Paul Cripps wins M50 High Jump & Long Jump at Vets League

Striders of Croydon produced a good team performance in their first Southern Veterans League match of the season, at Wimbledon on Monday. Their men placed third of the eight clubs in the match, while their women were fourth. Paul Cripps did well to win both the M50 high jump (1.50) and long jump (4.22). Jon Dean won the M60 long jump with a club age-group record of 4.02 metres, and was second in the M60 400 metres (69.6). Graham Hansen was second in the M50 5000 metres (19:16.1). Lee Flanagan was third in the M35 1500 metres (4:57.5), while John O’Mahony was third in the B race (5:15.4). Sandra Francis won the W60 long jump (2.98), while Lorraine Hunte set a club W65 100 metre record of 18.1 seconds, placing third in her race. There were also third places for Michelle O’Mahony in the W35 shot (4.01) and for Linda Daniel in the W50 1500 metres (6:46.1).

In the Ranelagh Half-Marathon, at Richmond on Sunday, Striders were led by John Summers, who placed 137th out of 526 finishers in 92 minutes 39.  Robert McDonald was 238th (1:40:28) and Rotimi Oyegunle 299th (1:45:29). Striders’ women were led by Maria Gabriel who had an excellent run to set a new club over-50 record of 1 hour 46 minutes 32, finishing 317th overall. Jennifer Gutteridge was 323rd (1:47:05) and Mark Hutchings 411th (1:56:12).

On Saturday Striders had 76 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. Niamh Vincent was the first woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing 21st overall (22:32), while Jemma Zakariyyau was the first woman to finish the Dulwich parkrun, placing 55th overall (20:12). In the under-13 boys’ race at the London Boroughs Mini-Marathon, Christopher Finch placed 38th out of 180 finishers, completing the three-mile course in 18 minutes 34.