Hobnobbing with the elite !

Vet’s T&F League Fixture 2. 

17/06/26

Report – Nathan Darby 

Last Wednesday night saw the second fixture of the Midlands Vet’s League Track and Field. This time it was a home fixture, and as David briefly reported last week, was a thoroughly enjoyable and well organised event.

Following on from the recruitment drive which saw success in the first fixture, we managed to fill all the events, which means much needed points.

Welcome to James Chamberlain who made his league debut in the hammer and shot and made an instant impact. 

The result is one to be exceedingly proud of.

In both the men’s and women’s events we closed the gap on league leaders Worcester and moved further ahead of Bromsgrove & Redditch and Halesowen. The results put the men’s team in second place on 117.5pts, just 6.5pts behind Worcester, and the women on 132.5pts which is 18.5pts behind Worcester. Both of these have extended our lead in the league over Halesowen and Bromsgrove & Redditch.

On the track, we saw some great performances. Particular highlights were as follows: In the M70 100m was a clash of the titans with David Jones getting the edge on Paul Hawkins who was running as a guest. Both Elaine Ledden and David Wilson looked excellent in the 100m and I somehow managed to maintain my record of only ever running 12.7 seconds on the Stratford track!

In the women’s 800m, Angela Williamson, in her first ever race over this distance,  Sharon Masters and Donna Allen all placed exceptionally well. Peter Sugden made a return to the 1 mile walk and placed a respectable 2^nd, and Jan McLure as ever looked comfortable in finishing 2^nd too.

Massive thanks to all the 3,000m runners – some of who were roped in at the last minute, vital points picked up all round with Richard Dobedoe securing first place in the M60.

Again, we saved our most exciting performances for the relays. In the M35 mixed 4x400m relay, the team of Dave Battersby, Donna Allen, myself and Sharon Masters finished in 3^rd, less than 2 seconds behind the 1^st placed team. If I hadn’t been running through treacle on the final handover, who knows we may have won! In the same event for the M50 category, we ran Halesowen a close 2^nd, after some heroic running from Mark Illingworth, Angela Williamson, David Wilson and Elaine Ledden.

In the field Paula Williams somehow managed to win all 3 of her throwing events despite still recovering from a broken leg!

Debutant James Chamberlain performed admirably in the hammer and shot, despite only training for the javelin!

Our multi event specialists Elaine Ledden and Mark Illingworth both scored highly in the field despite the exertions of the track. A special shout to both Tory Stewart and Kate Sergent for performing in the High Jump and Long Jump respectively, to help the team effort. Especially Kate, who had sat in traffic for 10 hours that day travelling down from Scotland to compete!

The athletes taking part, rightly take the plaudits for their performances. However, as this was a home match it took tireless dedication from a team of people behind the scenes to ensure that these events can take place. Apologies if I miss anyone off the list, but huge thanks to co-manager Kathryn Woodcock, who sacrificed participating herself to ensure that the match was properly officiated and her organisational skills made this event happen – thankfully we didn’t have to rely on mine!

Paul Bearman, Carolyne Johnston and Sandy Green all used their expertise in organising these events to help make it a success and kept me on the straight and narrow. Thanks also  to Rachel Clark, Brian and Alison Gravelsons, Daf Hawkins, Sarah Bland, Andy List, Ruby Edwards, Ava Sheppard, Eve Cunningham, and Sue Mothershaw and John Boxall who volunteered as timekeepers, track and field judges and helpers for their commitment. Particularly Sue and John who also competed!

It is nights like these that make you realise how special our club is. We are punching above our weight in a league thanks to the tireless efforts of all the members who turn up to compete and officiate. An amazing effort, thank you.

Next fixture is 22^nd July at the Dell Stadium, Brierley Hill. I hope that I can rely on our members to commit to this event, just as we did for a home event. I can’t wait!

Mason Trophy Inter County Championships.

After their performances in the County Championships 12 Stratford athletes were selected to represent their respective counties in the Inter County Mason Trophy Championship in Stoke. 

