Flying High.

Written by David Jones on 20/03/2025. Posted in News

Stratford members of the Warwickshire senior boy’s team at last weekend’s English Schools’ Cross Country Championships.

L to R: James Mayes, Zak Lambert, James Day, Will Mayes.

Is there no end to the XC season ?

Last weekend saw a group of our junior athletes doing themselves proud at the 2025 English Schools’ Cross Country Championship took pace on Saturday 15^th March at the Ardingly Showground in West Sussex.

Niamh Hillard and Abbi Cooper
competed in their final ESAA Schools Cross Country after several years of Warwickshire selection.

Sam Lambert finished in 12th place out of 326 competing. This superb run resulted in him being selected as a non travelling reserve for this weekend’s SIAB Schools International Cross Country Championships in Falkirk with international teams from England, Scotland, Wales and All Ireland competing.

You will see below that the success of our athletes is celebrated with extensive coverage in this week’s Stratford Herald thanks to Nick Hillard’s excellent report.

Tom Cox was flying at last weekend’s Bath Half Marathon where he finished in 61st place out of over 12000 runners competing. Tom was also 3rd U20 to finish. His time of 1:14.19 would have placed him 5th in the UK U20 rankings prior to the race.

Super well done Tom.

Talking of members’ flying, our multi talented Paula Williams will be doing just that on Friday as she flies out to Florida to compete in the World Masters Indoor Athletic Championships.

Good luck Paula, we’ll all be rooting for you.

It was the Warwickshire Schools XC finals at The Pingles Stadium last Saturday where several of our juniors were competing. There are a couple of items on this but at the time of writing the full results haven’t been published so hopefully we might have a report on this at a later date. At the same venue, as the XC draws to a close, the outdoor T&F season started and as sole representatives from the club, Jasmine Mothershaw and I both enjoyed our 800m races, albeit in somewhat chilly conditions.

Good luck to our juniors who will be taking part in the London Mini Marathon trials at Stourport on Saturday and to Paula in Florida. Indeed good luck to any of you who are competing. If you are please send in a report.

Take care

David Jones

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Niamh Hillard crosses the finish line in her last English Schools XC race after 6 years of competing for Warwickshire

The end of an era, or as her mom says…the start of a new one

Marijke Tear-Verwiej

There is extensive coverage in this week’s Stratford upon Avon Herald celebrating the success of our athletes at the 2025 English Schools’ Cross Country Championships.

ESAA Cross Country Championships 2025

Stratford Athletes Succeed at English Schools’ Event

Report – Nick Hillard

The 2025 English Schools’ Cross Country Championship took pace on Saturday 15^th March at the Ardingly Showground in West Sussex. It was fitting that in the ESAA Centenary Year the small army of SUAAC athletes who were representing their respective counties enjoyed perfect conditions for cross country and took advantage of this with some formidable performances.

The event kicked off with the Inter Girls (Years 10 and 11) event over 3.75km. The club had two athletes running – Marijke Tear-Verweij and Annie Silvers. Both found themselves in the pack on the first of two laps and managed to make progress throughout the race to finish 194^th and 277^th respectively. Their fellow Warwickshire athlete, Olivia McGhee (Rugby & Northampton), ran well to finish 3^rd overall.

The Junior Girls (Years 8 and 9) featured our own Lucia Ogilvie-Putt who ran very strongly and pulled out an incredible sprint finish to attain 124^th position on the 2.85K course. The club’s Elle Weir also ran strongly to come 324, a big improvement on her last race. Weir was followed by Portia Nabney (330) in a rare cross country race.

The Inter Boys event was stacked with Stratford AC athletes and included arguably their best performance of the day. Sam Lambert ran a hugely impressive race to finish 12^th, demonstrating his increasingly mature approach to competing at this level. This excellent run resulted in Sam being selected as a non travelling reserve for this coming weekend’s SIAB Schools International Cross Country Championships in Falkirk with international teams from England, Scotland, Wales and All Ireland competing.

Also in the Inter Boys race, despite starting 4^th in the pen, Tom Fisher ran well to come home 148^th. Fighting illness and starting 7^th in the pen, Will Hovell honoured his selection with a battling performance to finish 315^th. Their team mate, Archie Lane (Leamington), finished the highest of all Warwickshire athletes at the Championships, with an impressive 2^nd place.

