This week’s newsletter has been so much easier to produce thanks to the Triathlon, Road Race and T&F reports by Simon Taylor, Stu George and Phil Brennan. Thank you so much guys.
There’s another reminder for the forthcoming Club Championships on 12th September. Let’s see if we can get lots of young and not so young members competing.
We have news of last weekend’s prestigious British Masters T&F Championships in Derby where Paula Williams won a scarcely believable 5 gold medals. Phil Brennan grabbed a gold and silver and Dave Wilson ran a PB in the 400m.
I think we can call that a good day at the office.
There’s a report on Thursday’s Warwickshire Open Graded meeting in Leamington.
I’m thinking of renaming The Newsletter – The Newsleetter in recognition of Joe and Kim Lee’s weekly extraordinary exploits. This week I was worn out just reading about their adventures in France.
Despite being in the thick of starting a new job, Stu George has come up with the second of his road race reports and it’s another cracker.
Take care
Best wishes
David Jones
ENTRY FOR THE STRATFORD UPON AVON AC 2021
TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS IS NOW OPEN
on Sunday 12th September 2021
You should already have been sent a copy the entry form, if not please contact the respective age group leaders or club coaches.
Please just send this entry form via email in well before the deadline i.e. 8th September at the latest to
Carolyne Johnston at stratford-athletics@outlook.com (no manual forms can be accepted)
so the vast amount of preparation for the day isn’t a last minute rush for the team who organise it in their own time.
For the Club Championship competition, junior athletes need to compete in 2 events i.e. 1 Track, 1 Field. However, athletes can choose to just compete in a single event.
Indicate with C your chosen ‘Championship Events’ on the Timetable Entry form below (yellow section). Please note Under 13s and 15s can only compete in either the 800m or the1500m not both. U11s can’t compete in either.
Separate from the main competition, all competitors are allowed to compete in the other Track or Field events in the programme to either set a Seasons/Personal Best or try for a new one.
Competing for PBs will be limited to 3 events. Indicate with P on the entry form the “Personal Best Event/s”.
Senior Competitors can compete in as many events as they wish.
Please keep a copy of your events for your reference.
Phil Brennan
British Masters Track and Field Championships.
Derby 21/22 August
Report – Phil Brennan
Our very own international star Paula Williams dominated the British Masters (BMAF) 2021 Championships, coming away with no less than five Track and Field titles.
This was the first major Masters track event in the UK for nearly two years and attracted an entry of over 700 competitors.
There was a festive atmosphere with the competitors, officials and supporters getting together after so long but also a fair amount of nervousness as to who was match-fit or not.
Each of our three competitors each made their mark, with Williams being outstanding.
Dave Wilson could only make time in his work schedule for one event, the M50 400m. His lockdown training was not in vain, as he came second in the “B” final, 8th fastest overall, in a PB time of 61.51. “I was just glad to get something in” he said.
Phil Brennan kicked off the medal haul by taking the M75 800m title and coming second in the M75 1500m. Then came Super Sunday with Paula’s six events and five wins.
Both the weather and the organisation were against her: a strong headwind down the home straight with heavy showers later in the day and a very tight timetable caused by the remaining COVID restrictions.
She started the day with a win in the 80m hurdles. Then in a masterclass of planning and athletic ability, she shuttled between taking javelin throws, long jumps and a 100m race, all within 30 minutes.
4th place in the 100m kept her warmed up for her final jumps and she ended the morning winning both javelin and long jump.
A slightly more relaxed but wet afternoon saw her win gold in the triple jump and shot put, leaving her “slightly broken” at the end of the day.
She yet again proved herself an inspiration to her fellow Masters.
Paula herself added
“I competed in 6 events.
First up 80m hurdles – into a headwind and gold. Then 2 javelin throws, 2 long jumps and a 100m sprint in 30 mins and then I returned to the long jump for my last two jumps.
Gold in the javelin and long jump and 4th in my 100m heat -2.5 wind was challenging but it warmed me up for my final jumps and I actually hit the board!
Finally after a quick lunch break: triple jump. I had my achilles re-strapped and got gold. The weather had been very kind to us all day and then we left the call room for the javelin – the heavens opened. Shot put in the rain is no fun but the atmosphere in the stadium carried us through and I finished with gold again.
