NUMEROUS Stratford Athletic Club members have been out and about competing in everything from 10ks to ultras, over all kinds of terrains and in all kinds of conditions.
The Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon starts in front of the Tudor Palace of Henry VIII, before following the Thames to Kingston-on-Thames, crossing over the river heading towards Esher and then back towards the palace.
It crosses the river again, out to Kingston again, before heading back to the palace and finishing in the palace gardens – a truly iconic and historic course.
Three Stratford Athletic Club runners were among the almost 4,000 who lined up on the start line.
Stratford’s own Posh ‘n’ Becks, Kate (2,924th – 2:07.07) and Martyn Sergent (3,516th – 2:21.27), reported they thoroughly enjoyed the race, thought the flat course was a delight and the whole event was slick from start to finish.
Martyn was just a couple of minutes behind Stratford’s other runner, triathlon specialist Paul Nash (3,340th – 2:19.32). The race was won by Dominic Kiralyfi in 72.54 and first lady to finish was Sorrell Walsh in 82.30.
THE BOURTON 10k is an immensely popular local race which fills up within hours of entries opening.
The course consists of two laps of the village of Bourton, followed by a run out and back, finishing with one more small lap of the village.
The course is flat, fast and traffic-free and as such offers runners the chance to record personal bests.
First to finish for Stratford was the mercurial Kate Wright (33rd – 37.47) who was third lady to finish and first in her age group.
She was also a mere 40 seconds behind MBE and double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell.
Robin Kindersley (48th – 38.25) recorded a PB and continued his fine vein of form by finishing second in his age group.
Clive Shepherd (399th – 54.36.5) was another athlete to record a PB, almost two minutes quicker than his previous best. It is worth noting Clive’s best time for a 10km in 2014 was 66.24 and this latest race showing a massive 12-minute improvement on that time.
Some 523 runners completed the race, which was won by Alex Lee in a time of 32.34 and first lady to finish in 12th place was Rachel Felton in 35.12.
STUNNING views, fresh clean air and the very best of the Warwickshire countryside is what runners who took part in this year’s Draycote Water 10k enjoyed.
One of those runners was SAC’s 19-year-old Sam Weaving. To say Sam is enjoying a purple patch would be something of an understatement, having just completed a fabulous series of races in the local Tempo Winter Series at Ilmington.
This was simply a stunning performance. Despite being the youngest participant in the race, Sam finished in seventh place with a PB of 38.57.
This fabulous time put him straight into the top 20 UK runners in his age group for the 10km. Some 480 runners finished the race, which was won by Richard Simpkiss in a time of 34.28.
Reports compiled by David Jones.
