A really mixed bag.

Those who attended the presentation evening will know, (as we did the draw live) that congratulations are due to the winners of the SUAAC 100 club this month, who were Michael Byng, Hazel Farrow and Andy List. 

For those who have not yet joined, it’s a great way to support the club for just £4 a month with a chance to win £100, £50 or £25.  Please email Helen Roach at
club100_suaac@outlook.com 
for details and joining instructions.

Ironman 70.3 World Championships Utah Race.

Report – Paul Faithfull

A few locals made it to the event in Utah, including Mary Reeves and local professional Elouise du Luart who competed in the Women’s event on the Friday. 

In the Men’s race on the Saturday, I joined 4000 other hardy souls early morning to queue for commandeered school buses to take us to the swim site at 5am in the morning.  Whilst training had involved cycling with jumpers on in the garage and no fans (a moist unpleasant experience) to prepare for the 30 degC heat, it was to prove to be far more akin to UK weather with temperatures of around 7 degC at the start of the race.  

So large was the field that start times were staggered from 7:30 through to 9:10am, and I started around 8:50 so had plenty of time in the morning to contemplate what was going to come!  

With the water a lovely 17 degC, the swim went well and I made my way through the field (note to self, don’t get over chatty whilst queuing to start and let the whole field past you!) and started to get into the swing of things. 

On to a very long transition (ultimately just getting across the site took ages!) and onto the bike armed with Marigolds (top tip from Elouise) and a gilet to keep warm. I was pleasantly surprised to find from the off that the legs were working and everything I had been told about Americans not liking hills seemed to be true as I cruised past one rider after another on the ups. 

A fast, rolling course set mainly on dual carriageways with very smooth tarmac meant hills and descents could be attacked and as the desert warmed, I even got the odd chance to look up and admire the amazing scenery. Apart from nearly being sprayed by one gent who didn’t have a leaking water bottle (so it transpired, that’s quite a skill but I value my bike too much) and a couple of near misses on fast descents when passing and being passed simultaneously, I made it to T2 in record time without mishap, down in the centre of the town of St George and onto foot for the half marathon leg.

Hot and hilly would be a good summary for the 2 lap run, with no wind and a strong sun I started to feel the effects of the bike effort after the first lap and had to dig deep for the second long drag up to the top of the local golf course, taking on water and energy at every opportunity.  At least the course gave the joints a reprieve and heading back down into town allowed me a respite before the last 3 km loop back uphill to the finish, where it became all about digging in and reminding myself of the hours of training I had put in to get here, no point in leaving anything on the table today!

Cross the line in 4h 43mins, a new personal best by some margin for a 70.3 and outright PB for a half marathon, coming 30^th (which was my target) out of over 750 competitors in my venerable age group.  

An extremely well organised event, someone even at the finish to help walk you (direct your stumble) to the recovery area was a great touch. 

It’s a long way to go for a race, but it was definitely worth it.

Broadway Half Marathon and Marathon 2022

Report – Peter Sugden

Sunday morning saw the Cotswold village of Broadway descended upon by 300 runners looking to test themselves against the demanding mixed terrain routes of either the Marathon or the Half Marathon.  

Both routes start from Broadway village green, with a testing climb to Broadway Tower, before heading south via Snowshill, Shenberrow Hill and Lidcombe Wood to Stanway.  Here the marathon route goes deeper south into the Cotswold countryside via Wood Stanway, Hailes, Winchcombe, Sudeley Castle and beyond, before returning back to Stanway, where both routes follow rolling paths via Stanton, Laverton and Buckland before returning to Broadway to finish.  

Needless to say with steep hills, stiles, gates and a bit of mud, these are arduous routes, with all competitors required to carry additional layers, water, first aid, and some emergency rations.

Two intrepid athletes from Stratford upon Avon AC had entered the full marathon (three actually, but one was unintentional).  Hannah Osborne finished in a time of 4:57:54, 54^th out of a field of 135 and 11^thfemale, despite having only decided the day before to take on the full marathon  Stuart Griffiths, just a couple of weeks after his Snowdon Marathon, inished in 91^st place in a time of 5:28:17, which he described as slower than last time but still great fun!  

