The Warwickshire County Championships

Club retain the Warwick Vase for 6th successive time.

Report – Paul Bearman

These championships take place very early into the Track & Field season but despite this over 90 Stratford upon Avon AC athletes, mostly juniors, descended on the Pingles track in Nuneaton to again be crowned best overall club for the 6^th year running within the old Warwickshire County boundary, including Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry.

The meeting organiser Ray Morgan of WCAA said after another very successful championships, “the Warwick Vase is awarded to the WCAA club which scores the most points over the two days of the County Champs. Stratford upon Avon AC won it for the first time in 2016 and have retained it since then, although this year Stratford were run a lot closer by Birchfield Harriers, Coventry Godiva Harriers and Rugby and Northampton AC. Well done to all of the Stratford athletes and their coaches”.

 To be awarded points towards the championship athletes have to have made it to a final and the old adage of every point counting was more evident with stronger competition this year as the bigger clubs made every effort to overcome us.

Points are allocated, 8 for a win, 7 for second etc. to find the best overall club which then receives the Warwick Vase.

In addition to the medal haul of 49 (19 Gold, 12 Silver and 18 Bronze), it was the 4^th to 8^th positions for athletes reaching the finals that was the crucial factor that helped the club to what, in the end, was a comprehensive win with 577 points to Birchfield’s 489 points. 

Warwickshire Schools athletics supremo, Gwil Price observed “from my position near the medal podium wherever I looked there were bodies in yellow Stratford vests competing and all over the weekend I was hearing the medal announcer saying and from Stratford ……. ‘’.  

The Stratford medallists and finalists were spread right across the age groups and were involved in every event apart from Pole Vault and Steeplechase. This meant that there was a constant stream of athletes competing in all parts of the track virtually non-stop over the 2 days. This also meant Carolyne and I were getting a lot of exercise popping back and forth to support them. 

Two of our officials Daf Hawkins and Emma Sparrow had their work cut out on the Track officials stand and the ubiquitous Sandy Green was as ever here, there and everywhere in the field. 

Birchfield, as expected, trounced everyone in the seniors but our strength is in the number of athletes we encourage to compete and we had great all-round performances across the age groups, especially in the U13s and U15s.  

In the sprints Birchfield didn’t have it all their own way and U13s Scarlett Dawson was a very impressive winner and double gold medallist in the 100m (13.78) and 200m (28.12s).

After the Championships, age group awards are made by Warwickshire County AA and the winner of the U13 Girls was given to Scarlett for her 200m sprint in 28.12s.

Equally impressive was Alex Wood who lined up in the U13 100m final with Elfric McKenzie, Arthur Mansbridge, William Hovell and Toby Spriggs with Alex winning in 13.26s. In the 200m Alex again struck gold winning in a time of 27.31.

Alex got his hat trick of medals winning silver in the Long Jump (4.50m); an event that was dominated by Stratford athletes Sam Plumb, Stanley Peters, Alfie Musk, Arthur Mansbridge, William Hamlyn, Toby Spriggs, Max Rossney and Elfric McKenzie who won bronze with 4.48m.

In the Senior Women’s 200m Imogen Sheppard won silver in 26.79 and U20 women Caitlin Buckley won silver in the 100m in 12.85s with Catherine Reynolds winning bronze in 25.77s before moving on to her favoured event the 400m and won convincingly in a new PB of 57.38s.

In his first championship U13 William Hovell went home with a bronze in the 200m and the 75m Hurdles, finished 4^th in the 100m but then struck gold in the Shot. Bronze medals were also won by U13 Martha Silvers in the 70m hurdles in 13.93s and U15 Seb Hillard in the 80m hurdles in 12.84s.

After missing out on being able to compete for 2 years as an U17 due to Covid, Freddie Clemons has moved up to U20 and in his first outing over 110m hurdles he won gold in 15.52s.

Arguably the performances of the weekend came in the middle distance events where U13 Marijke Tear-verweij completely dominated the U13 Girls 1500m winning gold in 5:32.80. She was followed home by Lois Ford in the bronze medal position in a time of 5:41.41.

In the other 1500m events U13 Aran Cooper continued his fine run of form by winning silver in a time of 5:07.32 and U17 Niamh Hillard won silver in 5:02.42. U15 Will Mayes won silver in 4:41.00 and U20 Taylor Stubbins won bronze in 4:11.95.

U15 Martha Peters ran a superb gun to tape race in the 800m winning in a time of 2:25.70 and two more bronze medals were won by Sam Plumb in the U13s in a time of 2:34.57 and James Day in the U15s in 2:21.64.

Vicky Sharpe won gold in the Senior Ladies 3000m (12:36.32) and U17 Henry Wheeler decided to take on the 3000m for the first time and he finished with a bronze medal in a time of 10:39.9.

On the comeback trail is Paul Hawkins and he won silver in the 3000m Walk in 21:50.9 and was followed home in her first championship by Gemma Smith winning silver in 22:04.7

High Jump has for a few years been a strong event for the club and this year was no exception.

In the senior women Emily Madden Forman (1.65) won gold and in an impressive display of controlled jumping, U20 George Fox finished with a new PB of 1.91m winning gold.

Silver medals were won in the U17s Caitlin Boyle who continued her run of improving her PB with a leap of 1.50 and debutant Milo Cullimore in a PB of 1.60. U15 Luca De Freitas Pires won bronze with 1.40 and U17 Zach McKenzie won bronze with 1.50.

In the horizontal jumps there was more success and in the Triple Jump both U20 Millie Leighton (11.02) and U17 Zach McKenzie (10.26) won gold and Zach also won the Long Jump (5.96 PB) despite carrying an ankle injury.