6 events, 5 gold medals …a good days’ work and a great day catching up with fellow masters athletes and hard-working officials”
Josh Harrison
Warwickshire Open Graded Meeting
Leamington Spa – 26th August
Report – David Jones
8 club members competed in this event on Thursday, the busiest of who was our U20 decathlete Adam Farrow.
Adam, who finished in 3rd place in the decathlon at the recent English Schools Athletic Association (ESAA) Combined Events Championships, is training hard towards competing in the National Combined Events Finals at Bedford in September.
Yesterday he threw 10.53 metres in the shot, a considerable improvement on his previous best throw of 10.01. In the 100m he lowered his PB to 12.19 seconds from a previous best of 12.4, finishing 7th out of the 38 runners competing on the day. Finally, in the 400m, he knocked just over 3 seconds off his previous best time to record a time of 56.24.
Later in the day, on Thursday evening, Adam could be seen training at our own track. That’s dedication for you.
Another club member to improve on his PB in the 400m was M50 athlete Dave Wilson. This was Dave’s 4th competitive 400m race since April and in each one he has lowered his PB. Yesterday he recorded a time of 61.34 seconds, down from 63.28 in April.
U13’s Clea Roach and Holly Clifford both competed in shot put and 100m for the first time in an official competition. Clea threw 4.39 metres in the shot and ran a time of 16.99 in the 100m. Holly threw 5.29 metres and recorded at time of 15.23.
In the high jump Caitlin Boyle cleared 1.30 metres.
The club had 3 competitors in the 1500m. U15 Maddie Linfoot ran a time of 5:37.06, with U17 Charly Marshall recoridng a time of 5:08.14.
Arguably the best performance of the day was U13 Josh Harrison who obliterated his previous best time in the 1500m by running a time of 5:32.14, some 12 seconds quicker than his previous best time of 5:44.8. Well done Josh.
Kim and Joe Lee
Triathlon News
Report – Simon Taylor
Honestly, is there anything better than inter family rivalry? Did you ever give your brother or sister an inch when you were competing against them, whether it was Trivial Pursuit and answering exactly what the card said the answer was, playing pacman or simply beating your sibling to the driver passenger seat if your mum or dad drove? Even aged 25 (ok reversed) I still want to get one over my two brothers, but these days it’s about who can drink the most before they need the loo! But what about inter-spouse rivalry? Consequences could be bad, very bad!
So it came to pass, Joe and Kim Lee travelled to France with their tribe as soon as Boris moved France from Amber plus to Amber on his traffic light list. Joe to compete in Ironman Vichy. Carl James and Sam Wignell had also entered but deferred to 2022 in a hope that travel restrictions will be eased and they will be able to train in the certainty that the event will take place.
Joe isn’t known as the ‘Indestructible Joe Lee’ for no reason and he had a superlative performance. In a period of doubt over travel, whether the race taking place and a reduction in training, Joe smashed his Iron Distance best performance by 40 mins in a time of 11 hours 35 mins 11 secs. He swam the 3.8km in 1.15, biked a hilly 180km in 6.17 and then ran a marathon in 3.54.33. Take a moment to think about that! He cycled 112 miles and then ran a marathon faster than most of us can run a marathon as a one off! Joe has shown massive improvement since his smokin’, drinkin’ and rugby playing days and is proving a massive inspiration to many.
So, back to inter-spouse rivaly. Joe does his Ironman just after Kim does her marathon swim, then Kim rides the iconic Alpe d’Huez the day after Joe’s Ironman, leaving Joe to look after their three boys (some sort of cruel torture!), only for Joe to roll from his recovery sofa to ride the 21 bends of the Alpe himeslf the following day! I await the next chapter of the new rivalry to match Tom and Jerry, Donald and Sylvester, Mickey and Minnie.
