A Tale of Two Tuesdays
True to Spring, the weather has been changeable, to say the least. Whilst the first session back at the track last week enjoyed unseasonably high temperatures, last night’s session brought us crashing back down with sub-zero temperatures accompanied by a blizzard and biting winds. In spite of the sudden drop in temperatures, it was fantastic to see a massive turnout of both the junior and senior training groups. Not only that, a number of new faces in the junior groups braved the weather and completed their first session with the BRAT family. As they were finishing, the dedicated seniors were just getting started, going through the first 400m of their sessions in a mightily quick 61 seconds! If you want to be part of the fantastic BRAT team, get in touch!
BRAT in Australia
Whilst there are currently no athletics competitions in the UK, Hannes Petzer who moved to Australia was able to take part in his first one for over 12 months.
He entered the NSW Masters Championships in Campbelltown and was 1st in the Javelin with a throw of 47.72, 2nd in the Discus with 32.93m and 4th in the Hammer with 32m.
Well done Hannes
BRAT AAA Awards 2020
Despite this being a year when most of our athletes haven’t competed, some have taken part in the limited competitions that have taken place and were rewarded by achieving Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) standards.
BRAT Junior Athletics – End of Season
U15 twins Lily and May Smith travelled to Stretford, Manchester on 26th September, with both doing the 100m and 200m and Lily also competing in the Long Jump. Lily was tantalisingly close to her PB in the long jump again with a jump of 4.80m and May beat her PB in the 200m by 0.13 seconds to run a time of 30.26. U13 Alba Smith-Pena competed in the BCT Junior Aquathon on 26th September where she was just 10 seconds off of 3rd place. This is a fantastic achievement considering swimming has been off the agenda until recently so she has not been able to get any practice in. The anticipated wet forecast did nothing to dampen the spirits of the 12 BRATS who travelled to Nuneaton on 4th October. It was U9 Erin and Josephine Colclough’s first outing – they obviously have their dad’s speedy legs as they finished…
BRAT Juniors – September action!
September has been a busy month for Open Events, and a number of Junior BRATS have made the most of the opportunity for some end of season action. U15 Morgan Hill was the only BRAT at Charnwood on 9th where he ran a PB in the 3000m with a time of 10.32mins – 15secs faster than his time from June 2019. Leamington on 12th saw Innes Villalobos-Finigan venture out as her 1st year as an U17 to try the 400m where she achieved a time of 70.3 secs. Morgan Hill secured a SB in the 1500m with 4.55mins, V40 James Colclough achieved his 2nd fastest 400m this season with 53.8 secs and V35 Abayomi Adedimeji completed the 1500m in 4.40mins. Unfortunately the following weekend saw the event planned for Rugby on 19th cancelled due to a rise in COVID cases, but a number of athletes were able to attend the…
BRAT Juniors return to action!
