We Never Fail To Deliver.

IRONMAN UK

Bolton

Report – David Jones

IRONMAN UK has taken place from 2012 to 2023 and during that time Bolton has been the home of England’s only full-distance triathlon and arguably Europe’s toughest.

 However,it has been announced that this year’s was the last in its current format and that IRONMAN UK will no longer continue, with the race being shortened and rebranded as IRONMAN 70.3 Bolton.

70.3 is the total distance covered in miles during the event. It is comprised of a 1.2 mile (1.9km) swim, 56 mile (90km) bike and 13.1 mile (21.1km) run. Exactly half the length of an Ironman.

This final one. like the previous IRONMAN UK’s, consisted of a 2.4 mile open water swim, a 122 mile bike ride and finishing off with a marathon.

Taking part in this year’s event was our very own Emma Bexson.

Competing in her F45 age category she simply blew the opposition away. 

Emma completed the swim in 1:07.46 –  17th female, the 112 mile bike ride took her 6:51.23 – she was 5th female and she rounded it all off with a 3:46.58 marathon and was 3rd female. In all 3 disciplines she was 1st in her age category. 

Her overall time of 11:57.26 was just over an hour quicker than the 2nd placed finisher in her age category. I’d call that a pretty decisive margin of victory. She was also 5th female overall.

Emma commented ” I learnt on Tuesday that Sunday was the last ever Ironman UK (Bolton). I think the reality is that the course is just too tough. With a DNF rate 27.4 percent on Sunday it suggests the course is not all inclusive. 

English Schools National Track and Field Athletics Championships 

Report – Paul Bearman

Three athletes from Stratford upon Avon AC were selected to compete with over 1800 of England’s top young athletes from 50 counties over two days at the English Schools National Track and Field Athletics Championships, at the Alexander (Commonwealth) Stadium in Birmingham, which is the 4^th biggest athletics competition in the world. 

Qualifying for the championships is a tough enough ask but to step up to this national level is very hard, but once again Stratford athletes proved worthy and capable of competing against the very best athletes in England.

Competing on such a big stage can affect an individual performance and the Stratford contingent all went away with Personal Bests and varying degrees of satisfaction with their performances but all of them will have gained invaluable experience for the future.

The ESAA programme runs like clockwork with heats and finals on the track and field all over the stadium from early morning to early evening and first to compete for Warwickshire was Annie Silvers (Kings) in the junior (U15) girls 1500m. 

This was the first time Annie had competed at national level and in her heat, which was run at a very fast pace, Annie stuck with her race plan to run within herself and stick in the middle of the field and she finished strongly in 10^th in a new PB of 4:52.59.

It was only afterwards that we realised that the race was run at such a competitive and fast pace that the eventual winner of the final and 2 more from her heat were in the top 6 in the final.

In total contrast to the Alexander Stadium stage, afterwards the multi-talented Annie went off to appear as the tearful Mock Turtle in her school production of Alice in Wonderland and the only difference was, she was all smiles at the track after her terrific run.

Another debutant at national level was Poppy Fox-Rowe who competed in the senior girls (U20) 200m.

Poppy’s heat was by far the fastest with 4 athletes qualifying from her heat into the final which was won by the winner of her heat.

Poppy finished 5^th in her heat and her time was 25.68s, a new PB, and was agonisingly just 2 tenths away from qualifying for the final.

Poppy also ran the first leg of the 2nd heat of the senior mixed 4 x 100m relay and Warwickshire stormed home only to find that the first heat contained 3 teams who ran marginally faster, pushing Warwickshire into 4^th place and just .4s out of the medals.

Alex Adams (Stratford College) wore the Warwickshire vest for the first time…. Gloucestershire in previous years…. and competed in the senior boys (U20) 1500m. Like Annie he stuck to his game plan and with the expectation of a PB he duly delivered, finishing in 8^th his heat in a new PB of 4:00.92 only just missing the sub 4 minutes he was hoping for.

Joel Masters (Chipping Campden) competed for Gloucestershire in the inter boys (U17) 200m and he went into the championships as the 6^th ranked English athlete in the UK but also the only year one athlete in the top 20 UK rankings and so a podium position was the hoped for outcome. 

