Keith Simpson sets another V70 club record in the Marathon!

Keith Simpson, from Striders of Croydon, ran very well to finish first in the over-70 age-group in the Thames Meander Marathon, starting and finishing at Kingston-on-Thames, on Saturday. In wet and windy conditions, he set a new club over-70 record of 4 hours 09 minutes 07 seconds, placing 129th overall out of 307 finishers.

Earlier in the day, Kevin Burnett became the first Strider to complete 500 parkruns when he finished first in the over-80 age-group at the Hoblingwell parkrun, placing 73rd overall. Meanwhile Jenny Rowe was the first woman to finish the Lloyd parkrun, placing 17th overall in 23 minutes 48 seconds. Marianne Chua was the first woman to finish the Oak Hill parkrun in Barnet, placing 21st overall in 22 minutes 03. On the other side of the Atlantic, Jodie Gray was the second woman to finish the Roosevelt Island parkrun, beating all but one of the male runners as she placed third overall in 21 minutes 39. Martin Filer was second in the Riddlesdown parkrun (18:52) while Graeme Drysdale was second in the Bethlem Royal Hospital parkrun (19:44). Striders had a total of 60 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. Later that day Striders fielded three teams in the Reigate Priory Relays. Unfortunately the organisers were unusually slow in publishing the results, which were not available at the time of writing.

This Saturday (9th) Striders will be competing in the second Surrey Cross-Country League Division Two matches of the season. Their men are at Wimbledon Common, while their women are at Mitcham Common.