Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 30 April 2020

Posted on 30/04/202008/03/2022 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday from this Thursday 30 April to Kachi Akpakwu, Christopher Castro-Neto, Henry McLuckie, Tim Saunders-Mullins, Adam Shiret, Gregory Thompson, Sam Trueman and Yuvan Vasanthakumaran

ENGLAND ATHLETICS ANNOUNCE ATHLETIC COMPETITION SUSPENDED TO 30 JUNE – EA announced on Wednesday 29 April that the suspension period relating specifically to athletics competition has been extended until at least 30 June. Link to EA full statement – Announcement – EA – suspension of competition to end June 2020 – 29.04.2020 (003)

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT, UPDATED 24 MARCH – The following is a joint statement by SBH and Saracens SBH Coronavirus Statement 24.03.20 Rev A

CURRENT UPDATE ON UPCOMING FIXTURES – Can be found in the ‘Upcoming Fixtures’ further down.

CAN YOU HELP PLEASE – During the period when all competitions are suspended, I will do my upmost in keeping the Newsletter information and other content going.
I would welcome any contributions From Yourselves, any impending marriages, or additions to the family, any running or competing incidents, also past warm weather training/holidays (No Club 24 please).

YOU CAN JOIN TY HOLDEN’S CIRCUIT SESSION ON ZOOM – TY will be holding a circuit session on Zoom, which is a conferencing platform, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6pm. If you wish to join, please email TY at dtyholden@yahoo.co.uk and he will email you an ID number for you to join in. Zoom can accommodate up to 100 users at a time.

JOYCE SMITH AN INSIGHT INTO HER LIFE AS A MOTHER AND ATHLETE – The following article was written by BEN BLOOM and was published in the 26 April 2020 edition of the Sunday Telegraph. Photograph is of JOYCE when winning the 1979 Avon International Marathon in Waldniel, Germany in a time of (2:36.27).

JOYCE’S motivation has never stemmed from any particular desire to alter perception; it has always been far more matter of fact. JOYCE likes running. And if she wants to run, she will run.
When she won the first two editions of the London Marathon in 1981 and 1982, it was purely circumstantial that she was a mother of two aged 43 and 44 respectively. The opportunity had simply never been there before. Age was something she never thought about and being a mother was “normal”. Likewise, when she became what was then the oldest woman to run at an Olympics when she contested the first marathon held at the Games aged 46 in 1984.

When she decided to start running again after her 80th birthday – two decades on from initially giving it up – it was not to prove that she could still do it. It was just that, well, she wanted to. “I just thought, ‘I think I’ll start running again,’” she says with amusing simplicity. So, for the last couple of years, JOYCE has been joining her husband BRYAN – who still coaches at Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers – twice a week for training. Sometimes she does sets of 100-metre strides and other times the sessions consist of repeated uphill runs. “It makes you pick your knees up,” she explains.

The coronavirus pandemic has done little to halt her activity quota either. Now aged 82, her outdoor pursuits have been reduced accordingly to a daily morning walk to buy a newspaper, but her training regime remains as frequent as ever, courtesy of an exercise bike in her Watford home. “There are two sessions I do: a 30-minute steady cycle and a 10-second fast, 50-second easy session for five minutes,” she says. Of the latter, she concedes: “That’s quite hard.” On Sunday, the SMITHS should have been making their annual pilgrimage into the city centre for the London Marathon – a race that has been postponed until October due to the pandemic. Sometimes they sit in the stands and watch the runners flood by, while on many occasions in the past they have been involved in a more formal capacity. Indeed, as of last year, the first British female finisher is presented with the JOYCE SMITH TROPHY.
In so many ways, it is remarkable to think how far the women’s race – and female running as a whole – has developed in the decades since JOYCE triumphed at the inaugural event. Photograph is of JOYCE when winning the 3000m bronze medal in the 1974 European Championships in Rome, Italy in a time of (8:57.39).

As recently as 1967, when JOYCE turned 30, there was no such thing as female distance running for females, with women not considered capable enough of competing beyond 800m in international competition. Such logic is laughable now but, frustrated by the half-mile limit, it almost meant the athletics world was denied JOYCE’S talent, when she announced her intention to retire from competitive racing before the end of the decade. By the time she was tempted to return a year later, she had given birth to her daughter LISA and the landscape was beginning to change, albeit slowly.

At the 1972 Olympics, she made the 1500m semi-finals at the Olympics and two years later won European bronze over 3000m. But it was not until 1979, three years after the birth of her second daughter LIA, that the opportunity arose to finally contest a marathon in Germany. She smashed the British record and, having travelled by train from her Charing Cross hotel to the start line in Greenwich two years on in 1981, she was one of fewer than 300 women who made history by running the first London Marathon. Last year there were almost 18,000. Photograph is of JOYCE when winning her 2nd London Marathon in 1982 in a time of (2:29.43).

Aged 43, she triumphed in two hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds – the third fastest time in the world and quick enough to place her inside the top five in the annual British rankings every year since. A year on, she returned and repeated the feat, going 14 seconds quicker. “I never even thought of age,” she insists. “All my athletics career I just moved up in distance.
“I started off in the 800m, then 1500m and then 3000m. Then I moved up to the marathon. That’s why I ran for such a long time because there was a new challenge. And I was still managing to keep fit even though I was getting older.” Nowadays, leading runners command six-figure appearance fees just to contest the biggest marathon races, while JOYCE’S victory and time bonus would have earned her $64,000 (£52,000) from the race organisers in last year’s race, not to mention sponsorship money. Yet when JOYCE won, she did not receive a penny and relied solely on her income as a wages clerk for cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden. “When I won my first London Marathon they wanted to put a photograph of me up in their hair salon in Bond Street to say congratulations to one of their staff,” she recalls. “But they got told off. They were told they couldn’t do it because advertising wasn’t allowed in athletics.”

As for balancing motherhood with an international running career that spanned 25 years, she says it was “just normal”. “There was a big gap so the eldest daughter looked after the younger one,” she says. “The girls used to go to school and I’d go off for my first run. Then when Bryan got home I did my second session. “When I did my long runs on a Saturday morning they used to sit and watch Sesame Street or something.” Even now there are thoughts of what might have been. JOYCE remains adamant she could have run faster if given the chance to contest a marathon in her 30s and it is telling that only two British women – PAULA RADCLIFFE and MARA YAMAUCHI – have knocked more than five minutes off her best time.
Unfortunately, she operated in an era when sportswomen were restricted in what they were allowed to do. But as SMITHS showed, the talent was there. And if you head to the right hill in Watford, you will see an 82-year-old proving it still is.

JOYCE’S timeline
1937: Born in Stoke Newington, London
1960: Receives first international vest over 800m
1968: Gives birth to LISA
1972: Competes over 1500m at Munich Olympics
1974: Wins European 3000m bronze in Rome
1976: Gives birth to LIA
1979: Runs first marathon in Sandbach
1981: Wins inaugural London Marathon
1982: Wins second London Marathon
1983: Finishes ninth in marathon at Helsinki World Championships
1984: Finishes 11th in marathon at Los Angeles Olympics

BMC LAUNCHES BANNISTER VIRTUAL MILES – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website.

British Milers’ Club-organised time trial celebrates the 66th anniversary of SIR ROGER BANNISTER’S first sub-four-minute mile and raises money for charity. The British Milers’ Club (BMC) has launched the ‘Bannister Virtual Miles’, a remote training-based time trial event to celebrate the 66th anniversary of SIR ROGER BANNISTER’S first sub-four-minute mile.

“Keep going, keep going, keep going until a little something inside you says, ‘Keep going’.” Those words were uttered by the late, great founder of the BMC, FRANK HORWILL OBE, and they resonate more loudly than ever during the global crisis which we currently face. As a way to keep BMC activity going, and also raise some money for charity, the Bannister Virtual Miles will be held across three days, from May 4 to the actual sub-four anniversary day of May 6. Athletes can now enter for free at data.opentrack.run/x/2020/GBR/bmcmile

Entry closes on May 2 and is limited to 1609 runners. “Whilst respecting Government guidelines on social distancing and exercise restrictions, the club is responding in a creative way to the absence of competition for our athletes,” says BMC chair TIM BRENNAN. The club is keen to become a productive force for the collective social good. Event organisers STEPHAE GREEN and MATT LONG add: “We are looking for participants to make a voluntary contribution to a nominated charity helping people during the pandemic so that athletes can not only benchmark their training but play a role in enhancing the social good during a global crisis.” The club’s chosen charity is Turn2Us, which provides pragmatic support to assist those who are struggling financially. They have launched a coronavirus appeal to help those affected during these difficult times. The charity was founded by ELIZABETH FINN during the Victorian era way back in 1897 to combat poverty in an industrial age. In a post-industrial world, the charity retains its relevance as it is estimated that more than 14 million people are living in poverty, including 3.5 million children. In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, evidence is suggesting that it is the poor who are suffering the disproportionate impact of lockdown, which makes the work of the charity so relevant to the current crisis.

Donations can be made at justgiving.com/fundraising/british-milers The club adds: “Would you listen to FRANK HORWILL’S words and ‘keep going’ with the British Milers’ Club in raising money for the social stood during a time of global crisis? Let’s exercise social responsibility in celebrating the legacy of SIR ROGER BANNISTER’S first four-minute mile by entering the Bannister Virtual Mile time trials between May 4-6.” The BMC would like to thank a number of people for their support in organising this event, including MATT DE FREITAS, JAMES THIE, MARK HOOKWAY, JAMES MCRAE, JONNY CURRIE and BRITTA SENDIHOFER.

TOM MCNAB’S THE BOARDWALK MILE – Was written by TOM following the death of ROGER BANNISTER on 3 March 2018.
The recent death of the great ROGER BANNISTER caused me to seek out a letter sent to me over fifty years ago. This was from an old friend ALEC BRECKENRIDGE, from Glasgow’s Victoria Park AC, one of Scotland’s top milers back in the 1950s. ALEC had dual nationality, as a Scots/ American, and had run (4.9.2) at his best. He eventually ran a marathon in (2.28.44) in 1960, and competed for USA in that event in the Rome Olympics.

Spring, 1954. The race to be first under four minutes was gathering pace. WES SANTEE was the American hope for the summer, while over in Australia JOHN LANDY had been churning out miles in the low fours week after week, and would soon be over in Europe. Time was short. But then there arrived the Atlantic City Boardwalk Mile, an attempt by the American half- miler MAL WHITFIELD to duck under four minutes in a straight, wind-assisted, paced run. OK, so it wouldn’t really count, but it would always be there, and would almost certainly put a few bucks in WHITFIELD’S pocket. And ALEC BRECKENRIDGE had been asked to be the pace-maker.
This was not the first such attempt. One of the greats of the 19th century, the professional runner “Crowcatcher” LANG, had run 4minutes two seconds in a straight mile on the Newmarket turnpike road on October 30, 1863. LANG ran 55-59-62-66 on his own, and I had always thought that the first half mile must have been slightly downhill, since this bettered the existing half-mile record. But the BELL’S Life report makes no mention of any temporary or general downward gradient. But another account says that the entire road was slightly downhill, with the final 300 metres very soft. Whatever the truth, it was, by modern standards, a cross-country course, and with a pacemaker Lang might well have broken four minutes. But, to return to the Boardwalk, let ALEC BRECKENRIDGE speak for himself.

“A good field had been invited to compete in this straight mile on the wooden boards from the steel pier to Convention Hall. WHITFIELD had been saying that he felt that he could beat four minutes. I had not been running much, as I had been in my freshman year but I was invited to the race on the condition that I set a fast pace for 880 yards. The course was roped off to keep pedestrians aside and motorcycling police were also stewarding the course.
Each 440 was marked by a large banner and white line on the boards. I ran in tennis shoes, Whitfield wore indoor spikes. The start was tremendously fast, WILT and ASHENFELTER both setting the pace at 56.8 secs.
We had a following wind blowing us along, and I could not get to take the pace until almost 880, reached in 1min. 59.3 secs, and at this point another pacer joined the field (highly illegal). I felt that I had not done my duty, and decided to take them to a fast ¾ mile, actually about 3min. 3secs.
At this point, being in the lead and seeing Convention Hall not too far ahead, (440 yards looks like 220 on a straightaway) I kept my legs pumping, because I knew that WHITFIELD was on my back, and I actually finished four or five yards ahead of him. Through the tape my legs felt completely drained of strength, but I was happy with the result, 4 min.6.3 secs.
At this point, the officials decided that I was not the most colourful character in the race, and that I must be disqualified somehow, so they declared that I was not entered for the race, but was only a pacesetter. So, WHITFIELD was declared winner in 4 min. 6.9, and is still listed as the 1954 winner. The race was made more farcical when he announced that he had not tried to beat me because I was only a pacesetter.

I was given a small trophy inscribed “Boardwalk Pacesetter, 1954”. My coach advised me to forget the race and never to go near them again. This I did until last year, when I ran in some beach runs and in the AAU 15k. I received a lot of favourable publicity… but we decided to forget the whole affair, one reason being that I felt that it was a fluke performance, being wind-aided, etc. “
Back in 1968, I sent ROGER BANNISTER a copy of BRECKENRIDGE’S letter. He told me that he had run against ALEC, but had up to this point known nothing of the Boardwalk Mile.
May 6th, 1954 – At this time an officer in the RAF, I was on a Fighter Command athletics course in Lincolnshire, and having toiled in the blustery wind on the rough grass track all day, was taking my rest reading a paper in the Officer’s Mess. Suddenly, the head of pole vaulter GEOFF ELLIOTT popped round the Mess door. “ROGER’S done it,“ he said.