In his heat Joel blasted out of his blocks and stayed in control of the race through to the line and finished in 21.97s breaking 22s for the first time.

The final was always going to be highly competitive and from the start around the bend and into the straight Joel really pushed himself against the older athletes but retained his composure from gun to tape and ran another new PB of 21.87s and a superb place on the podium in the bronze medal position. The winner was Ebuka Nwokeji who broke the championship record with 21.36s that’s stood since 2003.

Afterwards Joel said, “I’m a bit disappointed not to get 2^nd and qualify for the England Schools team for the home international but I’m going to work harder and I’m coming back next year and going for the gold medal and an England vest”.

As well as having  athletes competing on the track, on the second day the club had 20 young athletes organised by Carolyne Johnston in the background as kit carriers who were superbly marshalled by coaches, Nicola Ford, Rachel Stevens, Eleanor Nabney and Richard Harrison.

They walked up and down the track tirelessly all day, sometimes humping kit in bags nearly as big as themselves but with smiles and they always looked to be enjoying the experience of being a part of such a big occasion. 

Some quotes….

Katherine White Emily: Thanks Carolyne, Emily (and Dave her dad) had a great day.

Emma Sparrow: Thanks Carolyne, Ewan had a great time.

Richard Harrison: Ben and I had a great day, thanks Carolyne. All the volunteers were great today well done all. 

Rachel Stevens: Kipp and I had a great time. Thanks for inviting us to be part of it.

Ellie McKenzie: The boys loved it. Thank you so much. Sam is inspired to work hard to get there next year.

Tilly Campbell: I had a great time thank you 🙂 

Helen Williams : Niamh had a wonderful time today, thank you so much for inviting her.

Nicola Ford: Lois & Scarlett had a great time: It was an inspirational experience for our Juniors and they certainly earned their Twix break too… nice work guys!! 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️ 🏅

Eleanor Nabney: Thanks Carolyne. What an experience for the kids to see it all up close and personal!

Thankyou to Carolyne for organising the volunteers; it was a lot of work behind the scenes.

In addition to the kit carriers Graham Thompson and Emma Sparrow were a part of the Track Officials team.

My first English Schools was in 1998 in Exeter when Ryan James was the first Stratford athlete to be selected by Warwickshire but sometimes we do extraordinary things away from the track, competitions etc that make me so proud of the people; athletes, coaches and volunteers who are a part of our club and this weekend was most definitely one of those times. 

Amazing people who help make the wonderful club we are, and of all the ESAA champs I’ve been involved with and apart from the superb exploits of our athletes on the track this weekend and in the past, seeing the coaches the kit carriers dancing along and waving to the crowd in the parade and getting the biggest cheers and applause from the packed stands will be one of my abiding memories from the whole fabulous weekend.

Carriages and Canals 2023

Ultra Distance

Report – Robin Langhorn

After the earliest alarm ever for a running event of 5:45am, packing the kit laid out from the night before and a quick bit of breakfast, it was time to head to the train station and meet the other members who thought running 50km on a Saturday morning was a good idea!

Catching the first train of the day at 6:43am travelling towards Birmingham, we passed the time by catching up and reassuring each other that this really was a sensible idea.

Just over an hour after setting off, we stepped off at Birmingham Moor Street to some quizzical looks from the public and headed out towards the canal.

After passing under the Bull Ring and walking through the MailBox, we dropped onto the canal and quickly arrived at the University of Birmingham.

It was at this point, I realised we were on the wrong bit of canal! After a quick map check and some reminiscing of my University days, we headed across the city via Edgbaston stadium, taking in some of Birmingham’s more industrial regions and finally picked up the Grand Union Canal at Small Heath to head south.

Serves me right for saying the navigation was easy!

The first 25km ticked by nicely, being able to enjoy watching the scenery change from derelict industrial heartland to rolling countryside, from dirty stagnant water to flowing canals with families of ducks. However, from this point onwards, my left knee was starting to give me signs that I was clearly undertrained. As the pain got worse and I started to limp and feel my form suffer it was clearly a sign that trying to complete the full distance was going to do me more damage than good. As the half marathon start point of Lapworth approached, the decision was obvious that this was the point to make a plan to get back to Stratford. 

