time included the Vince Regan Memorial Classic 10K run in 56:04 and La Vuelta de Tinajo 21K in 1:46:29.
Serpentine Last Friday of the Month
JIM BROWN ran his fastest road 5K this year on Friday lunchtime.
Enjoying the sunny, mild with a light breeze, conditions he ran 27:05 at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park. That have Jim a pretty good age score which moved him up the series championship table but was only good enough for fifth man 70 plus which demonstrates what an amazing event the “Last Friday” can be. The next event is on Friday 27th December and they have a New Year’s Day 10K on Wednesday 1st January.
Hot in Valencia
Valencia Marathon for ROBERT WRIGHT in a time of 3:41:26. He said it was a busy hot marathon.
Grant Ramsay
GRANT RAMSAY ran the Goodwood Marathon in 3 hours 10 minutes 58 seconds.
Cross Country Coming Up
The next Sunday cross country league race will be in Stevenage on 15th December.
Parkrun Highlights 30th November
It was a misty morning for the 375th Stevenage parkrun. 21 Spartans were there including KIRK NDUGU who was a brilliant second overall in just 17 minutes 55 seconds.
There were 428 runners at Stevenage including 166 women.
Spartans elsewhere included SUZY HAWKINS who ran the Wendover Woods parkrun in 25:26.
Stevenage Phoenix Running Club
ATW Grafham Water Trail & Canicross
On Sunday 1st December Jodie Kantas ran her first race with Presley the dog. The 10 mile course was off-road, muddy, and passed through beautiful woods, with stunning views overlooking the lake. There were 70 dogs of all shapes and sizes, even a dachshund. Jodie remarked that “the noise at the start line was unbelievable”. The participants were sent off in waves, and all the dogs sprinted as soon as they started, making it tricky for Jodie to manage the pace… but they settled into it after Presley’s first little pit-stop poo.
Jodie didn’t aim to break any records; the goal was simply to enjoy the experience and take part. Surprisingly, they did really well, “all thanks to Presley”. Jodie finished in 01:25:49, 3rd in her age category and 23rd overall.
Big Ballsy Run
November is men’s health month, and one challenge caught the attention of a few of our members (the medal might have had something to do with it). The Big Ballsy Run challenges people to run or walk 10k, 50k or 100k during the month of November. Every entry helps to fund The Robin Cancer Trust’s life-saving cancer awareness, education and support for young men all across the UK. Phil Gover took on the challenge in the form of a 10k run and John Harris set out and completed 100k.
ParkRun
Club member Richard Moore celebrated a ParkRun PB in Stevenage and Katka Laughton wasted no time, by attending Krakow ParkRun, soon after arriving in the country.
