Olympic Torch Relay - Important and Exciting news

We have just had confirmation from the council of a photo opportunity with the Olympic Torch next Friday, 1^st June.
Please read the following letters for more information. It would be great if we can get a strong turnout but please note the request on kit and timing.

Olympic Torch Photo Announcement      Olympic Torch Photo - School Letter

Queens Jubilee Bank Holiday

Due to the additional bank holiday for the Queen’s Jubilee, the Leisure Centre will be closed on Tuesday 5^th June
There will be no club training night on this day.

Northern Track and Field League Division 2W 27 May Wavertree

Overall team positions:

West Cheshire		11
St Helens-Sutton		10
Liverpool Harriers	                 8
Blackpool			 7
LPS			 3
Wirral			 3

Thanks to everyone who took part, athletes, officials, team managers and helpers.
Another excellent result.

Third match is on Sunday 1 July at Ellesmere Port. Teams will be sent approx 10 days before. Please notify of unavailable.

Results   Men    Women

Chester Half Marathon 13th May.

Four club members ran this popular well organised race. Maurice Collins ran strongly finishing eighth Vet 40 in a time of 1.27.09.  Sonya
Greehalgh ran a very strong, well paced, race and produced a pb of 1.41.11, V40 eighth place.  Catherine Roberts ran a good race coming
home in 1.48.01 (54th category position).  Pete McAleney completed the turnout in a time of 2.00.53.  Well done to everyone. Report by Cheryl.

Virginia Challenge, Charlottesville 12 May

David Forrester recorded a season's best 3.41.44 for the 1500m at the Virginia Challenge meeting.

Merseyside Championships - Wavertree 12 May

Club members earned more than twenty medals at the Merseyside Championships. The senior men's shot putt trio of Michael Jackson, Phil Robinson and Mike Hughes took all the medals, to add to Phil's pole vault victory and Mike's hammer bronze.

Patricia Spark won the discus and hammer and claimed a pb in the shot. Heather Drillingcourt and Taylor Caton-Hand won triple jump titles, Taylor only missing out on the long jump because of injury. Chloe Rigby and Hannah Seabrook won high jump golds, Jamie White the steeplechase while Michael Causer repeated his long jump/100 success from last week, brother Jonathan winning the discus. Joe Ford took the 1500m, Thaddeus Anim-Somuah the 100 to which he added bronze in the 200 and 400.

Nathan Orr set a pb for bronze in the discus, Josh Neal and Josh Rawlinson collected sprint medals, Sophie Rigby winning silver in the long jump. Other medallists included Megan Park, Jessica Leonard, Alex Bottomley.

Finalists included Mollie Neal, Bethany Baxter, Peter Davies, Imogene and Olivia Harwood-Moss, Ellie Mawdsley, Lauren Wilcock, Jamie Ford and Abbie Roberts. Apologies to anyone omitted, please advise.

Results

Liverpool Womens 10k 6th May

Three ladies from the club ran this popular women's race. First home was Tami Garvey Jones F40 coming 12th in her cat position, 50.47. 
Next home was Amanda Coogan F40, 23rd( cat position) 53.08.  To complete the trio Dot Fairhurst  1st place in her cat position with a 
time of 56.41.  Well done ladies. (Cherryl Orrick)

Waterloo 15k Mon 7th
Pete Mcaleny taking advantage of his fitness and fresh legs after the London marathon. Completing in 1.17.57, 17th in his category position.
(Cherryl Orrick)

BUSA Championships - Olympic Park 4-7 May

Heather Drillingcourt claimed a place in the top dozen of her triple jump pool with a leap of 9.63.

Thaddeus Anim-Somuah recorded 50.82 in the 400m, a fraction outside his personal best.

Merseyside Championships Saturday 12th May

The championships will be staged at Wavertree this weekend but at the moment there is a lack of volunteers.
If anyone can support the event, either officials or volunteers, please let one of the committee know as soon as possible.

