British Masters Track and Field Championships.

Report – David Jones and Jon Mulkeen

All four club members competing at the British Masters Championships on 10-11 August came away from Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium with medals around their necks. Four of the 5 medals being claimed on the club’s very own Super Sunday.

In what was the finish edition of the championships to be held at the home of British Athletics prior to work commencing on the stadium in readiness for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Stratford quartet faced not only the cream of Britain’s athletes aged 35 and over, but also wet and extremely windy conditions.

Club chairman Paul Hawkins picked up a pair of silver medals in the M60 race walking events. First up was the 3000m where he quickly settled into second place, tracked by Hardeep Minhas. Hawkins was overtaken by Minhas after five laps but stayed just behind his opponent until the final 120m.

Paul then started to overtake and Minhas responded to his move by going too fast, as a result of which he was disqualified for bending his knees. It meant Hawkins finished second to claim the silver medal in 18:41.88, 25 seconds shy of his season’s best in a race that was hampered by the wind.

The conditions were much the same the next day when Hawkins lined up for the 5000m race walk. As was the case in the 3000m, Steve Allen went off quickly and Hawkins was fairly isolated, but he maintained a steady pace to finish runner-up in 32:00.71, claiming his second silver medal of the weekend.

“I was very happy with the two silvers,” said Hawkins. “The times were slow, but irrelevant in the conditions. I will get gold at these champs some time – that’s six silvers in three years!”

David Jones was delighted to pick up a bronze medal in the M65 800m, clocking 2:52.31, one day after finishing fourth in the 1500m (5:57.84). Although he missed out on a medal in the longer event, he was pleased to make up significant ground in the latter stages, having taken the bell some eight seconds behind the fourth-placed runner, whom he was able to overtake in the final 50 metres.

While his times were a bit slower than he would have liked, he was nevertheless happy with his performances in the difficult conditions.

Two of the club’s medallists will be representing their country next month at the European Masters Championships in Venice.

Phil Brennan competed in the M75 5000m and 800m with barely a couple of hours break in between. He finished fourth in the 5000m in one of the strongest M75 races ever held over the distance in the UK. His time, 23:07.77, was his fastest clocking for the distance for two years.

He then moved on to the 800m, where he claimed the bronze medal in 3:13.44, some 20 seconds clear of the fourth-placed runner.

Sprinter and high jumper Andy Reeves earned a bronze medal in the M35 high jump with 1.60m, just five centimetres shy of his season’s best.

Our club has a well earned reputation for hosting well organised events and two of our races are primary fund raisers, without which there would be pressure to increase club subscriptions.

Our major race has always been the NTRIX Road Race but because we were becoming increasingly reliant on a single event the Committee made the decision to introduce a second race.

In hindsight this was a very important decision with the whole future of the NTRIX having being put into doubt following the withdrawal by NFU Mutual of their facilities and the cancellation of the 2019 race.

The Stratford Summer Six is based at Mary Arden’s House in Wilmcote and is a scenic six mile route on country roads.

It was first run in 2004 and has since been incorporated into the Warkwickshire Road Race League, which has promoted the race to all local clubs who make up the majority of entrants.

The race limit is set at 400 to reflect the limitations of the route and infrastructure e.g. car parking and this year, for the first time, we effectively reached the race limit before race day, which meant no on the day entries.

Once again the race was a huge success and whilst finances are still to be confirmed, this will be an important contribution to club funds.

The success of our races and our reputation doesn’t happen by accident and is dependent on a lot of hard work by the Race Committee and the volunteers who put their name forward to help in a variety of roles on the night.

Thank you to everybody who responded to the request for volunteers and to those who helped in any way. Without your support our races cannot take place

This year over 30 club members were involved in making the race run smoothly and another 20 members competed in the race.

The first of these to finish was Seth Turner in 52nd place with a time of 39.34, followed by Pete Sugden, who’s time of 40.30 was over 3 minutes quicker than when he last competed in the race in 2017.

Just 10 seconds and 3 places separated the next 3 Stratford runners, the first of who was Max Ross (41.58) followed by Carl Matthews (42.02) and Graham Hill (42.08)

It was then the turn of the first two Stratford females to finish, Annie Cox (45.14) 17 seconds quicker than last year, followed by Clare Weatherhead (45.30)

Dave Maundrell’s time of 47.41 was almost a 4 minute lifetime best for this distance. He was followed by Suzie Ross with a time of 48.06.

In another closely fought inter-club battle, a mere 6 seconds and 2 places separated the next 3 club runners. First of these to finish was Simon Curran in 50.54, followed 2 seconds later by Hannah Finch (50.56) and then it was the turn of Rachel Green (51.00)

Maggie Macleod (52.20) and husband Stuart (57.10) commented that this was not their usual Saturday night activity, which can often include alcohol but nevertheless they felt the event was very enjoyable with excellent organisation, great support around the course and a great spirit all round. It was their first go at this race and they found it very very good fun apart from the challenging hill at 5 miles!

Maggie was followed by Louise Stewart (53.01) who seems to have been bitten by the racing bug of late and she was followed by Alan Green (55.13)

The only age category winner for the club was our international marathon runner Kate Sergent. In a hotly contested battle for the age category win, Kate’s time of 56.59 was just 6 seconds and one place ahead of the 2nd place runner in her age group.

Kate commented “I have helped marshal at this event many times, so it was lovely to be allowed to run the course. It made me realise how lucky I am to be a member of SUAAC, as the organisation and support was fabulous, with so many members coming together to help make it a huge success”

Kate was followed by Gavin Bliss in a time of 59.03 followed by the ubiquitous John Butler in 68.30 and finally Will Humphreys completed the course in 71.34

The race was won by Oliver Paulin in a time of 31.56 and the first placed female, in 22nd place and a time of 36.12 was Kelly Edwards. 356 competitors completed the race.