BRAT’s Stagger to Victory!
Anne Kenchington kept her feet as she became the fastest female at the 2019 Stourbridge Stagger 10 Mile (Sunday 3 February). Anne took on this steep challenge and won. There were nearly 500 entries in the 10 mile race and a further 85 in the 7k – making it the biggest turnout to date. The weather was cold and bright as runners gathered at the start line in Mary Stevens Park in Stourbridge, ready for the off at 10.30am and a tough, hilly course that does not take any prisoners. It was a BRAT 1st, 2nd and 3rd with Anne, Annie Byrne and Vicky Shaw completing the top three Senior Female results. Congratulations to all our runners wearing their BRAT vests with pride!
BRAT Ladies make history at the Midland XC Championships 2019
Standing in a hilly, muddy field on a slightly soggy Saturday could mean only one thing … cross country. This time Team BRAT were up against the best runners and clubs in the Midlands for the regional cross country championships. The familiar venue of Newbold Comyn in Leamington saw the return of the dreaded ditch along with a new route taking in the many hills of the golf course. It was going to be tough! The women’s race, covered a two lap course taking in the ditch and a couple of big climbs each lap. Despite a slightly depleted team due to injury and illness, with a brilliant XC season so far we had set our sights on an ambitious top 5 team finish. The news that one of our potential scorers was stuck in traffic was far from ideal. Start time and still no sign, we left their number…
Warwickshire / Worcester XC Championships – Brilliant BRAT Results!
The first weekend of 2019 was a very busy and successful one for BRAT athletes. BRAT senior women’s cross country teams won both the Worcestershire and Warwickshire championships as well as Molly Browne being individual champion in Worcestershire. – Worcestershire Team Championship (Gold): Molly Browne (Gold) -1st, Eloise Lee – 4th, Rachel Farquhar – 8th – Warwickshire Team Championship (Gold): Becky Tipping – 4th, Anne Kenchington – 6th – Katrina Rye 8th. In the men’s events:– Worcester Team Masters Championship (Silver): Jonny Cullen, James Marshall, Anthanios Tsolakis, Simon Lanckham, Ashley Fawke and Iain Squires– Worcester Individual Masters Championship (Silver): Jonny Cullen – Warwickshire Team Masters Championships (Bronze): Chris Ashford, Nick Lewis, Rene Vergo and Adam Western were bronze medallists in the Warwickshire championships – Warwickshire Individual Masters Championships (Silver): Chris Ashford Junior age groups Morgan Hill and Rueben Kite were both seventh in their age groups and altogether 42 BRAT’s…
Midlands Autumn Road Relays – Time to Enter
Men 6×5.85km, Women 4×4.35km Hello BRAT mates, still hanging onto Summer, but need your attention for September. We can enter as many teams as we want to pay for, and everyone is welcome regardless of standard. Teams are selected in anticipated order of speed, so any new runners concerned about being thrown on A team first leg can relax. The race attracts fast and slow, young and old, too thin and too fat, 800m to marathon runners. Give it a go and I bet you get a good time out of it. I have to enter number of teams and squad names by 2 September, so please let me know well before that. Squad entry is actual places x 3, so just need a possible-probable-definite. I will need from everyone: English Athletic completion number (you tick this box at BRAT club renewal), membership must be paid up to date (shows…
Dates for the Diary
Despite the continuing very un-British summer the autumn road relays are in sight and the mud of cross country is just over the horizon (yes it really is that time of year already !) Please keep the following dates free and do your best to run in these events. More details to follow. See Events Calendar for venue details Saturday 22nd September – Road Relays – Sutton Park Saturday 10th November – XC League race-1 Saturday 1st December – XC League race-2 Saturday 12th January – XC League race-3 Saturday 9th February – XC League race-4
DY4 0BS is the new PB5 SB2
Last night saw the third instalment of BMC regional races at the Tipton Track (DY4 0BS) BRATs were out in force recording 5 Personal Bests and 2 Season’s Bests Proceedings got off to a flying start in the first race (5000m) with Mark Ince leading BRATs home in a solid season’s best, closely followed by Nathan Warren with a new PB and sub-17 performance in 16:56.67. Nathan himself was chased home by track debutant Thanos also scoring a PB. Next up was Molly Browne in her favourite event (not) the 1500m. Unperturbed Molly sliced a massive 5 seconds off her PB and also claimed a new (to be confirmed) club record which has stood for 14 years. Abayomi dropped down to 800m and undaunted by the pace stormed around 2-laps to also record a new PB in 2:14.43. (those 4 x 400m relay legs are paying off). Bournville’s Henry…
