Dave’s debut helps Striders to season high

Striders of Croydon produced a very good team performance to place third out of nine clubs in the penultimate Surrey Cross-Country League Division Two match of the season, held at Reigate on Saturday.  Home club Reigate won the match with 218 points, while Wimbledon were second with 415. However Striders’ total of 418 placed them ahead of Croydon Harriers (441), Stragglers (443), Dulwich (480), Dorking (528), Epsom (538) and Kingston (614).

Striders were led by Iain Harrison who ran very well to place eleventh of the 161 finishers, covering the hilly five-mile course in 31 minutes 27 seconds. New member Dave Howell made an excellent debut, placing 25th (32.33), with Ernie Hann close behind in 27th (32.39). Matt  Smith was 32nd (33.06), Justin Macenhill 34th (33.08), Darren Bird 39th (34.10), Taylor Huggins 42nd (34.13), Damian Macenhill 65th (35.19), Simon Ambrosi 71st (35.44) and Barry White completed the scoring team in 72nd (35.47). Striders also had eight non-scorers.

Meanwhile Striders’ women were competing in Division Two of the Surrey Womens League, at Putney Vale. Their A team were tenth, while their B team were 32nd of the 41 teams. Striders’ first woman home was Steph Upton, who ran very well to place 24th of the 163 finishers, covering the muddy five-mile course in 37 minutes 38. Zoe Williams was 50th (40.56), Alice Ewen 52nd (41.15), Andrea Jeffries 80th (44.13) and Becky Laurence 83rd (44.36). For the B team, Linda Daniel was 106th (47.46), Katie McInnes 144th (52.17), Ivanka Brown 158th (56.45) and Victoria Legge 162nd (75.18).