Newsletter as word document

Annual General Meeting.

 

REMINDER

 

That the Annual General Meeting of the Cheshire County Athletic Association will be held on Wednesday, 25 February 2004 at The Community Centre, Fluin Lane, Frodsham commencing at 7:30pm.

 

Any Motions for the Agenda must be made in writing to the Hon Secretary (Brian Warren) by 28 January 2004.

 

The committee is proposing two changes to the constitution to provide for the position of a Vice Chairperson and to provide for voting procedures at General Committee meetings.

 

There will be vacancies for a Cross Country Championship and Road relay Championship Secretaries (two posts) and , if approved, Vice Chairperson.

 

Indoor Successes.

The first championships of the Indoor season have taken place with the North of England Junior event in the splendid new  facility at the English Institute of Sport next door to Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield.  This houses a permanent full specification banked 200m track and provision for field events.

A number of Cheshire athletes returned with medals from these championships.  Hayley Jones (Crewe & Nantwich) won both the 60m and 200m Under 17 ladies sprint titles, the short one with a championship best in the heats.  The Under 15 girls 200m was won by Morgan Brown (Vale Royal) with Rachel Stoakley (West Cheshire) third.  Gold medals were also won by Megan Tyler (Warrington) in the Under 15 Girls HJ, Gareth Preston (West Cheshire) in the Under 15 Boys LJ and James Callaghan (also West Cheshire) in the Under 15 Boys SP.  Bronze medals were won by two U20 athletes - Seonaid Murray (Macclesfield) in the 400m and Craig France (Liverpool H) in the 60mH.  Congratulations to all.

 

Cheshire Cross County Championships.

A successful championship was held at Knights Grange Sports Complex in Winsford (which also has one of Cheshire’s little used cinder tracks!).  Despite cold and damp conditions all races were strongly contested with the same overall level of entries as last year.  The complex course was excellently marked out then marshalled by Vale Royal AC, under the leadership of Shaun McGrath who managed to persuade 18 of his club colleagues to assist, some of whom gave up the chance of competing in order to help.  Vale Royal BC provided much of the equipment (and assisted with its distribution around the course) as well as providing numbers and other assistance.  Our thanks to all concerned, including Sue Morris (Championship Secretary) and Jacky Thorn, who did a trial run with producing results sheets on the day.

We did have a few problems with results, some due to a data mismatch between entry list and results list which unfortunately meant that some youngsters had to wait around in the cold before being presented with medals.  In addition the P/A system refused to work and we did not have the back up of a megaphone, so communications were a rather muted.

In addition to Brian Hall, a former international athlete and now a Councillor in Vale Royal and presented the awards, another interested spectator was Maurice Morrell (Wirral AC) who 50 years earlier to the day, won the Cheshire Senior Mens CC title - then later the same year won the AAA Senior Javelin title!!

 

The teams for the Inter County Cross Country Championships due to be held at Nottingham on March 6th are now being put together and entered by early February.  The County will again have a coach going to this major event to help with transport and help keep the teams together for registration.  Best wishes to all who will be taking part.

 

Inter-County Fell Running Championships.

These are being held on 3rd July in Langdale (Lake District).  Tony Hulme is the County contact for Fell Running (Tel : 01625 529874,  e-mail: running@bearsports.freeserve.co.uk )

 

Cheshire Road Running Grand Prix.

The first event in the 8 race 2004 GP series for Cheshire clubs has already taken place with the Helsby ½ marathon, and competition between clubs is very close.

The next event is the Alsager 5 mile (February 1st) and the advice is enter now as the event is filling up fast.  The following 2 events are the Wilmslow ½ marathon (21 March) and Chester Spring 5 mile (6 April)

 

Details of these events are on the CheshireAA web site The co-ordinator is Adrian Thiemicke  (e-mail : roadracegp@cheshireaa.com  Tel : 01270 569012)

 

County Championship dates for the 2004 Track & Field Season are :

 

Track & Field Championships : 15/16 May probably at Warrington.

County Track Relays : 11 July at Stanney Oaks, Ellesmere Port

 

Junior Multi-events : 12 September, at Macclesfield.

 

North West Counties Road Relays

It is Cheshire’s turn to host this event in 2004 and the provisional date is Saturday, 18 September.  We are still looking for a person to act as Championship Secretary and also a local club to host the event on a suitable course

Cheshire Cross Country League.

