SPA Striders were well represented at the Warwick Half Marathon last weekend, after the club were represented by a record 57 runners at the event.
There was a matter of five seconds separating the two fastest runners from the club, Ian Allen completed the course in a new half-marathon club record time of 1:15:39, closely followed by Chris McKeown (1:15:44) to finish second and third place overall.
Both completed personal best times in the process, and were joined by a number of others from the club in achieving a new feat.
The most notable of all was Bev Stephens (1:58:22) – who finished under two hours for the first time, whilst Anne-Clare Bennion knocked 11 minutes off her previous best after achieving a time of 2:08:23.
Steve Taylor took ten minutes off (2:00:26), and was joined by Luke Bennett (1:34:51) and Billy Morton (1:43:09) in reducing their best time’s by eight and seven minutes respectively.
Meanwhile in the age categories, Sandra Stokes finished second in the FV55 group (1:56:26), Andrew Graham topped the MV50 category (1:22:55), whilst Sue Cox topped the female equivalent (1:38:34).
Elsewhere, Clare Hinton (1:32:21) was fastest in the FV40 group as the fastest female across the line for the Striders, with Chris McKeown fastest in the MV35 category, Laura Peake second in the FV35 (1:35:27) and Ian Allen the second fastest male senior.
On courses elsewhere, Spa were represented by Amanda Bonjour in the New Zealand 70.3 Ironman on her honeymoon, whilst Anne Hurrell secured a personal best and a New York City Marathon qualifying place with a time of 1:36:53.
She was joined by Neil Smith (1:19:30), Simon Ludford (1:25:32) and Dave Lithgow (1:56:19) who also finished.
Chloe Kinton completed the Rushcliffe 10k in 43:25, whilst Liz Draper finished a third ultra in three weeks when finishing the 27.5 mile off-road Golden Fleece in five hours and 11 minutes.
