The Future - it is about to happen!! :
NW Regional Council (England Athletics) - Elections.
Following on the information in last month’s Newsletter, clubs will now have or are about to receive details of the nominated persons and voting forms for the elected positions on the North West Regional Council.
There are 11 nominees for 6 positions, a healthy situation, but obviously some are going to be disappointed. Cheshire County AA has supported the nomination of Bob Lynch (Macclesfield) who is the only nominee from the County. Obviously the County AA would like you also to support Bob when you vote. In addition it is useful to bear in mind that this Council will be working for all clubs in the North West of England, and it is hoped that you will also keep that in mind when deciding your votes. Each nominee has written an “election statement”, so I am informed.
PLEASE VOTE, A “high turnout” would be helpful to the Council as a mandate to put together a development plan for the future and assist in the distribution of the considerable amount of money over the next 5 years in those areas of the sport you feel need to be developed.
This will be your opportunity to influence how the money is allocated by electing those persons who best represent your concerns and requirements. The NW Council in its first year will probably have a budget of £200,000 to allocate to athletics in the North West. Charles Gains (the NW Interim Chairman, who is also one of the nominees) has previously indicated what he sees as priorities but it will be up to the elected council to decide probably within a broad framework set by England Athletics. Charles has listed a number of additional items which he has asked his advisory group to comment on - if you have any comments, or wishes for the future please feed them back to Charles. This is a substantial change of approach from the present way of doing things and you, the clubs, have the opportunity to become involved and influence the direction and development of the sport. It is the first time we can directly decide how money should be spent.
Track and Field successes.
Although the T&F season has been underway for about 6 weeks, we have already had a number of Championship events.
Our County championships were again successfully staged at Warrington over 2 days, where the “joint” championship secretaries, Carol and John Ashton, were presented with the 2006 John Young award for their contributions to Cheshire County Athletics.
Two weeks later Adrian Thiemicke acted as team manager for the senior teams at the Inter-County championships at Bedford. His report is on the Cheshire AA web site and reports a successful weekend for individuals and the team, which finished third in the Middlesex/Surrey Trophy, having won the Rockingham trophy (for smaller counties) last year. We had 13 athletes there all contributing. Highlight was David Brackstone’s win in the 400m Hurdles, a title he also won in 2004. Several athletes competed in more than one event. One individual, Bashir Hussain now a true vet (that is, over 40), was 4th in the 10,000m an event he won 12 years ago, as well as returning the next day for the 5000m.
NoEAA Under 15 and Under 17 Championships.
Held at South Leeds Stadium over the Bank Holiday wekend at the end of May, they produced a number of successes for Cheshire athletes.
Several athletes were multi-medalists. Lawrence Walker (Warrington) won the U17 1500m steeplechase and was second in the 3000m. J Andrews (Macclesfield) won the U15 long and triple jumps and was second in the 80m hurdles. R Blake (Macclesfield) was third in both the U15 100 and 200m events. Other event winners were Heather Timmins (Warrington) in the U17 womens 3000m and Hannah Hewitson (Vale Royal) in the U17 triple jump. Morgan Brown (City of Stoke) won a silver medal in the U17 100m. Bronze medals were won by A Edgar (Macclesfield) in the U17 100m hurdles and by Andrew Whitton (West Cheshire) in the U17 triple jump. In addition L Clark (Warrington) won a bronze medal in the U17 womens hammer while Beth Hicken (City of Stoke) had to wait until the results for third place in the U15 200m had been clarified to receive her bronze medal which she had clearly won. In Athletics Weekly, Beth was listed as 4th in the same (electronic) time as the 3rd place, but the corrected results on the NoEAA web site show Beth 0.3 seconds clear of 4th place.
Double World Champion.
Another piece of news found by Adrian Thiemicke - we can now boast having a double World champion in Cheshire. Bashir Hussain (Stockport), who has competed for Cheshire for about 30 years won the World Masters (Veterans that was) Indoor titles at 1500 and 3000m in Austria in March this year. Congratulations.
Forthcoming County Championships
Track Relay Championships 2006 - Macclesfield on SATURDAY 1st July. (Championship Secretary : John Driscoll - entry forms and details have been sent to all Clubs.. In addition a Junior and Senior Ladies 2000m Steeplechase Championship race will be held during the relays. Entries close on Monday 26th June - definitely.
Young Athletes Combined Events : 10 September at Macclesfield. Entry forms are now available on Cheshire AA web site.
