A Succesful Takeover

Parkrun Takeover

Saturday 18th January

Report – Susan Hunt

Last Saturday saw the much anticipated (by me anyway) take-over by my beloved Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club. 

On any parkrun day you find many of us parkrunners doing laps of the Recreation Ground but in plain clothes/ milestone merchandise.  On Saturday we got to show off in our black and yellow (some would say ‘gold’) club vests and a lucky few of us (pacers) got to look even more important by pinning a number onto our backs.

The Parkrun Core team had kindly allowed the club to take on volunteer roles that included course-checking, setting up, briefing, scanning, marshalling and tail-walking – all under the watchful eye of ‘Bratalie’ (Run EDs Brad and Natalie).

The temperature hovered just above freezing (luxury compared to the recent conditions wraught by weather-armaggedon) as we were briefed on course conditions and applauded those runners who were celebrating milestones (which included Nikki Pearson’s100th)

And then we were off for a joyful 3 laps.  

Since I was pacing (27 minutes), my eyes were mainly glued to my watch; but I did notice the hardcore rowers on the river who weren’t wearing gloves and were looking in vain for the elusive black swan.  

Once safely returned and scanned, I headed off to warm up over a celebratory breakfast in honour of friend, clubmate and England Masters Marathon runner, Kate Sergent –  who completed her 300th parkrun.

The results reveal that 20 people completed their first ever parkrun.  

There were at least 35 finishers from Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club – we welcome new members and had several enquires asking about club membership

The first finisher was James Dunne in a not too shabby 17:40 and the first female finisher was Gemma Collier, in a speedy 20:51.

The parkrunniest person was Andrew Brown (532 parkruns) and the highest age grade was achieved by Stratford Athletic Club’s own Richard Dobedoe (80.10%)

Congratulations to those completing milestones on the day:

25 Ciprian Chivoiu, James Halstead and Suthiphong Reed

50 Dawn Chaning-Pearce

100 Nikki Pearson and of course Kate Sergent on 300

Many thanks to the Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club members volunteers and a special thank you to the Parkrun Core team for allowing us to ‘take-over’.

Warwickshire County Schools Cross Country Championships 2025

Report – Paul Hawkins

The school championships were held at Princethorpe on Saturday 20th January and attracted the leading junior endurance runners in the county including 30 from Stratford AC.

The leading athletes in each race would be selected for the county team in the English Schools Championships where there are 8 runners in each team.

Although a cold day conditions were good on the hilly course.

The first two races for minors (Year 7) were not qualifying races but they were keen races for medals over the 2400m course

In the first girls race there was a one-two for Stratford with Maggie Silvers leading the way in first, closely followed by Amelie Marshall in second then Eliza McLeod (4th) and Emily Lambert (6th).

There was more success for Stratford members in the boys race  which was won by Robin Gallagher with Charlie Castle second, then Charlie-Jay Cassells (7) and Toby Ledgard (15)

The junior age groups were run over a 3200m course where the junior girls brought more success for Stratford members.  Lucia Ogilvie-Putt was in the leading group for the whole race before finishing a close second, she was followed in 6th place by a delighted Elle Weir and then it was Portia Nabney (7), Isabella Marriot (13), Jasmine Mothershaw (16) and Georgia Sharpe (22)

Our junior boys saw Tom Yates leading the way in 12th, Alistair Durance (17) and Toby Wilkinson (20)

The final two races of the days were combined Inters (Year 10 & 11) and seniors (Years 12 & 13).

First up was the combined girls race over 3630m. In the senior race Niamh Hillard took an early lead and remained at the front for the whole race. Fortunately she was paced by some of the leading inters who ran with her for part of the race. Second senior was Abbi Cooper who continues her very strong season.

In the inter race Marijke Tear-Verweij had a quick race and was very strong on the hills coming, second inter and second overall. Finally in this race was Lois Ford (13)

The last race of the day was the boys race over 4700m although it did seem a little less than that according to all the runners.

This race included many strong athletes and there were good results for Stratford runners in the seniors race with second place Zak Lambert and third place Will Mayes in the medals followed by James Day (6) and James Mayes (9).

