The Return of Cross Country!

Striders had an excellent turnout of 27 runners in the East Surrey League cross-country races at Lloyd Park on Sunday, which was the first cross-country fixture of the season.

Striders’ men were led by Phil Coales who ran well to place fifth. Tatsuya Okamoto was eighth, Andrew Aitken eleventh, and Lee Flanagan completed the Men’s A team in 12th. This gave Striders third place in the men’s team event. They also had a total of 12 runners in the first 50. Matthew Stone led the men’s B team in 19th place and was followed by Oliver Watts, Tom Vincent, Kerim Suruliz, Paul Finch, Stephen Kennefick, Luke Burden and John O’Mahony.

Striders’ women were led by Consuelo Kennefick who was the eighth woman to finish, placing 51st overall. She was followed by Kara Boaks, Cindy Siu, Debra Bourne, Yasmin Anderson, Jadwiga Brzask-Makiela and Michelle Klein. Earlier, Daniel Finch placed 22nd in the young athletes’ race.

Striders had the first two female finishers in the South Norwood parkrun on Saturday. Niamh Vincent was the first woman to finish, placing tenth overall (21:01), while Ellyw Evans was the second woman to finish, placing 19th overall (22:27). Mark Nortje was second at the Duikersdrift parkrun in South Africa (22:17). Cindy Siu was the second woman to finish the Lloyd parkrun, placing 52nd overall (25:33). John Punt was third in the Maidenhead parkrun (20:13). Striders had a total of 98 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.