OSLO ‘IMPOSSIBLE GAMES’ ANNOUNCED FOR JUNE – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website.
Traditional Diamond League meet will be replaced by behind-closed-doors concept featuring a world record attempt by KARSTEN WARHOLM.

Athletics action is set to return to Oslo in June but in a different format, with organisers of the traditional Diamond League meeting having announced the ‘Impossible Games’. The coronavirus pandemic has so far affected the first eight events in the 15-meet Diamond League series, with the postponement of the Eugene (June 7) and Paris (June 13) events confirmed on Thursday. On that day, the Bislett Alliance announced plans to host an alternative athletics competition under Norwegian coronavirus regulations on June 11 – the original date of this year’s Oslo Diamond League meeting.

The behind-closed-doors concept at the Bislett Stadium is set to feature a world record attempt by KARSTEN WARHOLM as the world 400m hurdles champion targets the 300m hurdles mark of 34.48, while Sweden’s world record-holder MONDO DUPLANTIS will face Norwegian SONDRE GUTTORNSEN in a pole vault duel at Bislett, but they will also compete against former world record-holder RENAUD LAVILLENIE, who will vault against them in his own garden in France. Other plans are for KAROLINE BJERKELI GROVDAL to take on a solo attempt at GRETE WAITZ’S Norwegian 3000m record of 8:31.75, aided by wavelight technology, and for a 200m hurdles head-to-head to take place between 400m hurdles and 100m hurdles specialists AMALIE LUEL and ISABELLE PEDERSON. Meet director STEINAR HOEN is also said to have had “positive dialogue” with Norway’s INGEBRIGTSEN athletes, but those events are yet to be decided and the programme is subject to changes. “Unfortunately, the rules on infection control make it impossible for us to have an audience in the stadium,” HOEN said, with an hour-long TV broadcast planned. “Together with (Norwegian broadcasting company) NRK we will do our best to make a meeting for the athletes and a great TV show for the fans.”

World Athletics president and chair of the Diamond League Board, SEBASTIAN COE, said: “This is really positive news for athletes and fans and promises, even in this early stage, to be another great night of athletics from the Bislett Stadium. “Congratulations to the Oslo Bislett Games for dreaming this up and following it through, working within the pandemic guidelines set out in Norway.” Organisers added that no athletes will fly into Oslo for the event, but electric cars will be used to transport athletes from the Swedish border.

FORMER UK ATHLETICS PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR NEIL BLACK DIES – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website.
Tributes paid to BLACK, who “dedicated his life to supporting athletes”

NEIL BLACK, the former UK Athletics (UKA) performance director, has died aged 60.

In a statement, the national governing body said Black had passed away suddenly at the weekend. His death is believed to have been of natural causes. A well-respected physiotherapist, BLACK had gone on to become head of sport science at the governing body and then performance director, a position he held from 2012 until last year when he stepped down in October. BLACK’S career in athletics had seen him start out as a middle-distance runner for Morpeth Harriers, with wins against the likes of SEB COE and STEVE CRAM. “I beat him quite comfortably, to be honest, but I’m sure he wasn’t that bothered,” BLACK told SIMON TURNBULL during a 2012 interview in The Independent, when asked about his win over CRAM.

Coached by 1966 Commonwealth marathon champion JIM ALDER, BLACK’S achievements also included clocking a 3:44.40 1500m as a teenager in 1978 but he was forced to retire through injury a few years later. He would go on to dedicate his time to working in athletics instead and became a mentor to many of the country’s top athletes, including 10-time global gold medallist MO FARAH. “I wanted to be the most successful athlete I possibly could and I felt as though injury stopped me from doing that,” BLACK told TURNBULL in 2012. “I transferred my obsession for training into my obsession for working – as a physiotherapist, as part of the medical team, and as head of science and medicine over the last few years. Now, as the performance director, it feels like an obsession to do the absolute best that I can.” Many tributes were paid to BLACK following news of his death, with British Athletics saying the governing body was “shocked and saddened” to confirm his passing. “NEIL loved the sport of athletics and dedicated his life to supporting athletes – as a world class physiotherapist, as head of sport science, and then in recent years as performance director for British Athletics,” the statement added. “Since leaving the role of UKA performance director in October 2019, he had been continuing to support a number of athletes and coaches as an advisor. “NEIL will be hugely missed by those that knew and worked with him.”

THE FOLLOWING SBH DOCUMENTS/INFORMATION CAN EITHER BE VIEWED, DOWNLOADED OR PRINTED
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Front Sheet – Summer 2020 Fixture Card Front Sheet Final Issue 12-02-20
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Fixtures, Updated 24-04-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures – Summer 2020 Fixture Card – Updated 24-04-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures
Track and Field Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/track-field/team-managers/
Road Running Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/road-running/team-managers/

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION OF INTEREST CAN BE FOUND ON THE SBH HOME PAGE BY USING THIS LINK, THEN SELECT THE LEFT OR RIGHT ARROW – http://sbharriers.co.uk/
Allianz Park Membership, which gives SBH members 10% discount on entry to the Allianz Park stadium – Membership details and Form can be either printed or downloaded
Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Club Hoody, information on how to purchase one, please go to the bottom of this Newsletter

SBH MIDWEEK JUMPS CLUB AT ALLIANZ PARK – Currently Suspended. POLE VAULTERS REQUIRED FOR 2020 – Currently Suspended. STEEPLECHASE TRAINING AT ALLIANZ PARK – Currently Suspended.

WORLD ATHLETICS SUSPEND OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION PERIOD – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website,
World Athletics has announced that the qualification period for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has been suspended until the start of December, ruling out any results which might be recorded from April 6 2020 to November 30 2020. During that period, performances will also not be considered for world rankings purposes. Results will continue to be recorded for statistical purposes, including for world records, World Athletics added.

The global governing body also confirmed that athletes who have already met the entry standard since the start of the qualification period in 2019 remain qualified and will be eligible for selection, together with other athletes who qualify within the new qualification period. Subject to the global situation returning to normal following the coronavirus pandemic, the qualification period will resume on December 1, 2020, and will run until May 31, 2021, for 50km race walk and marathon events and until June 29, 2021, for all other events. “I am grateful for the detailed work and feedback from our Athletes’ Commission and Council who believe suspending Olympic qualification during this period gives more certainty for athlete planning and preparation and is the best way to address fairness in what is expected to be the uneven delivery of competition opportunities across the globe for athletes given the challenges of international travel and government border restrictions,” said World Athletics president SEB COE. Some rescheduled events are currently set to fall within the window of suspension, meaning that results recorded at races such as the Virgin Money London Marathon, which is now due to take place on October 4 rather than April 26, will not count for Olympic qualification purposes. There are still plans for the European Championships to take place in Paris in August too but should the event go ahead, performances achieved there would also not be considered as Olympic qualifying marks.

Britain’s DAI GREENE was among the athletes to give reaction to the news on social media, with the 2011 world 400m hurdles gold medallist describing it as an “excellent decision”. “Short term safety is more important than athletes having to make risky decisions to chase qualification marks later in the summer,” he added. “Takes a lot of pressure off during an already stressful time.” While Britain’s European indoor 3000m silver medallist CHRIS O’HARE wrote: “European athletes still have to hit standards to qualify for European champs. Potential situation – An athlete runs an Olympic standard in a European Championship or British Championship (both apparently still going ahead) but it doesn’t count?”

ENGLAND ATHLETICS CORONAVIRUS HELP FOR ATHLETES – Many thanks to TUNJI who as reported on the 19 March newsletter is the father of NIAH AKINTOKUN.
In these unprecedented times, I wanted to draw the club’s attention to some of the great resources available online. England Athletics is expanding its campaign to support Athletics and Running for everyone @home, with a focus on ‘Running @home’ support and advice. The homepage can be accessed here
There are many webinars, interviews and tips from top coaches and athletes on how to stay conditioned and focused.
In addition, there are some fantastic videos for 4-11yr olds on the Funetics webpage put together in conjunction with England Athletics. The videos demonstrate parents and children (aged 4-11) taking part in FUN activities based on fundamental core movement skills: running, jumping and throwing. Funetics is a programme that has been designed to reflect the requirements of the National Curriculum Key Stage 1 and 2. At this time when our children are currently schooling at home, we hope that these video activities will support the need for education to continue at home. You can access the videos here TUNJI AKINTOKUN MBE – Non Executive Director, England Athletics

WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER – It has just been announced that as the World Cross Country Championships is in Australia are on 20 March 2021, the Inter Counties in Loughborough will be on 20 February and the National Cross Country Championships will be at Parliament Hill on 6 March. Elsewhere the National Cross Country Relay Championships in Mansfield are on 31 October 2020, European Trials are on 28 November and the European Championships in Dublin on 13 December.

MULLER BRITISH ATHLETIC CHAMPIONSHIPS – Since the current pandemic resulted in significant changes to the competition calendar, British Athletics have been in constant communication with our partners at European Athletics, World Athletics and the Wanda Diamond League to coordinate the remaining schedule of athletics events in 2020, prioritising the safety and health of our sport and spectators at all times.

At this moment in time, we are still working on the basis that all British Athletics events – Müller British Athletics Championships Manchester, Müller Anniversary Games London & Müller Grand Prix Gateshead – will be going ahead although we will continue to adhere to all government advice and guidelines to ensure the safety of those involved.

PARKRUN 5K RESULTS – Currently Suspended

PARKRUN – Can you make sure that you are registered as ‘Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers’, as the link I use to select all results only shows SBH athletes. If anyone is also officiating can you please contact me, and advise me where and when.

UPCOMING SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS FIXTURES AND OTHER FOR THE NEXT 4 WEEKS – Due to the Coronavirus situation, all fixtures until the end of April and part May have been cancelled. We have also been advised that the Lee Valley Athletic Centre fixtures have been cancelled until the End of May

The following fixtures have now been Cancelled
BUCS due to take place on Friday 8 May to Sunday 10 May
Hertfordshire County Championships due to take place on Saturday 9 May and Sunday 10 May
Loughborough International due to take place on Sunday 17 May
Middlesex Young Athletes League due to take place on Saturday 23 May
UK Youth Development League due to take place on Sunday 24 May, Sunday 21 June, Sunday 26 July and Sunday 6 September
Middlesex County Championships due to take place on Saturday 30 May and Sunday 31 May
Eastern Young Athletics League due to take place on Sunday 31 May
Veterans League due to take place on Monday 1 June
Night of 10000m PBs – British Championships due to take place on Saturday 6 June
National Preparatory Schools Championships due to take place on Monday 29 June
World U20 Championships due to take place from Tuesday 7 July to Sunday 12 July
English Schools Championships due to take place on Friday 10 July and Saturday 11 July
European U18 Championships due to take place from Thursday 16 July to Sunday 19 July
Olympic Games due to take place from Friday 31 July to Sunday 9 August

Virgin London Marathon and Mini Marathon due to take place on Sunday 26 April has been Postponed, and is rescheduled to take place on Sunday 4 October
National Athletic League due to take place on Sunday 14 June has been postponed
UK Championships due to take place on Saturday 20 June and Sunday 21 June has been Postponed, and is rescheduled to take place on Saturday 8 August and Sunday 9 August

PHOTOGRAPH’S – From time to time we have photographs of our members taken at meetings or presentations which we would like to use both on the website or incorporated within our report to our local newspaper. Can you please let me know if you do NOT want your photograph to be used. Also, I would appreciate if you could send me any photographs, which I can then publish on the website and newsletter.

CLUB EMBROIDERED RED HOODIES – Currently there are now over 750 Hoodies in circulation, this is the link giving details on how you can order your Club Hoody for £35, which includes having your name embroidered on the front Club Hoodies Updated 01-07-19

FACEBOOK – Photographs can be found on the SBH page.

CURRENT DISTRIBUTION OF SHAFTESBURY INFORMATION – Currently I notify members (by email) using “MailChimp”. The reason I changed, was in November 2017 “Gmail” put a limit of 100 addresses that users could send to in a 24-hour period, and currently I send to approximately 850 members each issue.

On seeking technical advice “MailChimp” was recommended as the best way for SBH to go forward. There is one thing you should be aware off is that when you receive an email from me, the footer at the bottom has 4 options, of which one is “Unsubscribe Me From List”. Could I ask you not to select this as if you do you will be automatically removed from my distribution list.

SBH PRIVACY STATEMENT – In becoming a member, SBH will collect certain information about you. Can you please read the attached ‘Privacy Statement’ which contains Information on General Data Protection Regulations – SBH Privacy Statement Final April 2018

ALLIANZ PARK – Main Switchboard telephone number is 0203 675 7250.

CHARGES FOR USING ALLIANZ PARK – Currently the stadium is closed for athletics until the 31 May.

ALAN

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 23 April 2020

Posted on 21/04/202030/04/2020 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday from this Thursday 23 April to Nadav Boyd, William Gallo, Andrew Millett, Naomi Ogunniyi, Andreas Pitsialis, Jamal- Marcus Rhoden-Stevens, Leo Roncarati, Mekhi Spence-Forde, Mark Taylor, Ben Winfield and Gabriel Yiadom

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT, UPDATED 24 MARCH – The following is a joint statement by SBH and Saracens SBH Coronavirus Statement 24.03.20 Rev A

CURRENT UPDATE ON UPCOMING FIXTURES – Can be found in the ‘Upcoming Fixtures’ further down.

