STRATFORD-upon-Avon Athletic Club ended their 37-year wait to win the Cotswold Hilly 100 race after the men’s team triumphed by a four-minute margin.
The race is a 100-mile road relay divided into 10 legs each of approximately 10 miles which starts at the American Fountain in Market Square and finishes at Stratford Sports Club.
And the men’s A team claimed victory ahead of Kenilworth in a total time of 10 hours 19 minutes despite having to wait for several minutes at a level crossing.
Tim Hutchinson ran the final leg with great concentration to seal a first Stratford success in the race for 37 years.
The women’s team placed third in a time of 13 hrs 9 mins behind Spa Striders and Kenilworth.
Stratford entered five teams into the race with a total of 50 runners taking part the youngest of which was Maisie-Joy Spriggs.
Spriggs woke up at 4am to run the first leg for Stratford’s women’s team and then went straight home to revise for her GCSE’s.
Stratford’s team were expertly managed by Hannah Osborne who also ran one of the final legs whilst long-standing member Allan Coldicott ran again having helped set up the first-ever Hilly 100 race.
The inaugural race took place in 1986 with the overall route largely unchanged with the first race contested by two Stratford teams – The Leopards and The Tigers – the last time the club won the event.
Coldicott has run each and every leg of the course having competed on 20 separate occasions.
