Alastair Falconer first Strider at Croydon 10k

Liam Redmond, from Striders of Croydon, had an excellent run in the Kosice Marathon in Slovakia, recording a new personal best of 2 hours 59 minutes 37 seconds.

Closer to home, Striders had an impressive total of 45 finishers in the annual Croydon 10 kilometre road race. They were led by Alastair Falconer who ran well to place fifth in 36 minutes 07. Lee Flanagan was eleventh (37.25) while Matt Stone was fifth in the over-50 category, placing 19th overall (38.14). Striders’ women were led by Joanne Campbell who was the eleventh woman to finish, placing 102nd overall (45.45). She was followed by Nikki Javan (47.28), Adele Boesinger (49.56) and Zoe Williams (49.59). Striders’ oldest finisher was Peter Attewell who placed fourth in the over-70 category (65.51).

Striders also had 44 finishers in the various weekly parkruns on Saturday (20 at Lloyd Park and 24 at other venues). Their best performance came from Tatsuya Okamoto who was first at Riddlesdown, covering the five-kilometre course in 16 minutes 58 seconds.

One of Striders’ youngest members, Christopher Finch, was third in the under-11 race at the Croydon Schools Cross-Country Championships at Lloyd Park, and qualified for the Croydon team for the London Youth Games, to be held at Parliament Hill Fields in November.

This Saturday (14th) Striders will be competing in the first Surrey Cross-Country League Division Two matches of the season. Their men are at Wimbledon Common, while their women are at Reigate.