RUNNINGSept’09
COMMENTS
Junior Great North Run 2009
At this year’s Junior Great North Run, Jacob Hall was
second finisher in a field of over 500 runners from all over the country. An excellent
run from Jacob!
Autumn Relays
Wednesday 7th October
You will be placed in teams of 3 of equal ability
Distance 2:3 miles
Awards: First 3 teams, Fastest male and female
Open to all members of Blyth Running Club Aged 16 and above
To enter, tick entry sheet on notice board or let Ralph know,
entries close Friday2nd October
First runner off at 19:15
Summer Cup 2009
Another successful Summer Cup series with Wendy Herron winning the League by two points from Sharon Richardson, both Wendy and Sharon improved their times over the Series by over one minute. Richard Shillinglaw was in third place. The team prize was won by “Bush Pounders”; Graeme Stewart, Robbie Barkley, Steve Bush, Paul Whalley, Chris Stone and Paddy Brolly. Race winners were; Aynsley Herron, Jake Jansen, Amanda Johnson, Sarah Herron, Sharon Richardson and Joanne Straughan
Facts and Figures: 79 people ran at least one race
Paul Whalley set a new course record of 12:48
The largest turn-out was 61 finishers, the lowest was 48
Fastest lady was Leanne Herron with 15:32
Officials
Once
again the annual call comes from Athletics in the North to try and recruit more
officials. When we compete in the Track and Field League we have to provide our
quota of officials and this can sometimes be a struggle. There is a one day
officials course at
Currently
the club has three timekeepers (Kevin Freeman, Liz Freeman and Craig Birch) and
two Track Judges (Keith Willshire and Steve Bush – Steve being one of the NE
top photo finish people). To progress
you need to officiate at meetings during the year, but there are plenty of
them, it’s up to the individual how far they wish to go. So far I’ve officiated
at the NE T&F Championships, English Schools Championships, GNR and the
Grand Prix at
SANDS RACE 2009
This years Sands race is the 50th, so the committee are trying to make it a special occasion.
Several ideas mentioned were 1959 price entry fee for the first 10 (this was one shilling – 5p in modern money, the committee have already taken up the first ten entries), free entry to the Links 10K, Summer Cup and Winter Series to all Blyth entrants, some sort of memento to mark the occasion. We are busy pricing the last option and it maybe feasible for the first 125 entries.
I am busy delving back though the archives and hopefully will be able to produce a brief history of the race.
This years race is Sunday 6th December, start time 11:00.
The race HQ will be at the Dave Stephens building at the beach car park
As usual we will need volunteers, helpers to assist with registration, results, tea making etc
If anybody is willing to help can they please let Ralph know ASAP.
Social
A social sub-committee has been set up and consists of Aynsley Herron, Mal Darbyshire, Leanne Herron, Louise Douglas and Ron Ingram. If anybody has any ideas just let them know.
The Social Club Committee has arranged a Quiz night with a
buffet for Blyth Running Club members and their family/friends. This is in
conjunction with the Autumn Relay and Summer Cup Presentations.
A poster with all the details is displayed on the club notice board inside the
Sports Centre.
Main Details:
Presentation for
Autumn Relay and Summer Cup @8.30pm, at the Top House,
Wednesday 7th October
2009 (after the Autumn Relays).
Quiz - hosted by Louise and Helen will follow after the presentation and will
include a buffet.
£2 per person to be paid on the night.
Teams of 4/5 with a prize to the winning team.
A reminder that the Christmas Disco takes place on Saturday 28th November 2009 at the Sea Horse Public House. (Further details will follow)
GNR 2009 – An Alternative View
Once again I officiated at both this years Junior and Senior Great North and it’s quite fascinating to take a ’non runners’ perspective. Nobody apart from maybe the elite 20 – 40 runners can actually call the GNR a race, it’s an occasion and it would appear that they are trying to make the whole week-end a sporting activity, with Pole Vaulting, Shot Putting, Sprint Races and long Jumping on at the quayside (plus the ‘pasta party exhibition’ – which I thought was quite poor). According to the BBC there were over 50000 runners in the race, but they actually meant entries with approximately (I believe) just under 40000 finishers – so 14000 didn’t bother turning up – that’s a lot of money for nothing. Even with that many not turning up, it still took nearly 40 minutes after the gun before the last runner passed the start. Everybody I talked to at the finish said the same thing, the standard of Club runners seems to be dropping, in the late 80’s early 90’s a sub 1:20 would probably have got you in the first 500 – 1000, now it would get you in the first 100 – 150. Still, it was impressive an performance by James Cracknell to do a sub 1:20 – because he has a big body to drag around 13 miles. The heat obviously affected the runners as I saw a lot collapsing in the last 100 yards and quite a few had to be helped over the finish line.
