Track Hour triumph for Josh.

Four club members competed in the Loch Ness Marathon, possibility one of the most spectacular in the world.

After some solid training James Coy had a fine run. He found the conditions horrible to start with but they improved in the later stages and he was pleased to finish just outside the top 300 in a time of 3:32:43.

Cara Reynolds who was close behind in 3:43:54, had a great run and commented “I thought it was truly beautiful, I just ran how I felt as I had no idea how my foot tendonitis would cope. I definitely ran from my heart and head as my wee body hurt. My aspirational goal prior to injury was 3.45, so to run 3.43 I am super chuffed and wee bit surprised!!” The Scottish westher was fun!!”

Richard Hartwell, 5:17:51, and Victoria Jeffs, 5:56:29, both did well to overcome a distance they are not greatly familiar with.

Chester has recently been voted the UK’s best small Marathon (less than 5000 entrants), but despite it’s size, it is extremely well organised, and follows quite an interesting course, out of Chester, briefly into Wales, and back.

The start and finish had to be moved from the waterlogged racecourse, with the final 400 metres running adjacent to the riverside.

The weather was kind to the runners, with sunny intervals, despite the forecast of persistent heavy rain!!

Going from zero to two marathons in a little over five months was the challenge club member Ian Greaves had set himself set himself, with Chester following on from London in April.

His preparation for this race wasn’t quite as smooth as it was for London and the capital’s marathon does spoil you with support around the entire course, making the latter miles in Chester seem more of a hard slog for him.

However, he managed to cross the line in 4 hrs 52.51. He commented that this wasn’t a serious threat to the course record but he was glad to have another marathon under his belt.

Rachael Green, 4:21:07 and Kim Lee, 4:27:05 also completed the race and as they are far from the club’s most experienced at this distance, they certainly deserve full credit.

Warwickshire Junior Triathlon.

Report – Georgia Pridham

Stratford Triathlon Club hosted their annual Junior Triathlon at a new venue – Moreton Fire College. Even though the weather was appalling, particularly with a strong headwind on the bike section, the attitude of the competitors was amazing and it was great to see everyone race well especially those from the host club.

In the youngest age group, Tristar 1, Harry Francioni (3rd male; 17:46) led the STC athletes followed by Joshua Harrison (13th male; 21:00) and Logan Greenall (23rd male; 23:16).

In Tristar 2, the next age group featured Juliette Marshall (13th female; 30:15), Kate Pridham (15th female; 31:20) and Emma Francioni (16th female; 31:38) who all performed well.

In Tristar 3, Theo Skirvin was 3rd male in 34:33.

The highlight of the day was a win from Charly Marshall (32:29) who was 1st female followed in second place by Molly Bullock in second place in 33:38 with Georgia Pridham racing well to claim 8th female in 40:00.

The Youth category suffered from the worst conditions of the day which didn’t stop James Mucklow continuing his strong season with a second place (42:18) followed by Josh Angus (4th male; 46:58) and Tom Francioni (5th male; 48:32).

Ellie Deaner is finding a good vein of form as the season draws to a close and was pleased to gain a second place in 42:05 and was followed by Helena West (3rd female; 48:47) despite the wind and rain.

For the majority of the team this would be their last triathlon of the season as they turn to their winter training with the fun of cross country racing to keep the competitive juices flowing.

Starting and finishing in the High Street with a traffic-free course through the lanes and villages around Alcester, this event always attracts a strong Stratford AC representation. This fifth year of the event was no exception. Even the weather played its part, with the forecast rain failing to materialise, and conditions remaining sunny and warm.

Every age and ability was represented in SAC’s 19 finishers, from John Raby, a magnificent 8th and close to his best in 39:04, to Richard Hadley, 909th, in 1:22:36, claiming the rearguard position from John Butler, 871st, 1:16:02.

Darren Nash, 14th, 39.52, Mark Hateley, 35th, 42:07 and John Bettles, 73rd, 45.09 were followed in by Lynne Hinson 94th. Her 46:57 put her third in the F45 category despite being her first outing for several months, and kept her ahead of Damian Wheeler, 97th, 47:04.

Tony Tomecek had to put up with Phil Brennan snapping at his heels in the later stages but held him off to finish 146th, 49:09. Brennan’s 153rd, 49:30, was second in the M65 category.

Five further runners came in under the hour: Andrew Madden, 53:28, and Stuart Macleod, 54:14, were followed in by the tireless Louise Stewart, 54:27, “taking it easy” after the hard mid-week track hour and a harder trail race on the horizon.

Kate Sergent, 398th, 57:17, looked in good form ahead of her international marathon later this month. She edged out Ruth Calderbank, 418th, 57:44, taking the F65 top spot with Ruth 2nd F65.

10k specialist Clare Eynon was just under the hour with 59:54.

Mark Bailey and Robert Dunnett had a mutual aid pact which saw them finish together in 1:12:31 and 1:12:32 respectively, with John Butler and Richard Hadley a little behind. Having avoided the cider stall at half way, it was time to try the (non-alcoholic) beer in the High Street.

Wayne Vickers was race adjudicator and, as such, was running without a number. He crossed the line in 38:20 and was sixth overall, winning his age group by about two minutes. Wayne said it was possibly his best ever race result……or would have been if it had counted!!!

The race was won by Ben Kruze in a time of 33.44 and the first female finisher was Jo Fleming, in 24th place with a time of 40.33. 958 competitors completed the course.