Rachel Lindley finishes 5th at the North Downs Way 50

Rachel Lindley, from Striders of Croydon, ran very well to be the fifth woman to finish the North Downs Way 50-mile race from Farnham to Knockholt on Saturday. She completed the undulating course in 8 hours 48 minutes 31 seconds, placing 20th overall out of 235 finishers. Club colleague Nikki Javan also ran well to be the ninth woman to finish, placing 45th overall (9:28:39). Debra Bourne, completing her 100th ultra-distance race, was the 45th woman to finish, placing 200th overall (12:23:29).

Striders had a good turnout in the Beckenham Relays on Wednesday, fielding eight complete teams. Their women’s A team of Jennifer Gutteridge (17:55), Consuelo Kennefick (17:56) and Niamh Vincent (18:12) were the ninth female team to finish, and placed 59th overall out of 122 teams. Their men’s A team of Lee Flanagan (15:24), Erik Schrijnemaekers (15:44) and Matthew Stone (15:19) placed 25th. The B team of Martin Filer (15:42), Luke Burden (16:31) and Conor O’Hara-Barrett (15:53) placed 33rd. The C team of Stephen Kennefick (18:27), Stephen Allport (17:27) and Marc Burrows (16:04) placed 49th.

At Watford on the same evening, James Rhodes ran a personal best of 2 minutes 05.17 for 800 metres, placing ninth in his heat.

On Saturday, Consuelo Kennefick was the second woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 13th overall (21:51). Ellyw Evans was the second woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing 30th overall (23:38). Striders had a total of 97 finishers at the various weekly parkruns. On Sunday morning, Thomas Finch ran well to place third out of 124 finishers in the Lloyd junior parkrun, completing the two-kilometre course in 8 minutes 31.