They still don’t seem to have sorted out how that many people can get away from the area quickly, because the traffic jams were horrendous, the queue for the ferry was very very long, luckily with the fine weather people didn’t seem to mind too much.
There was the usual range of runners in fancy dress and as I saw a man dressed as a chicken racing in against a woman dressed as an egg, I thought “that’s going to answer an age old question”.
For those interested next years is provisionally booked for the weekend 19/20 September
Children In Athletics Report, 13th
September 2009 - Craig Birch
On arriving at Gateshead Stadium just before 9 o clock on a Sunday
morning, it could be forgiven that things did not seem to be as organised as
they perhaps should have been. For example Emma, Steph and myself, among
others, had been omitted from the register despite having been sent a full copy
of the register and a plan for the day several days before the course.
The coaches taking the course were Ed Griss (level 4 throws, jumps and
sprints coach, former Great Britain shot put and discus coordinator and lover
of anecdotes) and Andy (level 3 sprints and throws coach and level 2 jumps
coach); both of whom are involved in education in one way or another. Having
been introduced to the coaches it was quite obvious that they both knew what
they were talking about and it was worth paying attention to them.
The first part of the day was spent in the classroom, this was primarily
to introduce us to the course and to remind us that the course was centred on
coaching children aged 8 to 13. It doesn’t take a genius to know that coaching
young children is different to coaching older athletes but the reasons behind
it seemed to come with difficulty to the people taking the course. Of course
there are the obvious reasons, i.e. young children have a larger capacity to
learn than older athletes, but the main reason is that young athletes come in
many shapes and sizes. That is to say that if you were to see a tall, stocky
man with defined legs at the world championships then you would probably label
him as a thrower of sorts, and probably wouldn’t be wrong. However at such a
young age children haven’t yet developed fully or at all and so a short, skinny
boy could well be the next Olympic shot put champion or
After an elongated classroom session and a short break we headed down
stairs to
After lunch the group continued to tryout the other event specific
games, with more difficulty than before lunch as many of the people taking the
course had never even attempted to do anything other than running. Even with Ed
there, we struggled to grasp discus…me more than others!
Having finished with the practical part of the course we went back
upstairs to sort out the assessment part of the course, which seemed to be
quite a daunting prospect to many of us, this was also quite poorly organised:
partly because of people not showing up and partly because of a lack of
thought…cross country relays is clearly not an indoor event. However, having
sorted out which sessions we were taking we headed downstairs for the important
part of the course.
The group split into two, half went with Ed and the others with Andy,
and then we started the assessment. Of the three of us, Steph was the first to
demonstrate. She had been given a continuous relay event and also gave herself
the title of “cheerleader…WOOOO”. She did a fine job and passed the assessment.
Next up was me, I had been given a standing long jump activity called “jump the
river”, which I rather enjoyed to say the least, and I also passed the
assessment. Finishing up was Emma, who had been given a fairly complicated
“endurance game” which combined running with throwing. Nonetheless she also
succeeded in her assessment.
Having finished the course we went back upstairs to discuss what it was
we are now qualified to do, the Children in Athletics course is equivalent to a
level 1 coaching qualification so congratulations to Steph on becoming an
assistant coach. Because it is equivalent to a level 1 we can now move straight
on to level 2 which is a full coaching qualification, i.e. you don’t need
assistance. I felt the course, despite some poor organisation, was very helpful
in terms of awareness and confidence and I would recommend it over a level 1
course, especially if you intend to work with children.
WINTER
SERIES
The first winter series was way back in 1989, so this is the 20th
anniversary of the series.
