James gets even closer to Striders 10K record

James Bennett, from Striders of Croydon, had an excellent run to place third in the Victoria Park 10-kilometre road race on Sunday. He ran a new personal best of 32 minutes 32 seconds, lifting him to second place in the club’s all-time rankings.

On the same day Debra Bourne was the first woman to finish the Dymchurch Marathon, placing 12th overall in 3 hours 49 minutes 29 seconds.

A day earlier, Striders’ leading veteran, 50-year-old Krzysztof Klidzia, outclassed his younger rivals to be the first man home at the weekly parkrun in Lloyd Park. He covered the muddy and undulating five-kilometre course in 19 minutes 21 seconds. Club colleague Simon Ambrosi was third (19.46) while Selena Wong was the first woman to finish, placing 41st overall in exactly 26 minutes. Graeme Drysdale was second in the Riddlesdown parkrun (20.05). Striders had a total of 44 finishers in the various local parkruns (25 at Lloyd Park and 19 at other venues).