Handforth Wilmslow Alderley Athletics Club

Good Luck Andy in the half Marathon

Make sure you cheer on Andy if you see him running past you.

HWAAC wish you well Andy!

We will soon be sending out a newsletter with all the dates for the summer season.  Last indoor training will be onThursday 26th March and there will be no training on 2nd April.  Outdoor training will start on 9th April - details to follow shortly.

Summer school holidays & more LOST PROPERTY!

1. A reminder that, coach numbers permitting, we will continue Thursday training through the school hols.  If there is any need to cancel a session we will give you notice as soon as possible via email.

2. Also, a reminder to submit your forms for the multievents championships as soon as possible. Entries are coming in fast.

3. Found after training last Thursday evening: black Regatta fleece, age 11-12.  Sound familiar to any of you?

Junior Multievent Championships

Our last outdoor competition of the T&F season is on Sunday 14th September: the Cheshire Junior Multievents Championships. This is a triathlon event for u11s and u13s and a pentathlon for the older groups.

Athletes need to enter in advance for this competition.  Places in all age groups are limited, with the u11s and u13s categories being particularly popular. We have a limited number of places available for HWAAC athletes and as in previous years, may need to disappoint some of our applicants. In cases where choices need to be made, we will give priority to athletes who have competed in one or more of the first 3 matches of the T&F league. 

I advise you to return forms quickly - you can hand them in at training from this  coming Thursday.

Please note that there is no fee for HWAAC athletes as we organise this event so this form is just for HWAAC members - please do not copy it to people outside the club.

Original Manchester Mile

Any parents interested in yaking part in this event?

Details & entry form can be found here.

 

From Manchester Harriers,

Dear Clubs, Coaches & Athletes/Runners,

If you have any Runners/Athletes who would like to get an accurate time for the Iconic MILEDistance, please encourage them to enter asap, electronic timing for all!! 

We need a min of 200 to take part from u15's through to Veterans, from fairly new sub 10min mile to those hope to get a British Milers Club time.

FREE - Commenorative T-Shirt to all competitors!!!- All for £7.50!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTXoTnp_5sI

I just read Roger Bannister’s book on the 4 minute mile and this clip was in the Guardian today.  I’d never watched it in full before.  If you haven’t then you must!  Watch how the 2 guys work with him to perfection and then the effort he puts in at the end.  All three were amateurs probably running 35 miles a week fitted into their lunch times!      

Manchester Harriers & A.C. are bringing back The Manchester Mile which was origianally run in 1943 until the early 1950's when Frank Evans won it 3 years on the row and gained the trophy outright.

We are hoping to spark and interest in the event as it is such an iconic distance!!

 

Previous Winners of The Manchester Mile Trophy:

1943 Sydney Wooderson 1944 C H Bunton 1945 CH Bunton

1946 P Harrison1947 C J Kelly 1948 A B Parker 1949 David Coleman 1950 Frank Evans1951Frank Evans 1952 Frank Evans

 

As you will see David Coleman won it in 1949 and was the only non-international runner to do so, as you are aware he recently passed away but we have the support of his family to run the event in his memory as he was a member of Manchester A.C. in his athletic days.

We have teamed up with Manchester City Councils Athletic Development Team to put the event on at Sportcity Track on Wednesday 16th July.

Plus Manchester City Council Athletic Team will be holding a Manchester Schools event during the day with our event planned from 5.30pm to 9pm for under 15's to Seniors and Vets.

 

Please see the entry form & Info attached, i do hope you may have athletes that would like to take part in this event!

http://www.manchesterharriers.co.uk/

PLEASE FORWARD TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!

Thanks for your time and support, we do need entries to top 200 for a competative event so please enter quickly to avoid disappointment!!!

Regards Debbie 

Debbie Beresford 
Manchester Harriers & A.C. 
07977203478 
www.manchesterharriers.co.uk

QuadKids this Thursday!

Thank you to all the parents who've offered to help on Thursday.  We still need more though - we currently do not have enough for the event to run to plan.  I realise it's the England v Uruguay match that evening, but we set this date a long time ago and FIFA didn't consult us! 

Seriously though, we hope to have most events complete by 8.20 and if we have enough volunteers we can often pull events ahead of their scheduled time.

