The Countdown Begins

Written by David Jones on 16/10/2025. Posted in News

Josh Harrison, Will Mayes, Zak & Sam Lambert, Will Hovell and Joel Ledgard at the Alcester 10k

It was fairly obvious that after a 2 week break there would be lots of news to report on this week and there is!

Because of the break some of the news is old news but I thought it important to do a bit of a catch up.

Sunday 5th was the Alcester 10k where we had 5 of the top 10 finishers, 5 0f the top 6 U18s and the overall race winner in Sam Lambert.

We’ve got 3 great reports on our trio of runners who completed the Chicago Marathon last Sunday. Well done to Kate Sergent, Andy Lawrence and Chris Bloomfield.

The countdown begins ! There is a reminder of the social event of the year – the Annual Awards on November 8th. It will be first come first served, so please reserve your seats now.
The closing date is 1st November.

Half marathoner supreme Stu George was at it again, this time in Cardiff where he knocked 6 seconds off his previous PB. Well done Stu.

Mark Barker and Clare Weatherhead, a couple of our intrepid Ultra runners’ were doing what they do, by competing in the Gower Coastal Run. I really have total admiration for Ultra runners. I think they’re maybe a little bit crazy but total respect to them.

I did day some of this week’s news was old and, as if to prove a point, there’s the Po10 results from the Club Champs alongside an important piece by Paul Bearman reiterating the need for the club to recruit more officials.

Finally there is a round-up of results for this year’s Shakespeare League.

Something to look forward to next week is a report on our 3 Masters athletes, Phil Brennan, Paula Williams and Dave Wilson who are currently in Madeira competing in the European Masters Athletics Championships. I can tell you that there are gold medals to report on.

Take care

David Jones

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The overall race winner Sam Lambert.

The Stratford Herald’s report on our extremely successful Alcester 10k.

Shown below is the report on the Alcester 10k that was submitted to The Stratford Herald.

This year was the 11th year of the local Alcester 10k. The support of Alcester Town Council and the Court Leet have been vital to the success of this event, bringing the whole community together on what was, once again, a beautiful autumnal day!

It is the home race of Run Alcester running club and, as such, it has always had a strong field of red shirted runners proudly showing off their Run Alcester kit, not to mention the army of Run Alcester volunteers who help at registration, on the finish line, at water stations and marshal out on the route every year.

Despite being the home race for Run Alcester, the yellow and black vests of Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club (SuAAC) enjoyed considerable success in this year’s race.

The SuAAC contingent were led home by U18 Sam Lambert, the overall race winner. Lambert’s time of 32:13 was 19 seconds ahead the 2nd placed runner and fellow club member Andy Lawrence. Lawrence was no doubt hoping to repeat his victory in this race last year.

Lambert thought it a great race with an incredible atmosphere, which for sucha local race was really good to experience. He went on to comment that it was well organised overall and a nice course, staying on road the whole time with just a minimal incline, thus making it a fast course. He added that he felt the strong wind prevented him achieving his sub 32:00 minute target but to win at a local 10k gave him a great feeling and he will definitely be doing it again next year.

Next to finish for Stratford, in 5th place overall with a time of 33:52 was Sam’s brother Zak Lambert. Zak commented that it was a great start to the race with the atmosphere being superb. He said that the race leaders’ worked together in a pack for the first 5k, splitting as they came into the final section. He added that all runners’ battled with the wind and he felt he had a very good race and was delighted to finish 5th in the end.

Ben Kruze (34:07) was the next Stratford runner in 7th place. Kruze was also the first M40 to finish. It was then the turn of the 5th SuAAC runner to finish, the 10th placed Will Mayes with a time of 34:59. This gave Stratford 5 of the first10 finishers.

Mayes’ was followed by Dean Mawby (12th – 35:19) and James Cottriall just 6 seconds behind (13th – 35:25)

Seb Wolsoncroft-Dodds (20th – 35:50) was followed in 21st, 22nd and 23rd place respectively by Will Hovell (36:03), Joel Ledgard (36:23) and Matt Burdus-Cook (36:26), resulting in the Stratford club having 11 of the top 25 finishers in a race with 1550 finishers overall.

