Warwickshire & Worcestershire County XC Champs- Solihull Riding Club Saturday 14th December
Write-up by: Nick Price (Junior XC Team Manager & Endurance Lead Coach) Some excellent performances by the juniors at the County XC Champs at the new testing course at the Solihull Riding Club. It was good for the juniors to experience racing on pasture / farm land rather than parks! The Champs is one of the qualifying races for the Inter Counties XC Champs at Nottingham on 8th March with 8 athletes from Warwickshire and Worcestershire being selected! Overall we achieved 4 podium medals and 3 team medals during the day which was a great team effort! U11G – Nya ran away with the race and looked comfortable winning her 2nd County XC Champs in a row! Isabelle 21, Veronica 25. Team 4th U11B- Another excellent performance by the U11s with a great 2nd team place again!! George 5, Thomas 11, Zachary 13, Jeevan 19, William 20, Walter 21, Sebastian…
Sportshall Is Back!
Sportshall Athletics. If there was ever a form of organized chaos in athletics. This is it. The degree to which it is organized or chaotic varies from match to match and from club to club, but I’d like to think that BRAT veer slightly towards the organized side of things. It’s somewhat surprising, given the number of new faces we see taking part, not knowing quite what to expect. In Matt’s absence, I had the please of giving out the numbers. This gave a me a great opportunity to assess the general feeling of our athletes. I’d say that there were a lot of nerves on show, so congratulations to all of you that felt nervous at the start but conquered those nerves to put in some great performances. Our u15g team won overall and our u15b were pipped to first place by a handful of points. Out of our…
Junior Cross-Country League Is Back!
Write-up by: Andy Knight If the colours are starting to change at Walsall Arboretum, that can only mean one thing: the cross country season is about to begin! The first race in the prestigious West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League is always one of the many highlights of the BRAT year, and this was no different. I’m sure it’s not just me, but with every passing year there is a greater buzz around the BRAT tent, more athletes and parents staying for the entire programme to cheer on teammates and more under 11s than ever! There were countless standout performances, including many by athletes who have never run in a cross country race or even represented BRAT before; the hard work of athletes and coaches is paying off! Well done all! There was great drama in the under 11 girls’ race, with Nya Williams involved in a titanic tussle…
Heart of England League – Banbury – 23rd June 2024
the Heart of England league. Rewind back to this time 2 years ago and we were in division 3. Since then, we have had 2 consecutive seasons of promotion. My expectation was that we would hold our own and finish comfortably around the middle of the division.
County Champs 2024
There was fierce competition last weekend at the Athletics County Championships (both Warwickshire and Worcestershire). The competition for the most sunburnt spectator was marginally less intense than the competition for the most vociferous! Yes, we were blessed with an uncharacteristically hot weekend which was tempered slightly by a cool swirling breeze. I’m not sure if it was just me, but it did seem as though there was a headwind on both the home straight and the back straight, but we really shouldn’t complain given how unseasonably warm it was! As junior team manager, I take great pleasure in seeing our athletes apply what they have learnt in training to competition. I know that all the coaches share this view. Training and competition are different. You can not replicate the adrenaline rush you feel in a race when someone creeps on to your shoulder or the euphoria you feel when you…
BRAT Juniors Shine at Regional Sportshall Final
Over the winter, BRAT juniors have been taking part in the Birmingham Sportshall League with a chance to compete against other clubs in the Birmingham region. Sportshall offers the opportunity to compete in a range of different indoor track and field events, with many of our juniors competing for the club for the first time. Following on from our attendance in the league matches, we were delighted to have 12 BRAT athletes selected to represent Team Birmingham at the regional final on Sunday 3rd March. The regional final brings together four teams from across the wider West Midlands region – Birmingham, Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Shropshire and Warwickshire – and it is a huge achievement for so many of our athletes to be selected for the county team. The morning session saw the Under 11 finals and BRAT had representation in both the boys and girls teams with Elliot Jones, Darcy…
A Warley Warwickshire XC Championships to remember
Saturday 16th December can only be seen as a major triumph and remembered as such. The infamous Warley Woods course, fields with athletes from both Warwickshire and Worcestershire, a dry mild day – were the melting pot for what was a masterclass from juniors-masters athletes competing for BRAT, with medals for both team and individuals. Going into the weekend, selection for the upcoming Intercounties in Loughborough next year would have been at the forefront of many minds. Each race had its favourites, underdogs and stakes for the athletes involved. Many BRATs who raced in the WMYACCL aimed to showcase their form in the championship. Prepared by the weeks of Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday sessions set by their respective coaches, the stage was set. Proceedings began at 10:45 with the U11 boys’ race and set the tone for the day to come. The boys took Warwickshire Gold with our three scorers…
West Mids Junior Cross Country League – Walsall – 22nd October 2023
A great start to the season with the club in 4th place overall with 49 athletes competing across the age groups. Star team of the day was the U11 Boys in 3rd place with the U17W 7th, U17M 6th, U11G 6th, U15B 8th, U13G 8th, U13B 4th, U15G 7th so excellent results across the age groups. Individually we had some great performances with U11G Nya 5th, U13B Ollie 6th, U11B Charlie 9th with top ten finishers. But it does not show the true picture of the performance with lots of athletes moving up an age group and still achieving high placings. Then there is the individual improvements of athletes which all adds up towards that 4th overall team on the day! Remember that if you finish in 50th that is still 151 points for the club so all your efforts add to the overall total. Thank you again for the…