National Cross-Country Championships

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the National Cross-Country Championships, at Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday. Their women were 68th in the team event. They were led by Ellyw Evans who ran well to place 349th of the 830 finishers, covering the muddy eight-kilometre course in 41 minutes 54. Cindy Siu was 441st (44:32), Selena Wong 629th (50:44), Rachel Gwynn 698th (53:51), Linda Jones 740th (56:34) and Ruth Pearson 741st (56:34). Striders’ men were led by Phil Coales who was 632nd of the 1781 finishers, completing the 12-kilometre course in 59 minutes 53. Marc Burrows was 804th (62:32), Andy Perks 1038th (66:27), Liam Redmond 1055th (66:47) and Jason Gallagher 1347th (73:33). Unfortunately they were unable to finish a complete team of six runners.

In the British Masters Indoor Championships at Lee Valley, Lorraine Hunte ran well to place fourth in the W70 60 metres (11.09), while Steve Corfield was fifth in the M60 800 metres (2:20.00).

On Saturday morning, Striders had a total of 99 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. Ally Whitlock was the first woman to finish the Chasewater parkrun in Staffordshire, placing 17th overall out of 261 finishers (22:20). Consuelo Kennefick was the first woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing tenth overall out of 75 finishers (26:00). Nikki Javan was the first woman to finish the Lloyd parkrun, placing 48th overall out of 119 finishers (32:35).

On Sunday, Erik Schrijnemaekers was 449th out of more than 19000 finishers in the London Winter 10K (40:25). Zoe Siu was the second female finisher in the Lloyd junior parkrun, placing fifth overall (8:56).