Elliot strikes gold in Midland 5k champs
A strong team of BRAT juniors headed to Sutton Park on 23rd March for the Midland 5K Championships. Many of the junior endurance runners have trained with the seniors on Tuesday evenings throughout the winter, with some good cross country results coming as a consequence. This was another opportunity to see what they could do against strong opposition from across the length and breadth of the Midlands. Star performers of the day were the U15 boys. Team gold was secured with great performances from Diego Dalmedo (12th), Evan Tomlinson (6th), Josh Taylor (5th) and a magnificent individual gold medal by Elliot Dawlatly! The U13 boys also had a great day, taking team silver – missing out on gold by one place! Ollie Knight (3rd), Ben Eden (11th) and Joseph Baker (13th) were all delighted with their performances on the undulating course. There were also strong results in the U15 girls…
BRAT Juniors Shine at Regional Sportshall Final
Over the winter, BRAT juniors have been taking part in the Birmingham Sportshall League with a chance to compete against other clubs in the Birmingham region. Sportshall offers the opportunity to compete in a range of different indoor track and field events, with many of our juniors competing for the club for the first time. Following on from our attendance in the league matches, we were delighted to have 12 BRAT athletes selected to represent Team Birmingham at the regional final on Sunday 3rd March. The regional final brings together four teams from across the wider West Midlands region – Birmingham, Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Shropshire and Warwickshire – and it is a huge achievement for so many of our athletes to be selected for the county team. The morning session saw the Under 11 finals and BRAT had representation in both the boys and girls teams with Elliot Jones, Darcy…
A Warley Warwickshire XC Championships to remember
Saturday 16th December can only be seen as a major triumph and remembered as such. The infamous Warley Woods course, fields with athletes from both Warwickshire and Worcestershire, a dry mild day – were the melting pot for what was a masterclass from juniors-masters athletes competing for BRAT, with medals for both team and individuals. Going into the weekend, selection for the upcoming Intercounties in Loughborough next year would have been at the forefront of many minds. Each race had its favourites, underdogs and stakes for the athletes involved. Many BRATs who raced in the WMYACCL aimed to showcase their form in the championship. Prepared by the weeks of Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday sessions set by their respective coaches, the stage was set. Proceedings began at 10:45 with the U11 boys’ race and set the tone for the day to come. The boys took Warwickshire Gold with our three scorers…
SENIOR T&F LEAGUE
Oh so close… After gaining promotion back to the top flight this time last year we knew that life in Division One of the Midlands Athletic League was going to be a challenge. And after the first match in Gloucester where we finished 5th out of 6 we were fully expecting a relegation battle. However thanks to somewhat of a comeback in the technical match in June – only 8 events such as steeplechase, hurdles, triple jump etc. the events which aren’t usually all that popular, we started to fill nearly every event and the points began to roll in. A second place finish in Nottingham in July, was followed by another second place in Rugby in August. Suddenly there was an outside chance of winning the title! It all came down to the final match of the season at Birmingham University on September 9th. We would have to win…
Midland U15 / U17 Championships
The weekend of 12th / 13th August saw the Midland U15 & U17 Championships (incorporating the U13 Quadrathon) at the Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton. Conditions across both days were a little windy, but the athletes battled through. 21 BRATs took part across 29 events and they brought home 11 medals between them. Below shows the detail – thanks to Gordon for collating. Once again BRAT showed their strength winning medals in hurdles, throws, jumps, sprints and long distance! Congratulations to all who took part. Thanks also to Toby for photographing the action on 13th which can be found in the BRAT Flickr page BRAT Club | Flickr Below are a few of the medal winners.
