Southern Veterans League season finale

Striders of Croydon produced some good performances in their final Southern Veterans League match of the season, at Walton on Monday. They did very well in the 3000 metres, where Tatsuya Okamoto won the men’s race (9:57.2) and Rachel Lindley won the women’s race (11:17.7). Steve Massey was second in the M50 race (11:11.7), having also placed second in the M50 800 metres (2:29.8). Nikki Javan was third in the women’s 800 metres (3:00.1) and won the B 3000 metres (13:12.4). Sandra Francis was second in both the women’s long jump (3.08) and the women’s discus, where she set a club W65 record of 8.64 metres. Sam O’Dongo was second in the men’s long jump (4.27) and third in both the M40 800 metres (2:28.4) and the M40 discus (14.09).

Two Striders competed in the Stan Allen Mile races at Tooting on Wednesday. Phil Coales was second in his heat (4:47.2) while Stephen Allport was fifth in his heat (5:50.9).

Niamh Vincent was the first woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun on Saturday, placing eleventh overall (20:46). Lee Flanagan was third in the Lloyd parkrun (19:01). Consuelo Kennefick was the third woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 18th overall (22:42). Striders had a total of 82 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. They also  had four finishers in the Lloyd junior parkrun on Sunday, led by Zoe Siu (10:12).

Striders had several competitors in the ‘Big Half-Marathon’ in London. They were led by Michael Davis who recorded 88 minutes 09 seconds, placing 936th in a large field. Luke Burden ran 93 minutes 58, while Striders’ women were led by Aliya Haji who ran 2 hours 02 minutes 28. She was followed by Cheryl Spinks (2:13:59) and Kerry Kane (2:28:48).