On a more sobering note, the thoughts of the triathlon community will be with Nathan Ford and his family. First out of the water in the UK Age Group Middle Distance Champs at Aberfeldy at the weekend, Nathan crashed horribly on the bike, resulting in serious head and back injuries. He is currently in intensive care, unable to move and unable to breath by himself. A brilliant triathlete with an Iron distance best of 8.43 and competed with distinction in the IM world champs in Kona. It will be a long road to recovery, but the Swansea athlete will no doubt use the same level of determination to recover as he does in his races. Get well soon Nathan.
Sam Wilks, Seth Turner, Ade Mason and Matt Burdus-Cook – The awesome foursome- what a relay team these fellas would be !
Andy Cox
Road Race Report
Report – Stu George
A massive thanks for the people who have reached out this week with reports and pictures; some epic race days have been had. It is so heartening to see so many of you wearing the yellow and black and filling your days with negative splits, epic sprint finishes and all the joy that running races bring!!
Leicester 10K
22nd August 2021
Info sent in by Ade Mason, many thanks.
Last Sunday SAC was well represented at the latest Tempo Event. 657 finishers made the 10k distance and with many a PB registered it was another great day for our runners.
Fellow double barreled runner Matt Burdus-Cook proved that’s where the similarities between the two of us end. Finishing sixth overall and first in his age category he produced a remarkable time of 34:50, which my research leads me to believe is a 31 second PB. What a stunning result.
Ade Mason also PB’d, gracious as ever he commented that the weather was ideal but he still had to run it and he did it with style finishing 12th, what a result!!
Seth Turner proving he can do it over shorter distances as well as his epic ultras nearly took a minute of his PB in a 38:22 finish. WOWSERS, He was 3rd in his and Matt’s age category and 19th overall.
Sam Wilks was the young whippersnapper of the group competing in a slightly younger age category finishing 7th in the 35-40 runners which was a brilliant 22nd overall. What a run 39:04.
A quartet of champions wouldn’t you say?
Pip Bell also ran the race finishing well into the top half (221) and 6th in her category. A stupendous effort taking the tape at 53:44. Well done Pip.
Lytchett Minster 10 mile race
Sunday 22nd August 2021
(Both) Report(s) from Phil Brennan 😊
The Official version:
Lytchett Minster AC in south Dorset have organised a 10-mile race for the last 30 years. Despite the field size limited to about 300, it is popular with the local clubs and extremely well marshalled and organised.
The British Masters Athletic Federation (BMAF) prefers such low-key events to host its own Championships and this year was the second occasion this had happened, postponed from 2020.
What was surprising was to hear the hardened warriors of BMAF agree that this is one of the toughest races in the calendar.
The quiet villages and rural lanes hid a series of vicious switchbacks before a long undulating climb to the seventh mile, followed by a series of steep descents to the finish.
I was competing in the BMAF M75 category. Finishing midway in the open race, I was outclassed by the category winner but reasonably pleased to finish in 89 minutes for second place in category for the BMAF silver medal.
The Unoffical Version:
The only reason I did Project Stupid 2021 was that I had forgotten I was in it. I must have entered almost two years ago: it was progressively postponed from Feb 2020. When it was rescheduled to clash with the track championships, with the M75 events on the Saturday, I decided I hadn’t been out of the house much recently, so I’d give them both a go.
Anyway, how can you resist a race which the actual organisers describe as “challenging”, rather than “mainly flat”? NB 3rd in category made me look good.
I think you will agree with me that Phil , as always, produced an incredible display across both days events!!
Vitality Half Marathon London
Sunday 22nd August 2021
Thanks to Andy Cox for the report
I ran the Vitality Half in London in a warmup for the London Marathon which, as you may know, will be taking place in just under 6 weeks time.
I joined twelve thousand other runners in the closed road event starting off north of Tower Bridge, heading out towards Billingsgate Market and into Canary Wharf before doubling back and heading over Tower Bridge, then lastly back out to Greenwich finishing at the Cutty Sark.
The race conditions were almost perfect. I finished in 1:23:16, some 54 seconds off my previous best in 452nd place and 26th in my category.
Top running, well done Andy
So what races are you doing next? What PB’s will you smash?
I look forward to sharing your successes.
Till next time
Stu
And Finally Martha Edwards flies through the air with the greatest of ease in Wednesday’s Quadkids Competition in Leamington. Hopefully more on this at a later date.
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