Stratford quartet tackle the mud in Fladbury

ATHLETICS

FOUR runners from Stratford AC battled the muddy conditions at the Fladbury Festive 5k in Worcestershire to come away with pleasing results.

First in for Stratford was Liuba Pasa (42nd, 47:21) and was followed by Lisa Dallison (55th, 48:35) Chris Whately (59th, 49:21) and Jean Hill (125th, 1:00:49).

Dallison was third in her age category, while both Pasa and Whateley were first and prize winners in theirs.

The overall winner was Cheltenham’s Jonathan Barnes, whose time of 34:30 reflected the difficulty of the course.

Anglesey Ultra and Half Marathon

EXTREME challenges are nothing new to Stratford AC’s adventurous athletes, but even Drew Sambridge and Rob Minton were taken aback by conditions in these two races.

Both courses were described by the organisers as ‘strenuous’ with large stretches following rocky footpaths round the island’s mountainous coast.

The half marathon, longer than the standard distance, involved climbs of over 2,000ft, while the ultra challenge had an ascent of over 3,500ft.

And on top of this, there was the rain and 60mph winds.

Despite this, Sambridge (5:51:22) finished fifth in the ultra marathon, where 12 of the 61 starters failed to finish.

Meanwhile, Minton (2:21:49) took a creditable sixth place in the half marathon.

WANT to get into running and set some new goals for 2020 as well as having a laugh and have full support along the way?

Then Stratford AC has the ideal running group to get you started.

The group is free to enter and the only cost is time.

The sessions follow the national NHS Couch to 5k running plan and across the nine weeks, the club will build people up to running 5k in one go.

The next session starts on Monday, 20th January and there are three runs a week to complete.

Runners can join all three or do one or two in their own time.

The group will meet as follows: Mondays from 6.45pm at Stratford School, Wednesdays from 7pm at Stratford Sports Club and Saturdays from 9am at the sports club.

Email robminton@hotmail.co.uk for more information.