The votes are in and the winners are………

The English Schools (ESAA) Championships
 

Report – Paul Bearman

The English Schools (ESAA) championships are going to be held at the Alexandra Stadium on 12 and 13 July and 7 Stratford junior athletes have been selected for their respective county squads.

It’s a tough selection process and so naturally as coaches we are exceptionally pleased that our athletes have met or are just on the cusp of meeting the ESAA standards.

Good luck to all of them

As in previous years Carolyne Johnston has been asked for the club to provide volunteers to help with Call Room duties, taking athletes to their pens where they are gathered before their races and leading athletes to their track events.

The volunteers help to make the day work like clockwork and with over 1700 athletes competing to a very strict timetable it needs to work like clockwork

As well as the 24 young athletes they’re going to be supported by 6 Coach/Parent helpers and so over the weekend SUAAC will be very well represented and can witness the behind the scenes activities at the 4^thbiggest athletics competition in the world.

Heart of England League Division 1

Report – Paul Bearman

After the disappointment of the first match being cancelled due to travellers occupying the Solihull track car park at their leisure centre, over 60 Stratford AC junior athletes made the short trip to Banbury in the first Heart of England Division 1 league match.

The 8-club top division is very competitive and a superb, combined effort right throughout the 4 age groups saw the team finish second behind a very strong BRAT (Birmingham Running, Athletics & Triathlon) team.

This is a tough division against 7 other big and very well organised clubs Banbury, BRAT, Saffron (Leicester) AC, Rugby & Northampton, Solihull & Small.Heath, Kettering and Wreake & Soar Valley, but we picked up good points across the 3 age groups. It also showcased the terrific spirit we have in the club with some athletes competing in unfamiliar events and finding new skills with every point counting.

We are also very grateful for our Officials, Graham Thompson, Sandy Greem, Sue Mothershaw, Emma Sparow, Eleanor Nabney and the parents who helped in the field, for also doing their bit to add points to the team score.

In a good all-round performance, the Under 13 team contained a mix of a few year two athletes with many more inexperienced athletes who had just moved up from the U11s and they really did battle hard for every point against stiff competition.

The boys team ; Billy Sheppard, Carter McKenzie, Connor Stratford, George Stacey-Harper, Henry Stacey-Harper, Robin Gallagher, Toby Wilkinson and Tom Moore finished 4^th.

The girls team ; Maggie Silvers, Isabella Marriott, Lucia Ogilvie-Putt, Jasmine Mothershaw, Lila Gallinagh, Lyla Turner, Amelie Marshall and Martha Edwards finished 3^rd.

The U15 teams have a good blend of talent right across the events with all of them making a positive impact in all their events

The girls team ;  Amelia Peeke, Annabel Stacey, Ava Sheppard, Eve Cunningham, Georgia Sharpe, Holly Clifford, Martha Silvers, Niamh Williams and Scarlett Dawson finished second in their age group marginally behind Solihull.

Niamh and Scarlett were double winners in their 100m races and Ava Sheppard is nibbling away at her PB in the 75m hurdles winning in a time of 12.7s.

The boys team; Alex Wood, Arthur Mansbridge, Kipp Stevens, Arthur Williamson, Morgan Nabney, Ben Harrison,  Joel Ledgard,  Olisa Odiamma McKenzie, Sam Plumb and Will Hovell surprisingly were 2^ndbehind BRAT after winning 8 out of the 12 track races.

Arguably the individual performance across all the age groups and probably the race of the day came when Alex Wood scorched around the 300m neck and neck with Laike Favier from R&N AC and both finished in a time of 36.7s with Alex getting the nod on the line. This time takes both of them up to 2^nd in the national rankings. 

The U17/20 age groups are always very competitive in this league and this match was no exception.

Like the U13s, most of the boys team of James Day, Josh Davis, Luca De Freitas Pires, Matteo Martinengo, Sam Lambert, Sam McKenzie, Seb Hillard, Toby Thomas, Tom Stanton and Zac Lambert have moved up from the U15s and have combined to be a very strong squad and tied with BRAT for first place.

The girls team; Abbi Cooper, Annie Silvers Niamh Hillard, Megan Thomas, Ella Smith, Ella Peeke, Martha Peters Ruby Edwards, Tiily Cambell and Brooke Rossney finished 2^nd behind BRAT with a combination of U17 and U20 athletes

In addition to the main league an U11 development team of Indigo Ogilvie-Putt, Elsie Pipitone, Dexter Sharpe, Noah Smith, Casper Willis, Jacob Thomas, Poppy West and Matilda Hutchings took part in their own non scoring 75m 600m Long Jump and Howler events in their first league match.

