Ernie stars for Striders in county Half Marathon

Striders of Croydon produced a good team performance in their first Southern Veterans League match of the season, at Kingsmeadow on Monday. Both their men and women placed fourth of the eight competing clubs, with their men finishing just one point ahead of local rivals Croydon Harriers, while their women were just two points ahead of Hercules-Wimbledon.

For Striders’ men, Justin Macenhill ran well to place second in the over-35 1500 metres (4.45.9) and third in the 5000 metres (18.10.9), while David Gunaratnam was second in the over-50 long jump (3.79). For Striders’ women, Steph Upton was third in the over-35 1500 metres (5.59.5) and fourth in both the 100 metres and 400 metres.

Ernie Hann had a very good run in the Richmond Half-Marathon on Sunday, finishing 26th out of more than 700 finishers, in a personal best of 80 minutes 30 seconds. This lifts Ernie to 26th place in Striders’ all-time club rankings. Club secretary Chris Morton also ran well to place 111th in 91 minutes 24 seconds.