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Midlands Women’s Cross Country League

Race 2

We are fabulous!

Report – Jill Wilson

A view from the back – of the fabulous SAC Women’s Division One Cross Country team – in action at Cheltenham on Saturday – Race 2 of the Midlands Women’s Cross Country League

Flushed with enthusiasm after my last place finish at Newbold Comyn in November, I looked with horror at Cheltenham Pittville Park’s ‘water jump’ aka fast flowing stream after the previous night’s downpour.

Were my waterproof socks up to it? Why was I here? At this point I hadn’t clocked that the start was seemingly uphill for about 500m (it wasn’t, but really it felt like it at the pace everyone set off at 😳)

I’m really quite new to this. Stratford ladies’ have clearly earned their place in Division One – amongst teams made up of lithe super-fast young runners from Loughborough and Birmingham Universities to name but two of the really rather fast teams. Teams who actually enter just four people. I’m delighted to say we had the biggest most inclusive and terrifically supportive team of nineteen, yes nineteen, lovely ladies.

I and several others of this year’s complete newbies were once again very nervous. After a brief warm up (still wearing our fetching dry-robes) we were off to the start.

The hooter went and the super-fast lithe young things were off at breakneck speed up the hill. Consequently I set off at a pace that I couldn’t maintain, so within a few hundred yards I was walking. Actually, it sounds better to call it jeffing – albeit rather unplanned.

On the first pass (of three) of the team tents I was wondering if I could bail out but continued down the hill – better to bail out at the next slight incline. Maybe do the first stream crossing and then bail out. By this time (less than 1km in) I had well and truly lost sight of anyone in front of me. 

Lots of uncalled-for laughter from cheery onlookers as I plunged into the stream for the first time (waterproof socks not bad actually). Then up the other side – where to now? I had to attract marshal’s attention to ask where to next. Brief cry, then knuckled down and got on with it.

Completed first lap and second lap seemed so much better – I could see some yellow and black vests in the distance and I received much  cheerful encouragement from SAC men warming up (no doubt wondering if I’d be off the course before they were due to start).

Thank you to Wayne Vickers who came down to cheer me on a few hundred metres from the finish – I really appreciated that and to the ladies team for giving me a Mexican wave on the way in.

Overall Stratford finished 8th out of 16 teams. Doing the honours for Stratford out of 146 runners were our fabulous ladies: Georgie Campbell (10th, 25:30), followed by Niamh Hillard (25th, 27:09), Donna Allen (43rd, 28:04) and Bronwen Mansel (76th, 30:25). What a great result! Well done you four!

In the Masters our amazing top three of Donna, Emma Bexson and Angela Williamson finished 7th out of eleven teams. 

Donna was the first of our Masters ladies to finish 12th at 28:04. Not far behind was Emma Bexson  (27th 31:11), swiftly followed by Angela Williamson (33rd 32:11). 

Other Masters finishers were Emma Vickers (38th 33:29), Sarah Gillard (40th, 34:31), Bethany Swain  (43rd, 35:08), Clare Goodwin (47th, 36:52), Pip Bell (48th, 37:06), Susan Hunt (50th 37:25), Becks Parker (54th 38:25), Fiona Penson (55th 38:28), Sue Mothershaw (59th 39:43), Diane Farmer (61st 41:05), Alix Frost (62nd 41:30), Rowena Hogg (63rd 41:32) and yours truly, bringing up the rear at 64th, 146th overall in 46:27.

It was a lovely course and it was really good to be part of such a friendly welcoming team.

Thank you all.

West Midlands Young Athlete Cross Country League.
 

Report – Angela Williamson

Classic wet and muddy cross-country conditions greeted athletes and spectators for Match 3 in this season’s junior cross country league at Newbold Revell, Rugby.

There were many superb individual performances for Stratford Upon Avon Athletics Club  but injury, illness and a busy racing calendar prevented a full team turnout for every event, leading to a 7th place finish on the day out of 25 teams competing but still ahead of clubs such as City of Stoke, Leamington C & AC and Bromsgrove and Redditch. 

The club will be hoping for a return to full strength in the New Year.  

Stratford had only two runners in the opening U17 Women’s race, Marijke Tear-Verweij, 13^th,16:30 and Annie Silvers, who ran well to claim 20^th in 17:17.  

In the Boys’ U11, a full Stratford team was led home by Rafe White, taking an excellent 7^th in 7:20.  Next came Simon Zawada, 26^th, 7:20, followed by Oliver Hollis, 49^th, 8:00, Jamie Cassells, 61^st, 8:09,  Henry Cotton, 91^st, 8:39 . Max Loom not only proved his mettle on course, completing in 108^th, 9:10, but in construction, by almost single-handedly erecting the club tent (which has outfoxed several more ‘experienced’ hands)! 

