The Alan Phillips Memorial Handicap Race
The Memorial race started life well over twenty years ago, when the club met in the Labour Club Hagley Road. The race is where everyone had a chance of winning, not just the fast guys.
The first few events were started in Broome, and were called the “Duck Pond Challenge”, because the start and finish were alongside the pond there. A 5km course that went into Hagley, up Newfield Rd and across Field lane before dropping back down Broome Lane has also been done. Competitors did this twice. The race hasn’t been held every year, and the venue has changed over time (I remember finishing along the canal towpath above Merry Hill one year).
The current course starts at Stourbridge Cricket Club and runs along to canal towards Wordsley. Runners then turn left, staying on the canal until they reach Saunders Brothers Scrap Yard. They then leave the towpath before returning along the fields next to the canal and finishing where they started at the cricket club.
The rules have remained the same over the years, people gave their 10km time and we sent people off at different times with the intention of everyone finishing at the same time.
Alan Phillips was our Treasurer for many years, and he resigned shortly before his death. In the following year his wife gave us a trophy for the winner of the handicap event, and that’s how the name came about.