WINTER SERIES 2009/10
RULES.
1. THE SERIES WILL CONSIST OF SEVEN RACES.
2. THE SERIES IS OPEN TO CLUB MEMBERS
ONLY.
3. AN INDIVIDUALS’ BEST FIVE RACES OUT OF
SEVEN WILL COUNT TOWARDS THEIR FINAL SCORE.
4. POINTS WILL BE ALLOCATED THUS:- WINNER
1. SECOND 2.
THIRD 3. ETC.
NON-RUNNERS WILL RECEIVE THE NUMBER OF RUNNERS + 1 AS THEIR POINTS
5. THE OVERALL WINNER WILL BE THE ONE WITH
THE LEAST POINTS FROM THEIR BEST 5 RACES.
6. EACH RACE WINNER WILL RECEIVE AN AWARD.
7. THE OVERALL WINNER WILL RECEIVE AN AWARD.
8. ONE SPOT PRIZE WILL BE AWARDED AFTER EACH
RACE.
9. ANYONE COMPLETING ALL SEVEN RACES WILL BE
PLACED INTO A DRAW TO RECEIVE AN AWARD.
10. TEAMS WILL CONSIST OF 6 MEMBERS, WITH THE
FIRST 4 FINISHERS TO COUNT.
11. ALL MEMBERS OF THE TEAM
WITH THE LEAST POINTS OVER ALL SEVEN RACES WILL RECEIVE AN AWARD.
12. MINIMUM
AGE WILL BE 11
13. ANYONE ACCOMPANYING A RUNNER MUST RUN
BEHIND THE RUNNER AND NOT HINDER OTHER RUNNERS
14. RUNNERS
ARE ADVISED THAT IT IS DANGEROUS TO RUN WITH MUSIC EQUIPMENT AND EARPHONES AND
THEY MAY NOT BE ALLOWED TO RUN
15. REFLECTIVE/BRIGHT
KIT MUST BE WORN
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RACE DATES |
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1 |
WED. |
NOVEMBER |
4th |
2009 |
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2 |
WED |
DECEMBER |
2nd |
2009 |
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3 |
WED. |
JANUARY |
6th |
2010 |
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4 |
WED. |
FEBRUARY |
3rd |
2010 |
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5 |
WED. |
MARCH |
3rd |
2010 |
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6 |
WED. |
APRIL
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7th |
2010 |
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There will be a seventh race,
we just need to decide whether to have it in the weeks leading up to Christmas
and make it a social night or fit it in
later on.
Coaching
If
anybody is interested in becoming a coach the following courses are available:
Level 1 October 18th
December
13th Coach Lane Campus,
Level 2 Core November 7th/8th
Level 2 Modules December
19th/20th
Iain,
Susie and Steph are hoping to do the Level One in October. Funding is
available, but people should be aware that they will have to help out at club
sessions and possibly at other sessions organised by
UKA/Northumberland Sport
See Keith for further details
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Cross Country Running? Why not!
Are you looking for a little variety in your training or racing? Are you considering trying a trail run or fell race? Do you want to escape the constant pavement of urban running? If so, then cross country running might be the answer for you.
What/Where – Cross country races are run over almost any non paved
course. Country parks, old pit-heaps, school fields are typical venues. A
good cross-country course will contain a variety of terrain. Typically,
the course will contain 1/3 uphill running, 1/3 downhill running and 1/3 flat
running. Rough ground, mud, and even creek crossings are often
incorporated into courses.
Juniors: The Under 13's are
usually the first race at 12:30, followed by Under 15's. There are two
packs, Slow and Fast. Anyone running in their first Harrier League
should start in the slow pack. Depending on number of entries, anybody finishing
in the first six will be promoted into the next pack. Depending on the distance
(normally about 2 – 3K), the slow pack will start off 50 - 90 seconds before
the fast pack
Senior Men: Races are generally
between 5.5 and 6 miles, and start at approx 1:15pm. There are three packs,
Fast, Medium and Slow. Anyone running in their first Harrier League race will
start in the slow pack. Finishing in the first 30 in any league race will
result in you moving up to the medium pack for the rest of the season and the
whole of the following season, and you will start two and a half minutes after
the slow pack. Running from the medium pack and finishing in the top 20 results
in you moving up to the fast pack for the rest of the season, and the whole of
the following season, starting 5 minutes after the slow pack. The first 6
Senior Women: Races are normally
around 3 or 4 miles, and start after the Senior Men's race finishes. There are
two packs, Fast and Slow, which work along similar lines to the men's.
