Stratford AC duo impress on England debut

BEN Kruze and Matt Burdus-Cook could not have wished for a better start when making their England debuts in Tenby.

Both Stratford AC athletes were selected to race for their country in the 10k event at the Long Course weekend and played their part in helping England beat Wales in the International Road Running Masters competition.

Kruze won the overall race in the MV35 10k (31:59) while Burdus-Cook, crossed the line in 34:30 to place third in the MV45 10k.

Both now move on to the next masters event in Bristol where they will be joined by fellow club member Kate Wright, also running 10k in her category.

At the same event fellow Stratford athletes Adam and Jane Linforth took on the half long course (1.2m swim, 70m cycle, half marathon run) and 1.2-mile swim respectively.

In her first swimming event, Jane finished in an impressive 49 minutes, placing 63rd female.

Adam completed the 1.20-mile swim in 37 minutes, 29th overall. He was also tenth overall and sixth male in the half marathon, and seventh in the 40+ age group.

The 70-mile cycle course featured a 5,000ft climb across the rolling Pembrokeshire countryside but Adam took 30 minutes off his previous route best to finish in 4:16.

It was a PB of 1:31:49 in the half marathon, which took in 1,000ft of climbing on a tough, hilly and hot route and was 50 minutes quicker than his 2018 time in the same event.

Salomon Serpent Trail

THE thought of the snakes alleged to have given the Salomon Serpent trail its name did not deter Stratford’s Seth Turner when he took on the 50k run through the South Downs National Park.

After a fast first 5k, Turner realised he needed to throttle back if he was to complete the trail amid a field of high-calibre national and international competitors.

At the halfway point he was in 35th place but as others slowed on the challenging course, he stayed strong to make up 12 places, finishing 23rd of 459 in just under four hours and 30 minutes.

Turner shared a well-earned beer after the race with former Stratford member Matt Sims who, despite an ankle injury early in the race, finished 87th in just over five hours.

Bourton Mile

RUNNERS from each end of the age spectrum represented Stratford AC in a fast and flat point-to-point road race which finished in the centre of Bourton-on-the-Water.

Alex Adams, the club’s 16-year-old England international, finished the race in fourth place with a time of 4:33. This placed him at 12th in the current UK U17 rankings.

Adams found himself running in isolation for much of the race with a 16-second gap between him and the third-placed finisher.

He was 12 seconds ahead of the fifth-placed runner.

Had there been other runners with him he felt sure he could have been quicker.

At the other end of the age spectrum, 77-year-old John Butler finished in 107th place with a time of 9:14 which put him fourth in the UK rankings for his age.

Fellow club runner Phil Brennan is currently in second place.