A pretty varied week. Understatement!

Written by David Jones on 07/05/2026. Posted in News

Tom Cox being interviewed after his victory

Bannister Mile.

Iffley Road Track. Oxford.

4th May

One of the stand out performances for me, among the very varied events of the past week, was U23 Tom Cox’s performance at the iconic Iflley Road track last Monday.

Running in the last of the 7 seeded races before the super elites ran later in the day, Tom was quickest of all 88 runners in those races with a time of 4:22.42, winning by a relatively comfortable 4.55 seconds, although I’m sure it didn’t feel comfortable at the time Tom

While last week’s newsletter was dominated by half and full marathon reports, I absolutely love the variation of activities that this week’s edition celebrates.

Starting off with Tom Cox’s superb performance in the Bannister at the iconic Iffley Road track in Oxford on Monday. There is then a report on talented multi-eventer Will Hovell in an Octathlon.

With the T&F season now in full swing there is a reminder from Team Manager Mike Sheppard of the opening fixture of the Midland T&F League.

Mark Barker has sent in a report of his latest challenging Ultra. Actually ‘challenging’ doesn’t get close to what it was.

There’s then a report on the British Universities & Colleges Sports (BUCS) Outdoor Championships 2026 in Cardiff with Megan Thomas making her debut at this event and Catherine Reynolds signing off in style after 4 years of competing in it.

Lucia Ogilvie-Putt gives us a really tasty recipe in her weekly column.

For Nigel Chidgey it was a busy weekend, completing his 250th parkrun on Saturday and then running the Milton Keynes marathon on Bank holiday Monday.

There is then a bit of a round up of various events/meetings, including the Brewer Memorial Games, Tempo Events Trail Races, Leamington Open Graded meeting and University of Birmingham T&F Series, all of which had some of our members competing.

This is followed by a brief item on Wednesday night’s Shakespeare Race.

Finally, last week was the 500th edition of this online newsletter and in recognition of this there are a couple of images of pre-online newsletter from just over 25 years ago. They used to be printed on paper and then distributed to members! Imagine that.

Blimey, I said it was varied.

Good luck to the 112 of our members who will be competing in the County T&F Championships this weekend and also to our Vets T&F team who will be opening their season at Redditch next Wednesday.

Indeed, good luck to any of you competing in the next 7 days

Take care.

David Jones

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Will Hovell – 2nd right.

Will Hovell’s Octathlon

Report – Paul Bearman

With the serious start of the T&F starting this week with the County T&F champs, with 112 Stratford athletes having entered, the Combined Eventers are also starting their programme this week with the Warwickshire Schools Championships taking place, with Stratford athletes competing for their respective schools and then looking to be selected for the Warks regional team and then hopefully going on to the national ESAA champs in September.

Will Hovell is one of our leading junior multi eventers and to prepare for the champs he recently competed in the Somerset schools combined events championship as a guest in the Octathlon.

This event attracts many other talented athletes mainly from the South West and for once they were blessed with great conditions for competition.

Will reflected on his competition……. Opening the competition I jumped a new pb in the long jump with a distance of 5.46m and then moving on to discus I threw another new pb of 25m 18cm.

In the Javelin, disappointingly my streak of new pbs didn’t continue but I almost equalled my current one throwing 28m 32cm. To end day one I had the 400m and after a slow start I managed to run a pb in a time of 53.34s, so I was pleased to be sitting in 8^th place overall.

Starting day 2 I opened with another pb in the 110m hurdles with a time of 17.71s. After my disappointing High Jump in the England Athletics Indoor Champs and after chatting to my coaches we worked on this discipline in training including changing the leg I jump off and I jumped a height of 1.56, so I now know what my best side to jump off is going forward.

Shot was a big surprise, after wanting to just get over 10m with this 5kg lump of metal, I managed a new pb distance of 10m47 bettering my pb by almost 1m. To end the long weekend was the 1500m which is my best event in the Octathlon and I ran a winning time of 4.26.2

I had such a good time at this combined events with everyone being so nice and achieving a successful overall finish of 7th. Even though I achieved all these pbs I still feel like there is more to come and I’m looking forward to working hard and being successful in the schools’ events and getting selected for the Warks team again.

Some members and officials of our title winning Midland League T&F team last season.

Midland T&F League

It’s almost here!

Hi everyone, a final reminder/appeal for athletes to join the Stratford team for the first Midland Track & Field League fixture at Newport next Saturday (16 May).

Anyone from the U18 age group and upwards is eligible to compete and at present we still have opportunities for male & female sprinters, jumpers, throwers & endurance runners! .