For the Stratford ladies, Marijke Tear-Verweij was the second female U18 finisher, in 96th place with a time of 40:16. Kate Wright (112th – 41:17) was comfortably first in her FV60 age category, over 5 minutes ahead of the 2nd placed finisher in that category.

Josh Harrison (101st – 40:52) finished just outside his target time of 40 minutes this despite running with the remnants of a cold. Harrison was the 6th placed male U18 runner, meaning Stratford had 5 of the top 6 U18 male finishers.

Andy Lawrence at the end of his Chicago Marathon

Andy’s Chicago Marathon

Report – Andy Lawrence

Coming into this one I knew my training had been on and off but a recent 69 minute half marathon had me believing I could pull off something special.

Lining up with minutes until we set off, it’s probably the most relaxed I’ve ever been on a marathon start line. Once getting through the early stampede of people, I settled into pace nicely.

Heart rate was probably a tad higher than I’d have liked but wasn’t crazy.

Going through half way in 1:14:55, another sub 2:30 was on the cards. That belief continued right up to the 32km mark until the lactic sniper got me and just like that, my legs were shot.

I was in a bigger hole at London 2024 where I ran a 2:30:54. That day I was in trouble from 28km but because my fitness was unreal, I didn’t really drop too bad. At Chicago however, I felt like I had nothing else to give once the going got tough.

It was a slow death march and that final 10k felt like it would never end. It’s a lonely place when you’re getting overtaken by everyone.

I got over the finish line though and it was a class experience to complete my third marathon major in Chicago. Never take it for granted.

It’s back to some shorter stuff now until Christmas and time to get strong again. I’ll be back a lot stronger than this performance I am absolutely sure of that!

Chicago, Chicago That toddlin’ town Chicago, Chicago I’ll show you around Bet your bottom dollar you lose the blues In Chicago, Chicago
England International Kate Sergent soaks up the atmosphere in Chicago

Kate’s Chicago Marathon

Report – Kate Sergent

My journey to Chicago all started with one of those emails that pops up in your inbox that caught my attention.

After forwarding it to my son with a “ fancy this?? “ we signed up with Marathon Tours. One of his work colleagues had done it with this company last year and loved it and we decided we needed a biggie together again as it was going to be my 20th marathon after we did my first, what was originally going to be my only one, together in New York in 2009.

Training wasn’t the best to be fair! Pesky calf injury for my son Billy and not enough long runs for me but for me it was all about the adventure!!

Times have become a thing of the past, I am here for the ride!!

And boy it was certainly all I could have dreamed of!

We felt really looked after with Marathon Tours.

A fantastic hotel in the heart of downtown. Reception dinner. Shakedown run at 7am along the river. Escort to the best ever Expo. Amazing evening dinner with talks from chief executive and representative of Abbotts World Majors ( errr no i am not paying £5000 for Tokyo! ) and so to bed with alarm set for 5 am to leave by 6.30.

Jet lag got the better of me and so sleep was not on the agenda unfortunately but off we went for the mile walk to the start area in what was apparently the most perfect weather ever!

The excitement was palpable and the organisation simply faultless. My start was 20 minutes after my son’s and it was soon apparent I maybe hadn’t fuelled enough or slept enough but sod it…. I was here to have fun and it was one giant party!

When we talked it through afterwards we agreed…. Everything was there when needed. Gatorade and water every single mile. Vaseline when we were sore. Biofreeze full body spray when i was dying at mile 21. Crowds like never ever before in true American style… “ you got this baby “

The finish area was brilliantly organised and we met up easily and emotionally. We both agreed it had been amazing.

I couldn’t believe I bumped into Chris Bloomfield by the baggage area – I mean there were only 54000 runners !

Heat, jet lag, not enough fuel but finished in 5.29, a very very happy proud Mum and a proud old SAC runner from Eng A Land!!

Chris Bloomfield and Kate Sergent

Chris’s Chicago Marathon

Report – Chris Bloomfield

I’ve never been to Chicago and after last year’s Berlin flights fiasco we made sure to take a direct route days early!

Before the proliferation of organised ‘shakeout’ runs, Chicago had the 5k bobble hat run. The course is on closed roads during Saturday morning and gives you a taster of the support you’ll get during the marathon.