Thankfully, Rob Gisbourne was still there after seeing off the half marathon group and supporting the front running Ultra runners of Kate Wright, Huw Crossweller and Ian Stevens. He very kindly stepped in to play the knight in shining armour and offered to give me a lift back to the club. So after waving off Pip Bell and Max Ross to finish the last 21km, we hopped into the car and headed off.

Whilst I’m disappointed (if not entirely surprised) that I didn’t finish the 50km, it was great to be rescued by Rob, leapfrog all the runners and be able to welcome everyone back to club as they finished.

Seeing everyone cruising into the club with big smiles was a fantastic sight. And if Strava is to be believed, there were even some PBs set out there! If anyone had to leave early and didn’t get a medal, please let me know and I’ll figure out a way to get you one.

Looking back over the last few months, it’s been brilliant talking to more members of the club as part of the planning and on the day than perhaps I would have done usually. I also hope it’s helped others find new friends and running buddies. 

So, what started as an idea to make my marathon training less monotonous (there’s only so many times I could run around Stratford) and take advantage of my fitness after London (oh the irony!) morphed into over 70 responses and almost 50 people participating on the day.

For those who couldn’t make it, don’t worry there has been a fairly strong request to make it an annual club event, so watch this space for 2024!

If you have any feedback, positive or negative, please do let me know, as it will help improve next time around on the email address below.

robinlanghorn86@gmail.com

If anyone has any ideas for a running event up their sleeve, I’d strongly recommend trying to organise one. As ever, Sarah Bland was invaluable in helping make it happen from behind the scenes, by allowing me to bounce ideas off her and helping me plan and think about things I perhaps hadn’t considered. I’d be more than happy to share my experiences and help anyone who has an idea.

Finally, all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for their enthusiasm, getting involved and getting behind my slightly mad idea. Events like this really don’t happen without you and you make the club!

Karen’s C&C Half Marathon
 

Report – Karen Gisborne

My year started on a high soon to come crashing down with an injury that stopped me running for months and put paid to my first official half marathon.

The only one I had completed before was during lockdown with Bert coaching me round. No medal at the end but after two or three short runs and two aborted ParkRuns I thought I would still attempt the distance I had booked in a moment of madness.

Me and my running buddy Emma Lee got a lift to Lapworth a bit earlier than the rest of the HM runners, so we didn’t slow them down and we set off full of beans.

The ground was rough and hard and very overgrown in places, but we had a great time listening to music and with Emma trying to get a lift back to Stratford on various barges on the way, much to the amusement of the bargees.

We were hoping that some of the other runners would catch us up and distract us from the pain of the last 5 miles as we started to struggle but we got the timings all wrong and didn’t see a soul.

It was great to get back to the club and we were very pleased that we had managed to do the whole distance.

We then started to cheer the other runners back in, the highlight being seeing Max Ross bounce up the steps and straight to the bar for a pint of that golden hydration fluid he so deserved.

It was a great idea and a great way of bringing runners together to attempt a distance they have not tried before. 

I never thought I would want to run 13.5 miles just for the fun of it!!  Thank you Emma Lee, couldn’t have done it without you.

Huge thanks to Robin for the impeccable organisation and the bling, see you next year for C&C 2024.

Max’s C&C Ultra

Report – Max Ross

It was the perfect excuse for me to dabble at a bit of distance – my theory was, not many runs that have a regular train-station-get-out-clause if it gets a bit too much!

Not having run much further than a Half up to this point, for me it was all about taking it at a nice leisurely pace and making sure to complete the miles!

We had a nice chatty train ride to Brum and after a small city detour as we got our bearings, we started churning through the miles as we headed back to Stratford.

As we made it to the halfway mark, a few of the Ultra crew had dropped off due to niggles while the others had spread out as they settled into their own pace, leaving myself and Pip to bring up the rear, refreshed by Rob on support crew duties.

The second half, though less forgiving underfoot, was certainly the most beautiful part of the canal – a reminder of how lucky we are to live and run around our beautiful home turf. 

With little more than 5k to go and the temperature warming up, I picked up the pace a little and left my running buddy behind, selfishly motivated by the alluring thought of a nice cold pint that was awaiting my return at sports club. 

