The Surrey Road League returns

Andrew Aitken, from Striders of Croydon, ran very well in the Wimbledon Dash five-kilometre road race on Sunday, which incorporated the Surrey Championships and was the first event in this year’s Surrey Road League. He was fifth in the M40 age-group, placing 28th overall and completing the undulating course in 17 minutes 38 seconds. Striders’ second finisher was John O’Mahony who placed 83rd (20:58). Alan Dolton completed the scoring trio, placing third in the M65 age-group and 128th overall (27:29). In the Paddock Wood Half-Marathon on the same day, Graeme Drysdale ran 84 minutes 43.

Striders had the first two female finishers in the South Norwood parkrun on Saturday morning. For the third successive week, Niamh Vincent was the first woman to finish, placing ninth overall (21:55). Ally Whitlock finished one place behind her (22:23). Selena Wong was the first woman to finish the Roundshaw parkrun, placing 24th overall (24:40). Consuelo Kennefick was the second woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing ninth overall (23:16). Rachel Lindley was the second woman to finish the Hilly Fields parkrun in Ladywell, placing 15th overall (21:01). For Striders’ men, James Rhodes was second in the South Norwood parkrun (18:51). Lee Flanagan was second in the Lloyd parkrun (20:29) with Steve Corfield third (20:52). Erik Schrijnemaekers was second in the Tapijn parkrun in Maastricht (19:00), while Marc Burrows was second in the Rouen parkrun (19:33). Striders had a total of 77 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.

Striders had seven competitors in the Ashby Mile, organised by Croydon Harriers, at Croydon Arena on Thursday evening. Daniel Finch set a Striders under-15 record of 6 minutes 10.2, while his brother Thomas Finch set a Striders under-13 record of 6:46.1.