Peter Mills leads Striders to second place in Surrey XC League Div 2

Striders of Croydon produced an excellent team performance to place second out of nine clubs in the opening Surrey Cross-Country League Division Two match of the season, at Wimbledon Common on Saturday. They were led by Peter Mills who ran very well to place eighth of the 207 finishers, covering the five-mile course in 26 minutes 29 seconds. Phil Coales also ran well to place 13th (27.16) while Tatsuya Okamoto, making his league debut, was 19th (27.33). Bill Makuwa was 23rd (27.58) with Alastair Falconer 33rd (28.20), Lee Flanagan 48th (29.21), Rob Lines 54th (29.36) and Simon Ambrosi 61st (29.51). Matt Stone was second in the over-55 category and 71st overall (30.24), while team manager Krzysztof Klidzia completed the scoring team in 77th (30.43). Striders also had an impressive total of 19 non-scorers.

Meanwhile Striders’ women had 16 runners in their Division Two match at Reigate. They placed seventh in the match, led by Joanne Campbell who ran well to place 32nd of the 218 finishers, covering the four-mile course in 29 minutes 50. Steph Upton was close behind in 36th (29.58) with Becky Laurence 39th (30.04), Nikki Javan 73rd (32.11) and Selena Wong 84th (32.35). For the B team, Michelle O’Mahony was 91st (32.55), Carolyn Storey 92nd (33.01), Lucy Kulp 108th (33.56), Josephine Thompson 124th (35.18) and Karen Speed 129th (35.43). Striders’ youngest competitor, Lucy Finch, was 51st out of 80 finishers in the under-13 girls’ race.