CROSS COUNTRY RANKINGS 2019-2020 – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website, produced by STEVE SMYTHE.
Key of major events: Card = Cardiff, CAU = Inter-Counties, ECR = English X Relays, ESCF = English Schools Cup Final, ESJB = English Schools Junior Boys, Liv = Liverpool, LYG = London Youth Games, Mids = Midlands, Mil K = Milton Keynes, Nat = National; NE = North East, Nth = North, NSIC = Northern Schools IC, Sco = Scotland, SCR= Scottish Relays, SES = South East Schools, SSC = Scottish short course, Sth = South, Stirl = Stirling, SWIC = South West Inter Counties, SWS = South West Schools

Under 13 Boys Athletes who achieved the following were considered for the rankings: Top 40 ESAA (JB) (3 U15); Top 12: CAU, National; Top 8 Liverpool; Top 6: Stirling, Scotland; Top 3: North, South, Milton Keynes, Cardiff
Under 13 Boys – 4th GIANLEO STUBBS 2nd Nat (14.22), 3rd CAU (13.31), 14th ESJB (15.08 2nd U13), 1st SIC (13.31), 2nd LYG (7.29), 1st Herts (10.00), 1st Herts Schools (13.40), ECR (7.17), Scr (6.59).

Under 15 Girls Athletes who achieved the following were considered for the rankings: Top 20 ESAA (IG) (10 U17); Top 15: CAU, National; Top 8 Liverpool, Stirling; Top 5 ESJG, North, South, Scottish, Milton Keynes, Cardiff; Top 3: Mids
Under 15 Girls – 13th AIMI WEIGHTMAN 9th CAU (17.28), 24th Nat (20.17), 27th ESIG (13.14), 4th Sth (17.32), 4th ESCF (11.59), 4th LYG (8.00), 1st Herts Schools (14.48), Scr (7.56).

Under 17 Women Athletes who achieved the following were considered for the rankings: Top 30: Liverpool (10 U17); Top 16: ESAA IG; Top 15: CAU, ESAA SG, Milton Keynes (10 U17), Cardiff (5 U17); Top 12: National top 12; Top 10: Stirling U20; Top 6: South; Top 5: Stirling U17, Mids; Top 3: North, Scotland
Under 17 Women – 8th FREYA STAPLETON 6th Nat (22.25), 9th ESSG (16.21), 7th Stir (28.03), 19th Liv (16.42 4th U17), 6th Mil K (17.21 3rd U17), 1st Herts (20.25), 1st Met Lge (15.11), ECR (9.05).

RAY TUCKER WINNING THE FIGHT – In the 2 April Newsletter there was an article on Shaftesbury’s Senior Women success during the 1998 to 2002 period, in which RAY featured. He contacted me at the end of last week with an update where he is in 2020, RAY joined SBH in 1993 and lives in Northwood, Middlesex.

I look forward to your weekly club news and write ups and as my name was mentioned a few weeks ago I thought I’d let you know how I was getting on.
I’ve was diagnosed with leukaemia 14 years ago and as the regular blood counts suggest my health is deteriorating year by year and although passed the point when patients normally have chemotherapy, I have so far managed to do without it. The haematologists think it’s partly due to me being fit for my age (77 years) and keep a positive outlook. I train regularly,
cycling and running and have been in the UK duathlon age group team for the past 7 years. My doctors encourage me to continue with the duathlons and although much slower these days, I still manage to compete well with guys in my age group.
I enjoyed my time at Shaftesbury competing, team managing and coaching. You mentioned me coaching KATE ARMSTRONG and LEE AVERY but I also coached ANNE JEEVES, FRIMANN BENEDIKTSSON, LINDA COLE, PETER STAINER, ROBERT PICK and TREFOR MORGAN as well as pole vaulters STACEY DICKER and CLAIRE YOUNG.
I no longer coach but still meet socially and train with some of those I did coach and I meet up regularly at British, World and European Duathlon Champs with a number of ex Shaftesbury members who have also made the British duathlon team: ANGELA JOINER, IRENE PEATY MILLER, PETER STAINER, GILL MORGAN, KATE ARMSTRONG and TREFOR MORGAN and a few of the young Shaftesbury guys who have done particularly well in these competitions although I don’t know the youngsters to speak to.
ALAN, it’s nice to see you still doing a great job for the club and I shall look forward to further issues of your newsletter and hope you are keeping in good health, as well as everyone at Shaftesbury.

CHRISTOPHER KIRWIN KEEPING BUSY – Lives next door to me in the County of Devon, and sent me an update on how he is coping with the Coronavirus situation.
“Keep well all of you in the London area; somewhat less fraught down here in the South West – with no Parkrun timekeeping each week I am limited to 11 to 12 kilometres on my exercise bike each day – just completed a burst of 6km in 10 minutes, without cheating – no cycling downhill or such! Managing over 50 miles each week at present!.

TONY SMITH LOOKS BACK TO THE 2009-2010 SEASON – TONY lives in Radlett, Hertfordshire with his wife JEAN, and was at school with her in 1948. Their relationship blossomed and following his National Service in Singapore (1952/53) they got married in 1955 in Willesden, this year they celebrated 65 years of marriage. TONY became Young Athletes Team Manager in 1980 and eventually retired his famous yellow jacket in 2017. They have 3 children ANDREW, CLAIRE and JULIAN who have all run for Shaftesbury, ANDREW apparently joined the club on the same day in 1973 as PHILIP CUNNINGHAM. JEAN apart from putting up with him, is an avid ARSENAL supporter and TONY would you believe supports EVERTON. TONY told me that he thought it would be good to remember the period of time when a complete cross country and road running season fixtures, included Club, County and National fixtures were won by the Shaftesbury Under 15 boys teams, the season being 2009/2010. I cannot recall any youngster’s teams emulating this during my time at Shaftesbury a truly fantastic feat.

The Under 15 Boys squad that year consisted of the following athletes – LUKE AMES-BLACKABY, MICHAEL CALLEGARI, JOE HEADLAND, RICHARD JOHNSON, CALLUM MCCORMICK, MATT MCLAUGHLIN, RORY MUDD, DOUGAL OLIVER, MARK PEARCE, JOE REDWOOD, CHANDI UDUWAWALA, ANDRE WILLIAMS and SAM WILSON.

The season opened on the 13 September 2009 with the Hertfordshire and Middlesex road relays at Minet Park, Hayes, with athletes from both counties we fielded.
Hertfordshire – 1st SBH MICHAEL CALLEGARI (9.29), MARK PEARCE (10.31), MATT MCLAUGHLIN (9.40).
Middlesex – 1st SBH JOE HEADLAND (10.10), CHANDI UDUWAWALA (10.45), LUKE AMES-BLACKABY (10.40).

2 weeks later, on the 26 September 2009, we swept aside the opposition in winning the Southern Young Athletes road relays at the Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot.
1st SBH (39.26) MICHAEL CALLEGARI 1st (9.32), LUKE AMES-BLACKABY 1st (10.03), JOE HEADLAND 1st (10.09), MATT MCLAUGHLIN 1st (9.42), 2nd Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (40.12), 3rd Tonbridge (40.21), 21st SBH “B” (43.30) MARK PEARCE 23rd (10.20), SAM WILSON 19th (10.50), CALLUM MCCORMICK 23rd (11.18), RORY MUDD 21st (11.02) 2nd Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (40.12), 3rd Tonbridge (40.21).
Fastest time of the day MICHAEL CALLEGARI (9.32), 6th fastest time of the day MATT MCLAUGHLIN (9.42).

With the Southern victory behind them, it was time to move onto Sutton Park, Birmingham, for the National Young Athletes road relays on the 18 October 2009. This being a race of 3 legs, we fielded the top 3 from the Southern team.
1st SBH (38.12) LUKE AMES-BLACKABY 8th (12.50), MICHAEL CALLEGARI 1st (12.27), MATT MCLAUGHLIN 1st (12.55), 34th SBH “B” (42.31) MARK PEARCE 38th (14.02), SAM WILSON 39th (14.18), RICHARD JOHNSON 34th (14.11) 2nd Bristol & West (38.40), 3rd Coventry Godiva Harriers (38.52).
3rd fastest time of the day MICHAEL CALLEGARI (12.27).

With the 3 wins out of 3 races in the bag, the same team from Sutton Park assembled for the National Young Athletes cross country relays at Mansfield on the 31 October 2009.
1st SBH (19:53.75) LUKE AMES-BLACKABY 5th (6:33.55), MICHAEL CALLEGARI 1st (6:38.40), MATT MCLAUGHLIN 1st (6:41.80), 7th SBH “B” (20:28.15) CHANDI UDUWAWALA 13th (6:48.55), MARK PEARCE 11th (7:01.15), JOE HEADLAND 7th (6:38.45), 52nd SBH “C” (22:23.25) ANDRE WILLIAMS 63rd (7:16.15), SAM WILSON 65th (7:57.00), CALLUM MCCORMICK 52nd (7:10.10), 2nd Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (20:05.20), 3rd Tonbridge (20:17.25).
7th fastest time of the day LUKE AMES-BLACKABY (6:33.55).

It is December now and there is not let up before Christmas, the North of the Thames cross country championships took place at Kingsbury on 12 December.
1st SBH (16 points) MICHAEL CALLEGARI 2nd (12.48), LUKE AMES-BLACKABY 3rd (12.51), MARK PEARCE 5th (13.39), SAM WILSON 6th (13.43), RORY MUDD 7th (13.44), ANDRE WILLIAMS 13th (14.31), DOUGAL OLIVER 14th (14.35), MUSTAFA SAFFI 17th (14.48), CALLUM MCCORMICK 20th (15.13), 2nd Hillingdon (42), 3rd London Heathside (59).

It is now 2010, with the Hertfordshire cross country championships were cancelled, although 2 weeks later normal service was resumed with a win at the Middlesex cross country championships at Ruislip on the 23rd January.
1st SBH LUKE AMES-BLACKABY 1st (13.55), CHANDI UDUWAWALA 2nd (14.05), SAM WILSON 12th (14.40)

With only a 1 week break after the Middlesex cross country championships, the team moved onto Parliament Hill for the Southern cross country championships on the 30th January.
1st SBH (80 points) MATT MCLAUGHLIN 2nd (16.08), LUKE AMES-BLACKABY 15th (16.39), CHANDI UDUWAWALA 28th (16.51), MICHAEL CALLEGARI 35th (16.56), MARK PEARCE 53rd (17.21), SAM WILSON 72nd (17.38), RICHARD JOHNSON 86th (17.52), DOUGAL OLIVER 171st (19.08), CALLUM MCCORMICK 194th (19.41), 2nd Tonbridge (121), 3rd Cornwall (136), 12th SBH “B” (299).

After 6 wins out of 6 fixtures, the final Championships of the season was the National cross country championships at Leeds on the 3rd March 2010.
1st SBH (93 points) MATT MCLAUGHLIN 2nd (14.02), MICHAEL CALLEGARI 4th (14.11), LUKE AMES-BLACKABY 28th (14.51), CHANDI UDUWAWALA 59th (15.10), MARK PEARCE 75th (15.18), JOE REDWOOD 76th (15.18), SAM WILSON 119th (15.44), JOE HEADLAND 136th (15.55), RORY MUDD 155th (16.04), 2nd Tonbridge (101), 3rd Trafford (147).

We also managed to compete in the 5 North West London League fixtures, winning the team race in all 5 fixtures and MICHAEL CALLEGARI won all 4 races he contested, SAM WILSON finished 3rd overall.

TOM MCNAB’S THE TECHNICAL EVOLUTION OF THE JUMPS – Part 2 this week covers the High Jump.

