Striders were formed in September 1982 by two runners who worked for Philips Electronics, who owned a large TV factory in West Croydon and were one of the borough’s largest employers. The club was initially based at Philips’ head office (City Link House) and adopted the name ‘Philips City Striders’. The initial aim of the club was to help people to train for the 1983 London Marathon, and it did so with success, as it had 16 finishers in the event. The club’s first chairman, Steve Owen, instituted a practice of ‘looping back’ on club runs, so that the slower runners were not left behind. This is still the club’s policy.
In September 1983, Striders moved the club headquarters to the CASSAC (Croydon Adult School Social & Athletic Club) building in the south-west corner of Lloyd Park. The club also continued to hold lunchtime runs from the Philips office in West Croydon.
In November 1984, Striders entered a cross-country event for the first time (the London Championships at Parliament Hill). In October 1986 Striders began competing in the Surrey Cross-Country League (which had been formed in 1962), and in October 1990 Striders began competing in the East Surrey League (which had had been formed in the 1930s).
In December 1986, Striders began holding club track sessions for the first time. They were organised by John Keen, and took place on the synthetic track at Crystal Palace. The sessions were moved to Croydon Arena in the early 1990s, starting at 6pm on Tuesday evenings when the track was not too busy. (The starting time was changed to 7pm in September 1999.)
In 1992 Striders began competing in the newly-formed Surrey Road League, which was organised by the Surrey County Athletic Association.
In September 1992, Striders marked the club’s tenth anniversary by promoting a race on a multi-terrain course in Lloyd Park and Addington Hills. The race was subsequently named the ‘Switchback 5’ to highlight the series of short hills which occur partway through the race. The race was held every year from 1992 to 2019, and was revived in 2023 after a three-year gap. For the first ten years, the course was slightly less than the advertised five miles. It was lengthened to become an accurate five miles in September 2002, when John Gannon becamethe race director.
In June 1995, Striders’ members voted to change the club’s name from ‘Philips City Striders’ to ‘Croydon Striders’. (Philips had closed its main factory at the end of 1988, and had subsequently refused to give the club any financial support.) However, another local club objected to Striders’ application to register this proposed name with the Surrey County Athletics Association. After negotiations, it was agreed that the club should adopt the name ‘Striders of Croydon’.
In April 1996, Striders began competing in the Southern Counties Veterans League. In the Surrey Veterans Championships at Tooting in June 1996, John McGilvray won the M50 800 metres and 1500 metres, while Kevin Burnett won the M55 shot and javelin. They shared the honour of being the first Striders to win gold medals in a Surrey championship.
In May 1997 Striders launched the club’s first internet pages (using the website www.surreyweb.org.uk: we moved to www.stridersofcroydon.co.uk in 2002 and to www.stridersofcroydon.org.uk in 2005). 1997 also saw Striders change the club colours from the red, white and blue which the club had worn since 1984, to yellow vests with green side panels (which are still the club colours).
In the Surrey Cross-Country Championships in December 1997, Jane Lansdown placed eighth in the senior women’s race. This was the first time that any Strider had finished in the top ten in this event. In March 1998, Jane became the first Strider to represent Surrey in the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships.
In February 2001, Striders’ women finished second in Division Two of the Surrey Women’s Cross-Country League and gained promotion to Division One. This was the first time that Striders’ women had gained promotion since the league was originally split into two divisions in 1991. Striders’ women spent a total of four years in Division One between 2001/02 and 2010/11, but have not competed at this level since 2011.
In April 2001 one of Striders’ committee members, Mick Gambrill,organised a club trip to Cape Town for the annual Two Oceans Marathon. Striders have subsequently organised several overseas trips, mostly to cities in Europe.
In May 2001, Striders moved the club headquarters from the old CASSAC pavilion to our current premises at Sandilands. The changing and showering facilities at Sandilands were a significant improvement on what the club’s members (particularly the women) had endured at CASSAC. The move required significant revisions to be made to some of the club’s training routes for the Wednesday evening road runs.
In April 2003, Striders won the East Surrey League for the first time, finishing just one point ahead of both Epsom and Box Hill Racers. Also in 2003, Striders’ men finished fourth in the Surrey Road League, which is still the club’s highest placing in this league, and Emma Haillay won the senior women’s individual league championship. And Striders’ membership reached the three-figure mark for the first time, with a total of 109 members by September.
In 2005 Striders were invited to marshal the London Marathon at Hungerford Bridge, and have continued to do so ever since. 2005 also saw Striders compete for the first time in the Eastern Division of the Rosenheim League (a track and field league which had been formed in 1964).
In July 2008, Striders’ women did very well to finish second in the Rosenheim League Eastern Division. Their leading points-scorer was Yasmin Anderson, who competed in several different events during the season.
In September 2008, Striders’ track captain Matt Morgan won the Surrey steeplechase championship, becoming the first Strider to win a senior Surrey track championship. In October 2008, David Batten placed second in the M55 age-group at the Surrey Veterans Cross-Country Championships, becoming the first Strider to win a medal at these championships.
In May 2009, Striders’ men finished first out of 40 teams in the Beckenham Relays. The team comprised Matt Morgan, Duncan Lancashire and Justin Macenhill.
In October 2010, Striders were instrumental in setting up the Lloyd parkrun. In 2011 Debra Bourne became the Event Director. Striders were also heavily involved in setting up the parkruns at Roundshaw and South Norwood Country Park.
In February 2016, Peter Mills won the final Surrey Cross-Country League Division Two race of the season, becoming the first Strider to win a Surrey Cross-Country League race. Later that month, Peter placed 153rd in the senior men’s race at the National Cross-Country Championships, which was the first time that a Strider had placed in the top 200 in this event. In March, Peter became the first male Strider to represent Surrey in the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships.
In the British Masters Indoor Pentathlon Championships, at Lee Valley in February 2017, Paul Cripps placed second in the M50 event, becoming the first Strider to win a medal in a national championship.
In April 2017, Striders won the East Surrey League for only the second time in the club’s history. Individually, Andy Perks won the M40 championship while Matthew Stone won the M50 championship.
Also in 2017, Striders obtained a grant from Croydon Council to mark out three walking and running routes around Lloyd Park, Addington Hills and Croham Hurst. The routes, devised by former club chairman John Gannon, were duly waymarked by the end of March 2018 (see Striders show the way with three routes round our parks | Inside Croydon ).
In February 2018, Striders’ men finished second in Division Two of the Surrey Cross-Country League, winning promotion to Division One for the first time. Unfortunately, they were only able to stay in Division One for one season.
In the British Masters Indoor Championships, at Lee Valley in March 2018, Sandra Francis won bronze medals in both the W60 long jump and the W60 hurdles, becoming the first female Strider to finish in the top three in a British championship.
In the Surrey Masters Cross-Country Championships, at Nonsuch Park in October 2022, Striders won silver medals in the M60 team competition, which was the first time that Striders had won team medals in any age-group in the Surrey Cross-Country Championships.The team comprised Matthew Stone, Steve Corfield and Jon Dean.
In December 2023, Ally Whitlock was the third woman to finish the Centurion Winter Downs 200-mile race, while Debra Bourne was the 12th woman to finish. Ally became the first Strider to complete a race of 200 miles or more.
In the British Masters 5K road championships, at Battersea in December 2024, Striders’ M60 team ran well to place third in their team event. The team comprised Steve Corfield, Graham Hansen and Matthew Stone.
In February 2025, Striders had 70 finishers for the club’s annual ‘mob match’ against Croydon Harriers. This was the largest number of runners which Striders have ever fielded in any competitive event.