It's an earlier start than usual - we need athletes to arrive  from about 6.25pm so they can register, pick up numbers etc. Please make your way to the results centre, which will be in the lobby area just outside the old Sports Hall. (The bit of the building you enter first when you're on the way to the gym for winter training).

The current weather forecast is for a dry day so keep fingers crossed!

Club QuadKids - Thurdsay 19th June

This tournament will replace our normal training sessions on Thursday 19th June. 

The Club QuadKids is our own mini tournament. It's been a roaring success in previous years so it's now a regular part of our summer timetable.  All athletes, whatever their age, take part in four events: 100m and 600m runs, howler throw and long jump.  Times and distances are converted into points to give an overall points score.  Every tenth of a second or cm really does count.  

To be finished in time we will start earlier than normal. We will need athletes to start arriving from 6.25pm to check in and get their numbers so that they're ready for a warm-up before the action starts.  If all goes according to plan, the last race should be complete at about 8:20pm.

We need lots of parental help to run each event.  Last year we had a terrific turnout which helped the evening run extremely smoothly.  We'll need:  timekeepers and a recorder for the races; people to help with organising and recording the jump and throw scores; runners to ferry results back to the results desk and, ideally a photographer or two.  If any of you has journalistic flair, perhaps you could write a report for the website?  We'll also need  a few people to pin on numbers before we start.

If you can help, please let me know as soon as possible, specifying any preferences for job. If you don't catch me at training, please drop an email to this address: [email protected]

It would also be helpful to know of any athletes who won't be available on the 19th so we can omit their names from the results spreadsheet.

Lost Property

3 tops were found on the school field after Thursday's training (15th May):

• A navy and blue zip up Kipsta jacket belonging to Libby.
• A grey and peach zip up hoody age 10-11.
• A black zip up hoody with a label saying "LOVE"

If you know that any of these belong to you, contact Julie so you are able to collect it.

We remind you that it is important to look after your belongings and to check around before leaving. It may be wise to mark their initials on the label tags.

Training 27th March last indoors session and Parents too!

Our last indoor training session of the winter season will be on Thursday 27th March.

As it's the last session we'd like to take the opportunity to

1. Give the parents of the under-10s a chance to take part in training (yes, really!)
2. Brief parents (all age groups)  about the arrangements for the summer season

This is the plan for the evening:

6.45: u10s (+ participating parents) arrive - warm up on school playground.

6.45 until 7.20:  Parents and athletes rotate around activities - athletes help coach their parents!

7.20: Parents leave gym to go to Summer season briefing in the classroom near the Olympic Hall.

7.25: u12s arrive and go on warm-up run - parents join in briefing in classroom.

7.40: Parents collect u10 athletes & leave

Rest of session as usual - if any parents of new senior group athletes appear at 9pm I would be happy to quickly tell them about the summer season essentials.

Note for parents of under-10s

If you'd like to participate in training on 27th, please let us know by Tuesday 25th at the latest so we can plan accordingly (We won't ask your children for a permission slip!).  And please come in suitable footwear!

We'll send you summer training times and dates as well as details of summer fixtures in a separate email ...soon.

Wilmslow Half Marathon 2013

Thank you to the stalwart volunteeers who turned out to help marshall the event on Sunday 24th March. I myself was competing, in the bitter cold and wind, and know how you all must have felt.  I can tell you that we runners really appreciate your contribution to the race, without which it wouldn't go ahead.

Well done.  We'll let you know how much money we raised for the club next month.  Thank you again

Clara Edler - North West Fun in Athletics festival

Mark Norman [M] caught up with Clara Edler [C] a couple of weeks after the event ..

M: What is a Fun in Athletics Festival?

C: It’s indoors, a bit like a Sports Hall match but with different events like obstacle relay, over and under relay and high-stepper.

M: Which teams took part?

C: Well, Cheshire, obviously but also Cumbria, Greater Manchester,  two teams from Lancashire, two from Merseyside and even one from the Isle of Man.

M: A big regional event then.  Which events were you in?

C: I was in the hurdles relay, there were four of us in the team.  I also did the 2 X 1 relay and the high-stepper.  In the high-stepper there were three of us in our team.  (Clara was too modest to say, but I later found out she was the fastest Cheshire girl in this event.)

M: Did you know other members of your team?

C: No, they were all from other clubs, but we soon made friends.  I met a lot of them again at the Sports Hall match at Crewe.

