Sandra sprints and walks to help Striders to third place

Striders of Croydon produced a good team performance in their final Southern Veterans League match of the season, at Croydon Arena last week. Their women finished third, while their men were fourth of the seven clubs in the match. For Striders’ women, Sandra Francis won the over-50 2000 metre walk (14.08.6), and also placed second in the over-50 100 metres (17.8), while Linda Daniel was second in the over-50 400 metres (85.9). For Striders’ men, Bob Ewen placed second in the over-50 2000 metre walk in a club over-60 record of 12 minutes 15.3. Paul Cripps was second in the high jump (1.50), and later combined with Simon Webster, Paul Stanford and Daniel Hassett to take a close second place in the 4 x 100 metre relay (53.7).

Striders also produced some good performances in the Elmore 7-mile road race at Chipstead on Saturday. They were led by Iain Harrison who ran very well to place ninth of the 361 finishers, in 40 minutes 04 seconds. Peter Mills also ran well for 22nd (42.47) with Justin Macenhill 55th (46.00), and Graeme Drysdale 64th (46.45). Striders’ women were led by Steph Upton who placed 134th overall (51.58), while Becky Laurence was 172nd (54.55).