Marathon Mondays: Famous last words
OK, we lulled you in safety. It wasn’t our last post, and it’s not even Monday! But we thought that this one was important and special. Now that the dust has settled and the temperatures (temporarily) dropped, we’ve asked our club place runners, Kevin Oakes and Nathan Smith, to reflect on their race and what they’ve learned about the marathon and about themselves. Here’s what they’ve had to say. Kevin Oakes 1. In 3 words, describe your marathon experience. Challenging, exciting & encouraging 2. What was the most positive thing about your marathon experience? The training up to the marathon has taught me not to be afraid to run distance and to be more flexible and less regimented with training. Also the sense of achievement, even though I did not achieve the time I aimed for, but I know it’s not impossible to achieve that time. 3. What went wrong…
BRAT National 12 Stage Road Relays – Manager’s Report
Our BRAT national team paid another visit to Sutton Park on what was a positively Spring like day, when compared to The Midland Champs Winter north of the wall. Although slightly weaker, the demand was to beat individual midland times, and conditions were right for it. This was an event dominated by the South East, particularly Kent ! We were 7th in the Midlands and 4th West Midlands, surprisingly just beaten by Worcester who are promoted to 1st division in XC, so one to look out for. Although how Coventry were allowed to be there after being disqualified at The Midlands is disappointing. Dan as usual was our lead man. The first leg at The National is a challenge, where the last man in 60th completed in 33 minutes and was way off the back! Dan was at the other end of the race, smashing his midland time by 31 seconds…
Congratulations, you’ve done the marathon! Now what?!
Congratulations! You have reached the last one of these articles… and hopefully completed your marathon too. 🙂 So, how did it go? Remember that in the hours and days immediately afterwards, emotions are high. You may be riding the crest of a wave, or are in the pits of despair. Post Race Reflections Once you have had that shower, eaten, slept, showed everyone your medal and analysed all that lovely data, what’s next? Probably the most effective use your time (with the exception of enjoying a few more of those well earned beers and pizzas) after the race is spent on reflection. Your body is battered, but hopefully not too broken, so use the time to truthfully assess your performance and how closely it matched your expectations. It may seem unimportant once the race is over, but if you ever plan to return to a similar endeavour, this opportunity…
Meet the runners: Sophie Ward
The marathon is edging ever closer. We hope you are getting your training in and are healthy and well. So far, you’ve met Kevin and Nathan. But there are a few other runners from the club tackling the marathon this spring. Today you’ll meet Sophie Ward. Tell us about yourself: I’m Sophie Ward, 25 years old. I live with my fiancé Matt and my dog Yogi :). I’m a physiotherapist. What is your sporting back ground? I’ve tried lots of different sports including; ballet, tap, horse-riding, swimming and triathlon. Finally settling on running. What is your goal for the VLM/ other spring marathon? Its my first marathon, so just getting over the finish line would be a massive achievement! However, I’d love to finish sub 3hrs. What does your weekly training look like? Sunday – Long Run Monday – Brat Run (8mile recovery run) Tuesday – Rest/Pilates Wednesday – Brat…
Marathon Mondays: Rest and Recovery
Welcome again to Marathon Mondays! We are going to focus on the third part of the performance triangle – Rest and Recovery. Find out why rest and recovery are as vital to training as the actual running itself. ‘Rest’ is often perceived as a dirty word amongst runners, with many fearing that they will lose all of their hard-earned fitness in an instant. However, rest and recovery are probably the two most underrated facets of training. Whilst the world’s best runners train very hard, they also take their recovery super seriously and are supremely lazy (no joke) when they’re not putting one foot in front of another! Just what do we mean with rest and recovery? There is a difference. To paraphrase a famous phrase of our time: “Rest means rest.” Do nothing. Nada. Zip. This effectively means you can do anything you want, except running and exercising. Recovery,…