About us

Sandbach Striders was born back in 2003. Since the early days, membership has grown with a firm ethos of the club being not just about running but social activities as well. The club is affiliated to UK AAA and has its own qualified coaches. Many other special events take place on various nights too.

The club meets on Wednesdays at 18:30 and Sundays at 09:00 at Elworth Cricket Club.

Whilst many members compete in races from 5k to Marathons, the emphasis remains purely on keeping people motivated and having fun. Why not scan through our race reports to see what we’ve been up to? Having read them, you’re sure to see why Sandbach Striders has developed the motto of being

"No Ordinary Running Club!"

Sunday 19 February 2012

Race Report: Bushy Parkrun 18/02/2012

“Bushy Park” parkrun – 18/02/2012 

Parkrun started in 2004 with just 13 runners here at Bushy Park in south west London. Today’s race was the 398th race, a very slick and well organised event. 


Bushy Park is a fabulous 1099 acres of parkland with red and fallow deer, woodland
gardens, water gardens, boating lake, 5 sports grounds including football, rugby, cricket and hockey. There are tennis courts, a bowling green and a swimming pool. This used to be my playground as a child as I grew up less than two miles away, today was my first time back at the park in maybe 35 years.


Grew up here Born here I arrived early fearing chaos in the car park and I’m glad I did because ten minutes or so later there were cars and people everywhere. There were 749 runners today but the organisation was first rate. I lined up near the back and noticed a sea of people in 50, 100 and even a few 250 club vests, this lot certainly love their parkruns. It was bitterly cold mainly due to the wind but thankfully after a very short safety briefing it was 3, 2, 1 and we were off. 


The route was all grass and gravel paths, I gradually made my way through the field determined not to make my usual mistake of going off too fast. At numerous points I noticed familiar places, the boating lake where I used to canoe, the river we used to fish etc. 

I looked at my Garmin to find I was going faster and faster as the kilometres passed and before I knew it the finish was in sight. I wondered how the organisers were going to cope with so many finishers but the two funnels were brilliantly marshalled, I was handed my token and within 30 seconds my barcode and token were scanned and I was out into the car park again. There was a mobile café at the finish area but Debbie and I decided to go to “The Pheasantry Café” and few hundred metres away for a warming coffee. 


An hour or so later a text message arrived giving me my time of 23:02 a new PB. This is a fabulous run that I would recommend to anyone finding themselves nearby on a Saturday.

For more information check out the Bushy Parkrun Website.

Perry

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