Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 24 September 2020

Posted on 24/09/202004/03/2022 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday from this Thursday 24 September to Julian Adeniran, Graeme Allan, Margaret Beacham, Caia Casciello, Jonathan Cohen, Philippa Davenall, Tayla Freedham, Ben Harper, Colette Hurley, Alex Lytrides, Abigail McLeod, Jordan Mentore, Emmanuel Mintah, Max Nissim, Joy Ogunleye, Julian Priest, Lottie Rachel, Lea Reyna-Faria, Or Segal, Robert Shipley, Kevin Walden, Josef Wetton, Sarah Williams and Aron Yuvuz

RECENT NEW MEMBERS – We wish you a very warm welcome, and a happy, healthy and successful time with Shaftesbury to LUCA BARRICELLA, SEYD TAHA GHAFARI, KENNY ROBERTS and KAZUMASA SAITO

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS 130TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020 – Is to be held on Tuesday 24 November at 7.30pm. Due to the need for social distancing and the current government restrictions, it is intended to hold the meeting via ‘Zoom’. The AGM notice and full details including Agenda will be issued shortly.

This year’s Track & Field Best Performance Awards have been cancelled. The 2019-2020 Cross Country Points and Club Championships Winners Awards will be presented to the winners by our various Coaches.

THE FIELD IN AUTUMN MEETING – Took place at Bournemouth on 20 September
Discus 2kg – SM A NICK PERCY 1st (SB 63.02m) adding 98cm to his 22 August throw, and is ranked UK No.2 in 2020, D NICK finished 1st (62.73m)

SOUTHAMPTON THROWS MEETING – Took place at Southampton on 20 September
Discus 2kg – SM NICK PERCY 1st (61.83m)

MIDLAND OPEN MEETING – Took place at Nuneaton on 20 September
400m Hurdles – SW HAYLEY MCLEAN 1st (58.96)

TWINSON ENERGIE FLEX MEETING – Took place at Barendrecht, Netherlands on 20 September
400m – SM JOVAN ZIGIC 5th (PB 54.37)

GOUDEN SPIKE MEETING – Took place at Leden, Netherlands on 19 September
800m – SM 2 JOVAN ZIGIC 10th (1:57.17)

POWER RUN EXETER 5K/10K – Took place at Haldon on 19 September
5K – NATHAN GODDARD U20 8th (SB 16.34)

MONUMENT MILE CLASSIC OPEN MEETING – Took place at Stirling on 18 September
Mile – SM MARK PEARCE 3rd (PB 4:02.85) and is ranked UK No.8 in 2020

DASH SERIES OPEN MEETING – Took place at Bromley on 18 September
400m Hurdles – SW HAYLEY MCLEAN 1st (57.86)

HARROW NIGHT 100M, SHOT AND JAVELIN MEETING – Took place at Harrow on 17 September
100m – SX 1.9 KEELAN FARRELL U17 3rd (PB 11.43 w2.9), 1.10 NENGI OSSAI V45 4th (11.25 w2.9), 1.11 DITA JAJA U23 4th (11.05 w2.2), 2.9 KEELAN finished 4th (11.69 w1.1), 2.10 NENGI finished 4th (11.26 w3.3), 2.11 DITA finished 4th (SB 11.02 w3.4) taking .03 of a second off his 1.11 time

BMC GOLD STANDARD RACES – Took place at Stretford on 15 September
800m – Men’s B FINN HARVEY U20 2nd (PB 1:53.5) taking .40 of a second off his 6 September time
3000m – Men’s B TOM BUTLER U23 5th (8:29.41)

NIGHT OF THE FIFTEEN 1500M MEETING – Took place at Battersea Park on 15 September
1500m – SX 11 MITCHEL COX U23 3rd (PB 3:56.00) taking 12.32 seconds off his 2018 time, 14 HENRY MCLUCKIE U20 3rd (PB 3:42.16) taking 13.31 seconds off his 2018 time, and is ranked UK No.2 U20 in 2020, 15 ELLIE BAKER U23 5th (PB 4:15.08) taking .53 of a second off her 2019 time, and is ranked UK No.4 U23 in 2020

BLACKHEATH AND BROMLEY OPEN MEETING – Took place at Bromley on 14 September
200m – SX 1 NENGI OSSAI V45 5th (23.09 w0.0), 8 KACEY WALTERS U17 2nd (PB 27.96 w-0.4) taking .70 of a second off her 2019 time
Discus 1.5kg – U17M GABRIEL LAMB U17 2nd (PB 47.37m)

THE BEAMON JUMP – Written by TOM MCNAB.

Mexico City,1968. It is morning and I am perched high in the windy stands, as the qualifying rounds of the Olympic long jump begin. BOB BEAMON storms in for his first jump but is about forty centimetres beyond the board. In his second attempt he hits the board, but it is a massive foul. Olympic oblivion beckons. BOB enters into conference with RALPH BOSTON who almost certainly advises him to put his approach run about half a metre back, and the qualifying-distance of (7.50m) will be his. BEAMON again storms in and takes off about sixty centimetres from the front of the board, and I reckon that his take-off to landing distance must be around (8.60m), well beyond the world record. But I would be a liar if I were to say that I predicted what would occur a day later. By then the wind had changed, and the final took place at the other end of the stadium, and I sat with a pack of coaches and athletes directly above the pit. On his first jump BEAMON surged in, smacked a full twenty centimetres of board and soared, landing well beyond the end of the measuring device, tumbling forward into the end of the pit. The little Mexican official sitting at the take-off board clutching red and white flags little realised that in a moment she would become a part of athletics history. She looked down at the board for what seemed to be an eternity. Then she slowly raised the white flag. But the operator of the measuring device could not locate BEAMON’S mark, simply because he had landed well beyond it. Chaos. Then IAAF chairman ADRIAN PAULEN suddenly appeared and promptly took charge, immediately summoned a steel tape, and the jump was measured. Then the figures (8.90m) suddenly appeared on the score-board, and were rapidly converted by an athlete at my side to twenty nine feet two and a half inches. But at the end of the runway the metric distance meant nothing to BOB BEAMON, and when it was converted for him into Imperial measurement, he immediately collapsed.

For me, this was to be the moment of my athletics life. But it is worth observing that BEAMON might easily have gone out beyond nine metres. Because his ten percent of extra flight-time meant that he finished his one and a half hitch kick too early. Thus he rotated forward, landing with a poor, bent knee leg-shoot. And that single jump convinced me of the essential simplicity of long jump. Which is a fast accurate run, hitting plenty of board in a good position and exploding hard out of it. That was consequently what, over thirty years later, I was to teach a 16-year-old footballer called GREG RUTHERFORD.

