Author: Stephanie Reich
It has been a great year for the Striders Racing Team! While it’s impossible to capture the many early morning miles and hard training shared, here are some highlights from the past year:
- 7 new members
- 33 new PRs
- 25 new team records
- 28 overall wins
- 80 age group wins
- 390+ hours volunteering
New Members
Our team saw lots of growth this year, with 7 new members joining! All 7 have already achieved great things wearing the Striders singlet: setting PRs, winning races and setting new team records!
It’s great to have Harrison Bassin, Alexandra Carrizales, Sean Caskey, Wei Hu, Stewart Reich, Rachel Roberts and Jason Sammut on the team!
Personal Bests
18 team members set one or more personal bests this year! Among them, they set a total of 33 new PRs. Congratulations to everyone who ran PRs in 2025:
- Samantha Curry
- 5k PR: 18:39
- 5 Mile PR: 32:03
- 10k PR: 38:26
- 10 Mile PR: 1:04:51
- Half Marathon PR: 1:22:18
- Marathon PR: 2:57:30
- 50k PR: 4:02:42
- Wei Hu
- 10 Mile PR: 1:04:04
- Marathon PR: 2:58:07
- Jason Sammut
- 10 Mile PR: 55:24
- Adam Sachs
- 5k PR: 16:06
- Marathon PR: 2:35:46
- Kristen Gray
- 5k PR: 17:43
- Jicheng Liu
- Half Marathon PR: 1:20:52
- Marathon PR: 2:46:41
- 50 Mile PR: 6:36:39
- 100 Mile PR: 16:44:00
- Clark Otte
- 10 Mile PR: 50:30
- Tunde Morakinyo
- 800m PR: 2:22.74
- Paul Hugus
- 4 Mile PR: 21:54
- Marathon PR: 2:34:38
- Deb Hicks
- Half Marathon PR: 1:35:26
- Alexandra Carrizales
- Half Marathon PR: 1:24:11
- Harrison Bassin
- 8k PR: 27:44.2
- Half Marathon PR: 1:16:09
- Jessie Yang
- Half Marathon PR: 1:33:00
- Marathon PR: 3:07:44
- Clare McCabe
- 10k PR: 40:43
- Half Marathon PR: 1:24:57
- Kiri Michell
- 10 Mile PR: 1:01:06
- Neta Ezer
- Marathon PR: 2:55:23
- Jessica Ponds
- Marathon PR: 2:56:03
- Jake Englander
- 8k PR: 28:26
Racing Team Records
25 team records were broken this year! Congratulations to our new record holders:
WOMEN
- Open 50k: Samantha Curry, 4:02:42
- Grandmasters Half Marathon: Deb Hicks, 1:35:26
- Grandmasters Mile: Marsha Demaree, 6:31.97
- Open 800m: Samantha Curry, 2:32.5
- Open/Masters 1500m: Jessica Ponds, 5:11.71
- Open Mile (Track): Alexandra Carrizales, 5:08
- Open 5000m (Track): Rachel Roberts, 17:46.47
- Masters Mile (Track): Jessica Ponds, 5:47.72
- Masters 5000m (Track): Neta Ezer, 18:31.48
MEN
- Open 10 Mile: Clark Otte, 50:30
- Open/Masters/Grandmasters 50 Mile: Jicheng Liu, 6:36:39
- Open/Masters/Grandmasters 100 Mile: Jicheng Liu, 16:44:00
- Masters 10 Mile: Carlos Renjifo, 54:47
- Masters Marathon: Paul Hugus, 2:34:38
- Open/Masters 400m: Carlos Renjifo, 1:00.13
- Open Mile (Track): Clark Otte, 4:14.41
- Masters 5000m (Track): Carlos Renjifo, 16:53.68
- Grandmasters 800m: Tunde Morakinyo, 2:22.74
- Grandmasters Mile (Track): Tunde Morakinyo, 5:18.68
Overall and Age Group Wins
Striders runners earned many awards this year – beyond the pride of winning, they collected cash prizes, axes, decorative ducks and more. Collectively, there were 28 individual overall race wins and 80 age group wins!
Team Results
The team set a high bar at last year’s RRCA Club Challenge 10 Mile, but we’ll be looking to do even better at the 2026 race in a couple of months! The women took the win in 3 categories: overall, under-40, and masters. The grandmasters women were 3rd overall. The men’s team placed 6th overall, 5th under-40, 5th masters and 2nd grandmasters.
At the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile DMV Run Club team competition, the women placed 4th and men placed 5th.
Volunteering
Beyond all of the accomplishments on the roads, tracks, and cross country courses, the team made many contributions to the Striders club and the local community as well. The team spent over 390 hours volunteering with youth programs, training programs, races, Bagel Run water, and more. The team also put together a donation for the community food drive at the Run Through the Grapevine 8k.
