English National Cross-Country Championships

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the English National Cross-Country Championships at Bolesworth Castle in Cheshire on Saturday. Their best placing came from Peter Mills who ran well to place 257th in the senior men’s race, completing the twelve-kilometre course in 41 minutes 56. Andy Perks was 947th (51:32) and Luke Burden 987th (52:13). Jadwiga Brzask-Makiela was 720th in the senior women’s race, completing the eight-kilometre course in 54 minutes 12.

Earlier in the day, Striders had the first two female finishers at the Lloyd parkrun, with Rachel Lindley placing sixth overall (20:18) and Jennifer Gutteridge placing 14th overall (21:30). Niamh Vincent was the first woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing ninth overall (21:25). Consuelo Kennefick was the first woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 18th overall (22:44). For Striders’ men, Martin Filer was second in the Riddlesdown parkrun (18:47) and Conor O’Hara-Barrett was second in the South Norwood parkrun (19:05). Striders had 91 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.

Striders produced some good performances in the Serpentine 5K at Hyde Park on Friday. They were led by Andrew Aitken who ran well to place 22nd out of 186 finishers, recording 17 minutes 02. Club colleague Graeme Drysdale was second in the M55 age-group and 44th overall in a personal best of 18 minutes 07. Steve Corfield was first in the M60 age-group and 51st overall (18:22). In the RunThrough Chase The Moon 5K at Battersea on Wednesday, Peter Johnson placed first in the M55 age-group and 30th overall out of 128 finishers (19:57).

In the Hampton Court Half-Marathon on Sunday, Niamh Vincent ran 94 minutes 50 while Maria Gabriel set a club W55 record of 1 hour 48 minutes 00.