Surrey Cross-Country Championships

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the Surrey Cross-Country Championships, held at Denbies Vineyard, near Dorking on Sunday. Their men’s team did well to place eleventh. They were led by Alastair Falconer who ran very well to place 41st out of the 214 finishers, completing the muddy 12.2 kilometre course in 49 minutes 12 seconds. Tatsuya Okamoto was 68th (52:08) with James Rhodes 78th (52:59), Luke Burden 135th (57:49), Oliver Watts 137th (57:51) and Martin Filer completing the scoring team in 140th (57:57). Tom Gillespie was 144th (58:26), Dominic Hayward 166th (60:41) and Joseph Ibe 180th (61:57).

Striders’ women were led by Nikki Javan who placed 84th of the 140 finishers, completing the 8400-metre course in 46 minutes 39. Grace Rehman was 128th (56:24) and Jadwiga Brzsask-Makiela 131st (57:57). In the under-15 boys’ race, over 4200 metres, Daniel Finch placed 62nd (19:39) while his brother Christopher Finch was 72nd (22:15).

Striders had the first three women to finish the South Norwood parkrun on Saturday. Kara Boaks placed 11th overall of the 100 finishers (22:22), while Niamh Vincent was 15th overall (23:06) and Ellyw Evans was 28th overall (25:15). Striders’ men were led by Steve Corfield who placed third (19:37). In the Lloyd parkrun, Robert Lines placed second out of 117 finishers (20:27) with Matthew Stone third (20:37). Cindy Siu was the second woman to finish, placing 28th overall (27:01). In the Riddlesdown parkrun, Selena Wong was the third woman to finish, placing 16th overall (25:15), while Consuelo Kennefick was the fourth woman to finish, placing 17th overall (25:41). Christopher Finch was fourth out of 95 finishers in the Ifield Mill Pond parkrun (21:19). Striders had a total of 85 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.