The marathon was won by Jack Scott in a time of 3:07:48.  First lady to finish was Molly Brown in a time of 3:46:04.

A few more Stratford athletes were prepared to brave the half marathon course.  I’d travelled with Clare Weatherhead, but I wasn’t sure who else might be running from Stratford.  I was pleased to see Rich Liggatt, Adam Evans and Emmy Orton at the race briefing also.  After a quick negotiation with the organisers, Rich Liggatt was able to transfer his marathon entry (which he had no intention of running and was surprised to find himself signed up for) for a half marathon place.  I suggested to Rich and Adam that there was an opportunity of podium places for them.  Adam quipped back that a top 10 place was there for me.  Yeah right!

Weather conditions were perfect.  Bright, blue sky and the sun taking the chill from the air by the time the half marathon started at 9:30.  From the start I saw Rich and Adam speed off up the high street.  I was recovering from a bout of lurgy, so had decided to take on the early miles at a sensible pace, then see how I was feeling.  

Halfway round, with most of the climbing on the route complete, I was feeling ok and felt confident to wind in a few runners ahead of me as we descended the rocky track through Lidcombe Woods toward Stanway.  Once at Stanway, whether for the marathon or half marathon runners, the route back to Broadway is tiring. A roller coaster of medieval field systems, steep sections of climb, gates and stiles. I’d passed someone just before Stanway and pushed on to try to put some distance between us. At Buckland, a path closure meant a diversion via a very steep climb above Broadway Coppice, but once up that the last mile or so was generally downhill to the finish.  I was delighted to discover at the finish that I was the 8^th runner to return and in a time of 1:51:38, over seven minutes quicker than my time last year.  I was even more delighted to discover that Rich Liggatt had finished in 1^st place in a time of 1:40:30 with Adam Evans close behind in 2nd place in 1:41:36.  Stratford success continued when Emmy Orton finished as first lady, 18^th overall, in a time of 2:01:35.  Clare Weatherhead finished 15^th lady, 69^th overall, in a time of 2:29:31.

Adam’s Race

Report – Adam Evans

On Sunday we had a good contingent of us representing Stratford AC at the Broadway Half. I’ve done the course a few times previously in training, but never actually raced it, so it was good to finally give it a crack.

The race started well, Rich Liggatt was first to the top (while scaring a few of the locals along the way), I was about 5th to the tower. After that Rich was holding his lead nicely while I was picking off the next few runners. 

In the end Rich finished first in 1:40:30, I was 2nd in 1:41:36, Pete Sudgen (1:51:38) had a great run and finished 8th (so 3 men in the top 10). The first female finisher was our own Emmy Orton in (2:01:35) and 18th overall, a cracking run by her. Clare Weatherhead finished 15^th lady, 69^th overall, in a time of 2:29:31.

It was a great day and I’d highly recommend it. It’s great to see both the men and woman doing so well on a tricky course!

Midland Schools Modern Biathlon
 

Report – James Thomas

On Saturday 19th November four of our junior athletes took part in the Midland Schools Modern Biathlon competition held at Abbey Stadium in Redditch, organised by Pentathlon GB.

Modern Biathlon is a swimming and running competition but unlike an aquathlon there is a very civilised break between the two disciplines. Points are awarded to each competitor based on their time and final placings are determined on the total score from both disciplines. 

As well as being the Midlands Championship this event was also a qualifier for the British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships that are to be held in March next year.

Callum Linforth, Henry Thomas and Josh Harrsion were all competeing in their very first biathlon. Callum proved that he was in a league of his own taking top spot in both the run and the swim and was therefore the overall win in the Year 5 boys competition with a total 1562 Points.

After a nervous run, Henry dominated the swim to finish just off the podium in 4th place in the Year 6 boys age group with a combined total of 1772 points.

Josh Harrison competed very well in both the run and the swim, but was just pipped into 4th place by the finest of margins against a very strong field (1845 points). 

In the Year 11 Girls competition, Lucy Thomas chose to compete in the biathlon rather than race for the Warwickshire Schoools team at the Inter-Counties cross country. This proved a good decision as she finished first in both the run and swim events giving her the overall win with a combined total of 2110 points. As result, Lucy achieved the automatic qualifying score securing her place in the British Schools event next year. 

