Adam Peacock smashes his PB for 800m again.
Adam Peacock ended his 2021 track season, smashing his personal best (PB) over 800m at Stretford, Manchester (24th August 2021). The pace at the start was quick, with the pacemaker going through the first 400m in 53 seconds. Adam, sitting at the back of the field and was able to come through the field to finish 4th in a magnificent 1:51.46. His time ranks as the 2nd fastest ever by a club member behind the great Andy Myatt in the 1980s. His performance is also the fastest by the club (and former clubs), in 32 years! Adam, who was the winner of the recent BRAT 5km, has also been one of the best performers for the club this year, recording 15 personal bests (including 4 PBs over 800m) and a positive inspiration to athletes at the club, proving hard work, perseverance and belief works.
James Marshall – British Masters Champion
James Marshall was crowned National Champion at the British Masters Championships held Derby. His victory came in the M40 category over 800 metres on Sunday 22nd August 2021. In a slow, tactical race through 400m, James sat in the pack before kicking for home with 550m to go, to win in a time of 2:00.65. His win completes a momentous season for James, breaking his long-standing PB for 800m and being part of the Midland Masters team that broke the M40 British record for 4x800m relay. He also finishes the 2021 track season being ranked 4th fastest 800m in the UK and has set the all-time club best performance for 800m in the M40 age category.
Midland Championship / British Masters & Kettering Open 21st & 22nd Aug 21
This was a busy weekend in the athletics calendar, with BRATs competing in the Midlands Championships, British Masters and Kettering Open. Gordon has confirmed that these were the best Midlands Champs since we became BRAT; a sure sign that the Junior Academy is starting to yield results in the older age groups. There were 3 golds, 4 silvers, 3 bronze and 3 x 4thplaces, with around 20 getting into finals. U15 Bonheur Tshibola also broke the club record in the 75m Hurdles. Highlights (other than Bonheur’s club record) include Jamie Callaghan throwing 37.56 in the hammer to move him to 13th in the UK, Isla O’Connor’s triple jump of 9.74m to maintain her position of 12th in the UK and Jacob Gosnall’s 300m time of 39.92 to give him a Standard 3 AAA. The U13 Boys Quad had 3 BRAT entrants who finished 2nd (Robert Lee), 4th (Anthony Golding) and 7th…
Club Records & Rankings in Athletics
Our athletics club records and rankings are now available. We have endeavoured to provide the most accurate list of athletics ‘known’ performances and include the following lists: Club rankings of all athletics performances by club members All-time club athletics records All-time club age-best performances for each athletics event All-time top-10 performances for each age group and each athletics event. You will find links to all of these record and rankings available HERE and they will be updated on a regular basis. Please contact us at: rankings@bratclub.co.uk
Summerfield Smash 2021 Results
The results of the BRAT Summerfield Smash are out, check them out here:
England U15 / U17 Championships
U15 Lily Smith travelled to Sportcity in Manchester on Sunday 8th August for the England U15 / U17 Championships to take part in the Long Jump. To qualify for the competition an athlete has to have achieved a certain standard, and Lily was the only BRAT to have made the grade. Lily went on to finish 6th with a jump of 5.10m, and there was only 40cm separating the top 6 jumpers! Lily was thrilled with the result and it was a fantastic experience. Huge congratulations.
Warwickshire & Worcestershire County Championships
What a weekend! Whilst Team GB are bringing home the medals from Tokyo, the BRAT athletes have been doing likewise at the Warwickshire and Worcestershire County Championships. Our junior athletes have turned out in force, with the help of a handful of seniors, and all have put in a series of excellent performances over the weekend of Saturday 31st July / Sunday 1st August. With all of the major clubs across the two counties being represented across all disciplines and age groups from under 13s up to seniors (and a handful of vets) these were good quality events to take part in. In total the BRAT medal haul of 11 Golds, 7 silver and 6 bronze shows that we are one of the premier clubs in the Midlands, if not in the country and our under 13s and 15s accounted for an incredible 8 of these golds! BRAT medal winners…
Cheltenham Midsummer Open 28th July
6 BRATs travelled to Cheltenham for their final Midsummer Open Event on 28th July. The forecast had promised a pleasant evening, but the events were delayed by 15 minutes due to a torrential downpour. U15’s Jamie Callaghan and Jacob Gosnall were in the 300m with Jacob running a storming race to knock 0.6 seconds off of his PB for a time of 40.5. V40 James Marshall was running the 400m for the first time since 2018 where he ran a SB of 54.2, and SEN Adam Peacock ran a PB of 51.9 Adam was also participating in the 800m alongside SEN Chris Pickering who ran a PB of 2.00.2 and SEN Paul Joliffe. Photos courtesy of Toby Gosnall
Track & Field League (Senior) 11th July Solihull
Second League Match Report Before a quick run through of the second league meeting of the season, there is some good news to report regarding the first match – we won! After all the officials points had been taken into account BRAT overhauled Birchfield to claim top spot – well done to all BRAT officials. The second meeting was however always going to be a tougher affair for us as we lost so many female athletes who were either injured or having to isolate as they had been sent home from school. We therefore travelled to Solihull with just seven senior women. Thankfully we were able to put out a very strong men’s team – who came out on top on the day but the inevitable lack of female entries meant that overall we could only manage third out of the five teams. There were however, a number of BRAT…
Birmingham Uni Open 14th July
14th July saw the final Birmingham Track & Field Open of the season, and a number of the Junior BRATS took advantage of the events aimed at the younger age group. 15 of the 26 runners in the 150m were BRATS, with all 15 of them running a PB!! 6 of the 10 runners in the 600m were also BRATS with U13 Noor Bailey and U11 Millie Gordon-Maclean achieving PBs. BRATs also took over the Long Jump pit, with 8 of the 12 athletes taking part – U15 Jacob Gosnall, U15 May Smith and Noor Bailey all jumped PBs 3 BRATs entered throwing events, with both U13 Evie Rendell and U13 Dylan Gargett achieving PBs in the javelin. A fantastic evening for all. Toby Gosnall was on hand to capture the action again, and the photos can be viewed on the BRAT Flickr page – Birmingham Uni Open 14th July…
English Schools’ Athletic Association 11th July 2021
U15 Jamie Callaghan was selected by English Schools’ Athletic Association to represent the West Midlands in the hammer at the National Finals in Manchester on 11th July. This year they selected the Top 16 from Power of 10 in individual events to represent their counties at the final. Jamie finished 9th overall, just missing out on the second round for a further three throws. It was a fantastic experience which has spurred him on to train even harder for next year. Well done Jamie
1st Place for BRAT @ Stourport (Heart of England League) – 3rd July 2021
The Heart of England League is known as the “friendly league” and was formed in 1978 to give Midland based clubs local competition to a broader range of athletes including, under 11s. There are 28 clubs, and normally they compete in 3 matches across 4 divisions with promotion and relegation at the end of the season. However, this year (due to the pandemic), it’s been regionalised to reduce travel, and there is no promotion or relegation. This did not affect the youngsters though who gave it their all and finished first out of 7 clubs!! This was the 1st Heart of England BRAT were able to compete in since July 2019, and was eagerly anticipated. The last year has been a difficult year for many athletics clubs and BRAT is no exception to this. The overwhelming majority of our U11s and U13s had never taken part in a club competition…