Striders records tumble for Lee, Paul, Graham and Sam at Wimbledon

Striders of Croydon had some good performances at their penultimate Southern Veterans League of the season, at Wimbledon Park on Monday. Lee Flanagan had an excellent run to win the 800 metres in a new club M40 record of 2 minutes 11.7, and later placed second in the M40 5000 metres in a club age-group record of 16 minutes 59.1. Paul Cripps won the M50 high jump (1.53) and triple jump (10.30), both of these jumps being new club age-group records, and also set a club M50 record in the discus (22.52), placing third. Maggie Statham won the W50 5000 metres (21.23.2), while Graham Hansen was second in the M50 race, setting a club M55 record of 18 minutes 01.9. In the 200 metres Sam O’Dongo was second in the M40 race in a club age-group record of 25.8 seconds, while Julian Spencer-Wood was third in the M60 race in a new club M65 record of 32.9. Both Striders’ men and women placed fifth of the seven competing clubs.

Striders also had a good turnout of 16 finishers in the Ranelagh 10 kilometre road race at Ham on Sunday, which incorporated the Surrey Championship. They were led by Philip Coales who ran very well to place 13th out of 491 finishers, recording 34 minutes 47 seconds. Lee Flanagan also ran well to place 48th (36.17) while Peter Johnson completed the scoring trio in 223rd (43.22), just one place and one second ahead of team-mate Sunjay Bhogal. Striders’ women were led by Carolyn Storey, who placed 292nd overall (46.18). Charlotte Letchford was 311th (46.56), with Selena Wong completing the scoring trio in 374th (49.33).