What with skyscrapers and asphalt roads the noise bounces around and hits you from all directions. Debbie and I ran together at an easy pace.

The bobble hats came with the bib numbers so we were expecting the medals but not all the other stuff: ‘Culligan’ water in a reusable metal flask, a hydration drink, apples, donuts, popcorn. You end up cradling it all in your arms with no hands free to actually do anything with it all!

It was then back to the hotel to get changed and mid afternoon pasta ahead of the marathon.

Those of us who do them know marathons are all about the training and then you pray for the marathon gods to be kind to you on the day.

I planned and trained to achieve a sub 4 hours marathon at Manchester earlier this year but instead improved my PB by seconds. Learning from that experience I upped the target pace for Chicago.

Early morning conditions on the day were good, a slight chill, clear skies with some clouds. It warmed to above 20C from around 10:30 making it a little more challenging for those of us who take more than 3 hours.

Normally the Strava ‘Athlete Intelligence’ performance overview makes me laugh with it’s positive hype. What do you think of it?

Epic marathon achievement with a sub-4 hour finish! Crushed personal bests across multiple distances and maintained a strong, consistent pace throughout.

Wow, what a marathon!

You crushed your previous best by over 21 minutes, hitting a solid sub-4 hour time. Your pace was consistently strong, spending most time in Threshold and Tempo zones, with an impressive Relative Effort of 603. This performance stands out as significantly faster than your typical 30-day running stats, showing real progress in your marathon game.

There’s lots of F words you can use to describe the Chicago marathon major: fast, friendly, fun… the other ones are near the end of the run.

Some of the winners’ at last year’s Club Awards

STRATFORD UPON AVON AC
AWARDS PRESENTATION EVENING
TO BE HELD AT STRATFORD UPON AVON SCHOOL

Saturday 8th November 2025
Doors open 5.45 to Start at 6pm prompt

Our annual Awards Presentation Evening is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the whole club and, in particular our, athletes.

Apart from the major annual awards that includes Athletes of the Year, trophies and medals will be presented for the Club Championships and our successes in the various competitions we have been involved in.

The evening will be FREE and there will be goody bags for the young athletes.

There won’t be a licensed bar and so you are welcome to bring your own refreshments and snacks.

As usual we are anticipating a big turnout for the awards as we have so many members across the whole club and as space is limited, we may have to limit numbers of tickets per athlete/family.

It will be first come first served, so please reserve your seats now.
The closing date is 1st November.
__________________________________________________________________________
Please follow the link to RiderHQ to reserve your seats for the evening.
https://www.riderhq.com/events/p/l3m15j2d/f/stratford-upon-avon-ac-2025-awards-presentation-evening
Click on the blue link ENTER
You will be asked to make separate reservations for each adult and junior attending, selecting the respective category, Parent/Guardian/Guest, Senior, U17+, U15, U13, U11, Child Guest.

Stu George with proud son Harrison

Cardiff Half Marathon

Report – Stuart George.

For those of you who don’t know and why would you. I travel a lot for work. All the way up to Paul’s beloved Carlisle down to that there London and many other places on this sceptered isle ( someone should use that in a play!) .

Now I don’t fully know why but my absolute favourite place I work and visit is Wales and in particular Cardiff. A wonderfully vibrant city who seem to have a love affair with sport and a higher tolerance for us English than some of the other places I rock up to.

Cricket, Football, Athletics and of course Rubgy have a home in the city and a place in the heart of a people.

So for the second time as a runner and third if you count volunteering, I took on the Cardiff half. A fast and flat half, except for three cruelly placed hills, with around 27000 participants, it’s a busy one too.

I’ve done 5 of the superhalfs but fancied a second go at my sort of home race. I’ve had a great summer with a ton of races in the Warwickshire Road Race League , East Mids Grand Prix and the Stratford Grand prix series against arch Nemesis James Lake. He is younger, faster and lovely too. How is that fair!!!

I was feeling good about the race and then, 1 week out, my shin and foot started to ache, a dull ache but a definitive one. Now I know the fitness was in the bag so rest was the right move but come Thursday the pain after 3 mins running was not great. The legend that is Kate Sergent worked her magic on me with an ace massage and I finally got a physio appointment.

