Stopsley Striders Presentation Awards for 2019
The Stopsley Striders Awards night was held on 21st February 2020.
Thanks to Malcom Rankin for taking the photo’s.
Thanks also goes to Liz Evans for additional photos.
Senior Man 2019
The Senior Man Award is a prestigious award in any club. In many clubs though many men who run at the level and distances of our Senior Man Award winner just run a lot and don’t have much time to give much else to the club.
We at Striders are very lucky to have this runner, who not only puts in exceptional performances at extraordinary distances but who also runs great coached sessions and one who offers advice to any runner of any ability in the club.
His performances this year include a club record in the marathon of 2hr 38 mins and finish of 3rd in the Dragon Back race over 315 hilly Welsh kilometres.
Senior Man 2019 goes to
Rob Barnes
Senior Lady 2019
The Senior Lady award goes to a Strider who completing the Beginner’s Course in 2018. After graduation she has really taken to running and trains hard, as well as being a huge advocate for the Club.
This lady got Personal Bests at the Sandy 10, Flitwick 10K and the St Albans half. She also had other impressive runs in the Stopsley 10 and Luton Half Marathon.
We know that with the dedication and resilience that this runner has shown in the last 12 months that her running times will only get quicker.
This year’s Senior Lady goes to
Natasha Hall
Vet Man 2019
This strider embraces the true spirit of the club. He has had an excellent year of running starting with the Beds county championship cross country. This was followed by a great run in the tough Parliament Hill 15km cross country.
Over the course of the year he took on impressive number of races including the Flitwick 10K, all23 Luton Series races, our own Stopsley 10 mile and set a great time in the London Marathon of 03:09;02.
What makes this even more remarkable is that alongside his own running he devotes a lot of time to coaching at the club, particularly at track on Tuesdays, and is always willing to offer advice, support other runners and still makes time for his own running.
This Vet Male award goes to a very worthy recipient
Gez Fallon
Vet Lady 2019
This year’s Veteran Lady has had a fantastic running year, setting personal bests at half-marathon and marathon distances, and coming first in our five-mile trail race. She was also a regular parkrunner.
Despite all these achievements she has found the time to encourage other runners with their training, helping them reach greater heights.
She has also brought a cheerful levity to the Sunday morning run from the Barrels which was, frankly, long overdue.
Our Veteran Lady for 2019 is
Linda Scanlan
Super Vet Man 2019
This Super Vet Man has run some incredible distances and times in 2019. He is a regular member on club nights, a Cross Country runner and often seen at Luton Wardown Parkrun with his dog, running and encouraging other runners.
This runner completed within the Stopsley Striders club champion ships and was first in his age category for Marston 5K and the John O’Callaghan 5 Mile. After running Brighton Marathon in April in 3:52:07, he then went on to complete the Druids challenge in November, completing 84 miles over a 3-day race from Buckinghamshire to Wiltshire – not forgetting Wendover Woods 50 Miles in 13 Hours, 47 minutes.
Well done to this runner for an amazing 2019.
2019’s Super Vet Man Is Danny Kelly
Super Vet Lady 2019
This Super Vet Lady has run many races at a variety of distances, including the Brighton Marathon. The marathon time of 5:08 was impressive alongside a season’s best half marathon in Luton of 2 hrs 10, the Sandy 10 in 1hr 38 mins, the London 10k in 57:11 and Marston 5k in 27:23.
According to the Power of 10 the distances of 10K, 10 mile, half marathon and marathon were all PBs. This lady certainly deserves the recognition of this prestigious award.
Our Super Vet Lady for 2019 is
Kulwinder Assra
Super Great Vet Male 2019
A running club is a place filled with motivation, inspiration, knowledge and all the support you need to reach your goals. During the years this Strider has been a part of the club his coaching and training runs have helped many and his support given during speedwork and to his coaching team has been beneficial for everyone.
Spring/summer 2019 was a busy time for this gentleman along with cross country and 2 club championship runs he also saw the sunrise and sunset when taking on the London/Luton airport runway 5k followed by the St Albans solstice 10k later the same day.