Long Jump – The Ancient Greeks were ahead of us in at least one way, in that they deployed a landing-pit, the skamma, which also served as an area for combat-events. Alas, it is far from clear from the visual evidence that long jump was the same event as that which we now practice.
For we see jumpers in flight, (often supervised by a whip-wielding coach), holding light weights called halteres. This would almost certainly indicate a multiple jump, like five spring jumps, where the use of weights would provide advantage.
This deployment of weights featured heavily in Lancashire in the second half of the 19th century, part of a betting-based culture involving an infinity of standing and running jumps. In 1854, HOWARD of Chester leapt 29ft. 6 inches, off a beat-board, and carrying 8lb. dumbells.
All of this being said, we still have the Greeks writing of “making the bater ring”. The “bater” was the take-off area, and this is a clear indication of a running jump. The plain fact is that we will probably never know what the Greeks did.
It must be observed that, until the late 19th century, (and the first amateur athletics competitions), long jump was usually ground to ground. Indeed, a quick Google will show ground to ground jumping at Braemar Highland Games as late as 1925, and there is no reason to believe that the practice did not travel on into the 1930s. I certainly jumped ground to ground (and with great caution) at a Border Games as late as 1950.
Thus, until the early years of the century, outside of amateur athletics (which had little existence in rural areas) most jumping was almost certainly ground to ground, without benefit of a take-off board.
This being said, the basic elements of the event will have differed little from modern athletics, consisting of a fast run flowing into a high jump, though there is no evidence of flight- techniques until the early 20th century. And there is no evidence of specific training for long jump until the second quarter of the 20th century. That, and the increasing volume of nations involve in athletics, meant that the first jumper to leap 8metres was SYLVIO CATOR of Haiti, in 1924.
The visual evidence of flight-techniques can be seen in the film of the 1900 Paris Olympics, where the event took place on a grass surface, from a 20cm. board. There, the jumpers are clearly using straight “sail” techniques, and the literature of the period gives no indication of any technical/ training developments of any kind. The Irish jumper O’CONNOR, who leapt to 797.70m) in 1904, is described as making “running” movements in flight, some evidence of a hitch-kick, but there is no evidence other than that.
By 1936, both “hang” and one and a half hitch kick were being deployed at Olympic level, and both can clearly be seen in RIEFENSTAHL’S film “Olympia”. The German silver medallist LUZ LONG uses the “hang” until the last round, then bizarrely deploys what appears to be a two and a half hitch kick in his final attempt. The great American JESSE OWENS deploys throughout a mis-timed one and a half hitch kick, which results in poor landings.
The 1936 Olympics provides us with the first sustained visual evidence of modern long jump. What is remarkable is that Long, an 11.1 sec. 100m runner, is clearly able to generate almost as much runway-speed as OWENS, who is about 0.9 seconds faster over the 100 metres distance. And his controlled ”hang” is much superior to OWENS’ hurried hitch kick. It is clear that OWENS (8.20m) jump off grass in 1935 in no way represented his ability in the event, and here it is worth observing that this was the only jump that he made in that competition.
Technical developments in all field events were modest in the first half of the 20th century. So also was any serious development in specialised training-methods. And there were less than 50 nations in the Olympic movement. That, and the fact that in many countries most jumping still took place on grass football fields, limited improvement in performance.
With the entry of the USSR to the Olympic movement in 1952, all this was to change. For the USSR brought with it the Communist bloc, and a more advanced version of the State-sponsored athletics which the Nazis had introduced twenty years before. In 1952, in Helsinki, they had featured three high jumpers deploying the Eastern Cut Off; by 1956, they had begun to transform the straddle technique, and had constructed the first effective high jump shoe. These transformations were soon to be echoed by similar changes in field events techniques and training in all major Olympic nations.
All of the above does nothing to explain BOB BEAMON’S remarkable (8.90m) performance, for that had nothing to do with improved technique or training-methods. I had watched BEAMON in the qualifying round, twice fouling the board by massive distances before finally leaping around (8.20m), at about 40cm. short of the board. Nothing in these jumps spoke of a sophisticated, well-trained athlete. What BEAMON’S jump did tell us is that the event is not a complex one, otherwise he could not have achieved that distance, one which was not to be matched for almost a quarter of a century.
POWELL’S (8.95m) world record took place in what was probably the greatest long jump competition of all time. Both he and CARL LEWIS were exceptionally fast on the runway, both used a two and a half hitch kick in flight. This method has been used because eight metre plus jumps often mean that the jumper “finishes” his one and a half leg- action early, resulting in too much forward rotation. Both jumpers therefore ”used up” the extra flight-time with that extra “kick”.
Two differences separated POWELL and LEWIS. We have no take-off clockings, but LEWIS was possibly 2% faster on the runway. Against this, his final stride slides to the left, so that his take-off drive was relatively inefficient. Viewed from the front, we see him jump from right to left, and had take-off to landing distance been measured, then he was probably over nine metres. And LEWIS was always a flat jumper, always lacked height.
Conversely, POWELL jumped slightly higher, and he jumped straight. But the key difference may well have lain in his leg-timing. He talks of sighting his left heel high relative to a photographer in front of the pit, and holding it there; this can be clearly seen in the film of the event. On such small margins can competitions be won.
I have highlighted these great performances, not only to make technical points, but also to bring the reader back to what athletics is all about, not simply a series of techniques and endless training-recipes, but red-blooded competition. For it is there that athletics lives and breathes.
What is remarkable in long jump is that for all the endless drills and analysis, that there has been so little improvement here in performance, particularly when we bear in mind the improvements in surfaces, indoor facilities, sports science, sports medicine and athlete- financial support. Thus LYN DAVIES’ (8.07m) on mud in 1964 in Tokyo and MARY RAND’S (6.76m) into a 1.6 m wind on cinders would still challenge most of our jumpers now. Such is progress.

Current Shaftesbury’s outdoor club record holder is DAN BRAMBLE which is (8.21m) set in 2015, and ranks him No.5 on the UK all-time list. His indoor club record is (8.14m) set in 2016, and ranks him No.3 on the UK all-time list.

Triple Jump – The Scots poet ROBERT BURNS describes it as “hop, step and laup” as far back as 1793, but for us it is now triple jump. There is no doubt that in the 19th century, most jumping in Scotland, the home of the event, was ground to ground, yet HOGG of Hawick jumped just over (15m) back in 1893. This distance has never, to this day, been beaten in a Highland Games, and was almost certainly two hops and jump.
Even into the 1960s, some Games allowed two hops and jump as an option. This appears to have been geographically-based, with meets above the Highland Line insisting on hop, step and jump, and those below it making no such requirement. Back in 1963, I competed at Aboyne and Aberdeen, both using a triple jump. In my final meeting, Pitlochry, I was allowed to use two hops and jump, and that produced my best distance, although I had never before deployed it.
It comes therefore as no surprise that in the 1896 Olympic Games it seems likely that the American gold-medallist CONNOLLY almost certainly used two hops and jump. By 1900, a standard triple jump was required in Olympic competition, and thus it was to be from then on.
The literature of the period offers little advice on triple jump technique, with often ludicrous advice being offered by writers such as SAM MUSSABINI, forced by his publishers to comment on events of which he had no experience. The same was true for F. A. M. WEBSTER, though it is worth observing that the event did not appear in the AAA Championships until as late as 1917. It is some indication of the developmental zeal of the Scots that event did not appear in their National Championships until 1937.
As in long jump, “Olympia,” the record of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, provides us with our first glimpse of modern triple jump technique. It shows us that there was no generally-accepted method. The Australian METCALFE takes a high, massive hop, collapses into a short recovery step and struggles into the pit. The Canadian RICHARDSON performs a high, straight-leg hop, lands on his toes, staggers into a short, diag step and staggers into the pit. MAURICE HARADA of Japan is most like a modern jumper, with a fluid, even leap, driving out of each phase, though he over-rotates out of his hop. His colleague OSIMA is similar, with a solid, more balanced, effort.
The gold-medallist, TAJIMA of Japan was an eight metre long jumper, and had finished third in that event. Fast and fluid on the runway, he hops high and lands on the ball of his right foot, travelling as a result into a short step and good, long final phase, to be the first man to clear sixteen metres.
Only the Japanese jumpers show any real technical consistency, and this was reflected in all four of the jumping events, where they finished in medal positions in all but high jump.
The big changes in the event took place, as they had in other field events, in the 1950s, when the Russians began to apply rationale to existing techniques. They soon produced a flush of jumpers, powerful, well-conditioned athletes, jumping well in excess of sixteen metres. It was, however, a springy “natural”, DA SILVA of Brazil, who was to dominate the post-war period.

Current Shaftesbury’s outdoor club record holder is LARRY ACHIKE which is (17.30m) set in the 2000 Olympic Games, finishing 5th, and ranks him No.6 on the UK all-time list. The indoor club record is held by FRANCIS AGYEPONG (16.97m) set in 1996, and ranks him No.5 on the UK all-time list.

TUNJI AKINTOKUN MBE – Non Executive Director, England Athletics

THE FOLLOWING SBH DOCUMENTS/INFORMATION CAN EITHER BE VIEWED, DOWNLOADED OR PRINTED
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Front Sheet – Summer 2020 Fixture Card Front Sheet Final Issue 12-02-20
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Fixtures, Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures – Summer 2020 Fixture Card – Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures
Track and Field Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/track-field/team-managers/
Road Running Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/road-running/team-managers/

PARKRUN 5K RESULTS – Currently Suspended

The following fixtures have now been Cancelled
National Athletic League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and 14 June
Eastern Young Athletics League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and Sunday 31 May
Veterans League due to take place on Monday 4 May
BUCS due to take place on Friday 8 May to Sunday 10 May
Hertfordshire County Championships due to take place on Saturday 9 May and Sunday 10 May
Loughborough International due to take place on Sunday 17 May
Middlesex Young Athletes League due to take place on Saturday 23 May
UK Youth Development League due to take place on Sunday 24 May, Sunday 21 June, Sunday 26 July and Sunday 6 September
Middlesex County Championships due to take place on Saturday 30 May and Sunday 31 May
National Preparatory Schools Championships due to take place on Monday 29 June
World U20 Championships due to take place from Tuesday 7 July to Sunday 12 July
English Schools Championships due to take place on Friday 10 July and Saturday 11 July
European U18 Championships due to take place from Thursday 16 July to Sunday 19 July
Olympic Games due to take place from Friday 31 July to Sunday 9 August

Virgin London Marathon and Mini Marathon due to take place on Sunday 26 April has been Postponed, and is rescheduled to take place on Sunday 4 October

FACEBOOK – Photographs can be found on the SBH page.

ALLIANZ PARK – Main Switchboard telephone number is 0203 675 7250.

CHARGES FOR USING ALLIANZ PARK – Currently the stadium is closed for athletics until the 31 May.

ALAN

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 16 April 2020

Posted on 13/04/202008/03/2022 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday from this Thursday 16 April to James Byrnes, Louis Cross, Charlie Cutler, Bradley Goater, Victoria Godfrey, Scarlett Kent, Julian Lamy, Lauren Maltz, Kelly Mavididi, Lola McCann-Ezekiel, Dylan Michel, Dereece O’Callaghan, Robert Rigby, Sean Sutherland, Lucy Taylor, Odera Umeugoji, Alan Weller and Tariq Wild

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT, UPDATED 24 MARCH – The following is a joint statement by SBH and Saracens SBH Coronavirus Statement 24.03.20 Rev A

CURRENT UPDATE ON UPCOMING FIXTURES – Can be found in the ‘Upcoming Fixtures’ further down.

TUNJI AKINTOKUN MBE – Non Executive Director, England Athletics

EMMA TAYLOR ISOLATING IN ISRAEL – The following article was written by ROSALIND ZEFFERTT.
EMMA joined Shaftesbury in May 2014 age 13, and during that season was a regular in the Eastern Young Athletes League team, competing in the Shot, Discus and Javelin. 2015 to 2017 saw her performances improve in all disciplines, and was an ever present in the EYAL but also competed in UKYDL. 2018 and 2019 she joined the junior ranks and as well as the UKYDL she made her debut in the UK Women’s League. When the interrupted 2020 is over we should see an improved EMMA especially with NEVILLE THOMPSON behind her.

UK-ranked javelin thrower EMMA TAYLOR has had to get used to more than just a new training routine since arriving on kibbutz in late February. “Almost straight away we had the election, then PURIM, and we were just about to get going properly when we went into lockdown,” said ex-JFS pupil and Magen Avot synagogue member EMMA, 19, who is on a five-month programme at Sde Eliyahu, near Bet Shean in northern Israel. “We aren’t allowed out of the kibbutz now. But here is the best place to be isolated really because we’re in the middle of nowhere, there’s plenty of food growing in the fields and we have our own fresh water spring.” Photograph of EMMA enjoying the outdoors.

EMMA manages to find time for her fitness training outside a busy weekly schedule combining ulpan with cleaning the study and accommodation blocks and weeding the organic pumpkins (“It’s quite a lot of work actually – the weeds keep growing…”). Fortunately, there is a well-equipped multigym on site, not to mention the areas around the fields for general running and jogging.
But making time is one thing; self-motivation is quite another. Before EMMA left for Israel, she was training three times a week with her coach NEVILLE THOMPSON, who also coaches the UK’s top discus thrower, son GREG THOMPSON. So probably her main adjustment as an athlete has been to take charge of her own sessions, an issue many struggle with once they leave the structure of school and club. “I discussed it with NEVILLE before I came here and he told me to keep up with everything as much as possible,” said EMMA. “But it’s a lot harder this way. I’ve been going to Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers (in north London) since I was in Year 8, so that’s six years now, and in all that time I’ve never had to do training on my own.” She added, “I was always disciplined at school and I’m quite good at organising, but balancing study, work, training and socialising on Sde Eliyahu is an ongoing exercise in itself.” Photograph of EMMA putting in a hard session in the gym.

That said, EMMA is nothing if not resourceful. “In our three-hour sessions with NEVILLE we cover strength, endurance, plyometrics, stretching and much more,” she explained. “Here, I include as much as I can but I’m adapting a few things. For example, I don’t have a (throwing) net so I can’t throw a ball or a weight, but I’ve been passing tennis balls to people and throwing stones into a lake. I’m currently searching for a resistance band for those drills to give them more of a javelin feel.”
At the end of her gap year, EMMA is due to start a course in paramedic science at the University of Hertfordshire, current situation permitting. Once back in full-time education, she intends to return to Shaftesbury to train as often as her timetable will allow. “Sport is very important for me,“ she said. “I love javelin anyway, but I think it also helps me to be my normal bubbly, happy and calm self as well as to stay focused in class.”
For now, EMMA is continuing to work on power and fitness in between her kibbutz commitments, but she does admit that she has yet to incorporate NEVILLE’S rigorous training on a regular basis. “I have only forced myself to do a proper NEVILLE session once so far – and it hurt!”

