Croydon Harriers’ men and women made a solid start to their Southern Athletics League campaign edging home in second at St Albans on Saturday.

The Harriers picked up 10 victories in Division Two during the afternoon, to place three points ahead of Basildon (158pts) and well clear of Cambridge & Coleridge (144pts).

St Albans topped the standings on 208.

Fifteen-year-old Chuks Ajeh picked up a double win in the 100m and 200m on his senior debut, while team captain Matthew Pepper made it an event maximum in the B 200m, adding to his B 400m victory secured earlier in the day.

Sam Haswell leapt to a new lifetime best in the pole vault clearing 3.50m, with Andy Del Nevo winning the B string in 2.40m for maximum points.

In the horizontal jumps, Verter Oppong-Kyei leapt to wins in the long jump (5.96m) and the triple jump (11.71m).

Oppong-Kyei then teamed with Ajeh, Capre Cole and debutant Samson Chinaka to win the 4x100m in 46.1secs.

Wimbledon Times:

Matthew Pepper, Jake English, Patrick Lucas and Kieron Connor

In the 4x400m relay, Patrick Lucas, Matthew Pepper, Jake English and Kieron Connor teamed to edge home to take victory in three minutes 43.8 seconds.

In the women’s section, the throwers particularly shone with Saskia Navratnam winning the discus thanks to a 31.11m effort.

There was also an event maximum for the Fossett sisters in the javelin, with Emma throwing 34.01m and Zoe notching 27.11m.

Elsewhere valiant gap filling added to the Croydon points tally, none more so than in team manager Amy Dowsett who racked up eleven points having completed over 5km of running across five different events.

Croydon’s next fixture is on May 31 at Croydon Arena.

At the London marathon, Neil Aikman clocked three hours three minutes and 47 seconds. Matthew Kiernan (3:48.08) and Terry Lapins (4:32.18) were the other Harriers in action.