ATHLETICS - Stratford AC athletes enjoy more summer success - The Stratford Observer

ATHLETICS - Stratford AC athletes enjoy more summer success

Stratford Editorial 21st Jun, 2022   0

STRATFORD AC enjoyed more success in the water, on the bike and on the road across the country of the last week.

Club athlete Seth Turner took on the South Downs ‘Race to the King’, a 100k trail from Goodwood Racecourse which passes through the Chichester Harbour area of outstanding natural beauty.

Turner found himself in third place at the halfway point and moved up to second before maintaining his position for the remainder of the race.

After a big climb at the 80k mark and a final uphill push, Turner completed the race in 11 hours and 15 minutes – the second fastest time of the day.




And triathletes Sarah Odell and Ben Phyall also enjoyed success with the former competing in the Slateman Triathlon in Wales and the latter at the British Championship Olympic distance event in Leeds.

Odell began her race with a swim in the freezing waters of Llyn Padarn before biking through Snowdonia up to Llanberis via the Pen y Pass and finishing with a 10k run which included 341 metres of climb.


She eventually finished in a time of 3 hrs 47 mins and 45 secs to secure fifth in her age group (50-plus) as the 37th female and 232nd overall.

Fellow triathlete Phyall completed the 1500-metre swim in 24th place in the M40 to 44 age group before moving up to 15th place in his group after the 36.2km bike section despite gusty winds.

And after a hilly 10k run, Phyall finished in a time of 2 hrs 19 mins and 59 secs.

Phyall said: “I had set myself an overall target time and beat that by just one second to finish 17th in my age group and 138th out of 1174 British Championship finishers overall. Happy days!”

More Welsh hills challenged club members in Powys in the Offa’s Dyke 15-mile race as Matt Burdus-Cook finished on the podium in third place in a time of 1 hr 49 mins 44 secs.

Other Stratford competitors were: Adam Linforth (12th, 2:04:35), Max Ross (15th, 2:06:01), Joe Lee (23rd, 2:10:11), Peter Sugden (31st, 2:15:55), David Smyth (32nd, 2:16:01), Clare Weatherhead, Graham Hill, Suzanne Ross (125th, 126th, 127th, 2:50:55), Stuart Evans (171st, 3:06:27), Rebecca Pridham and Emma Parkin (174th, 175th, 3:10:43) and Peter Wharton (182nd, 3:13:35).

Stratford’s Kate Sergent also impressed at Verulamium Park as she raced through country lanes to take first place in her age group in the St Albans half marathon in 2 hrs 20 mins 54 secs.

Closer to home, several Stratford athletes completed the Two Castles 10k – a perennial road race favourite between Warwick and Kenilworth castles.

And Stratford’s Maddie Linfoot stormed home to finish first in her age group (15 -19) in 42 mins 11 secs some three minutes faster and 200 places ahead of the second age group runner as she finished 123rd overall.

The first Stratford runner home was Richard Liggatt (17th, 35:11) whilst John Bettles ran a personal best (45:48).

Other Stratford finishers included: Ade Mason (38:20), David Teasdale (39:39), Huw Crossweller (40:39), John Raby (41:43), Stuart Griffiths 46:37), Graham Hill (46:53), Susan Hunt (52:04), Suzi Graham (53:01), Chris Bloomfield (53:54), David Maundrell (55:40), Kevin Zwolinski (57:57), Jan McLure (59:23), Lisa Stevens (1:01:02), Jane Fradgley 1:01:49) and Miranda Maloney (1:10:21).

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