The first organised Athletic Club in the Selby area was Riccall & Selby District Athletic Club (RASDAC), which was based in Riccall and run by Mr & Mrs Keith and Judith Parish, whose young family were all fine sports people. It was mainly a track & field club for young athletes, taking part in events such as the West Yorkshire Track and Field League.
In 1981 RASDAC staged a Half Marathon around Skipwith Common, the first “half” in the Selby area. Many local adult runners, who were unaffiliated, took part in the race, and subsequently joined RASDAC. This adult group trained mainly in Selby at the old St Mary’s Hall, which has recently been demolished. The group grew fairly quickly, and in the winter of 1985-6 they decided to leave RASDAC and form a club of their own. On the 1st March 1986 this club was registered with the AAAs as Selby Striders Running Club.
The first chairman was Bob Saddington, a well-known man in Selby because he was a councillor and in fact had been the first mayor of the town. Other officials of the club in its early days were Denis Cooper, an experienced Race Walker in his younger days, and Alan Joslin, who had moved into the area to work at Drax Power Station. These three men were instrumental in guiding the club in its early days.
The standard of running in the club hit a very high level from the start, in the Selby Marathon in June of 1986, only a few months after the club was founded, seven members, Ian Harper, Ian Muir, Ian Forth, Jim Harran, Bobby Simms, Alan McAdam and Bob Jarvis all broke the three hour barrier. In the early 1990s the club had a notable victory in the team competition for the Mike Constable 10 mile race at Bridlington when Ian Muir, Stuart Newby and Phil Hissett beat off some strong teams from all over the country in what was at the time a very prestigious race.
Ian Muir is the best runner the club has had in its history, closely followed by Ian Harper. The ladies section also had some fine performers in the early days – Carol Watts was a leading figure with some fine runs as a lady veteran while Diane Savage, Sue Jones and Julie Atkinson all set some great times before moving out of the area and leaving the club.
In the latter part of the 1990s the club’s most outstanding runner was Nigel Holden. Nigel only ran 10Ks mainly, but he was regarded as one of the very best veteran runners in the region at that time. Nigel still holds some notable records on our all time club list, including a 16:04 5km at York Millenium and 32:29 Selby 10km finish time.
Mick White, a club stalwart and still a member today, has completed over 100 – 100-mile ultra events, including the famous Bob Graham Round. Mick did an extra peak as he got lost but still make it within the cut off time, he was one of the first to attempt it in the modern era. Mick featured a lot within regular press outputs for his efforts, along with Chris Gill, also very familiar to the ultra-scene as a Strider. You can read some of their archival reports here.
Unable to source results further back than the 1990’s, the club was part of the York District Road Race League – 5 courses at the time; Tadcaster, Pocklington, Bishop Wilton, Poppleton & Selby (now referred to as Wistow). Our first results so no more than 10 striders on average ran the events in the league way back when – including our very own Steve Ingledew running sub 42 minute 10km’s. The league would later adapt to where we are now, hosting 7 races, including the handicap. We now have well over 50 members on average taking part, with our Striders Ladies team winning the league recently in the 2025 season.
Our earliest results record show our first entry to the East Yorkshire cross country league being the 05/06 season. A prestigious league, rumour has it, Steve Ingledew (chair at the time) had to pull a few strings to let us in, as we technically sit within the border of North Yorkshire. A year whom some existing members took part in, still racing today. Over the years, we’ve had strong showing at the Cross Country events, with our ladies generally finishing within the top 3 overall team over the last several years. Over time the league has adapted, like the road race league, with new courses and new teams over time but it still holds it core roots of inclusivity, community and challenging routes.
After Bob Saddington took his role as chair, it’s important to touch on previous club stalwarts as chair over the time; Phil Hissett & Jim Harran. Jim went on to run the junior section for many years, a small section of the club, that would compete in summer open track events in locations such as Cleckheaton. One of the star performers was Rob Shipley who has since moved on to City of York and City of Sheffield and Dearne AC with very impressive national standard times over sprints and middle distance races, including a 1:48 800m. Jim later stepped down, and still very much likes to hear about the club’s ongoings. Key committee members also included Ian Wilkinson & Richard Freer. Richard is still involved today and sits as secretary on the committee, continuing his long-standing membership. Following this Steve Ingledew took his place as chair followed by Les Sellers, Chris Dugher (one of our longest serving members of over 25 years), Adrian Craven, then a key time stamp of our First Lady chair who was Michelle Newton followed by Cassie Fennell. All have evolved the club in so many ways, for the better, introducing various club events, training sessions, socials and on paper – grown the club to be where we are at over 230 members.