Josh, Henry and Callum will have to wait until the national rankings are published to find out if they have done enough to qualify but all three have great scores and stand a good chance of making through to the next round.

Midland Race Walk Winter League
 

Report – Paul Hawkins

Sunday was the second round of the Midland Race Walk Winter League at the new venue of New College, Leicester. 

The event was held on the cycle circuit which was a fairly flat one kilometre lap and the athletes found it a cold breezy day ,although they were fortunate to avoid rain apart from a heavy storm at the end of the 10k race. 

Two Stratford racewalkers took part, led by Gemma Smith in the 5k race. Gemma who recently won the Stratford AC most improved athlete award continued to shine by improving her time to 35.58 a full two minutes improvement on the previous fixture in October coming in 14th place and winning the handicap event.

Team mate Paul Hawkins had missed the first fixture due to illness but was racing his first 10k walk for two years and was pleased with a time of 73.31 in 11th place despite the torrential rain at the finish which cleared away many of the spectators. 

Both Smith and Hawkins achieved Club Age Group Records as the racewalk group enjoyed a successful day.

The Burrator Noir

Report – Tim and Fin Hutchinson

A month or two back, just after Fin had returned to Uni in Plymouth he sent me a message with a link to a race on Dartmoor. It looked interesting, what follows is the description from Wild Runnings website. 

The Burrator Noir starts at the Discovery Centre at Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor. It includes a 12 mile trail run and a 10k flat and fast road run around the perimeter of the reservoir.

The Noir includes most of the original 10 mile trail route along the forested paths that lead from the Discovery Centre at Burrator Reservoir, along gnarly tacks through open moorland towards Nun’s cross then left to Princetown. 

It then follows the old disused railway line near Foggintor Quarry and back to Burrator Reservoir via the trail behind Ingra Tor and through the leatside plantation.

I thought it looked pretty good, but then I looked at the start time……. 6.00pm! In November! This really made me interested because as some of you might know I quite like the odd whacky type race and if it includes the need for a headtorch and it’s likely to be be wet and muddy as well then I’m there! Fin and I put off entering until after our respective XC races the weekend before, to make sure we were both in one piece and once we knew we were we got our entries in. 

We saw then the forecast. Now as I said I like wet and muddy but the forecast was for 45mph winds and 8mm of rain in just over an hour……. luckily the forecast changed and it was pretty much right as well. It was chilly and only rained lightly for the second half, almost perfect!

The race started off-road along a muddy and rocky path before a short road section and then headed back onto a very gnarly track that went uphill for a couple miles. This track, Ivybridge Lane, in days gone by is where prisoners were marched either to or following release, from HMP Dartmoor high security prison. I don’t know how that would go down today? 

At the top of the climb the path improved hugely and the pace picked up for a couple of miles to Princetown, then after a short moorland bog hopping section we crossed the B3212 and on to a disused railway track which took us in a big loop to recross the same road. From here it seemed fairly downhill along muddy tracks through woodland and alongside one of the Dartmoor Leats, on more than one occasion the Leat looked like the better route!

We finally emerged back onto the small road just above the start point, this was quite steep and narrow so made for an exciting decent into the Discovery Centre car park and the self scan finish line. 

To say I’m proud of Fin, as he hadn’t run the distance since his last half marathon in April, is an understatement. His training whilst being at Uni has clearly paid off. We finished joint 15th males from a field of 79. I’m also chuffed that he has the same mindset as me for finding races such as this, sorry son! 

A few words from Fin

It was great to find a race that was on during Uni term time that I could do with my Dad. 

As I hadn’t been running anywhere near the race distance of 12 miles since my half marathon in April, together with a lack of off road running opportunities in Plymouth, I knew it was going to be a tough race. 

However it turned out that it wasn’t the distance that was hard. The terrain was very challenging with loose rocky, ankle turning tracks and deep bogs on Dartmoor. The technical terrain was made even harder by navigating it by headtorch.   

Either way it was a great experience and race to have been able to have completed with my Dad. 

Without a set plan and running the course blind, we were both really happy with our time and finishing position. 

If we have  convinced any of you that this is a great event here’s the link https://www.wildrunning.co.uk/event/the-burrator-noir/  I am sure we will be there next year.