The Green Belt Relay is coming up soon - weekend of 17th/18th May.

We have two Stragglers teams entered, so if you haven't experienced this unique event, please do join in.

More importantly, we have a number of support activities where we need a bit more help:

- Timekeepers

- Course markers

- Marshals, especially for the first and last stages (traditionally the reserve of Little Feet).

Please contact me on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , and join in the build-up on the Facebook page.

See www.greenbeltrelay.org.uk

Thanks!

Meeting minutes from January and February committee meetings are now available here.

Hi everyone – please find here the results of the Stragglers Street-O event, held at the Hawker Centre on Thu 27th Mar 2014. A total of sixteen individuals and/or teams took part, and for many, it was their first taste of 'Urban Orienteering'. A good number reported how much they had enjoyed taking part in the event - irrespective of how well they did – several commented that they would like to take part in more of this type of event in the future, and also that it was 'nice to have something different to do' on a Thursday evening other than 'just running'.

In case anyone is interested, SLOW (South London Orienteers & Wayfarers) organise a series of these events all over London every year, the final one of which takes place in Twickenham on Tuesday 8th April 2014, to an almost-identical format to last week's event. Visit their website (www.sloweb.org) if you're interested in taking part.

It is hoped to maybe run a similar type of event during the summer months, during daylight, but this time off-road – perhaps on Hamlands (Andy Robinson organised a similar event on Ham Common a few years ago).

Many thanks to everyone who took part and made it a fun evening (except for the couple of participants who suffered injuries during the event...!) and especially to Chrissie Glew, who did the majority of the leg-work in preparing the event – it wouldn't have happened without Chrissie!

Ian Callander

Here's all the news for March. Visit the News and Events > Stragmag page to download.

STRAGGLERS DEBUT AT MIDDLESEX COUNTY CHAMPS.

Following the club's recent affiliation to Middlesex County (for the benefit of members who don't qualify for Surrey), some Stragglers ran at the Middlesex Masters Cross Country Championships on 1st March.

Competing against less familiar clubs like Highgate, Harrow, Hillingdon, Ealing and Thames Valley Harriers (hosts), all our runners were well up in the field. Steve Sandham was in the medals as 2nd V60.

Weather conditions were good - a cool but sunny day. The 8k course, was 2 laps which, whilst flat, was extremely muddy and therefore challenging.

A good start to our participation in,Middlesex races.

19th Neil Browning 31:46

41st Malcolm Fletcher 34:28

46th Steve Sandham 35:34

Nearly twice as many runners turned out as for the November trial run, which was very encouraging to see. A total of 48 runners took the start, with 47 finishing. All went well, except for a couple of issues at the finish, with a non-competing runner crossing the finish line and another runner not collecting their token (which took Trevor Ford and myself a while to sort out afterwards - many thanks, Trevor!) but we eventually got the results sorted to satisfaction. My thanks to all who offered assistance on the night!

I will look at ways to streamline pre- and post-run registration as, with everyone both arriving and finishing within a five-minute window, quite a queue developed both before and after the run. For May, i'm considering inviting people who intend to take part in the Handicap to email their current parkrun time in advance; i can then inform them of their handicap time by return, so they don't need to queue up and register on the night – they simply confirm their arrival. Also, if volunteer numbers permit, i will have more than one registration point after the run (depending on the number of runners that take part). Please note: These are just thoughts at the moment.

On the night, the first runner across the line was Ray Cockle with a run time of 23m 38s. Graham Brook was again the fastest runner of the night, with a time of 17m 16s, while Jo Hillier was fastest lady with a time of 21m 35s.

Full Results are listed here.

Regards,

Ian 

The Stragglers Ladies finished off a great Surrey League Cross-Country season at Lloyd Park (Croydon) on Saturday. They finished 9th in the first division out of 15 teams so easily stay in division one for next year.

Report by Steve Sandham

The Stragglers men had an amazing performance in the final race of the Surrey Cross Country League at Lloyd Park, Croydon on Saturday the 8th Feb. The team performed brilliantly under the worst possible conditions underfoot.

The Richmond Half Marathon is now full and not accepting any new entries. If anyone has a place and can no longer run it, there are some Stragglers who would be keen to accept a number and do the necessary transfer.

First on the list of those requiring a number is Chris Walmsley. Please reply to him direct:

"Team members, due to the popular demand for the Richmond Half Marathon the 4th May 2014 the event was full by the time I attempted to register for the event. If anyone has entered and unfortunately is not able to attend the event I would be very grateful to have the opportunity to transfer numbers to enable me to compete in the event." This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If there are any more people with numbers to transfer, you can contact Steve Sandham who will assist you in finding a customer. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We are once again entering 2 Stragglers teams for the Welsh Castles Relay, a men's team and a ladies team.

Entries are now open, and if you would like to take part please send your name and £20 entry fee to Steve Sandham This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Preferred payment is by bank transfer (please contact Steve for account details), or alternatively you can pay cash.

This year the official team-wear when not racing is the Stragglers short sleeved or long sleeved T shirt (now available from Sweatshop. Please note, men's sizes tend to be larger than normal so try before you buy).

If you haven't experienced a Welsh Castles weekend before, it's arguably the best event the club takes part in.

Click Read More to learn more about what to expect.