47 medals and that’s a fact.

The Warwickshire County Championships 

Report – Paul Bearman

The Warwickshire County Championships are 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 pit their skills against the other clubs within the old Warwickshire County boundary, including Birmingham, Rugby, Solihull and Coventry.

A very impressive haul of 47 medals, 13 Gold , 23 silver and 111bronze 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 help the club’s total points.

The team scores are still being worked out and so at this point we gave no idea how the club fared trying to retain the Warwick Vase for the best total of points scored by a club, but what we do know that with the track swamped over the 2 days by Stratford’s bright yellow vests we are hoping to be there or thereabouts trying to retain the trophy.

What is satisfying from a club point of view is that 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 This meant that there was a constant stream of athletes competing in all parts of the track virtually non-stop over the 2 days with the middle distance, hurdles and jumps groups in particular, who don’t always get the limelight, providing a continual source of point scoring and medal winning performances.

Twelve Under 11s, our new generation of young athletes, Tobias Freeman, Henry Cotton, Jacob Ford, Elsa Scott, Elsie Pipitone, Fflur Jones, Layla Sparrow, Lydia Mcleod, Matilda Hutchings, Megan White, Poppy West and Sara Clewer competed in the Quadrathlon , which is a multi event competition comprising of 75m, 600m, Howler throw and Long Jump. 

On what was a beautiful sunny and warm weekend, they all performed well and most importantly had fun and enjoyed the experience in what was their first time at such an event.

There were many outstanding individual performances in the championships although it’s the contribution from all the athletes, coaches and officials that makes the champs such a great event and occasion.

Full results can be found on  https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=609897

Middle Distance

800,1500 and 3000m races

Report – David Jones

Many of our middle distance runners were in fine form despite the heat. For those who didn’t get on the podium there were several PB’s and all will have gained valuable experience and learnt a great deal from competing at this meeting.

In the U15B 800m Will Hovell finished in the gold medal position with a time of 2:12.42. In the U17M, James Day finished in 2nd place with a PB time of 2:09.38 and Josh Davies finished just outside the medals in 4th place with 2:09.46. This was another PB from Josh who has seen his PB improve from 2:27 this year. A big improvement.  U20 Noah Balchin also finished in the silver medal position with a time of 1:58.78.

In the ladies’ races U17 Annie Silver gained a second place finish with a time of 2:21.43, while in the U20 age category Onna Dowling grabbed the gold medal with a PB time of 2:51.13 with Tilly Campbell (3:08.17) finishing in the bronze medal position. In the Senior Women’s category Imy Sheppard (2:18.85) was the silver medal winner.

Moving up to the 1500m, U13B Robin Galllagher finished just outside the medals with a 4th place finish in his first official race at this distance with a time of 5:13.15. U15 Arthur Williamson picked up the bronze medal with a PB time of 4:40.97. The U17M in was the battle of the Lamberts, with Sam (4:15.99) picking up the silver medal and Zak (4:20.56) just outside the medals in 4th place. Both recording PBs.

In the U17 category, Annie Silvers ran a 30 second PB of 5:22.40 to add the gold medal to her silver in the 800m. In the U20 category we finished with 3 of the top 4 finishers. Maisie-Joy Spriggs  (4:56.94) was 2nd, Niamh Hillard (5:06.16) 3rd and Abbi Cooper (5:34.99) was just outside the medals in 4th place.

Moving up to 3000m, U15 Joel Ledgard (10:28.81) was 2nd, while in the U17 age category Tom Fisher claimed gold medal in his first official run at this distance with a superb time of 9:46.74, with Henry Wheeler finishing just outside the medals in the U20 category, claiming 4th place with a time of 10:17.42. An 11 second PB. Marijka Tear-Verweij ran her first official race at this distance and claimed gold in her U15 category with a time of 11:14.81.

A shout out for W50 Kathryn Woodcock, one of our few Senior members to be competing on the day. Her 16:11.01 earning her a 7th place finish