With COVID restrictions being lifted and pilot meetings having been completed, the last couple of weekends have seen a number of BRAT Juniors in action. U15’s Lily Smith, May Smith and Mali Lloyd-Griffiths all had an early start in Nuneaton on Sunday 30th August with the 100m. Lily and Mali were also in the Long Jump, with Mali improving on her PB by 3cm to jump over 5 metres – one of only 26 U15 girls to jump over 5m this year, with Lily also being one of them! May tried a new distance of 300m and achieved a PB of 48.48, Morgan Hill secured a PB in the 800m with a time of 2 mins 29 and Jamie Callaghan throwing as an U15 for the 1st time, a PB in the discus with a distance of 26.03m. U11 Erin McDaid travelled to Charnwood and achieved a PB in both the…
Nigel’s Friday Challenge (10)
We have reached the big 10 and the Friday challenge steps up – well actually it runs up this week The Friday hill challenge Something a little different this Friday – you’re going outside either on the pavement or a grassy area. Find an area which has an incline. I’ll leave it up to you how steep an incline but obviously the steeper the harder! You need approximately 40/50 metres – make sure you’ve warmed up and stretched before you start. Run as fast as you can up your hill, walk back down for recovery. Repeat ten times. If you want to make it harder, when you get to the top do ten full star jumps (see Alexander’s video to see how he jumps with both arms and legs out wide). Please keep up the other exercises/challenges on a regular basis as we will be back training one day soon!…
Nigel’s Friday Challenge (9)
More form Nigel in the series of Friday Challenges. What would we do without them ! The Big One! Remind yourself of the video of Alexander’s routine – this week you need to do ALL 10 of his exercises.https://bratclub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/alex_clegg_core_ex_1.mp4 Here’s the routine: 1) Sit ups – 20 to do (you can just do the straight version, as opposed to twisting from side to side)2) Stand squats – 20 to do (you can hold a small weight if you’ve got one)3) Alternate squats – 20 on each leg4) Flutter kicks – 50 to do in total5) Press ups – 20 to do (not on your knees!)6) Full Star jumps – 10 to do7) Lower back raises – 10 to do8) Burpees – 10 to do9) Calf raises – 30 to do10) Side raises – hold position for 30 seconds on each side As you are all getting so fit by now…
Nigel’s Friday Challenge (8)
So another week flies by and it’s time for another Friday workout Stand to Attention FridayThis Friday you are required to stand to attention – perfectly upright, shoulders back, head up…Bend your knees and lower yourself to the floor using your hands to ‘walk’ across the floor until you reach a press up position – do one press up.Walk your hands back and start to stand straight again, standing to attention when you get to the top. Repeat nine more times (10 walk press ups in total). There’s more: Next, lie face down on the ground. Place your finger tips to your eyebrows and slowly raise the top half of your body several inches off the ground so you can feel the stretch in your lower back – DO NOT let your hips, legs or toes leave the ground, they must remain in contact with the floor at all times.Stay…
Nigel’s Friday Challenge (7)
It may be a Bank Holiday but that’s not reason enough to stop….So here’s the Bumper Bank Holiday edition from Nigel. Bank Holiday Friday Challenge In keeping with the military theme let’s do some Sergeant Jumps this Friday. Stand sideways on to a wall.Bend at the knees using your arm/hand nearest the wall to reach down to the lower part of your shin/top of the ankle. Do NOT allow your back to bow, keep it straight and keep your head looking forward, not down! Tap the shin/ankle then jump up from the squat position you find yourself in and try to reach as high up the wall as you can. Keep that up/down motion going – down to the shin/ankle, spring upwards and touch the wall. Do 10 on one side, turn and do 10 on the other. Rest 30 seconds then do 15 one side, 15 the other. Finally,…
Nigel’s Friday Challenge (6)
Alternate Squat Thrusts. Have a look at the video of Alexander doing alternate squats – the third exercise in the sequence.https://bratclub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/alex_clegg_core_ex_1.mp4 Three options this week; Option 1 – the easy option.Do 100, non-stop, squats. Stop, rest for one minute then do another 100 squats. Option 2 – the hard optionYou need to have a wooden floor in order to do this. Using two small towels, place your feet on the towels, then try doing the 100 squats. The towels will move smoothly across the wooden floor and will make it harder because it really is a non-stop motion. Option 3 – the really hard option.Do the same as option 2 with your feet on the towels but you only do 10 squats at a time. In between each set of ten you have to do 5 press ups!In total you have to do 50 squats and 25 press ups. If…
Nigel’s Friday Challenge (5)
So here we are again with the one you have all been waiting for. Modern language challenge This Friday is about languages.Look at the video of Alexander – the 6th exercise he does are full star jumps.You are going to do the same but each time you leap into the air you have to count up to twenty (first leap is one, second leap is two etc…). https://bratclub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/alex_clegg_core_ex_1.mp4 However, here’s the fun part – you have to count in another language other than English! French, German, Italian, Spanish – the choice is yours. If you get one wrong or hesitate between jumps you have to start all over again.So, eins, zwei, drei….off you go! Good luck Nigel