Will Marriot won bronze in the U15 Triple Jump (9.24 PB) and Ruby Edwards won silver in the U15G Long Jump with a best jump of 4.69.

The throws are a consistent source of medallists for the club, especially the Javelin with three athletes striking gold. U15s Nikola Wodzisz won with 25.59 and Louie Newton won silver with 32.85.

U20 Acelin Smith (48.68) and U17 Holly Newton (28.17) were on top of the podium and in the U13s Lois Ford (16.97) and Holly Clifford (13.88) won silver and bronze respectively. Lois also won gold in the Discus with a winning throw of 15.88.

Medal machine Paula Williams won gold in the senior Shot with 10.76 and then broke her own Warwickshire County masters record in winning the Javelin with 34.81. Also, on the top of the podium for the Shot was U15 Ethan Winning (8.12 PB) and U17 Issy Newton (8.65) won bronze.

Five of Stratford’s new generation of young athletes competed in a multi event competition of 75m, 600m, Howler and Long Jump at the Warwickshire County Championships with all of them competing in this type of competition for the first time.

After a very busy two days Paul Bearman said, “I was reflecting on the weekend afterwards with Paul Hawkins and we both agreed that this was a hugely proud overall performance across so many events and age groups for the club and retaining the Warwick Vase for the 6th year is a remarkable achievement”. 

“We are incredibly proud of the club’s athletes in the championship who have all contributed to the club’s success but it’s a team effort and without the unstinting support from the volunteer coaches and officials this sort of success simply wouldn’t happen”.

Full results can be found on

http://www.warwickshireathletics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Warwickshire_Champs_May_2022.pdf 

Ryton 5

Report – Peter Sugden

Last Thursday evening saw the second race in this seasons Warwickshire Road Race League, Ryton 5, hosted by Spa Striders.

Just over 300 runners assembled on a very pleasant late spring evening at Ryton Pools Country Park to compete in what is generally regarded as an enjoyable, undulating, 5 mile race, with a gravelly surface and a few tight bends.

The starters orders caught a few by surprise, with a congested beginning on the Country Park tracks until the field spread out a bit after the initial few hundred metres and navigation of any loose dogs.

Stratford upon Avon AC fielded probably its largest entry of runners at a WRRL race for some years.  With numbers (as well as some quick runners) comes strength and this was proven through the terrific result on the evening.

First back in the Stratford vest, and overall race winner, was Ben Kruze in the remarkable time of 25:27.  Following his 2^nd place at the Massey 10k on Easter Monday Ben is setting himself up for great WRRL season. 

Next was Matt Burdus-Cook claiming 8^th place overall and first place in the MV45 age category.  Under 20 runners Ned Campbell and Alex Pester tussled for 13^th and 14^th places, with Ned finishing just ahead and taking the U20 category first place.  Ade Mason, continuing his return to form, was next for Stratford, finishing 33^rd overall.

First lady for Stratford was the phenomenal Kate Wright, finishing 37^th overall, 2^nd lady and 1^st in the FV55 category. 

Just behind Kate was Tim Hutchinson in 39^th place overall and 3^rd in the MV45 category, and less than a minute later Richard Dobedoe finished in 47^th place and taking the MV55 category crown.  Next in was Seth Turner, 50^th overall, turning his hand (or feet) to shorter distance long distance running, just ahead of Max Ross, who put in another good performance, finishing 56th.

Peter Sugden finished 74^th with a 6 second improvement on his 2019 previous PB. John Raby finished 85^th, Stuart Griffiths 105^th, Graham Hill 128^th, Richard Hartwell 242^nd and Dave Maundrell 252^nd. 

New club member Huw Crossweller finished somewhere between Max Ross and Peter Sugden, but doesn’t appear on the published results table (you need to make sure you enter as a SuAAC member Huw).

Completing the ladies team were Suzanne Ross in 150^th place (22^nd lady), Susan Hunt in 192^nd (36^thlady), Sarah Odell in 220^nd (48^th lady), and Kate Sergent in 273^rd place overall, 76^th lady and 2^nd in the FV65 age category.

The WWRL is an open event, where runners score points as individuals and for their club, with the first six runners counting towards the club points tally for the men and first four runners for the ladies.

The scores collected at Ryton 5 meant Stratford Men’s team finished 2^nd behind Kenilworth and the Men’s Masters team (MV35 and older) finished in first place, just ahead of Kenilworth.  The ladies’ team finished 5^th and 6^th for the overall team and masters placings, respectively.

Report – Simon Taylor

Rachel Pearce made the short journey from Didcot to Eton Dorney to compete in the Eton Dorney Sprint Triathlon as a warm up for the World Sprint Triathlon championships later in June.

Those who know Rach know that she’s a bit of a tour de force in sprint triathlons and she showed once again just how good she is. She not only won her age group, but won the women’s event overall.

Now free from injury she will be a challenging for medals at the World Champs and you can read a report on her success (no pressure!) towards the end of June.

Report – Kate Wright

This is an off road run on the stunning Tissington trail. 
With only 26ft elevation, and lots of down hill and a tail wind , it made for a swift half.

The scenery is stunning and the people are so friendly in this part of the world, which is why I love this event.

My plan was to 6.20 min mile and come in at 1.24 ish. However I came in First Lady in a time of 1.21.55, 4 seconds slower than 9 years ago!

I surprised myself.

Editor’s note ! The result isn’t up on Power of 10 yet but I think that ranks Kate number 1 in the UK for the half marathon in her age group