NATIONAL 6-STAGE ROAD RELAYS
Another Saturday afternoon in Sutton Park, this time for the National Road Relays. Fresh from the test-run over the same course at the Midland championships two weeks ago, Team BRAT were ready to race against some of the best clubs in the country. The women saw the men head off on their quest over the 12-stage event before Molly Browne lined up ready to get the 6-stage underway for Team BRAT. It was always going to go off fast and as the gun went, the first-leg runners charged down the initial hill. A rather windy out and back made for a tough leg but it was downhill from the stone (except those final two hills and the uphill finish). With a kick for home, Molly finished in 13th place, a great start for the team. Next up was Anne Kenchington on the first short-leg of the day, with a brilliant…
Masters Road Relays – Time to Enter
Good morning ageing, old, infirm, possibly deluded, but still very keen BRATS. Now is the time to embrace Spring, remember which is your right from left shoe, and demonstrate your undoubted pace. If you are still reading this and you are under 35, then you need to get out more. Yes, Masters National Road Relay Champs are here. Saturday 18 May at the usual Sutton Park spot. As you are unlikely to recall 12 months previous, here is how it works. There are teams for M35+ x6 legs; M45+ x4 legs, M55+ x3 legs, M65+ x 3 legs, M75+ x3 legs ! You can run for a younger team, and we can enter as many teams as we wish to pay for. Our priority is to populate with the quickest athletes, our team who have the best opportunity of a high finish or medal; with the exception of prioritising any…
National Road Relays – Men’s Manager Report
Well done team, and well done all the Midland teams. Good solid performances. Current course was introduced in 2015 and is slightly longer (3.16 miles Vs 2.995). I think there were pbs for Nathan, Karl, and Thanos. Dan missing his Midland pb by only seconds, and Colin 5 seconds. 36th overall and 32nd A team. 7th in Midlands excluding Bristol, 4th in West Midlands. Results at www.race-results.co.uk On a pleasant but slightly chilly day, we once again were amongst the big boys, interested in seeing how competitive we may be and defending our Midland ranking. Blimey, some of them are fast ! Dependable Dan, who just keeps getting faster, was first pressure leg as ever and did not disappoint. Although very slightly slower than at the Midland, I was happy, but don’t tell him that. Second leg was always going to be tough for Nathan following Dan. We did drop places, but it was an…
Midland 6-stage and 12-stage Road Relays
Saturday 23rd March saw Team BRAT head to Sutton Park for the Midland 6-stage and 12-stage Spring Road Relays. The sun was shining and the conditions were some of the best we’ve ever had for the relays, an improvement on the blizzard that runners battled with at the same event in 2018. BRAT had two complete ladies teams and the men had two complete teams and a third team shy of a couple of runners. The flags went up in our usual spot and eager runners arrived ready to give it everything over the familiar undulating and challenging long and short loops. BRAT Men were off first. Dan Robinson led the team out on the first of four long legs. Dan produced a brilliant run to bring the A team into 8th place. Great runs followed from Martin Matthews who wasn’t far behind in 36th for the B team and…
BRATs Spin-off
Back at the tail end of 2018, 20 hardcore BRATs (are there any other kind?) formed a team for a spin-off competition at the University of Birmingham, against several of their sports clubs, community members, and staff. The competition involved half an hour max effort on a spinning bike for each participant in the team. All the calories scores recorded by team members on the bikes were added together, and the team with the most calories burned, won. BRATs were triumphant and received a donation to club funds, which the team decided they would like to present to a charity instead (because we are a very nice club, as well as a hardcore one). The team were so delirious from their efforts that of course they chucked in a few extra pounds as well. The donation was duly made to St Mary’s Hospice, a fantastic local charity, and they sent…
BRATs Tri Harder and #TriLikeMe
BRAT and Team GB triathlete Lauren is the inspirational star of Tri Harder: What it takes to win a triathlon. Former BRAT Rosie is featured in British Triathlon’s current #TriLikeMe campaign. Read what she has to say about her triathlon experiences. It’s great to see more club kit on BT’s website, after triathlete and coach Elliott featured last year in their Rainbow Laces campaign.
Midlands 12/ 6 Stage Relays – Time to Enter
Yes BRAT mates, Spring is on its way. 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. All running speeds welcome, we just put you in the appropriate team. Midland Road relay championship. Sutton Park Sat afternoon 23 March. 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 email an indication whether you are definite, probable or yes subject to injury by Thursday 28 February. This will allow the managers to estimate the number of teams and squad names to enter. We can enter 3 x number of team places to allow for injuries/ reserves. If…
Midland Counties Indoor Championships
The BRAT sprint hurdlers enjoyed a very successful day at part 1 of the Midland Indoor Championships at HPC Birmingham on February 10th. Prince Ayeh replicated his outdoor sprint hurdle success at the outdoor championships last year by winning the 60mH in a pb time of 8.86s. Three of our young hurdlers who have moved up an age group also had a pleasing day with Eve Godsal finishing 4th in the final of the U15G 60m H in a pb time of 9.96s ,an improvement of 0.3s from her last race and similarly Zac Humphries also finished 4th in the final of the U15B 60mH in 9.92s. John Stolberg had a brilliant race in the U20M 60mH coming 6th in a pb time of 9.10s, an improvement of 0.6s. Unfortunately Simran Watson had a poor start in her heat of the U15G 60m H and whilst she finished 3rd in…
Midland League XC Finale
The final Midland League XC fixture was held south of Gloucester, despite the questionable Midlands location, the course was definitely worth the trip down the M5. The first challenge was navigating the farm animals and mud (which had been significantly lacking this cross-country season) to reach the start. Despite the strong winds, the BRAT flag and tent were up and we headed out to walk the course. What appeared at first as a large lake, was in fact a very flooded field. If you looked closely you could see the course markers poking out of the water where they had been placed the day before. A slight course change to avoid swimming made for a challenging course with an extra couple of hills, and little did we know a bonus km and a half. We took it all in our stride. All warmed up, red ribbons in and ready to…
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…
2nd Midland Counties indoor open meeting
Some very fine performances were recorded by the large number of BRAT athletes who took part in the second Midland counties indoor and outdoor throws open meeting on January 26th/27th. Star performance was by Lily Smith who broke the club record in the U13 Long Jump with a fantastic leap of 4.47m , to place her 3rd in the UK this year. Later she ran 8.83s for 60m to place her in the UK top 40. N ot to be outdone sister May recorded a pb of 3.93m in the long jump and 9.25s in the 60m. Other results which included numerous personal bests were ;- Masters 60m James Colclough 7.79s Senior 60m Hurdles Prince Ayeh 8.89s (pb) U20M 60m H John Stolberg 9.75s (pb) U15B 60mH Zac Humphries 9.82s (pb) U15B 60m Kai Lindsay-Duffy 8.32s(pb) U15B Shot Solomon Humphries 5.71m U20W 60m Naomi Johnson 8.29s (pb), Eva Gunn 8.68s…