Black Country Aquathon
The BRAT junior team were out in force over the weekend taking part in the Black Country Aquathon in Wombourne. This was race 6 of 7 in the 2023 West Midlands Junior Triathlon Series. We had competitors in 3 events: – Youth – 400m Swim/4000m Run. – Tristart 2 – 200m Swim/2000m Run – TriStar 1 – 150m Swim/1500m Run Alba Smith-Pena kicked off the day taking a great 2nd place in the female youth category covering the course in 23:09. Anna Newman was next up in the female TriStar 2 category. She came a very solid 5th overall a strong field. Finally we had 4 U11 girls taking part in the TriStar 1 category. Nya Williams took her first win in the series and was closely followed by Emily Newman, Mar & Joanna O’Connor Delgardo in 8th, 9th and 12th respectively. Very well done to all the girls, especially…
MUCH WENLOCK OLYMPICS
There was a fantastic BRAT turn out at the Wenlock Olympic Games on Sunday 2nd July. Being the home of the modern Olympic games (and a 200m track) made the day extra special . To add another layer of history, the Wenlock Olympian Society were honouring Harold Langley who won the pentathlon at the 1923 Wenlock Games and finished fourth in the triple jump at the Paris 1924 Olympics. The medals presented to competitors at the Games this year are replicas of those awarded in 1923. It was great to see so many young athletes there and so many disciplines represented. This means that it’s not possible to mention all of the BRATs that took part, but I am sure that Collin has made a mental note of the grit and determination shown by all. The U11 category was very well represented across all four eligible events, with field events being…
ESAA
Four BRAT athletes were selected to represent the West Midlands at the ESAA Championships in Birmingham this weekend. First up, in Heat 2, was U20 Tywana Kuluziza in the SG 100m. Running into a headwind she came 5th in her heat and 14th overall. Next was U17 Jamie Callaghan in the IB Hammer. Unfortunately Jamie had a nightmare day; his two practice throws went into the cage so he decided to play it safe with his first throw just to get a mark. His second throw would have taken him through to the final eight had he not touched the rim and the 3rd went into the cage where he finished 9th overall. Last up on Day 1 was U17 Bonheur Tshibola in the IG 300mH who had to contend with false starts from other athletes prior to the race commencing. Bonheur had a good start, clipped the 2nd hurdle…
English Schools’ Athletics Association Combined Events
Last weekend saw the regional finals of the English Schools’ Athletics Association Combined Events, with 3 BRAT Junior athletes in attendance. U17 Isabelle Carruthers and U15 Robert Lee were sporting the red of West Midlands Schools, whilst U15 Evie Rendell was in the yellow of Warwickshire Schools. The competition was held at Moorways Stadium in Derby over a very warm and muggy weekend. U15’s complete a Pentathlon (80m Hurdles, Shot Put, Long Jump, High Jump and 800m) and U15 boys were up first on the Saturday. This was Robert’s first ever Pentathlon and he started strong with a 12.35s PB in the Hurdles putting him in 4th place. His Shot Put wasn’t quite a PB but still moved him up to 3rd place. This was followed by some difficult jumping where he struggled to find his form in both his Long Jump and High Jump. However, he did what was needed, getting legal…
Mason Trophy
12 BRATs travelled to Stoke on 17th June to represent the West Midlands in the Mason Trophy. These 12 athletes covered all discipline types (sprints, hurdles, distance, throws and jumps) which goes to show the great depth of strength within the club which is a credit to the coaches as well as the athletes. The West Midlands were one of 10 counties being represented and each team could enter 2 athletes per age group per event. U17 Dylan Teasdale ran a PB of 9.34.16 in the 3000m where he finished 9th and U17 George Astbury a PB of 5.01.47 in the 1500m S/C where he finished 5th. U15 Alba Smith-Pena came 7th in her heat and 16th overall in the 1500m. U17 Nancy Foster-Jones ran in both the 100m and 200m where she was 2nd in both heats and 5th and 4th overall. U15 Kenyah Reddin also ran the 100m…
New Course Record for Nya Williams
U11 Nya Williams is going from strength to strength with her running. She took part in the Keswick Mountain Festival 5km trail run on 20th May and out of 107 competitors, Nya finished first lady overall in a time of 21:57. Unfortunately she was unable to collect the 1st prize crate of beer but she was very happy with her trophy and trail running backpack. A week later on 27th May she ran a new PB at the Brueton Parkrun in a time of 20.26 and broke the course record in the process – a record which had stood for 9 years! She also had a fantastic night at the Sphinx AC Mid Week 5 in Coventry War Memorial Park where she took part in the junior race and was overall winner. She received a trophy, medal and delicious bag of sweets and said that there was a great atmosphere…
County Championships
The weekend of 13th – 14th May saw the County Championships take place and the BRAT Juniors were out in force, (despite it being the weekend before GCSE’s and A’ Levels), with 111 entries for Warwickshire and 2 for Worcestershire! Whilst the older athletes took part in individual events, the Under 11 Boys and Girls competed in a Quadrathon – a combined event comprising of a 75m sprint, long jump, howler throw and 600m race. For many of the U11 athletes this was their first competition and every single competitor gave maximum effort with lots of PBs to show for it! The boys’ event took place on the Saturday with 4 BRAT entrants across a field of 18. After some very close races and huge long jump PBs, the event finished with a fantastic first place for Elliot Jones and second place for Charlie Keenan. The girls’…