After three years or so some jealous husbands (the girls were having
so much fun) pleaded to be permitted to form a male section so they
too could wear the black and white of the Strathaven Striders running
club - it never looked quite so good on them ! As in other spheres of
life the genders stayed apart and trained on separate nights. This
meant that the women weren’t intimidated by the competitive macho
antics of the males and the men weren’t expected to chatter all the
time whilst running.
The social side developed from the start with now legendary trips en
masse to races such as the Rannoch Marathon and the Troon Tortoise
10k. At least once a year a club dance has raised substantial amounts
for charity and local causes while giving vent to club members and
guests immense capacity for having fun.
The club which had been run on a casual basis became fully constituted
in 1996 and joined the Scottish Athletic Federation. The Club’s
philosophy has remained one primarily of friendly hospitality and
enjoyment but it has had the service of a qualified coach over the
past four years for those who wished to extend themselves that bit
more. Over the years members have taken part in a wide variety of
events ranging in distance from 3 miles to 96 miles, from 10k to 100k,
from marathons to 24 hour events, from coast to coasts to track
endurance, from hill runs to relays, from Biathlon to Triathlon and
from John O’Groats to Lands End
We regularly have a small article published in our popular local paper, “The Echoes”. All locals (especially those who’ve just moved into the area) should buy this paper as it brings you up to date on the local events - a
real community paper.
For now we’ve just posted a couple of
more recent events in the archives - shortly we’re hoping to add some of the older (“landmark”) articles and maybe a photo or two (?). Hopefully we can dig out some pics of The Striders on the Gala Day float - though they may be a little fuzzy.
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