LONDON PLANNING MEETING – Is taking place on Thursday 24 September at 6.30pm via “Zoom”.
The Council over the last month has been in correspondence with the SCAA along with the Surrey and Metropolitan XC Leagues in regards to XC and road running. It was thought that our meeting would give the perfect opportunity for those representatives to discuss their concerns directly with EA. We have invited MARTIN RUSH and ED HUNT to join the meeting along with MALCOLM DAVIES (Surrey League) MAJOR CARR and JANICE BOWMAN (Metropolitan League) and DAVID CLARKE (SCAA). In attendance will also be CHRIS JONES and CHRIS MALLENDER EA CSM for London.
Please see attached the updated EA Cross Country Competition Guidance dated 18 September.
There is a video and statement here https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/?p=8926&preview=1&_ppp=cef245d308
Please also see below information on competition moving forward into the Autumn from NICHOLA SKEDGEL, EA Head of Competition
As there is evolving guidance being issued in local locked down areas, we are asking competition providers to contact their local authorities to ascertain restrictions for their specific area in relation to competition. As the approach is not country wide we are asking that those areas in local lockdowns offer only access for parents and guardians of young athletes or vulnerable adults, thus avoiding mass spectator events.
Cross Country guidance was issued on our website and across social media channels.
We are looking to host pilot competitions in October, with licence application opening on the 3 October for a return to restricted licensed competition from the 17 October onwards. EA will be taking the licensing procedure in house and are working with Nicky Kellet to add this functionality as a page on the England Athletics website.
The track and field season has been extended until the 31 October 2020 due to the effects of the pandemic. Applications for licenses is now slowing down, but we have issued just over 140 licenses since August 1st, with over 20,000 athlete’s so far competing in Track and Field competition.
The licensing procedure this year has been online, and the Regional Council has been involved in the process, which has gone very smoothly considering all the challenges that we have been faced with.
Indoor Track and Field
We are currently speaking to competition providers and indoor venues to assess the appetite and possibility of a return to restricted indoor track and field competition. We have begun working on the guidance document and hope that in the next couple of weeks we will be able to update you further. We are keen to get guidance issued to ensure that where there is a possibility of indoor competition, however this may look, the community have a guidance framework to work within to ensure that there is a safe environment for all involved.

MASTERING THE AGEING PROCESS IN ATHLETICS – The following was published on the athletics Weekly website recently.

Top British age-group athletes explain how they are able to maintain good performances and avoid injuries as they get older. As we age our cardiovascular system may witness the stiffening of the blood vessels and arteries, which means the heart has to work harder to pump blood through them. Our bones have a tendency to shrink in size and density and they may be weaker and more susceptible to fracture. We may lose muscle strength, endurance and flexibility in our once dynamic muscles and our metabolic rate may slow down, meaning it’s harder to burn those calories. Those who continue as masters athletes are not immune from the ageing process, but those who remain successful and able to compete to a high standard must know a fair bit about how to adapt to this process. Given this, a group of elite British masters athletes who all either run, jump or throw, join me for a socially distanced round table discussion on mastering the ageing process.

The Notion of Age – DONALD BROWN starts the discussion by pointing out that he entered the sport as a masters competitor in 2006, making an immediate impact as a multi eventer in winning two US national masters championships. He alludes to the fact that there is a big difference between one’s chronological age and one’s biological age. “I’m 57 but I feel 38 years young,” he says only half-jokingly. PAULA WILLIAMS, 48, whose most cherished moment in athletics came when she gained the W45 British record (38.65m) in javelin while taking World Masters bronze in Malaga in 2018, agrees by saying she feels “only 30 something”. What’s sometimes overlooked is the training age of an athlete. This is significant because three of our athletes in the focus group all competed as seriously as seniors and have returned to masters athletics after a significant number of years in the sport. The aforementioned Brown was a senior athlete for 15 years before taking a 10-year break to play volleyball. As the holder of six global masters golds, endurance-based athlete LOUISE RUDD started track and field as a seven-year-old but she had a nine-year gap after retiring as a senior before her rebirth as a masters athlete. JO WILLOUGHBY represented GB as a senior back in 1989 and points out that as a 56-year-old she only returned to the sport six years ago. Williams also never competed seriously as a junior so has in effect a lower training age than the rest of the quartet. he above is significant because all four athletes may be able to go on competing for a number of years given that a break from the sport, while maintaining health and other non-track and field related fitness, may mean their bodies don’t have the wear and tear of other masters athletes.

Foundational and Fundamental Development – Even though WILLOUGHBY competed for GB as a senior athlete she appears to have been a late specialiser in terms of track and field. As well as her youthful engagement in track and the field the 2019 European outdoor long and triple jump W55 champion, reminds the group that, “I used to play a lot of netball, some hockey, cycling and lots of athletics”. She has a commonality with WILLIAMS who says that, “I’ve played netball since I was nine. I was always active with netball, school track and field, rounders and tennis”. Five-time European champion RUDD has always been active in terms of sports of some kind. Post university and looking to get back in shape, for instance she kick-boxed (attaining junior black belt status) in her early 20s. In his younger days, BROWN, who bagged a world indoor masters championships gold over 60m hurdles in 2019, enthuses that, “I played basketball, badminton, squash, handball, football, American football and volleyball”. The above is significant in that it explains their robustness and how early work on the ABCs (Agility, Balance and Co-ordination) at the base of the pyramid of long-term athletic development can pay dividends even half a century or so later.

Training Frequency and Intensity – All four athletes acknowledge that any successful masters athlete has to adapt the frequency and intensity of training. RUDD, the 2015 world masters 800m and 1500m champion, explains: “My easy runs are ‘easier’ than they used to be as I’ve learned to ease back and I think terrain is important. I find running round grass like football pitches to help in terms of an active running recovery rather than pounding the pavements.” With a nod of agreement, WILLOUGHBY, who holds no less than four British records shares that, “I used to train six times a week when I was younger. As a masters athlete I like to give my body chance to recover between sessions. I focus on speed work three times a week, nothing slow. “This is combined with technical jump work and plyometrics. The intensity of my work is still fairly high. I try not to overload on triple jump training as it’s a lot of impact on the joints. I try not to over compete, again to protect my body from overuse.” BROWN, the triple 2019 European masters champion in sprints and hurdles, is keen to distinguish between frequency and intensity, stressing that: “The frequency of my training has not changed. In general I do track three days a week and weights once or twice a week. It is the content of each training session that has changed. “In short, I do quality rather than quantity. This results in shorter sessions focused on specific areas and thereby not overly exhausting my body. Recovery at my young age is not the same as when I was even younger.”

Cross Training – WILLIAMS, who took British W45 javelin gold earlier this year, says: “I love doing other sports as well as track and field. It’s great to mix it up. I’m currently doing tennis weekly.” Tennis has considerable benefits for all three of our energy systems of course. Matches can last several hours which will facilitate aerobic development; baseline rallies can be intense and begin to tap in to the lactate energy system as balls are chased around the court, and anyone who leads towards the serve and volley style who rushes the net will need a well-developed alactic (stop-start) energy system. WILLOUGHBY, who broke the W55 British indoor long jump record with (4.82m), has a different approach, preferring to “just stick to track and field now along with some walking and cycling”.