The inter boys featured the traditional battle between Sam Lambert and Archie Lane (Leamington) which left Sam with silver. Close behind was Tom Fisher in 5th who lost two places in the finishing straight to miss out on a medal but was still pleased with an excellent run with only two seconds covering third to fifth places. Next was combined eventer Will Hovell (8), Joel Ledgard (11), Arthur Williamson (13) and Josh Davies (21)

Meanwhile at Warley Woods for the West Midland Schools Championship newcomer to the club from Coventry, Dougie Garnett, qualified for the West Mids team in the Senior Boys

Warwickshire Schools Athletic Association now have a new website for those of you who may be interested.

wsaa.org.uk

3^rd Midland Area Winter League Series 5k Racewalk

Report –  Jan McLure

Sunday 12^th January saw the 3^rd race of the Midland Area Winter League Series Racewalk across distances of 5k + 10k.

Unfortunately, due to a clash of agenda with Cross Country events, Paul Hawkins was unable to compete  which just left myself and Gemma Smith to represent Stratford AC at the final Winter Series race.

Having seen temperatures plummet to -6.5 degrees in the 2 consecutive days before the race, I was pretty convinced it would be cancelled, as we’d experienced a deep frost and white-out on Saturday. 

I was very surprised to wake up on Sunday morning to find the frost had completely disappeared and it was a balmy 3 degrees C outside!

The course is at the Warwick University campus – Gemma and I had entered the 5k race, which comprises of 5 laps of 1k each, incorporating a couple of very tight turns around cones.  

The finishing times for myself and Gemma were 34.50 mins and 38.50 mins respectively, which gave us 10^th and 13^th place .  I was a bit disappointed to be 1 min 39 slower than the same race last year, however due to injuries last year, I’d already missed the first 2 races of the series and decided to use this race as my ‘yardstick’ for training in the year ahead.

Gemma Smith competed in all 3 of the Winter Series Racewalk events and in addition to her result on Sunday, she was awarded 2^nd place for the 5km Ladies Handicap category for the series.  

Thus, by the end of the series, it was a ‘Well done & Congratulations’ to Gemma and a ‘Must do better McLure’ for myself!

The Linda Franks Race

Report – Susan Hunt

This is a 5 miler in Cheltenham and organised by Almost Athletes. 

 It is named after one of the club’s founders who sadly died in the early 1990s while in her 40s and Sunday was its 31st edition.

I’ve run it many times before for many reasons: It’s flat, well-organised, only £12 to enter and raises money for local charities.

Not surprisingly, its 300 places sell out quicker than tickets for Oasis; but happily (due to a late flurry of drop-outs) I was able to get a last minute place through the waiting list.

The 9am start is early for a Sunday race (the Race Director was apparently out setting up the course at 4am); but at least it gets it out of the way. 

We were briefed in the hall at Race HQ which saved a lot of shivering on the start line.  The room was a sea of purple vests – a whopping 81 runners from Almost Athletes; but mine was the only gold one (much simpler photocall).  

We were escorted up the road to the start, and then we were off!

I was determined not to judge my performance against previous ones since we all know that comparison is the thief of joy and I’m currently the oldest that I’ve ever been; but I thought back wistfully to the first time that I broke 40 mins for 5 miles – which was on this route.  Was I still capable of sub-8 minute miles?  Not according to my recent parkrun pace (or pace at any other event distance come to think of it).

The race follows a two lap route around housing estates (you don’t do it for the scenery).  There are lots of twists and turns so following the racing line involves concentration and jumping on and off the pavements.  Given the earliness of the hour, it wasn’t surprising that the only spectators were a few loyal partners/ clubmates of competitors and a handful of small children standing by their front doors wearing dressing gowns and woolly hats (chanting “you can do it” in angelic tones).

I glanced at my watch after a mile – 8.20.  I was huffing and puffing but the effort was manageable.  For the next 2 miles I found myself on the shoulder of an Almost Athlete who was getting notably enthusiastic support from the marshals.  He told me that he was 75 and hadn’t run for 3 months due to injury and encouraged me to push on (perhaps trying to get rid of me?).  Suitably humbled, I pulled away from him and dug in for the second lap.

A “sprint” to the finish line and I crossed it in 39:40 – life in the old dog!

I headed back to Race HQ where there was much excitement as young whipper-snapper Jacob Cann had taken over 30 seconds off the course record, with a blistering 23:37.  Sadly, he was unable to collect the award as he had gone from the race straight to work at the Up and Running shop in Cheltenham (probably in time for it opening at 10am).

Luckily for me, I didn’t need to be anywhere: the cake queue was long but worth the wait.  

We were told that our race numbers give us 15% off at Up and Running for the next 2 weeks – perhaps I’ll pop in and ask Jacob to recommend some shoes.