Our Wistow 10km October event has evolved over the decades. What started as the Selby half marathon in 2003 with 347 entries, transformed into the Selby 10 mile in 2009 and finally took its life as the Wistow 10km from 2012, taking place each year – except 2020-21 due to Covid-19 restrictions, to where we are today. Over this time, we’ve contended with British weather, village hall fires and flooded fields, but it always proves a popular local event in our calendar. The record for the 10k still stands at 30:46 from our 2013 event ran by Matty Hynes of the North York Moors running club.
Click here for past results from the Wistow 10k.
In 2003, the Selby Bypass was built (at a distance of 10km), and then came a one-off memorable event for the striders. The Selby Bypass 10km race was organised by Richard Freer, with Steve Ingledew as chair, in collaboration with contractors Skanska, Thornes Coaches and Selby District Council – who all sponsored the event. Selby MP at the time John Grogan ran in the event as well as highways agency project manager Alan Begg who raised over £1,000 for charity. Funds from the event were shared amongst several other charities. Striders fielded 14 runners on the event including Neil Neesham, Simon Clark, Kevin Swash, Bob Dodgson, Chris Dugher, Steve Ingledew, Keith Franks, Emma Allitt, Mark Allitt, John Bedworth, Guy Dethridge, Andrew Dixon and John Dale. Due to problems with the swing bridge, the full length of the bypass could not be used and runners had to do a loop back to make up the distance! A last minute amendment on the day of the race, causing some headaches for the organisers!
If you take a sneak peak at our club records key stand-outs from 2000’s onwards follows a strong ladies club showing – Lizzie Nairn long-standing club member arguably one of our most experienced and stand out female runners over the last decade, holding records for 10km, half marathon, 20 mile and marathon. Our men’s records have been long-standing with the likes of Ben Hamilton (one of our most decorated trail and cross country runners), Dan Tate (GB duathlete) and both Ian Muir and Ian Harper maintaining their long standing sub 2:35 marathon times in the club history books. In recent years, Mark Thompson has become one of the most decorated marathon runners the club has seen, a 7-star world marathon major runner, with likely the highest number of sub-3 marathons to his name in the club, ever. Rich Harrison, another long-standing member, still very much involved where possible after moving south of the Humber Bridge, is part of the prestigious 100 marathon club – notable for his dedication and passion for the distance.
Please click here for the all time Striders records.
The club has grown into other events outside of road racing over time, with members actively involved within various trail and ultra-distance event groups such as the Hardmoors. A number of striders have completed the Hardmoors 110-mile race, which covers the entirety of the Cleveland Way in the North York Moors, including Stephen Headley, Michelle Newton, Scott Smith, Nick Summerton and Ian Robertson. Kendra Wedgewood, highly respected long distance ultra runner, is the only female finisher for the Hardmoors 200-mile event back in 2022. Sam Law, was also awarded for her efforts in completing the Hardmoors megaslam; a series of six ultra events which consisted of the 30, 40, 55, 60, 80 and 110 routes within one calendar year – all mostly along the Cleveland Way & Yorkshire Wolds Way.
We still very much support and nurture our couch to 5k cohort groups, ran yearly by Steve Ingledew and core dedicated team of run leaders, twice a week – from Selby Leisure Centre and Selby Rugby Club. Over time, we have seen graduates transition into members and become fully immersed in club life.
Over time, the club has grown to cater to different types of sessions, from 2 per week to almost every day – maintaining our core club runs nights of Tuesday and Thursday, alongside the addition of three early riser runs and a weekly speed session led by Ali Wood and Wayne Fennell. Outside of this we offer seasonal Pilate sessions ran by Chris Dugher on Monday evenings throughout the winter months, which prove to be very popular. From the late 90’s to now, the club has grown from being 90% male with approximately 30 members to now well over 230 with over a 50% female membership, which is fantastic.
A club of this magnitude takes a village of dedicated committee members and volunteers to run, from our Wistow organisers to our YDRRL & EYXCL league representatives to everyone in between who makes the club what it is today.
If you’ve made it to the end of this post, thank you for taking the time to read. Here’s to the next 40 years and wherever that may take us…..
