|
St
Helens Sutton Athletic Club
May 2003 News
Rising Standards:
Six club members achieved performances which ranked them in the top 30 of
round one of the
National Young Athletes League
| Nicola Quinn | U17 | Discus |
| Vicky Johnson | U15 | Shot |
| Laura Savage | U15 | Discus |
| Mike Ehlen | U 13 | 800m & Long Jump |
| Rachel Hutchinson | U13 | Long Jump |
| Rebecca Keegan | U13 | Shot |
News From Committee:
The Committee was pleased to welcome Tom Carson, Sports Development Officer
for Merseyside, who gave a presentation on his role, the importance of
clubmark and his plans to help St Helens-Sutton implement UK Athletics'
policies for development. The club took the opportunity of giving Tom a
cheque for £500 as our contribution to Active Sports.
The club has a further 14 members who will be taking coaching courses this
year, including eight at level 2 and five at level 1.
An additional 18 members were elected to club membership with a further
dozen expected within the next two weeks.
The Committee confirmed its commitment to modern coaching theory regarding
young athletes which suggests that racing too often can be damaging to the
long term health of youngsters and their involvement in the sport.
Regrettably, most committee members have had first hand experience of
youngsters whose natural talent failed to blossom into long term achievement
and are anxious to provide sufficient education to athletes so they can
fulfil their potential.
Researching Our Records.
Thanks to Tony Raffle for browsing through his back issues of Atheltics
Weekly and results sheets to assist in our task of identifying existing club
records. We have already been able to incorporate some of the information
into our database and will be confirming the rest in due course. If any
other members has information on individual and club performances since 1990
we would be pleased to hear from them.
Merseyside County Annual General Meeting
The Merseyside AGM was held on Friday 16 May at Wavertree. Julia Hayes was
re-elected as Secretary, Ray Vose continues as a team manager and Phil
Thomas was elected to the Committee. The main officers were also re-elected.
The Chairman, Mrs Green, noted the revival of St Helens-Sutton over the past
six months and welcomed its higher
profile at County level. Ray Vose instigated a discussion on the
Inter-Counties Championship which has been re-scheduled in 2004 for a
fortnight after the National at Leeds and a week before the ESSA
Championships, apparently for the benefit of the sport's under-achieving
elite athletes and in the face of strong opposition from grass roots level.
Further developments are expected shortly.
1st June 2003: Warrington.
The club is anticipating a turn out in the region of 45 athletes for the
National Young Athletes match we are hosting at Warrington. This compares
favourably with the dozen or so we had representing the club a year ago and
is indicative of our growing strength, status and reputation. We were second
first time out, just two points behind Oswestry and - with a wider coverage
of events anticipated - we have an opportunity to stake our claim for
promotion. The match starts at 11.45.a.m. and all athletes are asked to
report to Victoria Park at least one hour beforehand. John Irwin is
coordinating transport from the Sports Centre which is leaving at 10.15 a.m.
to allow for the pre-race organisation which falls on the club. Anyone
needing transport should contact their coach, John Irwin or Julia Hayes.
Parents with available space in their vehicles should let John know as soon
as possible.
Race For Life:
Congratulations to leading sprinter, Michelle Murray, who completed the
recent 5k Race of Life in aid of breast cancer. Michelle, who completed the
entire course without stopping, was sponsored by many club members. The St
Helens Race fo Life event takes place on Sunday 15 June at Sherdley Park
Northern Under 20 Championships: Wavertree 24/25 May
Last year Jon Calder competed in these championships which were held in
Manchester. This year we have three members, Caroline Morley, Dave Forrester
and Mike Burke taking part. In addition, we already have six members who
have qualified to take part in next season's championships. Our aim is to
continue this rate of increase with a target of 20 participating athletes by
2005 and 100 by 2010.
News Item: More Ladies Than Ever.
