The Strider

By Mary Jones (This article was originally posted in Mary’s Blog)

February is too short.

Our running club has set a championship challenge (in lieu of races) to run a fast 5k during February. The route choice is your own. Hence lots of Goyt Valley Striders have been throwing themselves off the top of big hills and hurtling down in an attempt to break the land speed record.

My first attempt was misjudged. I found a big hill, ran down it: I won’t bore you with the details but I still had a lot of 5km left when I got to the bottom. I ended up running back through the village at 6pm on a Friday night, dodging the socially distanced chippy queue, which must have cost valuable seconds. It was still my fastest ever 5k but I thought I could do better. ...  continue reading

by Chris Bowen

2020 got off to a good start with three races taking place. We did the Meltham Tough 10k, the Marple Park Run, and the Haworth Hobble, and we had no idea that this would be the last of the championship races for the year. The committee started putting on a few challenges, suggested by various members, and asked people to record when they had taken part, the time taken not being important. The idea was to keep people running even when we couldn’t have club runs.

It gradually became apparent that races were not going to be held for the rest of 2020 and so we finished the year with 20 of our own challenges in all. These included some relay events, some local race routes, and some navigation challenges. Some of these challenges were charity events, with members being very generous in their donations – thank you everyone! A lot of people enjoyed searching the Goyt Valley for Joe Brown’s Numbers, and testing themselves on the 5 Trigs route – thanks to Pete Ambrose for suggesting these. Also thanks to Chris Tetley for designing the August navigation event, where we had to find the green ‘Peak and Northern’ footpath signs; and to Brian Holland for encouraging us to run Every Day in May (and November!), and for planning various relays. ...  continue reading

By Lucas Jones

I don’t need to tell you all how strange 2020 was!

Since March we’ve been missing a lot:
• races (although Aidan and me somehow managed to do a half ironman triathlon)
• parkruns
• our usual, brilliantly informal Tuesday and Saturday club runs
• and of course the pubs!

However, I am very proud of how the club came together in these difficult times. Starting with the relay in May, and continuing with the Mob Match, and all the events that comprised the Lockdown Championship. Thanks to everyone who suggested or helped to organise those events: I know they helped just about save my sanity last year. ...  continue reading

By Julia Carter

Yet another fabulous event, and weren’t we blessed with the weather? The start was “a bit early” to quote Mary, with Chris T, Alistair, and the Joneses setting things in motion, all setting off on separate routes. The starting block was from outside Louise’s house. Louise was self isolating at the time but there she was with a smile and a cheer to welcome the first arrivals.

On the basis of the various drafts and spreadsheets, I had, some may argue naively, been expecting my fellow Striders to arrive at approximately 9.00am. Chris T however announced his arrival at my house with a message “Here” at 8.29 am, so out I shot with wet hair, and one running shoe on and one running shoe in my hand. I was greeted by a very spritely Chris, and Chloe Abbot (and dog). Having failed to interpret the rules correctly I had not prepared a treat for my relay benefactors, so apologies Chris and Chloe, but I did take a couple of brownies with me to my onward recipients Brian and Sue. ...  continue reading