SBH FINISH 6TH IN VIRTUAL NATIONAL 12 STAGE ROAD RELAY – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website.
The Five-day event is deemed a great success with the Leeds City’s men and Herne Hill’s women came out on top in the inaugural Virtual National Road Relay Championships, which also raised over £6,800 for the NHS.
The innovative event involved over 3700 athletes running a 5km course local to them, while adhering to social distancing guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic, and recording their results on a specially designed results platform hosted by OpenTrack.
The event has attracted lots of discussion on social media, with a number of athletes having praised the event for giving them competitive focus, and reconnecting them with team-mates. Future virtual events are already being planned by a number of other organisations.
Men’s 12-stage Results – 1st Leeds (2:57.08), 2nd Cambridge (2:57.44), 3rd Tonbridge (2:58.35), 4th Bedford & County (2:58.45), 5th Swansea (3:01.00), 6th SBH (3:01.31) – MARK PEARCE (14.18), JAKE SHELLEY (14.19), KIERAN CLEMENTS (14.24), LIAM DEE (14.35), DYLAN EVANS (14.43), JEREMY DEMPSEY U20 (14.50), KOJO KYEREME V45 (14.53), THOMAS BUTLER (15.20), KRISTIAN IMROTH U20 (15.26), THOMAS FULTON U20 (15.37), RORY MUIR (15.45), PHILLIP CROUT (15.46), THOMAS KEARNS (15.54), WILLIAM RYLE-HODGES (16.02), ALEJANDRO SANCHEZ (18.40), RICHARD WILLIAMS V35 (18.46), KEVIN WALDEN V35 (19.13), TIM PARKIN V40 (20.16), 7th Cardiff (3:03.12), 8th Bristol (3:04.09), 9th Conac (3:05.06), 10th Cheltenham (3:06.25).
The innovative event involved over 3700 athletes running a 5km course local to them, while adhering to social distancing guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic, and recording their results on a specially designed results platform hosted by OpenTrack.

BETH POTTER SUPREME – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website.
BETH took part in the Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds-organised Scottish Virtual Road Relays, with over 500 athletes taking part. Following social distancing guidelines due to the coronavirus outbreak, athletes ran solo 5km legs and recorded them via Strava or Garmin, with four members to each team. Olympic runner turned triathlete BETH POTTER and her fellow triathlete GRANT SHELDON recorded the quickest leg times, with BETH running (15.23) and SHELDON clocking (13.38). The second fastest men’s time came from GB cross country and orienteering international Kris Jones with 13:51, with Scottish cross country champion Jamie Crowe running a time of 13:59 for third fastest. Behind BETH in terms of fastest women’s times was her fellow GB international SARAH INGLIS with (15.57) and GB under-20 cross country runner MEGAN KEITH ran (16.25) to finish with the third fastest female time.

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS – Earlier this week I received via the website, an enquiry from RAY VAREY in Canada. Who was looking for HUGH RICHARDS who may be associated with our club. I taught with a HUGH RICHARDS at Hengrove Comprehensive School in Bristol in 1978-79 as an exchange teacher from Canada. HUGH was the Head of Science at Hengrove at that time and was quite an accomplished runner. I’ve always wondered what happened to him when I returned to Canada…no other agenda than that.
On speaking to HUGH, he recalls that we trained together, when he taught at the same Bristol School, in which RAY was on a year’s teacher exchange scheme. Like me he was a steeplechaser and represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1970, in the final of the 3000m Steeplechase he finished in a time of (9:02.2), the race was won by Anthony Manning of Australia (8:26.2) with 2 Kenyans just behind him.
It must have been in 1979 that RAY joined Messrs DAVE BEDFORD, JOHN DRYDEN, MARTIN MCEVILLY, RICHARD SAMUEL, HUGH STARKEY and HUGH at the Pont L’Abbe race in Brittany. Often wondered what happened to him!
PIPPA and HUGH remain in good health, and one of his daughters is slowly getting over Covid-19 and we think PIPPA’S son now has it. Both work in the NHS so hardly surprising.

SUCCESS FOR HENDON RUGBY CLUB – Who are based at Barnet Copthall have now been promoted from Hertfordshire/Middlesex League 1 to London 3 North West League. Club President DAVID GERSHLICK said “We have had a fantastic unbeaten season which is not over yet, but we expect the two outstanding cup fixtures to be moved to the start of next season.” Hendon are finalists in the Middlesex Federation Vase along with Wasps; “We currently hold this trophy as last year’s winners.” Hendon recently became Champions of the RFU London and South East Division and now go into the semi-finals of the RFU National Cup with a possible Final at Twickenham.

TOM MCNAB’S THE TECHNICAL EVOLUTION OF THE JUMPS – Part 1 covering the Long and Triple Jumps, next week will be Part 2 covering the High Jump.
Long Jump – The Ancient Greeks were ahead of us in at least one way, in that they deployed a landing-pit, the skamma, which also served as an area for combat-events. Alas, it is far from clear from the visual evidence that long jump was the same event as that which we now practice.
For we see jumpers in flight, (often supervised by a whip-wielding coach), holding light weights called halteres. This would almost certainly indicate a multiple jump, like five spring jumps, where the use of weights would provide advantage.
This deployment of weights featured heavily in Lancashire in the second half of the 19th century, part of a betting-based culture involving an infinity of standing and running jumps. In 1854, HOWARD of Chester leapt 29ft. 6 inches, off a beat-board, and carrying 8lb. dumbells.
All of this being said, we still have the Greeks writing of “making the bater ring”. The “bater” was the take-off area, and this is a clear indication of a running jump. The plain fact is that we will probably never know what the Greeks did.
It must be observed that, until the late 19th century, (and the first amateur athletics competitions), long jump was usually ground to ground. Indeed, a quick Google will show ground to ground jumping at Braemar Highland Games as late as 1925, and there is no reason to believe that the practice did not travel on into the 1930s. I certainly jumped ground to ground (and with great caution) at a Border Games as late as 1950.
Thus, until the early years of the century, outside of amateur athletics (which had little existence in rural areas) most jumping was almost certainly ground to ground, without benefit of a take-off board.
This being said, the basic elements of the event will have differed little from modern athletics, consisting of a fast run flowing into a high jump, though there is no evidence of flight- techniques until the early 20th century. And there is no evidence of specific training for long jump until the second quarter of the 20th century. That, and the increasing volume of nations involve in athletics, meant that the first jumper to leap 8metres was SYLVIO CATOR of Haiti, in 1924.
The visual evidence of flight-techniques can be seen in the film of the 1900 Paris Olympics, where the event took place on a grass surface, from a 20cm. board. There, the jumpers are clearly using straight “sail” techniques, and the literature of the period gives no indication of any technical/ training developments of any kind. The Irish jumper O’CONNOR, who leapt to 797.70m) in 1904, is described as making “running” movements in flight, some evidence of a hitch-kick, but there is no evidence other than that.
By 1936, both “hang” and one and a half hitch kick were being deployed at Olympic level, and both can clearly be seen in RIEFENSTAHL’S film “Olympia”. The German silver medallist LUZ LONG uses the “hang” until the last round, then bizarrely deploys what appears to be a two and a half hitch kick in his final attempt. The great American JESSE OWENS deploys throughout a mis-timed one and a half hitch kick, which results in poor landings.
The 1936 Olympics provides us with the first sustained visual evidence of modern long jump. What is remarkable is that Long, an 11.1 sec. 100m runner, is clearly able to generate almost as much runway-speed as OWENS, who is about 0.9 seconds faster over the 100 metres distance. And his controlled ”hang” is much superior to OWENS’ hurried hitch kick. It is clear that OWENS (8.20m) jump off grass in 1935 in no way represented his ability in the event, and here it is worth observing that this was the only jump that he made in that competition.
Technical developments in all field events were modest in the first half of the 20th century. So also was any serious development in specialised training-methods. And there were less than 50 nations in the Olympic movement. That, and the fact that in many countries most jumping still took place on grass football fields, limited improvement in performance.
With the entry of the USSR to the Olympic movement in 1952, all this was to change. For the USSR brought with it the Communist bloc, and a more advanced version of the State-sponsored athletics which the Nazis had introduced twenty years before. In 1952, in Helsinki, they had featured three high jumpers deploying the Eastern Cut Off; by 1956, they had begun to transform the straddle technique, and had constructed the first effective high jump shoe. These transformations were soon to be echoed by similar changes in field events techniques and training in all major Olympic nations.
All of the above does nothing to explain BOB BEAMON’S remarkable (8.90m) performance, for that had nothing to do with improved technique or training-methods. I had watched BEAMON in the qualifying round, twice fouling the board by massive distances before finally leaping around (8.20m), at about 40cm. short of the board. Nothing in these jumps spoke of a sophisticated, well-trained athlete. What BEAMON’S jump did tell us is that the event is not a complex one, otherwise he could not have achieved that distance, one which was not to be matched for almost a quarter of a century.
POWELL’S (8.95m) world record took place in what was probably the greatest long jump competition of all time. Both he and CARL LEWIS were exceptionally fast on the runway, both used a two and a half hitch kick in flight. This method has been used because eight metre plus jumps often mean that the jumper “finishes” his one and a half leg- action early, resulting in too much forward rotation. Both jumpers therefore ”used up” the extra flight-time with that extra “kick”.
Two differences separated POWELL and LEWIS. We have no take-off clockings, but LEWIS was possibly 2% faster on the runway. Against this, his final stride slides to the left, so that his take-off drive was relatively inefficient. Viewed from the front, we see him jump from right to left, and had take-off to landing distance been measured, then he was probably over nine metres. And LEWIS was always a flat jumper, always lacked height.
Conversely, POWELL jumped slightly higher, and he jumped straight. But the key difference may well have lain in his leg-timing. He talks of sighting his left heel high relative to a photographer in front of the pit, and holding it there; this can be clearly seen in the film of the event. On such small margins can competitions be won.
I have highlighted these great performances, not only to make technical points, but also to bring the reader back to what athletics is all about, not simply a series of techniques and endless training-recipes, but red-blooded competition. For it is there that athletics lives and breathes.
What is remarkable in long jump is that for all the endless drills and analysis, that there has been so little improvement here in performance, particularly when we bear in mind the improvements in surfaces, indoor facilities, sports science, sports medicine and athlete- financial support. Thus LYN DAVIES’ (8.07m) on mud in 1964 in Tokyo and MARY RAND’S (6.76m) into a 1.6 m wind on cinders would still challenge most of our jumpers now. Such is progress.

Triple Jump – The Scots poet ROBERT BURNS describes it as “hop, step and laup” as far back as 1793, but for us it is now triple jump. There is no doubt that in the 19th^th century, most jumping in Scotland, the home of the event, was ground to ground, yet HOGG of Hawick jumped just over (15m) back in 1893. This distance has never, to this day, been beaten in a Highland Games, and was almost certainly two hops and jump.
Even into the 1960s, some Games allowed two hops and jump as an option. This appears to have been geographically-based, with meets above the Highland Line insisting on hop, step and jump, and those below it making no such requirement. Back in 1963, I competed at Aboyne and Aberdeen, both using a triple jump. In my final meeting, Pitlochry, I was allowed to use two hops and jump, and that produced my best distance, although I had never before deployed it.
It comes therefore as no surprise that in the 1896 Olympic Games it seems likely that the American gold-medallist CONNOLLY almost certainly used two hops and jump. By 1900, a standard triple jump was required in Olympic competition, and thus it was to be from then on.
The literature of the period offers little advice on triple jump technique, with often ludicrous advice being offered by writers such as SAM MUSSABINI, forced by his publishers to comment on events of which he had no experience. The same was true for F. A. M. WEBSTER, though it is worth observing that the event did not appear in the AAA Championships until as late as 1917. It is some indication of the developmental zeal of the Scots that event did not appear in their National Championships until 1937.
As in long jump, “Olympia,” the record of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, provides us with our first glimpse of modern triple jump technique. It shows us that there was no generally-accepted method. The Australian METCALFE takes a high, massive hop, collapses into a short recovery step and struggles into the pit. The Canadian RICHARDSON performs a high, straight-leg hop, lands on his toes, staggers into a short, diag step and staggers into the pit. MAURICE HARADA of Japan is most like a modern jumper, with a fluid, even leap, driving out of each phase, though he over-rotates out of his hop. His colleague OSIMA is similar, with a solid, more balanced, effort.
The gold-medallist, TAJIMA of Japan was an eight metre long jumper, and had finished third in that event. Fast and fluid on the runway, he hops high and lands on the ball of his right foot, travelling as a result into a short step and good, long final phase, to be the first man to clear sixteen metres.
Only the Japanese jumpers show any real technical consistency, and this was reflected in all four of the jumping events, where they finished in medal positions in all but high jump.
The big changes in the event took place, as they had in other field events, in the 1950s, when the Russians began to apply rationale to existing techniques. They soon produced a flush of jumpers, powerful, well-conditioned athletes, jumping well in excess of sixteen metres. It was, however, a springy “natural”, DA SILVA of Brazil, who was to dominate the post-war period.

BRITISH ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2020 – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website.
The Müller British Athletics Championships will now be held on August 8-9, provided competition can recommence during this outdoor season.
The event in Manchester had originally been scheduled for June 20-21 and would have incorporated the trials for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Following postponement of the Games to 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak, the hope now is that the British Championships can be held in August and for the event to still incorporate the trials for the European Championships, currently due to take place on August 25-30 in Paris.

DELAYED WORLD ATHLETIC CHAMPIONSHIPS SET FOR JULY 2022 – The following article and photograph taken by the University of Oregon, was published on the Athletics Weekly website.

The World Athletics Championships in Oregon will now take place on July 15-24, 2022, following the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Oregon event was originally scheduled for August 6-15 next year but has moved to the following summer to avoid a clash with the Tokyo Games in the July and August.

It will create what World Athletics president SEBASTIAN COE has described as “a bonanza for athletics fans around the world”, with the global athletics event to be closely followed by the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham July 27-August 7 2022, and the multi-sport European Championships in Munich August 11-21 2022. In a statement, athletics’ global governing body said: “The World Athletics Council approved the new dates this week after extensive discussions with the sport’s stakeholders including organisers of two other major championships due to take place in July-August 2022, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and the multi-sport European Championships in Munich. “The new schedule will prevent a direct conflict between any of these major events and, with careful programming, will ensure athletes can compete in up to three world-class competitions.” COE said: “This will be a bonanza for athletics fans around the world.

