37 years of hurt. It’s come home!

2023 we retain the Warwick Vase
 

Report – Paul Bearman.

The Warwickshire County Championships is very early into the Track & Field season but 120 Stratford upon Avon AC athletes, across the age groups but mostly juniors, descended on the Pingles Track in Nuneaton to again be crowned best overall club within the old Warwickshire county boundary, including Birmingham, Rugby, Solihull and Coventry.

Points are allocated to performances in finals, 8 for a win, 7 for second etc. to find the best overall club which then receives the Warwick Vase. 

The meeting organiser Ray Morgan of WCAA said after another very successful championships, “the Warwick Vase is awarded to the WCAA club which scores the most points over the two days of the County Champs. Stratford won it for the first time in 2016 and have retained it since then”. 

“The Club has retained it again with a terrific points total of 640 to win with 141 points more than their nearest rivals Rugby & Northampton. Well done to all of the Stratford athletes and their coaches and thankyou to all the club Officials who helped over the two days”.

On the first day of the championships started off cold, breezy day until the sun finally came out in the late afternoon by which time the track and field had already been swamped by the bright, sunny yellow vests of dozens of Stratford’s finest; a sight that continued into day 2 when the sun shone all day.

All the Stratford medallists and finalists were spread right across the age groups and events; sprints, middle and long distance and the jumps and throws, which meant that there was a constant stream of athletes competing in all parts of the track virtually non-stop over the 2 days. 

An impressive haul of 51 medals, 10 Gold , 26 silver and 15 bronze medals saw a steady flow of Stratford’s athletes standing on the podium to receive their medals but as always it was the 4^th to 8^thpositions for athletes reaching the finals that massively helped the club to what in the end was a very comprehensive win. 

The middle and longer distance races proved to be a rich vein of success and many of them of them have started the T&F season where they left off in the winter. 

The outstanding individual performance came from Under 15 Annie Silvers who won Gold with superbly judged runs in both the 800 and 1500m and the Silver in the 75m Hurdles.

Welcome points came from Vicky Sharpe in winning the gruelling Senior 2000m Steeplechase

The Under 13 boys hurdles produced a rare 1,2,3 with Billy Sheppard winning Gold just pipping team mate Kipp Stevens on the line with Stan Peters in the Bronze position. Kipp then went on to win Gold in the 1500m.

Over the last few years field events have become a rich source of success for Stratford and this was epitomised by the impressive medal haul across many of the events.

The Triple Jump produced 2 Gold medallists with Ruby Edwards winning the Under 17 title with a best jump of 9.97m and she also won Bronze in the Long Jump (4.77m). Elfric Mckenzie won the U15 Triple Jump with a best jump of 10.33m and U13 Henry Sims won Gold in the Long Jump with a best of 3.95m.

There were medallists across the throwing events with Gold medal performances from Issy Newton in the U20 Shot (7.99m) and Paula Williams in the Senior Shot (11.18m).

Thirteen of Stratford’s new generation of young athletes competed in a Quadkids multi event competition of 75m. 600m, Howler and Long Jump at the Warwickshire County Championships and showed the future is in good hands with all of them competing in this type of competition for the first time.
Full results can be found on 

http://www.warwickshireathletics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023_TandF_Results.pdf

Head Track & Field coach Paul Bearman said “we are thrilled to win the Warwick Vase again and to win it for the first time in 2016 was a long held target but to win it 7 times on the bounce shows what a great club we have. The coaching team are incredibly proud of the club’s athletes but it’s a team effort and it couldn’t happen for the athletes, who have all contributed to the club’s success, without the volunteer coaches unstinting support week in week out all year. A huge thanks also to our Officials who were on their feet and on the go over the weekend. Very proud, happy days”.

Hot Hilly 100 – Mixed Team B Report 

Report – Emma Lee

I was really thankful that I was given leg 1, not so much for the 3.45am wake up call but knowing I was going to avoid the heat. The support at the start was so lovely, lots of members of SAC getting up at such a ridiculous hour to cheer us off.  

I’d say leg 1 was the easiest route (same again next year please) and being close to Stratford meant I didn’t need to worry about following directions on my watch or look for stickers and arrows. It was head down and make sure I got in within in predicted time. Being my first Hilly 100 race I wasn’t nervous at all…….. 

Not being a fan of solo running I meant a lovely lady from a rival team and we supported each other from start to finish, some say (Bev) we didn’t shut up for the entire 10 miles! The support from our own Karen Gisbourne and the rival teams was all gratefully appreciated even though it was whispering as to not upset the locals.  

I completed my leg with 8 minutes to spare I handed over to Allan Coldicott (the man I believe to have started Hilly 100 some 37 years ago) to complete leg 2. After a rather public change of clothes in Karen’s car we sped off to catch Allan and start to support as many SAC runners as possible.  

We followed, cheered, clapped and sang (?) to lots of SAC members along the route ensuring they were lubricated, fed, safe and cool wherever possible. I am not sure what the rival teams made of us as no one else wore wigs, silly sunglasses and blasted music as we passed them.   

At the start of leg 6 we had a warning light come on in the car. Thanks to google and our mechanical expertise?? we achieved a temporary fix but decided it was probably best to call it a day and head back towards Stratford. I wouldn’t recommend calling either Karen or I if you break down in the future! 

Fantastic effort by all, especially with 20C+ degree heat!

Things never turn out as I expect.  I was rather dreading this, not being a fan of hills but it was a lovely day for a run so I arrived at my handover in good spirits and then fretted for about an hour about whether I had the right amount of fuel etc.  

