Surrey League XC Action!

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in their penultimate Surrey Cross-Country League matches of the season on Saturday. Their men had to settle for ninth place in their match at Richmond Park. They were led by James Rhodes who ran well to place 49th of the 166 finishers, completing the five-mile course in 30 minutes 10. Andrew Aitken was 69th (30:58) with Robert Lines 84th (31:37) and Sebastian Munday 85th (31:38). Matthew Stone ran very well to place second in the M55 age-group, placing 86th overall (31:42). Simon Ambrosi was 101st (32:53) and Oliver Watts 103rd (33:00), just ahead of Steve Corfield who was third in the M55 age-group and 104th overall (33:02). Conor O’Hara-Barrett was 106th (33:10) and Joseph Ibe completed the scoring team in 112nd (32:98). Jon Dean placed fourth in the M60 age-group and 148th overall (36:55). Striders had a total of 20 finishers, and their B team placed fifth in their category.

Striders’ women placed 13th in their Division Two match at Mitcham. They were led by Jennifer Gutteridge who ran very well to place 26th of the 208 finishers. Ellyw Evans was 77th with Cindy Siu 80th, Nikki Javan 82nd, and Maria Consuelo Kennefick completing the scoring team in 86th. For the B team, Jadwiga Brzask-Makiela was 168th with Ruth Pearson 188th and Michelle Klein 204th.

Earlier in the day, Striders had a total of 68 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. Niamh Vincent was the first woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing 12th overall (22:08), while John Punt was second in the Lloyd parkrun (21:15).