The male super great vet award goes to
Phil Abbitt
Super Great Vet 2019
This creative lady still always turns out the best fancy-dress costumes at the themed parkruns. In 2019 she has continued to represent Striders at races from 5K and 10K and often, if not always, coming in at 1st V70 lady.
She continues to support the club with fundraising outside of the main events, previously knitting hats for hearts and last year raising money for her second book sale. We look forward to what she will come up with this year.
This Super Great Vet Lady goes to the impressive
Elizabeth McGinley
Cross Country Man 2019
This man is a great club member. He did all five of the Three Counties Cross Country fixtures. He also gives great motivation to the Men’s and Women’s team which really help when the weather isn’t pleasant, and the course is really tough with mud, streams and hills etc. He was always in the first three of the Men’s team and ran very consistently to finish between 62nd and 85th over the five races.
He also competed in the Bedfordshire County Championships at Shuttleworth, where he finished 32nd Overall and 5th V45. He also competed in the annual trip to Parliament Hill for the Southern Championships. It was 15km which was very tough and extremely muddy this year, but this Strider enjoys it. He had a tough race this year and fell over but still finished a very respectable 820th. He also helps with bringing the tent and flag whilst also helping with putting it up and the much harder task of folding it down.
The Men’s Cross-Country Award for 2019/2020 season goes to
Gez Fallon
Cross Country Lady 2019
When I clicked on this Strider’s tab on the RunBritain rankings site it took a few minutes for her extensive info to load up – I had time to put a wash on, make a cup of tea, then hang the washing up to dry – such is her commitment to running and to Striders. This lady finished the Southern Regional Championship 8k at the blistering pace of 32:24, was first in her age group at the Beds/Bucks County Championships at 33:32 and was first Striders’ lady in at every 3 Counties Cross Country in 2019. She encourages everyone over the line, attends all the league meetings, manages the paperwork, and if you cut her, I’m sure she’d bleed red!
The cross-country lady for 2019 is
Christine Lathwell
Newcomer Male 2019
This man joined the club in 2019 and has since become a regular attendee on club nights, keen to improve and to push himself further both in terms of distance and pace.
He started at the Flitwick 10k with a PB and since then has not looked back, running at the Marston 5K, the St. Albans 10K and the Stopsley 10-mile race to name just a few. His two biggest challenges were undoubtedly taking on the Newport Marathon again where he improved on his 2018 time and then going even longer and completing the Woburn Triathlon (70KM) in 6hrs 13mins.
He has also competed in some of our Cross-Country league meetings and hopefully he will become a regular for the club in 2020.
The Male Newcomer Award for 2019 goes to
Shaun Mutter
Newcomer Lady 2019
With our large group of newcomers this year it wasn’t easy picking one person. However, this lady did shine through with her dedication, hard work and presence on our Facebook group.
Whether it is supporting her husband at events or training and competing herself this lady has thrown herself into our club. She works hard for everything she achieves, but always ends a session with a smile on her face, and thanks those around her who she supports more than we think she realises.
She brings this dedication and determination to her marathon training, and we are sure the outcome will be fantastic.
We are pleased to award this year’s Female Newcomer award to
Kate Mutter
Bill Barrett Award 2019
It is fitting that the recipient of this award has finally claimed Bill’s club record for the marathon that has stood since 1991.
However, this award is for his participation in the Berghaus Dragon’s Back multi-day race, and event. This describes itself on its website – in bold type – as “the toughest mountain race in the world “, and we certainly aren’t going to argue.
Taking place over five days, the participants must run the entire length of Wales. Covering a total of 315 kilometres over inhospitable terrain and through unpronounceable places, this runner not only finished in third place overall on the first day but managed to keep this position to the end.
He completed the race in 39 hours and 42 minutes. – which is the equivalent of most people’s working week.
