Meet Our Committee
Natalie Goldhawk
Co-Chair
Natalie joined Striders in early 2022 after looking for a friendly club offering structured training, and hasn't looked back since!
Natalie’s passion is for road running (despite being a XC captain) and she is looking forward to completing her first marathon in the Spring.
Between looking after her baby daughter and baking cookies for Striders events, you can find Natalie leading many of the evening sessions.
As co-chair, Natalie is continuing to ensure that Sutton Striders remains a friendly and inclusive club that helps members achieve their goals.
Karen Little
Secretary
Karen joined Sutton Striders in 2022 and hasn’t looked back since! She loves flat, road running but can also be talked into the odd Cross Country or trail run now and again. She is a lover of 10kms but more recently discovering a passion for long, slower runs after completing her first Marathon in 2023.
Karen is a regular leader at Tuesday morning sessions and also the Club Secretary, responsible for supporting the Chairs and all of the clubs administration.
Naomi Cotton
Membership Secretary
Naomi was a late starter to discovering the joys of running and only started running regularly in 2018, to get some head space and energy for the mayhem of raising 3 energetic kids.
Naomi enjoys a chatty pace parkrun, the Monday Striders social run and the jolly team spirit of a cross country race spurred on by the post run cake. Naomi is currently training for her debut marathon at Brighton this year.
Naomi is the first point of contact when joining or just coming along for a taster session.
Steve Platt
Co-Social Secretary
Steve joined Sutton Striders in April 2021 after seeing a group out running in Overton Park. He has hardly missed a Tuesday morning session since!
The training sessions have paid off with numerous PBs at all distances in the past 3 years. Steve particularly enjoys the weekly parkrun and catching up with fellow Striders after the run.
Steve helps to organise the variety of social events for the club.
Jonathan Cummings
Design and Graphics
Jonathan “JC” Cummings joined Sutton Striders in 2020, back when the club began using Overton Park for sessions.
JC is also one of our experienced members with three marathons under his belt.
His role is designing graphics for Striders merchandise and web assets, and helping anyone with graphical requirements.
Richard Sharpe
Results
Richard joined Sutton Striders to improve his running - and it has really paid off. In 2023 he achieved PBs in the 5k, 10k, 10 mile and half marathon distances.
He enjoys the structured training offered by Striders and is keen to enter more events, including a fourth marathon at some stage.
Richard collates results and writes up the weekly ParkRun summary.
Andrew Nippard
Co-Chair
Sutton Striders have reinvigorated Andrew since he joined in late 2022. After a decade of going between "comebacks" he never fell out of love with running, it just did not always love him back!
He enjoys all disciplines (although his short legs never really got on with barriers!) But ultimately, his favourites are XC/trail related, both on two feet…and two wheels as well!
His PB’s maybe 12+ years old, but he is on a mission to break them! He is looking forward to working alongside Co-Chair Natalie in 2024, to continue to foster the inclusive principles on which the club was founded.
Phyllis Flynn
Welfare Officer
Phyllis is a bonafide local legend in the running community with over forty years of running Surrey’s highways and byways under her belt. She loves trail running and her favourite distance is the half marathon.
She first heard about Sutton Striders from daughter Hannah-Mai, who rediscovered her running mojo after training with “a group of wonderfully encouraging people”.
Her first sport was tug-of-war, which she used to compete in regularly with her big Irish family team.
Philip Walters
Health and Safety
Phil has been running for about 40 years and has completed a marathon, a handful of halfs , a few more 10ks and nearly 250 parkruns!
He joined Striders in 2021 and describes it as the most rewarding period of his running career. The sessions are outstanding and the help, advice and support from the other members is first-class.
Having worked as a teacher for over thirty years, he has accompanied countless school trips and is now delighted to head up Health & Safety to ensure the club’s running environment is as safe as possible.
Rachel Thomas
Co-Social Secretary
Rachel joined striders in 2022 after seeing a small group of runners in Overton park and thought she'd like to join the club. She hasn't been as consistent with her running as she'd like but is continuing to improve with the club sessions.
Rachel helps to organise the variety of social events for the club.
Elise Lawrenson
Social Media
Elise took up running in July 2017 and joined Sutton Striders in 2021.
She says although she may never be the fastest, thanks to the support and guidance from her Striders family, her running has come on leaps and bounds.
Her role on the committee is to share all the fantastic things that we do at Striders on social media.
Graham Hannay
Treasurer
Graham has been running since 2015, just before he turned 40. He was dragged by his sister to Nonsuch Parkrun one Saturday morning where he fell in love with the whole Parkrun 'thing'.
Since then Saturday mornings are the highlight of his week. He joined the Striders shortly before we became an affiliated EA club and was delighted to help look after the club funds.
He loves the training sessions, the away days but most importantly, the people who make the Striders the club it is. It's not what you achieve, but with whom you achieve it with.
Mark Goldhawk
Welfare Officer
Mark joined Sutton Striders at the beginning of 2022, along with his wife Natalie. He is a regular face at the club’s evening sessions and is enjoying training for his first marathon.
As an Assistant Headteacher, Mark has a comprehensive understanding of safeguarding and welfare. He is here to look after and support all members of the club, and can be approached about anything, no matter how big or small.
Gareth Richards
Race Commissioner
Gareth started running in 2016 when he signed up to participate in the Great North Run, a race he used to watch annually as it passed his boyhood home.
While the marathon is his favourite distance, Gareth is challenging himself at every distance from 1 mile up to 100km He loves the structure of the Sutton Striders training sessions.
As race commissioner, Gareth will continue to promote the Sutton Striders’ presence at local Surrey Road and Cross Country league races and target other races at every distance where we can fly the Striders flag.
Kerry Burton
Kit Manager
Kerry started running after signing up for a charity place in the London 2010 marathon. Since then she’s found her love for running.
After taking a break to have kids, Kerry decided to take the plunge and join a running club and joined Striders in 2020 during lockdown.
She found running with others to be very intimidating but actually thrived from the social support, encouragement and motivation that has pushed her to see some amazing results.
Kerry is responsible for designing and making Striders look the part in our club kit.
Matt Aish
Social Media and Website
Matt is a typical ParkRunner turned club runner. After years of on/off running Matt joined Striders in 2022 looking for improvements and to achieve a first marathon.
With that box now ticked, he is a regular at sessions to keep fit and socialise.
Matt helps out on our social media and assisted in building this website - so you know who to blame if it doesn't work for you!