Sam Lambert once again challenged for top slot in the Men’s U17, taking 3^rd this time, in 16:06.  Will Hovell was 12^th, 17:35, followed by Joel Ledgard, 15^th, 17:54, Tom Fisher, 23^rd, 18:30 and Aran Cooper, 54^th, 21:39.  A solid team effort to keep Stratford in the reckoning. The U17 men finished in 2nd place and are placed 2nd for the season as a whole.

Stratford’s girls’ U11 go from strength to strength, finishing in 3rd place on the day and are in 3rd place for the season as a whole. There was another impressive top 10 finish for  Saskia Atkins, 8^th, 6:55,  leading the team home, closely followed by Nell Wheeler, 11^th, 7:04 and Olivia Hunt, 12^th, 7:05, giving the team a boost with three in the top 13 places.  It was pleasing to see so many completing for Stratford in this category, with a further 6 finishers, Marnie Short, 25^th, 7:27, Florence Andrews, 36^th, 7:40, Quinn Lancaster, 56^th, 8:03, Indigo Ogilvie-Putt 58th; 8:04, Imogen Jolly, 87th; 8:45 and, making her cross country debut for the club, Ksena Grudzinska, 96, 9:16.  

Cross-country terrain is challenging and unpredictable and this time it was bad luck for Laurie Hovell, Stratford’s only competitor in the U15 Boys event, who was unable to finish due to a twisted ankle. We wish him a speedy recovery. 

The U13 girls’ finished in 4th place, with Maggie Silvers running an excellent race for another top 10 finish, 8^th in 11:00.  She led home another strong team performance, with Amelie Marshall, 22^nd, 11:22, Eliza McLeod,  26^th, 11:32, Emily Lambert, 31^st, 11:45, Poppy West, 33^rd, 11:48, Annabel Ryan-Gill, 53^rd, Florence Rowlands, 83^rd, 14:11 and Layla-Rose Sparrow, 88^th, 16:30.  

There was another top 10 performance for Stratford by Charlie Cassells in the U13 Boys’ race, taking 5^thin 10:15.  Teammate Dexter Sharpe battled bravely, despite fighting off a cold, to take 54^th, 12:27.  

Keeping it even for top 10 finishes between the girls and the boys, Lucia Ogilivie-Putt  was 5^th 12:00 in the U15 Girls’ event, this despite having raced in the schools cross country on Saturday and also having had a netball match in the morning before this race.  Next for Stratford were Rachel Sparrow and Jasmine Mothershaw, finishing neck and neck in a very good 34^th and 35^th, 13:09, followed by Rosa Pipitone, 64th; 14:37.

Birmingham and District Invitation Cross Country League.

Division 2 – Race 2

Report – Malcolm Bowyer.

After our excellent start to the season, it was the men’s and ladies’ 2nd cross country race. It took place at Pittsville  park Cheltenham.

The weather was kind again for both races, slightly overcast but no wind and rain. The course was a fast three laps for the men and two laps for the ladies, including two water jumps to contend with.

Stratford had twelve runners taking part. This allowed us to have an A team and B team for maximum points in a field of 224 runners.

The winner of the race was Dexta Thompson [Loughborough Students] in 31.21. Stratford’s first runner back was senior XC debutant Zak Lambert, finishing in 6th place in 33 minutes. Zak made a lightning quick start, leading the pack for the first lap. Hot on his heals was Jamie Hall, who fought to hold onto 19th place in 34.59. Ned Campbell, who always looked strong, overtook several runners to finish 30th in 35.33. Sam Wilks had Ned in his sights for the whole race. He sprinted to the finish line in 35th place in 35.46. Hue Crossweller picked up his pace in the last lap to finish a very impressive 77th place in 38.48. David Teasdale was working hard on every lap to finish in 93rd place in 39.26. He made up the sixth runner completing Stratford’s A team.  

The B teams first runner back was Wayne Vickers, who always gives 100%, finished in 39.44 in 101st place. Drew Sambridge, who never misses a race, unfortunately couldn’t catch Wayne and finished 110th in 40.20. Bogen Ene, running in his first season, has become a strong team member, not giving up his 131st place in 41.38. Rob Gisbourne, who always runs with a smile on his face, made up places on the second lap, finishing in 143rd in 42.24.

The last two seniors who made up the B team where veteran cross country runner Peter Sugden in 196th place in 47.10. Simon Penson, also in his first season, is becoming a valuable member of the team finishing in 212th place in 49.56,  never giving up and still overtaking runners on the last lap.