Full results are on https://hofe-league.org.uk/

On reflection the team managers on the day Paivi, McMillan, Carolyne Johnston, Mike Sheppard and myself, felt satisfied with the overall result against some really good competition and as Mike said afterwards “obviously we like to win and will always continue to try and be the best we can be, but getting things in perspective it’s crazy really that a relatively small town club like Stratford has been mixing it with, and often beating, bigger town/city clubs with far larger catchment areas for the last few years and we‘re still managing to do it as this result shows”.

UK YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE (UKYDL) 2024

Report – Paul Bearman

SUAAC juniors have strong links with Rugby & Northampton AC and support them in the UKYDL Upper age group for U17s and U120 athletes.

On Sunday another group of Stratford juniors joined them in winning the final league match and that confirmed the teams place in the National finals on 1^st September.

John Gercs the R&N team manger commented afterwards that it was “another outstanding UKYDL Upper match at Rugby and a big win for R & N, meaning we’re going to the national finals again in Manchester”. He added “as usual we are indebted to Stratford athletes for their support”.

The RingGo Summer Special Open

Report – Paul Bearman

Competitions come thick and fast this time of year and the latest at Nuneaton the RingGo Summer Special Open had several juniors and a couple of seniors in action producing a glut of Personal Bests.

Report – Paul Faithfull  

A less than ideal run up to the event (illness, a lads weekend in Le Mans) left me feeling less than optimistic and when I arrived in Portugal I discovered a wheel on my hard bike case had been smashed in the case, leading to my rear derailleur being snapped.  This on the Thursday evening giving me exactly 24 hours to find a solution…  

The GB mechanic (star) tried the Portuguese importer but to no avail. 

Fancy bikes with fancy parts mean they are difficult to come by.  A last ditch plea on the Facebook page for the GB team went out but I had given up hope and expected a wasted weekend but the kindness of others can be overwhelming and after being offered a £13k bike to do the race by a team member who had had to pull out, we realised his bike had the same part and a quick swap was effected. 

I would get to go to the ball after all!

Organisation was a little chaotic in Coimbra, a pretty town inland in Portugal, with a large, relatively green river flowing through it.  We ‘self seeded’ i.e. jump in when you like and I dispatched the 1900m swim in an ok time, having been mindful not to swallow too much water after the Ecoli issues from the last European Champs!

Out on the bike and we have 4 laps of a relatively flat, fast course. The first was as much a reccy as my challenges of the previous day had meant no opportunity to check the course but with 4 laps there was always a rider I could see ahead.  Feeling like I had to do the loaned derailleur proud and feeling good in the legs I overtook 40 or so competitors and knocked 4 minutes off my lifetime PB for a 90k bike leg. 

At this point it was getting hot but I started to think that my target of a top 5 finish and a sub 4h30min race time could be well on the cards.

The run again was flat, with some shade through woods although no one expected a trail run in a Championship race! 

The first lap I dispatched on target to beat an 1h30m for the half marathon but the heat was getting worse (27 degC) and I constantly carried water, mostly to shower in to try to keep my body temperature down.  Unfortunately I had drunk too much water (or in too large gulps!) and started to get a stitch and with a heart rate over 160 (mine never goes that high) I was in management and then limp mode and finally I had to walk (first time in an event).  

An encouraging shout (at least I think they were encouraging!) from another GB competitor got me jogging again and with a burp released, I started to pick the pace back up, eventually finishing in 1h34m and running at the same pace I started, taking a number of people in the last 2 kms.  

Overall time was a PB, 4:31:40, tantalisingly close to my target.  Given the run up and where my head was at come the start of the race, I was pleased. 

Overall I finished 9^th in Age Group, 4^th for GB and 5 mins was all that separated me and the top 5 position I was hoping for.  Also encouragingly all the guys in front of me were newer entrants to the age group (youngsters pah!).  So hopefully I’ve got the bad luck out of the way with Australia and the Worlds calling in August. 

Lesson learnt, always remove your derailleur from the frame when shipping (there were a lot of bikes damaged in transit). 

Second lesson, factor 50 doesn’t always cut it, apparently P20 is the way forwards.  Please pass the after sun…..

James Morrison – Front row, 2nd left at Shire Hall Warwick with other Warwickshire Food Awards Winners. James got his award for his story of weight loss and his achievements as a visually impaired athlete and also his contribution towards helping a school in Zambia by running London Marathon 2024 and for teaching others how to cook sustainable and cheap meals. 

James commented upon collecting this award ” Getting this award means a lot to me as I’m the only athlete to have had this recognition of achievement from WCC. I didn’t just pick up this award for myself but for all those who have helped and encouraged me along the way, because without the club members and my guides this would not be possible and hopefully I can help change other people’s lives  for the better and save them going down the same road that I did when I was over 18 stone”.

Congratulations James.