Swindon Striders Running Club

Grand Prix 2010

It’s time to get the annual Grand Prix Competition started and this year to make it easier for everyone to take part we have included more local and shorter races.

The idea of the Grand Prix is to reward progress - so it’s not necessarily the fastest that win but the most improved.

If you’d like to take part then please get a form from Sarah Wells on club nights or email sarahwells@swindonstriders.org You’ll need to have the time for you last race handy. Your score will be based on this time and worked out using a handicap. Don’t worry if you’ve never raced before we’ll take your first race time as your handicap.

Entry forms will have to be in before April 18th in time for the first race which is Highworth 5.
Don’t forget to enter the races early as they can be very popular – entry forms will be available on club nights.

Useful Links:
What is the Grand Prix?
Rules
2010 Races

Broad Town Pictures
Thanks to Simon who sent in a selection of pictures from the BroadTown race this summer.

A picture gallery can be accessed by clicking either picture.

Striders - Back in a Flash
Great performances by all brought both the Mens and Ladies team prizes home for the Striders in the recent Back in a Flash 5K.
Claire Smith was third lady and Chris Sykes was fourth man.
Full details and results can be found on http://www.grassrootsevents.co.uk/

Photo reproduced by kind permission of Steve Goulding

More Back in a Flash Pictures

Henry has kindly submitted some more pictures of this event, a gallery can be viewed by clicking on one of the images below:

XC '08/'09 Pictures
Paul Batsford has kindly submitted various pictures of the men (sorry ladies) running in rounds four and five of last years' Oxford Mail Cross Country league.
Click on the pictures below to take you to the gallery:

Club Constitution Updated
All members should make sure that they are familiar with the updated version of the club constituion.
It can be found here.

The Striders gather before a Monday night club run.

Picture courtesy of Paul Batsford.

A Busy Day for the Striders
Sunday 12th October was a busy day for the Striders as members competed in the Swindon Half Marathon, Swindon Multi-Terrain 5 Mile, and the Commando Challenge!
There were some great performances on the day, despite the un-seasonably warm weather!

Swindon Half Results.

5 Mile Multi-Terrain Results.

Results of the Commando Challenge.

Links to image galleries:

A big thank you to Dave, Ray, and Wendy for the Commando Challenge Pictures.

Ridgeway Challenge
86 miles and still smiling!

Ridgeway Challenge - Neil at Finish

Huge Congratulations to Neil Pringle who completed the 86 mile Ridgeway Challenge just before lunch on Sunday 26th August in an impressive time of 23 hours and 21 minutes!

It was an inspirational run and, as always, Neil did it with a smile on his face!

Finishing Time

A few more photos of Neil completing this event can be found here.

Not got a GPS???

Then try out this nifty little utility on the London Marathon website:
http://www.realbuzz.com/flmroutes/map.html
(now requires (free) registration)
It allows you to plot the routes you run and it'll give you a fairly good idea of the distance travelled......it's probably slightly more accurate than Andy Smith's assurances that it's "about six"!!!

Just done a PB?

Have you checked our Club Records page here?
Do you now hold a Striders age-group record?
If so, please let us know at the usual e-mail address: website@swindonstriders.org

Need a Running Log?
Lee Armitage, the partner of one of our runners, has developed a rather nice (Microsoft Excel format) running log and very kindly agreed to let us all give it a "test run"!

You can find a link to it here
Please feel free to give it a try and send us any feedback so we can forward it on to Lee.

Thanks Lee!