Matthew Stone wins over-50 category at Wimbledon Common

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the East Surrey League cross-country races at Wimbledon Common on Saturday. They were led by Matthew Stone who ran very well to win the over-50 category, placing 32nd overall and covering the five-mile course in 32 minutes 24. Team manager Krzysztof Klidzia was 39th (33.18) with Andy Perks 41st (33.30) and Chris Morton 60th (35.53). Julian Spencer-Wood ran well to win the over-60 category, placing 61st overall (35.55). John O’Mahony was 66th (36.47), James Burree 76th (38.44), Sunjay Bhogal 77th (38.50) and Gerry Crispie 86th (40.04). Selena Wong was the fifteenth woman to finish, placing 91st overall (41.40). In the young athletes’ race, over two and a half miles, Christopher Finch ran well to place 27th in 17 minutes 22. Lucy Finch was 52nd (19.24) and Daniel Finch 56th (19.51).

Earlier in the day, Striders had a total of 43 finishers in the various weekly parkruns (20 at Lloyd Park and 23 at other venues). Their best performances came in the Riddlesdown parkrun where Tatsuya Okamoto was second (17.15), while Steph Upton was the second woman to finish (21.48). Luke Burden ran well to place tenth out of 313 finishers in the Putney Riverside 10 kilometre road race (39.34). Further afield, Hannah Luffman ran the Big Apple Half-Marathon in New York, in very wintry conditions, in a personal best 1 hour 41 minutes 44 seconds.