For this amazing achievement, a second Bill Barrett award goes to
Rob Barnes
Bill Barrett Award 2019
We all are all proud to represent our club in whatever events we take part in. However, it is only a small number of us who are chosen to represent our country.
Selection for the England Masters Marathon team is very exclusive. Meeting the age requirements is not enough, as only the five runners from each age group are selected.
To be selected is a recognition of ability and dedication to the sport. Anyone who knows the recipient of this award will know that she doesn’t lack either, as she currently holds all the club records in her age category.
For selection into the England Masters team in the York Marathon, this Bill Barrett award goes to
Christine Lathwell
Performance Award 2019
This performance award goes to a Strider who had quite an impressive 2019. There were races from 5k to marathon distance and a run streak that reached epic proportions.
However, this award is for upping the distance and completing her first ultra at the Stopsley Challenge event, running 29.6 miles in just over 6 hours and finishing in joint 3rd place.
This award goes to
Evelyn Lutterodt
Performance Award 2019
This Strider has been dealing with serious injury for the last seven or eight months but before being laid low was running well, so much so that she smashed her Sandy 10-mile time by over eight minutes.
We’ve missed her highly vocal complaining – it’s either too hot/cold/wet/muddy/pebbly/hilly/flat etc, but this well-deserved Performance Award goes to
Amanda Scott
Performance Award 2019
In a year beset by injury, this Strider still managed to smash his Brighton Marathon time by almost 18 minutes – not bad for a mature punk-rocker.
This chap is a great promoter of both Parkrun and Junior Parkrun, gives good advice, is the 29th fastest man in his postcode and has a little-known hustle as a cycling guru.
This Performance Award deservedly goes to
Rick Hares
Performance Award 2019
This lady is a long-standing member of the club who has always been a successful runner, but her running did take a bit of a dip a few years back. She continued to train and work hard, and this coupled with some body maintenance routines started to show some beneficial effects.
2019 saw her move into a new age Category which seemed to fire her up again and her running improved greatly as did her race performances.
The highlight of the year came at the Marston 5K, where she was the 1st Female Vet 60 to finish with a time of 26:16 and setting a new club record for this category. Hopefully this is the first of further records.
This Performance Award for 2019 goes to C’MON you
Karen Ashby
Performance Award 2019
This performance award goes to a Strider who could pick any of these performances that have led to this trophy.
- Finishing 5th in the Beds Cross Country and then going on to represent Bedfordshire at the Inter Counties
- Winning the St Peters Way Ultra
- Setting a new Club Record at the Oakley 20
- Finishing third in the Berghaus Dragon Back Race over 315km over Wales’ toughest peaks over 5 days
- Winning the Luton Race Series
- Finishing 4th in a 9.3Km race – sounds easy when it’s on 928 ft climb!
- Finishing 3rd at the Ridgway 83 miler
- Breaking his own club Marathon record at 2:38:29 in Yorkshire
- Winning the Stort 30 miler the week after
- Completing the Wendover Woods 50 miler in 8 hrs. 26 mins
Take your pick- this Performance Award goes to Rob Barnes
Performance Award 2019
This performance award is for a club member who in 2019 gained a new Age Group PB for Stopsley Striders in the Leighton 10 mile, completing in an amazing 1:36:49.
This man was also first in his age group for the Luton Half Marathon this year as well as the John O’Callaghan 5 Mile.
It’s certainly been a year of successes and another great year ahead for this member.
This Performance award is for
Tony Riley
Improvement Award 2019
This Strider has gone from strength to strength this year, taking part in new events, challenging herself over longer distances, working hard in personal training sessions and smashing PB after PB – shaving over three minutes from her Standalone 10K – and that’s just one of many examples.
She’s taken part in 5k sprints, half and full marathons, is ranked number 4324 nationally in her age group and manages all of this while juggling a family, a career, being a sympathetic friend and living a secret life as a mysterious master of disguise.
