Annual Dinner 2007 The DISH in King Street, Saffron Walden was once again the venue for the annual Saffron Striders dinner. As in 2006, a sumptuous feast was enjoyed by all and perhaps a little too much wine was enjoyed by a few. The highlight of the evening was of course the chairman’s speech. You have to feel sorry for the poor person who eventually succeeds Nigel as chairman, as Mr Coates has a true talent for this public speaking lark. His speech ran through highlights of the year, which obviously included the sensational win by the Striders Women’s Cross Country Team in the 05/06 season. To make a change from last year’s energy gels, this year’s spot prizes were energy bars. The first set of energy bars were awarded to Clare Parry, Claire Waters and Janet Lipski as part of the victorious team. Energy bars for Ros, Patricia and Margit are in the post. Howard won an energy bar for his monumental efforts in the Austrian Ironman, although perhaps a whole box of energy bars would have been more appropriate. John Howe was the next recipient as the participant of the most races during 2006. He had established clear daylight between himself and his nearest two challengers, Gavin Long and Paul Burgess. Gavin failed to win an energy bar as the busiest contributor to the website’s forum. Although the heckling of “He needs to get a different job”, “He needs to get a job” “ He needs to get a life” amused all within earshot. Claire Waters went home with an armful of awards due to her success in the Hellrunner and the summer 5K league, where she was not only Striders’ top runner, but was actually the best female runner from any of the four teams. Clare Parry and in his absence, Simon Taylor, were thanked for their outstanding work for Striders whilst on the committee for the last, goodness knows how many years. What we will do for next season’s cross country meeting doesn't bear thinking about, as Pam Howe, Christine Suckling and Carole Wigley stepped down from their sandwich making and refreshment roles after many years. Chris Dodge was another recipient of an energy bar as the leading Strider in this season’s Cross Country League. The Hereward Relay teams were also congratulated, especially the final leg runners of Phil Robson, Rob Woodward, Danny Collins, Claire Waters and Carole Wigley who had to negotiate one foot deep floods and mud on the final stage to Ely Cathedral. Debs Frostick kindly donated a voucher from Runnerway for the raffle, which was duly won by Howard. The tension built as the moment that the Strider of the Year was to be announced was upon us. John Howe was a strong contender having participated in the most races, maintained a fantastic website and produced the kind of results that we all know we will not be capable of when we reach our 70s.   Claire Waters was another strong contender having enjoyed a tremendous 2006 which included a 3:23 London Marathon.   Nigel Coates and Chris Dodge were also in with a shout due to their impressive running credentials matched by the enormous workload they carry out for the club.   The winner however was Gavin Long for a combination of many races, considerable improvement in his running, ill-chosen coloured hair, producing the newsletters and submitting numerous newspaper reports (and far too modest - JH).   Gavin took home a glass bowl engraved with the names of the previous recipients and four unique drawings produced by Clare Parry.   The pictures summed up the general opinion of Gavin – one showed him frantically typing out reports, another showed him supplying tape and posts to mark out the course, the third showed him running and narrowly beating Nigel and the fourth was him with dyed hair and a coloured wig.   An embarrassed acceptance speech followed, before we all headed back home. Gavin Long