A sprained tendon was the verdict but the thumbs up if I strapped it and knew that I had to give it a big amount of rest afterwards. A good deal I felt .

On race day the pain was real and on occasion thought I what the hell am I doing. The adrenaline helped and at 10k I was only 1 second off my 40 minute goal. It all felt too good to be true.

And it was !

The positive split was in and by mile 10 I had dropped 30 seconds back in just that mile. Then I did something I never have before. I got back on pace. back to 6:26 a mile. This can only be down to the excessive racing I’ve done this summer. The quality track sessions of Sarah also undoubtedly helped me run quicker than I felt like doing .

Please next year get involved in the club races the impact on your mindset is transformative

I finished in 1:25:28 – 6 seconds inside my previous PB. The leg, well I think it’s somewhere still in Cardiff but boy was it worth it.

Cardiff is a ballot from now on but I urge you all to sign up it’s a great city and a wonderful race.

Mark Barker

Gower Coastal Race

Report – Mark Barker

It was Ultra time again for me. The 5^th Ultra this year and my favourite, the Gower Coastal Race, consisting of 52 miles around the stunning Gower peninsula.

I enjoyed this race so much last year that I just had to do it again. They say with ultras that any plans you make to tackle these distances is often lost before the starting gun. This was so true for me. The plan for a record time went out of the window in the days before the race when I came down with man flu and then read the weather forecast to learn that Storm Amy had also decided to sign up for the race!

The first half, usually the easier part of the race, starts from the seaside town of the Mumbles, it then twists through the Clyne Valley, and heads out across salt marshes, following the South Wales coast path, to meet the long section of beach of Rhossili, which is known for being one of best beaches in the UK.

The storm was ferocious on the west side of the Gower, the full force of the winds just kept coming and did not let up.   Then came a section of dunes. This was a new experience to be running in a sand storm! My hat was providing some cover from the sand, until it took off like a kite and disappeared into the hills!

I finally made it to the halfway checkpoint at the Rhossili headland. The checkpoint consisted of a van in a car park, with some snacks laid out in the back, any tent would have gone the same way as my hat!

At this point I felt like I was done, lacking energy and remembering that the next 26 miles had the most tricky coast paths, lots of hills and sand, plus the last few hours would be in the dark.

For first time I was considering if to quit.  I took 10 minutes out of the weather and went into a café, I spoke to a couple of other runners who had decided to call it a day.   After a bottle of coke, a change of socks and some reflection, I decided to continue!

The winds would literally soon be behind me, it was Saturday afternoon so I could listen to the football with my new shokz headphones, I was still way ahead of the cut off times and the most scenic part of the route was still to come!

It was a good decision, the second half of the route did not disappoint. By sunset it was calm, clear skies with incredible views across Three Cliffs Bay. I reached the last checkpoint at dusk and it was headtorch on, under the moonlight, along the final 6 miles of coast path, back to where it all started 13 hours & 44 minutes earlier, which turned out to be 38 seconds slower than my time last year!

I ended up 53^rd out of 73 finishers, a record year of DNFs due to the weather. The achievement was all about the finish rather than the time!    I did pick up a foot injury but hope to not be out for long and I hope to squeeze in another ultra in before the end of the year!

Clare Weatherhead

Clare’s Gower Coastal Race

Report – Clare Weatherhead

We’ve had many a holiday in the Gower, walked individual parts of the Wales Coastal path & adored the stunning coastline & panoramic views. It was a no brainier that sometime I wanted to run this coastline.

Gower Coastal Races offer a choice of 3 distances- Ultra 50 miles, Ultra Bach 35 miles & the Trail 23 miles. I had chosen the shortest distance starting at my favourite beach – Rhossili and finishing in The Mumbles.

The route takes you firstly to Port Eynon, onwards via the Wales Coastal path to Oxwich Bay, inland initially & then back out to the coastal path at Three Cliffs Bay, Caswell Bay & finally Langland Bay, before heading to the Mumbles cricket club for the finish line.

The event is self-navigated which worried me slightly as I’m not known for my map reading skills. Another different element was the essential kit that had to be carried. Both factors & the challenging route would take me out of my normal running comfort zone.

Then race day arrives accompanied by Storm Amy with gale force wind! GPS trackers fitted & race briefing given, we were off at 11am.

