James Bennett sets new club marathon record
James Bennett, from Striders of Croydon, had an excellent run to finish 158th in the London Marathon on Sunday, setting a new club record of 2 hours 35 minutes 43 seconds. Veteran Krzysztof Klidzia also ran very well to place 28th in the over-50 category with a time of 2 hours 48 minutes 20. Alastair Falconer ran a personal best 2 hours 50 minutes 51, placing him 15th on Striders’ all-time club rankings. There were also personal bests for Mike Stewart (2.57.39) and Liam Redmond (3.00.26), while Andy Perks, running his second marathon in 15 days, recorded 3.04.27. Striders’ women were led by Rachel Lindley who was the 141st woman to finish, setting a new club over-35 record of 3 hours 08 minutes 17. She was followed by Steve Harris (3.10.05), Jay Lidbetter (3.11.29), Simon Ambrosi (3.13.52), Karen Stretch (3.16.16), Graeme Drysdale (3.22.50) and Chris Chinnock (3.22.53). Striders’ third woman to finish was Louise Grech (4.09.42), who was followed by Gemma Halliday (4.15.40) and Adele Boesinger (4.27.59). Striders had a total of 28 finishers.
On the previous day, Rob Lines ran well to be first man home at the weekly parkrun in Lloyd Park, recording 18 minutes 15 seconds. Nadine Pryce was the second woman to finish, running a personal best of 24 minutes 31, while Katherine Selby was third (24.44). Paul Finch was second in the Roundshaw parkrun (19.03) with Mick Turner third (19.21). Striders had an impressive total of 70 finishers at the various weekly parkruns (31 at Lloyd Park and 39 at other venues).
