A truly memorable and successful weekend.

Warwickshire County Championships

Report – Paul Bearman

The Warwickshire County Championships is very early into the Track & Field season and is the only external competition when the whole of the club can be involved together. 

Whilst many chose not to compete for various reasons, 110 Stratford upon Avon AC athletes, across the age groups, mostly juniors, descended on the Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton to pit their skills against the other clubs within the old Warwickshire County boundary, including Birmingham, Rugby, Solihull and Coventry.

Nearly 700 athletes competed in over 1000 events over the 2 days.

A very impressive haul of 57 medals, 20 Gold, 14 silver and 23 bronze medals, our best number for a few years, saw a steady flow of Stratford’s athletes standing on the podium to receive their medals but as always it was the 4^th to 8^th positions for athletes reaching the finals that massively help the club’s total points to try to regain the Warwick Vase.

The team scores are still being worked out and so at this point we have no idea how the club fared for the best total of points scored by a club, but what we do know is that with the track swamped over the 2 days by Stratford’s bright yellow vests we are hoping to be there or thereabouts trying to regain the trophy. 

Having said that the bar, regarding strength of competition, has again been raised this year with virtually every club in the county increasing their number of entrants and the quality of athletes competing, so we recognise a top 3 place would be recognised as a successful championship…..we shall see !

What is satisfying from a club point of view is that all the Stratford athletes took their “A” game to the championships and the medallists and finalists were spread right across the age groups and events; sprints, sprint and long hurdles, middle and long distance, all the jumps including Pole Vault, all the throws and Jan McClure and Paul Hawkins in the Racewalking.

This meant that there was a constant stream of athletes competing in all parts of the track virtually non-stop over the 2 days with the middle distance, hurdles, throws and jumps groups in particular, who don’t always get the limelight, providing a continual source of point scoring and medal winning performances.

My abiding memories will be our Vets providing a constant source of points scoring and medallists…..”age shall not weary them” and they just keep producing the good

Then watching 2 of our mutli eventers, Will Hovell and Lila Gallinagh, competing in 3 events at the same time in the space of half an hour, due to changes in the timetable, was simply mind boggling. Bear in mind these are highly technical events and in normal circumstances in a combined event competition events are spread over a whole day.

Lila had to literally run from Long Jump to High Jump (winning medals in both) and in between run the 80m hurdles. Will’s experience was similar but in his case he ran the gruelling 400m hurdles in between having to run from one end of the track to compete in the Pole Vault and High Jump and he won medals in all 3 events. 

Full results are on https://live.entry4sports.com/liteclient/index.html?t=1779095288111#/results/1418 and will eventually be found on Power of 10

It took ages trawling through the results, so I hope I haven’t missed anyone.

21 of our Under 11s, our new generation of young athletes, competed in the Quadrathlon, which is a multi-event competition comprising of 75m, 600m, Howler throw and Long Jump.

Henry Yates came out on top winning the gold medal and Saskia Atkins won the silver medal in the girl’s competition. 

They all performed well and most importantly had fun and enjoyed the experience in what was their first time at such an event.

In addition Florence ANDREWS did well competing in the Worcestershire championships.

Overall, there were many outstanding individual performances in the championships although it’s the contribution from all the athletes that was so impressive and it’s thanks to the coaches who mastermind the training and also the officials and Warks AA organisers that makes the champs such a great event and occasion.

1. Pulse the sunflower seeds in a high-speed blender starting at low and gradually increasing the speed until they reach a course flour consistency, then a gummy ball. 
2. Add the coconut oil, and continue to process, increasing speed to medium or medium/high until the sunflower seeds liquify. The mixture should be quite runny. 
3. Add the cocoa powder, honey or maple syrup, vanilla, and salt and process to combine. Throughout this process, you’ll need to stop frequently to scrape down the sides of the container (to make sure all ingredients are getting incorporated) and loosen the mixture from the bottom of the container. Don’t let it clump around the blade too much, which strains your machine’s motor. 
4. Continue to process until smooth. Taste and add more honey or maple syrup if you prefer. 

Vet’s T&F League

Fixture 1
 

Report – Nathan Darby
 

After a long, wet, miserable winter we were all looking forward to the return of summer and track and field.

It seems that the wait might be a little longer!

The first fixture of the season for the Vet’s T&F league was at Redditch and the bulk of the action was sandwiched between a hailstorm and near typhoon conditions!

It was also the first meeting since Hannah Osborne’s move to bigger and better things, so Kathryn Woodcock and I were left hoping that we would be able to organise the team at least half as well as she had.

Our recent recruitment drive had borne fruit with several new faces amongst the team, so a massive welcome to Victoria Stewart, Angela Williamson and Mike Hayward.

Being the first fixture and especially in cold conditions, there is always the worry that injuries may bite us on the backside and his was definitely the case.

Vet’s League points machine, Paula Williams was already ruled out having broken her ankle recently. Further injuries on the night were sustained by Dave Battersby, Diane Farmer and Andy List. Thankfully, we managed to chop and change the team and thank you to everyone who stood in, especially for the final events which were conducted in the typhoon!

The Southern Division of the league in which we compete is typically dominated by Worcester, and this fixture was no exception, as they won both the men’s and women’s competitions.

However, the great news is that we finished second in both, which is an outstanding team achievement. The men’s competition was exceedingly tight, with Worcester on 127 points, Stratford on 111, Halesowen and Bromsgrove & Redditch were tied on 110 points! This only emphasises the importance of every point counting, and key to that is filling all of the events.

Our next fixture is at home, so no excuses in June!

The team result was a fantastic team effort, with all participants earning valuable points. Though it would be remiss of me not to call out a few individual highlights. One of the best sights of the evening was seeing Paul Hawkins back running and holding his own in the 100m! Andy List triumphed in his 100m race despite being injured, I did suggest that he could then participate in more events on the night, but was given short shrift!

David Wilson took first place in a very tight race and it was great to see Victoria Stewart and Angela Willamson claiming 4^th and 2^nd places respectively in their vet’s league debuts.

In the 400m, Sharon Masters won her W35 race despite being 2 age categories older! I was disappointed that Dave Wilson didn’t do the same in the M35, but will let him off seeing that the B&R athlete won in 52 secs with at least a clear 50m behind him!

There were creditable performances by Richard Gubby and Mike Hayward in the 1,500m, especially seeing how competitive the middle distance events tend to be.

In the field, Dave Battersby, Andy List and Diane Farmer scored well, despite being injured. John Boxall claimed the M60 High Jump victory with ease and Paula Williams did what she does best, coming 2^nd in the javelin by 40cm despite not being able to take a run up!

The highlight of the evening for me was the women’s 4x200m relay team, made up of Sharon Masters, Angela Willamson, Victoria Stewart and Kathryn Woodcock, who came 2^nd with two debutants and in some of the worst conditions imaginable for a sprint event. Very proud!

Overall, it was great to be back, and I personally had a great night. Kathryn and I would like to wish all of our injured athletes a speedy recovery and more importantly extend warm thanks to everyone who turned up to run, jump, throw, racewalk, measure, time and record, and help make this first match of the season so successful.

Can’t wait for the next one already!