The Modernization Era

The Campaign for a Track: The Decade of Turf Wars (1999–2009) 

While SADAC continued to grow into one of the largest sporting clubs in the district, it faced an uphill battle to secure safe, dedicated facilities. For over a decade, club trustees fought across multiple local sites to lay down roots. 

• 1999: The Marling School Cage Dispute SADAC volunteers dismantled the old hammer throwing safety cage at Marling School and contracted Ashwell Building Builders to reinstate the ring with new concrete foundations. The project resulted in a significant financial billing dispute over unapproved structural alterations, managed by Simon James and Clive Rogers.

• 2002: The UK Athletics Funding Reality Check Project lead D.A. Peart opened direct talks with UK Athletics regarding National Lottery funding. Facilities Manager David Young delivered a blunt reality check: a full-scale public funding grant for a traditional track in Stroud was highly unlikely due to existing tracks operating under capacity nearby in Yate, Gloucester, and Cheltenham. He suggested pivoting to a modest £250,000 facility at Marling School.

• 2005: The 21-Year Standish Lease On June 27, 2005, Trustees Simon James, Dermot Mullen, and Clive Rogers successfully signed a 21-year land lease with Gloucestershire County Council for 3.04 acres of land adjoining Oldends Lane in Standish (Parcel Pt 2249). The club backed the site with an Initial Capital Sum investment of £50,000.

• 2006: The Archway School Six-Lane Pledge Club Chairman Chris Brown met with Archway School officials. Despite the school facing a steep £1.6M redevelopment deficit, Assistant Head Master Colin Belford provided a critical win for the club: he formally ordered architects and project managers to mandate that a full 6-lane, 400m running track be preserved on the school fields after construction concluded.

• 2009: The Victory Park Mud Crisis While training casually at Victory Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the club ran into a major conflict with Cainscross Parish Council. The sheer volume of youth training sessions caused heavy, visually apparent wear to the grass surfaces. Despite attempts by Ian Roberts to propose solutions like protective matting and moving the track lanes on a multi-week cycle, Clerk Hilary Dowdeswell officially withdrew the club's training permissions in December 2009 to protect the park.

• 2008–2009: The Official Track Feasibility Study To resolve the crisis, Stroud Town Council secured £10,000 to commission an independent feasibility study by PMP. The report analyzed displacing local soccer and cricket pitches at Stratford Court versus building at Stratford Park. The final recommendation introduced "Stratford Park Option B1"—a highly specialized, smaller-scale 4-lane track with a 6-lane 100m sprint straight costing £1,081,500, designed to perfectly balance SADAC’s training needs without destroying the community park landscape. Unfortunately this never became a reality.

🏆 The Push for Sport England Clubmark Accreditation (2007) 

In the spring of 2007, under the leadership of Committee member Ian Roberts, Stroud & District AC underwent a rigorous assessment to achieve the prestigious Sport England Clubmark accreditation. This process verified that the club met the highest national standards for duty of care, child protection, and sports equity.

On May 11, 2007, England Athletics Regional Manager Sonya Ellis officially signed off on the club's portfolio, concluding an exceptional assessment coordinated locally alongside Neil Parsley.

As part of this historic milestone, a dedicated team of certified coaches and volunteers established strict safety frameworks, secure medical logging at the Archway School Gym safe, and structured junior training pathways. The foundational junior coaching team listed in the official 2007 Clubmark roster included:

• Chris Brown (Chairman & Level 2 Coach)

• Sally Brown (Coach & Schools Liaison Officer)

• Steve Carr (Level 2 Junior Coach & New Members Contact)

• Chris Frapwell (Level 2 Coach)

• Sally Frapwell (Level 1 Coach)

• Jamie White (Level 2 Coach & First Aider)

• Supported by Child Welfare Officers Susan and Richard Crampton.

📚 Archive Sources & Documentation Summary

The historical data, race logs, and foundational milestones preserved across these race information pages have been meticulously compiled from Stroud & District AC's official physical archives and matching public records. The primary source materials utilized for this initial launch framework include:

• Verbatim Club Publications: Strategic data—including entry numbers, original route profiles, elite runner fields, and local business sponsorships—is drawn directly from official vintage race programmes, including the 1979/80 Season Review and the 1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1992 Stroud Half Marathon Brochures.

• Founder Records & Personal Logbooks: Key operational context regarding the club’s initial 1979 public launch meeting, administrative committees, and inner workflows stems from the personal notebooks, blue logbooks, and recorded interviews of foundational General Secretary Jackie Taylor.

• Contemporary Media Coverage: Supplementary athletic context, regional race dates, and structural timelines were cross-referenced against historical local sports reporting, including archived race day fixtures from The Citizen (1993).

📢 A Living Archive: Help Us Expand the Record

Please note that this digital archive is an ongoing preservation project. The historical record will be continually updated and expanded as further vintage brochures, missing results sheets, classic photographs, and trail fixtures—such as the early timeline for the Woodchester Park Race—are unearthed from the club vault and verified.

If you possess any old race materials or personal club memorabilia that could help fill the blanks, please contact a member of the committee so we can permanently preserve it in The Vault.