It’s a Family Affair.

Strathearn Marathon

Report  – Susan Hunt.

In the mid-1980s, my mother (in her late 40s) discovered running via a training plan in the Sunday Times colour supplement.

 Looking for company on her runs in Highland Perthshire (those were the days when male drivers would yell at her to “get back home to her family”), she tried out her local running club, Strathearn Harriers.  Finding herself surrounded by fast men in tiny shorts, she scuttled back home and founded Crieff Roadrunners for like-minded social runners.  

She went on to run marathons in London, New York, Glasgow and San Diego.  I loved supporting her; but it never occurred to me to run with her (too busy with my student social life), which I now regret hugely.

We were devastated to lose her to cervical cancer, aged 53,  in 1988.  

My father donated a silver trophy to Crieff Roadrunners in her memory; before moving away.  He later heard that the club didn’t last long without her at the helm.

Having never got to run with my mum, the Strathearn Marathon presented an opportunity to do the next best thing and run in her footsteps, on her old stomping ground.

The race is a low-key (and hilly) event organised by Strathearn Harriers, based at Cultybraggan: a former prisoner of war camp (known during WW2 as “the Black Camp of the North” due to its residents being those classified as the most committed Nazis) in the village of Comrie, close to Crieff.

It is billed as “Scotland’s friendliest marathon, run by runners for runners”.  I can confirm this is true; though their description of “rolling hills” is an understatement (speaking as someone who has become Stratford-soft when it comes to elevation).

With an entry of only around 200 runners (138 finishers), I was excited to take advantage of a rare offer to label and drop off my own bottles for transportation to 2 water stations, to be handed to me as I passed. 

We were led to the start by a piper, and then set off for one lap of the camp before heading up into the hills.

The route was both brutal and breathtaking.  There was happy banter in the mid-pack, the warmth of the support from the marshals made up for the fact that the only spectators were sheep and we all willingly smiled for the camera because the photographer was dressed as a squirrel.

As always, I had to dig deep from 18 miles onwards (oh the joy of being handed my own lovingly-decorated bottle of tailwind at 19 miles) and I doubt whether anyone has been happier to arrive at a prison camp than I was when I crossed the line (4:24:17, 2nd out of only 3 V60s)

Adorned with wooden squirrel medal, I met the Run Director in the cake queue and started to tell him about my mum.  He told me he had run with her (having joined Crieff Roadrunners aged 22), that the club had later merged with Strathearn Harriers and that they have awarded “her” trophy, donated by my Dad, every year for 35 years.

The race director took me around to meet some of the Strathearn Harrier ladies who have won Mum’s trophy over the years.  They said it is much coveted, because, although it’s tiny, it’s real silver (unlike all the others). 

I couldn’t have hoped for a happier ending to my Strathearn adventure, and I headed back to share the story with my 90-year-old Dad, who had thought that Mum’s trophy was long gone and forgotten.

It was the happiest conclusion out of all my marathons; but I have to admit that I wept all the way back to my Dad’s house 🥹 

I’m now considering second claim membership of Strathearn Harriers so that I can win that trophy !

The Midland Counties AA U15 and U17 Championships.

 

Report – Paul Bearman

These championships, held at the Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton is a top-class competition just below national level and covers a huge geographical area including Nottinghamshire in the north, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire in the east Avon in the south and Shropshire in the west and 5 other counties in-between. 

The weather played a big part in the 2 days of competition and on a very blustery day one, with occasional torrential showers, and variable conditions on day two, some of the Stratford ACs youngsters who took part came home with a varied selection of medals and most with Personal Bests despite the conditions.

The star of the weekend was undoubtedly Under 17 Will Hovell who continued to build his medal collection from the recent County Championships by winning 2 gold medals and a bronze.

His weekend started with a stunning win in the 400m hurdles. After a controlled run over the first 250m he had to battle all the way to the finish with his close rival Christian Christian from Birchfield and his swallow dive over the line gave him a body full of grazes but the gold medal and a huge 2 second PB of. 58.8secs.

He followed his up on the 2^nd say with a win in the High Jump (1.55m) and bronze in the Long Jump with another PB of 5.39m. Will was joined on the podium by Ben Blatcher who won the silver medal with a jump of 1.50.

Not to be outdone, Annie Silvers had another good run over the 300m hurdles winning the silver medal in a new PB 46.64s and then followed this up with 4^th place in the 800m in a time of 2.20.8.

Traipsing 40km around the Dales over 2 days was lousy preparation for going into a championship of this magnitude but Alex Wood shrugged off the tiredness in his legs and on the 1^st day lined up in the 200m heats and duly qualified for the final and ran a PB of 22.69s finishing 7th. 

After a massage and a good sleep, he lined up for his favoured event the 400m heats and qualified for the final and then against a national standard list of competitors he ran another PB of 51.05s and was nudged out of the bronze medal by just 1 tenth of a second.

The sprinters had a good weekend by producing PBs galore but no medals against stiff competition. In the U17 200m, Ella Smith led the way qualifying from her heat with a PB and then finishing the final in 26.25s another PB. Scarlett Dawson (27.13s), Rachel Blackwood (27.78s) and Eve Cunningham (29.83s) all ran PBs and for good measure Eve threw 15.64m in the javelin 

Scarlett (13.35s) and Rachel (13.55s) kept busy by competing in the 100m and surprisingly entered the Shot throwing 6.32m and 5.57m respectively.

Out of all the Stratford contingent Holly competed in the High Jump in by far the worst of the weather and in the strong blustery and rainy conditions she still managed to record 1.50m just below her PB but still good enough to win the bronze medal. 

Lila Gallinagh competed in the U15 75m Hurdles  finishing in 14.20s and in swirling conditions for the High Jump she jumped 1.40m to win the silver medal.

In the U15s Jasper Cooper competed in both the 100m and 300m and surprised himself by running PBs in his heats that qualified him for both finals finishing with best times of 12.53s and 41.7s.

In his first race coming back from injury, Harry Cutler ran in the U17 100m finishing his heat in 12.07s.

Lucia Ogilvie-Putt ran a PB of 2:33.94 in her U15 800m race, she also threw 12.13 metres in the discus.

Swirling winds played havoc with the middle distance races and U17 Arthur Williamson, who was also recovering from his trek around the Dales, competed in the 1500m finishing in a time of 4:27.47 and he was followed home by Joel Ledgard 4:30.29.

In the longer 3000m Marijke Tear-Verwij ran a huge 37 seconds PB, recording a time of 10:37.95, this despite the windy conditions and despite having run in the Sphinx 5 race just a few days previous. Her performance earned her the bronze medal. Over the same distance, Jasmine Mothershaw recorded a time of 12:12.97 in her first competitive race over this distance.

In their first competition at this level, a trio of under13 boys and girls competed in the Quadrathlon (80m 600m, Howler & Long Jump) and  all acquitted themselves well especially in the fluctuating conditions with Fynn Allen winning the bronze medal in the boys event.

The final race was the U17 100m hurdles and Ethan Winning produced the most stunning performance of the day by beating his close rivals for the first time winning the gold medal in a PB time of 13.74s that shot him up the UK rankings and just outside the top 10