Stratford-upon-Avon Athletics Club members are on the podium at the Warwickshire County Championships
There was a steady flow of Stratford-upon-Avon Club athletes on the podium at the Warwickshire County Championships.
The club claimed a haul of 42 medals - 10 gold, 15 silver and 17 bronze - with the fourth to eighth positions for athletes reaching the finals also massively helping the club's points total.
They fielded 105 athletes across the age groups but mostly juniors at the Pingles Track in Nuneaton to pit their skills against other clubs within the old Warwickshire county boundary, including the 'big guns' from Birchfield, BRAT, Rugby and Northampton and Solihull and Small Heath.
Those clubs have been taking the County Championships more seriously in the last couple of years, making the event highly competitive and getting on the podium even more of a challenge.
With this higher level of competition, Stratford were hopeful of a top three place in the battle for the Warwick Vase, awarded to the club with the best total of points.
After a tremendous effort across the board, the club were delighted to finish in second place with 509 points, behind the winners Rugby and Northampton (626) and just ahead of Birchfield Harriers (498).
Also trailing Stratford were BRAT (433), Coventry Godiva (325), Leamington Cycling AC (293), Solihull and Small Heath (282) and Royal Sutton Coldfield (151)
What was satisfying from Stratford's point of view was that their medallists and finalists were spread right across the age groups and events - sprints, middle distance, jumps and throws - meaning they were constantly competing virtually non-stop over the two days.
The throwers, hurdlers and jumpers, who don't always get the limelight, provided a continual source of point scoring and medal winning performances.
The medallists featured seven hurdlers (short and long), three sprinters (200 and 400m), nine middle distance (880 & 1500m), 11 throwers (discus, shot and javelin) plus 12 jumpers (high, long and triple).
From a coaching perspective, what gives the club a sense of pride is having a group of highly committed athletes across the age range who performed to the absolute best of their ability and wore the yellow vest with a huge amount of pride and passion.
The evidence of this is that within the 193 eligible events their athletes contested - not including the Under 11s - 134 were personal bests and 27 were season bests.
It was a great testament to all the athletes' efforts and thanks to the coaching teams across the age groups.
Particularly gratifying was that 17 Under 11s, the club's new generation of young athletes, competed in the Quadrathon, a multi-event competition comprising 75m, 600m, howler throw and long jump.
They all performed well and importantly had fun and enjoyed the experience in what was their first time at such an event, with Henry Yates coming out on top and winning the boys event.
There were many good individual performances but it was the contribution from all the athletes, coaches and officials that made the championships such a great event.