Passive and Active Recovery – As the holder of two British masters records, RUDD is adamant that, “I force myself to take days off now”. Brown, who has been voted European masters sprints athlete of the year, agrees: “My only recovery is passive. I will rest for a day or two subject to my training and or competing schedule. I wish I had time for active recovery but unfortunately earning a living and other obligations take priority”. WILLIAMS, who lifted the indoors inter-area team challenge trophy as captain of the Midland team last March, is keen to emphasise that at least one passive day of recovery will occur weekly and this will be strictly adhered to following a day of competition. This being said she will deviate from the rigidity of a set training schedule and take more rest if perception tells her to, wisely advising that, “I’m led by my body too”. She works diligently in undertaking regular strength and conditioning sessions, plus mobility and flexibility through pilates. WILLOUGHBY thinks this is sound advice and adds that “I will have one or two rest days in the week and only run on three days. On non-running days I’ll do strength and conditioning. If my body feels tired or muscles have niggles I don’t train”.

Injury Management – BROWN, who credits coaches Joseph Caines and Leon Braithwaite, says: “I am continually managing niggles and periodic injuries. As I grow less younger, I see the changes in my body that need to be accommodated. There are certain exercises that I no longer do such as squats. They impact my knees negatively. Stretching and foam rolling have become part of my daily routine. Drinking plenty of water and managing my diet are key. Regular deep tissue massage has also been instrumental in managing my injuries.” Rudd, who was guided by Dave Turnbull but who is now working with the duo of Eilish McColgan and Michael Rimmer, agrees that injuries are somewhat normalised as a masters athlete, acknowledging that: “I always do some kind of mobility drills, sometimes using hurdles before every run. I see my physio Chris Bramah who oversees my S&C work.” Jo, who is supported by Ian Willoughby, confides that injuries have been an ever present well before she reached masters status. “I had lots, even when I was younger. Mainly injuries like ruptured calf muscles and Achilles tears. At last I have realised there is probably a link between the two, so I now spend a lot more time on maintenance and preventive measures.” Williams, who is now coached by Paul Bearman after being guided by Anthony Humphreys, admits that: “I picked up an injury in 2018. It was a right plantar plate capsule high grade tear. I was really cross but knew I had to adapt my training. “I’m very stubborn but I managed to stay away from long and triple jump – reluctantly. I then changed my footwear and got back into running.”

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). Currently the response has been excellent, but if you have anything that could make it into next week’s Newsletter – please email me.

ENGLAND ATHLETICS/ECCA/AREA LEAGUE CROSS COUNTRY UPDATE – The following was published by England Athletics on 28 August 2020.
England Athletics is pleased to announce that we have begun making steps towards a restricted return to Cross Country competition. On the 27 August 2020 we held a meeting with the Cross Country community, including the ECCA, the areas, and some league organisers to agree on the following proposed timeline for a return to Cross Country Competition:
Mid-September to mid-October – Pilot XC Competitions
5 October – Licence application process opens
17 October – Licensed Cross Country competition can resume
These dates are provisional and will be adapted if necessary, with any additional Government guidance that is issued.
Cross Country competition will be unable to resume in the traditional format, adaptations will have to be made based on the current circumstances regarding the virus. However, England Athletics believe this is an exciting step forward for the Cross-Country community and we are currently working on guidance with the named organisations to support competition providers in providing a safe return to adapted cross country competition.
We are aiming for a version of the guidance to be published for competition organisers on W/C 14 September 2020. It will be the decision of the competition provider whether they will host competitions given the restrictions within the guidance. The 2020/21 XC fixture dates are below. All cross-country dates will remain ring fenced until further notice. Due to the licensing timeline above all have agreed the first league fixture date in October will be cancelled. All licensed competitions will be published on the England Athletics website when licensing opens.

Cross Country fixture lists subject to change and race formats to be confirmed subject to guidance.
10 October League 1 Cancelled, 17 October Area XC Relays tbc, 31 October ECCA XC Relays, 7 November League 2, 28 November UK Cross Challenge & European Trials, 5 December League 3, 13 December European XC, Ireland, 9 January County XC Champs, 6 January League 4, 13 February League 5, 20 February CAU IC XC & World Trials, 6 March ECCA National XC, 13 March League 6, 20 March World XC Champs, Australia, 20 March English Schools XC Champs, 27 March SIAB Schools International.
All fixtures are subject to confirmation by event organisers and subject to government guidance updates.

SOUTHERN ROAD RELAYS CANCELLED – The following was posted on the SEAA website on 8 August. Unfortunately, the SEAA Road Relays scheduled for Sunday 20 September at Crystal Palace have now been cancelled. It was hoped that with the guidelines changing daily it would have been possible to hold a Road Relay event but regretfully this was not possible under the present Government and UKA guidelines. SEAA are still planning to hold Cross Country Championships, starting with the Relays on 17 October, as well as Indoor Track & Field Championships. All dependent of course on the guidelines to be issued by England Athletics shortly.
John Gandee SEAA Competition Chairman

2020/2021 METROPOLITAN LEAGUE UPDATE – The fixtures are as follows 10 October at Hainault, 7 November at Welwyn, 5 December at Alexandra Palace, 16 January at Ruislip, 13 February at Trent Park. We have been advised that the first 3 fixtures have now been Cancelled, and a decision later this year on how the fixtures will be restructured.

2020/2021 NORTH WEST LONDON LEAGUE UPDATE – The fixtures are as follows 28 September at Horsenden Hill, 24 October at Kingsbury and 21 November at Trent Park have been Cancelled. Brian Fowler will advise us later in the year how 2020/2021 fixtures will be restructured.

UPDATE ON PROCEDURES FOR USING ALLIANZ PARK FROM JEREMY SOTHCOTT – Which is now open to SBH members subject to the conditions below.
We have now negotiated the use of some Track & Field facilities with Saracens compliant with current guidance issued by the UK Government and England Athletics.
At the present time, the track & field groups will be limited to a maximum of five ‘Competing Club Athletes’ and one coach for each session e.g. 5 athletes on track and 5 athletes at the throws area.
Throws
Athletes should have their own implements. However, one implement of each weight will be left in the SBH store beside the sanitising equipment. Arrangements will have to be made in advance with TY HOLDEN.
Jumps
Following Government Guidelines up to 5 athletes with a suitably qualified coach can now undertake Jumps training utilising jump beds and sand pits. We have updated our guidance documents, based on information and advice from our partners and government, to include guidance specific to Jumps areas (such as Cleaning requirements before, during and after sessions). Athletes, coaches, clubs and venues must follow the latest guidance – please read our updated guidance documents at: ???? https://bit.ly/2ATiU7R
The indoor track and the clubhouse gymnasium cannot be used.
Athletes invited to train by their coach must be sent the attached Allianz Park Track & Field Agreement in advance of starting training at Allianz Park. The athlete and parent (if under 16) to sign and return to me and TY before they can train. Athletes should meet their coach promptly at their booking time outside the SBH Clubhouse where they will be asked to confirm that they do not have, and that no one in their household has, (or has had within the last 14 days) any of the symptoms of COVID-19.
The athletes will then be escorted using social distancing (2 metres) into the SBH Clubhouse to sign the attendance record with times in and out of the stadium (black A4 folder on photocopier). There is also some hand sanitiser on the table for use. Athletes must follow the instructions of the coach and observe social distancing during warm-up, the session and cool down.
Stadium Booking details
Please let me and TY know the names of the athletes and your preferred time slots for the following week (Monday to Sunday) before 6pm on the Saturday. We will confirm the availability and distribute the schedule to Saracens and to all coaches.
Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
All 1 hour 35 minute slots (Saturday & Sunday – last slot finishes at 7.20)
9.00 – 10.35, 10.45 – 12.20, 12.30 – 2.05, 2.15 – 3.50, 4.00 – 5.35, 5.45 – 7.20, 7.30 – 9.00
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
There are 3 x 1 hour 35 minute slots and 7 x shorter 50 minute slots
9.15 – 10.50, 11.00 – 11.50, 12.00 – 12.50, 1.00 – 1.50, 2.00 – 2.50, 3.00 – 3.50, 4.00 – 4.50, 5.00 – 5.50, 6.00 – 7.25, 7.35 – 9.00
There is a 10 minute gap between each session for transitioning.
If you haven’t got a key fob for gaining access through the clubhouse, then please contact GEOFF MORPHITIS Mobile: 07976 994302 who will arrange to issue one to you. Please do not enter the clubhouse until the coach/athletes from the previous session exit. No parents will be permitted to enter the stadium unless there is a child protection issue i.e. one coach and one athlete aged under 18.
There is a single disabled toilet (unisex) that can be used within the indoor area.
When going in and out of the Clubhouse from the carpark please make sure the door handle is left in the upward locked position at all times.
Link to the SBH Athlete and Coach Track & Field Training Agreement, which will sent to all participating athletes, and then to be returned signed by the athlete and parent – SBH – Allianz Park Track & Field Areement During Lockdown Period
Please let me know if you have any questions – JEREMY SOTHCOTT Mobile: 07764 621424 email jeremy.sothcott@btinternet.com