Pip’s C&C Ultra

Report – Pip Bell
 

At 6.43am last Saturday I boarded the train from Stratford to Birmingham with 7 other runners to run back along the canal and back to the club in Stratford .

It was to be my first, and probably my last Ultra run. 

Whilst chatting with the other runners, I soon realised that this was a first very long run for most of us. Typically I am happier running Parkruns or 10Km runs so I knew this was going to be a big physical and mental challenge for me.

As we approached Birmingham Moor Street the nerves started to kick in!!

Just before 8am we all started running, slowly and steadily and all 8 of us stuck together for a few miles. It took us a while to find the canal (I was just following and had no idea that we were a little off course) but once we did we all settled into a steady pace.

After a few miles the group started to stretch out and little “packs” naturally formed.

It was a lovely cool start to the day and the miles ticked by. We encouraged each other, took photos, Max did his video stuff and we played word games to keep our minds off the fact that we were running over 50K!!!

At 19 miles I found myself running with Max as others had either gone ahead or had retired from the run.

The next 14 miles became a bit of a blur to me and Max and I encouraged each other as neither of us had ever run that far before! It definitely became a case of mind over matter for me. 

Eventually, I made it to the club. It had taken me 6 hours to complete and a massive amount of stubbornness to get me there.

Getting a medal at the end and cold beer was a great way to finish this run.

I had  questioned my sanity many times that day, my legs and hips were sore but I was so happy to have completed it. Will I do it again? Probably not. Would I encourage others to try this next year? Definitely!  

A massive thank you to Robin for dreaming this event up. I have heard how much the 10KM runners and Half Marathon runners also enjoyed their runs. Next year I might do one of those distances instead. 

Serpent Trail 50k.

Report – Seth Turner

This trail race, organised by Freedom Racing, takes place in the beautiful South Downs National Park along a stunning long distance footpath incorporating undulating forest trails, hills and heathland.

100k, 50k, 20k and 10k distance options are offered with the 50k being part of the prestigious Salomon Golden Trail Series and thus attracting a high calibre of ultra and trail runners and over 500 entrants.

 I did the race last year and enjoyed it so much I wanted to go back and try to beat my time,this time accompanied by my wife Yumi, my sister and my irrepressible mother Jan who were all entered in the 20k race.

Weather for the day was dry, a little overcast to start but warming and getting sunnier as the day went on, a cooling headwind helped manage temperatures whilst running.

Knowing the course from last year I made sure to not get over-excited in the first 5 miles which is the most hilly and technical section and kept a steady pace along the undulating single track through the woods, jumping the odd fallen tree and enjoying the lovely views.

I made it to checkpoint 1 in 30^th place and then fell into stride with a couple of younger chaps from London, both fast road runners but taking their first step into ultra-trail racing. We kept pace for the next few miles chatting and exchanging running stories. It was during this section I unexpectedly passed two Stratford Ladies – Nic Reynolds and Annie Walton – who had started in an earlier start-wave looked to be having a great time on their ultra-debut, well done both!

At the next checkpoint at around the halfway mark, after a very fast re-fill of my water supplies, I left my two companions and pushed on ahead, now having moved up to 25^th position.

I was able to maintain pace over the second half of the race, through woodland and riverside meadow-land trails and picked up a few more places as I ticked off the miles.

I was very pleased to finish in 4hrs 15mins in 16^th place overall (3^rd in MV40), just over 12 minutes faster than last year. 

My speedy spouse Yumi was already at the finish to greet me with a smile and a beer having completed her 20k race in a little over 1hr 53 mins, and coming 5^th in her age group, bravo!

Sadly my mother had a rare DNF due to a bad migraine but my sister finished her race (her first ever organised running event) a little later in around 3hrs and rightly felt very proud of herself having never run more than 8k at once before!

The overall winners of the race were Chelsea Creak for the ladies in 3.57 and Luke Grenfell-Shaw for the men in a quite astounding 3.20!

I recommend this event to anyone. It’s got a great atmosphere, stunning scenery, superb organisation and distances to suit all.

It’s not difficult to see how it sells out every year and attracts so many returning runners from across the country.

If you want a good flavour of the event then Lloyd Purvis’s youTube channel – Run4Adventure – has several videos of the race from the last few years and is well worth a watch.