“They will be treated to six weeks of absolutely first-class athletics. More than 70 of our Member Federations are part of the Commonwealth and more than 50 of our Member Federations are European so our guiding principle in rescheduling the World Championships was to ensure enough space was created around the centrepiece World Athletics Championship for athletes to choose other major events to compete in. We were also very mindful that we did not want to damage the other major championships in 2022, because they are also very important to our sport. “We believe we have found a solution that will allow athletes who are eligible for the other two events to compete in them with the Commonwealth Games Federation planning to stage the athletics programme towards the end of their event. This will showcase our sport to its best advantage in the circumstances and we will continue collaborating with all competitions on the detailed programming. “We would not have chosen to have three major championships back-to-back but it will give us a unique opportunity to promote our sport and its stars around the globe over a six-week period. “I want to particularly thank Oregon 21 LLC and all its stakeholders for their collaboration and flexibility as well as all World Athletics’ partners and broadcasters who are so critical to delivering the Games and taking it into the homes of millions of fans.”

Also on Wednesday it was announced that World Athletics has postponed the bidding processes for the 2023 World Athletics Series events, with processes for that year’s World Cross Country Championships and World Athletics Relays now set to open in November.

THE FOLLOWING SBH DOCUMENTS/INFORMATION CAN EITHER BE VIEWED, DOWNLOADED OR PRINTED
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Front Sheet – Summer 2020 Fixture Card Front Sheet Final Issue 12-02-20
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Fixtures, Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures – Summer 2020 Fixture Card – Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures
Track and Field Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/track-field/team-managers/
Road Running Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/road-running/team-managers/

WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER – It has just been announced that as the World Cross Country Chamionships is in Australia are on 20 March 2021, the Inter Counties in Loughborough will be on 20 February and the National Cross Country Championships will be at Parliament Hill on 6 March. Elsewhere the National Cross Country Relay Championships in Mansfield are on 31 Ocober 2020, European Trials are on 28 November and the European Championships in Dublin on 13 December.

In coordination with the World Athletics Global Calendar Unit, we have now finalised discussions for a new National Championships weekend alongside other federations. As a result, should there be an opportunity to recommence competition during this outdoor season, the Muller British Athletics Championships will be rescheduled from its original date of 20/21st June to 8/9th August 2020, with the venue remaining as the Manchester Regional Arena.

PARKRUN 5K RESULTS – Currently Suspended

The following fixtures have now been Cancelled
Middlesex Young Athletes League due to take place on Saturday 23 May
UK Youth Development League due to take place on Sunday 24 May, Sunday 21 June, Sunday 26 July and Sunday 6 September
National Athletic League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and 14 June
Eastern Young Athletics League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and Sunday 31 May
Veterans League due to take place on Monday 4 May
BUCS due to take place on Friday 8 May to Sunday 10 May
Hertfordshire County Championships due to take place on Saturday 9 May and Sunday 10 May
Loughborough International due to take place on Sunday 17 May
Middlesex County Championships due to take place on Saturday 30 May and Sunday 31 May
World U20 Championships due to take place from Tuesday 7 July to Sunday 12 July
English Schools Championships due to take place on Friday 10 July and Saturday 11 July
European U18 Championships due to take place from Thursday 16 July to Sunday 19 July
Olympic Games due to take place from Friday 31 July to Sunday 9 August

Virgin London Marathon and Mini Marathon due to take place on Sunday 26 April has been Postponed, and is rescheduled to take place on Sunday 4 October

CLUB EMBROIDERED RED HOODIES – Currently there are now over 500 Hoodies in circulation, this is the link giving details on how you can order your Club Hoody for £35, which includes having your name embroidered on the front Club Hoodies Updated 01-07-19

FACEBOOK – Photographs can be found on the SBH page.

ALLIANZ PARK – Main Switchboard telephone number is 0203 675 7250.

CHARGES FOR USING ALLIANZ PARK – Currently the stadium is closed for athletics until the 31 May.

ALAN

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 9 April 2020

Posted on 06/04/202008/03/2022 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday this week to Ena Akpata, Ben Bellisario, Phillip Crout, Charlotte Johnston, Alessa Lewis, Phillipa Lowe, Phoebe Music, Amelia Onyems and Ray Powell

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT, UPDATED 24 MARCH– The following is a joint statement by SBH and Saracens SBH Coronavirus Statement 24.03.20 Rev A

CURRENT UPDATE ON UPCOMING FIXTURES – The following fixtures have now been Cancelled
London Inter Club Challenge due to take place on Saturday 18 April
Middlesex Young Athletes League due to take place on Saturday 18 April and Saturday 23 May
UK Youth Development League due to take place on Sunday 19 April, Sunday 24 May, Sunday 21 June, Sunday 26 July and Sunday 6 September
National Athletic League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and 14 June
Eastern Young Athletics League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and Sunday 31 May
Veterans League due to take place on Monday 4 May
BUCS due to take place on Friday 8 May to Sunday 10 May
Hertfordshire County Championships due to take place on Saturday 9 May and Sunday 10 May
Loughborough International due to take place on Sunday 17 May
Middlesex County Championships due to take place on Saturday 30 May and Sunday 31 May
World U20 Championships due to take place from Tuesday 7 July to Sunday 12 July
English Schools Championships due to take place on Friday 10 July and Saturday 11 July
European U18 Championships due to take place from Thursday 16 July to Sunday 19 July
Olympic Games due to take place from Friday 31 July to Sunday 9 August

Virgin London Marathon and Mini Marathon due to take place on Sunday 26 April has been Postponed, and is rescheduled to take place on Sunday 4 October

THE FOLLOWING SBH DOCUMENTS/INFORMATION CAN EITHER BE VIEWED, DOWNLOADED OR PRINTED
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Front Sheet – Summer 2020 Fixture Card Front Sheet Final Issue 12-02-20
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Fixtures, Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures – Summer 2020 Fixture Card – Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures
Track and Field Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/track-field/team-managers/
Road Running Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/road-running/team-managers/

WHAT A BIRTHDAY SURPRISE – It was PHOEBE MUSIC 12th birthday on Wednesday and CARL told me that we didn’t have many ingredients in, but we did find some fondant icing in the back of a cupboard so made an SBH Cake to celebrate (not my best, but popping to Tesco no longer an option so it was a bit make do and mend!) We are all looking forward to a time when training and competing can resume and send our best to everyone at the club.

MANY THANKS TO – SIMON KEENE and TOM MCNAB for their contribution to this week’s Newsletter.

SBH SENIOR WOMEN 1998 TO 2002 – Last week there were some typing errors, also I have been talking to SIMON and we found some of the missing results. This is link which shows the full Senior Women SBH results updated from last week for the 1998 to 2002 Cross Country and Road Relays –

In those years the team competed in 32 Southern or National Championships, of those they won 17 Championships, were 2nd in 5 and 3rd in 5 others, 4 others outside the top 3, finally 1 result to be found. Of those LUCY ELIOTT competed in 17 of the 26 Championships, amazing, there are still 3 results to find which will show each runner (They are the Southen 4 Stage 1998, 2000 and 2001).

BOB BROWN ULTRA DISTANCE RUNNER – Born in Bushey, Herts, and during the early 1990’s he joined Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers. At that time, I remember running with him in the Metropolitan League and as far as I can remember was a good club athlete. Also at the same his identical twin sisters Susan and Allison were also members, they progressed up through the younger age-groups to become reasonably good runners. It was around 1993-94 that the family moved to Australia.
Apparently, BOB came back and settled in Stoke Climsland, Cornwall, to become a primary school teacher. He had started to run marathon’s, and found his niche as an Ultra Distance runner.

In 1995, running as a complete unknown, BOB finished second in the World Triple Ironman Championships in France, which consisted of a 7.2-mile swim, 336-mile cycle and 78-mile run. He has also competed in the world’s longest and toughest triathlon – the World Deca-Ironman Championships in Monterrey, Mexico. Competitors had to swim 24 miles, cycle 1,120 miles and run 262 miles.

BOB at the age of 35, competed and won the “Run Across America” which is a 3100-mile race, the race started on 12 June 2004 to 21 August 2004 (71 Days) average daily mileage of 43.4 miles (69.8km). Prior to this he finished 7th in the 2001 Trans-Australia Footrace in which he ran 50 miles per day for 65 days in the middle of the Australian summer (The heat was 50c at times).

The race started from Huntingdon Beach, just south of Los Angeles, after leaving LA they were battling temperatures of 43.5C as they crossed the Mojave Desert, then on to Las Vegas, up through the Rockies to 10,000 feet, down to Denver, Colorado then through the Great Plains, Indianapolis, and then finishing in New York.

After day 46. It has taken BOB just over 318 hours to run 1,917 miles (3,086 kilometres), giving him a lead of nearly 34 hours over Frenchman LUC DUMONT ST PRIEST in second place. After day 58 BOB the lone UK runner in the international field, is 47 hours ahead of second place Frenchman ST PRIEST. But the best moment has to be when on day 68 he was running along in the middle of nowhere when I heard a barking noise. I turned around to see 2 familiar people with dog masks on. It was my sister SUSAN and bro-in-law ROSS. After flying home to Australia, a month previously they had decided to surprise me by flying out again for the finish. And they did!

Bob sponsor Cornish firm GINSTERS were shipping supplies to him on a regular basis. Weight-wise “I am down to 8st 10lb – I haven’t been that weight since I was 14,” and was consuming 10,000 calories a day. He went through five pairs of trainers, and towards the finish his toes were clearly visible through his training shoes.

TOM MCNAB – Last week I published TOM’S article on the ‘1906 Intercalated Olympics Games’ follows. TOM, a physical educationist, was National Athletics Coach from 1963 to 1978. His 5 Star Award Scheme reached 60 million children.

This week features his 5 Star Award Scheme which is a unique program to help children, regardless of ability to achieve competence in athletics, improve sports performance and increase general fitness to promote a healthy lifestyle. The Coach for the five star award scheme is our own CLAIRE SPURWAY who in 2019 became the World, European and British Masters 60m Champion.

Link to TOM’S feature – Tom Mcnab PE Five Star article. April 2019 published also link to the 5 Star Award Scheme website – https://www.fivestarathletics.co.uk/

ATHLETES WITH TOKYO 2020 STANDARDS TO REMAIN QUALIFIED FOR 2021 – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website recently. All athletes to have already achieved the entry standard for their event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will remain qualified for the postponed Games now taking place in 2021, World Athletics president SEB COE has confirmed.

In a letter to the athletics community, COE added that the world governing body’s review of the Olympic qualification system would be expedited, with any changes to the process to be announced as soon as possible “so athletes know where they stand”. This includes the development of “a clear and fair process” for remaining athletes to qualify for the Games, which had been due to take place from July 24 to August 9 but are now scheduled to be held before the end of the summer next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Last week all sports agreed to the International Olympic Committee’s proposal that all athletes currently qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will remain qualified for next year’s event,” COE wrote. “In athletics the primary qualification avenue is by meeting the entry standards set out in March 2019. “Once those places are allocated, the remaining athletes are drawn from the world ranking list. “As of today, all athletes who have met the entry standards for their event will remain qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. This is approximately 50% of the places. What is important now is that we develop a clear and fair process for the remaining athletes to qualify, given many events have been postponed. “We will work with our Athletes’ Commission, our Council and the IOC to do this. We are also looking at how we can preserve an outdoor competition season this year with a series of one-day meetings on each continent that may begin as late as August and run to early October, so our athletes can get back in to competition as quickly as possible when it is safe to do so.”

On Friday it was confirmed that further to the postponement of the first three meetings of the 2020 Diamond League season, scheduled for Qatar and China, the May meetings in Stockholm (May 24), Naples/Rome (May 28) and Rabat (May 31) will also be rescheduled. In his letter, Coe added that the current time can now be used to innovate and consider things such as “weekend festivals of running, jumping and throwing” and for reorganising the global calendar of events. “In sport we have a unique opportunity not to tip toe around things and tweak at the edges,” he wrote. “We have the chance to think bigger, to rip up the blueprints and banish the ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it’ mentality. “Ironically, I believe social distancing will actually bring us closer together as a community and sport can sit right at the centre. The situation the world finds itself in today is a huge wake up call for all of us – as human beings, as businesses and as sport. We should capitalise on this and work out new ways of delivering events, create and plan new events that embrace the many as well as the few. “We can use this time to innovate and extend our sport across the year. Rather than just focusing on one-day meetings and one-day road races at one end of the spectrum and 10-day extravaganzas at the other end, we should look at weekend festivals of running, jumping and throwing that take advantage of the Southern and Northern Hemisphere seasons. We should work with governments to re-establish sport in schools, rebuild club structures, incentivise people to exercise and get fit (I rather fancy more people are exercising this week – doing 15-minute exercise routines in their homes or going out for a daily walk – than they have probably done in the last month). This should and could be the new normal. We don’t have to do things the same way.” He continued: “The world will not be the same after this pandemic. It will be different and that could be a good thing. Going back to core human values, back to basics of what is important, redefining our purpose, is something we can all do on a human, business and sporting scale. “We have heard a lot in the past week from governments, health care professionals, Prime Ministers and Presidents about social distancing and we are all practising it. But as I said at the beginning, although we may be separated physically during this period, my instinct is that ultimately this will draw us closer together, not further apart.”

