Track & Field Championships.
As the 2004 Track & Field season draws to a close, some successes for Cheshire athletes in higher level and representative competition. In the U23 Inter-regional match at Derby, Roger Bate (Trafford) was 3rd in the mens hammer. In the AAA of England U17 and U15 championships 4th in the Under 15 Boys 400m was L Davenport while Stevie Stockton was 5th in the Under 17 Ladies 3000m. Both athletes are with Vale Royal AC. In an Inter-regional U20 match at Ipswich, Becky Ellis representing the North, won the 2000m Steeplechase, while Craig France (Liverpool H) was 3rd in the Scottish Under 20 Mens 110mH.
Northern Inter-County Track & Field Championships.
Thanks to the hard work by Pauline and Bob Lynch Cheshire had 40 athletes at this meeting with some successes. Event winners were Roger Skedd (110mH), Dave McKay (Javelin) in the Mens events; J Davison in the Under 17 Triple Jump; L Davenport (400m) and James Callghan (Shot) in the Under 15 Boys events.
A report from Pauline and Bob : “Thanks to all 40 athletes who competed for Cheshire at the Inter-Counties at Cudworth on Saturday, 21st August. It was a good day’s competition and every one of you played your part. The results can be found on the NoEAA web-site.. However the raw results show that pride of place must go to the U20/Senior Mens team who finished in 4th position of the 10 Counties taking part. The U15 Boys were 5th; the U17 Men 7th. They were well supported by the ladies with the U15s 9th, U17s 8th and the U20/seniors also 8th. I have been unable to reconcile the results against the points system. Still never mind, we acquitted ourselves well against much larger counties. If you have any points to make please feel free to contact Pauline or myself on pauline_lynch@hotmail.com or by phone”.
Another complication for Pauline & Bob was that the NoEAA were due to take part in an U20 Regional match the next day and invites for that dropped through the doors of several Cheshire athletes whom had already agreed to compete at Cudworth. Still many thanks to Pauline and Bob for acting as team selectors and managers. Next year we will require other persons to do the job - assuming there is an Inter-county event which is currently the only representative event for U15 and U17s in track and field.
Cheshire 10K Road Running Championship.
This was held in conjunction with the Birchwood 10K on 22nd August (which had a record entry of 999!!). Unfortunately a lot of non-Cheshire runners entered the Cheshire Championship (more than usual) which caused some problems for Eric Webster, the County Committee representative, and the organisers in sorting out who should get the County awards. The ladies winner was Olivia Renshaw (Vale Royal) who was also the first lady to finish overall; 2nd was Ruth Clayton (unattached) and 3rd Rachel Pleeth of Macclesfield. The O35 medal went to Karen Green of Congleton and O45 to Kate Ayres of Wilmslow. The mens awards went to Mike Proudlove (Stoke), Gavin Tonmlinson (Vale Royal) and Michael Halman (Wilmslow). The O40 award went to Stuart Parrott of Wilmslow and O50 to Len Best of Stockport.
Looking through the results, there does seem to be a lot of members of one Greater Manchester club who entered the Cheshire championship, possibly because they think their postal address ends in Cheshire!
The usual pair of scrutineers (Adrian Thiemicke and John Driscoll) were otherwise engaged so thanks to Eric for taking over the hot potato- Adrian was acting as a volunteer on the athletic events in Athens!!! We hope he had a marvellous time - perhaps a few observations from him in the next Newsletter.
Our appeal for a host for the 2005 Cheshire 10K championship has only had one response - yet again Spectrum Striders. If there are no further response then Spectrum will be awarded the championship - for the 3rd year in succession! Offers to Adrian Thiemicke - contact details below.
Cheshire Road Running Grand Prix.
The Birchwood 10K also figured in the Cheshire GP after which the mens title is destined for Wilmlsow while the ladies trophy can go several ways with 2 races left _ Macclesfield ½ marathon (also County Championship) and Chester Zoo 10K
Details of subsequent events are on the CheshireAA web site. The co-ordinator is Adrian Thiemicke (e-mail : roadracegp@cheshireaa.com Tel : 01270 569012)
County Championship dates :
Junior Multi-events : 12 September, at Macclesfield.
North West Counties Road Relays (note date Change to Sunday 19th September).
Cheshire are hosting the 2004 event on Sunday, 19 September through Julian Spencer and Spectrum Striders at Birchwood Park which was the venue for the first 4-County NW Counties Relays.
Entry forms were sent to all clubs involved in road running at the beginning of August. As the event is “at home” it is hoped that Cheshire clubs will have supported the event by entering. The request sent to all local Cheshire clubs to provide a marshal to help Julian and his club colleagues has disappointingly produced so far ZERO response. Names to the Newsletter Editor please - urgently.
Cheshire Cross Country Championships 2005
These will be at at Knights Grange, Winsford, where they were earlier this year. Again hosted by Vale Royal AC, the club this time will be looking for help from other clubs to set the course up, marshall and clear away afterwards. The event will be held on Saturday 15 January 2005. Bob Lynch of Macclesfield has offered to act as Championship Secretary. We are now aware from Cheshire Schools AA that their Country cross country championships will be held the first Saturday in February (5th).
