BRATs at Home Core Fitness
As we all adapt to the rapidly changing conditions there is still plenty you can do. Just because the world is in lockdown doesn’t mean that your body has to join it. Multi-event athlete Alex Clegg has filmed himself doing a handful of core exercises which you can try indoors in order to build-up, maintain or improve your core strength – see the link below. https://bratclub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/alex_clegg_core_ex_1.mp4 Try each one in turn, do say 5 of each, then 10 of each, then 15 of each – that’s a great starting session for you. Coming SoonAlso watch out for Nigel’s ‘Friday Challenge’.Each Friday, Nigel Clegg will set everyone in the club a challenge based on one or more of these exercises – get practising today as Friday will come around before you know it! Stay safe and stay fit!!!
Meet the Triathlete – March – Rob Slater
March’s edition of Meet the Triathlete catches up with one of the club’s most admired swim coaches; not only a very popular and long standing member of the club but also a tasty triathlete….meet Rob Slater!
BRAT Juniors Star at Regional Indoor Final
This is the first year that BRAT have competed in the Sportshall athletics series and we’ve done fantastically well to have juniors from the club chosen to represent Birmingham against the counties of Hereford and Worcestershire, Shropshire and Warwickshire. In the Under 11’s, Evie was really proud to have been selected from BRAT to represent Birmingham. She was asked by the Birmingham Team organiser to be the Girls’ Team Captain! She was selected to compete in 5 events, more than any other member of the team. Her events included 2×1; 4×1 relay; Over and Under relay (hurdles and through a tunnel); speed bounce and standing long jump. She performed fantastically in all – a super effort. Additionally, we had athletes competing in the U13 and U15 age groups in the afternoon session. The U13 girls team came 2nd, just 2 points behind Warwickshire. The U15 girls team also came 2nd.…
The National Cross Country Championships – Wollaton Park
Saturday the 22nd February saw the pinnacle of the cross country season, a historic race, one which is a rite of passage for most cross country runners – The English National Cross Country Championships. The familiar venue of Wollaton Park always holds potential for a brilliant cross country course and this year was no exception. As we arrived, the mud was evident and absolutely everywhere. We’d anticipated mud, but this took mud to a whole new level … it was going to be great fun! As we collected the numbers and set up camp there was a real buzz of excitement as thousands of club runners from under 11 to seniors came back from races caked in mud and frantically wrapped tape round their spikes before heading to the start. Our two-women-team saw co-captains Eloïse Lee and Molly Browne donning the club vest at the biggest event of the season.…
Midland XC League 2019-20
Saturday 8th February saw the final Midland XC League race of the season take place in Leamington Spa. Clubs and University teams from across the Midlands competed over four races between November and February with this year’s league taking us from the rolling hills and icy rain of Burton Dassett to a very hilly and boggy course in Stratford, then onto a challenging trail race in Trentham and through the infamous ditch of Leamington! The BRAT women have been out in force this season, welcoming old faces and new to XC – and what a season it has been! The season opener in November could not have been in worse conditions with heavy icy rain and a muddy hilly course it really was about as tough as XC gets. Anne Kenchington led the team home with a superb start to the season taking on the hills and conditions no problem…
AGM
Would you believe a year has almost passed since the last BRAT AGM….!?! Well, it has and so the Exec would like to give notice for the BRAT 2020 AGM. All members are encouraged to attend to have a say in setting the direction of the club for the following year, and to elect members on to the Exec to ensure the smooth running of the club next year, and beyond. Where: The Blue Coat School, Pavilion When: 10th May 2020 – 6pm Look out for more information coming up, including which posts/roles are up for election, ways that you can get involved, highlights from 2019-20, club targets and priorities for 2020-21, and constitutional amendments.
Midland Indoor T & F Championships
Ten of our T&F athletes entered the Midland Counties Indoor Championships on February 8/9th at the HPC , Birmingham and in a very successful weekend came away with 3 medals, one of each colour, along with multiple personal bests. Spurred on by being in a warm, dry arena away from storm Ciara, which was lashing the country, Lily Smith continued her magnificent progress in the Long Jump winning the U15 title in a new pb of 5.04m, despite this being her first year in the age group. Mali Lloyd Griffiths, just missed out on a medal by dropping down to 4th in the final round but nevertheless still recorded a pb of 4.83m. Our other medal winning performances came in the senior men’s 60m Hurdles, where 3 BRATs lined up in the final. This was a very close race with only 0.5 s separating all 6 finalists, but in a…
Meet the Triathlete – Lauren Turvey
February’s ‘Meet the Triathlete’ catches up with one of BRAT Club’s highest performing triathletes. Having finished in 7th place at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Lausanne 2019, we were delighted to get to know a little more about ultra speedy: Lauren Turvey!
Super Saturday (part 3)
Meanwhile up in Telford the BRAT mens XC team went into the final league fixture looking to secure promotion back to Div.1 at the first attempt. The top of the table was very tight so despite sitting in second place before the race (3 to go up) there was no room for complacency.Under the expert guidance of Martin Ludford (team manager) the team secured 2nd place on the day to anchor themselves in 2nd place in the league. Not to be outdone the B-team also finished second on the day securing 1st place overall in the B-competition.Well done all – Division 1 awaits next winter.
Super Saturday (part 2)
Meanwhile over at the High Performance Centre several junior BRATs were competing in the Midland Indoor Championships.Lilly Smith (pictured above) continued her improvement taking Gold in the U15 Long Jump with a jump of 5.04m. This is currently 12th best in the UK this year and only the 8th BRAT lady (any age group) to ever exceed the 5m mark.Mali Lloyd-Griffiths narrowly missed the podium by just 4cm (about the width of a credit card) finishing 4th in 4.84m. An Excellent start to the 2020 season.
Super Saturday (part 1)
Saturday 8th February saw the BRAT ladies XC team head down to Leamington for the final race of the 2019/20 XC league campaign. It was still all to play for with BRAT sitting in 4th position behind Loughborough students, Birchfield and Birmingham students.The Leamington course didn’t disappoint with the usual mix of hills, mud, open country and the infamous ditch.A fantastic team effort by Eloise, Beccy T, Anne K and Molly saw BRAT overhaul Loughborough and move back into third place overall.This was topped off by Molly winning 3rd place in the individual standings.Thanks should go to all who have competed this season (many pictured above in the unseasonal sunshine yesterday) as this has produced a brilliant team atmosphere on race days.
Midland XC Championships 2020
Saturday 25th January saw runners from across the midlands set up camp at Prestwold Hall in Loughborough for the Midland XC Championships. With the numbers collected, a walk around the course confirmed that the new route for 2020 would be challenging and heavy going … perfect! A number of BRAT juniors ran very well in the earlier races (U13G, U15B, U17B). Lauren Hevey came 97th in U13Girls, Tom Burdett 19th and Morgan Hill 78th in U15 Boys and Rueben Kite 21st in U17 men. Then it was suddenly time for the BRAT women to take to the start line. The course was two laps with lots of mud, a log to jump and a steep hill to contend with. The gun went and as expected it was a quick start on what felt like the only downhill section of the course. A leading pack went off early and soon there…