The highlight of this weekend’s running was the second round of the Chiltern League Cross Country, held at Teardrop Lakes in Milton Keynes.

Striders’ James McMurray was the overall winner of the Senior Men’s race, with a time of 30:09 over a tough course made even more tricky by the extremely wet and muddy conditions. For the women, first Striders home were Megan Steer in 25:51 and Wendy Walsh in 26:01.

For the Juniors, Antonia Jubb and Lily Tse were first and second in the Under-15 Girls category and Christina Durbin 5^th in the Under 17/Under-20 race. James Moore was 6^th in the Under-17 category and Oscar Loveday 2^nd in the Under-15 race.

Overall, St Albans are now fifth out of 14 clubs, with the men in third place and the women seventh overall.

Elsewhere, Paul Earnshaw got back to racing with his daughter Natalie in his first race of the year, completing the iconic 20km Berhobia to San Sebastian race in NW Spain in 2hr 01, despite his injured knee.

Away from racing, this weekend also saw Striders Annual Awards dinner.

The Club was proud to induct Deb Steer into its Hall of Fame. Deb has an amazing record as a member of the club for over 20 years. She first ran the London Marathon in 2001, which was the first of her 14 consecutive outings in that iconic event. In 2009 she achieved her best time of 2hrs 54. She is the 18^th fastest V50 marathon runner of all time in the UK. She holds 15 club records on the road and the track at various distances and categories. Following some troublesome injuries, she is now back on the hunt for marathon glory, completing the Southampton Marathon in 3:34 to qualify for London next year.

Meanwhile Strider of the Year, the award for all round contribution to the Club, was this year won by Bernadette Newby - a very popular choice reflecting her enthusiastic and cheerful contributions as a runner, volunteer, committee member and race director.