Stopsley Striders Newsletter – JUNE 22

The newsletter will be made up of recent/key content we post on Facebook and any other messages we need to share.

Club 40th Anniversary

We have a number of events coming up to celebrate our 40th birthday.

Tuesday 28th June – Memorial Run/Walk from Inspire on the day Striders were started! We will be leaving Inspire at 7pm for a run around the Alf Brown course and Liz and Amanda will be leading a walk. All members past and present welcome. Social at the Barrels afterwards too!

Saturday 2nd July – Striders Parkrun takeover! We would like all volunteer positions taken by Striders if possible. Please email lutonwardown@parkrun.com to join the volunteer roster

Friday 14th July – Striders 40th Party at South Beds Golf Club – Ticketed event only! Tickets nearly sold out. Last tickets available on Spond to members only!

Sunday 7th August – Striders 5/10 mile race with a celebratory 40th medal!

We are also selling kit with a 40th badge – please see Facebook and Spond for further details in the near future!

Striders Races 2022

We are so happy to announce that one of our club races is back for the 7th August. The 5 mile and 10 mile races are available to enter via the race website. Nadia will also be touch soon to ask for volunteers to help with marshalling, water stations etc!

Please visit the website for details

Stopsley 5 & 10 Mile Trail Race – Stopsley Striders (activetrainingworld.com)

We will also start working soon on the return for Stopsley Challenge for 2023!

Club Championships 2022

These races have age category 1st, 2nd and 3rd Certificates for all age categories.

5K – Marston 10th June – Entry now open (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members)

5 mile – Hatfield 5 November (Date TBC) (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

10K – Flitwick – 10th April (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members) or Love Luton 30th October (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

10 mile – Sandy – 11th September (DATE CHANGE AGAIN!)

Half Marathon – St Albans – 12th June (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount) or Love Luton 30th October (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

20 Mile – Any race (not virtual)

Marathon – Any race (not virtual)

Beds AAA County Championships

These races have age category prizes and team prizes for runners living in and born in Beds!

Lets get Striders ruling the County!

5k – Doug Anderson (Bedford Park) – 20th July (£2 discount entry for ALL members at it is an ARC race)

10k – Beds AAA – 8th July – (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members) (DATE CHANGE!)

5 mile – John O’Callaghan (Luton) – 26th June (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members)

10 mile – Sandy – 11th September (PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE)

Half Marathon – Love Luton 30th October (TBC as County Champs – Maria suggested it to them!!) (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

20 mile – Oakley 4th September  (£2 discount entry for ALL members at it is an ARC race)

Cross Country 2022/23

The good news is that CROSS COUNTRY WILL BE BACK IN THE AUTUMN!

Wellingborough, Wootton (Northants), Letchworth and Stopsley will be the venues with it looking like Ampthill being the 5th venue.

Our race’s tentative date is Dec 11th 2022! Save the date please as we will need runners, marshalls, car park attendants, sandwich makers and all sorts of other help during, before and after the race!

Beds Cross Country will be on this year in Bedfordshire – Race Date TBC

Race Suggestions – Races suggested by members

PLEASE SEE THE CLUB CHAMPS AND AAA RACES ABOVE!!

Don’t forget to record your race results: https://www.stopsleystriders.org.uk/record-your-race/

For races with the ATW discount please see

Active Training World Events – Active Training World Only Events with ATW as a Prefix to the race name carry the discount

For races that have ARC £2 discount for ALL members

web46-arcdb — query_1 (runningclubs.org.uk)

For races that have the EA £2 discount for England Athletics Affiliated Members Only please look out for races that are licensed by England Athletics

Club Kit

Martin Ball has been working tirelessly with Prestige of Barton to help the club relaunch our kit. The Committee have decided that initially we will launch with 5 products; t-shirt in race colours, snood (or some might call it a buff!), hoody, jacket and hat). Details of how to purchase to follow but we will be using Spond initially before being able to move across to the Prestige Website and members will then be available to purchase directly from Prestige.

ATW Events Club Discount

The Club have negotiated the benefit for all club members to receive a 10% discount to all ATW events.

Please use the discount code when entering their races.

Please visit Active Training World Events – Active Training World for a list of their upcoming events.

Charity & Social – March and April (Please see Spond for Events!!!)

