Warwickshire & Worcestershire Championships
The weekend of 14th / 15th May saw the County Championships take place, and BRAT were represented in both Warwickshire and Worcestershire. There was a full complement of events over the two days; both individual for the older athletes and Quadrathons for the U11’s. Warwickshire saw 4 male entries in the Quad, with Kai Macmillan winning Bronze (just 1 point off 2nd), Elliot Jones 4th, Zac Smith 5th and Sebastian Emery 9th. There were 5 girls, with Josephine Colclough winning Silver, Amber Stevens 4th, Hiba Bailey 9th, and Erin Colclough and Darcy McDaid joint 9th. There were no girls in Worcestershire, but there were 5 boys with Oliver Knight winning Gold, Tiernan Clark 9th, Joseph Baker 10th and Zckai Bibb 11th. Athlete of the weekend award goes to U17 Bonheur Tshibola who scooped 5 medals – 2 Golds in the 300m Hurdles and Shot, Silver in the 80m Hurdles and…
English Schools’ Funding
The English Schools’ Athletic Association relies on sponsorship to enable them to host their events. These events are often the cornerstone of an athlete’s career, and an amazing experience for all who are selected to represent their county. Athletes such as Daley Thompson, Greg Rutherford and Jessica Ennis-Hill have all cited how pivotal ESAA was for them in their journey to success. Unfortunately ESAA have no sponsorship for 2022, and are asking for donations to allow them to put on the Track & Field Championships in 2022. For anyone who would like to donate, please find the Go Fund page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-2022-esaa?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer The link to the ESAA site itself is ESAA – English Schools’ Athletic Association where they have the following statement:- As many of you are aware, the ESAA is currently without any sponsors – everyone is suffering from the effects of Covid19 and finding financial help has become more and more…
BRAT AGM
The 2022 AGM will be held ONLINE on Sunday 8th May at 18:00. Email secretary@bratclub.co.uk for your invite. Only current paid up members are allowed to vote at the AGM so please renew your club membership now via Clubspark. This year we have a number of seats on the executive up for consideration this year including: Triathlon Representative Women’s Running Representative Social Secretary
BRAT Juniors @ the Junior Great Birmingham Run
The Junior Great Birmingham Run was open to children aged 9-14 and covered the first 1.25km of the adults’ route before looping back to the finish (2.5km in total). In the girls’ race, Darcey Payne finished 14th (3rd in the 9-11 age category) in 12:33 and Oshi Knox 22nd (7th for 9-11s) in 13:02. In the boys’ race, Ollie Knight was 2nd in 9:07, Josh Taylor 3rd in 9:19, Elliot Dawlatly 4th in 9:19 (a very exciting finish with Josh!), Seb Horton 7th in 10:09 and Joe Baker 8th in 10:13. Ollie, Seb and Joe made it a BRAT 1-2-3 in the boys’ 9-11 age category. Well done to all the BRATs who competed!
Birchfield Harriers Young Athletes Open Meeting – 23/04/2022
With the new Alexander Stadium not being quite ready for general use, Birchfield held their annual Young Athletes Open Meeting at the Pingles Stadium in Nuneaton on 23rd April. For many of the young Junior BRATs this was their first taste of competing for medals in a stadium, and across all age groups BRAT won an incredible 28 medals – 12 Gold, 8 Silver and 8 Bronze! The day had promised to be warm, but there was a strong headwind in play which the athletes did well to battle. The U11’s took part in a Quadrathon which consisted of a 75m, 600m, long jump and howler throw, while the older members took part in individual events. 6 of the 13 competitors for the U11 M Quadrathon and 5 of the 11 competitors for the U11 F Quadrathon were BRATs which is an amazing presence and they were able to give…
BRAT Open 20th March 2022
BRAT held their first internal open meet of the year on Sunday 20th March, for which a staggering 132 athletes took part! For some this was their first taste of competition, and others a chance to shake off the cobwebs before the season gets into full swing. A full programme of events was catered for, covering sprints, distance, throws, jumps and hurdles; a mammoth organisational effort behind the scenes to ensure that the day ran smoothly. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped set up, officiate, put away, complete registrations and input results during the course of the day. The sun was shining and the day kicked off at 09:30 with the shot, long jump and 300m / 300mH. U11’s were involved in their own Quadrathon which consisted of 75m, 600m, howler and long jump, whilst U13+ took part in up to three individual events. The day drew to…
Sign up for the Midlands 12/6 Stage Road Relays – 26 Mar 2022!!!
