Surrey Cross-Country Championships

Striders faced strong opposition in the Surrey Cross-Country Championships, at Dorking on Sunday. They were led by Phil Coales who placed 96th, completing the muddy 12-kilometre course in 49 minutes 50. Tatsuya Okamoto was 106th (50:30), Martin Filer 134th (51:50), Andy Perks 138th (52:02), Luke Burden 144th (52:26), Tom Gillespie 155th (53:05), Stephen Kennefick 180th (55:48), Stephen Harris 189th (57:03), Simon Webster 198th (57:47), Jason Gallagher 214th (60:19) and Rotimi Oyegunle 242nd (81:07). Earlier in the day, Craig Smith was 47th in the Regents Park 10K (44:11), while Robert Zietz was 147th in the Tadworth 10-mile race (85:08).

On Saturday, Rachel Lindley placed first out of 52 finishers in the Epworth parkrun in Lincolnshire (21:34). Kara Boaks was again the first female finisher at the South Norwood parkrun, placing eighth overall (21:58), while Ellyw Evans was the second female finisher, placing 23rd overall (24:00). Ruth Pearson was the second woman to finish the Bethlem Royal Hospital parkrun, placing 35th overall (29:53). For Striders’ men, Martin Filer was second in the Riddlesdown parkrun (19:34). Striders had a total of 111 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. In the RunThrough Battersea Half-Marathon, Simon McHardy was 148th (1:34:00) while Joseph Ibe was 227th (1:40:04). In the Polarnight Morketidsmila, held in snow at Tromso in Norway, Sarah Allport was 29th in the W45 age-group (83:07).

On New Year’s Day, Striders had the first female finisher in three different parkruns. Kara Boaks was first at South Norwood (21:57), as were Consuelo Kennefick at Riddlesdown (23:38) and Cindy Siu at Lloyd Park (24:30). Ellyw Evans was the second female finisher at South Norwood (24:54). For Striders’ men, there were second places for Martin Filer at Riddlesdown (20:08) and Steve Corfield at Lloyd Park (20:52).