Introduction
Striders of Croydon are an athletics club based in Croydon in Surrey. These pages give an insight into the history and activities of the club.
Striders of Croydon was formed in 1982 by a group of local athletes, most of whom were employed by the Philips Electronics Group, in City House in Croydon. The Club was originally known as Philips City Striders AC. In the UK amateur athletics world, Striders could be classed as a “new” Club in that they were established as a result of, and in response to, the marathon boom that hit the UK following the inaugural London Marathon in 1981.
Since our formation as a “works side” in the early 1980s, we have evolved and expanded to 90+ members. We are still a friendly and a relatively small Club, with a large mix of age, gender and ability. We positively welcome runners with little or no experience, or more experienced runners who may have just moved into the area.
The emphasis of the Club is on running, although we do participate in summer track and field programmes at junior, senior and veteran levels. Take a look at the latest edition of our Newsletter for details of our activities.
In order to encourage runners of all abilities, the club has had a long standing policy of frequently ‘turning back’ on our Wednesday and Sunday training runs to pick up those running at the back of the pack. If you have any doubts about whether you can keep up with the pace, or of dropping off the back and getting lost, fear not, we won’t leave you behind!! Furthermore, we have introduced a special 40 minute easy pace session on Friday nights for those who don’t want to run for up to an hour. See below for details.
‘Training’ is used is the loosest sense of the word. Some Striders reap maximum benefit from the range of different sessions which the Club provides and which the training manuals recommend – ie. A mixture of speed, distance, hill and recovery workouts. There is a wealth of experience from those who have joined the Club that dedicated training pays dividends in improved results. Other Striders are equally happy to jog around some nice terrain at chatting pace, followed by a drink in the Club bar. It’s entirely up to you, and the Club endeavours to meet the requirements of all those who run with us.
There are three main training sessions, and a newly introduced social run each week. All standards are catered for and everyone will be most welcome. The main Sunday morning, Wednesday evening runs, and the Friday evening social runs, start and finish at Striders’ clubhouse inSandilands, Addiscombe, Croydon. Track sessions on Tuesday evening are held at Croydon Arena, South Norwood.
Sundays – 8.30am – Generally a slow offroad run through the parkland and woods heading south out of Croydon. It is possible to travel from Lloyd Park out into the Kent and Surrey countryside and in doing so you will rarely see a road. The run normally splits into two groups after about 30 to 40 minutes so that those who only want to run for an hour can return to the Clubhouse and those who want to run for 90 minutes plus can continue. During the London Marathon training season, a number of runners split into a further dedicated group which aims to incrementally build up long slow road mileage from early January, starting with an hour and increasing to around 3 hours by early April.
Tuesdays – 7.15pm – Track sessions at Croydon Arena . Meet at the Arena by 7.15pm to warm up, stretch and two laps of ‘strides’ in time for a 7.30pm start. Sessions split into quick and not so quick groups for speed work/repetitions. An essential training component for anyone seeking a significant improvement in their PB times. See latest monthly schedule for details. Sessions last about 40 minutes.
Wednesday – 7.30pm – Generally off road in late spring, summer and early autumn months, and on the streets when it gets too dark to go off road during the winter months. Normally an hour in length, but there is an option to turn back towards the Clubhouse for a 40-45 minute run. Whether the runs are on or off road, this session provides a good opportunity for those who are seeking to stretch themselves to do so. The Wednesday sessions generally attract the most Striders of all the training sessions. There is therefore quite a lot of ‘turning back’ (see Ethos above) enabling runners who want to work hard to run the extra mileage, inevitably up hill, and try to keep up with our fastest runners. An excellent opportunity to run at ‘tempo’ and try out Fartlek (don’t worry, someone will be able to explain this terminology!). Slower runners are equally welcome – remember, we won’t leave you behind!
Friday – 7.30pm – Striders have introduced a Friday night Social Run, which lasts for approx. 40 minutes at a leisurely 9 – 10 minute miling pace. They are ideal for prospective new members of the club who would find 40 mins. an easier option than the 1 hour on the Wednesday and Sunday runs, and also for those current members who are either returning from injury or wanting a leisurely run for 40 mins. on a Friday evening. The runs will go at the pace of the slowest runner.
Most of our members specialise in distances between 5km to the full marathon distance. Emphasis is on cross-country and road running, although as mentioned above the club does participate in a summer track program. The Club has recently experienced something of a renaissance, particularly in regard to the Surrey cross country men’s league where we have beaten a number of well established Clubs who are both far bigger and more experienced than us. In addition, we are continuing to put out strong and voluminous men’s and lady’s teams in the Surrey Road League which is also paying dividends.
The Striders organise a number of their own races. The highlight of the calendar being the ‘Switchback Five’, an open five mile multi terrain race around Lloyd Park and Addington Hills, which usually takes place in September as the cross country season is about to begin. The club also arranges a series of internal 5-mile handicap events in the summer. This is a chance for runners of lesser ability to compete on equal terms with faster runners. The club also organises an invitation off road relay event in early May which is keenly fought by mens’ and ladies’ teams from nearby Clubs.
Since 2003, the Club has also been a leading partner in helping to stage the annual Race for Life women’s 5k event in Lloyd Park. The race/walk involves over 2,000 women raising money for cancer charities through the Race for Life organisation.
The club arranges a number of it’s own social activities which are have been as diverse as quiz nights, barbecues, snooker, bowling, athletics meetings and a number of charity fund-raising events (we have links with St. Giles school).
Being a member of a running club has many advantages over being ‘unattached’. Financial advantages include discounts on shoes, clothing and equipment. The club is affiliated to the Amateur Athletic Federation (AAF) and the Surrey AAA, which qualifies us for entry discounts on many race entry fees. A club offers the opportunity the train with people with similar interests and standards. Club members have a wealth of experience available to pass onto to those seeking to take up running.
We regularly participate in events such as the London Marathon and the Great North Run. We often travel overseas to running venues such as New York, Boston, Disney World, South Africa, the Channel Islands, France and the Canaries in organised groups.
Hopefully this information will have given you a taste of what ‘Striders’ are about. Should you be interested in joining us for a run or require more information please contact one of the committee members listed.