Finishing in the top 5, I think, from the slow pack will take you up into the
fast pack. The first 3
Under 17's: Normally after the
Senior women and there are two packs, Slow and Fast.
Who – Many of us participated in cross country running as school children. Generally speaking, the sport is very inclusive; you need not be a sub 40 minute 10 km runner to participate. Wallsend won the League last year mainly because they usually had about 40+ runners at each race. Even the National Championship is an open race; any club member is eligible to participate and some of us do
When –The dates and venues for the Harrier League are as
follows:
Sherman Cup / Davison Shield Sat 24th October (probably
Use your number
for the Harrier League and keep that number for ALL Harrier League fixtures.
No 'packs' in
Sherman Cup/Davison Shield
League
Sat 28th
Sat 9th Jan East Cramlington Nature
Reserve (organised by
Sat 30th
Sat 13th Feb Wrekenton (organised by Saltwell H)
Sat 20th
Sat 27th Mar Prudhoe (organised by Tynedale H)
Why – As I said in the title, why not!! Cross country is a nice
change from the average road race or track race. The undulating terrain
of most courses will help you develop hill running skills and better
balance. Training on softer, cross country type surfaces reduces the
impact on your knees and other joints.
While these are great reasons, there is one other huge reason you might want to try a cross country race: Where else in your adult life are you actively encouraged to go out and play in the mud?
National Cross Country Relays
The above events take place at
The Club would like to send representatives to as many of these events as possible. Club pays entry for race but there will be a charge for transport
The different categories showing gender, age groups, distance for each leg and start time of event is shown below.
Basically, apart from the Senior Men who have to enter as teams of 4, every other event is for teams of 3.
Under 13 Girls (3x2K) at 11.45 am.
Under 15 Girls (3x2K) at 11.20 am.
*Under 17 Women (3x2.5K) at 12.40 pm.
*Junior
Women (3x2.5K) at 12.35 pm.
* to be run as one race with 5 minute start between start of Junior and Under 17 Women - results will be recorded as two separate races
Senior
Women (3x3K) at 1.35 pm.
Under
13 Boys (3x2K) at 12.10 pm.
Under
15 Boys (3x2K) at 11.00 am.
**Under
17 Men (3x3K) at 1.10 pm.
**Junior
Men (3x3K) at 1.05 pm.
** to be run as one race with 5 minute start between start of Junior and Under 17 Men - results will be recorded as two separate races
Senior
Men (4x5K) at 2.15 pm.
Anybody interested
see Ralph, Juniors see Keith ASAP
Juniors
Farringdon
Cross Country
Seventeen
Juniors competed at Farringdon in the first cross country of the season on an
extremely hot day and a hard, testing course.
In the
Under 11 boys, Harry Davey had an excellent run to finish fourth in 4:20, well
supported by Taylor Glover in 14th and Adam Swalwell 20th.
All the
other Juniors ran the same distance and
course as the seniors, which was 1.7 miles.
Jacob Hall
ran strongly and ‘killed off’ the opposition on the last hill to win the Under
13 boys race, with Mark Nicholson next for
Charlotte
Ramsay was the solo
In the
Under 15 boys, Scott Povey was first back in 11th position , with
Chris Arkless in 12th and Jake Jansen in 17th. While
Michael Scott and Scott Goodfellow both finished in the top 30, with Hayden
Connelly another runner who struggled in the heat.
In the
Under 15 girls, Rebecca Nail finished 10th with a time of 12:27
For the
Under 17 girls, Emma Freeman finished in 8th, Kirstie Johnson 12th
and Stephanie Ramsay 14th.