  • 19th June   Sunday Long Runday
    • Following the success of the Boxing Day run we encourage Striders to run down the cycle path for their long run.
    • Organise your run on Spond
    • Aim that everyone finishes their run at 11am and meets at Starbucks (Luton Retail Park, Gipsy Lane) for a coffee and cake
  • 28th June Striders 40th Birthday Memorial Run and Walk the Barrels Social
    • Tuesday Evening Meet up outside Inspire Sports Centre
    • Run the Alf Brown or join the walk with Liz and Amanda
    • An opportunity to remember Striders who are no longer with us and to celebrate the day Striders started 40 years ago
    • Social at the Barrels After TBC

This year’s charity is Hospice at Home Home | Hospice at Home Volunteers and the Club Rep for the charity is Hilary Blessing.

Club members raised over £650 for the charity in at the Bingo Night Last Month

Club Suggestions

If you would like to make a suggestion to the club committee please email or speak to a committee or complete the form below by clicking the link

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAC0ghl9UNzdOTVBLUkNYRlZPV1QzODZRQ1ZHUjRITC4u

The next Committee Meeting is on June 27th at 8:30pm.

That’s all folks…

We look forward to seeing you at a club event in the near future.

PLEASE SEE OUR LADIES CAPTAIN RUN REPORT FOR MAY BELOW – THANKS RUTH AND CHARLES FOR A GREAT REPORT

It’s been another busy month for Stopsley Striders, kicking off on 1st May with 23 Striders taking part in the Hitchin 10K – Kallum Wright was first Strider in on 40:18 and Kulwinder Assra was first female Strider to finish in 1:00:11. On the same day, Julie Tysoe finished the MK Rocket in 29:38 (it’s great to see Julie regaining her running confidence) and Miriam Linforth completed the Axholme North Lincolnshire triathlon with no training and on a borrowed bike – hardcore, Miriam. Well done all!

On May 2nd a select group of Striders (Kulwinder, Amrik, Ruth, Valerie, Gez, Nicola and Theresa took part in the Vitality 10K in That There London. Well done Ruth on getting a PB – 49:45! 32 Ruths took part and our Ruth was 3rd Ruth in! If I’d known that former Strider Dave Adam was going to be there, I’d have turned up! Leigh and Nick Betts completed the MK Half Marathon and Danny completed the Marathon in 3:27:08 – a Male Vet 60 club record – massive congratulations Danny!

On May 7th, Donna Wiggett was yet again the first Strider over the finish line in Northern Ireland (I don’t know how she does it!) when she took part in the Seskinore Forest 5K. Obviously inspired by Donna’s heroics, on May 8th Martin Ball achieved a PB at the Prague Marathon in 5:24:25 – fabulous work Martin! Claire Bracey completed the Bedford Autodrome 10K in 1:04:57 – fabulous running!  Tom Rankin, Kallum Wright and Charley Snowdon represented Striders at the NHRR Greenway Challenge – Tom was the first Strider home in 1:33:52 – great work Tom!

Annelies Gerber completed the 50KM Run to the Sea ultra (14th May) in 6:32:28. Great to see Annelies back in action after illness and injury.

On the 15th we had a great turnout at the Walk and Talk event for mental health and on the 20th Hilary hosted the charity bingo night, which raised £655 for the club charity.

On May 22nd, Danny Kelly set out on the 400KM, 8-day Cape Wrath Ultra. After a good start, Danny got injured on the second day and had to pull out on the third. Let’s hope Danny’s injuries heal soon! Also on the 22nd, both Claire Bracey and Theresa Gunnell took part in the Hampton Court Palace 10K, with Theresa being first Strider in (confound that woman!!) in 67:06 and Claire finishing in 69:07. Well done both of you!

Well done to Evelyn Lutterodt, who celebrated 2000 days of running on May 23rd.  It was great to see so many Striders and members of the greater Luton running community at Wardown Park to help honour Evelyn’s achievement.

Speaking of Wardown Park, we’ve got a few parkrun milestones to mention; loads of Striders volunteered at the latest Chase the Pacer event, Sam Whaley hit his 25th time of volunteering, Paul Keech, Ian Pitkin and Christine Lathwell reached 50 parkruns and Miriam Linforth reached 100 parkruns – well done all!

We had a good turnout at the Barrels social on the 26th – great to see a few beginners turn up and made to feel welcome!

On 28th May, Nick Betts completed the XNRG Devils Lite 50KM South Downs Ultra in 7 hours and 2 minutes.

Sunday 29th May was a busy day for a few Striders – Andy Durrant, John Ryan and Calista Strange took part in the Edinburgh Marathon, Amanda Rankin and her partner-in-crime Liz Evans ran the Folkestone 10KM (Dave Adam turned up again!), and Vicki Crowston, Ellie Davies and Barbora Uhráková completed the Ride London 100-mile cycling challenge!

Phew!

Yours, Ruth and Charles