Alastair Falconer first at Weymouth Parkrun

Alastair Falconer, from Striders of Croydon, ran very well to place first out of 468 finishers in the Weymouth parkrun on Saturday, covering the five-kilometre course in 17 minutes 19 seconds. Club colleague Tatsuya Okamoto was first out of 373 finishers in the Princes parkrun in Liverpool, recording 17 minutes 45. Closer to home, Nikki Javan was the first woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing 23rd overall (22:53). Striders had five of the first six finishers in the Lloyd parkrun. Krzysztof Klidzia was second (18:14) with Samuel Hansen third (18:46), Lee Flanagan fourth (18:57), Simon Ambrosi fifth (19:15) and Steve Corfield sixth (19:23). Marianne Chua was the second woman to finish the Hove parkrun, placing 39th overall (21:15). Striders had an impressive total of 84 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.

Two Striders won their respective age-groups in the East Surrey League for 2018/19, following the final race of the season, held at Ewell on Thursday. Andy Perks won the over-40 age-group, while Krzysztof Klidzia won the over-50 age-group with team-mate Matthew Stone placing second. In the final league table Striders’ men placed third, while their women were fifth out of the eight clubs in the league.

Striders had several competitors in the Brighton Marathon on Sunday. They were led by Bill Beattie who ran 3 hours 39 minutes 46 seconds. He was followed by Rotimi Oyegunle who ran a personal best 3 hours 49 minutes 40. Striders’ women were led by Susanna Lutman who ran 3 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds. She was followed by Tina Shortland (4:02:33), Katherine Selby (4:13:17) and Jessica Polya (4:38:29). Meanwhile Debra Bourne ran the Boston marathon in Lincolnshire in 4 hours 20 minutes 38.