Charly shines for Team GB – Stratford upon Avon Athletics Club

Charly Marshall representing Team GB

You probably all know that Alex Yee and Beth Potter did us proud by winning gold and bronze respectively in the triathlon over in Paris but closer to home our very own Charly Marshall also did us proud by competing for Team GB in the European Triathlon Junior cup in Tábor, Czechia. This is the elite competition for U20 European triathletes. Many congratulations Charly, we’re all very proud of you.

Closer to home, Wednesday night saw the final league fixture of this year’s Vets T&F League at Redditch. The camaraderie and team spirit on the night was exemplified by the final race of the evening, the over 50 4x100m mixed relay. Our squad ran an awesome race, neck and neck with Worcester down the finishing straight and with Dave Wilson bringing the team home in 1st place. Well done one and all.

Last weekend in Derby saw 3 of these Vets, Paula Williams, Jan McLure and Phil Brennan competing at the British Masters Athletics Federation Track and Field Championships, with all 3 of them returning with medals. Impressive or what ?

Birmingham’s iconic Alexander Stadium was the venue for this year’s England Athletics U15 & U17 Open Championships. Keenan Stratford, Seb Hillard, Toby Thomas and Ethan Winning were competing and proudly wearing their Stratford vests. This was a big step up in the level of competition for them all and they will have learned greatly from this experience.

Take care.

David Jones

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Charly on her run

There’s nothing wrong with the water quality here.

European Triathlon Junior Cup

Report – Kate Marshall

Charly Marshall (19) was on international duty this weekend representing Great Britain in the European Triathlon Junior Cup in Tábor, Czechia. This Junior Cup is Europe’s elite competition for under 20s and Marshall enjoyed the Czech event last year setting one of her strongest racing career performances.

Marshall had an exceptional 750m swim in the beautiful lake in Tábor which was an enticing 21*C. She left the water amongst the leaders with a swim time over a minute faster than the previous year.

Starting out with determination on the 20k bike Marshall had a strong first lap. This is a challenging course with many steep ascents, followed by fast, technical descents. Marshall had a large slide and near collision at pace on one such descent losing several places. She completed the bike in 36:25.

Charly had a faultless transition to the 5km run which was 3 circuits of a city course which included a total of 100m ascent. She consolidated a solid race with an 18:56 run time and finished with an overall time of 1.08:40 in 24th place.

Marshall reflected she found it challenging working in the bike pack as there was no communication and it was difficult to predict the actions of other athletes. Having recently come off the bike at speed she was cautious to avoid a similar event.

She was pleased as this was a similar time to last year, with clear improvements on the swim and more European competition experience.

Midland Vets T&F League.

Wednesday night at Redditch saw the final league fixture of this year’s Midland Vet’s T&F League season. Team manager Hannah Osborne summed the night up by saying “The last match of the league at Redditch was a warm evening for competitors and officials. There was a great mix of throws, jumps, runs and racewalks, with some strong performances and the best team spirit. It was great to see some new members getting involved for the first time too. Next up is the cup final on 1st September in Nuneaton”

Members of our vets team along with some of our invaluable officials

The camaraderie and team spirit on the night was exemplified in the final race of the night, the over 50 4x100m mixed relay. Our squad ran an awesome race, neck and neck with Worcester down finishing straight but with Dave Wilson bringing the team home in 1st place.

L to R: Dave Wilson, Paula Williams, Ian Hill and Sharon Masters.

I know what you’re thinking – there must be some mistake, surely none of them are over 50.

Paula Williams – Another impressive medal haul. Nice nails !

A smiling Jan Mclure on the podium

British Masters Athletics Federation Track and Field Championships.

Derby

Report – Paula Williams

It was gorgeous weather at theses Championships and the 800+ entrants contributed to some administrative challenges and delays to the start of events – but that didn’t stop me enjoying the heck out of the weekend.

Saturday started with the 80mh which I won. Not a great time but happy enough.

After a delay to the start time we ran our 100m heats with the final billed as the last track event of the day at about 6:30 pm.

There was a great atmosphere at javelin as we sunned ourselves between throws and I came away with a win.

As the stadium emptied at 6:30 we ran our 100m final and I came across the line in second place.

Not a bad day – 2 golds and a silver on day one.

My only event in day 2 was the shot put at 4:30 so I volunteered as a field official from 10-3:30. That was hard work! Maybe harder than competing. I retrieved hammer and javelins pulled through tape and raked sand pits in the sun. I already had a huge appreciation for officials and Sunday’s experience just added to that.

I came away from shot with the win and my 6th throw of 13m+ this season.

3 golds and a silver is not be sniffed at, especially as I thought my achilles injury would have me out of competing until January.

In her first season of racewalking and in her first national Championships, Jan McLure came away with a silver medal in her W50 age category to add to the silver medal she won in the Midland Championships earlier in July. This was Jan’s first competitive 3000m race.

Another great champs with wonderful athletes and officials.

Thanks Stratford AC for continuing to support us. It was lovely to have Jan and Phil wearing the Stratford club vests too – I’m very grateful.

Phil Brennan on the podium

Phil’s British Masters T&F Championships

Report – Phil Brennan

BMAF Champs: day 1: I was entered in 1500m in the morning and 400m in the afternoon.

Unfortunately there were major computer issues with the timetable all day, with everything running late and absolutely no point in asking “what time will it be?”

Because of this and with changeable weather conditions, I totally mismanaged my warm-up. I think this was the reason why, halfway round the 1500, I suddenly felt ill, with what felt like oxygen debt and I could only jog through to the finish.

Fortunately this was still good enough for silver.

By the official time of the 400m, I had the additional problem of not eating properly, so after an hour’s wait and no end in sight, I decided to quit and went home very grumpy indeed.

On Sunday the weather was fine, the timetable was back on track, the call room staff were no longer under siege and everyone was happy.

I had a reasonable go at the 800m, slow but not feeling as if I was going to die halfway through.

Another second place – I love it when the favourite is a DNS.

None of the problems on Saturday could spoil the enjoyment of spending the weekend meeting my Masters buddies again, not forgetting SAC chums Paula (of course) and new kid at the Championships Jan McLure.

L to R: U17 hurdlers Toby Thomas, Ethan Winning and Seb Hillard.

Keenan Stratford

Seb surges over the finish line

Left: Father and son – Nick and Seb Hillard
Right: Seb alongside club member Danny Tolhurst of England Athletics. Don’t you just envy Danny, getting to meet superstars like young Seb and getting paid for it.

England Athletics U15 & U17 Open Championships, U20 & Senior Open Combined Events Championships, Junior Para Championships (11-18), UK Combined Events Championships

Catchy title eh!

Four of our up and coming and talented juniors competed in these Championships last weekend at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. This was a big step up in the level of competition for them.

The U17 hurdlers Seb Hillard (14.98), Toby Thomas (15.26) and Ethan Winning (15.37) were all disappointed in their performances but it was a great experience for them in their first national champs.

Keenan Stratford’s time of 23.45 in the U17 200m was narrowly outside his PB time of 23.34.