For the
record, not many Seniors from
Autumn Relays
This years Junior Autumn Relays will be on Monday 19th
October at
Ideally, we like all the Juniors to run. The distance is one mile and there will be teams of 3. See Keith for further details
Winter Series
Any Juniors wishing to do the Winter Series need their parents’ permission and can see Keith for further details
Mini Athletics
The Indoor mini athletic sessions have started at Blyth Sports Centre on Wednesday nights, 17:00 – 18:00. There are still a few vacancies if you know of any under 11’s interested. The sessions are organised by Steph and Craig with Emma helping.
Important
race this year, I would like as many as possible to run
Event A: Under 11 boys/girls (minimum age 9 on 08/08/09) - Approx 1km. Starts 9:50am.
Event B: Under 13 boys/girls (minimum age 11 on 08/08/09) - 3 km. Starts 10:00am.
Event C: Under 15 boys/girls - 3 km. Starts 10:15am.
Event D: Under 17 men/women and Under 20 Junior men/women - 5 km. Starts 10:30am.
Club pays Junior entries, but if you enter and do not run then you have to pay money back to club.
See Keith for further details
Junior Training Sessions October – November
October 2009
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Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
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27 |
28 Training Night - Quayside |
29 |
30 Indoor Mini Athletics |
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Training Night - Quayside |
7 + Indoor Mini Athletics |
Training Trading Estate |
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Trading Estate |
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Trading Estate |
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Relays, |
November 2009
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Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
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Trading Estate |
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Trading Estate |
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Trading Estate |
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Trading Estate |
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1 |
2 |
3 Trading Estate |
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5 |
During the Winter there are extra sessions on if anybody is
interested, although Saturdays will be quite hard. Basically, Monday nights are at Quayside
(usual Monday sessions), Thursday nights are at
Plus the usual HJ on Fridays at Jarrow
Minutes of meeting held 5th
August 2009
Apologies: None
The meeting commenced at 8.34
p.m.
The Chairman welcomed club
member Craig Birch to the meeting. Ralph had nominated Craig to become a member
of the committee, and Keith had seconded this nomination. Craig was accepted
onto the committee and will fill the final vacancy.
Minutes
of meeting held 6th July 2009 were read and approved. This was
proposed by Mal Darbyshire and seconded by Iain Singer.
Matters Arising
Notice Board – One of the
boards had been moved. Kevin will speak to the Sports Centre to ascertain when
the other one will be moved.
Club Flag – This
has arrived and had been proudly displayed at the Track & Field event at
Churchill.
BMAF 10K – These
championships had been offered to Newton Aycliffe. BRC could be offered the NE
Vets Athletics Championships. .
Chairman’s Report
Kevin reported that he was
pleased and delighted with the Juniors finishing 2nd overall in their T & F
League and so getting promotion. He was pleased and delighted with the Seniors
finishing 3rd overall in their T & F League in their inaugural season. Well
done. Kevin noted that life isn't always good news and that past and present
members have had problems and difficulties to deal with recently. Stalwart/Life
Member Bob Soulsby lost his wife and Treasurer Dave Kitching had been poorly
recently. On behalf of all BRC members he extended sincere condolences and best
wishes respectively to these two gentlemen of athletics.
Secretary’s
Report
Ralph reported that since the last meeting we have one new member. There
had been no resignations in the same period. Correspondence received included;
- Northern
Athletics Newsletter for July.
- A list of
Courses from England Athletics.
- Entry Forms
for
Treasurer’s Report
Dave reported that funds are still healthy.
Mens Captain Report
- The combined team of
- 30 members took
part; 21 men and 9 women, in the Northumberland Coastal Run. The first
three men back were Paul Whalley, Peter Brown and Robby Barkley finishing
23rd, 26th and 45th respectively. In the
V60 category Joe Frazer was 2nd and Dave Cox 3rd.
- We had a
really good turn out at Morpeth 10k with 42 members taking part; 30 men
and 12 women. The first three men back were Paul Whalley in 12th,
Robby Barkley 23rd and Peter Brown 26th. Martin
Gaughan was 2nd V50, and in the V60 category Joe Frazer and
Terry McCabe finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.
- The
- Plans are in hand
for the Men’s Six Stage Road Relay Championships at
Ladies Captain Report
- Helen had been
impressed with all the ladies efforts at Churchill in the Track &
Field League. Heather Barrass and Helen Bruce had competed well for the
first time, and Leanne Herron performed extremely well in her first ever
triple jump competition.