This improvement award goes to
Dawn Boon
Improvement Award 2019
This man-made significant progress in his running throughout the year, running PB’s at all distances from 5k up to a Marathon, no mean feat. Some of his highlights included 20.33 at the Marston 5K, 33.44 at the Hatfield 5-mile race and a 1.41 half Marathon at Luton in the Autumn.
He has put in a tremendous amount of effort to get to where he has this year and I’m sure with the same level of dedication, there is even more to come in 2020.
This Improvement Award for 2019 goes to
Ian Curry
Improvement Award 2019
This lady has worked extra hard this year and it paid off. Not only did she run the whole Brighton Marathon but earnt herself a 52 min PB and got sub 5. Not content with that she also completed other races (PBing at various distances) and Ride London and her first Duathlon. All these achievements haven’t stopped her training and she has added working on her swimming so she can complete the London Classics.
With all the additional activities we are sure we will see more running PBs this year.
This well-deserved Improvement Award goes to
Julie Tysoe
Improvement Award 2019
This club stalwart is like a fine wine and is maturing with age – not only that, but quite annoyingly, he’s getting faster as he gets older! This young man is the fastest bloke in his postcode area, he took five minutes off his Luton 10k time, beat his 10-mile time by nine minutes and was a regular scorer at the 3 Counties Cross-Country.
He and his family are great representatives for our club at Parkruns both far and wide.
It is a pleasure to award this improvement award to
Stewart Read
Improvement Award 2019
This award goes to a Club member who has had a great year. She has obviously kept up her training and it is starting to show in all her races. She is always the first Strider home when competing wearing her Striders vest with pride. The fact that she has moved to Ireland has not affected her running but improved it.
She has smashed 1 minute off her 10km, and when she ran her 5 mile and Half Marathon, she improved her times by over 3 minutes.
This Improvement award goes to
Donna Wiggett
Improvement Award 2019
This lady had an amazing year. There really was no stopping her, from running, through swimming and onto triathlon.
This lady threw herself at all distances and activities with no fear, and the great time she had doing it showed in her results.
This Improvement award goes to
Nadia Hall
Improvement Award 2019
This award goes to a lady who is the most persuasive person I know. She is always looking for new races with a shiny medal and more importantly for her a flat course. She likes to round up the troops and get as many striders involved as she can which is great club spirit.
This lady has improved her times over the year and achieved a sub 1-hour PB during 2019 at the Hitchin 10k which she was then able to beat again in October at the Luton 10K. This year has seen this lady run 24 races including her very first half marathon which she was able to do sub 2:30. Overall it has been a great year of running for this lady.
This improvement award goes to
Antonia Munn
Improvement Award 2019
Over the past year, this Strider has been an ever present at track and this has enabled her to smash her 10k PB time after time. She was a major runner for Stopsley Striders in this season’s cross-country, finishing in the club ladies top four places in four out of her five races.
Armed with a rapier wit and a droll sense of humour, this Strider is also uncannily lucky in Valentine’s Day raffles.
This improvement award goes to
Ruth Doyle.
Improvement Award 2019
This Strider has had a great year, running most distances between 5k to 10 miles.
Her preferred distance seems to be 10k, recording seven 10k races over the year and improving her PB twice – to 52:47 at Hitchin in May and then 52:09 at the St Albans Solstice race in June (and that was after getting up at stupid o’clock to see the sun rise over the airport on the Runway Run that morning!)
She also achieved PBs at two other distances – the MK Rocket 5k in May and the Great South Run 10 miles in October. It will be interesting to see where 2020 takes her.
This Improvement Award goes to
Nicola Abubacker
Improvement Award 2019
This runner rocked up at Striders in early 2018 and, with good grace, rapidly settled into the role of “I’m the club member who’s name people can never get quite right.” Like many Striders, she’s up early running long distances: when she’s not on holiday, she’s challenging family members to race against her, has finished top four ladies Strider in the three cross-countries three times and shaved over five minutes off her 10k pb.
This improvement award goes to
Peta Henry
Improvement Award 2019
This improvement award is for a lady who has shown great courage and inspired many within the club in recent months and has outdone herself in the first half of the year. She has gained PB after PB and no matter the distance or time, her hair is always perfectly in place.
