With prolonged heat and drought conditions challenging turf managers up and down the country last year, Tim Attwood, sports field groundsman at Beaudesert Park School in Minchinhampton, Stroud, believes that his use of Sherriff Amenity’s Marathon fertilisers helped his turf to endure this testing period.

Beaudesert Park stands in beautiful grounds high up in the Cotswolds. The school has excellent facilities which includes 15 acres of playing fields. Football is the main focus at the start of the spring term which is shortly followed by hockey. Rugby is the major sport in the autumn term and cricket is prominent in the summer.
Tim is the man charged with maintaining all of the sports pitches and after working with Sherriff Amenity for 15 years, he believes that his use of Marathon fertilisers is a tried and tested method which guarantees results. Tim says he incorporates three particular Marathon fertilisers into a year round maintenance programme.
Applying the product by using a spreader behind a compact tractor and at rate of 25g/m2, Tim firstly uses the Marathon Sport Spring 16.4.8 typically at the end of March. In the midst of a warm July he will then apply Marathon Sport Summer 10.0.15 followed by the Autumn mixture 7.0.21 in October.
“This programme keeps the pitches ticking over nicely throughout the year,” he says. “It greens up nicely, the sward seems to thicken and it lasts for a good long time. Even throughout last summer, which was incredibly challenging with the weather, my sports field maintained its health and colour.
"From what I’ve seen, there were a lot of sports fields round here which didn't and I think the Marathon Sport products have gone a long way in achieving that.”