Matthew Stone sets new club MV55 10 mile record

Matthew Stone, from Striders of Croydon, had an excellent run in the RunThrough Lee Valley Velo Park 10-mile race on Saturday. He placed fourth overall in a field of 60 runners, and was the first over-50 to finish, setting a new Striders over-55 record of 61 minutes 22 seconds. This was over four minutes faster than the previous club record, set by Steve Corfield at Dorking in 2019.

Three Striders produced good performances in the Dave Clarke Mile Extravaganza at Wimbledon Park on Wednesday. Striders’ fastest time came from James Rhodes, who placed fourth out of ten competitors in his heat, recording 4 minutes 44.67. Club colleague Joseph Ibe had an excellent run to win the third heat, held in heavy rain, in a personal best of 5 minutes 17.75. Striders’ oldest competitor, Peter Johnson, placed second in his heat in a personal best of 5 minutes 40.44.

On Saturday morning Striders had 83 finishers in the various local parkruns. Robert Lines ran well to place second at Lloyd Park (19:01), where Steve Corfield also ran well to place fifth (20:09), achieving the highest age-grading of 78.91%. Samuel Hansen was second at the Leazes parkrun in Newcastle (17:48), while Alastair Falconer was third at the Riddlesdown parkrun (18:23). Later on Saturday James Rhodes competed in the Oregano Project Distance Classic at Birmingham University, where he placed fourth in his heat of the 800 metres (2:07.95).

On Sunday Simon Ambrosi placed eighth in the Vanguard Way Marathon (4:25:00), with Martin Filer 15th (4:39:31) and John Norris 43rd (5:33:19). Louise Grech finished the RunThrough Wimbledon Common Half-Marathon in 2 hours 05 minutes 33. Stephen Allport was 11th in the Vanguard Way Half-Marathon (2:13:58). Peter Johnson was 21st in the East Peckham 10K (40:22).