- 9 ladies had participated
in the Northumberland Coastal Run. The first three ladies back were Leanne
Herron, Helen Bruce and Julie Lemin finishing 11th, 21st
and 28th respectively.
- Susanne Hunter
had competed in the Kelso 10k.
- 6 ladies
completed the
- 12 ladies turned out for the Morpeth 10k. The first three ladies back were Leanne Herron, Helen Bruce and Julie Lemin finishing 9th, 29th and 49th respectively.
- Plans are in
hand for the Senior Women’s Four Stage Road Relay Championships at
Social
Aynsley will be setting up a separate sub-committee.
Kit
Mal is waiting for extra ladies kit. Mal was asked to comment on the
Grand Prix. There has been a reasonable amount of members competing in each league.
With only two races to go there was still good competition in each league. It
would appear that things are ok.
Mal reported that he had been asked why the Club didn’t pay for entries
into Grand Prix Events. A discussion ensued, the summary of which is outlined
in AOB under Affiliation and Race Fees.
Juniors
Keith had the following to report.
·
After the final match in the 2009 Young Athletes League at Monkton
Stadium Blyth Running Club (combined with Alnwick Harriers) have gained
promotion.
·
The juniors will be competing in the Young Athletes Road Relay
Championships at
AOB
Donation – The club had made a £30 donation to the Mrs
Soulsby Charity. The committee wishes to thank Mr & Mrs
Logan and Mr
& Mrs Frazer for attending to the details.
Running Standards – it was agreed that a
section could be added to the Training Schedule to illustrate which sessions
would be suitable for beginners.
Summer Cup – Due
to the unfortunate illness suffered by Dave Kitching it was agreed that we
would reduce the Summer Cup to a series of 6 races, with the best 4 results to
count for the individual result.
Tynedale 10 mile – A bus has been organized for
the Tynedale 10 mile. The cost will be £9.00.
Track & Field – The
inaugural venture into the Track & Field League as a combined team with
Wallsend had been successful. The question was asked, can we go it alone? Can
we look into training for the various field events?
Affiliation and
Race Fees – The outcome of the discussion can be summarized as
follows;
- BRC pays an annual affiliation
fee to UK Athletics. This entitles all club members to a £2.00 discount on
all race fees.
- BRC pays an annual affiliation
fee to North Eastern Harrier League. This entitles all club members to free
participation in North East Harrier Cross Country League events.
- BRC pays an annual affiliation
fee to North East Track and Field League. This entitles club members to
reduced entry fees at T & F meetings.
- BRC pays an annual affiliation
fee to North of England T & F, and Junior T & F Leagues. This
entitles club members to free entry to events in these leagues.
- BRC organises a Grand Prix
within the club and provides awards. There is no entry fee, but
participating members must pay race entry fees to the nominated races in
the Grand Prix. It should be remembered that the divisions are
arranged to give everyone a fair opportunity to win and that the club pays
for all of the trophies at considerable expense and bears any financial
loss on Presentation Evening. It was also noted that trophies are not
available for all of the team-entered events.
- BRC pays team entry fees to
various relay events and cross country events. This entitles participating
team members free entry to these events. This is consistent with how other Clubs work. The only exception to
this are the teams entered for the North Shields Poly Grand Prix, which is
not a club entered team, but a collection of individuals entering their
own teams.
- It is
important to stress that anyone within the club can partake in cross
countries, athletics events, team relays and the only cost incurred is the
expense of getting there.
- Some Club
members enter events as individuals and still represent their clubs. For
example the Veteran Athletics
Association North East of England (VAANEE) track league and
championships. They pay their own entry fee and also pay an annual fee to
join VAANEE. Members who have recently participated include Helen Morris,
Ian Singer, Kevin Freeman and John Mallon.
- It was agreed that
it would be fantastic if the club could afford to pay for entry fees to
all events, but club's funds would soon be depleted if this happened.
The meeting closed at 10.01
p.m. Date of next meeting – Monday 21st
September 2009
Kevin A Freeman Ralph Dickinson
Chairman Secretary
Proposed Craig
Birch Seconded Helen Morris