NoEAA Inter-county T&F Championships : although in previous years held at Cudworth, South Yorkshire, this year they have been moved to Gateshead, on Sunday , 30 July. Julie Hicken is acting as team manager. The County AA have agreed to assist with travel costs.
North West Counties Road Relays : 16th September at Stockport (Hosts ; Greater Manchester County AA).
Cross Country 2007 - Knights Grange, Winsford on SATURDAY 6th January.
Dates for Inter County and English National CC Championships in 2007 have been reversed compared to recent years : Inter County 24 February (venue?) and National on March 10th (at Sunderland)
Road Running Championships 2006. 10km at Guilden Sutton, nr Chester, 24 September 2006 and Half marathon at Macclesfield on 1st October 2006
The dates and venues for the 2007 Cheshire Road Running championships have now been agreed :
Half-marathon at Wilmlsow (25 March).
10K at Birchwood (probably 19 August)
Cheshire Schools Championship Dates :
Cheshire Schools Minors : NOW 28 June at Ellesmere Port (Stanney Oaks track).
Cheshire Road Running Grand Prix.
Five of the sevenn races have now been held, with the remaining 2 being Birchwood 10K on 20 August and Guilden Sutton 10K on 24 September which doubles up as the County Championship.
Contact details for the co-ordinator, Adrian Thiemicke (e-mail : roadracegp@cheshireaa.com Tel : 01270 569012)
Road Race Fixtures (in Cheshire).
Forthcoming road races in Cheshire which have been notified to Adrian Thiemicke and Permits have been/will be applied for are :
23 Jun Tattenhall Tough Team Race (L Woodley 01829 770770)
24 Jun Lymm 5K (Dr J Spencer 01925 818807)
25 Jun South Cheshire 10K (“On your Marks” 01270 652388)
29 Jun Warrington RR 10K (M Molloy 01925 243993)
5 Jul Forest Park Ladies 5K (A Garnett 01606 888319)
2 Aug Pie & Peas 5 mile MT (Vale Royal AC)
20 Aug Birchwood 10K Ches GP (A Garnett 01606 888319)
23 Aug Capenhurst 5K (S Blaylock 0151 356 4299)
24 Sep Antrobus 10K (Rosie Harris 01565 733487)
24 Sep Sutton 6 10K, nr Chester County Champs & GP (R Batterham 01244 300107)
1 Oct Macclesfield ½ marathon County Champs (R Lynch 01625 829229)
8 Oct Congleton ½ & ¼ marathons (P Doyle 01270 270160)
15 Oct D Lloyd 10K, Ellesmere Port (R Knight 0151 200 3943)
4 Nov Langley 7 mile, nr Macclesfield (R Pleeth 01625 502939)
Cheshire Cross Country League
At the League AGM on 11 April, it was agreed by the small group of persons present to suspend activities for 12 months due to lack of volunteers to run the League. A meeting will be held on 4 April 2007 at Frodsham to reassess the situation.
UKA Coaching Courses :
Below are local ones to Cheshire.
Level 1
29/07/06 Sportcity, Manchester (NW082)
27/01/07 Widnes (NW086)
Children in Athletics
4/11/06 Widnes (NWCiA037)
Fitness in Running & Walking
8/10/06 SportCity (NWFIRW05)
Please book your place with Tony Airnes (Tel : 01253 358168 or e-mail : tairnes@ukathletics.org.uk) well before the date of the course.
Details of courses at other venues can be found on www.ukathletics.net
Eddie Gore (Tel : 0151 513 5606), is he Cheshire County AA Coaching Co-ordinator
Officials.
A message from Joe Shellhorn - if you have not yet applied for your UK Athletics Officials pass, please do so as by next year you need one in order to officiate.
Clubs.
New Club : Styal RC; secreatry : Rachael Charlton : rachael.charlton@nwpnhs.org.uk
Change of Secretary : Ellesmere Port RC : Nicky Bird, 21 Fenwick Road, Great Sutton, Ellesmere port CH66 4EU. E-mail ; nickybird79@hotmail.com
Capenhurst RC have now rejoined the NoEAA. We are waiting for confirmation of the secretary’s details.
Contacts
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
NEWS!
I am pleased to report that Ellen Molloy of West Cheshire AC has offered to take on producing the Newsletter. Bob Lynch had offered to do a couple of issues as last year.
Communications
Please ensure your club members see this Newsletter.
The next County committee meeting is : June 14th at Knights Grange, Winsford at 7:30pm.
Subsequent meetings will be :
19th July at Knights Grange, Winsford all at 7:30pm
ALL clubs are entitled to a representative at these meetings.