St Albans Striders were crowned the team of the year at the St Albans and District Sports Awards.

Members of the Striders Committee assembled at the Sandpit Theatre in St Albans as they received the award from Olympic hockey legend Andy Halliday.

The club’s achievements include beating 11 other running clubs across the district to win all four categories of the Stattons Mid-Week Road Race League (Men’s and Ladies’ Senior and Men’s and Ladies’ Veterans) and representing St Albans at events from 200m to 100km all over the UK and abroad including Melbourne, Iceland, Belgium, the US.

Striders chairman Stuart Middleton said: “This is a very proud night for our great club. The Olympic legacy and our successful Run With Striders programme have seen our numbers swell from around the 200 mark to over 500 in the last two years. We are very lucky to have some outstandingly fast athletes at the moment, the heart of the club is undoubtedly pumped by our tremendous team of volunteers and the hard work of our dedicated committee who work tirelessly to make all of our achievements possible.”

Striders’ own Doug Bates also received a special recognition award in the 21+ Volunteer of the Year category, for his contribution to the sporting landscape of St Albans in masterminding the Saturday morning Parkrun in Verulamium Park.

The free-to-enter Parkrun takes place at parks across the country every Saturday morning at 9am. Further details can be found at parkrun.org.uk.