SUAAC’s two Senior Girls (Years 12 and 13) Niamh Hillard and Abbi Cooper competed in their final ESAA Schools Cross Country after several years of Warwickshire selection. After a very busy competitive few weeks for both, the fast 4.1km course did not necessarily suit either athlete but they both worked hard to achieve 110^th and 222^nd position respectively.

The finale of the Championship saw the Senior Boys race over an arduous 6 km, with a total of 5 athletes from Stratford AC competing in the race. Zak Lambert claimed the bragging rites, showing his usual grit and determination to finish 89^th in a time of just over 19 minutes. Our other three athletes running for Warwickshire showed similar stamina to finish strongly – Will Mayes (180^th), James Day (248^th) and James Mayes (283^rd). The club’s recent recruit, Dougie Garnett was representing West Midlands and fought illness to finish in 270^th position.

All in all, a hugely impressive Stratford AC squad performed incredibly well across all the age groups at this memorable Sussex event.

Pictured below, at the Stratford track, are various junior club members who have competed in the last two weekends XC Championships – the UK Counties Athletic Union Inter Counties Cross Country Championships at Nottingham and the English Schools Athletic Association Cross Country Championships in West Sussex.

Niamh Hillard, Tom Fisher and Abbi Cooper.

Tom Cox in his University of Bath vest. I’ve commented above that he was flying and the fact that his feet aren’t touching the ground would tend to confirm this.

Bath Half Marathon

Report – Tom Cox

My experience of the Bath Half Marathon 2025 was fantastic.

At first I aimed to run a 78 minute half marathon but when the starting siren went off and having put myself on the front row just behind the elites, the adrenaline hit me and I was off hanging on to a very fast pace for the first 5km almost getting a 5km personal best.

I then settled into a rhythm with help from all of the supporters who lined the streets of Bath.

As the race continued I was gaining more momentum ticking off the kilometres as they went past and It was in the final quarter of the race that I realised I could be on for a personal best, so I picked up the pace and reached the hill to the finish on the last kilometre, which was painful to run up due to its steepness.

I got to the final 200 metres and sprinted it, finishing in a time of 1:14.19 and placed 61st out of 12000 and 3rd under 20.

The race was fantastic and I had a great experience with great support from the crowd.

Good Luck Paula

Paula Williams at the World Masters Athletics Championships last August in Gothenburg.

World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships

These Championships are being held in Florida, starting this Sunday. They will see some 4000 competitors from 80 countries competing

One of those competitors will be our very own Paula Williams who flies out on Friday.

Her typically busy schedule kicks off on Sunday with the heats and semis of the 60m. Monday is the finals of 60m and Thursday is shot
Sunday is also heats and semis of 60mH.

She tells me that her realistic goals at the Championships are:

To get to the semis of 60m.
To get top 4 in shot.
To get to the finals of the 60mH.
To have an amazing time, meet and make friends, get some sun and complete my indoor season staying intact ready for the outdoors.

I am sure you will all join me in wishing her the very best of luck.

The Warwickshire Schools Cross Country Final at Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton last Saturday

We had several junior members competing at this event but at the time of writing the results have yet to be published.

Hopefully we might have something at a later date.

However a couple of parents have sent me in details of their children’s performance and these are shown below.

Elsie Pipitone

Elsie ran for the Central Warwickshire team at the Warwickshire Schools Cross Country Final at Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton last Saturday

She took the race on from the start, led throughout and finished in 1st place, 25 seconds ahead of 2nd place!

Elsie will now represent Warwickshire at the National Schools Cross Country Final next weekend.

R to L: Nell Wheeler (centre) and Olivia Hunt who finished 1st and 2nd in the Warwickshire Schools Cross Country Final at Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton last Saturday.

Jasmine Mothershaw.

As sure as night follows day, as the XC season draws to a close so the outdoor T&F season commences.

Jasmine Mothershaw and I were the club’s only representatives at last Sunday’s Nuneaton Harriers Winter Warm Up meet at The Pingles, with both of us competing in the 800m in somewhat chilly conditions – understatement!

Jasmine ran a PB time of 2:50.7, knocking just over a second off her previous best time at last year’s Club Championships. I ran in a race alongside an U15 boy and girl and an U13 boy and girl. No need to say where I finished. I was however delighted to be able to knock 6 seconds off my time at Sheffield in January and 7 seconds off my time at Lee Valley last month.