Switchback 5

Striders of Croydon staged their 30th annual Switchback five-mile race in Lloyd Park and Addington Hills on Sunday. There was a record total of 165 finishers. The first man home was Toby Rowlands of South London Harriers, who completed the undulating course in 29 minutes 56. Isaac Flanagan of Croydon Harriers was second (30:04). Striders were led by Tatsuya Okamoto, who ran well to place third overall and first in the M40 age-group (30:12). Harry Madgwick-Lawton was seventh (31:36), Nathan Robertshaw eighth (32:19), James Rhodes ninth (32:22), Max Veglio 12th (32:33) and Andrew Aitken 13th (32:37). Lee Flanagan was 14th overall and first in the M50 age-group (32:48), while Steve Corfield was 21st overall and first in the M60 age-group (34:40).

The first female finisher was Alexandra MacEwan of Frontrunners, who ran well to place 20th overall (34:38). Lucy Cole of Croydon Harriers was the second female finisher, placing 25th overall (36:50). Charlotte Letchford of South London Harriers was the third female finisher, placing 28th overall and first in the W40 age-group (37:00). Ola Balme of Dulwich was the fourth female finisher, placing first in the W50 age-group and 38th overall (38:29). Gail Arnott of Beckenham was first in the W60 age-group and 76th overall (44:48). The first female Strider was Selena Wong, who placed 78th (45:00), while club colleague Debra Bourne was 88th (46:36).

On Saturday, Striders had an impressive total of 107 finishers in the various weekly parkruns. Erik Schrijnemaekers was second out of 184 finishers in the Barry Island parkrun (18:58), while Niamh Vincent was the second woman to finish the South Norwood parkrun, placing 20th overall out of 231 finishers (21:43).

Further afield, Marc Burrows completed the Berlin Marathon in 3 hours 10 minutes 37.