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

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 08-08-20 – Summer 2020 Fixture Card – Updated 08-08-20 With Current Information
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 – Please contact CLYDE GORDON on 07753 985525/clyde67@hotmail.co.uk for futher information on High Jump and Pole Vault days and times.

STEEPLECHASE TRAINING AT ALLIANZ PARK – Currently Suspended.

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.

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 open for limited use.

ALAN WELLER

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 17 September 2020

Posted on 17/09/202004/03/2022 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday from this Thursday 17 September to Abbas Adejonwo, Isabella Brunskill, Zane Duquemin, Kiera-Leigh Fender, Clifford Golding, Mia Groom, Daisy Harvey-Dew, Olive Harvey-Dew, Neelan Kaderbhoy, Bob Mallows, Marilyn Okoro, Euan Phillips, Nicholas Savva, Johnson Ugunniyi, Dave Weightman and Ben Wills

RECENT NEW MEMBER – We wish you a very warm welcome, and a happy, healthy and successful time with Shaftesbury to CATHERINE HIGGINS

HUNTINGDONSHIRE INTRA-CLUB SERIES – Took place at St Ives on 14-15 September
300m – SX 3 SOPHIE FORBES-LAIRD U17 3rd (PB 41.7) taking .21 of a second off her 22 August time

ISTAF BERLIN FESTIVAL – Took place at Berlin on 13 September
100m – SM OJIE EDOBURUN 6th (10.60 w0.4)
3000m Steeplechase – SW LIZZIE BIRD 3rd (SB 9:55.21) and is ranked UK No.3 in 2020

SOUTH OF ENGLAND ACADEMY THROWS FESTIVAL – Took place at Portsmouth on 13 September
Discus 2kg – SM D NICK PERCY 1st (60.22m)

BIGISH HIGH JUMP MINI SERIES – Took place at Chelmsford on13 September
High Jump – SM KIMANI JACK U17 3rd (PB 1.99m) adding 4cm to his 2019 height, and is ranked UK No.2 U17 in 2020, BEN BELLISARIO U20 5th Equal (PB 1.94m) adding 4cm to his 2019 height, SX A OR SEGAL U17 1st (PB 1.85m) adding 4cm to his 15 March height

COLCHESTER HARRIERS THROWS DEVELOPMENT MEETING – Took place at Colchester on 13 September
WT 11.34kg – SM OLIVER GRAHAM U20 1st (PB 19.54m) adding 1.03m to his 2018 throw
Hammer 5kg – SW PHILIPPA DAVENALL U23 1st (PB 56.02m) adding 4.73m to her 23 August throw
Hammer 6kg – SM OLIVER GRAHAM U20 1st (PB 65.89m) adding 1.79m to his 16 August throw, and is ranked UK No.2 U20 in 2020
Hammer 7.26kg – SM OLIVER GRAHAM U20 1st (PB 57.94m) adding 2.15m to his 23 August throw

MILTON KEYNES JUMPS AND THROWS MEETING – Took place at Milton Keynes on 13 September
Shot 5kg – SM A JAMES ISAACS U17 1st (PB 15.52m) adding 80cm to his 1 August put, and is ranked UK No.3 U17 in 2020, GABRIEL LAMB U17 3rd (PB 11.20m) adding 7cm to his 11 July put
Discus 1kg – SX A KATIE WEBB U17 2nd (33.98m), B CLAUDIA KERRY-ROGER U17 (2nd Claim) 1st (37.94m)
Discus 1.5kg – U17M A GABRIEL LAMB U17 1st (PB 44.78m) adding 53cm to his 30 August throw, and is ranked UK No.5 U17 in 2020

WINDSOR, SLOUGH, ETON AND HOUNSLOW MIDDLES DISTANCE MEETING – Took place at Eton on 13 September
1500m Steeplechase – SW AMELIA WILLS U20 (2nd Claim) 4th (SB 5:28.25) and is ranked UK No.1 U20 in 2020

BFTTA OPEN MEETING – Took place at Dagenham on 12 September
100m – U13G 2 JESSICA GIBBS U13 1st (PB 13.41 w3.5) taking .53 of a second off her 23 August time, 3 SIENNA CORBYN U13 3rd (PB 13.55 w4.1) taking .21 of a second off her 23 August time
100m – U15B 3 ZICO JONES U15 6th (11.77 w1.6), 4 MALACHI AMADI U15 1st (PB 11.14 w2.9) taking .03 of a second off his 23 August time
200m – U13G 1 JESSICA GIBBS U13 1st (27.81 w3.2), SIENNA CORBYN U13 2nd (PB 28.25 w3.2) taking 1.82 seconds off her 2019 time
200m – U15B 1 JAYDEN KLEIN U15 4th (PB 26.02 w1.7) taking .72 of a second off his 14 March time, 2 MALACHI AMADI U15 1st (PB 22.50 w4.0) taking .17 of a second off his 23 February time
200m – SM 2 MORGAN WEBSTER U23 1st (PB 22.17 w1.3) taking .03 of a second off his 8 September time
300m – U15B ZICO JONES U15 1st (PB 37.48) taking .02 of a second off his 23 February time, and is ranked UK No.5 U15 in 2020
300m – U15G OLIVE HARVEY-DEW U15 3rd (47.82)
300m – U17W 2 MANON BAINES U17 6th (43.21)
400m – SX 2 COLUMBA BLANGO T20/F20 1st (49.69)
800m – U13B ARTHUR PHILLIPS U13 1st (PB 2:30.85) taking 10.75 seconds off his 2019 time
800m – U13G 2 PHOEBE MUSIC U13 6th (SB 2:51.68)
800m – U15B 1 DANIEL BANYARD U15 2nd (PB 2:22.71)

