Sam’s on fire and on form.

Written by David Jones on 06/06/2024. Posted in News

Team Stratford at Tysoe

On Tuesday morning I was concerned that there was barely enough reports to merit a newsletter this week and then on Wednesday there was a steady trickle of reports that will hopefully make this an enjoyable and informative read.

We start off with the annual Tysoe Windmill race with several members taking part and where Kate Sergent picked up a special award for having competed in all 13 races since this event started. In the 5k version, U15 Sam Plumb romped home in 1st place some 2 minutes clear of his nearest rival.

Also taking part in the 10k races were Emma and Amelie Parkin, while Dave and their other daughter Tessa were competing in the somewhat greater challenge of the Grasmere OMM Lite event, involving 5 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday in beautiful Lakeland sunshine.

U17 Sam Lambert is certainly a young man in form. On Wednesday night in Birmingham he lowered his 800m PB for the 4th time this year and now finds himself in a magnificent 10th place in the UK rankings for Year 1 U17s.

John Devine has sent in a report of his Cotswold 113 middle distance triathlon while Kate Wright ran another sub 1:30 half at the challenging Otmoor Challenge Trail Half Marathon. Kate is placed comfortably on top of the UK half marathon rankings for her age being a couple of minutes quicker than her closet rival. She is also currently 6th on the all-time list.

Last week I missed reporting on 3 of our athletes who competed in the Youth Development fixture at Milton Keynes, so I’ve included them this week. All 3 achieving PBs.

Finally Elaine Ledden competed in the UK Police Championships at The Pingles Stadium picking up a gold and a bronze plus a very impressive trophy for her troubles.

At the time of writing this I couldn’t find any results from Wednesday’s Sphinx 5 but hopefully we might have a report next week maybe alongside one from the Two Castles.

Take care.

David Jones

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Kate Sergent with her special award for having competed in all 13 Tysoe Windmill races and Sarah Odell who appears to have a grimace on her face, suggesting it was rather challenging

The Windmill Run

Report – Sarah Odell

Having done this race 8 years ago I decided to enter again after a little amount of nagging from Kate Sergent.

Having vague memories of it being a bit hilly but a lovely scenic route my memories didn’t disappoint.

On arrival in Tysoe it was lovely to see some SAC vests.

You can either do 5 or 10k. The route takes you from the fire station in Tysoe through the village then out on the trails after about a mile, up to the Windmill at this point the 5k runners loop the windmill and retrace their steps.

The 10k continue on the trails out towards Compton Wynyates, through the estate and loop around back to the windmill and back towards Tysoe to the finish line.

A great local race organised by previous club members, great cake & a hand made medal. What’s not to like ?

Kate was given a special prize as she has completed in all 13 windmill races.

Library photo of Sam Lambert

University of Birmingham Open Meeting

Wednesday 5th June

Report – Paul Hawkins

Following the cancellation of a crucial race last weekend where Sam Lambert was aiming for an English Schools 800m qualifying time, he switched his attention to the University of Birmingham open meeting on Wednesday night where he was put in a competitive heat and where he could pursue his time.

With a pacemaker leading the field through in 56 seconds at half way, the racers were on schedule for a fast time and with 400m to go U17 Sam took the pace on ahead of a small lead group of U20 Alex Adams from Bromsgrove and Redditch and Senior Male Jolyon Leavesley of Tamworth.

Both passed Sam in the finishing straight and finished just ahead of him who clocked 1.57.79 in third place with his fourth 800m personal best of the season. This time ranks him 10th in the UK for year 1 U17 athlete.

Sam now moves onto the Warwickshire Schools Championship on Saturday, without having to chase a fast time but he will aim for a good result to demonstrate his ability to the selectors.

Sam Plumb in full flight

And the winner was…….Sam Plumb

While the majority of club members competing opted for the 10k Tysoe race, according to the results we had a couple of members racing in the 5k version and these were at either end of the age spectrum with 65 years separating them.

14 year old Sam Plumb repeated his victory of a couple of years ago and was the proud recipient of a cash prize! Sam’s time of 19:53 was over a couple of minutes quicker than the second placed runner. John Butler finished in 61st place with a time of 38.57. Well done both,

Amelia and Emma Parkin

Dave and Tessa Parkin
2nd in the family category and 4th out of 39 in the mixed category.
Hugely impressive.

Stunning scenery

Pairs of Parkins

Report – Emma Parkin

It was an active weekend for Team Parkin as they were all on race start lines at or around 10am on Saturday. Amelia and Emma stayed close to home and at the more sensible distances of 5k and 10k respectively at the fabulously friendly and scenic Tysoe Windmill Run. Emma was delighted to come home in 53 minutes and 34 seconds as 5th female and 1st in her age category.

Meanwhile, Dave and Tessa were enjoying the Grasmere OMM Lite event, involving 5 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday in beautiful Lakeland sunshine. Competitors are presented with a map with checkpoints on the start line and the aim is to get as many points as you can and return within the cut-off time.