Trafford Open – Monday, 7th May

Five young athletes represented the club at Longford Park today.
Matthew Slevin, Daniel Day and Rebecca Rotheram were all making their debut in club colours and did extremely well.

Matthew did the 600m (2.16), 75m, and Long Jump. Daniel did the 600m (2.41), 150m and Long Jump.
Rebecca competed in a very strong 100m U15G heat and despite slipping at the start she recovered really well to catch the leaders in the later stages.

Also competing today were Joe Houghton who shaved five seconds off his pb in the 600M to record in 2.01 (4^th) and
Charlie Roberts who came 2^nd in his heat and managed a great 2.04 time. Both went on to do Long Jump, then Joe the 75m and Charlie 150m.

Unfortunately the rest of the times weren’t available at the time of this report and will follow online later.

Congratulations to all five athletes and thank you to their parents for sacrificing Bank Holiday on the beach for less exotic Streford and the M60!

Young Athletes League, Deeside Saturday, 5th May

In total 31 athletes competed in the Y.A.L at Deeside, a special well done goes to the under17's who competed in the senior league the day before. 
There were numerous pb's and we finished second on the day behind Colwyn Bay but ahead of Deeside, Maldwyn, Manx and Leigh. This puts us in a good position for the next meeting at Leigh (WN7 4GX) on the 20th May .

We need more u15 boys, u17 boys and girls to compete next time. Well done to all athletes and thanks for a good day of athletics.
Team manager Helena.     League Tables - http://www.ukyal.org.uk/tables.htm#north


Northern Track and Field League Division 2W 5 May Blackpool.

The club pulled off a remarkable victory in the opening League match at Blackpool. All clubs were affected by absences because of the clash with the Universities Championships at the Olympic Park. However, with most of the events covered in full and superb club spirit shown by athletes and officials alike, the final scores were:

1) St Helens-Sutton 377; 2 West Cheshire 360; 3 Blackpool & Fylde 281; 4 Liverpool Harriers 270; 5 LPS 259; 6 Wirral 222.

It would be invidious to single any individual athlete out for praise on a day when everyone gave of their best but Michael Causer's early victory in the long jump with a personal best and club record 7.18 set the tone for the afternoon. Michael followed it with 11.1 to win the 100 while Taylor Caton-Hand won the B string long jump (6.17) and finished third in the triple jump(12.77) in which Phil Robinson took the B event (10.87). Jamie White (10.51.1) and Steve Clague (11.46.1) scored maximum points in the steeplechase. It was a day when everyone mucked in. Although Stan Erlam travelled to Blackpool and was prepared to run Jake Healy decided to do the event in his place, despite running the 800  as well. Phil Robinson met an emergency by running the 400m in between competing in the javelin, high hurdles and triple jump. Steve Clague overcame the injuries inflicted on him by Manchester fans earlier in the week to win the 400m hurdles with Peter Johnson treating us once more to a demonstration of his unique hurdles technique for second place. Gary Ireland performed steadily in the throws, finishing second in the Shot (11.38), Michael Jackson winning the B event with 10.25. Tom Green made a successful return to competition while Peter Seddon made his League debut over 200m, Nathan Orr his in the discus. Mike Hughes was his usual ebullient self taking third in the B hammer. Ian Costello once again proved to the ideal club man with third places in the 800 and 1500.

The ladies too competed to good standards. Gemma Connolly ran the London Marathon out of her legs by winning the 3000 in 10.31.5 while Julia Eccleston continued her excellent contribution to the club by finishing second B in the 1500 and 3000 having just come off nights. Rachael McGoldrick took third place in the 1500 in 5.33.8. Sophie Rigby won the B long jump and contested both sprints while Maria McGoldrick won the 800 B with a splendidly timed finish. Louise Hayes showed similar spirit in the 400m, finishing second, then volunteering to compete in the 4x400. Chloe Rigby earned two second places (long and high jump), Amy Hughes taking second B, while Katie Bowers-Folan had the enjoyment of beating her old club with two personal bests. Kathryn Sumner opened her hammer season with 36.23, while Tricia Spark won the B with 31.82. Tricia also competed alongside Lucy Croft in the discus, both taking third place. Bethany Baxter and Emma McClatchey finished third and second respectively in the javelin. Emma was our sole competitor in the pole vault while Shelby Jack produced a fine performance to take second B in the 100m. The team finished off with an U20 club record of 4.42 in the 4x400 relay. The quartet were Sophie Rigby, Maria McGoldrick, Katie Bowers-Folan and Louise Hayes.

