Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club dominate Alcester 10k event: Sam Lambert wins overall race with five Stratford runners in the top 10

Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club’s Sam Lambert won the Alcester 10k on Sunday.

It was the 11th year of the home race for Run Alcester, but the yellow and black vests of Stratford enjoyed considerable success this year.

Under-18 Lambert’s time of 32min13sec was 19 seconds ahead of the second-placed runner and fellow club member Andy Lawrence, who had been hoping to repeat his victory from 2024.

Lambert felt it a great race with an incredible atmosphere, which for such a local race was really good to experience. He added that it was well-organised overall and a nice course, staying on road the whole time with just a minimal incline, made it a fast course. He felt the strong wind prevented him from achieving his sub 32-minute target but to win at a local 10k was a great feeling and he will be competing again next year.

Next to finish for Stratford, in fifth place overall, with a time of 33.52 was Sam’s brother, Zak Lambert. Zak felt it was a great start to the race with the superb atmosphere. He said that the race leaders worked together in a pack for the first 5k, splitting as they came into the final section. He added that all runners battled with the wind and he was delighted to finish fifth.

Ben Kruze (34.07) was the next Stratford runner in seventh place, and also the first M40 to finish. Stratford had five of the top 10 with Will Mayes timing 34.59 for 10th spot.

Mayes was followed by Dean Mawby (12th, 35.19) and James Cottriall just six seconds behind in 13th. Seb Wolsoncroft-Dodds (20th, 35.50) was followed in 21st, 22nd and 23rd place respectively by Will Hovell (36.03), Joel Ledgard (36.23) and Matt Burdus-Cook (36.26), resulting in the Stratford club having 11 of the top 25 finishers in a race with 1,550 finishers overall.

For the Stratford ladies, Marijke Tear-Verweij was the second female under-18 finisher, in 96th place with a time of 40.16. Kate Wright (112th, 41.17) was comfortably first in her FV60 age category, over five minutes ahead of the second-placed finisher in that category.

Josh Harrison (101st, 40.52) finished just outside his target time of 40 minutes despite running with the remnants of a cold. Harrison was the sixth-placed male under-18 runner, meaning Stratford had five of the top six under-18 male finishers.

The support of Alcester Town Council and the Court Leet have been vital to the success of this event, bringing the whole community together on what was, once again, a beautiful autumnal day.

There was a again a strong field of red-shirted runners proudly showing off their Run Alcester kit, not to mention the army of Run Alcester volunteers who help at registration, on the finish line, at water stations and marshal out on the route every year.