Spring is on its way and the Spring Midlands Road Relays are back for the first time since 2019! No more sharp spikes to stick in you and no more mud! If the club is your priority, then so is this. Let’s build on our XC performances and get our heart rates and speed up for this great event, that is the Road Relays. We want to get as many teams out on the day as possible. All running speeds welcome, we just put you in the appropriate team. You will get lots of support from your clubmates around the course which is what makes the relay format great. Men: 12 legs comprising 8 x 3.16 miles, and 4 x 5.38 miles.Women: 6 legs comprising 4 x 3.16 miles, and 2 x 5.38 miles. Please contact the following to enter:Men’s team manager: Dan Robinson – Fill in form by Saturday…
Junior biathlon
2 Junior BRATS took part in the British Modern Biathlon Championships in Bath on Saturday 26th February. The event consisted of swimming and a 1600m run. Jemima Jackson finished 7th overall, and took an astounding 15 seconds off of her 1600m time to run a PB of 5.59. U14 Alba Smith-Pena finished 11th over all in her age group with a 1.11 100m swim and a 6.11 1600m run. Congratulations to both athletes.
Highest ever finish in Birmingham XC League for BRAT men’s team!
Highest ever finish in Birmingham XC League for BRAT men’s team. The final league race of the season took place in Leamington with conditions underfoot at Newbold Comyn soft and wet in the extreme. Despite missing a number of our leading runners, we scored 244 to finish 6th on the day and end the season in a hugely impressive 5th place out of the 16 teams. This is our best ever season’s finish in Div 1 (previous best finishing positions were 6th in 1991/92 season as Rowheath Harriers, and 6th again in 2012/13 as BRAT). So although we had hoped to go a bit better it was still a great end to the campaign; to finish in the top five in this company is no mean feat. The A team scorers on the day were Henry Brocklehurst 12, Chris Pickering 13, Will McKemey 38, Dan Shepherd 43, Ben Carrington 65,…
Junior Indoor Opens – weekend of 19th & 20th Feb 2022
The weekend of 19th and 20th February saw a number of Junior BRATS take part in indoor opens. U13 Erin McDaid travelled to Lea Valley for the 60m hurdles where she ran a PB time of 10.84, ranking her 12th in the UK, while other BRATS took part in the MCAA City of Birmingham Games at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham. It was an amazing experience for all, and for some it was their first taste of an indoor arena. There were many PBs across the age groups and disciplines, with a few of the highlights below. 1st year U15 Evie Rendell secured 3 PBs, with a time of 10.73 in the 60m hurdles, a high jump of 1.40m and a shot put of 7m. 1st year U17 Lily Smith ran a PB in the 60m in a time of 8.37 and sister May a PB of 8.78. Further U17…
Chris Pickering is 2nd in the Army XC Champs.
Congratulations to Capt. Chris Pickering who finished in a brilliant 2nd place in the British Army National Cross Country Championships (26th Jan 2022), held at Camberley.
Record number of BRAT Juniors qualify for the National English Schools Cross Country Championships
Record number of BRAT Juniors qualify for the National English Schools Cross Country Championships. The outstanding recent performances of our juniors in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League (wmyaccl) have been backed up by another strong showing in the West Midlands Schools XC Championships held in Warley Woods on 22 Jan 2022. On a beautiful sunny day, we had 15 BRAT juniors competing on a hilly course in 4 age groups that differ from those in the league (minor Y7, junior Y8/9, inter Y10/11, and senior Y12/13). In the junior/inter/senior categories a top 6 finish guarantees qualification for the prestigious National English Schools Cross Country Championships at Hop Farm in Kent on 19 March. Athletes in the minor category can enter the primary schools’ National Championships in Prestwold Hall on March 26, but no qualification is needed. In the minor girls’ race Amira finished 5th, while in the…