Inter-County Cross Country Championships.
Cheshire athletes performed very well at the Inter-County Championships held at Nottingham on March 6th. Individualy, Karrie Hawitt at the bottom of her age group, ran superbly to win the Under 20 Women’s event by the largest margin of the day and also gain selection for the UK U20 Womens Team for the World Cross Country Championships later this month. Matt Jackson won a silver medal in the Under 13 boys race, with Warrington team mate Daniel Cliffe 6th. Rob Birchall was 6th in the Mens race and Becky Ellis (Vale Royal) 9th in the Under 17 Womens event.
First Cheshire athletes home in the other races were U20 Men Andy Ellis (Vale Royal), Under 17 Men D Twigg (St Helens), U15 Boys Jason McGonigle (Warrington), Senior Women Nicky Bird (Ellesmere Port RC), Under 15 Girls Laura Lambert (Vale Royal) and Under 13 Girls Rebecca Craigie (Macclesfield).
In the team results, the highest placed Cheshire teams were Under 13 Boys who were 5th and Under 20 Women who were 9th. Other team positions were U15B 12th, Senior Women 15th, U15G 17th, U17W 21st, U13G 23rd and U17 Men 35th. Senior Teams manager, Adrian Thiemicke, was impressed with the Senior Womens team all 9 (6 to count) of whom finished within 80 seconds of each other. In fact Cheshire was the first County to finish all 9 runners (the maximum allowed to run). However, there was disappointment with the Mens team where it became a struggle to get 6 onto the starting line and then one had to drop out with the result Cheshire did not finish a team.
Our thanks to all of the athletes and the team managers involved.
More Indoor Successes.
The AAA Junior Indoor Championships in Birmingham provided more successes and good performances for Cheshire athletes.
Morgan Brown (Vale Royal) won the Under 15 Girls title which saw two other Cheshire athletes run personal bests in the heats. Clare Neeve (Trafford) won a bronze medal in the U20 Womens Pole Vault, while 4th places were achieved by Elliott O’Neill (Macclesfield) in the U20M Long Jump (as well as two sub-50sec 400m runs), M Robbins (Crewe & Nantwich) in the U20W triple jump and Hayley Jones (now Vale Royal) in the U15G 60m.
Meanwhile in Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Craig France (Liverpool H), a Cheshire athlete, won the Scottish U20 Mens 60m Hurdles title.
And, Allyn Condon was eventually selected to compete for Britain in the World Indoor Championships in Budapest in the 200m, narrowly missing out on a place in the final (the last time this event is to be contested at World Championship level).
Sports Hall
The Sports Hall athletics events are now approaching the end of their season. With the North West (Inter-Club) League meetings completed, County teams were selected to take part in the North West Regional finals at Wigan. The Cheshire U15 Boys and U13 Girls teams won their events against 4 other counties and will now go to the National Final in Birmingham on 18 April. Hayley Jones (Vale Royal) and Tom Price (West Cheshire) were top athletes in their U15 events.
Forthcoming events :
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.
A reminder that the next 3 GP events are the Wilmslow ½ marathon on 21 March, Chester Spring 5 on 6 April and Christleton 5K on 14 May.
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 confirmed as at Warrington. {NOTE : the entry form for this event is now on the CheshireAA web site}
County Track Relays : 11 July at Stanney Oaks, Ellesmere Port
Junior Multi-events : 12 September, at Macclesfield.
County Championships - Medals or Certificates?
A suggestion has been made by several persons that we should stop giving medals for County Championships, and give Certificates instead.
We discussed this at the AGM in February but there was no clear consensus for one or the other. We will need to make a decision (certainly in respect of the Track & Field Championships) at our next committee meeting on April 14th.
What do you think? Please let us know your views - or even come to the committee meeting!
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
A reminder that the next
Health & Safety Workshop for Track and Field
will be held 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.
UKA Coaching Courses :
Ironically, about an hour after the last Newsletter was e-mailed out I received a list of courses which was then e-mailed out to you. Given below are local ones to Cheshire.
Level 1
10/07/04 Armitage Centre, Manchester (NW060)
13/11/04 SportsCity, Manchester (NW056)
15/01/05 North Manchester (NW057)
Children in Athletics
26/06/04 Victoria Park, Warrington (NWCIA14)
14/11/04 SportsCity, Manchester (NWCIA11)
16/01/05 North Manchester (NWCIA12)
Level 2 (Core)
04/05/12/04 SportsCity, Manchester (NW2140
19/20/02/05 SportsCity, Manchester (NW215)
Level 2 (Event Specific) :
24/25 April 04 at Sportscity (Manchester)
23/24 April 05 at SportsCity Manchester
Level 3 (Phase1)
25/26 Sept 04 Stanley Park, Blackpool
As Tony Airnes is out of the country for the next 2 months please contact Emma Deakin at Sport Cheshire to book your place (Tel No : 01606 871812, Ext 204).
Emma is now the Assistant Sport Development Officer for Sport Cheshire, covering all sports, but will deal with applications until her replacement as Athletics Development Officer for Sport Cheshire is appointed.
Emma has indicated that Sport Cheshire can contribute £50 towards your costs of attending a Coaching Course, but you need to contact her.
Eddie Gore (Tel : 0151 513 5606) is the Cheshire County AA Coaching Co-ordinator, for additional information and your questions.
Coaching Clinics
Macclesfield Harriers are holding a number of coaching clinics at their track - details are on the CheshireAA web site.
AAA of England AGM
All Clubs will have received details of the AAA of England AGM which is to be held on 27 March in London. Our County President is due to be confirmed as Chairman of the Association at that meeting, being the only nomination for that post.
There are two nominations for the post of Honorary Secretary. The NoEAA’s nomination is Walter Nicholls. Clubs who wish to exercise their vote can do so using the proxy form sent with the information. The NoEAA Hon Secretary, Barry Parker is willing to act as the Proxy holder.
What are you doing at 6pm on Thursday 6th May this year?
At our recent committee meeting we learnt that two Cheshire clubs (Macclesfield and Vale Royal) are holding special mile race(s) starting at 6pm on that day to celebrate the running of the first sub-4 minute mile exactly 50 years ago by Roger Bannister. Vale Royal surely claim the greatest authenticity by holding theirs on the shale/cinder track at Knights Grange!
But in all the euphoria over Bannister’s performance we should not forget that it will also be 50 years on 29 May this year since the first woman ran a mile in under 5 minutes. Diane Leather (as she was then) achieved 4:59.6 in a race in Birmingham on 29 May 1954 having narrowly failed by 0.3 seconds 3 days earlier. However, world records for women in track races further than 800m/880yds were not recognised until 1967.
Additionally, as one of those strange co-incidences, in connection with “The Question” of previous months, the first woman to run one mile in exactly 5 minutes was….. Madeline Ibbotson on 15 June 1963.
The answer to “The Question” brought back memories for Bob Lynch of Macclesfield as he then realised he had been at White City (London) for that meeting and had witnesed the race. He will also have seen Diane Leather (Charles) as Bob said he also saw Derek Ibbotson set his world mile record in 1957 - Diane Leather ran in the same meeting when she won the mile in 4:50.6.
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.
The next County committee meetings are on the 14th April and 5th May 2004 at the Community Centre, Fluin Lane, Frodsham at 7:30pm - hopefully we will see your club represented at these meetings.
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