These matches are always great fun and good competition is guaranteed. It’s also bound to be sunny down on the “Welsh Riviera” so if you fancy it please do not hesitate to give it a go.

If you are interested please contact Mike Sheppard (shepparathletics@gmail.com) or simply accept the invitation on Spond.

Thanks

Mike Sheppard

Mark Barker

The Pennine Barrier Ultra

Report – Mark Barker

This event is a 50‑mile loop, 2,500 metres of climbing, taking on the full Yorkshire Three Peaks—Pen‑y‑Ghent, Whernside, and Ingleborough—plus a bonus ascent of Fountains Fell just to make sure the legs fully understand who’s in charge.

The terrain is a wild mix of limestone pavements, rocky scrambles, moorland bog, and descents that feel like they were designed by someone who dislikes knees.

I decided the best way to prepare was to camp at a local farm, because you just can’t beat a wonky airbed in a damp tent, the night before running 50 miles!

Race morning greeted us with drizzle, low cloud, and visibility so bad I could’ve been anywhere!

Starting at the back seemed like a good idea… until the first few miles, 700 runners in front of me with all those stiles and gates, it was just like the drive up on the M6 the day before but with trail shoes. Stop‑start, people cutting in, and absolutely no rhythm. But that slow start turned out to be genius—I just didn’t know it yet.

I’ve learnt on these ultras there is no point in having a plan, so my only real plan was to be adaptable, which is code for “I’ll wing it and hope for the best!”.

About four hours in, the cloud finally lifted and—surprise, I’d been running through some of the most stunning scenery in the country.

The first peak, Pen‑y‑Ghent, loomed out of the mist. Steep, rocky, and mercifully half‑hidden by cloud so I couldn’t panic properly.

Next came Whernside, the longest climb, I’d teamed up with another runner. We powered up together, bonding over mutual suffering and the shared belief that whoever designed this route needs a stern talking to.

Then came Ingleborough, and the moment I realised denial is a powerful thing. I genuinely convinced myself the route must go around the peak, there was no way a path could go up that! Then I saw the path. Straight up. My legs and knees were not impressed, but I scrambled to the top anyway, and the views were worth every swear word!

The descent, however, was pure chaos: steep, rocky, endless, and now under full sun. I felt sick, light‑headed, and watched runner after runner glide past me like mountain goats.

By the next checkpoint I needed a 10‑minute reboot, which worked surprisingly well.

From the final check point, it was 12 miles to go, featuring one last big climb and a long run back to Malham. By this point, the field had split into three types of ultra runners:

Walkers – spiritually finished
Plodders – physically slow, mentally “running”
Walk/run ninjas – unpredictable bursts of speed

I was proudly in the plodder category, still overtaking many of the runners who’d passed me on the Ingleborough descent, the benefit of that slow start was paying off.

The final stretch into Malham turned into a four‑way race to the finish, me against the walk/run ninjas, we had been continuously overtaking each other in those final 12 miles. I somehow clocked one of my fastest miles of the entire race at mile 49, giving it everything I had left.

I crossed the line in 14 hours 13 minutes, before dark and before the rain returned. It felt like my best ultra yet, everything sort of clicked, the scenery was unforgettable, and people were incredible. Whether they finished or not, everyone out there were inspirational and a great community to be part of.

Megan Thomas and Catherine Reynolds.

Catherine Reynolds
Pace and power personified.

British Universities & Colleges Sports (BUCS) Outdoor Championships 2026.

Cardiff

Report – Paul Bearman

The BUCS athletics champs is one of our favourite competitions because its not just a very high standard, including some international athletes competing, but it’s also the final chapter of seeing some of our athletes, many who started with us from 9 years old, going through the age groups and finishing their education at University and then going out into the big wide world.

We’re always proud when our athletes represent their respective Unis but it still seems a bit strange seeing them competing in their Uni vests.

This was Megan Thomas’ BUCS debut competing for Newcastle and she ran well in the 200m and finished her heat in 6th place in a seasons’ best time of 28.47s. She said she was pleased that she ran a lot better than at the indoor BUCS but said she got “jelly legs” in the last 50m. She also ran the first leg in the 4x100m but her team didn’t qualify for the semi final.

After a stellar 4 year BUCS career this was going to be Catherine Reynolds’, representing Sheffield, final BUCS and she chose to compete in the 200m as opposed to her normal 400m. This ended up as a pragmatic decision as she was nursing a mystery hip injury picked up in training. With the “holy trinity of Ibuprofen, deep heat and a yes I can attitude” as she called it as her support team, she won her heat and ran a pb in the 200m of 24.70 and qualified for the semi final.

She also ran the 1st leg in the 4×400 and they qualified for the final.