Stratford had a great second race with the A team finishing 6th out of 14 teams with 260 points and the B team with 893 points finishing 12th out of 13 teams

Well done to everyone for such a great second race. After two matches we are fourth in the league, which is the final promotion place. 

The third race  is Saturday 10th January 2026 at Burton Dassett Hills.

Valencia Marathon

Report – Nigel Chidgey

After feeling good after my Kenilworth Half and Stratford 10k times this year, I thought I’d give the Marathon one more go this year. So Valencia it was!

I was still feeling great a week out and then the dreaded cold hit me! However I was feeling better come race morning,

What I didn’t bank on was Valencia race day being the hottest for a decade, All was looking good and on time for the first 34K,  then came the lack of shade for the last 8k and you know us Brits being out in the midday sun!

I didn’t hit my target but I’m happy to get another sub 4hr again.

Time to rest and reset for next year.

Big thanks to support and encouragement I’ve had from all at SAC.

Racewalk Association – 5k & 10k Midland Area Winter League Series Race

Report – Jan McLure

Sunday 7^th December was the 3^rd race of the Midland Area Winter League Series hosted by the Racewalk Association. 

I was the only Stratford AC walker racing on Sunday, as Paul Hawkins was otherwise occupied with cross country events. 

My original game plan was to have my fastest time of the 3 races in both the 5k and 10k, having walked well and clean at the prior 2 races. 

However, the ‘office lurgy’ which has been circulating for the past couple of weeks at work finally caught up with me and I woke up with a cold and hacking cough on the morning of the race.

I knew I wanted to complete the series as I haven’t competed in all 3 races before, so I changed my game plan to ‘just get round and have a clean race’!

The weather wasn’t particularly kind to us, it started raining around 11:00 on Sunday and stayed constant and got heavier after the race started at 12:00. 

The race was held at Warwick University campus and due to the weather there was a lot of leaves, dirt and standing water on the road surface – as my soggy socks and dirt rings around both ankles attested to at the end of the race.

A brave bunch of 13 walkers started off, with 5 walkers competing at the 5k distance and only 8 of us doing the full 10k. 

Due to having a cough and cold my times in both the 5k (35 mins) and the 10k (1:10:26) were my slowest of the 3 races, but I knew that I only had to complete the 10k without any cards to get a medal.

The medal awards were made at the Godiva Harriers clubhouse, with the President’s award for the 5k race, which was selected based on the 1^st of the 3 races in the series. 

I won the W50 medal for the 5k, however every walker in the 1^st race ended up with a medal, as every single walker was in a different age group (#1 medal by default).  

There were then awards for Handicaps, which were based on the 2^nd and 3^rd race in the series, which went to other clubs.  

Finally there were the ‘scratch’ awards for both the 5k series, won by Carloyn Derbyshire for the Women and Hardeep Minhas for the Men and the ‘scratch’ award for the 10k series. 

I won the Women’s 10k series, as I was the only female to have raced all 3 races at the longer distance (#2 medal by default) and again by Hardeep Minhas for the Men’s 10k.

Overall, I am pleased that in 2025; I have had no injuries and have completed a full summer season of Track & Field races and a full winter series of Racewalk association races – something I haven’t previously achieved since I started racewalking.

Winter on the Downs Ultra
 

Report  – Mark Barker

As 2025 draws to a close, I squeezed in one final ultra: Winter on the Downs. This was my sixth ultra of the year — a 50k trail run with 1,700m of elevation across the South Downs in East Sussex.

Hosted by UK Ultra Events, the race offered three distances: 100 miles, 55 miles, and the “baby” 50k. With winter weather and limited daylight in mind, I signed up for the easy option!

The race began with a slippery climb to the cliff tops of Beachy Head, before tracing the iconic Seven Sisters White Cliffs westward and looping inland through the rolling hills of the Downs.

I had no set strategy, just a plan to embrace the day and reach the finish.

Ferocious winds on the top of the downs proved the toughest challenge, though mud and flooded trails added to the test.

There were four checkpoints, tucked inside village halls, providing shelter and fuel. My essentials: flat Coke, flapjacks, and marmite sandwiches!

I felt good throughout the race and maintained a steady pace. There were no thoughts of “why the hell am I doing this”, which was a good sign things were going well!  

By the final checkpoint, I was overtaking runners I’d been chasing all day. With headtorch on, I tackled the last 8k downhill, the lights of Eastbourne guiding me home. I crossed the line in 7 hours 25 minutes, tired but very happy.