Fixtures and records update.

Susan Hunt This week we have a report on Susan Hunt's inaugural external race wearing the club's yellow and black vest, competing in the Worcester Ring Run. John Peacock has recorded yet another age category victory, this time in the Formula 5 Duathlon and young Harrison Geden triumphed in last week's junior parkrun. Well done and congratulations to all three. Paul Bearman has provided a timetable of upcoming club fixtures and Mike Sheppard has sent me a couple of club records that were recorded in April. Thanks both. Next week we should hopefully have a report on the latest virtual Shakespeare race. Finally, good luck to the 16 or so members who are competing at The Pingles Stadium this weekend and to any other members who are competing. Take care. Best Wishes David Jones View this email in your browser Worcester Ring Run. Report - Susan Hunt Having joined Stratford Athletics Club at the height of the pandemic, opportunities to show off in black and yellow have been somewhat limited. I finally got my chance last weekend at The Worcester Ring Run. This was the 3rd edition of the trail event (organised by Pulse Events) and I’d managed to miss the first two. The inaugural event was held in February 2020; which I deferred having been put off by the biblical storm that was forecast (and landed). When the 2nd edition (November 2020) took place, I had moved to Warwickshire just in time for it to be declared Tier 3, making travel to Tier 2 Worcestershire illegal. It seemed as if I was destined never to run this race. So I was determined that it would be 3rd time lucky for the April 21 edition. The Worcester Ring Run is described as “a 22 mile tour around Worcester and Droitwich” following canal and river paths. Being shorter than a marathon, I thought it sounded quite easy and fun. I was mindful, however, having studied the course description and gps file provided, that the distance could be anything between 22 and 23.5 miles. There is the opportunity to participate as a relay pair (an opportunity that I regretted not taking when I reached the halfway point). It is partially hard paths/tarmac but the majority is trail – notoriously muddy when conditions allow. On Sunday, the trail was dry as a bone, baked hard like rutted concrete. It was, however, an absolutely stunning sunny Spring day. It might be an age thing; but I noticed and enjoyed the blossom, teeny tiny ducklings and the beauty and tranquility of the route. It was bit too cold for there to be droves of pedestrians to negotiate and the (many) fishermen thankfully pulled their enormous rods out of the way in time for me not to have to hurdle them. That said, it was 23 miles of mostly uneven terrain and it’s fair to say that I had underestimated the difficulty of maintaining a happy and relaxed demeaner for the entirety of the route. I…