No portaloo. I’d have thought that the heriditary peer whose grounds we gathered outside might have provided one. Lesson learned I imagine! 

Mine was the home run via Alderminster, Loxley and The Croft School.  A variation on Not the Roman IX with a few more ascents and descents thrown in.

Not going to lie .. the first 50m weren’t what I’d call flat. Then the first rise out of Alderminister was a killer. Thanks to Graham Hill and Pip Bell doing awesome times in their legs I’d set off before the others waiting at the handover. I expected them all to overtake me there and then but a quick look over my shoulder reassured me that they were not in sight.

Then a beep of a car horn and Chris and Pip and a lovely encouraging young man whose name I didn’t know drove cheerfully by offering all kinds of goodies.   

By the time I got to the base of Loxley Hill I’d decided I didn’t mind hills too much.  I’d forgotten that Loxley Hill is actually two hills but with two Roman’s behind me I know they’re not too bad.  However I’ve never enjoyed the slog up to The Croft School and it didn’t help to be run onto the verge by an oncoming vehicle. Probably I should have stopped. 

The lane to the Banbury Road began to feel like hard work which was ominous since it’s downhill but when I got to the main road I heard myself think that I really didn’t want to stop running because I was loving it so much.

It wasn’t long before I was negotiating the  Sunday afternoon strollers in and out of Stratford  – families who take up the whole pavement and don’t look where they are going. Thank you SDC for the bus lane.

The finish was lovely. I literally sprinted (probably looked like a hurried trot) to cheers and yet again was reminded that team support is heart-filling. 

Midland League Division 3

Fixture 1

Leamington
 

Report – David Jones

Closure of the M40 caused an hour’s delay to the start of this the first Midlands League T&F fixture of the season.

A small but perfectly formed team of Stratford members had their work cut out in glorious weather at the Leamington track.

Just 22 club menders competed in 64 events/races. As the Americans say – do the math.

Despite this the team achieved a remarkable result by finishing in 2nd place on the day.

Team manager Mike Sheppard commented  “We just pipped Leicester to finish second overall behind the hosts, Leamington.

Officials Points are still to be added, but we are advised that all teams provided their full complement so this should not impact the finishing positions.

This is an astonishing result given the small size of our squad and the number of events where our athletes were competing with little or no practice in the disciplines concerned.

 Every point really does count in these fixtures!

The results:

Leamington C&AC                589

Stratford                                487

Leicester Corinthian AC        483

Newport Harriers                   405

Abingdon and Whitney         370

Bromsgrove & Redditch AC  268

City of Stoke AC                   182

Ryton 5

Report  – David Jones

Senior club members were out in force for last Thursday’s Ryton 5 race, with 34 competing, over 10% of the total number of competitors

As can be seen from the graphic above, we had 5 of the top 10 finishers with Ben Kruze winning in a time of 26.21, a comfortable 46 second margin over the 2nd placed finisher.

Jamie Hall finished 4th with a time of 27.28, followed by Matt Burdus-Cook (6th – 27.56). Matt was also 1st M45. He was followed just 5 seconds later by Richard Liggatt (7th-28.01). Completing our top 10 finishers was Ned Campbell (9th – 28.28). Ned was 2nd M20 to finish.

Other finishers for the club were;

Tim Hutchinson (33rd – 30.54)

Kate Wright (34th – 30.57). Kate was 2nd lady finisher.

Richard Dobedoe (39th – 31.36). Richard was 1st M55

Max Ross (42nd – 31.48)

Peter Sugden (48th – 32.12)

Richard Gubby (52nd – 32.28)

Drew Sambridge (53rd – 32.35)

Seth Turner (60th – 33.06)

John Raby (63rd – 33.26)

Wayne Vickers (64th – 33.29)

Nick Campbell (78th – 33.59)

Ted Burch (87th – 34.23)

Graham Hill (90th – 34.27)

Vicky Sharpe (115th – 36-18)

Suzie Ross (126th – 36.48)

Emma Vickers (144th – 37.52)

Kate Barney (175th – 39.40)

Yumiko Turney (186th – 40.38)

Susan Hunt (197th – 41.13)

Lisa Lambourn (218th – 42.36)

Becks Pridham (224th – 43>00

Pip Bell (228th – 43.13)

Emily Adams (237th – 43.43)

Dave Maundrell (250th – 45.20)

Lisa Stevens (254th – 45.32)

Emma Lee (256th – 45.49)

Kate Sergent (269th – 48.29)

Lindsey Anderson (270th – 49.00)

John Butler (296th – 58.40)

306 runners complete the race.

A beautiful, warm and sunny evening saw some 30 SAC runners enter the WRRL Ryton 5. 

It was my first race back in over a year so it was great to see so many SAC runners turn up for my return to racing!

It was an undulating, pretty course of one large and two small laps around the pool. The start was crowded and very dusty. Following a fast start to get out of the dust, it quickly became apparent I was not going to keep up the pace of my 8-minute first mile. I continued to push around the course gradually reducing my pace but constantly being spurred on by my fellow club runners as they passed by me. 

After crossing the line and taking a moment to recover, I realised it was great to be back and I had actually enjoyed the race. 

There were some great results from club members with numerous top 10 finishers and an overall win for Ben Kruze. In typical SAC style, the support, team spirit and camaraderie was second to none as usual. 

Big thanks for the warm welcome back and the support crew of Jo Hutchinson.