STRATFORD AC’s Charly Marshall secured her place in the final race of the British Triathlon Super Series with a sixth-place finish at Roker Beach in Sunderland.
Marshall was ranked 11th heading into the race with only the top-10 ranked athletes advancing to the last race of the series at Eton Dorney.
And she overcame choppy waters and windy conditions to place sixth in the grand final and secure her place in the season finale.
Marshall produced a good swim before taking on a technical bike stage, which included slalom descents and sharp bends to challenge the riders, and finished with a two-lap run that began with steep hills.
And she also anchored the West Midlands relay team in the British Triathlon National finals of the Youth and Junior mixed relay.
This involved a 300m swim, 5k bike ride and 1.4k run as Marshall brought the team home in eighth place of 24 teams in total.
Fellow SAC athlete Josh Harrison took the third leg of the Inter Regional Championships mixed team relay as a strong performance saw them finish ahead of their seeding.
Kidderminster and Stourport AC Mike Lambert Open
Stratford’s Athlete of the Year, Elaine Ledden, moved up to fourth in her age group in the 100m rankings at the Kidderminster and Stourport AC Mike Lambert Open.
Ledden set a new personal best (PB) time of 15.1 secsonds in the V60 100m before she ran 31.9 secs in the V60 200m where she also places fourth in the rankings.
And Ledden also jumped a PB of 3.68m in the long jump as several club athletes recorded personal and season’s best times.
Under-13 athlete Sam Plumb ran 2:43.5 in the 800m whilst also jumping 1.15m in the high jump.
Moving up to the under-15’s, Ella Smith ran a PB of 28 secs in the 200m and leapt 4.01m in the long jump whilst Nicola Wodzisz threw 9.1m and 27.84m in the shot put and javelin respectively.
Fellow under-15 athlete Martha Peters clocked 2:33.8 in the 800m.
And Brian Gravelsons set a new season’s best on 18.14m in the M50 discus before then throwing a PB of 20.06m in the javelin whilst M55 athlete Mark Reynolds finished second in the 100m in 13.7 secs.
England Athletics under-15 and under-17 Championships
Elsewhere, Stratford’s Joel Masters represented the club in a strong field at the England Athletics under-15 and under-17 Championships at Bedford.
He finished second in his 100m heat in a PB time of 11.22 secs before placing fourth in the final in 11.21 secs but was awarded the bronze medal with the race winner representing Ireland and therefore not eligible to receive a medal from England Athletics.
Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc
Stratford’s Adam Evans completed the 56km OCC race of the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc week from Orsieres in Switzerland to Chamonix in France.
The route had a vertical gain of 3500m as Evans suffered from cramp at the 25k stage only for a half an hour food stop to save his race.
Evans took on some chicken noodle soup, chocolate, can of coke, watermelon and sugar cubes to finish the race in 11 hours and 40 minutes.
New Couch to 5k running group starting this Monday
Stratford Athletic Club are starting another of its very successful supported Couch to 5K running groups from next Monday, September 12 with everyone welcome – even if you think you can not run!
And the course follows the NHS Couch to 5k running plan and meets three times each week with the aim of running continuously for 30 minutes by the end of week nine.
The group will meet at Stratford High School (by the running track) at 6.30pm on Monday’s, then at Stratford Sports Club (near the cricket ground) at 6.30pm on Wednesday’s and at the Sports Club again on Saturday’s at 9am.
If the times do not fit into your schedule, it is fine to do one or two of the training sessions in your own time.
Each run will be supported by SAC members, many of whom joined the club after their own Couch to 5k experience, and everyone is encouraged to go at their own pace.
For more information or to sign up please email: [email protected]
