Southern Vets and Beckenham Road Relays

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in their second Southern Veterans League match of the season, at Ewell on Monday. Both their men and women placed fifth of the seven competing clubs. Striders’ leading scorer was again Paul Cripps who won the M50 triple jump (9.74), was second in the 200 metres (29.0) and third in the shot (8.14). Julian Spencer-Wood ran well to win the M60 800 metres (2.42.7), while Alan Dolton was third in the M60 3000 metres (12.44.2). For Striders’ women, club secretary Steph Upton was third in the W35 discus (10.89) and fourth in the 800 metres (3.05.4).

Striders had an impressive total of 12 teams in the annual Beckenham Road Relay on Wednesday. Their women were fifth, with Rachel Lindley running the fastest women’s time of the day. She covered the final leg of the 2.6 mile course in 15 minutes 24 seconds, which was faster than all but one of Striders’ men. Earlier, Steph Upton had run the first leg in 18 minutes 30, while Joanne Campbell ran the second leg in 18 minutes 34. Striders’ men finished 18th. Their best performance came from Alastair Falconer, who ran the first leg in 14 minutes 27 seconds. Damian Macenhill ran 15.38, Graeme Drysdale 16.06 and Darren Woods 16.08.

Striders had the first two finishers in the weekly parkrun in Lloyd Park on Saturday, with Simone Luciani first (17.59) and Simon Ambrosi second (18.39), while Alastair Falconer was first in the Whitstable parkrun (18.02). Striders had an impressive total of 64 finishers in the various weekly parkruns (32 at Lloyd Park and 32 at other venues).

On Sunday (4th) Striders have several competitors in the Dorking 10-mile road race, while some of the club’s oldest athletes will be competing in the Surrey Masters Championships, at Ewell.