CCAA Newsletter October 2005

CHESHIRE RR Grand Prix

The 2005 edition was successfully concluded at the Sutton Six 10K at the end of September. Thank you to those Cheshire clubs and athletes who supported the races in its third year. Also many thanks to Adrian Thiemicke for developing the idea and co-ordinating all of the results.

A REQUEST from Adrian - would all Cheshire Clubs indicate to him their interest in taking part again next year. Also a REQUEST to race organisers in Cheshire to let Adrian know if you would like your event to be considered for the 2006 Grand prix series. Adrian’s contact details are :

roadracegp@cheshireaa.com

We are looking at adding in a handicap event for Cheshire based on the GP series, as a trail for the proposed Endurance scheme described in Athletics Weekly for 5^th October 2005

CHESHIRE 10K and Half-marathon Championships 2006

Another REQUEST from Adrian - would race organisers who wish to be considered for holding the above championships in 2006 please let Adrian know.

The annual NW Counties Road relays, which includes the Cheshire Championships, was held at Blackpool on 17 September. Despite a low entry from Cheshire clubs when compared to the other 3 counties taking part, some excellent results were obtained. Cheshire teams won 4 of the 8 events and in addition to becoming Cheshire County champions also took the North West awards.

Warrington AC won the U13 Boys, U15 Boys and U15 Girls events, while Vale Royal took the U17 ladies title. A couple of weeks later in Liverpool the U17 Ladies team from Vale Royal and the U15 Boys team from Warrington took North of England titles. Other Cheshire champions from Blackpool were Warrington in the U13 Girls, Vale Royal U17 Men, Wilmslow in the Mens and Macclesfield in the Ladies events. Additional results from Liverpool show Warrington U13 boys just outside the medals in fourth place, while Vale Royal U17 Men were 5^th in their event. Warrington U15 Girls were 7^th.

The Northern senior relays were held at Blackpool on 1 October. The only performance of note from a Cheshire team was an excellent 9^th place by Macclesfield in the ladies event.

Dr Jim Lethbridge, organiser of the Cheshire Multi-events held successfully at Macclesfield on 11 September, has written to the Cheshire Officials Secretary, Joe Shellhorn, to thank all of the officials who were involved in the event..

The Cheshire ½ marathon championships were held in conjunction with the Congleton race on 9^th October. Mike Halman of Wilmlsow, 2^nd overall, won the mens championship while Janet Hatton (Macclesfield) won the Ladies title.

Fell Running : the Cheshire Championship will again be held within the Clwydian Hills event on SUNDAY, 6 November from Cilcain Village Hall, near Mold (Map Ref : SJ177653). The race is 10 miles in length, involving 3100ft of climbing. Over 18s; entry fee £3; enter on day only. Further details 01352 741822.

Cross Country Championships 2006 : Plans have now been progressed to hold this on Sunday 8 January at the Joey the Swan Recreation area, Wistaston, Crewe.

Entry forms will be available shortly. Championship Secretary is Bob Lynch of Macclesfield (01625 829229)

The final race was the Guilden Sutton 10K, near Chester which saw a significant increase in entries, a feature of other events which have hosted the GP races. Although Wilmslow Men and Macclesfield Ladies had already won the team awards, the individual awards still remained to be decided by the final race. In the end, Mike Halman (Wilmlsow) took the mens individual award, while the Ladies award went to Nicky Bird of Ellesmere port RC

Contact details for the co-ordinator, Adrian Thiemicke (e-mail : roadracegp@cheshireaa.com Tel : 01270 569012)

In 2006 we are proposing including a handicap competition within the GP series, based on the Endurance Handicap Proposals currently being assessed. Club contacts were circulated with a questionnaire for individual athletes to complete to assist in establishing the handicap parameters. Response from road runners in Cheshire clubs has improved slightly, particularly from Wilmslow RC, after my comments in the previous Newsletter, although several clubs have had no responses at all!

Forthcoming road races in Cheshire which have been notified to Adrian Thiemicke and Permits have been/will be applied for are :

Please book your place with Tony Airnes (Tel : 01253 358168 or e-mail : tairnes@ukathletics.org.uk) well before the date of the course.

Track & Field Officials - Courses

There were only a few responses to last month’s request for names for persons interested in becoming graded officials for track and field.

The County will be organising courses at Warrington (Victoria Park) on Saturday 4 March 2006. Please ensure the County Officials Secretary is aware of your interest. Contact details : joseph.shellhorn@tesco.net or 01244 679196) Joe has the details of those who responded to last month’s request.

PLEASE advertise to those in your club who might be interested.

All Club, League and others will have received documents recently from a number of sources about the proposed future structure of athletics. It is in your interest to read these documents and act on them. Additional documents are on a web site : www.athletics-movingon.com

Some developments have already taken place - an “interim” Chairman (Charles Gains) for the proposed North West region has been appointed. He will be attending the Cheshire County AA committee meeting on 14 December to explain what is happening and to listen to comments Cheshire Clubs may have - so hopefully we will see a larger attendance at that meeting than usual as ALL Cheshire clubs can send a representative to our committee meetings.

Michael Hunt, Regional Development Co-ordinator for NW England. He is based at Sports City, Gate 13, Rowsley Street, Manchester M11 3FF. Tel : 0161 230 8184; Mobile : 07968 498710; e-mail : mhunt@englandathletics.org

Please inform the County Secretary (Brian Warren) of any changes in Club Secretary.

The next County committee meetings are : 16 Nov and 14 December ALL at Frodsham Community centre, Fluin Lane. All meetings start at 7:30pm.

ALL clubs are entitled to a representative at these meetings. We had two more clubs attend the last meeting.