Rachel flies the flag for Striders with fast marathon in Paris

Rachel Lindley, from Striders of Croydon, had an excellent run to set a personal best of 3 hours 20 minutes 47 seconds in the Paris Marathon on Sunday. This lifts Rachel to fifth place in Striders’ all-time women’s rankings.

Striders had 14 competitors in the Brighton Marathon on the same day. They were led by James Bennett who ran very well to finish 43rd out of more than 8000 finishers, recording 2 hours 52 minutes 57 seconds. This lifts James to 13th place in Striders’ all-time club rankings. There were also good runs from Mike Stewart (3.13.27), Graeme Drysdale (3.14.23) and Chris Morton (3.24.22) . Striders’ first woman to finish was Alison Whitlock who ran 4 hours 06 minutes 16, followed by Louise Grech (4.21.56).

On the previous day Krzysztof Klidzia won the weekly parkrun in Lloyd Park, recording 19 minutes 13 seconds. Zoe Williams was the second woman to finish, placing 36th overall in 24 minutes 05. Striders had a total of 34 finishers in the various local parkruns.