Surrey Cross-Country League

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in their first Surrey Cross-Country League matches of the season, at Richmond Park on Saturday. Their men did well to place third out of ten clubs in their Division Three match. They were led by James Rhodes who placed ninth out of 174 finishers, completing the 8500-metre course in 30:50. Marc Burrows was 23rd (31:50), while Lee Flanagan was second in the M50 age-group and 28th overall (31:58). Phil Coales was 32nd (32:07) and Nathan Robertshaw 42nd (32:48). Krzysztof Klidzia was first in the M60 age-group and 53rd overall (33:48), while Steve Corfield was second in the M60 age-group and 59th overall (34:13). Simon Ambrosi was 70th (34:51), Liam Redmond 73rd (35:10) and Tom Gillespie completed the scoring ten in 74th (35:12). Striders’ B team placed fourth in their category. Chris Bourchier was 77th (35:20) with Kerim Suruliz 85th (35:50), Matthew Stone 100th (36:32), Andy Perks 102nd (36:42), Jason Gallagher 104th (37:05), Luke Burden 116th (37:59) and Darren Woods 117th (38:00).

Striders’ women also did well to place eleventh out of 15 clubs in their Division Two match. They were led by Ally Whitlock who placed 33rd out of 173 finishers, completing the 6600-metre course in 29:11. Consuelo Kennefick was 45th (30:03), Cindy Siu 92nd (33:03), Gemma Halliday 108th (34:36), Debra Bourne 114th (34:59) and Ruth Pearson 148th (38:15).

Earlier on Saturday, Striders had a total of 109 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.

In the Dorney Marathon at Windsor, Paul Thomas placed 39th out of 167 finishers in 2:57:17, becoming the 50th member of Striders to complete a marathon in under three hours. In the Chelmsford Marathon, Nick Kyritsis placed first in the M70 age-group and 302nd overall out of 512 finishers (4:17:46).