News from Down Under.

Written by David Jones on 19/09/2024. Posted in News

Abbi Cooper, Tilly Campbell, Niamh Hillard and Maisie-Joy Spriggs.

Tales from Weston Park on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border and Australia this week, together with a report from Phil Brennan on his two 5000m races on successive days last weekend. How does he do it ?

The National XC Championships at Weston Park last Saturday saw some 26 members, from U11’s to Seniors, competing in some very un-cross country like weather. The Championships had been postponed from February due to flooding but the delayed competition acted as a curtain raiser for the forthcoming XC season. Yes, it’s almost that time of the year again with junior XC training on the Welcombe Hills due to resume this coming Sunday. Time flies.

Club members Paul Faithfull and Adam Linforth have been doing the club proud down under with Paul finishing with a superb 4th place finish in his age group at the Triathlon World Championships, up from 11th last year, this despite all sorts of issues he encountered during the race. Meanwhile Adam Linforth competed in the Perth half marathon finishing in an impressive 1:31. Well done both. XC next !

Good luck to juniors Seb Hillard and Will Hovell who will be competing in the ESAA Combined Events Championships over the coming weekend. Seb in the Octathlon and Will in the Pentathlon.

Good luck also to our juniors who will be competing in the Road Relays at Sutton Park this weekend. No Senior representatives this year,which is a shame.

Take care.

David Jones

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James Day with Sam, Emily and Zak Lambert.

Left: U15 boys team.
Tom Fisher, Sam Lambert and Joel Ledgard.

Right: U17 ladies team.
Niamh Hillard, Maisie-Joy Spriggs and Abbi Cooper (Tilly Campbell missing)

National Cross Country Championships

With thanks to Nikki Hillard, Hannah Osborne and James Lake.

A sun-drenched Weston Park on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border hosted the 2024 Saucony-National XC championships on September 14 after flooding led to a postponement in February.

There were no such problems in the September sunshine.
A merry band of juniors & seniors from SUAAC made the journey to race around the beautiful parkland course.

First off we’re the Under 17 Ladies who secured a very credible 6th team position. Led home by Niamh Hillard who carried on her track form finishing in a fantastic 35th position, followed by Maisie Joy Spriggs in 61st , then it was Abbie Cooper in 82nd and Tilly Cooper in 98th on the back of her first half marathon in Kenilworth the previous weekend.


POS	NAME	GUN TIME
35	Niamh Hillard	00:21:10
61	Maisie-joy Spriggs	00:22:58
82	Abbi Cooper	00:24:41
98	Tilly Campbell	31.46

Niamh Hillard:

This was my highest National finish. Amazing location and a lovely course. It was great to be back again for another season of cross country and I’m very excited to see what I can do this year. I felt like I produced a good run. I was very happy considering I’m full of back to school cold .

Maisie-Joy Spriggs:

September was a weird time to do a cross country which also meant it was quite hard underfoot but I managed to keep going even through the pain of my sore shins. Overall, it was a good race and a decent start going into cross country season finishing in 61st place.

Abbi Cooper:

While the course was beautiful , I was slightly disappointed with my run, however I was encouraged with my finish as I closed down around a 50m gap in the last 200m and caught the person in front.

Tilly Campbell:

This was my first race at Weston Park and the dry and mud-free ground combined with the manageable hills to make for a rapid run.

The long haul finishing straight was very tough and was the most discussed part of the course across all age groups. Unusual for cross country was the summer weather suddenly appearing for the women’s and men’s under 20/seniors races.

One steeper bank on the medium lap solidified the course as fairly even and flat. Overall, it was an enjoyable course for a 5k run that provided for an interesting Nationals competition.

Under 15 Boys:

Sam Lambert had a brilliant run, securing an outstanding 9th position. He was followed home by Tom Fisher in 76th and Joel Ledgard in 111th. This promises to set each of them up for an exciting WM XC season.

POS	NAME	GUN TIME
9	Sam Lambert	00:13:45
76	Tom Fisher	00:14:49
111	Joel Ledgard	00:15:19

Sam Lambert:

The race was both fun and hilly. A great race to take part in and a great team meeting for the club

Joel Ledgard:

It was a lovely day on Saturday and a great venue to hold it. ‘The course was quite flat and not too muddy so it was a quick race. I was happy with my performance even in the hot conditions’.

Under 15 Girls

In a very competitive Under 15 girls field we had a trio of girls racing. Hard on the heels of a busy track season, each said they were looking forward to the upcoming XC season.

POS	NAME	CHIP TIME
54	Marijke Tear-Verweij	00:17:05
120	Annie Silvers	00:18:45
160	Brooke Rossney	00:20:47

Marijke Tear-Verweij:

Despite the fact that I wasn’t 100% on the day, the race went pretty well. The course was nice, with some hills in it, which suited me. It was also nice that it wasn’t freezing cold and wet for once! I even managed a best at a national of 54th place, which really pleased me as I am still young in the U15s. Onto next year!