2019 was a great year with a 5K, 10K, 5 Mile and 10 Mile PB’s, a 2:03:53 Half marathon (also a PB), and to top it off she ran her first Marathon in Brighton in 4:26:58 which was quicker than she had planned or trained for.
This well-earned improvement award is for
Kerry Dear
Improvement Award 2019
This Strider has worked hard at all distances this year, from 5Ks to her first marathon. She ran the Vitality 10,000 in a great time of 50:57, set a well-earned PB of 3:31:58 at the Draycote Water 20 and finished the Bournemouth marathon in the easy to remember time of 4:44:44!
A great person to run with and a great representative for Stopsley Striders.
This improvement award deservedly goes to
Calista Strange
Improvement Award 2019
This person had a fantastic running year with a series of PB’s across a range of distances. She ran a sub 20 5K during the Luton Series and completed all 3 races, a sub 40 10K at Luton, 68 mins and First Strider home at the Leighton 10-mile race and a sub 90 min half at Bedford in December for the first time.
Her hard work in the various coached sessions throughout the year has clearly paid off and they have also significantly improved in their placings for the club in the Cross-Country League. It all bodes well for a good 2020.
This Improvement Award for 2019 goes to
Ellie Davies
Improvement Award 2019
This person continues to go from strength to strength. He had a brilliant marathon training cycle bringing him brilliant performance improvements. PB’ing at Half Marathon and 20-mile events along the way. His first marathon would have been a breeze. It was a great shame to hear that unfortunately the event he was training for, the Leicester Marathon, was cancelled due to much of the route being underwater, due to terrible storms the week prior.
He is always a source of great encouragement to others, and it was good to see him join the committee as the Men’s Captain.
This Improvement Award goes to
Charles Nelis
Improvement Award 2019
This man joined the club in 2019 and quickly set himself the target to become quicker. He started coming to the coached track sessions on a Tuesday evening and completed his first Half Marathon in May in a time of 1.43, which he subsequently bettered at the Luton Half by 6 mins, an excellent effort. He also obtained PB’s at the Hitchin 10k and completed the whole of the Luton Series in competitive times as well as running the Stopsley 10-mile race.
He decided to throw himself into the cross-country scene as well and though injury curtailed the end of the year for him, I know he has high hopes for 2020 with his first Marathon attempt. We wish him well.
This Improvement Award for 2019 goes to
Eammon Devane
Improvement Award 2019
Having been a running widow for many years this Strider finally discovered the running bug and hasn’t looked back.
In 2019 she competed at 5k, 5 miles and 10k distances. She also lowered her parkrun PB six times from 38:28 to 35:25
This improvement award goes to
Hilary Wildman
Improvement Award 2019
This lady joined our club after graduating from our beginner’s course in 2018 and has shown that the sky’s the limit with what you can achieve with hard work and dedication!
Over the past year she has shown good improvement in her running performances and in doing so conquered the longer distance of the half-marathon.
This runner has also shown what a good club member she is when she assisted as a helper on this past year beginners’ course with a great sense of fun and it was a pleasure to see her encourage the new beginners to believe in themselves!
A very well-deserved improvement award goes to
Claire Bracey
Improvement Award 2019
This runner was hugely excited about her marathon this year for several reasons, and it didn’t disappoint. At Belfast she PB’d to finish sub 5 knocking just under 20 mins off her previous time. A massive advocate of Jeffing she showed what is possible and did it with a smile.
This improvement award goes to
Kate Neale
Improvement Award 2019
This Strider ran his first marathon in 2018 and swore he was never running another one. Fast forward to early 2019 and somehow he was on the list for the Belfast Marathon trip!
The road to Belfast included a 10 mile PB at the Fred Hughes 10 in January that was then broken at the Sandy 10 mile event in April, a 20 mile PB at Oakley and a whopping 26 minute PB at Belfast Marathon, breaking 4 hours with 3:58:32.