M: Did you learn anything new?

C: I’ve only ever done hurdles in training, so this was the first time I’d really competed over hurdles.

M: How did the Cheshire teams do in the event?

C: The boys did really well they were second and the girls came fourth out of eight.

M: Any favourite bits?

C: I loved the running.  It was also fun at the end when we sat in rows while the results were announced.

M: Thank you, Clara.

 

EMMA AND TEAM RAISE £300.

Forget the Wilmslow Half-marathon race times – HWAAC set its own little record this year, when eight and a half month old Emma Dixon joined our team of marshals – surely our youngest ever!  Emma brought along mum, Clare to join Andy, Beccy, Oscar, Simon, Dean, Daisy, the two Davids, Rob, Alan, Rory and Mark all strung out along Morley Green Road.  Once again the sun shone, the event went off well and our team raised a vital £300 for HWAAC funds. Not bad for just over an hour and a half's work!

 

Well done to all of you.

AGM & Awards evening

The AGM & Awards evening on Thursday 17^th November saw a full house of Athletes and their parents who heard from Jack Andrew, a Great Britain junior international in decathlon, about growing up as a young athlete competing locally for a local club and then moving on through life through representing school, Cheshire and finally GB.

28 of our successful athletes received certificates in Triathlon, Pentathlon and Decathlon categories. These certificates are graded from 1 star to 5 star based on the athletes age and performances.

This was followed by the awards and the winners were as follows:

Trophy	Description	Athlete
McLoughlin Memorial Shield	Most improved athlete	Marcus  Dalgaard
Norman Shield	Most promising young athlete	Clara Edler
Yorkshire Boys Cup	Best u13 boy	Luke James
Natwest Shield	Best Junior Girl	Rebecca Webb
Yorkshire Girls Cup	Best senior girl &  good improvement	Hannah Lee
Yorkshire B. Soc. Silver Jubilee Cup	Outstanding Club Athlete	Oscar Stone
Hobday Shield	Club member of the year	Jamie Scobbie
Britannia Christian Trophy	Good performance and Club record - howler	Marcus Fleming
Robinson Shield	Best boy u15 and with good potential	Ewan McWalter
McLoughlin Coaches awards
Daniel Williams	Improvement in performance
Jack Dempster	Excellent Club athlete
Asuka Okishio	Good all round Club athlete
Replica trophies [2010 holders]
McLoughlin Memorial Shield	Rory Stobart
Norman Shield	Oscar Stone
Robinson Shield	James Crossley
Yorkshire Girls Cup	Jemma Dempster
Yorkshire Silver Jubilee Cup	Harry Stobart

Elite Spectators raise £250 for the club

 Many thanks to all the athletes, parents and coaches: Mike Bullock, Becci and Oscar Stone, Deirdre Smith, Andy Acton, Dean and Daisy Sumner, Rob Henshaw, Belinda Sumner and Bruce and Mark Norman who gave up the chance of a lie-in on Sunday 27th March to  turn up bright and breezy to help marshal the Wilmslow Half marathon.  They were in the best position to see all the athletes pass them at mile 1 of the 13.1 race, and be back home before half past ten! Alternatively they could have gone to the finish close-by to see the winners come home, or to have strolled down to the Rugby Club for a sandwich or two as a reward for their help.

 You may have missed me looking good as I passed 1 Mile, and was doing great until Mile 7 when my hamstring niggled me and I had to slow down – but at 1:31:33 I still I knocked over 8 minutes of my time from last year.  Shows what training does to your performance if you stick at it.

 The club has received a cheque for £250 for our help. The money will come in extremely useful as we have plans to improve communications with both parents and athletes through a mobile notice board.

Gives a new meaning to “Watch this Space”!  Thank you once again.

Subscriptions Due - have you forgotten?

Subscriptions for the season 20110/11 are due by the end of April.  It is now almost July and there are a few  outstanding – it may have slipped your mind. 

If you are unsure whether you have paid them, then please check with Mike as soon as possible to ensure that you have paid and we have the necessary funds to buy equipment and subsidise entry fees.  Thank you.

2008 Annual Awards

Well done to all our athletes who received triathlon, pentathlon and decathlon awards this year.