Many thanks to our officials, Dave Morley (track), Pam Appleton and Janet Holmes (timekeepers). Our field team of John Irwin, George Mullineux, Christine Dempsey and Colin Spark did more than their share of work standing in for clubs who failed to bring officials. To our team managers Sue Clague and Peter Johnson who coped well throughout the afternoon. Finally to parents, friends and supporters who provided transport and witnessed an historic performance from the team.

Although the win was an excellent result there are still another three matches to go and places to fill. The next match is at Wavertree on Saturday 26 May. The provisional team will be circulated as soon as possible. Congratulations to everyone.   Results

Stuttgart Races 16/17 June

As part of the twin town arrangements St Helens Council are offering 3 places for the Stuttgart 7KM and Half Marathon on the weekend 16/17th June.

You would need to find the cost of your flights and some food but the accommodation and entry fees are met.
If you are interested in taking a place, please email GemmaWebster@sthelens.gov.uk by Friday 11^th May.

If there are more than 3 applications a draw will take place.

On 1 May 2012 UKA  launched the Event Group coaching qualifications. Qualifications will be earned  via a combination of online eLearning modules and a one day in person course.

The advantages this has over the existing system is that it is less costly, allows people to learn on-line in their own time (with only one person to person session) and permits revisiting online material. In addition, it will be entirely free for 12 months.

   For further details: http://coaching.uka.org.uk/video/coaching-qualifications-update-may-2012/

Track Improvement Plans

For the last few months the committee have been working closely with St Helens Council and Sutton Leisure Centre to try and improve the facilities at the club. Thanks to the support of Dave Pugh and Andy North from the Council we are now making significant progress.

 The facilities at Sutton are currently classed as B Grade by UK Athletics. Whilst this doesn’t stop us from training or doing certain events at Sutton, it does mean that we cannot hold our own open or league meetings here. The objective of the initiative with St Helens Council is to rectify this by the end of 2012 and hold our own events in 2013.

 As you can see from the letter below, the club and St Helens Council aim to invest around £11,000 this year and we are awaiting the outcome of a £20,000 Grant Application to get the remaining items. A lot of the work has already started but you should see a lot more happening in the coming months as we head towards A Standard.

 This initiative puts the club and our members in a great position for the future. Keep watching for more news and updates. We welcome any feedback or questions you have, if you would like any more information speak to a member of your committee or email us.

Our sincere thanks go to Dave and Andy for their assistance and support.  Letter from St Helens Council

Presentation Evening Photos

If anyone has any pictures from this year's presentation evening please can you let Chris Dempsey have a copy.  We need them as supplementary evidence that we record and award performances for a Club Accreditation that we are going for.  Thanks for your help.

Tesco Vouchers

Tesco are again running their campaign for Schools and Clubs, vouchers are available in store and are awarded for every £10 spent.
The campaign offers hundreds of items of essential equipment in exchange for vouchers. We collected about 800 vouchers last year
and decided to bank them and save for larger items in 2012. Vouchers are issued up to 20^th May at the shop and petrol station. 
Don’t forget to ask for yours and bring them along to your Club. There is a collection box at the desk ready for you to pop them in.

Health and Safety Notice.

Athletes and coaches are not permitted to use mobile phones, ipods and other distracting items while on the track or field during training.
Anyone wishing to use such items must leave the track and field area and be beyond the perimeter fence before they do so.
This is not just a health and safety requirement, it is a common sense way of avoiding accidents.