Stratford AC trio go from strength to strength at Naunton

TIM Hutchinson chopped more than ten minutes off last year’s time in Sunday’s Naunton Nearly 19 event.

The race, which starts in the scenic village of Naunton, Gloucestershire, saw three members of Stratford AC take part.

Hutchinson led the way, finishing in a superb second place in a time of 2.18.48, a huge improvement on last year’s effort which saw him claim ninth.

He managed this hugely impressive performance, despite having completed a gruelling six-mile cross country county championship race less than 24 hours earlier.

Hutchinson’s race tactics were to not start off too quickly and to try and keep things under control.

He felt this worked until the last two miles, where the mud in the fields just stuck like glue to his running shoes.

It’s times like that when it gets hard to keep going but knowing he was in second place helped spur him on to the finish.

Fellow club member Kate Wright almost caught Hutchinson on the last climb.

For Wright, this was the fourth time she had run the race and her time of 2.19.08 was her quickest time of the four, beating her previous best time in 2014 by just seven seconds.

It was also a huge improvement of more than seven minutes on last year’s time.

Wright finished in third place and was first lady to finish.

The duo’s superb performances ensured that Stratford Athletic Club filled two of the first three places.

The third Stratford runner to complete the race was Andy Brown. His time of 3.45.37 was almost six minutes quicker than last year and ensured he finished in 105th place.

The race was won by Tommasi Migliulo, in a time of 2.15.08.