Stilton Striders ready to host their annual big Stilton 7 race on Sunday

The second race in the Leicestershire Road Running League Spring Series is hosted by the Stilton striders and the pre-entered field will line up at 10.30am outside The Stute on Asfordby Hill.

Ones to watch out for include Dan Kelly, who is running a week before he takes on the streets of London and could well finish in the top 10.

Another possible top 10 finisher will be Rhiannon Baxter, who has finished as LRRL sixth overall senior lady for the last two seasons.

Rhiannon has just recovered from a recent illness and is getting back to her best.

Katie Hateley-Houghton, who last season was the backbone of Stilton Striders LRRL title-winning Veteran Ladies, had decided to withdraw from the Race Director’s role this year in order to race her ‘local run’.

But unfortunately she has had to withdraw due to an injury she picked up representing Leicestershire in the recent National County Cross Country championships.

With a lot of the club's members volunteering to set up and host the event, either as race marshals or undertaking other important duties the club still have a healthy contingent of 29 runners entered.

The race will proceed along Welby Road, a relatively gentle uphill start before turning left down a short twisty section and over the redundant railway bridge before the first challenging climb up Welby Lane and past St. Bartholomew’s Church Yard.

At the top of the hill, runners turn left and have a nice long downhill section before they pass under a short tunnel and then they turn left again to tackle the second steep incline taking them up back to Asfordby Hill.

Passing the school they turn sharply left, where one of the club's most vocal marshals is positioned to provide runners with a final push of encouragement to drive towards the start of the second loop or the finish line a short way ahead.

Stilton Striders regularly have teams of 24-30 entering the LRRL races and now have 12-20 running in the Runner Cross Country Leagues.

This is impressive considering the small membership numbers compared with the bigger city clubs, as well as being a club without a formal base with teams sitting in either of the top two divisions across both leagues.

The club's most recent notable success was the Veteran Ladies being crowned for the first time ever as champions in the LRRL standing.

The Striders' origins date back to the early 80s.

In June 1982 local resident Robin Walker, from Melton Rugby Club, wrote to the Melton Times inviting runners to attend a meeting to form a local running club.

An inaugural meeting was held on 1st July and 21 athletes turned up in support.

Walker secured a base at the Saxby Road All England Ground, then the home of Melton Rugby Club, and the club was to move a further three times to Melton Town FC, Egerton Park Cricket Club and finally to Melton Sports Village at the Upper School, prior to the rugby club moving there as well.

Things moved rapidly and within weeks runners of all abilities were joining, notably the late Ron Grove who, in his international years, had been a member of Leicester Corinthians.

Mick and Derek Stevens and Danny Keightley were also early members.

Established runners such as Andy Hart, Dave Henson, Paul Gilbert and Rob Rollins joined from other clubs and teams and individuals were soon successfully competing at a top level in every road race within a 50 mile radius.

In 1984 the club became founder members of the Leicestershire Road Running League (LRRL) and are one of only a handful of founder member clubs that still form part of the current 26 club league format.

The first Bellshire Half Marathon was run in October 1983 starting from the Corn Exchange (Bell Centre) and finishing in the cattle market car park.

The inaugural race attracted 2,320 runners for the half-marathon and nearly 1,200 for the three mile fun run – over 3,500 in total.

The Bellshire was then included in the 1984 race calendar for the first LRRL competitive league, renamed the Stilton Half and ran successfully for seven years.

Only when the popularity of competing races reduced entries to below 1,200 and the added difficulties of obtaining a race permit to cater for large numbers did the club decide to drop the event from the race calendar.

Originally the winter and summer road running leagues were separate and Stilton Striders made a tremendous impact on the Winter League, winning the championships in 1984, 1985 and 1986, while the ladies won the league in 1985, with the late Jane Bishop, Julie Bass and Julie Blythe competing at the highest levels.

It was a credit to these runners in the early days who did not benefit from today’s technological equipment and nutrition advice.

In the late 1990s the club lost the use of its running track due to the County Council using the site to build Birchwood School.

Although the club have lobbied the local authorities for a replacement facility there has been no support or success to provide a replacement track.

This forced Striders to change its status from an athletics club to a road running club and becoming a nomadic club without a formal base.

Not withstanding this, the club continue to thrive and meet up each Wednesday evening at the Melton Sports Village for its ‘club run’ session.

In addition structured sessions (supported by a small team of Run Leaders) are held alternative Thursdays at various sites across the town for members to improve their running style and techniques.

Outside these two sessions members regularly meet up in smaller groups to support and train together on Friday lunchtimes and over the weekend when not competing.

The years have seen a lot of changes and, like a lot of clubs, the membership dropped during and immediately after the recent Covid pandemic.

But recently membership has grown to 120 seniors with a fresh nucleus of active and competitive runners.

The enthusiastic committee at Stilton Striders are determined the club will continue to prosper in all areas going forward, with an ethos of equality and inclusiveness for all running abilities.

To learn more about the club visit www.stiltonstriders.co.uk