The force of the wind at Rhossili was intense. Thankfully as we headed to Worms Head we took a left turn to take the coastal path which changed the wind direction.

The route is varied, rolling hills, narrow rocky paths. Who knew there were so many steps on the coastal path? Running across the beach at Oxwich Bay drained the legs immediately before needing to climb steeply up sand dune hills on our way to Three Cliffs.

The final section from Caswell Bay was a more solid path but still very undulating on tired legs.

There were long periods of time when I was running solo before I’d come across another runner & have a quick chat. I also had my one-man support crew, husband Gary, popping up along the route cheering me on.

There were regular aid stations & checkpoints along the route. Concentrating on navigating my way had made me less aware to keep hydrating & fuelling. I also had to remind myself to look up from the map to take in the stunning surroundings. Despite the wind speed, the sun was shining and it wasn’t raining!

I crossed the finish line in 5:57:20 36th out of 77 runners & 12th female home. I would highly recommend this well organised race in the most beautiful surroundings, minus Storm Amy of course!

Respect to fellow club runner Mark Barker who took on the Ultra 50 race again this year, I found the race tough doing the shortest distance.

Despite the somewhat inclement weather, (understatement) I think it’s safe to say we all had a wonderful time at this year’s Club Champs.

Club Champs 2025 Results

Report – Paul Bearman

The results for the Club Champs have been compiled thanks to Mike Sheppard and after scrutiny they were submitted for inclusion in the Power of 10 rankings.

Unfortunately, because of the way we were able to organise and manage the Officiating at the Champs with the qualified resources we had available, we fell foul of the latest stringent requirements established by UKA in some instances.

Due to not having the requisite number of qualified Officials at the level required, some of the events results e.g. High, Long and Triple jumps were not accepted in their entirety despite them being run by knowledgeable and experienced officials/coaches.

In addition, if the performances of the athletes fall below the minimum standard required for inclusion, they too are not recorded in the rankings.

That’s the rather gloomy bit and irrespective of this it doesn’t undermine the superb effort of the 200 plus athletes who took part and as you can see from the results that have been publishedhttps://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=734624 many personal bests were established and can be considered as PBs despite not being listed in the Pof10.

The lack of qualified club Officials is starkly illustrated by the Champs and unless we have more support, then this year is likely to be the last Champs that we can licence the event with UKA and get our results on the Pof10 which will obviously be a big shame and loss for our athletes.

The medals and trophies for the Champs will, as usual, be awarded at the Club Awards on 8th November.

My gratitude, thanks and appreciation to all our amazing group of dedicated volunteer coaches and officials and the volunteers/parents for their contribution who have supported our athletes in what has been another hugely successful year.

October Shakespeare Race

The Track Hour

Wednesday October 1st saw the final Shakespeare race of the year, with the traditional track hour taking place at the Stratford Track.

Jamie Hall ran the furthest, completing just over 43 laps in an hour – go figure.

Next furthest was Richard Liggatt, who completed just over 39 laps. The rest of the top 5 were Matt Burdus-Cook (38 laps), Sam Mercer (37) and Lloyd Walton (36).

The top 5 lady finishers were Santa Pavlika (9th – 34 laps), Bronwen Mansel (10th – 33 laps), Kate Wright (13th – 33 laps), Helen Platt (15th – 32 laps) and Bethany Pearson (16th – 32 laps)

48 competitors completed the full hour.

For the full results please follow the link below:

https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16418&RId=3136&EId=12

For the final results for this year’s Shakespeare League please follow the link below:

https://onedrive.live.com/:x:/g/personal/2F87B0C8F313DA67/EcFRSLVQzfBPpxHCgNH0_zgBQe2n2h2KmRc4DRqej_SJJA?resid=2F87B0C8F313DA67!sb54851c1cd504ff0a711c280d1f4ff38&ithint=file%2Cxlsx&e=UzQf8h&migratedtospo=true&redeem=aHR0cHM6Ly8xZHJ2Lm1zL3gvYy8yZjg3YjBjOGYzMTNkYTY3L0VjRlJTTFZRemZCUHB4SENnTkgwX3pnQlFlMm4yaDJLbVJjNERScWVqX1NKSkE_ZT1VelFmOGg