Spotlight: BRAT Juniors
Our BRAT Juniors are having a fantastic season so far with eight athletes recently landing a clutch of national or world podium and top ten finishes. We currently have 250 junior athletes from eight to 18-years-old, with its junior team currently leading division one of the four-division Heart of England League. We are also actively supporting neurodiverse athletes and athletes with disability to reach their potential and welcomes anyone with a passion for track and field, cross country, road running, and triathlon. Recent BRAT junior successes include: At the heart of BRAT’s success is its dedicated coaching team of volunteers, who run training sessions from the University of Birmingham Athletics Track. Now, the club is seeking new coaches who are ideally ex or current athletes, but with passion for the sport being the most important criteria. Christopher Davy, BRAT chair, said: We’re passionate about being a welcoming and inclusive club…
Warwickshire & Worcestershire County XC Champs- Solihull Riding Club Saturday 14th December
Write-up by: Nick Price (Junior XC Team Manager & Endurance Lead Coach) Some excellent performances by the juniors at the County XC Champs at the new testing course at the Solihull Riding Club. It was good for the juniors to experience racing on pasture / farm land rather than parks! The Champs is one of the qualifying races for the Inter Counties XC Champs at Nottingham on 8th March with 8 athletes from Warwickshire and Worcestershire being selected! Overall we achieved 4 podium medals and 3 team medals during the day which was a great team effort! U11G – Nya ran away with the race and looked comfortable winning her 2nd County XC Champs in a row! Isabelle 21, Veronica 25. Team 4th U11B- Another excellent performance by the U11s with a great 2nd team place again!! George 5, Thomas 11, Zachary 13, Jeevan 19, William 20, Walter 21, Sebastian…
BRAT Awards 2024
It was great to see over 200 of you at our sell-out awards night back in November at our new venue of Moseley Rugby Club. A big thanks to everyone involved in making this happen and a huge congratulations to all of the awards winners. With such a massive number of athletes competing at the moment, gaining a nomination is an achievement in itself! Regardless of if you won an award, you are all a part of the big BRAT family and we look forward to what 2025 has in store. The awards winners from 2024 and all previous years can be found here. It’s well worth a look at who has been awarded the various trophies throughout the history of the club, there are some big names on there. Thanks to Toby Gosnall who captured the night on his camera, you can view all the photos here.
Sportshall Is Back!
Sportshall Athletics. If there was ever a form of organized chaos in athletics. This is it. The degree to which it is organized or chaotic varies from match to match and from club to club, but I’d like to think that BRAT veer slightly towards the organized side of things. It’s somewhat surprising, given the number of new faces we see taking part, not knowing quite what to expect. In Matt’s absence, I had the please of giving out the numbers. This gave a me a great opportunity to assess the general feeling of our athletes. I’d say that there were a lot of nerves on show, so congratulations to all of you that felt nervous at the start but conquered those nerves to put in some great performances. Our u15g team won overall and our u15b were pipped to first place by a handful of points. Out of our…
We are the Champions!
The BRAT senior track and field team have been crowned champions of the MidlandsAthletics League for 2024, some 35 years since we last achieved that feat!After a very encouraging 2023 in which we finished second in the top flight, we weredetermined this season to go one better – but I don’t think anyone thought that we wouldwin all four matches. After the disappointment of the May meeting at Nottingham being cancelled, the firstoccasion that all division one clubs met was at Nuneaton for the ‘Technical’ Match in earlyJune. All the Midlands clubs from all six divisions meet up and compete over the 8 mosttechnically challenging events (pole vault, steeplechase, hammer etc..). You competeagainst all six divisions and only at the end are points awarded against clubs from yourindividual division. It if sounds complicated then that’s because it is! However, it’s great funand as a result of our efforts we picked…
Heart of England League – Banbury – 23rd June 2024
the Heart of England league. Rewind back to this time 2 years ago and we were in division 3. Since then, we have had 2 consecutive seasons of promotion. My expectation was that we would hold our own and finish comfortably around the middle of the division.
County Champs 2024
There was fierce competition last weekend at the Athletics County Championships (both Warwickshire and Worcestershire). The competition for the most sunburnt spectator was marginally less intense than the competition for the most vociferous! Yes, we were blessed with an uncharacteristically hot weekend which was tempered slightly by a cool swirling breeze. I’m not sure if it was just me, but it did seem as though there was a headwind on both the home straight and the back straight, but we really shouldn’t complain given how unseasonably warm it was! As junior team manager, I take great pleasure in seeing our athletes apply what they have learnt in training to competition. I know that all the coaches share this view. Training and competition are different. You can not replicate the adrenaline rush you feel in a race when someone creeps on to your shoulder or the euphoria you feel when you…
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…
Midland 6 and 12 Stage Road Relays and Junior 5km Road Champs
Saturday saw a large BRAT turnout in Sutton Park for the Midland 6 and 12 Stage Road Relays and Junior 5km Road Champs. Ages ranged from under 13’s to over-65’s showcasing the range of membership we have.The spring weather was at it’s liveliest with four seasons in one day but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of everyone taking part. First up were the Junior 5km races which score on a cross country basis from the first three athletes across the line in each age group. BRAT were well represented across the age groups bagging silverware in the U13 boys –Ollie Knight 3rd Individual and backed up by Ben Eden and Jospeh Baker scooped the team silver medal as well. They actually missed the gold medal by one point on count-back. Further success was added by the U15 boys – Elliot Dawlatly 1st Individual and backed up by Joshua Taylor…
BRAT Warm-Up Meeting 17th March
Despite the looming threat of poor weather, the BRAT Club Track and Field Internal Season Warm-up Meeting unfolded as a great success. The dedication and spirit of the young athletes and everyone else who participated, demonstrated their passion and commitment for the sport regardless of the conditions. The enthusiasm of the BRAT club youngsters and Seniors lit up the University track, from the adrenaline-fuelled sprints to the energetic leaps in the long jump, high jump, javelin, discus and hammer throws, every moment was charged with passion, determination and resilience. None of this would have been possible without the selfless efforts of the small army who worked behind the scenes for many weeks to organise and ensure the smooth running of this event. Bea Pavlovic Note From the Field Referee:Thanks to all Officials and helpers who made this event happen despite the atrocious conditions on the infield. Special thanks to…
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…
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…