Stratford Athletic Club reports round-up - The Stratford Observer

Stratford Athletic Club reports round-up

Stratford Editorial 23rd May, 2017 Updated: 23rd May, 2017   0

National Masters Road Relays Championships – Sutton Park, Birmingham:

TEAMS from all over the country converged on a wet and windy Sutton Park for this year’s National Masters Road Relay Championship.

Stratford were represented by a team in the M65 age group, consisting of Roger Wilson, Phil Brennan and David Jones. This was a three-leg relay, with each leg being 5km.

David ran the first leg in a time of 22:10 but found it really tough going. He has run this course on a number of occasions and finds the first uphill mile one of the toughest of all the races he competes in.




He was pleased with his first mile time of 7:01 but feels he suffered in the next mile due to the effort expended. He was only able to hand over to Roger Wilson in 14th place.

Roger’s time of 22:52 enabled him to gain two places. Roger had to drop down an age group to accompany his two ‘younger’ team-mates. Had he been running in his own age group, his would have been the fastest time in that age group.


Phil Brennan, setting off in 12th place, ran a storming last leg of 22:14, almost two minutes quicker than his time last year. Phil was able to gain five places, enabling Stratford to finish seventh – a big improvement on last year’s 11th place.

Worcester Full and Half Marathon:

WORCESTER Full and Half Marathon is now in its sixth year and has grown consistently in that time.

The marathon takes in two laps of the loop around beautiful rural lanes with a small addition to make up the distance. The half accompanies the full for the first lap before splitting away at 11 miles and heading back, where both races finish in front of Worcester Warriors’ Sixways Stadium.

Two Stratford members were among the 219 competitors who finished the full marathon. Andrew Cox (3:19.48) finished in a magnificent 20th place.

For Tara Lambert, it was a case of another week, another marathon or ultra! Tara finished in 190th place and her time of 4:54.57 was comfortably inside the five-hour mark.

SAC had 11 runners in the half marathon and they were led home by Emma Bexson (55th – 1:37.05). This excellent run meant Emma was fifth lady to finish and fourth in her age group.

Next to finish for Stratford was the improving Paul Saunders (69th – 1:39.02). He was followed by Lynne Hinson (116th – 1:43.15) who was third in her age group and just 19 seconds slower than in the Stratford Half Marathon but a full ten minutes quicker than in the Coventry Half in March.

Karl Harris (280th – 1:55.16) was five minutes slower than his time at Stratford but still comfortably dipping under the two-hour mark on a much hillier course.

Gavin Lambert (285th – 1:55.52) was just 36 seconds behind Karl. Gavin, like Karl, was a little slower than at Stratford, where he was 68 seconds behind him.

Only one second separated the next two Stratford runners. Jason Fretter (442nd – 2:06.12) just got the better of Chris Whateley (463rd – 2:06.13) who finished third in his age group.

Someone who is running as many races as anyone in the club at the moment is Jan McLure (467th – 2:06.42). The hilly nature of this race meant that, like Karl and Gavin, Jan was just four minutes slower than her time in the recent Stratford half.

Kate Sergent (567th – 2:16.19) commented there were hills galore and it was too hot. Despite this, she still managed to finish third in her age group.

Nicola Reynolds (570th – 2:17.47) was running this race just a week after the Ripon 10-mile where she ran a time of 1:48.40.

Martyn Sergent (711th – 2:31.47), like his wife Kate, found the hills and heat difficult to contend with.

Knowle Fun Run:

A TEAM of four Stratford AC juniors competed in this year’s Knowle Fun Run. The (nearly) 10k distance was a long race for the juniors, whose previous longest races were 5km.

First home was Georgie Campbell in a fantastic time of 39:55. Placed in the adult age category at 14, she was fourth lady home in a quality field.

Next home was Ellen Taylor in a time of 41:36 which was first place in the junior age category.

Adam Taylor needed to stop and walk in the race with a painful stitch but still posted a commendable time of 44:33. Ned Campbell completed the team’s solid performance in 45:49.

Also running was Georgie and Ned’s father Nick Campbell (46:01) who continues to improve.

In the 5km, Tilly Campbell ducked under the 30-minute mark in 29:57, followed by Aline Campbell in 31:26 to complete the Campbell’s family outing.

Northleach Fun Run:

THREE juniors and one senior SAC member took part in this lovely multi-terrain 3k fun run.

Alex Adams led from start to finish, finishing a minute ahead of the rest of the field. Ollie Adams and Fin Hutchinson tackled the steep hill well, before an off-road section and steep downhill to the finishing line.

Alex and Ollie’s mum Emily rounded off a perfect day for the Adams family plus one.

TWO SAC members at either end of the age spectrum have recently competed in 10km races. Septuagenarian John Butler competed in the recent Silverstone 10k, held at the famous race track.

He finished comfortably under the hour mark in a time of 58:27. He was 948th out of 1,219 finishers and fourth in his age group.

Talented 18-year-old Oscar Barbour competed in the Hagley 10k and, despite the off-road and muddy nature of the race, finished in a superb fourth place out of 166 finishers in the excellent time of 36:36.

Reports compiled with the help of David Jones, Graham Taylor, Emily Adams and Drew Sambridge.

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