Senior League
The return of competitive league athletics… Not since August 2019 have athletes from all over theMidlands region had a competitive league match to look forward to. Finally on22nd May teams from Cannock, Abingdon, Stoke, Telford, Coventry and of courseBRAT, met at the University of Warwick track for the first senior league matchof the 2022 season. Two years with no competition, then two matches in thespace of a fortnight. The second match taking place at Abingdon on Sunday 5June – I therefore thought it would be easier to do a round up of both matchesin a single post. The first thing to say is how wonderful and gratifying itis to see that our junior academy is working. The majority of our ‘new look’senior team is made up from athletes who have all come through our academy – inthe first meeting alone we had eight under 17 women and three under 17…
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 Juniors Dominate at First Heart of England League
This was our first real league fixture since 2019. We are currently in division 3 and our aim is to be promoted at the end of the season. We had one fixture (that we won) last year, but that didn’t count towards promotion due to it being a fixture based on location rather than the actual teams in our league. This time around, we were up against Bromsgrove & Redditch, Tamworth, Bicester, Corby and a few other teams. To say that we won would be an understatement. Of the 8 gender/age groups on the day, ranging from u11g to u17m, we won EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. We scored a total of 819.5 points, with second and third places scrapping it out between themselves on 457 and 448 respectively. We scored almost the same number of points as the next two teams combined! How did we manage to pull this…
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…
English Schools XC Champs & Midlands (not quite) 5k Champs!
English Schools XC Champs A small number of BRAT’s achieved the fantastic honour of representing the West Midlands School team and Worcestershire schools at the ESAA English Schools Cross Country Championship’s in Hop Farm, Kent. The weather was more like that of the track season and not cross country, and the course was extremely flat and fast with hardly any mud! The first race of the day to include BRAT athletes was the Junior boys. Jack Price was our 1st athlete home in 191st place, this is a fantastic achievement considering it’s only Jack’s second ever cross country! Niklas Van Mourik was next in 271st place after getting spiked early on in the race. In the Inter boys race we had 3 athletes competing. Will Walker was first home in 135th after being dead last at the start of the race, he was followed home by Morgan Hill in 221st…
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…
Warwickshire Road Race League
Below, you will see a list of the races which will make up this year’s Warwickshire Road Race League (WRRL). The programme for 2022 is made up of 10 races :- 18th April Massey ‘s Tractor 10k at the NAC at Stoneleigh Massey Ferguson RC 19th May Ryton 5m at Ryton Pools near Bubbenhall Spa Striders 8th June Sphinx 5m Sphinx AC 12th June Two Castles 10k Leamington C&AC 19th June Arden 9m Knowle&Dorridge RC 10th July Northbrook 10k Northbrook AC 20th August Stratford Summer 6 Stratford Upon Avon AC 11th September Kenilworth Half Marathon Kenilworth Runners 18th September Balsall Common 10k Balsall Common RC 9th October (tbc) Rugby 10m Rugby&Northampton AC You can get more details on the Club web sites or the Two castles web site. Massey’s Tractor 10k To enter use this linkhttps://www.eventrac.co.uk/e/the-massey-ferguson-rc-tractor-10k-4144 Spa Striders 5m Entries are open now https://www.eventrac.co.uk/e/ryton-5-7977 Thursday 19th May 2020 at 7:30pm…
BRAT XC Juniors – Inter Counties Cross Country Championships – Loughborough Saturday 12 March
The race is the UK cross country championships and incorporates the UK Cross Challenge Final. The senior and U20 races are used every two years as the World Cross Country Trial race to select the Great Britain teams so its the top domestic race in the calendar. Athletes have to be selected by their counties to compete with 8 running in each of the junior age groups and 9 in the seniors. To even make it to this event, representing the county, is a huge achievement. Well done to the athletes who competed. Some of the races had over 300 competitors! For most it was their first time in a National Championship race so it was a excellent learning experience for their development. U13B Seb Stendall 148th, U13G Alba Smith Pena 242nd, U15B Dylan Teasdale 229th, U17M Alex Dickson 133rd, Alice Stewart 128th. Sen Men Jonny Cullen 263rd & Matt…
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…
Ladies XC League Season
Midland XC League 2021-22 The women have bounced back from the Covid-19 XC drought with a brilliant set of performances across the four Midland XC League races this season. It has been great to see the team back in action on the hills (of which there were many) and mud (very much saved till the end). We’ve welcomed a couple of new members, who seemed to have enjoyed themselves enough to sign up for more! The women raced at some exciting venues this year with the first race at Betley Court Farm, followed by the tough Stratford course and iconic hills of Burton Dassett. The season finished at the trusty Leamington, where they were finally joined by the BRAT men which resulted in some much needed support on the course. Despite the infamous ditch being deemed unsafe, an alternative ditch was soon sought and the detour provided some serious mud…