Unfortunately, injury curtailed his cross-country season, but he attended the remaining races to support the team and assist with the scoring.
This improvement award goes to
Andy Durrant
Improvement Award 2019
This strider had a difficult year of running in 2018 picking up injuries. Determined to improve, he started 2019 by setting some goals for the year and committing to a training plan. This proved very quickly to have a positive effect on his running. In March he tackled the Coventry Half marathon and knocked 3 minutes off his PB.
Over the months following this he achieved a sub 22 time at parkruns, a new 10k PB and a new 5k PB.
This runner has had a great year of running and is always supportive of other runners in and out of the club. We wish them the best of luck in 2020.
This improvement award goes to
Dean Haywood
Improvement Award 2019
This man continued to improve throughout 2019, obtaining PB’s at both the 5K and 5-mile distances in the Luton Summer Series as well as running two excellent half marathons in the Spring and Autumn, the first one in extremely windy conditions along the Thames Path.
He consistently took part in the Three Counties Cross Country league fixtures and in 2019 he again became a consistent scorer for the team. He also represented the club at both the County and Southern Cross-Country Championships in 2019.
Let’s hope that in 2020 he can push on and obtain more great results.
This Improvement Award goes to
Martin Fallon
Improvement Award 2019
This lady has had a great year of running, taking part in several races and even completing her first half marathon in September which is the furthest she had ever run. She did well during this race, even holding back and running with a fellow strider who was struggling with injury. She is nearly almost always at club and attends track on a Tuesday to help improve her times.
This lady always has a warm friendly smile on her face and is a pleasure to run with.
This improvement award goes to
Fran Moss
Improvement Award 2019
This improvement award is for a new member to this club this year, who started 2019 with a parkrun 38:52, which was already a big improvement from the year before starting 2018 around 44 minutes for a 5k.
During the peak of his running, and after helping with the Annual Beginners course, he smashed the 37-minute barrier and run 36:59 at Luton Wardown Parkrun. He has worked extremely hard for this PB, and his daughter spent many Saturday mornings telling him he could do it, now back on his feet after illness.
This improvement award goes to
Terence Philpott
Improvement Award 2019
This man has shown that with hard work and dedication there is no limit in what you can achieve in your running life!
He has shown good improvements in his running performances and is our very own international parkrun tourist in running at beautiful events from Poland to South Africa!
He also has started a very interesting blog telling his journey towards his third upcoming marathon at Athens in November 2020 and other talents include playing a mean saxophone!
Finally, his positivity is infectious, we are very lucky to have this man as a member of our great club!
A very well-deserved improvement award goes to
Martin Ball
Special Award 2019
This strider has had a busy year in 2019. Having nominated a charity close to her heart, she spent the year organising fundraising and fun events on behalf of Stopsley Strider, Being naturally shy, this strider stepped out of her comfort zone in a big way and displayed confidence and hard work even when things didn’t turn out as planned. One of the highlights for many of us was her giggly speech at the Man Ho event. Her fundraising year was rounded off with the brilliant Halloween party and brought the amount raised to £7,500.
This special award goes to
Katicia Blanchard
Special Award 2019
This Special Award goes to a Strider who has shown personal bravery in 2019 and gone onto set some impressive running time. She has set great times at 5k, 5mile, 10k and 10 miles, with the 10 mile and 10k times being very impressive. We applaud your bravery, running exploits and vocal support for the club as whole.
This Special Award goes to
Ellie Davies
Special Award 2019
This lady is an honoury strider and one that has helped many of us come post injury and improve our speed. Her hard work and commitment to the club each week has paid dividends with many of our achievements and PBs down to the exercises and stretches that this lady has shown us. She is not a runner herself – although we have tried to persuade her many times – but she is committed to making us stronger runners.
For encouraging us to engage our core and for our weekly Pilates class this special award goes to
Tahira Begum
Special Award 2019
I think I mentioned this last year but there isn’t another runner in the club with more enthusiasm for this club than this lady. She runs in her striders vest more than any of us and if she isn’t running, she is the first to wish good luck to members.