The growing strength of the club was demonstrated by the Liverpool Women's
10k when 16 ladies represented the club in one event comparied with the
situation 18 months ago when we had just over half a dozen ladies competing,
not all of them at the same time at the same venue. The ladies' road race
championship is still in its experimental stage but so far it has attracted
21 ladies to the designated monthly races which make up the
championship. The current positions are as follows:-
| 1 | Julia Eccleston | 106 |
| 2 | Pam Appleton | 101 |
| 3 | Cecilia Fitzsimons | 94 |
| 4 | Louise Casey | 93 |
| 5 | Dorothy Fairhurst | 61 |
| 6 | Chris Dempsey | 46 |
| 7 | Janet Holmes | 33 |
| 8 | Claire Newing | 21 |
| 9 | Toni Garnett | 21 |
| 10 | Karen Wright | 19 |
| 11 | Elaine McNamara | 18 |
| 12 | Bev Shuker | 17 |
| 13 | Janet Eccleston | 16 |
| 14 | Susan Howarth | 15 |
| 15 | Jeannette Sanderson | 15 |
| 16 | Margaret Hunter-Frackelton | 14 |
| 17 | Janice Lawson | 13 |
| 18 | Nicola Bescoby | 7 |
| 19 | Jean Dearing | 7 |
| 20 | Michelle Holmes | 5 |
| 21 | Sandra Cannon | 5 |
The next race in the series is Croxteth Park 5k on 25 June, followed by the
all ladies' Forest Park 5k in Warrington early in July. Make sure you get
your entries in as soon as possible to see if we can increase our numbers to
two dozen by the end of the season and get more than 16 out in a race during
2003.
Seen or Heard?
Mary Presland is heading the team which includes former Sutton stalwarts Ken
Wilcock, Tom McIntyre, Bill McMinnis and Ron Welding in writing the history
of Sutton Harriers. Mary who lives in Millbrook Lane, Eccleston, is anxious
to trace the various trophies belonging to the club, as indeed are the club
themselves. These include the Bollington Trophy, the Bill Bailey and Tom
Fillingham Shields. Anyone who has information about the trophies and other
information about the club can contact Mary on 01744 23141. Also in the
study group is Ron Welding who recently published a history of his
father, Sammy Welding (which can be purchased from Wardleworths). Sammy was
a contemporary of Charlie Straw and the club's leading runner for several
years during Sutton's first successes between 1904 and 1910.
Sutton's Officials' History
St Helens-Sutton recently provided both the major officials for track and
field at a combined Northern League match for the first time but this was
not the first match at which this had been done. Calling on his records and
memory, Roger McCall has sent numerous examples of when the club provided track
referee, field referee and chief timekeeper with himself, Joe White and Tony
Walsh doing the honours. These matches included some staged at Sutton Sports
Centre and, on one occasion, a Northern Women's League match at Warrington.
Hopefully, once the track has been refurbished we can revive the tradition
of staging home matches in the Northern, Cheshire and Young Athletes League.
Many thanks to Roger for acting as field referee at Stretford and for making
himself available for the same role for the Young Athletes League match we
are staging at Warrington on Sunday June 1st.
National Young Athletes League: Change of Date & Venue.
Following the problems of running a quadrauple header at Burnley it has been
agreed that the next match will not place on 18 May at Oldham but will be
staged by St Helens-Sutton at Warrington on Sunday 1 June.
This will require a lot of assistance from all club members, parents and
supporters to ensure we do a good job and recover the cost of staging the
match.
All volunteers to see Phil Thomas and Julia Hayes as soon as possible.
Merseyside County Championships: Liverpool 10 May
The Merseyside Track and Field Championships are scheduled to take place at
the Wavertree Playground track. The first
field event is at 10.15 a.m. and the first track event at 11 a.m. You should
report at least 30 minutes before your event so
hammer throwers should be there by 9.45 a.m. and hurdlers by 10.30.a.m. As
previously mentioned entries will be accepted
on the day, subject to late payment fee (£3 before 12 noon, £5 thereafter).
The programme is due to end at 5.15 p.m. so
come prepared with food and other supplies. The quickest way to reach the
venue is via the M62. Continue on along Edge Lane, past the car dealership
at the junction with Rathbone Road. Turn left into Rathbone Road, across the
traffic lights at Wavertree High Street and the track is approximately 100
yards on the left. Traffic on the M62 is restricted between junctions 6
(Whiston) and 5 (The Rocket) so allow for potential delays. St Helens-Sutton
regards the County Championships as important so try to compete if you are
available.
Another First For St Helens-Sutton
At the Northern League match held at Stretford on Saturday the club provided
both the Track and the Field Referees. Tony Riley served as track referee
and Roger McCall as field referee. This is the first time the club has
provided both of the main officials for a League match and is a measure of
our commitment to an all round developmental programme which includes
athletes, coaching, officials, administration and community.
| 