Annie Silvers:

The first cross country race of the season was very tough, especially as the ground was hard and the sun was shining. I got a great start but that’s where the good news ends as I’ve been running shorter distances over the summer so my legs felt heavy far too early in the race. It was a really nice course with a very long finish. I can’t wait to get back training in the Welcombe Hills before the season starts and get some miles into my legs.

Brooke Rossney:

After the postponement in February, I was looking forward to taking part in my first National Cross Country Championship. I was excited and a bit nervous to see the 4k course at Weston Park. With nice weather and with a larger field than I was used to from the WMYACCL events, it was good to start on a firmer than usual XC course.

I enjoyed the whole experience and it was good preparation for the new cross country season.”

Under 13 Boys:

There were good first time runs for our Under 13 boys. All three experienced a National XC age group event for first time, with Jasper having only very recently joined the club.

	POS NAME	GUN TIME	CHIP TIME
99	Robin Gallagher	00:12:17	00:12:17
195	Jasper Cooper	00:14:08	00:14:08
211	Eli Ford	00:14:42

Robin Gallagher :

I felt nervous before the race because I was racing older boys.
I really enjoyed the race, it was a privilege to be selected to run for SUAAC. Everyone was really supportive. It was such a great course and I’d love to race there again.

Eli Ford:

During the Nationals I got very nervous as I wanted to do well, as most people do. On the line it was very quiet and cramped. The actual race was fine and everybody went at their own pace. At the end of the race it was a really good feeling, with everybody cheering you on and clapping. Overall, it was a really good experience and a great thing to say that you have done.

U13 Girls:

203rd Emily Lambert 15:22
242nd Tiffany Li 18:03

Under 17 Boys:

Our two Under 17 men battled well and are both looking forward to challenging themselves again in the same age group in the upcoming season.

POS	NAME	GUN TIME
69	Zak Lambert	00:20:42
119	James Day	00:22:18

Zak: It was an unreal race, with a perfect course. I was really pleased with the position and the great experience overall.

Junior Men:

39th Alex Pester 38:24
51st Tom Cox 40.31

Some of our newer runners/parents might not realise there are official photos and videos of the races. If you are interested please follow the link below.

https://pic2go.co.uk/

James Lake.
It looks like he’s really hurting!

Hannah Osborne, Pip Bell, Becks Pridham, Kath Pester and Suzi Graham.

Senior Men & Women

Report – James Lake

POS	NAME	GUN TIME
181	Suzi Graham	00:45:31
211	Pip Bell	00:49:46
215	Hannah Osborne	00:50:12
223	Rebecca Pridham	00:51:39
239	Katharine Pester	00:54:26

POS	NAME	GUN TIME
279	James Lake	00:52:46
319	Michael Sheppard	00:55:16

I’ve only done one XC race before so I was a little nervous on the day – although I’d barely reached the Stratford flags before someone recognised me from a race earlier this summer and came over to discuss the course, quickly putting my mind at ease.

Personally I ran a bit of a strange race – the combination of long grass, hills and sun affected my pace more than I anticipated, so I had to back off slightly after the first lap.

I made a mental note of the runners I was dropping back from, with the aim of recovering enough over the next two laps for a strong sprint finish. This turned out to be a decent shout as I caught (& subsequently overtook) all of them with a strong sprint on the final straight, putting track training to good use!

Congratulations to all that participated; seeing all the brilliant efforts across the different age groups is truly inspiring. I’m fairly sure road running is my preferred discipline, but I’m sure I could be tempted by a few cross country races this winter…

Senior Ladies:

Hannah Osborne:

Saturday saw the ladies team match the sun with yellow stripes on their faces and positive support for each other. We weren’t there to break any records but it was good to be in a team and get the legs to remember what XC is again!

Kath Pester:

A good day out at National XC, with a small but perfectly formed Senior Women’s team. Hot and sunny conditions made for an unusual XC race but the team morale and support was spot on as ever!

List of SUAAC competitors at the National XC Championships.

(with thanks to James Lake)

Girls: Emily Lambert (203rd), Tiffany Li (242nd)
U13 Boys: Robin Gallagher (99th), Jasper Cooper (195th), Eli Ford (211th)
U15 Girls: Marijke Tear-Verweij (54th), Annie Silvers (120th), Brooke Rossney (160th)
U15 Boys: Sam Lambert (9th), Tom Fisher (76th), Joel Ledgard (111th)
U17 Women: Niamh Hillard (35th), Maisie-joy Spriggs (61st), Abbi Cooper (82nd), Tilly Campbell (98th)
U17 Men: Zak Lambert (69th), James Day (119th)
Junior Men: Alex Pester (39th), Tom Cox (51st)
Senior Women: Suzi Graham (181st), Pip Bell (211th), Hannah Osborne (215th), Rebecca Pridham (223rd), Katharine Pester (239th)
Senior Men: James Lake (279th), Michael Sheppard (319th)

News from Down Under

Paul Faithfull on his way to a magnificent 4th place age group finish in the Triathlon World Championships

Triathlon World Championships 2024

Townsville Australia

Report – Paul Faithfull

It didn’t start well. Landing in Sydney and then an 8 hour drive to Byron Bay was not sensible preparation and my first jog was met with abductor cramp after a couple of minutes. Same swimming (hip) and bike. By the time I reached Townsville 5 days and 2500km later I had managed all the elements without pain, but managed was the key word.

