Peter Mills leads Striders at Dorking

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition at the Surrey Cross-Country Championships at Dorking on Sunday. Their senior men placed tenth in the team event. They were led by Peter Mills who ran very well to place 30th out of the 220 finishers, covering the muddy twelve-kilometre course in 43 minutes 17 seconds. Phil Coales also ran well to place 39th (44.14) with Alastair Falconer 67th (46.03), team manager Krzysztof Klidzia 113th (49.54), Darren Woods 123rd (50.35) and Andy Perks completing the scoring team in 131st (50.57). Striders also had five non-scorers.

Striders’ women placed 14th in their team event. They were led by Steph Upton who placed 67th, covering the eight-kilometre course in 38 minutes 51 seconds. Nikki Javan was 78th (40.38) with Niamh Vincent 84th (41.24) and Lucy Kulp 104th (46.35).

Lucy Finch was 68th in the under-13 girls’ race, covering the 2800-metre course in 14 minutes 20 seconds. Her younger brother Christopher Finch was 70th in the under-13 boys’ race on the same course, recording 12 minutes 31 seconds.

On the previous day, Tatsuya Okamoto was the first finisher at the Roundshaw Downs parkrun, covering the five-kilometre course in 19 minutes 04 seconds, while Lee Flanagan was the first finisher at the parkrun in Lloyd Park, recording 19 minutes 26. Striders had a total of 68 finishers at the various weekly parkruns (31 at Lloyd Park and 37 at other venues).