After four attempts Andy Hind partnered by Andy “Torchy” Mason completed the Rodings Rally a tough night time navigation event in Epping Forest. Their time of 7 hours 33 minutes placed them in the top ten after 18 arduous miles.

Nikki Brockbank broke her PB in clocking 3.13.33 at the Luton Marathon. She also took third prize in the ladies event.

25 Striders ran the Chelmsford 10K on Sunday with the usual good results. Paul Molyneux placed third in a very strong field in an excellent 31.39. Mark Newton ran a PB of 33.22 and along with June Allen (another PB in 37.19) won the unusual mixed team prize. June was second lady and Gary Chandler took the over 40 prize in 35.39. Tom Coen, Vic Curren and Liz Irvine were amongst the others gaining a PB.

The cross country saw good turnouts at both Hadleigh Downs and Great Notley. At the Essex League it was a healthy turnout with 8 women and 13 men competing for the Striders.

In the women's race Nicola Pyle was first Strider in an excellent 26th and she had strong support from Lynn Tanner in 31st (again first V55), Lauren Buck (nee Ashton) in 42nd and Kirsty Williams in 52nd. This brought the women's team 6th place equalling their best result of the season and pushing them up a place to 6th in the overall table.
As well as the scorers, Sarah Knowles 67^th, Sarah Goodwin 74th, Dawn Potter 75th and Sandra Stanton 76th all packed well.
In the men's race, Tristan Windley again lead the way with another top 10 finish (8th) in a strong field. James Neugebauer was next in 44th and along with Stuart Raven in 63rd continued their strong starts to the season. Next was a three way battle between Mark Waine, Paul Jeggo and Rob Mills (73rd, 74th and 77th), to complete the scoring team. The men finished 9th and sit 8th overall in the league.

Tim Brockington after missing the start, not only went through and passed lots of runners but still had the strength for a big kick finish to repel a challenger at the end. Ray Charlton had his strongest run of the season, finishing ahead of a few runners who had previously beaten him and well done to Pat Knowles on his first Essex League of the season.

Other results;
Chris Pearce 84
Chris Snowdon 96
Paul Bridges 112
Steve Perry 171
Special thanks to Mr and Mrs Bridges for not only taking on the scoring at minimal notice but doing an excellent job with getting the results in, adding up correctly (a task that we failed at earlier in the season) and writing out a copy of the Striders’ results.

31 Striders ventured to Notley on Sunday for the first Mid-Essex League of the season which was no mean feat on a heavy weekend of racing. Whilst we were absent of Sarah's cakes whilst she is on holiday, the host club did put on a lovely spread. Whilst the food was clear to see, not much of the course was visible in a heavy mist.

The women ran really well with Sarah Colbert leading the way in an excellent 3rd place with Tracey Alexandrou close behind in 4th. Sue Clarke completed the scoring team in 19th to give the women 3rd place overall. This was a strong showing with Leigh, last year’s winners, coming 2nd to Grange Farm and if we can keep improving through the season, there will be an epic three way battle. Allison multi-tasking with organising did well in 28th and Jane Forrester had an excellent run in 45th. Kirsty Williams (30th), Dawn Potter(49th) and Sandra Stanton (51st) showed what iron women and great examples they are by competing in back to back races this weekend.

For the men, we rested up (or sharpened up at Chelmsford 10k) our entire scoring team at the 53-12. This just cemented what we had already seen this season with the strength in depth with the second guard stepping up to the plate.

We welcomed back Paul Anderson to the racing fold after a long period out injured and he started to psyche out the field by shooting off at the start like a greyhound out of Trap 1, leading thoughts that he had been in secret training for the last two months. Whilst Paul couldn't maintain his lead, James Neugebauer not deterred by Saturday's run mixed it at the front of the race and had superb back up from a sea of Striders who continued to get stronger through the race, picking up places. James was first Strider in a brilliant 3^rd.  Mark Waine had his best run of the season in 4th, with Steve Moore keeping him honest in the middle of the race and himself with a great finish in 6th. Stuart Raven another runner with Hadleigh in his legs had a great run in 7th. Nathan Ozols on his cross country debut this season came in 12th just ahead of Rob Mills, another double-upper in 13th. Chris Pearce who has had his fair share of injuries had a really positive run in 15th and along with other injury returner Paul Anderson in 19th, ran stronger than expected. Anthony Marsh had a strong run in 23rd and Phil Claydon an impressive 28th. Chris Snowdon, Ray Charlton and Steve Perry were other tough guys who sacrificed a chunk of their weekend to double up. Alistair Gillan gets the award for the fastest finish.

Other finishers for the team were;
Richard Taylor 39
Richard Fall 41
Andy Stroud 53
Danny Prior 69
John Clarke 70
Ivan Howlett 79
Andy Mason 85
Steve Perry 86
Pete Deadman 87
Malcolm Potter 92
The end result was that the men's team finished a strong 1st with our scoring team of 7 finishing before any other team had more than 3 runners in.

Well done to all that competed as with other races, the multiple Striders vests gives a lift to all and thanks also to the supporters amongst whom were Kerry and Nathan and the family Pearce.