This competition is only just one down from the National English Schools’ Athletic Association (ESAA) Champs and so represented a big step up in the level of competition with many of them competing at this level for the first time against Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and the West Midlands

 SUAAC MASON TROPHY INTER COUNTY 2026 ATHLETES

Amongst some very good performances and personal bests, the stand out silver medal performances came from Will Hovell in the in the Inter Boys 400m hurdles, Finn Jackson in the Junior boys 100m hurdles and Alex Wood in the Inter Boys 400 m.

Martha Edwards was also in action for Gloucester schools in the South West version of the Mason’s Trophy finishing with a consistent 1.42m in the junior girls High Jump.

The upshot from all this school’s activity is that 6 Stratford athletes are in the Warwickshire squad for the upcoming ESAA national championships at the Alexander Stadium.

Lolita Newby-Vincent (300m Hurdles), Finn Jackson (100m Hurdles), Will Hovell and Seb Hillard (400m Hurdles), Alex Wood (400m), Sam Lambert (1500m) and Carter McKenzie who just narrowly missed out on selection is on the Reserve list for the junior boys 800m.

Ethan Winning (100m Hurdles) also qualified and is competing for H&W.

In addition to the competitors, Carolyne Johnston has assembled 29 Stratford junior athletes who will be marshalled by 5 volunteer parents in a multitude of roles including kit carriers and cool room assistants.

Midlands T&F League

Technical Event

Birmingham University

Report – David Jones

Last Sunday saw our small put perfectly formed Midland T&F League team competing in this technical match at Birmingham University. 

This match wass designed to offer athletes in the “less popular” events a more competitive experience by having all divisions compete together. 

The scoring events were: Sprint Hurdles, 400H, 400m, 3kSC, 3k Racewalk, PV, HJ, TJ, HT. Additional non-scoring events were the 100m & SP.

Although our team consisted of just 10 athletes there were fine performances all round and no fewer than 8 PBs.

Team Manager Mike Sheppard commented after the match “The SUAAC results were really very good indeed with some significant PBs achieved along the way. A great effort by everyone”. 
 

Our 3 U18s juniors all finished the day by recording personal bests. Multi – eventer Will Hovell ran a PB of 12.65 in the 100m, cleared 3.20m in the pole vault and 1.55m in the high jump. Both Tom Stanton and Ella Smith ran PBs in their respective 400m races. Tom’s time was 51.17 and Ella knocked a couple of seconds of her previous best with a time of 60.53. Tom also ran  a PB in his 100m race (11.65), with Ella running hers in 13.13.

Our racewalkers performed admirably in their 3000m event, with Jan McClure recording a PB time of 19:44.22 and Paul Hawkins 23:50.46.

Dave Battersby threw 20m plus for the first time in his hammer competition with a best throw of 20:22.

I was delighted to run sub 82 seconds (81.87) in my 400m for the first time in almost 3 years. I don’t run it very often though ! 

Paula Williams threw 11.36m in the shot put and 26.12m in the hammer with Imy Sheppard throwing 20.22 in the same event.

Past performances are based on Po10 and anyone who uses it regularly is probably aware that it isn’t as reliable as it once was following it’s ‘upgrade’

Offa’s Dyke 15

Report – David Jones

This race was first run in 1977 and became hugely popular for its beauty and the challenge. It then ran until 2002 when foot and mouth put a stop to it. It restarted in 2015.

The route consists of 15 miles of the best running trails and follows the Offa’s Dyke footpath on the Welsh/English border between Hay-on-Wye and Kington.

This year 335 competitors completed the course, including 8 of our members. 

There was a double success for Wayne and Emma Vickers, with both winning their respective M/W 55 age category. Wayne finished in 16th place overall with a time of 2:01.42 and Emma was 93rd in 2:30.31.

Wayne was followed by David Smyth (31st – 2:11.03), followed by Pete Sugden (69th – 2:24.21), Tim Hutchinson (88th – 2:29.54) and Gerard Thompson (91st – 2:30.27)

It was then the turn of our 2nd lady finisher, Sarah Gillard (133rd – 2:40.10) and then Ali Kirk (335th – 4:23.51).

The race was won by Eric Apperly (1:44.26) of Croft Ambrey and the first lady finisher, in 30th place, was Lucy Carlow form TRX Wolves with a time of 2:09.49