Race Report 17.09.2018 – James Bennett sets new 10k club record at the Olympic Park
James Bennett, from Striders of Croydon, had an outstanding run to win the Olympic Park 10-kilometre road race on Wednesday evening. His time of 31 minutes 40 seconds was a new club record by 32 seconds, breaking the previous record set by Henrique Galvan in 1988. It was also a new course record.
Three Striders competed for Great Britain in the World Masters Championships in Malaga. They were led by Simon Pannell who ran very well in the hot conditions to place 24th in the M55 category in the eight-kilometre cross-country race, recording 32 minutes 07 seconds. He also placed 29th in the M55 10-kilometre road race, recording 42 minutes 44, and placed eighth in his heat of the M55 5000 metres, recording 20 minutes 27.61. Lorraine Hunte was seventh in her heat of the W60 100 metres, recording 17.59 seconds, while Alan Dolton was 76th in the M60 10-kilometre road race (54:08).
On Saturday Striders had five teams in the Will Bolton Cross-Country Relays at Sparrows Den. Their A team of Peter Mills (13:41), Lee Flanagan (15:01), Darren Woods (16:07) and Phil Coales (15:14) finished tenth. Their women’s A team of Adele Boesinger (17:47), Steph Upton (19:51), Yasmin Anderson (20:14) and Maria Gabriel (21:27) were the eighth women’s team to finish. Their under-15 team placed 25th in the junior race. On the same day, Stephen Lowe was 68th out of 210 finishers in the Chiltern 50-mile race, recording 9 hours 55 minutes 44 seconds. Striders also had 61 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. Sophia Sachedina was the first woman to finish the Wyre Forest parkrun, placing 18th overall (23:18).
In the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, Mike Stewart finished in 3 hours 08 minutes 53 seconds. Nikki Javan recorded a personal best 3 hours 36 minutes 37 seconds, placing her 18th in Striders’ all-time women’s rankings. Susanna Lutman ran the Reigate Half-Marathon in 1 hour 50 minutes 20 seconds.
