JUST five days after reaching the semi-finals of the 110m hurdles at the European U20 Championships in Sweden, Stratford AC’s Jack Sumners was back in medal-winning international action in the long jump.
Sumners was one of three SAC members to represent England at the Welsh Athletics International at Cardiff International Stadium.
Sumners, currently fifth in the UK U20 rankings, jumped 7.10m to finish second, just 13 centimetres off the winning jump.
Georgie Campbell finished fifth in the 1,500m with her second best ever time of 4:43.54, just one second off her personal best. She really enjoyed the experience of competing in a hugely competitive race against talented athletes in an older age group.
Ollie Cresswell, currently ranked seventh in the U20 age group in the 110m hurdles, was the first of three English athletes in Cardiff, finishing fourth in 14.69.
PBs galore for Stratford contingent at Monty 5
OF THE eight Stratford members competing at the recent Monty 5, six of them set lifetime bests.
The Leamington 5km race, part of the Warwickshire Road Race League, is flat and fast. It starts with a lap-and-a-half of the Leamington track then heads towards the town centre though Victoria Park before returning alongside the River Leam for a second lap. It ends on the track for an Olympic-style finish with a lap of the track.
Pete Sugden was the first Stratford athlete to finish, placing 76th in a PB of 20:04. Although he narrowly missed out on breaking the 20-minute mark, his time was 21 seconds faster than last year.
He was followed by Luke Watkins, who was almost a minute quicker than last year, recording a PB of 21:29 in 106th place.
Annie Cox was next to finish for the club in yet another PB time of 21:55, almost three minutes quicker than when she last competed in this race in 2017. She finished in 115th place, just five seconds and three places ahead of Yvonne Gajny (118th, 22:00).
Dave Maundrell is in a fine run of form and his PB time of 24:00 was more than a minute quicker than last year. Another athlete in fine form at the moment is Bev Brigden, whose PB of 25:23 was also just over a minute quicker than last year.
Ruth Calderbank is returning from a period of injury and as such she should be well pleased with her time of 26:53. Pippa Abrams was another athlete running a PB and her time of 27:07 was 1:14 quicker than last year.
The race was won by Ian Allen in 16:24 and Natalie Bhangal was the first woman, clocking 18:35 as 224 runners completed the race.
Brennan claims second in category at Caterham 10k
SAC international masters athlete Phil Brennan ventured to deepest Surrey for one of the qualifiers for this winter’s England masters cross-country team.
This race started and finished on the richly historic Redhill Aerodrome. The course went through leafy rural lanes with constant undulations and a vicious hill just before the finish.
In unbroken sunshine, with above average heat and humidity, Brennan finished in 79th place in 51:03 to place second in his age group. For trivia fans, the category winner was Peter Giles, formerly of rock band King Crimson. The race was won by John Herbert in 33:11.