She was aching but went into the following finals day with a positive attitude even though she was going to be busy, hoping her hip would hold up and she would be able to finish on a high.

And she did. She qualified for the 200m final finishing 3^rd in her heat in a time of 24.79s and finished 7^th in the final running 24.64s but was helped with a slight tail wind. With very little rest Catherine ran the first leg of the 4x400m relay and with her equally brilliant team mates blasted round the track and won the silver medal.

She said afterwards “I’m so happy with a silver medal to finish my BUCS career and very well done Megan too competing in her first BUCS”.

Hi everyone,

Sorry there wasn’t a section last week as there was so much to write about marathons and half marathons.

As it is now May there is a new topic of ‘Recipes I recommend’ where each week you will get a new recipe to try.

This week’s recipe is for Lime chicken with sunflower seed flatbreads. The sunflower seeds water, flour and salt make 8 flatbreads.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast per person
Zest and juice of 2 limes
2 twists of pepper
1 tbsp of oil
1 avocado
1 spoon of yoghurt per person
100g of sunflower seeds
1 lettuce
Pinch of salt
Cup of warm water
Cup of flour

Method:

Blitz the seeds into a powder.
Mix with the salt and a little of the water.
Add some flour until the mixture becomes a dough.
Split this into 8 pieces and roll each one into a ball.
Roll each one out until the are about a pound coin thick.
Heat up a pan and cook each one until they are brown and puffy.
Meanwhile, cut the chicken into strips and put the oil into a pan to heat up.
Once the oil is hot add the chicken, lime juice and zest.
Cook completely until the chicken reaches 75 degrees.
Place the chicken, lettuce, avocado and yoghurt on the flatbreads.
Finish with fresh lime juice and pepper.

How does this befit us athletes?

The chicken in this dish is a source of protein to help our muscles grow and repair. The avocado provides healthy fats which helps manage inflammation and help us recover from training. There are also lots of vitamins and antioxidants to help your immune system overall.

Hope you enjoy!

Lucia Ogilvie-Putt.

Nigel Chidgey

May the Force Be With Me

Nigel’s Weekend

Report – Nigel Chidgey

For me, the weekend kicked off on a high note—with the force clearly on my side!

On Saturday I celebrated a personal milestone by completing my 250th parkrun. It was a great moment that set the tone for a weekend packed with activity.

The excitement didn’t stop there—Monday brought “Marathon Monday,” and with it, another chance to chase my elusive Boston qualifying time, this time at the not so exotic location of Milton Keynes.

I found myself asking, would the force still be with me?

The race began a bit cramped, making it tough to settle into a good rhythm for the first few kilometers. Determined to pace myself better this time, I decided to stick close to the 3:45 pacer and see how things unfolded.

The course was exceptionally organized and the crowd support was energizing throughout.

In retrospect, I probably left too much of the pacing to the pacer, who set a brisk early pace to “bank some time.”

Unfortunately, I hit a rough patch around the 28k mark when cramp struck, and after taking a gel at 34k, I ended up feeling sick. So, while the force may not have been quite as strong on Monday, there’s still a silver lining: it was my fastest marathon this year with a finishing time of 4:01.

All in all, it was a weekend of highs, challenges, and lessons learned—and I’m already looking forward to the next one!

Here’s to pushing boundaries and keeping the momentum going.

Martha Edwards

Brewer Memorial Games

It is said that a picture paints a thousand words and this picture most certainly does. Martha had just broken her high jump PB, going from 1.35m to 1.45. Just reward for all the hard work she puts in at training.

Also at the Brewer Memorial Games on Bank Holiday Monday were U14 Alice McIntosh, who threw a PB of 29.83 in the javelin, finishing 2nd out of the 15 competing.

It was an extremely busy meeting for U14 Elsie Pipitone who threw a PB of 5.05m in the shot put. Elsie also recorded times of 14.35 and 29.53 respectively in the 100 and 200m respectively and jumped 3.83m in the long jump.

James Day

One of the performances that caught my eye in the Tempo Trail Races was that of U20 James Day in the half marathon. He was 2nd out of the 92 runners who completed the course and 1st in his age category with an impressive time of 1:52.44.
I think it fair to say that a half marathon, let alone a trail half marathon, is somewhat outside of his comfort zone but I think there may have been a bit of arm twisting from his father.

Well done James. Marathon next ?

Tempo Events Trail Races

Last Sunday saw several of our club members competing at this event. The day consisted of 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon, 50k and Ultra races.

The Ultra was won by Gus Northfield in a time of 9:10.05, some 3 hours quicker than the 2nd placed runner!

