Striders return to Cross-Country

Striders of Croydon produced some good performances in the East Surrey League cross-country races at Lloyd Park on Saturday. They were led by Tatsuya Okamoto and Phil Coales, who tied for 18th place, each completing the muddy five-kilometre course in 18 minutes 48 seconds. Andrew Aitken was 28th (19:52)  and James Rhodes completed the scoring team in 31st (20:01). This gave Striders fifth place in the team event. They also had twelve non-scorers, with Steve Corfield running particularly well to win the M55 age-group in 20 minutes 53.

Striders’ women were led by Ally Whitlock who ran well to place 21st in the women’s race in 24 minutes 08. Team manager Nikki Javan was 30th (25:14) with Debra Bourne 38th (26:19), Elsa Santana 54th (32:54) and Sarah Allport 56th (36:51). They placed eighth in the team event.

In the young athletes’ races, Christopher Finch ran well to place eleventh out of 22 finishers in the under-15 boys’ category, completing the four-kilometre course in 16 minutes 41. His younger brother Daniel Finch was eleventh out of 17 finishers in the under-13 boys’ category (17:47).