From first steps to long strides Stamford Striders isn’t just a club for marathon runners and triathletes. It caters for even the most nervous novices, as Jeremy Beswick discovers IF YOU’RE ANYTHING like me, the history of your periodic, not to say spasmodic, exercise regimes will be similar to your dieting ones. It starts with an initial burst of motivation when you can’t get into an old pair of trousers or – as happened to me – you catch your reflection in a shop window unawares and realise that the rather portly person with bad posture is you. So you make a firm resolution to exercise regularly. It goes well for a couple of weeks, but gradually yet inexorably becomes more and more of a chore as the motivation degrades over time like a blunting razor, until it finally peters out into nothing and all you’re left with is a vague feeling of failure. Worse, the more times you repeat this scenario will reinforce the sub-conscious belief that exercise is not for you
and you’ll never succeed as you fall back into your old habits. Well, despair not! What if exercise was a pleasure, not a pain? What if you looked forward to it because it was fun, sociable and light-hearted? That’s the aim of the Stamford Striders, a running club with a difference. There are serious runners to be found here to be sure. Sub-three-hour marathoners, triathletes and endurance event competitors, but the emphasis is on inclusivity, including those who’d start by struggling to make a few hundred yards of light jogging. Suzanne Moon joined the Striders when she moved to Stamford and soon found she had a new social circle to boot. “It’s egalitarian and the emphasis is on
enjoying it,” she told me. “It was a great way to meet people when I arrived in town. Because it’s so sociable I go to catch up with friends as much as anything.” This is a club for all shapes and sizes - and all ages too. “The only limit we have is you must be over 18,” says Suzanne. “But some of our runners are certainly in their 60s.” That they don’t take themselves too seriously comes across when she adds: “Striders can often be found in Stamford’s pubs after a race or run, and we have regular social events arranged by the club. We joke that we’re really a drinking club with a running problem.” That would please fellow member Ed Fancourt, who sells wine for a living. “I’ve made a lot of friends at the club. Not
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