Sandbach Striders

This week saw the second anniversary of the start of the free weekly Congleton parkrun. 
Sandbach Striders at Congleton parkrun

As such it was a time of celebration and fun at Astbury Mere as runners donned their best festive fancy dress to mark the occasion. Members of Sandbach Striders running club require little in the way of persuasion to dress up and so it was that various Christmas Santa’s, elves, dragons and even a gorilla joined the eclectic starting line. This was not a week for fast times and whilst there were no new personal best times much fun was had by all.

The full results were as follows:

19:58 Tony Taylor
20:08 Andy Thomas
20:23 Heather Carter
23:19 Terry Coppenhall
23:23 Giles Hodges
23:40 Steve Farnell
25:27 Denis Culloty
26:22 Cheryl Hutchins
27:16 Andrew Gibson
27:28 Jo Bulley
27:55 Mat Simister
28:56 Denise Dowling
29:40 Lindsay Beech
29:49 Isobel Bennett
30:55 Lucy Coleman
30:56 Martin Coleman
41:22 Adam Mayell
41:24 Tom Mayell
41:40 Amy Mayell

Slightly further afield Michael Escolme ran the Fælledparken parkrun in Copenhagen, Denmark. In bitterly cold conditions Michael joined around 40 other Danes on the three laps of a scenic park next to the national stadium on the edge of Copenhagen city centre. Michael finished in 23:25.

Caitlin Cole, Mary Chadwick and Michael Escolme at Fælledparken parkrun
On Sunday the popular North Staffordshire Christmas Cracker took place at the Tittesworth Reservoir near Leek. Despite this race being a challenging 8 mile yomp over The Roaches many runners again don festive fancy dress to run in. Heather Carter won the Female Veterans over-40 category prize.

The fill results were:

1:05:38 Heather Carter
1:07:05 Tony Taylor
1:12:11 John Wright
1:29:07 Mat Simister
1:29:19 Christiana Bunte
1:29:19 Cheryl Hutchins
1:29:20 Gordon Hutchins
1:30:04 Tom Mayell
1:34:08 Stella Stilwell
1:36:20 Denis Culloty
1:36:40 Sophie Bunte

Sandbach Striders at North Staffs Christmas Cracker
Don't forget the usual club run on Christmas Eve at 6:30pm, the bonus Christmas day parkruns at Congleton, Delamere and Hanley or the Boxing Day Bacon Butty Onesie run at the club at 10:00am!