Road Race Fixtures (in Cheshire).
Forthcoming road races in Cheshire which have been notified to Adrian Thiemicke and Permits applied for are
19 Sep NW Counties Road Relays, Birchwood
19 Sep Antrobus 10K (P Simm 01606 891811)
26 Sep Sutton 6 10K, Chester (R Batterham 01244 300107)
3 Oct Macclesfield Half-marathon [GP and County Champs] (T Jarvis 01625 426829)
10 Oct Congleton Half-marathon (M Thomas 01260 280152)
17 Oct Chester Zoo 10K [GP last] (R Knight 0151 200 3943)
?? Nov Langley 7 mile
12 Dec Hale Village 5 mile, nr Speke (Halton BC)
26 Dec Chester “Round the Walls”
2005
23 Jan 4 Villages ½ mara, Helsby (D Barnes 01928 723185)
Development Issues
All Cheshire clubs should have received recently a copy of Athletics North West, the first newsletter from Michael Hunt our new RDC. This newsletter contains a lot of information on developments in athletics of interest to Clubs, grants from UK Athletics through the Clubs Future scheme, North West Performance issues, including a separate booklet on the Performance Centre at SportCity, Manchester and details of :-
UKA Coaching Courses :
Below are local ones to Cheshire.
Level 1
16/10/04 Card Heenan Sch, Liverpool (NW061)
13/11/04 SportCity, Manchester (NW056)
15/01/05 North Manchester (NW057)
19/03/05 SportCity, Manchester (NW062)
02/07/05 SportCity, Manchester (NW063)
Children in Athletics
23/10/04 Card Heenan Sch,Liverpool (NWCIA15)
20/11/04 SportCity, Manchester (NWCIA11)
05/12/04 Robin Pk, Wigan (NWCIA19)
22/01/05 SportCity, Manchester (NWCIA12)
26/03/05 SportCity, Manchester (NWCIA17)
03/07/05 SportCity, Manchester (NWCIA18)
Level 2 (Core)
30&31/10/04 Card Heenan Sch, Liverpool (NW218)
6&7/11/04 Robin Pk, Wigan (NW219)
4&5/12/04 SportCity, Manchester (NW214)
19&20/02/05 SportsCity, Manchester (NW215)
Level 2 (Event Specific) :
23/24 April 05 at SportsCity Manchester
Level 4 (Phase1)
18/09/04 SportCity, Manchester
Please book your place with Tony Airnes (Tel : 01253 358168 or e-mail : tairnes@ukathletics.org.uk).
Eddie Gore (Tel : 0151 513 5606) is the Cheshire County AA Coaching Co-ordinator, for additional information and your questions.
Contacts
Michael Hunt, Regional Development Co-ordinator for NW England. He is based at Preston Sports Arena. Contact details : Tel : 01772 728872; Mobile : 07968 498710; e-mail : mhunt@englandathletics.org
Leonie Lightfoot, Athletics Development Officer for Sport Cheshire (Active Sport) : contact details are Tel : 01606 871812 Ext 242 and e-mail : leoniel@sportches.org
The Future Structure of Athletic Competition
Another important document has recently been sent to most clubs for comment - largely due to pressure from the Foster report action points. (As secretary of a Road Running League I did not get a copy - but then road running is not detailed in the document.!)
It is important, particularly if you participate in track & field and we urge clubs to comment on it (by the end of September). There are a number of radical proposals which could change the structure of track and field competition - so if you do not put your views forward you can not then complain about not being consulted even if the results are not what you prefer. It also hints at significant changes for County championship, suggesting “regional hub” championships with the possibility of Inter-County championships being “Inter-regional” rather than Inter-County as we know them. It also makes some outline proposals for much closer working with schools organisations to prevent duplication (or doubling of) competition for Under 17s and below.
Please ensure the County Secretary, Brian Warren is informed of any changes of Secretary for your club (Contact details : Brian Warren, 51 Fairways, Frodsham WA6 7RY, Tel No : 01928 732529, e-mail : brian@brianwarren.fsnet.co.uk). Also please inform the NoEAA Office in Leeds.
Communications
Please ensure your club members see this Newsletter. -
The next County committee meetings are on the 6th October, 3 November and 8 December all except 3 November at the Community Centre, Fluin Lane, Frodsham at 7:30pm. The November meeting will be at the Castle Park Arts Centre, off Fountain Lane, Frodsham- hopefully we will see your club represented at these meetings.
We were pleased to see 2 new faces at our July meeting and hope to see the trend continue.
Editor - John Driscoll (0151 339 5341 or, preferably, jld@sunnyfield.co.uk).
Any views expressed in this Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Cheshire County AA. Contributions are welcome.
Remember to look at the Cheshire County AA web-site for latest news and information :
www.cheshireaa.com
Ójohndriscoll (06/09/04)