ETC SEPTEMBER INVITATIONAL THROWS MEETING – Took place at Moulton on 12 September
Shot 3kg – U17W A CLAUDIA KERRY-ROGER U17 (2nd Claim) 5th (PB 10.44m) adding 59m to her 2018 put
Discus 1kg – SW A CLAUDIA KERRY-ROGER U17 (2nd Claim) 1st (PB 39.46m) adding 4.54m to her 30 August throw, and is ranked UK No.5 U17 in 2020, BJADE LALLY2nd (56.70m)
Discus 2kg – SM B NICK PERCY 1st (61.88m)

4J STUDIOS OPEN MEETING – Took place at Meadowmill on 12 September
200m – SX A1 KRISHAWN AIKEN 1st (22.35 w1.9)

NORFOLK OPEN MEETING – Took place at Norwich on12 September
Hammer 4kg – SX LUCY KOENIGSBERGER U20 3rd (SB 41.32m)

SOUTH LONDON HARRIERS OPEN MEETING – Took place at Coulsdon on 12 September
800m – SX 9 ELLIE BAKER U23 5th (2:03.93)

DASH SERIES – Took place at Bromley on11 September
High Jump – SW KACEY WALTERS U17 2nd (1.62m)

POZNAN ATHLETICS GRAND PRIX – Took place at Poznan, Poland on 11 September
400m Hurdles – SW LINA NIELSEN 3rd (57.30)

PTS MEETING – Took place at Samorin, Slovakia on 11 September
400m Hurdles – SW HAYLEY MCLEAN 4th (57.67)

JERSEY SUMMER THROWS SERIES – Took place at St Clement on 10 September.
Discus 1.75kg – EVAN CAMPBELL U20 1st (PB 43.27m) adding 67cm to his 10 March put, and is ranked UK No.10 U20 in 2020
Discus 2kg – NATHAN THOMAS U23 1st (42.27m), CAMERON CAMPBELL U23 2nd (38.50m)

HARROW 3000m RACE NIGHT AND LONG JUMP – Took place at Harrow on 10 September.
3000m – SX 5 MAX WINFIELD U17 6th (PB 9:53.12), 8 SAMUEL GREENSTEIN U17 8th (PB 9:02.70) taking 38.74 seconds off his 2019 time, DANIEL GREENSTEIN U20 10th (PB 9:05.00) taking 7.28 seconds off his 6 September time, 10 LIAM GARRETT U20 (2nd Claim) 4th (8:40.90)

CHELMSFORD SPRINTS OPEN MEETING – Took place at Chelmsford on 9 September
100m – SX 6 NENGI OSSAI V45 2nd (11.29 w2.0)
200m – SX 1 NENGI OSSAI V45 4th (SB 22.84 w1.7) taking .19 of a second off his 8 February time, and is ranked UK No.5 V45 in 2020

HIGHGATE HARRIERS MIDDLE DISTANCE OPEN MEETING – Took place at Parliament Hill on 9 September.
3000m – SX 6 ALEXANDER LEPRETRE (HCA) 4th (8:24.9)

CHARNWOOD OPEN MEETING – Took place at Loughborough on 9 September.
800m – SX 3 HANNAH RIDLEY 10th (2:21.05), 4 SAM WIGGINS U23 1st (1:53.16)
Shot 4kg – SW B SARAH RIDLEY 2nd (SB 10.04m) adding 38cm to her 8 February put

JAMAL LEWIS SIGNS FOR NEWCASTLE UNITED – JAMAL was a member of SBH during 2013-2014, having joined us from his local club Luton AC in 2013 until the end of 2014. JAMAL started his athletic career in 2009 with Luton AC as an Under 13, competing consistency in the EYAL in the 800m, during 2009 he also signed for Luton Town Football Club. His athletic career blossomed in 2012 winning the Southern Under 15 800m, 2nd in the England U15 800m Championships with a time of (1:59.32) ranking him UK No.4, and 3rd in the England U15 Schools 800m Championships, also he finished 5th in the England U15 Schools XC Championships.

He joined Shaftesbury at the end of July 2013 and his first race for club was the National Road Relays at Sutton Park, Birmingham on 13 October. What a debut with the team winning by 45 seconds, recording (35.51), 2nd were Aldershot, Farnham & District (36.36), 3rd Vale Royal (36.53). Leg 1 was a momentous battle with JAMAL recording the 5th fastest time of the day (11.51) just 1 second ahead of JAMES MCCARTHY of Chiltern Harriers (11.52), on Leg 2 JAMIE DEE increased our lead to 13 seconds, recording the 7th fastest time of the day (11.55), on the final Leg was ROBBIE LIGHTOWLER who extended our winning lead with a time of (12.05).

In 2014 we were all aware the football was going to be his future, and ran his last race in the UKYDL on the 27 July. He subsequently signed for Norwich City FC in August. JAMAL playing full back made his senior debut for Norwich against Brentford as a substitute in December 2017, and made his full debut on Boxing Day 2017 against Birmingham City. JAMAL made 28 appearances for Norwich City in the 2019-2020 Premier League, In August 2020 Norwich rejected a £10 million bid from Liverpool^.JAMAL signed a five-year contract with Newcastle United on 8 September 2020, and made his debut on 12 September 2020 in a 0-2 away win against West Ham.

His career to date is 93 appearances for Norwich City and 13 appearances for Northern Ireland.

ROSALIND ZEFFERTT ABSEILING TO RAISE FUNDS FOR LONDON’S AIR AMBULANCE – On Sunday 13 September, SBH Assistant Officials Secretary, ROSALIND ZEFFERTT was due to abseil down from the heliport on the 17th floor of the Royal London Hospital. Unfortunately, the fundraiser was postponed at the last minute as a result of new Government guidance on Coronavirus. She will have another go when it’s reinstated.

CHELMSFORD CROSS COUNTRY RELAYS – Takes place on 24/25 October. The U13, U15, U17 races will consist of three legs each of 3000mts take place on 24 October, and Seniors & U20 races will consist of four legs each of 3000mts take place on 25 October. The course is a single surface of grass with four small tarmac paths to cross so is suitable for spikes or trail shoes.
If you wish to be considered please contact your respective Team Manager, this is the link to the Chelmsford flyer which gives all details including Covid-19 regulations – Chelmsford XC Relays

CHRISTIAN MALCOLM NEW HEAD COACH OF THE BRITISH TEAM – The following was published on the athletics Weekly website recently. As CHRISTIAN MALCOLM settles into his new role as head coach of the British team less than a year before the Tokyo Olympics, the 41-year-old ex-sprinter appears to have all the attributes for success. Knowledgeable, experienced and approachable, he is certain to be a popular choice with athletes and fans.