Day 1 saw them doing an extended Fairfield Horseshoe, with various out and backs to tarns, sheepfolds and cairns to cover 16 miles and 1,500 metres of climb. Day 2 took them up around the Langdales for a mere 12 miles and 1,000 metres of climb. They were pleasantly surprised to end up in the prize money, finishing 2nd in the family category and 4th out of 39 in the mixed category.

John Devine

Cotswold 113 middle distance triathlon

Report – John Devine

After travelling down the day before to register, I realised what a beautiful setting this was and would recommend it to everyone.

The event itself was well organised and everyone was very welcoming.

It was a 4.15am alarm call to get down there in time, muffins, honey and banana were a must .

It was so easy to get into transition to rack the bike and get sorted ready for the swim.

I was in wave 5 but had a tip off from a friend to get down there early so I didn’t have traffic on the bike.

The water was a beautiful 20° and the swim was immense, apart from swimming round the second buoy and being unable to see the third buoy due to the sun, so I just followed peoples toes. As people know who go swimming with the club, I’m not the best of swimmers but really enjoyed it and luckily didn’t have to kick too much.

My strongest event is biking so once out of the water I hit it hard although I did have a long transition 1 as I forgot to put my shoes on.

Lots of pot holes and I lost a bottle of jungle juice on the way and then my legs were starting to tighten.

It was a two lap course, and I was 6 minutes slower than my first lap, obviously overdid it on the first lap. Once getting back in transition 2 it went really well and got on the run.

I didn’t realise the run was 90% off-road but fortunately I wore the right trainers and I felt good and strong. It was a 3-lap course of the lake and surrounding area. I ran so much quicker on the tarmac on the final lap until a tree decided to jump out and trip me up.

It was a painful fall but luckily two kind gentlemen helped me up and pushed me across the finish line, which I completed in 5.18 a new PB for 70.3 distance

Highly recommend this one for anyone who wants to do a middle distance. Bring on the next one . The Upton Tri standard distance!

Kate Wright
Kate ran another sub 1:30 half marathon at the weekend. She is currently top of the UK rankings in her age category, some 2 minutes quicker than her nearest rival. She is also placed 6th on the all time list

The Otmoor Challenge Trail half marathon

Report – Kate Wright

On Friday I had the urge to do an off road run over the weekend.

After scouring the web I found the Otmoor challenge trail, which is near Oxford. Entries on the day were happening so I packed my bag ready for the morning.

I’m so glad I found this half marathon. It was a bit cold and blustery but not raining! I decided to use this as a training run with no pressure. Well that plan went out the window within the first 30 seconds. I found myself in a foursome with 3 speedy men that I was going to stick with.

The first 6 miles were road which worked well with my bouncy carbon shoes trotting along at 6.30 min/mls.

The next 7 were off road through woods, squishy mud, over styles and rickety wooden bridges and lots of grassy fields. Not quite so slick in my silly shoes.

The sting in the tail came at mile 11 when we hit a very very long steep hill but hey what goes up has to come down and it did, all the way to the finish.

I was 1st lady in a time of 1.29. 8 mins ahead of the 2nd lady. The winning man was 1.20.

A Lovely route which I highly recommend.

Niamh Hillard

UK Youth Development League Upper – Midlands Premier N/E

Milton Keynes.

Last week I reported on Ruby Edwards’ double PB at this event. I’ve since been made aware that 3 more of our athletes were competing, all of who achieved PBs

Niamh Hillard lowered her 800m PB, achieved just the week before at Leaminghton, to 2:23.39 in her U20 race.

In the U17 3000m, Zak Lambert achieved a 9 second PB with a time of 9:18.40 in comfortably winning his race by some 30 seconds.

Brother Sam Lambert, competing in the U17 800m, ran a PB time 1:58.97. Sam has now lowered his PB by some 4 seconds this year and was to lower it yet again on Wednesday night in Birmingham.

4 athletes competing in 5 events with PB’s in all. You can’t do better than that.

Elaine Ledden above and below.

UK Police Championships

Report – Elaine Ledden

It was with some reluctance that I went to the UK Police Championships held at Pingles on Wednesday 5^thJune.

This competition attracts competitors from all UK Police Forces and as an ex Police Officer I was eligible to compete. I had previously attended with fellow Stratford athlete Dave Wilson who unfortunately is currently injured.

I was extremely nervous as I didn’t know anyone.

My first event was 100m. In a small field of 5 I actually came fourth but got a 3^rd place medal due to the RAF contingent not being awarded medals.

My second event was 400m and again in a limited field of 5 I came second. Once again as an RAF athlete had come first I was actually awarded a first place and a significant trophy.

I was thrilled.

I was also very satisfied as both results were near PB times.

The shot and triple jump came next and although I didn’t achieve as many accolades I was very pleased with my performances