South of the Thames Cross-Country Championship

Striders of Croydon faced strong opposition in the South of the Thames Cross-Country Championship at Tonbridge on Saturday. They were led by Andrew Aitken who placed 69th of the 166 finishers, completing the muddy and undulating 12-kilometre course in 55 minutes 49. James Rhodes was 78th (57:45), Jason Gallagher 105th (62:12) and Robert Zietz 136th (66:23).

Earlier in the day, Niamh Vincent ran well to be the first woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun. She placed eighth overall out of 137 finishers, completing the muddy five-kilometre course in 22:22. Striders’ best male placing came from Erik Schrijnemaekers, who was fourth of 81 finishers at the Zuiderpark parkrun in the Hague (18:37). Graeme Drysdale was fifth in the South Norwood parkrun (21:03) with Daniel Finch sixth (21:11). Steve Corfield was sixth out of 177 finishers in the Lloyd parkrun (20:47). Striders had a total of 105 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.

in the Run Through Chase The Moon 10K at Battersea on Wednesday, Striders were led by  Chris Bourchier who placed 44th out of 514 finishers (39:03). Martin Filer was fourth in the M45 age-group and 77th overall (40:20), while Paul Cripps was fifth in the M55 age-group and 174th overall (47:03). At the same venue two days later, Darren Woods finished 35th in his heat of the Soar Christmas five-mile races (34:32).