There were 26 competitors in the 50k race which was won by Tom Charman in a time of 5:26.52 with our own Lloyd Walton (6:02.50) finishing in 5th place and Brian Maye (7:41.09) in 21st place.

The marathon was won by Ben Crone in 3:56.20 with club member Dan Bristow finishing 3rd in 4:17.44.

We had 11 members compete in the half marathon, with U20 James Day (1:52.44) finishing in a superb 2nd place. Husband and wife Wayne (2:32.06) and Emma Vickers ( 2:32.07) were 26th and 27th respectively. They were followed by 8 of our lady members : Cara Reynolds 2:41.27, Lisa Lambourn 3:01.30, Alix Frost 3:03.24, Katy Liddell 3:04.45, Susan Hunt 3:06.58, Ali Kirk 3:07.19, Caroline Skelton 3:26.59 and Megan Hurley 3:31.47.

There were a couple of our members in the 10k race, which was won by Stephen Jeffries in 1:00.49, with Suzie Ross finishing 5th in a time of 1:06.22 and Emma Davis 47th in 1:52.21. Both ladies were 2nd in their respective age categories.

For a full set of results please follow the link below:

https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16418&RId=3161

Out and About

A catch up on some of the what’s been happening. I will have missed stuff, so apologies.

Leamington Open Graded Series

At this meeting on Tuesday, 3 of our athletes were competing and there were PBs a plenty.

U16 Latisha Akintomide ran PBs in her 100 and 200m races of 17.02 and 36.41 respectively. She also threw 3.60, in her shot put.

For U16 Jasmine Mothershaw there were PBs in both of her events. 32.56 in the 200m and 5:37.96 in the 1500m.

Masters athlete Nathan Darby will have been pleased with his electronic timing PB of 26.08 in the 200m. He also ran 13.15 in the 100m.

University of Birmingham T&F Series.

26th April.

Four of our athletes competed in the 3000m at this meet, with all of them recording PBs.

Finishing quickest of the 54 athletes competing over this distance, in the 3 races, was U18 Sam Lambert, who’s time of 8:28.17 obliterated his previous best time by 28 seconds. This time places him 3rd in the UK rankings for his age category.

Senior male Alex Pester (8:53.30) knocked close to 6 seconds off his previous best time. U20 Zak Lambert was happy with his PB time of 8:54.12. Dougie Garnett rounded off the quartet of PBs with a time of 9:01.15, a 5 second improvement on his previous best.

May Shakespeare Race

Wednesday saw 47 of our members compete in this month’s Shakespeare race,

According to race organiser Simon Penson, it was a sunny, dry evening, with just a bit of a breeze (!).

The trails were dry as a bone. The venue seemed to work well with plenty of parking and a friendly welcome from Julia and the team.

The race saw a first victory for Freddie Brett in a time 39:59. He was followed, in 2nd place, by James Lake (40:48).

First lady finisher, in 3rd place overall, was Sarie Weaving (41:50). It was then Paul Faithfull (4th – 42:04) followed by Kate Wright (5th, 2nd lady, 42:16).

The only junior in the race, Daniel Sear (43:16) finished in 6th place. He was followed by David Smyth (7th – 43.25) and in what was a successful night for the ladies, with 3 finishing in the top 9, Santa Pavlika completed the course in 43:56.

The other top 5 lady finishers were Bronwen Mansel (16th – 48:13) and Helen Platts (48:16).

For the full set of results please follow the link below:

https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16418&RId=996&EId=5

Your newsletter

500 and counting

Last week was the 500th edition of the on-line version of the club’s newsletter.

It got overlooked due to the plethora of marathon and half marathon reports.

This version was started over 10 years ago by Victoria Jeffs, who edited the first 57 editions before handing over to yours truly.

Hopefully it is seen as a good way of communicating with the whole of the membership, both young and not so young, plus ex-members who have chosen not to unsubscribe.

A major reason for me producing the newsletter is to make junior members aware of what the seniors are up to and senior members aware of what the juniors are up to.

We are one club.

Hopefully it also allows information to be shared for the benefit whole of the membership

Amongst some of the Paul Bearman Archives, that he may well have forgotten he has handed over to me, I came across a pre on-line edition from just over 25 years ago. I have shown just the 1st and last pages of what was a comprehensive newsletter.

Reading it through I noticed a few recurring themes – an appeal for officials, an appeal for more coaches, a save the date for the Club Champs on 8th September. There was also an update on proposals for a new track at what is now Stratford School. Goodness me that worked out pretty good didn’t it ?

I also noticed that the cost of our running vest in 2001 was £12 – accounting for inflation that is £22.95 today and the cost of a new standard running vest today is £23. Pretty good eh.