James motors to Striders win at Brands hatch

James Bennett, from Striders of Croydon, had an outstanding run  to win the British Heart Foundation Half-Marathon, held on an undulating multi-terrain course at Brands Hatch on Sunday. Unfortunately the course was not officially measured, but James’ winning time of 69 minutes 50 seconds suggests that, if he were to enter an official UKA half-marathon, he would have an excellent chance of breaking the Striders club record set by Simon Morris in 1986. James finished almost 12 minutes ahead of the second-placed athlete, Stuart Penman of Wimbledon Windmilers.

On the previous day Ernie Hann won the weekly parkrun in Lloyd Park for the second successive week, covering the muddy five-kilometre course in 19 minutes 33 seconds. Krzysztof Klidzia was fourth in the Crystal Palace parkrun (18.13) and Allan Phillips was fifth in the Bromley parkrun (19.06), where Becky Laurence was the third woman to finish (22.50). Striders had a total of 48 finishers in the various weekly parkruns (21 at Lloyd Park and 27 at other venues).