Just over 20 years ago I got the train down to South Wales to interview him for AW. After picking me up at the station in his white VW he took me to Newport Stadium where he spoke in relaxed, laid-back fashion about the European indoor 200m title he had won a few days beforehand, plus the world junior sprint double he had captured 18 months earlier. JOCK ANDERSON, his coach at the time, was also with us that day and described MALCOLM as “a bloody nuisance” when he first arrived at the athletics club as a 12-year-old full of raw talent and mischief. “But he was too nice a kid for me to ever tell him off,” he added. In addition ANDERSON revealed that MALCOLM’S nickname was ‘Flash’. Indeed, his turn of pace not only brought him world junior titles but earned football trials with Notts Forest and Queen’s Park Rangers. His big passion was athletics, though. His art teacher at school was MERIEL DAVIES, the wife of Olympic long jump champion LYNN, whereas athletics coach ANDERSON subsequently stoked his ambition on the track. After choosing sprinting over soccer, he enjoyed a long and successful career without quite achieving true greatness. He finished a fine fifth in global 2000m finals in Sydney and Edmonton in 2000 and 2001, for example, in addition to making four Olympic teams and winning medals at European Championships and Commonwealth Games – the latter proudly wearing his Welsh vest. MALCOLM won his world junior titles before some of today’s GB team were even born and he now joins a national governing body to work alongside Sara Symington, the recently-appointed performance director. Whereas MALCOLM has track and field running through his veins and possesses a wide range of contacts, Symington comes from outside the sport. So they should hopefully complement each other nicely.

No doubt MALCOLM will bring some of the ideas and philosophies from his past coaches such as ANDERSON and LINFORD CHRISTIE – the 1992 Olympic 100m champion. Surely MALCOLM will be far more at home – and effective – operating at trackside as opposed to working behind a desk, too. Full of easy charm and with teeth that would make SIMON COWELL envious, MALCOLM is a super-friendly character. Don’t be too fooled by his easy-going nature, though, because behind the wide smile is a man who knows how cut-throat and competitive elite athletics can be. He realises what it takes to make the podium, but ideally dealing with Olympic hopefuls will only be part of his mission. When he was at his peak – running 10.11 and 20.08 for 100/200m at the turn of the millennium – the AW columnist TONY WARD used to ask on an almost weekly basis “who’s in charge of coaching?” He was referring in particular to the wider world of athletics coaching – from elite level down to the grassroots club scene – and it is a question that UKA has historically struggled to answer, although hopefully they can now confidently point to MALCOLM and say, quite simply: “It’s him!” Every champion – from DINA ASHER-SMITH to KATARINA JOHNSON-THOMPSON to MO FARAH – started life at an athletics club with a humble club coach. So it would be great to see Malcolm’s job description spanning beyond the narrow, elite-oriented “Olympic programme” that his recent predecessors such as NEIL BLACK and CHARLES VAN COMMENEE have overseen. How can British athletics, for example, stem the ongoing bleed of talented teenagers who lose their form or quit completely once they reach the senior ranks? As a former sprints prodigy who was almost lost to football, MALCOLM is better placed than most to start solving this problem. The head coach should be a man that every coach in the UK looks to for inspiration and guidance, rather than the role simply being for someone who oversees the Lottery-funded elite. Taking such a prominent position in a country with such a rich athletics tradition, much will be expected of MALCOLM. Do not expect him to buckle under the pressure, though. As an athlete he experienced pressure at the highest level and always looked to be the coolest athlete on the track. If there are any doubts surrounding him, it is his ability to make ruthless decisions when necessary. At the World Championships in Doha I bumped into him on the roadside during the women’s marathon and we chatted about old times – and his latest job Down Under – for some time as the female runners shuffled past us, struggling in the intense heat and humidity. Ironically and somewhat poignantly, UKA’s performance director at the time, NEIL BLACK, was standing just metres away but no one could have predicted that less than a year later Black would no longer be with us and MALCOLM would be swapping his Athletics Australia uniform for British Athletics kit.

EURO CROSS IN DUBLIN CANCELLED – The following was published on the athletics Weekly website recently. 13 December meeting in Ireland has been called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Back in 2001 Dublin was forced to abandon staging the World Cross Country Championships due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the event was moved to Belgium. Now lightning has struck twice with another disease – coronavirus – leading to the cancellation of the European Cross Country Championships on December 13. The event was due to be staged at the Sport Ireland campus at Abbotstown but travel restrictions mean the event has too much uncertainty surrounding it and the organising committee has abandoned attempts to stage it. The news will come as a bitter blow to British cross-country runners, who often dominate the Euro Cross and would have aimed to earn selection at the GB trial in Liverpool in late November. It is also bad news for cross-country running in general as the sport has been striving to get back into action this winter following the cancellation of next month’s Cardiff Cross Challenge in South Wales. Read More: Milton Keynes could now kick off Cross Challenge series

The Irish Times reports that the Dublin organising committee says the event is off “due to too many uncertainties and existing sanitary restrictions in Ireland associated to the Covid-19 situation”. European Athletics interim president DOBROMIR KARAMARINOV said: “Following the cancellation of the Paris 2020 European Athletics Championship a few months ago, this was the last opportunity for a major European Athletics event this year and cancelling it was not an option we chose lightly.” Turin is currently due to stage the 2021 event but at the turn of the millennium after Dublin was forced to cede the 2001 World Cross it was later allowed to stage a successful 2002 championships at Leopardstown racecourse.

SBH MIDWEEK JUMPS CLUB AT ALLIANZ PARK – Please contact CLYDE GORDON on 07753 985525/clyde67@hotmail.co.uk for futher information on High Jump and Pole Vault days and times.

STEEPLECHASE TRAINING AT ALLIANZ PARK – Currently Suspended.

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 open for limited use.

ALAN WELLER

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 10 September 2020

Posted on 10/09/202004/03/2022 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday from this Thursday 10 September to Niah Akintokun, Jacob Berkeley, Olive Coles, Sebastiano Corbo, Jack Crabtree, Jessica Emery, Connor Flynn, Gerald Fox, Clyde Gordon, Michael Harper, Nene Harrison, Dylan Hepworth, Hamza Kadir and Ben Kelly

RECENT NEW MEMBER – We wish you a very warm welcome, and a happy, healthy and successful time with Shaftesbury to CLAUDIA BACKHAUS

MULLER BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Sportcity on 4-5 September.
A successful Championships for the club, with 2 National Champions. Firstly SCOTT LINCOLN who had won the previous 5 Shot Put Championships back to 2015, our second Champion in the Discus was NICK PERCY who retained the title he won last year, his other previous wins were in 2016 and 2017. There were Silver Medals from LINA NEILSEN (400m Hurdles), MARK PEARCE (3000m Steeplechase), JADE LALLY (Discus), CHRIS BENNETT (Hammer) and DANIEL BAINBRIDGE (Javelin). We also won 5 Bronze Medals from REBECCA JEGGO (200m), ELLIE BAKER (800m), HAYLEY MCLEAN (400m Hurdles), ETHAN WALSH (Pole Vault) and ANGELA BARRETT (Triple Jump).

