Rain, train, compete, repeat.

Nikki Wodzisz, very happy after her PB in the javelin. He flies through the air with the greatest of ease. Seb Hillard on his way to a PB in the long jump. Oh dear. Rain, rain and more rain. However, the terrible weather conditions certainly haven't put a dampener on the performance of so many of our members on the track or in various throwing and jumping events this week. Many members took part in another hugely successful T&F competition at the weekend, this time in Northampton. There were lots more PBs and I am indebted to Paul Bearman for his detailed report. Three of our young ladies competed at events in Yeovil and Birmingham with great success. There's a fabulous article from Hannah Osbourne that ties in her son and club member Toby's 10th birthday with the Shakespeare Marathon of 10 years ago, the day he was born. A few familiar names and current members were taking part, recording considerably quicker times than it took Toby to finally arrive. Finally there's a photo from Thursday night's track session, held in the most appalling of weather conditions but this didn't prevent something like 100 of our younger members taking part. It takes more than a spot of rain ( deluge ) to dampen their enthusiasm. Next Wednesday we have a real live Shakespeare Race to look forward to. Yippee. Take care. Best Wishes David Jones View this email in your browser Alex Wood who recorded PBs in both the 100 and 200m. Annie Silvers who ran PBs in both the 200 and 800m. Alex Adams continued his scintillating early season form with a time of 16:22.1 in his inaugural official 5000m race JOHN LOVE MEMORIAL OPEN Report - Paul Bearman. It’s fair to say that Track and Field athletes prefer warm, dry conditions to compete in but under thick grey skies, incessant rain, high winds and temperatures more reminiscent of the cross country season, the John Love Memorial competition staged by our close partners Rugby & Northampton AC, held in Northampton didn’t prove to be a barrier for some impressive performances of an intrepid band of young Stratford AC athletes and one not so young. The weather wasn’t exactly conducive for high quality throwing but some of Sandy Green’s Javelin squad showed that, even though for some moving up an age group and using a heavier javelin, their limited early season training has been paying dividends with personal and season's bests coming thick and fast throughout the competition. Nikola Wodzisz and Alex McMillan have moved up to the under 15s and their respective throws of 26.17m and 25.29m gave them new PBs. They were followed by under 20 Acelin Smith (47.97m) and first year u17 Josh Roberts (45.57m) who had every reason to be pleased with their opening competition of the year. Holly and Issy Newton are showing what promising throwers they are as a sisterly double act, throwing seasons bests of 30.42m and 20.85m respectively. This was U13 Ruben…