Race morning was glorious and the 3km swim went, well swimmingly. Not my fastest but it felt nice and controlled. After all it’s a long day in the heat (28 degC) and over 75% humidity. I had no idea where I was position wise, I grabbed the bike and headed out, expecting to start pulling back all the Aussies who were bound to be faster in the water.

Hmmm, and then the abductor/groin cramp came on and for 20 mins I struggled along at maybe 70% output (basically cycling 1 legged) as people of all ages, sizes and nationalities cruised past me.

It was time to stop and reset, stretch and then a slow rebuild to target power on the 118km, 3 lap course. By the end of lap 1 I was managing the pain and hitting my target, laps 2 and 3 passed without incident but I could feel the heat rising, along with the wind but I was steadily passing people so all good.

So onto the run and 30km of pretty flat course along the coast line. A strengthening breeze was now welcome and I felt ok, hitting target pace (4:30 mins/km) but soon fatigue and heat were gnawing at me and the pace dropped, but now I was still passing people, many in younger age categories. After lap 1 of 3 my support team (my sister travelled with me and my uncle visited from Adelaide) shouted that I was in 10^th, which was a big surprise given the pace and my earlier misdemeanours.

As I came to the end of the second lap the pace was slowing but I was still running, whilst many were walking. Always in the damned 55 age category rather than my own 50-54(M50). Every aide station I took on water, coke, salts and kept a water bottle to hand, just steadily drizzling water on my head to keep cool without soaking my trainers (never good running with the squelch!).

Suddenly I passed 1 and another Aussie walking and another finishing the 11 km lap to shouts of “Your in 5^th”. This is nuts, I take people on the bike and they take places back on the run, not the other way around. My goal a year ago was to get top 5 having come 11^th last year but surely I couldn’t actually achieve it after what felt like a very compromised race?

So the last 8km I just dug deep, one foot in front of the other, not quick but not walking, determined not to let anyone past, my heart rate heading off the chart and another M50 was passed.

I crossed the line 4^th in the World in my age group. Bonkers! Utterly broken, very happy!

Above and below Adam Linforth

Aussie Adventures

Report – Adam Linforth

And so our family holiday to Australia beckoned and I had the World Aquathlon Championships in Townsville lined up whilst we were there but there was the small matter of it being at least a days travel away from where we were staying in Perth.

Whilst there Jane and I also joined up with Paul Newsome of Swim Smooth and took part in his swim squad sessions. Whilst the sessions were tough and the Aussies really serious about their swimming what was not to like about swimming in an outdoor pool heated to 28 degrees in the winter?

I sensibly decided that rather than deserting the family for what would have been about a week if I was going to watch Paul Faithfull as well, that I would instead take part in the Perth half marathon which took place along the shores of the beautiful Swan River on the 4th August.

The race was organised by the Western Australia Marathon Club https://www.wamc.org.au/ and I had taken part in one of their other events in Perth when we had last been in Australia.This was the 40th anniversary of the event and it was also raising funds for the Lions charity supporting eyesight.

We started at 8am and being winter in Perth it was a bit chilly at the start but still 8 degrees and it soon warmed up. With the city scape In the background it was an out and back course and extremely flat except for the incline up on to the road bridge to cross the river.

I felt pretty good given we had been on an 18 hour flight only a few days before but with about 4 miles to go I could feel that time in the air in my legs however I carried on but by this time the field had really thinned out and there weren’t many people around me to tag on to.

With my son Callum shouting me on and telling me I was a little slow?!. Not sure I appreciated his brand of humour at this point, but I took it as the spur I needed to pass a few in the final straight.

I crossed the line in 1:31 in 172nd place, out of 1,200 runners and 9th in my age group.

Pretty pleased with that for a Sunday mornings work then it was back to our Airbnb and then Sunday lunch Aussie style…

Phil Brennan having won his age group category in the British Masters 5000m Championship on Saturday.

Phil’s time at the Club Championships after 5000m.

A Busy Weekend

Report – Phil Brennan

Well done to everyone running the big ticket races last weekend.

While that was happening, I was in a little niche of my own.

I think the last time I ran a 5000m track race was last year’s Club Champs. It seems that like London buses, first there are are none, then two arrive together and I ran two at the weekend.

On Saturday I contested the British Masters Championship in Birmingham and although I was very slow, I managed to win the M80 title.

Sunday was the unmissable club champs and although I was tired from the day before, I decided to try to run at a fast enough pace to give a good workout.

I was therefore delighted to be undisputed champion of the club 5.4k track championship*, although rather surprised that there were no other challengers. I was more pleased that I went through 5000m over half a minute faster than the day before.

* Phil’s reference to the 5.4k track championship is due to the fact that, not having been given the bell until he had completed the race, he assumed he had another lap to go to complete the race, hence the extra 400m!