James storms to new Striders marathon record

James Bennett, from Striders of Croydon, had an outstanding run in Sunday’s London Marathon, setting a new club record of 2 hours 37 minutes 42 seconds, and finishing 227th. Club colleague Simone Luciani also had an excellent run to finish 348th in 2 hours 41 minutes 54, lifting him to fifth place in the club’s all-time rankings. Krzysztof Klidzia set a new club veterans’ record of 2 hours 45 minutes 25, placing 46th in the over-45 category. Striders’ next four runners all recorded personal bests. Lee Flanagan ran 2 hours 49 minutes 24, and was followed by Mike Stewart (2.57.56), Ernie Hann (3.03.55) and Graeme Drysdale (3.06.00).

Striders’ women were led by Karen Stretch who was the 249th woman to finish, recording 3 hours 11 minutes 36. She was closely followed by Rachel Lindley who was 259th in 3 hours 12 minutes 10. These times placed Karen and Rachel third and fourth respectively in Striders’ all-time women’s rankings. Michelle Clarke, in her first marathon, also ran very well to record 3 hours 42 minutes 50. She was followed by Allie Cairnie (3.52.12) and Selena Wong (4.12.44). Striders had a total of 24 finishers in the event.