Alastair Falconer leads Striders at Surrey XC League at Mitcham

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the penultimate Surrey Cross-Country League Division One match of the season, at Mitcham on Saturday. They were led by Alastair Falconer who was 118th of the 235 finishers, covering the 8.3 kilometre course in 31 minutes 37 seconds. Andrew Aitken was close behind in 120th (31:41) with Lee Flanagan 137th (32:16). Team manager Krzysztof Klidzia ran well to place 140th overall and fourth in the over-50 category (32:25). Robert Lines was 142nd (32:35), Peter Mills 151st (33:03), Simon Ambrosi 161st (33:19), Matthew Stone 162nd (33:30), Iain Harrison 163rd (33:40) and David Vinton 174th (34:16). Jon Dean ran well to win the over-60 category (37:56). Striders had a total of 24 finishers. Their A team placed ninth, while their B team were eighth in their category. In the under-13 race Christopher Finch ran well to place 11th of the 50 finishers, covering the four-kilometre course in 15 minutes 01.

On the following day Striders had 25 finishers in their annual mob match against Blackheath & Bromley and Beckenham Running Club. Striders were led by Tatsuya Okamoto who placed fifth overall, covering the 10-kilometre course in 39 minutes 39 seconds. Krzysztof Klidizia, in his second race of the weekend, was tenth (41:07). Striders’ women were led by Niamh Vincent who ran well to be the fourth woman to finish (48:54), while Steph Upton was seventh (49:21) and Kathryn Falconer tenth (53:32).