Simon leads Striders to mobmatch win

Striders of Croydon produced an excellent team performance to win their mobmatch against Blackheath & Bromley, held in conjunction with the Bromley parkrun on Saturday. Striders comfortably outnumbered their hosts, managing 41 of the 491 finishers, compared with only 29 for Blackheath, and won the match by 1323 points to 1162. Striders were led by Simon Ambrosi who placed fifth, covering the five-kilometre course in 17 minutes 42. Damian Macenhill was close behind in seventh (17.45) with his brother Justin Macenhill ninth (18.01). Krzysztof Klidzia was 15th (18.22), Colin Hann 21st (18.45) and Andy Perks 24th (18.57). Striders’ women were led by Selena Wong who was the tenth woman to finish, recording 23 minutes 10, with Linda Daniel next home in 26th (24.37). Striders also had the first two finishers in the weekly parkrun at Lloyd Park, with Simone Luciani winning (17.51) and Lee Flanagan second (18.48).

On the following day Striders had 13 finishers in the Reigate Half-Marathon, led by Andy Perks who ran his second race of the weekend and placed 54th out of more than 2600 finishers, recording 86 minutes 23 seconds. Striders’ first over-50 was Mick Turner who ran 94 minutes 40 seconds. Striders’ fastest woman was Josephine Thompson who ran exactly 1 hour 40 minutes, followed by Becky Laurence (1.42.20). Alice Ewen was the second woman in the Stroke Association six-mile road race in Hyde Park, recording 41 minutes 42 seconds.