Striders men gain cross country promotion!

Striders of Croydon produced some good performances in their final Surrey Cross-Country League matches of the season, at Lloyd Park on Saturday. Their men’s team did very well to win the Division Three match and finish second in the final Division Three table, gaining promotion back to Division Two. They were led by Harry Madgwick-Lawton, who placed seventh of the 172 finishers. Andrew Aitken was 11th, Phil Coales 13th, Tatsuya Okamoto 14th, James Rhodes 18th, Lee Flanagan 21st, Luke Burden 27th and Liam Redmond 35th. Matthew Stone was first in the M60 age-group and 37th overall, while Marc Burrows completed the scoring team in 42nd.

Striders’ B team also won their category. Conor O’Hara-Barrett was 44th, Martin Filer 46th, Andy Perks 53rd, Tom Gillespie 58th, Robert Lines 59th, Tim Lawlor 75th, Simon Ambrosi 86th, Peter Mills 87th, Kerim Suruliz 90th and Steve Harris 93rd. Striders also had six non-scorers: Simon Webster was 104th, Stephen Kennefick 114th, Mark Nortje 138th, Darren Woods 150th, Mick Turner 151st and Rotimi Oyegunle 157th.

Striders’ women competed in Division Two. They were led by Jennifer Gutteridge, who placed 18th of the 131 finishers. Cindy Siu was 48th, Ruth Pearson 96th and Angela Seesurrun 97th. For the first time since February 2012, Striders were unable to field a complete team of five women. They finished 13th in the final Division Two table and were relegated to Division Three.

In the Veterans AC Indoor 60 metre championships, at Lee Valley on Sunday, Lorraine Hunte was fourth in the W70 race (10.86). Steve Corfield ran 37:33 in the Chichester 10K, while Peter Johnson ran 39:47 in the Victoria Park 10K, Simon McHardy ran 91:18 in the Headcorn Half-Marathon, and Sheena Hammond ran 2:07:38 in the Torremolinos Half-Marathon.