Mud, mud, glorious mud.

Hannah Osborne, Kate Wright, Rebecca Pridham and Kate Sergent It's been a quiet week this week with just the muddfest that was the Evesham Festive 10k to report on. I do however have an apology to make. I am aware that for some reason lots of you didn't receive last week's newsletter. I have no idea why. Wiser heads than mine are trying to figure out why. I suspect hacking from a hostile nation, or maybe from an envious club who can't believe what a wonderful outfit we really are. I was able to send it again to senior members via our google group but I haven't figured out a way to resend it to the junior membership. It was an important newsletter, in that it included reports on the senior XC fixture on the Welcombe Hills and the remarkable table topping performance of our junior XC team. If you didn't receive it and would like to read it, it is available on the club's website in the " Latest News" section. https://www.stratfordac.co.uk As a matter of interest all of the newsletter's are posted on our website. Have a wonderful Christmas Best Wishes David Jones View this email in your browser The two Kates' collect their awards. Kate Wright for being first female finisher and Kate Sergent, age group winner. Quite how you can have such wonderful smiles on your face having just run the muddiest race ever I'll never know but Hannah Osborne and Kate Pridham show that it is possible. Evesham Festive 10k. Report - David Jones This was a scenic and muddy 10K off-road route that started from Evesham United FC ground and headed out across the fields, around the lanes and orchards before finishing back at the football club. This year those fields were so muddy that they were reminiscent of a cross between The Somme and the muddiest Glastonbury ever. These appalling conditions did not deter a quartet of Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club's finest ladies and a solitary male club member from competing, picking up a couple of prizes along the way to reward their efforts. For Kate Wright this was her first competitive 10k race for 12 months, when she competed in the same race last December. Last year she finished 2nd woman, this year she went one better by being first female to cross the finishing line, in a time of 46.14, beating her closest rival by 40 seconds and coming 11th overall. James Coy finished in 32nd place with a time of 50.52. Next it was a brace of Stratford’s finest, with Rebecca Pridham and Hannah Osborne crossing the line together in a time of 1:03.43. Rebecca commented “ It was a ridiculously muddy and wet course, you either ran through mud or water or both! The start was in pouring rain and a chilly wind which made many of us wonder why on earth we were standing in the middle of a field on the outskirts of Evesham on a…