James Bennett wins Olympic Park 10k road race

James Bennett, from Striders of Croydon, had an excellent run to finish first out of 520 competitors in the Olympic Park 10-kilometre road race on Sunday. His winning time of 32 minutes 54 seconds was less than half a minute outside his personal best, and was a new club over-35 record.

On the previous day Matthew Stone took first place in the weekly parkrun in Lloyd Park (19:13), with club colleague Krzysztof Klidzia third (19:46). Selena Wong was the second woman to finish, placing 39th overall (24:36). Peter Mills was second in the Banstead parkrun (17:06), while Matthew Ostrowsski was third in the Roundshaw parkrun (19:42). Steph Upton was the second woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 19th overall (22:10), and Niamh Vincent was the third woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing 17th overall (21:30). Striders had an impressive total of 73 finishers in the various weekly parkruns (33 at Lloyd Park and 40 at other venues).

This Sunday (6th) Striders will be competing in the Richmond Half-Marathon, which is the first event in this year’s Surrey Road League.