A reminder that the second round will take place at Stockport (Woodbank Park) on 15 February and the third (final) round at Macclesfield on 14 March, first race at both meetings is 12:30pm.

Please note that this League is NOT organised by the County Association!

 

Courses for Track & Field Officials.

Are you interested in becoming a qualified Official for Track & Field athletics?

Courses have been arranged for prospective Officials and will be held on 18 February 2004 at the Community Centre, Fluin Lane, Frodsham commencing at 7pm.  There will be separate lectures for track judging, field event judging and timekeeping. 

If you are interested please send your details (name, address, telephone no. and which discipline) to the County Officials Secretary (Joe Shellhorn) at 14 Cranford Court, Lache Lane, Chester  CH4 7LN, Tel No : 01244 679196).  Please enclose a cheque for £4 (made payable to Cheshire County AA) to cover costs.  Some of this will be reimbursed, if you pass the exam!!  Please note exams will be held on a later date.

 

Health & Safety Workshop for Track and Field

In conjunction with the Cheshire Schools AA we are organising a workshop at Victoria Park, Warrington on Monday March 29th 4:30-6:30pm.  In addition to teachers, track & field officials, coaches and facility staff are welcome to attend.  Persons intending attending MUST notify Bob Lynch (Tel : 01625 829229) by 19 March so that we can get appropriate paperwork from UK Athletics.

 

Road Race Course Measurement.

Are you interested in becoming a qualified measurer for road race courses?  At the last North of England Road Running Committee meeting, the co-ordinator for measurements asked for anyone interested in becoming qualified to contact him before a training course can be arranged.  The co-ordinator is Alan Ritchie, 132 Scotby Road, Scotby, Carlisle, Cumbria  Tel : 01228 513200.

We now understand that Malcolm Fowler is qualified as an approved measurer but are awaiting confirmation concerning 2 persons from Ellesmere Port RC as to whether they are now finally qualified.

 

UKA Coaching Courses :

The local courses are :

 

Level 1 :

21/02/04 at Victoria Park LC, Crewe  Ref No NW046

29/02/04 at Dean Leis. Cent, Bolton  Ref No NW044

Level 2 (Core) :

21/22 February 04 at Sportscity (Manchester)  (NW211)

Level 2 (Event Specific) :

24/25 April 04 at Sportscity (Manchester)

 

For all courses contact Tony Airnes for an application form on 01253 358168 or tairnes@ukathletics.org.uk.  It is essential to book as early as possible as courses will be cancelled if there are insufficient bookings.  That is, do not leave it to the last moment as though you were entering an athletics event!!

 

Welfare

Two items ;

1.   A request from Emma Deakin (Sport Cheshire) for all clubs to let her know the name of their Welfare or Child Protection Officer to be forwarded to the AAA of England in connection with their long awaited Athletes Welfare Policy.  Contact Emma at  (Tel : 01606 871812, Extn 204 or e-mail : emmad@sportcheshire.org

2.   All clubs who have signed up to the UKA clubs:future scheme will have received recently an update for their folders.  One item is an extremely useful fact sheet on “Anti-Doping” which is worth reading by all.  The leaflet includes information about Prohibited Substances, Therapeutic Use Exemptions (e.g. some inhalers which athletes must register and also other drugs prescribed by a Doctor which might contain a prohibited substance - so ask next time you are in that situation), and Use of Supplements (best advice is DON’T).  UK Athletics provide an advice service : antidoping@ukathletics.org.uk

 

Response to  - “A Question” :

I have had only one response, and that was from outside the County, so here it is again :

 

Who was the first person to run the mile in exactly 4 minutes?

Answers by e-mail please to the Editor.

 

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).

 

Communications

We would ask those who do receive the Newsletter electronically to “send” it on to their contacts in their club and/or put a paper copy on your Club notice board.

 

Thank you to those new clubs who have given us their e-mail contacts following last month’s request.

 

The first County committee meeting after the AGM is on the 10th March 2004 at the Community Centre, Fluin Lane, Frodsham at 7:30pm - hopefully we will see your club represented at these meetings. We are looking into the possibility of holding some if not all of our committee meetings at a more central venue in Cheshire (Winsford or Northwich) to assist those travelling from the extremities of what is a large County.

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.

 

 

Remember to look at the Cheshire County AA web-site for latest news and information :

            www.cheshireaa.com