Andrew Aitken first Strider home at SoT XC Champs
Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the South of the Thames Cross-Country Championships, held in cold and wet conditions on Saturday afternoon at Beckenham. Their first man home was Andrew Aitken, who ran well to place 75th of the 337 finishers, completing the 12-kilometre course in 44 minutes 41 seconds. Team manager Krzysztof Klidzia was 99th (46.24) with Luke Burden 122nd (47:53), Steve Corfield 160th (49:59), Joseph Ibe 166th (50:21) and Rob Zietz completing the six-man team in 199th (52:53). They placed 16th in the team event.
Striders’ women were led by Niamh Vincent who was the 66th woman to finish, recording 57 minutes 10. Nikki Javan was not far behind in 70th (57:55), with Tina Shortland 92nd (63:04) and Linda Daniel 103rd (67:40). Earlier in the day, Striders also had a total of 57 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.
On Sunday, two of Striders’ youngest members competed in the Holly Run cross-country races at Reigate. Daniel Finch was 10th out of 81 finishers in the under-11 one mile (7:24), while his older brother Christopher Finch was 13th in the under-13 two miles (12:12)
