Jenny Rowe placed 23rd in last Women’s XC match of the season

Striders of Croydon produced a good team performance in their final Surrey Womens Cross-Country League Division Two match of the season, at Lloyd Park on Saturday. They were led by Jenny Rowe who ran well to place 23rd, completing the five-mile course in 36 minutes 21. Steph Upton was 35th (37:40), Nikki Javan 44th (38:33), Laura Fell 45th (38:41) and Ally Whitlock 48th (38:56). They were sixth in the team event, and also finished sixth in the final league table. For the B team, Sophia Sachedina was 69th (40:54) with Selena Wong 87th (42:15), Josephine Thompson 92nd (42:35), Gemma Halliday 98th (43:13) and Debra Bourne 102nd (43:27). They placed fifth in their category. Striders also had seven non-scorers.

In the East Surrey League cross-country race, at the same venue later in the day, Striders’ men did well to place second of the eight competing clubs. They were led by Alastair Falconer who placed sixth, completing the five-mile course in 29 minutes 53 seconds. Tatsuya Okamoto was eighth (30:28), Krzysztof Klidzia 10th (30:59), Lee Flanagan 11th (31:08), Matthew Stone 12th (31:41), Steve Corfield 16th (32:01), Peter Mills 21st (32:36) and Andy Perks 24th (32:50). Striders had a total of 17 finishers, and their B and C teams both placed first in their category. Striders’ youngest competitor, Christopher Finch, placed sixth in the under-13 race, completing the four-kilometre course in 16 minutes 05 seconds.

This Saturday (9th) Striders will be competing in their annual ‘mob match’ against their local rivals Croydon Harriers, which is being held in conjunction with the weekly South Norwood parkrun.