Striders of Croydon again proved their cross country credentials when they had five of the first 14 finishers at Wimbledon Common last Saturday.

The joint Vets AC & Hercules race was held on a 5.8 mile course over three muddy laps.

Arguably the best Striders performance was from Simon Smith who finished 14th in 38:51 and showed he is quickly returning to his form of a few years ago.

Gerry Crispie was the first Croydon athlete home, running well despite knee problems and finishing fifth in 35:39. He was followed in by John Kirby (seventh), Chris Morton (10th) and Colin Cotton (13th).

Several aspiring young Croydon Harriers athletes travelled to the Spectrum Sports Centre, Guildford on Sunday, where they competed in the second Surrey Sports Hall athletics meeting.

Tom Dean, the 12-year-old middle distance runner, turned in a solid all-round performance by showing a good turn of speed to finish third in his six-lap race before clearing a personal best 1.20m for fourth in the high jump.

Round one standing long jump winner Heaven-Lee Roche had to settle for second this time, although he did well to jump 2.17m. He also backed up with a solid third in his four-lap race.

The under-13 girls were also not to be outdone. Claire Wilkinson fought tenaciously to finish fourth in a tough six-lap event before contributing twice in the obstacle race, in which the Harriers finished third, alongside Kymberley and Odette Campbell and Dominique Gervais.

The club had two under-15s in action and both acquitted themselves well. Sophie Bates ran well to take third in her four-lap event while Daniel Pratt made a pleasing debut in the standing triple jump to clear 7.12m for fourth place.

December 5, 2001 14:00