She knows what races most people are training for and will offer words of advice and encouragement. She is a great asset to the club for her running ability but more for her commitment and enthusiasm and the hours she spends processing the results and writing the running reports.
This special award goes to our Ladies Captain
Christine Lathwell
Special Award 2019
This lady is a great asset to our club, she has a calm and measured approach, and nothing is too much trouble. She was a huge help on the committee last year and made some tasks that I struggled to manage last year a breeze. I am so glad she has remained on the committee and this year stood up to the role of secretary, which I’m sure she will thrive at.
Thank you for everything you did last year and thank you again for your continued commitment to the club.
This special award goes to
Estelle Parkins
Special Award 2019
This member is someone who doesn’t get fazed or flustered, he takes everything in his stride in a calm and measured way, maybe it’s the teaching background that helps.
This Strider has been a member for several years and on the committee for a good number of them, he works hard behind the scenes to ensure the smooth running of the club.
He is the first person to approach if advice was sought about anything and knowing he was still going to remain on the committee made me feel comfortable standing aside. It has been a pleasure to work alongside you.
This special award goes to
Thom Darby
Special Award 2019
As might be expected, the club now has a big presence on social media, keeping in touch with members via Facebook, Instagram, Myspace and Tinder.
However, for many members, potential members, and anyone looking for information about our club, their first port of call will be our club’s website.
For many years this was designed and run by the recipient of this award. In fact, the website itself actually won awards. He has now handed over the baton, but much of the layout and content from the original site remains.
For all his work towards our website over the years, this Special Award goes to
Dave Debnam
Special Award 2019
This award goes to a lady who has made an improvement to the face of our Running Club. We have been fortunate enough to have a runner amongst us with a skill for creating new websites which this lady has kindly done for us. The Stopsley Striders website has had a facelift and is now a very easy to navigate and informative platform for us as Striders to use, but also for those that are thinking of joining our club. From news articles, race reports, upcoming events, to our new and improved way of recording race results, this really has been a positive transformation.
A big Thank you goes to this lady for creating and maintaining our new website.
This special award goes to
Evelyn Lutterodt
Special Award 2019
This award is actually for two people. Separately they are formidable, together (and with a glass or two) they are a force of nature.
In 2018 the nominated club charity was the Cardiac Rehab Unit at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital. These two hit the deck running and over a year filled with heart-themed events, challenges and medals, raised over £7000, a club record by some margin.
In 2019 they used their expertise and drive to support Katicia with the next club charity, Alzheimer’s Research UK. Again over £7000 was raised.
This year they are taking on an even bigger challenge, fundraising for Action for Children whilst training to run the London Marathon. I have a feeling that London won’t know what’s hit it!
This Special Award is obviously for the very awesome
Amanda Rankin and Liz Evans
Special Award 2019
This award goes to a lady who in the last 12 months went on to set new personal records in all distances which she had set in 2018. She took on her first marathon in April and completed Brighton with a time of 4:26:57. She was getting quicker and quicker and really began to love running and was enjoying the training for her second marathon which should have been in October in Bournemouth.
Unfortunately, her health took a massive turn for the worst and in August she underwent an emergency 7-hour operation to remove half her bowel. This affected her physically, mentally and emotionally and the passion that she felt for running had diminished. She has several times said that she is done with running as she can’t get up to the standard that she was at. Despite this she went on to complete Love Luton 10k in October.
The support from fellow Striders has got her through this and is now back to nearly enjoying her running again. Her determination has been inspirational, and I hope she goes on too many more marathons and maybe even further distances.
This Special Award goes to
Kerry Dear
Special Award 2019
This award goes to another long-standing member of our club. The man who was always at the club, entering races and taking part in the cross-country seasons. When not following those pursuits, he was long distance hill walking, cycling and skiing.
So, it was a great surprise when he was not amongst us, and was not taking part in any of the previously mentioned activities.
