Striders men maintain second position in Surrey XC League

Striders of Croydon produced a good team performance in the penultimate Surrey Cross-Country League Division Two match of the season, at Beckenham on Saturday. They finished third of the nine clubs, just behind promotion rivals Fulham, but remain in second place in the overall league table with one match remaining.

Striders were again led by Peter Mills, who ran very well to place seventh of the 208 finishers, completing the five-mile course in 28 minutes 11 seconds. James Bennett also ran well to finish eleventh (28.24) with Phil Coales 20th (29.14), Tatsuya Okamoto 23rd (29.22), Alastair Falconer 32nd (29.42), Bill Makuwa 44th (30.19), Lee Flanagan 52nd (30.40), Simon Ambrosi 59th (31.02), Robert Lines 60th (31.03) and Andrew Aitken completing the scoring team in 75th (31.48). Striders’ B team placed fifth in their category, and the club had an impressive total of 29 finishers.

Meanwhile Striders’ women placed ninth in their Division Two match at Wimbledon. They were led by Joanne Campbell who ran well to place 41st of the 248 finishers, covering the five-mile course in 40 minutes 55 seconds. Niamh Vincent was 55th (41.37) with Rachel Vinton 61st (42.06), Nikki Javan 68th (42.19) and Debra Bourne 69th (42.28). Their B team were sixth, led by Marianne Chua who was 85th (43.33). Selena Wong was 88th (43.38), Adele Boesinger 92nd (44.00), Susanna Lutman 104th (44.26) and Linda Daniel 139th (46.45). Striders’ youngest competitor, Lucy Finch, placed 47th in the under-13 girls’ race.