South of England Masters Cross-Country Championships

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the South of England Masters Cross-Country Championships, held at Lloyd Park on Saturday. In the men’s race, over ten kilometres, Andrew Aitken had an excellent run to place 22nd in a high-quality field, with Tatsuya Okamoto also running very well to finish 27th. They were followed by Matthew Stone, Steve Corfield, Andy Perks, Rob Zietz, Jon Dean and Stephen Allport. Club colleague Michael Bassett also ran well in the over-70 race, held over six kilometres.

Striders’ over-40 women also raced over six kilometres. They were led by team captain Nikki Javan, who finished three places ahead of team-mate Cindy Siu. They were followed by Grace Rehman, Jadwiga Brzask-Makiela and Michelle Klein.

Earlier in the day, James Rhodes ran well to place second out of 108 finishers in the South Norwood parkrun, recording 18 minutes 46. Ellyw Evans also ran well to be the first woman to finish, placing 21st overall (23:47). Claire Mitchell was the first woman to finish the Weedon Island parkrun in Florida, placing fifth overall (28:22). Graeme Drysdale was second in the Bethlem Royal Hospital parkrun (21:44), while Christopher Finch was third in the Riddlesdown parkrun (20:55). Striders had a total of 80 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.

In the RunThrough Crystal Palace Half-Marathon on Sunday, James Sullivan finished 78th out of 329 finishers in 1 hour 47 minutes 07.