The full letter can be found here.

TOKYO 2020 KNOCK-ON EFFECTS – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website recently, written by JASON HENDERSON.
How will moving the Olympics to next year affect athletics? AW’s editor looks at some of the repercussions

Most agree postponing the Tokyo Games to 2021 is the right move. With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the planet, many feel it is the only move and the only surprise is that the IOC did not act sooner.
As drastic as it is, it has happened before. The 1916 Olympics were due to take place in Berlin before being cancelled after World War I broke out. Tokyo, coincidentally, was set to stage the 1940 Olympics, too, before World War II led to firstly Helsinki being awarded those 1940 Games followed by London as host city for a 1944 Games that was eventually held in 1948.
Tokyo right now is hardly alone either when it comes to being cancelled or postponed this spring and summer. The ever-growing athletics casualty list currently includes world championships for indoor athletics (in Nanjing), half-marathon (Gydnia), under-20 athletes (Nairobi) and masters (Toronto), plus London and Boston marathons.
The Tokyo Games is the biggest domino of all, though. So, what are the consequences of the event being delayed by a year?
Scaled down Games
There have been attempts to streamline the Olympics in recent years with fewer costs involved and moving the event to 2021 could help accelerate this trend. Everything from the lavish opening and closing ceremonies through to the number of athletes who are able to take part could be throttled back in size to make it more manageable and cheaper.
Finding a date in the calendar
There has been talk of holding the Olympics next spring although athletes might struggle to find events to qualify. Also, can you imagine the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing and World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst effectively acting as warm-up meetings?
The Commonwealth Games has been held in recent years in Australia in March 2006 and April 2018 but the Olympics is a different proposition entirely.
What about the Worlds?
Oregon is set to stage the World Athletics Championships on August 6-15 next year but looks poised to move to 2022. After this, the next edition of the event is due to be in Budapest in 2023, but shifting Oregon to 2022 will knock the biennial championships out of sync.
The Olympics, too, will be knocked out of its usual four-yearly rhythm. IOC president THOMAS BACH described the situation as “a huge jigsaw puzzle” and this is putting it mildly.
Don’t forget the Commonwealths
If the World Athletics Championships in Oregon are bumped on to 2022 it will potentially clash with the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which is set to take place from July 27 to August 7 that year.
Top athletes could be torn between doing the Commonwealth Games or World Athletics Championships. Not surprisingly, the Birmingham 2022 organisers have already voiced concerns about a possible clash.
One of World Athletics’ priority areas during SEB COE’S presidency is to try to sort out the messy and, at times, illogical fixtures calendar. The global governing body seemed to be getting somewhere lately but the postponement of Tokyo and the huge ripple effects means they have a whole new problem to wrestle with. To add to the problems, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games involve a number of other sports too such as swimming, cycling and gymnastics.
European Champs 2020
Paris is tentatively set to stage the European Athletics Championships from August 26-30. Until a few days ago this looked like being a post-Tokyo bonus event for Olympians and a good target for athletes who did not qualify for the Olympics.
Now, however, it could be the focal point of the athletics summer for many of the world’s leading athletes. This is assuming it goes ahead, of course.
Athletes affected
If the Olympics are only delayed by one year, then maybe it will not be a big deal for many. But what about athletes who might be in the form of their life in 2020 but who lose form next winter, maybe due to injury, and are never the same again? They will be the ‘Olympic medallists who never were’.
Ever heard of HAROLD DAVIS, for example? Nicknamed the California Comet, he equalled JESSE OWEN’S world 100m record in 1941 and was the world’s No.1 sprinter in the 1940s. Yet he did not have a global stage to perform on due to World War II.
Hopefully the class of 2020 will be luckier and the Tokyo Games will “only” be delayed by a year.

OLYMPIC ROAD EVENTS STILL SET FOR SAPPORO – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website recently. IOC confirms competition schedule remains in place for the delayed Games, including holding the marathons and race walks outside of Tokyo

Next year’s Olympic marathon and race walk events are still set to take place in Sapporo, with the 2020 competition schedule due to remain in place for the delayed Games. It was announced in October that the athletics road races would not be held in the host city of Tokyo and would instead be moved 800km north to Sapporo, the host city of the 1972 Winter Olympics, due to heat concerns. At the time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the move would mean “significantly lower temperatures for the athletes”. During a media teleconference held on Thursday, IOC sports director Kit McConnell confirmed that the intention was still to hold the marathon and race walk events outside of Tokyo as originally planned.

The postponed Tokyo 2020 Games will take place a year later than the original dates, with the Olympics set for July 23 to August 8 and the Paralympics now due to be held from August 24 to September 5 in 2021. Olympic athletics action, which had been planned for July 31 to August 9 in 2020, now looks set to take place from July 30 to August 8 in 2021, with the road events likely to still be held on the final four days. “We have really got a fantastic base for the Games planning that obviously was developed around the Games taking place in Tokyo this summer, but remains valid and in place for the Games moving into next summer, in 2021,” said MCCONNELL. “The session schedule and competition schedule across the Games remains in place. Obviously, there may have to ultimately be some adaptations to that, as we work through all of the necessary adjustments. But the competition schedule remains in place and that includes Sapporo.”

He added: “At the moment, the schedule for Sapporo remains the same, including the events to take place there, and the competition schedule.” The Sapporo marathon course published in December (pictured, top) features one loop of roughly half-marathon length and a second smaller loop of approximately 10km that will be run twice. The race walk courses feature 1km and 2km loops for the 20km and 50km distances respectively, along Sapporo Ekimae-dori Avenue. More on the road event courses can be found here.

PARKRUN 5K RESULTS – Currently Suspended

FACEBOOK – Photographs can be found on the SBH page.

ALLIANZ PARK – Main Switchboard telephone number is 0203 675 7250.

CHARGES FOR USING ALLIANZ PARK – Currently the stadium is closed for athletics until the 31 May.

ALAN

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 2 April 2020

Posted on 01/04/202008/03/2022 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday this week to Dominic Bannister, Douglas Curwen-Reed, Richard Goodman, Jade Lally, Alfredo Melao, Patrick Pearce, Luisa Rojas, Paul Simons, Claire Spurway and Amelia Wills

BAD NEWS – NEVILLE THOMPSON diagnosed with Coronavirus, GOOD NEWS – He’s now out of hospital on his 65th birthday.
As most of you know, NEVILLE is our senior throws coach based at Allianz Park. A former GB Discus International and our top points scorer in the BAL. He’s had 48 years of uninterrupted Club membership. He reported in unwell on Wednesday 11 March and said he was unable to cover his Thursday night session. He told us not to worry and that he would be back the next week. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as during the following 10 days his condition deteriorated substantially to the point where he was showing virtually all the symptoms of Covid-19.
He eventually managed to get a home visit on Sunday 22 March from 2 Paramedics who instantly arranged an appointment for Neville to attend a local hospital at 20.30 that evening. He was taken to hospital by his youngest son, Dominic, where he was tested and was told that he had Covid-19. He spent the next 6 days in intensive care using a constant oxygen supply. He was in a ward of 6 fellow Covid-19 patients with various levels of the disease. NEVILLE said the staff were very good but were worked off their feet.
By Saturday 28 March, he had improved and was able to breathe without the use of the oxygen supply. The pressure on IC beds was such that he was taken home and now faces 14 days of self-isolation.

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT, UPDATED 24 MARCH– The following is a joint statement by SBH and Saracens SBH Coronavirus Statement 24.03.20 Rev A

CURRENT UPDATE ON UPCOMING FIXTURES – The following fixtures have now been Cancelled
National Road Relays due to take place on Saturday 4 April
London Inter Club Challenge due to take place on Saturday 18 April
Middlesex Young Athletes League due to take place on Saturday 18 April and Saturday 23 May
UK Youth Development League due to take place on Sunday 19 April, Sunday 24 May, Sunday 21 June, Sunday 26 July and Sunday 6 September
National Athletic League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and 14 June
Eastern Young Athletics League due to take place on Sunday 3 May and Sunday 31 May
Veterans League due to take place on Monday 4 May
BUCS due to take place on Friday 8 May to Sunday 10 May
Hertfordshire County Championships due to take place on Saturday 9 May and Sunday 10 May
Loughborough International due to take place on Sunday 17 May
Middlesex County Championships due to take place on Saturday 30 May and Sunday 31 May
World U20 Championships due to take place from Tuesday 7 July to Sunday 12 July
English Schools Championships due to take place on Friday 10 July and Saturday 11 July
European U18 Championships due to take place from Thursday 16 July to Sunday 19 July
Olympic Games due to take place from Friday 31 July to Sunday 9 August

Virgin London Marathon and Mini Marathon due to take place on Sunday 26 April has been Postponed, and is rescheduled to take place on Sunday 4 October

THE FOLLOWING SBH DOCUMENTS/INFORMATION CAN EITHER BE VIEWED, DOWNLOADED OR PRINTED
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Front Sheet – Summer 2020 Fixture Card Front Sheet Final Issue 12-02-20
SBH 2020 Summer Fixture Card Fixtures, Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures – Summer 2020 Fixture Card – Updated 17-03-20 Showing Cancelled & Postponed Fixtures
Track and Field Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/track-field/team-managers/
Road Running Team Managers Details – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/road-running/team-managers/

CONGRATULATIONS – To TONY and JEAN SMITH who have just celebrated their 65th Wedding Anniversary on the 19 March. I believe we should award JEAN the SBH long service award, for putting up with him.

UK CROSS COUNTRY RANKINGS 2019-2020 – These were published in Athletics Weekly recently.
The Under 20 Rankings include 3 SBH athletes CHARLIE HICKS, HENRY MCLUCKIE and JEREMY DEMPSEY – CHARLIE has recently joined us and is currently studying at Stanford University in the USA, last month he ran (8:08.81) indoors in the 3000m, ranking him UK No.1 U20 in 2020.
Athletes who achieved the following were considered for the rankings – Top 12 National, Liverpool, CAU Inter Counties – Top 10 ESSA, Stirling, Cardiff – Top 6 North, Milton Keynes – Top 5 South – Top 3 Midlands, Scottish.
Under 20 Men – 4th CHARLIE HICKS 2 Liv 25.31, 5 EC 19.05, 9th HENRY MCLUCKIE 3 CAU 31.51, 3 Santi 24.01, 15 ESSB 21.38, 15 Card 20.47, ECR 9.11, 2 Hants 13.38, 19th JEREMY DEMPSEY 4 Nat 37.02, 56 BUCS 34.55, 3 RAF v EC 31.46, ECR 9.01, 4 Met L 24.37.

UK INDOOR RANKINGS 2020 – These were published in Athletics Weekly recently. They identified the top 6 performances in the World, and the top 3 British athletes.
Senior Men – High Jump 3rd DAVID SMITH (2.24m), Long Jump 2nd DAN BRAMBLE (7.81m), Shot Put 1st SCOTT LINCOLN (19.85m)
Senior Women – 800m 5th ELLIE BAKER (2:03.31)

MANY THANKS TO – SIMON KEENE, ROSALIND ZEFFERTT and TOM MCNAB for their contribution to this week’s Newsletter.

THIS IS THE FIRST IN THE SERIES OF ARTICLES, LOOKING BACK AT VARIOUS CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS.
SIMON KEENE – You are all aware that SIMON is currently our Cross Country Under 20 and Senior Women, Senior Men and Road Relay Under 20 and Senior Women Team Manager. But many of you will not be aware that he started his first team manager’s role with the Senior Men in 1990/91, adding the Senior Women in 1995/96.
During these periods SIMON was working for British Telecom, initially preparing bids for Global contracts, then being a cost transformation expert with a Global remit, that’s reducing costs, and in his final years before retiring, being a Senior Business Director for a major Swiss customer. He spent most weeks working ‘somewhere in Europe’, often three countries per week. As a result a lot of time was spent organising teams on the phone in the evenings. This all stopped when his boss went mad as his mobile bill was £6k one year. Since then he has used email!

THAT 5 YEAR PERIOD – There are many outstanding chapters in the past history of the Club, but I have chosen the period when the Club closed out the 20th Century and started the 21st Century in style. The following covers the period between 1998 to 2002 when our Senior Women’s squad were arguably the dominant team over the Cross Country and Road Relay disciplines, also during this period our Young Athletes and Senior Men were also successful and their results and details will be published at a later date.
In those years’ the Senior Women’s team won the following titles;
Cross Country Championships – Southern 1999, 2000 & 2001 – National 1998, 1999, 2000 & 2002 also 3rd in 2001 – National Relays1998 Spring & Autumn, 2000 & 2001.
Road Relay Championships – Southern 4 Stage 1998, 1999 & 2000 – Southern 6 Stage 2000, 2001 & 2002 – National 4 Stage 1999 & 3rd in 2000 – National 6 Stage 2000 & 2nd in 2002 also 3rd in 2001.
When champions SBH represented England in the European Club Cross Country Championships, the best result being a 4th at Lanciano Italy in 1999, with Lucy Elliott 5th, Caroline Walsh 20th, Lisa Hollick 28th, Emma Brooker 44th and Hazel Sutherland 52nd. The squad had many outstanding athletes, also our U20s were stepping up and became integral members of the squad.