100m – SM H3 OJIE EDOBURUN 1st (10.49 w1.0), in Semi-Final 1 OJIE finished 2nd (SB 10.35 w2.0) taking .04 of a second off his 25 August time, and is ranked UK No.5 in 2020, in the Final OJIE won the Silver Medal (10.43 w1.2)
100m – SW H3 REBECCA JEGGO U23 (HCA) 2nd (11.85 w-0.3), in the Final REBECCA finished 7th (11.87 w2.1)
200m – SW H1 REBECCA JEGGO U23 (HCA) 2nd (24.69 w2.2), HANNAH FOSTER U20 3rd (24.79 w2.2), in the Final REBECCA won the Bronze Medal (24.51 w0.3), HANNAH finished 6th (24.88 w0.3)
800m – SW H1 ELLIE BAKER U23 1st (2:05.37), in the Final ELLIE won the Bronze Medal (2:04.80)
1500m – SM H1 JEREMY DEMPSEY U23 7th (SB 3:50.83)
400m Hurdles – SW H1 LINA NIELSEN 1st (58.39), H2 HAYLEY MCLEAN 2nd (57.96), in the Final LINA won the Silver Medal (SB 56.99) taking .49 of a second off her 13 August 2020, and is ranked UK No.2 in 2020, HAYLEY won the Bronze Medal (57.79)
3000m Steeplechase – SM Straight Final MARK PEARCE won the Silver Medal (PB 8:33.61) taking 9.02 seconds off his 2019 time, and is ranked UK No.2 in 2020, KRISTIAN IMROTH U20 5th (SB 9:08.19) and is ranked UK No.1 U20 in 2020
Pole Vault – SM Straight Final ETHAN WALSH won the Bronze Medal (5.05m)
Triple Jump – SW Straight Final ANGELA BARRATT (2nd Claim) won the Bronze Medal (12,72M W0.5), JAZZ SEARS U20 4th (SB 12.53m w-0.7) adding 4cm to her 2 February jump, and is ranked UK No.2 U20 in 2020
Shot 7.26kg – SM Straight Final SCOTT LINCOLN (HCA) won the Gold Medal (19.65m)
Discus 1kg – SW Straight Final JADE LALLY won the Silver Medal (57.20m), SHADINE DUQUEMIN won the Bronze Medal (52.52m)
Discus 2kg – SM Straight Final NICK PERCY won the Gold Medal (59.74m)
Hammer 7.26kg – SM Straight Final CHRIS BENNETT won the Silver Medal (68.84m)
Javelin 800g – SM Straight Final DANIEL BAINBRIDGE U23 won the Silver Medal (70.50m)

LICC/UKA CLUB CONNECT RELAYS AND HURDLES MEETING – Took place at Lee Valley on 5 September.
Congratulation to all our teams on a superb day. The Boys/Mens teams defended their overall title with 2 wins and a 2nd place.
4x100m Relay – U13B H2 SBH 1st (SB 50.93) and are ranked UK No.1 U13 team in 2020 OBINNA NWOKEJI (2nd Claim), JOSEPH WHEELER-HENRY, AUSTIN WARD, OMID HAQUE, in the A Final SBH won the Gold Medal (50.95) OBINNA NWOKEJI (2nd Claim), JOSEPH WHEELER-HENRY, AUSTIN WARD, OMID HAQUE. Photograph taken by TY HOLDEN of OMID HAQUE anchoring the Under 13 Boys team to an excellent win.

4x100m Relay – U13G H1 SBH 1st (SB 54.19) and are ranked UK No.2 U13 team in 2020 ANGEL MCLEOD, BUCHI ODIAKA, SIENNA CORBYN, JESSICA GIBBS, in the A Final SBH won the Gold Medal (54.30) ANGEL MCLEOD, BUCHI ODIAKA, SIENNA CORBYN, JESSICA GIBBS. Photograph taken by TY HOLDEN of the Under 13 Girls team.

4x100m Relay – U15B H1 SBH “A” 4th (SB 46.20) EBUKA NWOKEJI (2nd Claim), ZICO JONES, SAUGAT PUN, MALACHI AMADI, H2 SBH “B” 4th (50.18) SAMUEL OJO, VICTOR ODIAKA, CAMERON KNIGHT, JADEN AULIS, in the A Final SBH “A” won the Silver Medal (SB 45.98) taking .22 of a second off their H1 time, and are ranked UK No.4 U15 team in 2020 EBUKA NWOKEJI (2nd Claim), ZICO JONES, SAUGAT PUN, MALACHI AMADI, in the B Final SBH “B” won the Bronze Medal (51.16) SAMUEL OJO, VICTOR ODIAKA, CAMERON KNIGHT, JADEN AULIS
4x100m Relay – U15G H2 SBH 1st (SB 50.92) LOLA MCCANN-EZEKIEL, TOSIN JOKOSENUMI, ANNA ROSE, NIA FORBES-AGYEPONG, in the A Final SBH won the Bronze Medal (SB 50.92) equalling their H1 time, and are UK No.4 U15 team in 2020 LOLA MCCANN-EZEKIEL, TOSIN JOKOSENUMI, ANNA ROSE, NIA FORBES-AGYEPONG
4x100m Relay – U17M H1 SBH “A” 1st (SB 43.69) REMI JOKOSENUMI, MARIO DEBRESCU, NICHOLAS SAVVA, EMMANUEL DURUIHEOMA, H2 SBH “B” 2nd (43.84) TANAWAT RAVENG, BRADLEY UKPETENAN, NNAMDI NDUKE, ERNEST BARNES, in the Final SBH “A” won the Gold Medal (SB 42.69) taking 1 second off their H1 time, and are ranked UK No.1 U17 team in 2020 REMI JOKOSENUMI, MALACHI AMADI, NICHOLAS SAVVA, EMMANUEL DURUIHEOMA, SBH “B” finished 4th (44.16) TANAWAT RAVENG, BRADLEY UKPETENAN, NNAMDI NDUKE, ERNEST BARNES. Photograph taken by TY HOLDEN of EMMANUEL DURUIHEOMA anchoring the Under 17 Mens team to an excellent win.

4x100m Relay – U17W H1 SBH “A” 3rd (SB 49.80) and are ranked UK No.5 U17 team in 2020 AMBER STONE, SEMI ATIBA, LEA REYNA-FARIA, ALEXIA SAUNDERS, H2 SBH “B” 6th (51.34) ALINA COFIE, SOPHIE FORBES-LAIRD, KACEY WALTERS, KEIRA GILMAN, in the A Final SBH “A” finished 5th (50.27) AMBER STONE, SEMI ATIBA, LEA REYNA-FARIA, ALEXIA SAUNDERS, in the B Final SBH “B” finished 3rd (51.88) ALINA COFIE, SOPHIE FORBES-LAIRD, KACEY WALTERS, KEIRA GILMAN
4x100m Relay – U20M H2 SBH 2nd (SB 42.71) MICAH FORBES-AGYEPONG, TARIQ WILD, JULIEN PRIEST, JAMI SCHLUETER, in the Final SBH won the Bronze Medal (SB 42.26) taking .45 of a second off their H2 time, and are ranked UK No.3 U20 team in 2020 MICAH FORBES-AGYEPONG, TARIQ WILD, JULIEN PRIEST, JAMI SCHLUETER
4x100m Relay – U20W H1 SBH 4th (SB 50.93) and are ranked UK No.4 U20 team in 2020 TRINITY O’CONNOR, VICTORIA GODFREY, MARLI JESSOP, IONA NEWBEGIN, in the Final SBH (DNS)