Below is a list of this years trophy awards:

McLoughlin Memorial Shield	Best Crosscountry & Distance Runner	Kevin Acton
Norman Shield	Best u11 boy, most improved	Ewan McWalter
Stanneylands Trophy	Most improved boy	Fergus Taylor
Yorkshire Boys Cup	Best u13, boy	Joel Norman
Natwest Shield	Most promising Junior Girl	Hannah Cusworth
Yorkshire Girls Cup	Most Improved Girl	Abigail Acton
Yorkshire B. Soc. & Silver Jubilee Cup	Outstanding Club Athlete	James Grannan
Hobday Shield	Club member of the year	Harry Stobart

29th Annual General Meeting

Chairman’s Review, 13th November 2008

In a year which has not seen any particularly notable changes it is good to begin with some positives.   The good performances of individuals will be marked later this evening in the presentation of awards and trophies; so here I am mainly concerned with our overall performances as a club.

 

The NW Sportshall League has a membership of 12 clubs and separate League Tables are kept for each age group.   In the 2007/08 season our u 11 boys were 7^th, u13 boys 6^th and u15 boys 5^th in their respective groups.   This must be our best set of results for some years, the more so because we are one of the smaller clubs in the League.  The girls who did compete did their best but team success was very limited because of the small number of girls who took part.   Against these results it has been particularly disappointing that except for one athlete we have not had anyone competing in the first two rounds of the league in the current season    I can add a challenge at this point as I have just learnt that our next Sportshall League match on November 30^th is at Hazel Grove High School at 2:00pm not as on the cards issued in Wigan at 12:00 noon.  Can we therefore look for a maximum turn out.

 

Our record in the summer Track and Field League will always be limited because we are fielding largely junior teams in a competition where league positions are are based on all age groups taken together.   A break down into age groups would again show a good performance by our u13 boys.

   

Cross-country is not generally popular with our athletes, but we have seen and continue to see some very good performances by individual athletes.  I would particularly thank Graham Taylor for his persistent encouragement for our athletes to get out and run.  Whilst rewarding in itself, cross-country is one of the best ways of building up strength and stamina as a base for all other athletics.

 

Organisationally the Club has continued to run smoothly.  On the coaching side I thank Mike Bullock for keeping a balanced and varied training programme going.   Administratively, Patrick Grannan has taken over from Bruce Philip; he has made one or two changes and has generally kept our finances well in order.   Having indicated her wish to lighten her load as Secretary, we are very grateful for the way that Julie James has begun to take this work over from Rosalie.  Rosalie I found first joined the committee in 1999 – last Century! – taking over as secretary the following year.  She has done a tremendous job seeing us through to a largely electronic era and has put a lot of work into new systems for membership registration and monitoring athlete awards.  We are pleased that she has said that she is willing to continue to help with the organising of the Multi-event Championships.

 

Turning to the wider field of British athletics, I wish I could give you a clear and positive account of relationships, local, regional and national.  Sadly the battles Rosalie has fought with membership registration schemes, Shine Awards and other innovations typify the confusion in British athletics as seen from our perspective.    Just last week I looked on the England Athletics website for details of coaching courses, the relevant pages were not available (!) but I picked up a different news item.   The Regional Development structure which has been set up over the last 2/3 years is now to be scrapped and all administration done centrally.   We will therefore no longer have a regional centre which we can contact in Manchester.

  

At local level we must record our thanks again for the facilities available to us here at WHS for a minimal cost (£200 p.a.).  Nevertheless we are frustrated by the low level of interaction with the school in terms of athletes and training.  As far as I am aware there is a Primary School Sportshall Tournament going ahead this term but the only contact I have had about this is one meeting at the end of the summer term and one phone call this term.   The potential for cooperation and the all round benefits that could come from working together are great.  Two big hindrances to such cooperation as I see it are the constant changes in personnel dealing with athletics in the school, Borough and Sport Cheshire, on the one hand, and top down planning on the other.   What is arranged for the local level is determined at regional or county level without asking if the schemes so devised actually meet what is needed and can be delivered at local school and club level.

 

Finally I must record further thanks.  .Thanks to Graham who has now taken over our Web site; thanks to all committee members and parents who have supported us through the year and last but definitely not least thank you to our athletes for without active athletes there would be no athletics club. 

 

Thank you all.

 

Dr. J W Lethbridge

Chairman