Report – Paul Bearman

After a disappointing 3 years of no Sportshall athletics and no indoor training due to Covid, we were very pleased to announce in November that indoor Sportshall athletics was back!  

The Sportshall competitions are a great opportunity to wear the yellow and black kit with pride and to try out a variety of events in a friendly atmosphere. It’s a great fun way to enjoy competing and breaks up the winter training. It is also a good introduction to competition.. 

As previous county champions on numerous occasions, we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to compete and we are encouraging all Under 11s, 13s and 15s to enter and to take part and a swarm of yellow and black athletes have turned out to the first 2 competitions.

It has been relaunched with the same events but entry has been changed to an Open competition and whereas in previous years teams were organised by our Age Group Leaders and athletes were invited to compete in the team, it limited the number of athletes who could compete. 

The first match ironed out a few logistical things but the second match last Friday at Newbold Comyn leisure centre went very smoothly with 10 of our parents stepping up to help officiate and were able to see things close up to the action.

Friday was the 13th…..unlucky for some but not for our Sportshall athletes! Fifty Stratford AC athletes competed against other clubs with a throw, jump, run and speed bounce. 

There were some outstanding performances and points were awarded to the individual athletes for their respective throw, jump, run and speed bounce.

Amongst the many highlights, Jake Richardson (U15) jumped a fantastic 8m 5cm in the standing triple jump and Alex Wood and Scarlett Dawson (U13) both ran fast 2 lap races and gained the most overall points in their age groups. 

The under 11s had a very strong team with Isabella Marriott and Eve Mulliner battling for best performance along with  Billy Sheppard for the boys.

In addition to the Open competition’s, athletes also have the incentive and opportunity to be selected to compete for Warwickshire in the Regional competition and if successful go on to the national final in the Spring. 

After the first 2 matches 35 Stratford athletes, with a wide range of best performances in the various events, have been shortlisted to go on to represent Warwickshire.

It was a busy weekend for Alex Adams, our 17 year old international runner. 

On Saturday he competed in the 4th round of the 2022/23 British Athletics Cross Challenge Series in Perth.  This Series sees the best cross country runners in the UK competing over five events.

UKA’s Strategic Lead for Major Events Cherry Alexander said, “The Cross Challenge series is a fantastic opportunity for those athletes developing in the sport and it also provides competitive domestic racing opportunities for our British athletes to prepare them for Championships in the future”

Alex missed the first event in Cardiff due to injury but since then he has improved considerably in each of the following 3 races. He finished 10th at Milton Keynes in November, moving up to 6th place at Liverpool in November and on Saturday he had a dream of a race, eventually finishing on the podium in 2nd place with a time of 19.46, just 8 seconds off first place and, in a battle for the silver medal, finished 3 seconds ahead of the 3rd place runner.

After the race he commented “It was a great race on a great course. The pace was quick as expected so the field was very strung out early on but I got into a small group 6/7 places from the front.  I kept working until the second lap where I pushed on to catch the runners in front of me.  I caught them up the hill on the last lap and pushed on knowing I had a medal but not wanting to settle for bronze.  I took silver as I came into the home straight.  It was a very tough course and the legs felt it but I knew I had to dig deep and hurt more than the others.  I’m really happy to get my first Cross Challenge medal and put myself in contention for the series.  I hope the good form continues further into 2023 and that I can finish the cross season strong.

An athletes’ best two performances plus bonus points will be carried forward into the Final to be held at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough, on Saturday 11 March 2023.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one weekend, Alex then flew back from Scotland, thus enabling him to compete for the club on Sunday in our latest XC league fixture at Nuneaton, winning his race comfortably.

Lymphoma Action

A message from Paul Bearman

Following Paul Hawkins stoic fight with Lymphoma we decided, as a club, to support Lymphoma Action, which is the UK’s only charity dedicated to lymphoma the UK’s 5th most common cancer, with the £620.30 raised from the tombola at our Club Championships in September and the raffle at our Awards evening in November. 

It was a unanimous decision to make the donation to Lymphoma Action following the amazing support Paul and his family received during and after his treatment. 

In addition, following the Senior members Christmas Social Run, a further collection was taken bringing the total raised to an “amazing £724.40”. 

Deana Cadden from Lymphoma Action said “It will help us so much in supporting people who are affected by lymphoma and we are truly grateful.  A certificate will be winging its way to you in the post very soon”. 

For information…… 

Lymphoma Action have been providing trusted information and support for over 35 years, helping thousands of people affected by lymphoma. 

Their vision is for everyone affected by lymphoma to receive the best possible support, treatment and care through information, education, support and influence, to make sure no-one has to face their lymphoma alone  

Their focus is based on the five goals below that reflect what they want to achieve for people affected by lymphoma and where they can make the most difference: 

1. Ensure that people understand lymphoma. 
2. Enable people affected by lymphoma to feel supported by others who understand what they are going through. 
3. Empower people affected by lymphoma and their healthcare professionals to communicate with confidence. 
4. Be a voice for people affected by lymphoma to influence the decisions that affect them. 
5. Increase the impact of our work by making best use of our resources.

Report – Roger Wood

Alex Wood travelled to Loughborough University on Sunday to compete in his first ever indoor even and his first event as an U15 athlete. The aim being to try and achieve the 60m Indoor qualifying time for the England Athletics Championships in Sheffield next month.

With the entry cut off being midnight on Monday this was a one off opportunity.

In all honesty we were travelling in hope rather than expectation, especially given Alex’s tendency to be slow out of the blocks. It was, however, an opportunity to try and put into practice the coaching tips of winter training, and see if he had actually been listening.

After an unusually thorough warm-up Alex, got out of the blocks well in his first race to clock a time of 8.21 seconds. Agonisingly close to the qualify time of 8.20s!!

The seedings for the second set of races were based on the first set of race timings. Given that there were few U15s racing, Alex’s time saw him set to run in the last race of the day.

Unfortunately, however, he was to be the fastest athlete in his heat. Running a fast time with no one to chase down seemed like a step too far.

Fortunately a Leicester University student who was having a bad day asked to be included in the race at the last minute to have another run out. The uni student proceeded to win the race in under 8 seconds but in the process pulled Alex to a time of 8.17s. An EA U15 qualifying time, despite a stumble out of the blocks.

Mission accomplished – by the smallest of margins.