Another major part of our success was that many of our athletes were coached by many of our own club members. Which were as follows;
BRYAN SMITH, our only Nationally acclaimed Coach at the time, coached the vast majority of the athletes, so much of the success is attributable to him. Many athletes joined the Club as they wanted him to coach them, which further strengthened the squad. It’s easier to say who Bryan didn’t coach.
SIMON, despite work commitments, still managed to remotely coach LUCY ELLIOTT & ANGELA JOINER, and advise CHRISTINE RADON out of term time, as she was studying in Birmingham, ironically sharing a house with HUGH RICHARDS daughter. LUCY ran in the 1997 World X/C Championships finishing 18th, and in 2002 finishing 35th. She finished 2nd in the 1998 National X/C Championships. She also won the Inter Counties twice. ANGELA ran in the 1998 World X/C Championships in Morocco finishing 59th with the GB team taking the Bronze Medals, and the 10000m in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in which she finished 8th. She was also 40th in the World Half Marathon Championships in 1997.
GEORGE HARRISON coached EMMA MURRAY, and in 2014 was awarded the MBE for services to athletics, and in recent years has coached KYLE LANGFORD, and currently coaches LIZZIE BIRD who is the current SBH 3000m Steeplechase Club Record holder.
RAY TUCKER coached KATE ARMSTONG and LEE AVERY, as well as competing. Around this time, I was the Veterans Team Manager, and RAY along with his training partner TREFOR MORGAN were ever present in most competitions. In recent years’ RAY, has been unwell, but I am led to believe he has taken up cycling, which has helped him.
SALLY-ANN COX joined us in 2002 from one of the most successful clubs of the 1990’s, Parkside of Harrow. Parkside was formed by Shaftesbury stalwart BOB PARKER and, along with his wife SYLVIA, had produced a women’s team that had dominated the 1990’s over the Country. BOB during this period was coaching no less than 5 GB and 1 American Internationals.
JOHN SHERBAN coached HAZEL SUTHERLAND who was one of Shaftesbury’s most talented road runner, and is remembered mainly for his outstanding leg in the 1993 National 12 Stage Road Relay. With the situation not looking too good, JOHN took over on Leg 11 (5 Miles 706 Yards) in 5th place some 91 seconds behind. The majority of us were watching at Keepers Pool which is approximately 1 mile from the handover, and it had filtered through that John had moved into 3rd place going out on the 2 mile out and back loop, after what seemed an eternity the silence was broken with shouts of come on JOHN, he passed by us leading by some 15 seconds, and handed over to STEVE GOSS a 46 second lead. He eventually crossed the finishing line with a 36 second margin.
SIMON retired from being Women’s team manager following the National 2002 6 Stage Road Relays. Little did he know that it would be coming back to him in the 2006/7 season!

This is the link which shows the full Senior Women SBH results for the 1998 to 2002 Cross Country and Road Relays. In those years the team competed in 26 Southern or National Championships, of those they won 14 Championships, were 2nd in 5 and 3rd in 5 others. Of those LUCY ELIOTT competed in 16 of the 26 Championships, amazing – 04A Senior Women Southern & National Championships 1998 to 2002

ROSALIND ZEFFERTT – ROSALIND lives in Mill Hill, and joined Shaftesbury in 2014. Her son BENJY joined SBH in 2015 in an officiating capacity and his elder brother SIMON is a former member. ROSALIND is an active athlete as well as the Club’s Officials Co-Ordinator working alongside GERALD ALTERMAN and she currently holds V50 & V55 Club Records inc the V55 60m Indoors (9.52) and Long Jump Outdoors (3.90m). Just over 12 months age she started traing for the Pole Vault, and in January this year cleared (2.17m) ranking her UK No.1 V55.

COLIN GODFREY TRAINING STRATEGY DURING THE COVID-19 PERIOD – Many thanks to ROSALIND for writing this article, which was also published in the Jewish Chronicle recently.

Just days after the cancellation of the 2020 London Marathon, England Athletics announced the inevitable: all athletics training sessions and competitions were to be suspended. But Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers coach Colin Godfrey has devised innovative ways to keep his athletes positive and motivated during the enforced break – and without any let up. “If they think that having to stay away from the club means they’ll get out of training, they’ve got another thing coming,” he said. “I tell them it’ll be hard but that they’ll love me for it!”
COLIN normally coaches his 20-strong middle distance and endurance group—which includes Jewish athletes SAMUEL and DANIEL GREENSTEIN, BINY BLOOM, DOVI LEVIN, RACHEL and JORDAN PEARLMAN, SOPHIA and LUISA STAAB — every Tuesday and Thursday evening at Shaftesbury’s North London stadium, with a park session on Sundays. The age range is 11 to 18 and the group is split into junior and senior sections. When group training had to end, he acted quickly to ensure that training would continue seamlessly, just in a different format.
“I’ve set up various WhatsApp groups so that everyone can still train both outdoors and indoors, always in accordance with the government guidelines,” said COLIN, himself a former middle distance runner who in his early teens won an 800m silver medal at the Maccabiah Games. “I’ve been very clear about social distancing and I’ve told them that if they or their immediate family have symptoms, they must stay at home. But being outside is essential for health and wellbeing so I encourage them to do that if they possibly can.”
The training sessions are hard work but are also designed to be fun, competitive and interactive. “I run weekly running sessions and ask everyone for their feedback,” said COLIN. “For one of those sessions they have to go all out and then they give me their times. We also do Q&A once a week.”
In addition to the running WhatsApp group there is one for circuit training. “The kids do circuits every day, plus a challenge which I change every week,” explained COLIN. “A challenge might be doing press ups as fast and as hard as they can for 30 seconds, recovery for one minute, then another 30 seconds of press ups.”
COLIN knows that options for training at home will vary, so he provides individual guidance for each athlete. “For the general circuits, I know people often don’t have weights they can use, so instead they can do front lunges holding two bags of sugar, for example. If they’ve got a garden they can do bounding and inside or outside they can do on/off step hops. They can do press-up dips off the back of a chair or a settee. I find out what they’ve got at home and make a tailored circuit for them. Whatever their situation, I make it competitive. It’s a way to keep the kids invigorated and for them to interact with each other and with me.”
COLIN’S advice and support for his group is as much about mental positivity as it is about physical fitness. “I do everything I can to get them to put what’s happening into perspective,” he said. “They’re highly unlikely to be affected by coronavirus. For them, this is just a blip. For others, it’s their livelihoods and it could be their lives. At a less serious level, I also remind them that most athletes in their career will have an injury that lasts a whole season, whereas at least they can keep training.”
One issue uppermost in the minds of many of COLIN’S senior athletes is exams. “There’s a lot of talk right now about what’s going to happen with GCSEs and A Levels. It can be the first time the kids are confronted with something like this,” said COLIN. “There’ll be some winners and there’ll be some losers and that is the reality. But through athletics, they learn how to manage disappointment. They go to a race and maybe they don’t win or they don’t get a PB. So, they learn how to put that right—how to make it better. That’s what they can do with exam results. The stories that inspire the most are the ones where people have got themselves through a tough period.”
Ultimately, COLIN is confident in his athletes’ ability to cope. “I understand why parents are worried, but children contextualise things differently,” he said. “They’re very resilient. Even if we have to go into lockdown, I will help them and we will come through this. It’s a defining moment for them and the only thing they can do is to train hard, because that will give them some release during what is a very difficult time. It’s the same for all of us—we have no alternative but to keep going. That’s the reality of it.”

TOM MCNAB – TOM has sent me a variety of articles and the first one titled ‘1906 Intercalated Olympics Games’ follows. TOM, a physical educationist, was National Athletics Coach from 1963 to 1978. His 5 Star Award Scheme reached 60 million children.
In 1981, he was Technical Director of the Oscar winning film, “Chariots of Fire” and a year later his first novel “Flanagan’s Run” reached number one in the best-seller lists.
During his long athletics career he has coached many of the UK’s top-class athletes such as GREG RUTHERFORD (GB Long Jump Record Holder) and SBH’s own CLAIRE SPURWAY (W35 2018 European Indoor Champion at 60m and 200m and W40 2019 World Indoor Champion at 60m), he has never lost his passion for teaching children and until recently was putting his ideas into action weekly at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre.
Tom lives in St Albans and is often seen at Allianz Park still coaching a range of athletes.

1906 THE INTERCALATED OLYMPIC GAMES – Many thanks to TOM for writing this article.
The Games Logo and Photographs were published on Wikipedia. The 3 images are 1 the Olympic Emblem, 2 the Panathinaiko Stadium and 3 the finish of the Marathon. The Games took place from 22 April to 2 May and was opened by King George 1st. There were 20 countries that participated, with 854 athletes of which 6 were Women. There were 12 sports and the Athletics featured 21 events, The Unites States topped the table with 21 medals and Great Britain were second with 8 medals. Some of winning results included 100m (11.2), 5 Mile Henry Hawtrey of GB (26:11.8), Marathon (2:51, 23.6), High Jump (1.775m), Shot (12.325m) and Discus (41.460m World Record).

There is ample precedent for the holding of the Summer Olympics outside the four year cycle. It occurred in 1906, the Intercalated Games.
Even as Baron Pierre de Coubertin was departing the stadium at the close of the 1896 Olympics, he was advised by the king of Greece that all future Olympics should be held in Athens. The story is that de Coubertin pretended that he had not heard what the king had said, and he set about preparing for the Paris Games of 1900.
But the Greeks were remorseless. And two dismal Olympics in Paris and St. Louis provided them with the momentum to propose to hold another Athens Games in 1906.
De Coubertin was helpless. The IOC did not own the Olympic Games, and indeed he had attended neither of the 1900 and 1904 celebrations. So the 1906 festival went ahead, in the same 1896 Averoff stadium, with its long straights and tight curves, where athletes ran clockwise round the soft cinder track.
This being said, in the Intercalated Games, featuring twenty nations, there was no longer any need to trawl the ships in Piraeus Harbour to seek competitors to fill lanes, and standards were much higher. For the first time athletes were registered by nation, there was an Athletes Village, and an opening march-past. And to conclude, there was an impressive closing ceremony, attended by six thousand Greek children. It looked as if Athens, for all its limitations, might well be the future home of the Games.

But the future of the Olympic Games was instead to lie in the capable hands of the man who had carried the Union Jack at the head of the British team, the fencer, Lord Grenfell Desborough. The next Olympics were scheduled for Rome, but the eruption of Vesuvius and its consequences caused Italy to withdraw. Desborough, based in his yacht the Branwen in Piraeus harbor, saw his chance and took it. He offered London to de Coubertin London as the venue for the 1908 Olympics, and the Baron gratefully accepted.
What the Baron could not possibly know was that Desborough’s presence at the Intercalated Games was to result in the transformation of the Olympic movement.
The three prior official Games and their Intercalated version had in no way represented an accurate expression of international sport. Desborough was absolutely determined that London would display the world of sport at its very best. He therefore went about badgering his aristocratic Masonic buddies for contributions, and even managed to get the Franco-British Exhibition to delay its London opening till 1908. And our MPs pitched in, to the tune of £30.
This resulted in the White City Stadium, capable of holding sixty thousand spectators. Why White City? Because the eccentric Hungarian architect Imre Kiralfi had insisted that every building in his Exhibition was white. Thankfully, this dictum was not applied to the Olympic stadium just down the road. This featured a three laps to the mile track, a 600 metre cycle track and a 100 metre swimming pool, but it was nevertheless called White City.
The 1908 Olympics was memorable, not simply because it lasted for 187 days, but because of the quality of the competition, and the intense sporting environment within which it was expressed. And because of incidents which would remain forever in the memory. Such as the little Italian marathon-runner Dorando Pietri, staggering into the boiling stadium in the lead, falling four times, and being carried by officials through the tape. The race had been scheduled for 26 miles, but another 385 yards had somehow appeared, and it was those few extra yards that finished poor Pietri, who was disqualified.
The drama of that race ensured that the 26 miles 385 yard distance would forever remain the official marathon-distance. But the 1908 Olympic Report has the distance as twenty six miles, so the mystery of the extra three hundred and eighty five yards remains. It is said that the race-start at Windsor Great Park, was moved back by this distance to enable the Royal children to witness the start, but the true explanation may well be more mundane. It is that officials had simply measured the twenty six miles to the stadium entry-gate, and the extra 385 yards took the athletes round the track to finish at the Royal Box. We will never really know.
The 1908 London Olympics were dramatic in a host of other ways, but unique in featuring a final in which there was only one runner, the Scot Lieut. William Halswelle. This was in the 400 metres, with no lanes, and Halswelle faced three Americans. One of them, Carpenter, was deemed to have blocked him in the home straight, and the race was declared void . The Americans refused a re-run, and Halswelle went on to clock fifty seconds , on his own.

The counterfactual. Without the Intercalated Games, the Vesuvius eruption and Lord Desborough, there would have been no 1908 London Olympics, and the Olympic movement might well have foundered. We will never know. As it was, the London Olympics, a chance product of the Intercalated Games, created the model for all future Olympic Games.

IMPROVISATION IS THE WAY FORWARD – With athletics confined to their homes around the world in a coronavirus lockdown, one French runner managed to run a full Marathon back and forth on his balcony despite it being only seven metres long.
ELISHA NOCHOMOVITZ wanted to show it’s possible to stay fit as the coronavirus containment measures kicked in and he also wanted to lighten the mood.
The 26.2 miles effort took him six hours and 48 minutes despite feeling nauseous and being worried about the stamping noise he was making above his neighbours rooms.

PARKRUN 5K RESULTS – Currently Suspended

FACEBOOK – Photographs can be found on the SBH page.

ALLIANZ PARK – Main Switchboard telephone number is 0203 675 7250.

CHARGES FOR USING ALLIANZ PARK – Currently the stadium is closed for athletics until the 31 May.

ALAN