When he approached the doctors with his symptoms of constant fatigue, it would be fair to say the medics were at somewhat of a loss as to what was causing this condition. After a myriad of tests, he now has some answers, the condition affects his central nervous system, causing the fatigue. The condition can be managed along, with him gauging what he can do and learning how to manage the fatigue. However, over the last year he kept coming to the club and was a major participant, in the walking groups that go out on club nights.
Bit by bit as he began to understand and manage his efforts to control the fatigue. In-fact he has come back to run, and this season ran in all our Cross-Country races.
This Special Award goes to
Paul Keech
Special Award 2019
Although this Strider hasn’t been seen at the club that much over the past year, she has continued to be active
Diagnosed with cancer in November 2018 she turned up at parkrun almost every week throughout her treatment. How she covered the 5k very much depended on how she felt on the day and where she was in her chemo cycle but cover it she did.
During this time she completed over 30 parkruns and reached her 100 parkrun milestone almost a year to the day from being diagnosed. She also smashed out a PB of 1:52:33 at the Great South Run in October.
She has inspired so many with her strength and determination and it’s great to see her back at the club.
This Special Award goes to the amazing
Sue Potter
Special Award 2019
This special award is a joint award for two members of the club who have helped many of us achieve personal bests, excellent running times and just to learn to run with resilience and determination.
The track evenings at Stockwood Park have become a permanent fixture in the training diaries of many Striders and the majority of Tuesday sessions are coached by these two Striders.
They may get us to do some interesting warmups and parts of the session but in the end, it is worth it
This Special Award goes to
Maria Petts and Gez Fallon
Special Award 2019
This strider loves the cross country but unfortunately became injured, and was therefore unable to compete in this cross-country season.
Instead she supported, took photos and volunteered to help the captain Christine with the scorings.
This special award goes to
Liz Davies
Special Award 2019
As we are all runners, we all know what it is like to have a successful year and then to end up injured. It is very hard for you to turn up and watch races, knowing you would rather be racing.
This Strider turned up for the Cross Country to help support people and volunteered to help the Captain Christine with the scorings after the race when most would stay home in the warm.
This special award goes to
Ian Pitkin
Special Award 2019
This Special Award goes to a Strider who, despite having an emergency appendectomy, went to complete the London Marathon in a super time of 4hrs 52 mins.
She then went onto compete in Belfast Marathon Relay a few weeks later showing her resilience and tenacity in overcoming a such a setback so early in her marathon training.
This special award goes to
Vicki Crowston
Ken Abbott Award 2019
This award goes to a man who has been a mainstay of Stopsley Striders for many years. So, the shock he and his family, along with us in his running family had, when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, certainly shook us all.
After the diagnosis, he embarked on his treatment which included operations, procedures and drug therapy over many months. Having to go through all of this, placed a lot of restrictions on him, as his immune system was non-existent, and he could not afford to catch any viruses and impede his treatments and recovery.
This severely curtailed his running and cycling along with associating with us at the Club. However never one to be put down, as soon as he could, he set up a system at his home so he could cycle, to maintain a level of fitness. When able he began to come back to the club, where he was able to go out with the various members who were going for walks on club nights. Bit by bit he regained his fitness and his treatments allowed him to start running again, with a structured build up. The treatments certainly caused him to fatigue more quickly than in the past.
We are in no doubt, that his levels of fitness prior to his diagnosis along with his determination and hopefully support from all the Club members, have helped in his recovery. It is fantastic to see him back running and participating in the Club once more.
The Ken Abbott Award goes to
Dave Debnam
Chairman’s Award 2019
We started this year in the unusual position of not having a Chairman, but there is no better person to receive this award than the person who previously occupied the position.
Zena took on the role as chair of the committee with infectious enthusiasm and has guided the club over the past three years to the position that it is in now – the most welcoming, inclusive and friendly running club that you would hope to find.
We can only hope that her successor can continue the good work and follow the example that she has set.
The Chairman’s Award for 2019 goes to
Zena Ellis