75m Hurdles – U15G H1 AZARIA NWANKWO 3rd (SB 12.30 w-2.0) taking .23 of a second off her 1 August time, H3 KAREN APOLOT 3rd (PB 12.24 w0.9) taking .21 of a second off her 1 August time, H4 EVA CHALISEY 6th (PB 14.07 w-1.1), ALICE MUSGROVE 7th (SB 15.15 w-1.1)
80m Hurdles – U17W H1 ALINA COFIE 4th (PB 12.35 w-0.7), H2 MANON BAINES 5th (PB 14.15 w1.0)
100m Hurdles – U17M H1 RUBEN HEDMAN 2nd (PB 13.45 w-1.4) taking .32 of a second off his 2019 time, and is ranked UK No.4 U17 in 2020, H2 KEELAN FARRELL 5th (PB 15.63 w-0.1)

LICC U20, SENIOR AND MASTERS OPEN MEETING – Took place at Lee Valley on 6 September.
100m – SX 2 TARIQ WILD U20 3rd (SB 10.95 w1.1) taking .14 of a second off his 2 August time, EMMANUEL DURUIHEOMA U17 4th (10.96 w1.1), MORGAN WEBSTER U23 5th (PB 10.98 w1.1) taking .02 of a second off his 24 August time, DECARE DAVIES U20 6th (PB 11.17 w1.1) taking .24 of a second off his 2018 time, 4 OSCAR LAURENS U17 3rd (SB 12.11 w-0.5), 5 GIBRIL MANSARAY 2nd Equal (SB 12.74 w0.3) taking .09 of a second off his 23 August time, THOMAS FISHER U23 2nd Equal (PB 12.74 w0.3) taking .01 of a second off his 2 August time
400m – SX 1 COLUMBA BLANGO T20/F20 1st (SB 48.36) taking .64 of a second off his 18 January time, and is ranked UK No.1 T20 in 2020, 3 GILAD NACHSHEN U17 5th (54.48), 5 SEBASTIANO CORBO U20 2nd (56.18) taking .56 of a second off his 22 August time, 7 SOPHIE FORBES-LAIRD U17 2nd (60.59), 8 MANON BAINES U17 2nd (PB 62.70)
800m – SX 1 SAM WIGGINS U23 2nd (1:53.50), FINN HARVEY U20 3rd (PB 1:53.90) taking 2.39 seconds off his 2019 time, JOVAN ZIGIC 6th (1:57.99), 2 LIAM DEE 2nd (1:55.20), 4 JUDE MIRANDA U20 2nd (2:00.45), DYLAN EVANS 6th (PB 2:02.19), 5 BINI BLOOM U20 7th (PB 2:05.43) taking 1.22 seconds off his 2019 time, SAMUEL GREENSTEIN U17 8th (PB 2:05.61) taking 8.61 seconds off his 2019 time, 5 ASH FOWKES-GAJAN U17 2nd (2:03.76), ALEX LYTRIDES U20 5th (PB 2:04.95) taking .78 of a second off his 16 August time, 7 GIANLEO STUBBS U15 3rd (PB 2:05.18) taking 11.77 seconds off his 2019 time, 8 JOANNE MIRANDA U17 6th (PB 2:15.61) taking 2.23 seconds off her 15 August time, 9 SCARLETT KENT U20 3rd (2:18.37), HANNAH RIDLEY 4th (2:21.60), EMILY HATHAWAY U20 5th (2:22.18), 12 LISA WEBB V50 6th (2:39.39)
3000m – SX 1 MUKHTAR MUSA U17 3rd (SB 8:48.14) and is ranked UK No.3 U17 in 2020, JOSH EDWARDS U20 5th (PB 8:51.04) taking 27.76 seconds off his 2019 time, BEN WINFIELD U20 7th (SB 9:01.55), THEO MACHIN-PALEY U17 7th (PB 9:10.55) taking 1.43 seconds off his 2019 time, LUCA STUBBS U17 8th (PB 9:17.79) taking 6.43 seconds off his 2018 time, 2 DANIEL GREENSTEIN U20 1st (PB 9:12.28) taking 14.65 seconds off his 2019 time, 3 ELENA RONCARATI U17 8th (PB 11:13.43)
Long Jump – SX JOSH WOODS U20 1st (SB 6.81m w0.7) adding 3cm to his 23 February jump, ALEXA EICHELMAN U23 4th (4.94m w0.0)
Triple Jump – SX CHARLIE KNOTT U20 4th (PB 12.49m w0.3) adding 2.07m to his 2016 jump
Shot 4kg – SW NENE HARRISON V35 3rd (10.03m)
Shot 6kg – U20M JAMES ISAACS U17 2nd (PB 12.66m)
Discus 1kg – SX A JADE LALLY 1st (SB 58.95m) adding 19cm to her 18 July throw, and is ranked UK No.1 in 2020, SHADINE DUQUEMIN 3rd (SB 54.82m) adding 1.25m to her 23 August throw, and is ranked UK No.3 in 2020, B KATIE WEBB U17 6th (30.45m), SARAH RIDLEY 7th (SB 26.72m)
Discus 1.75kg – U20M GABRIEL LAMB U17 1st (PB 37.53m)
Discus 2kg – SM A NICK PERCY 1st (59.28m)

CITY OF PORTSMOUTH TRACK MEETING – Took place at Portsmouth on 6 September.
100m – SX 6 CEAKE MADDIX U23 1st (SB 11.58 w2.0)
200m – SX 9 CEAKE MADDIX U23 2nd (24.05 w1.6)

NEWHAM AND ESSEX BEAGLES SPRINT MEETING – Took place at Stratford on 6 September.
100m – SM B1.7 NENGI OSSAI V45 2nd (11.23 w1.8), B2.7 NENGI finished 3rd (11.23 w3.0)

ROSALIND ZEFFERTT ABSAILING LONDON’S AIR AMBULANCE – On Sunday 13 September, SBH Assistant Officials Secretary, active SBH official and a regular competitor in Masters events, ROSALIND will be absailing from the Royal London Hospital’s helipad, 17 floors up to the ground below. ROSALIND has taken on this challenge in aid of the charity which runs the London Air Ambulance.
I know that I can’t handle heights but I suppose as a novice pole vaulter, abseiling is the logical next step for Rosalind – is it?
Can you please support this very worthwhile cause by making a donation, no matter how small, which will help London’s Air Ambulance to save more lives by keeping the helicopter in the air and the rapid response cars on the road.
By providing intervention as quickly as possible after injury, London’s Air Ambulance Charity aims to give patients the best chance of survival, and best quality of life, after trauma. I’m sure you all joining me in wishing ROSALIND the best of luck and good weather.
Just click on the link to get through to the donations page; https://fundraising.londonsairambulance.org.uk/fundraisers/rosalindzeffertt

RUNNERS RELISH RETURN OF PARKRUN NEXT MONTH IN ENGLAND – The following was published on the Athletics Weekly Website.

Popular 5km series has not been staged in UK since mid-March due to coronavirus but is planning its comeback at the end of October. After a six-month enforced break due to the coronavirus pandemic, parkrun will make a welcome return at the end of next month, initially in England only. Guidelines in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland mean it will not return in those countries quite so soon partly due to limits on numbers but if the English events get off the ground successfully then it could open the floodgates for parkrun to resume in the other home countries, not to mention more road and trail running events potentially. An exact date for the return of the events in England has not been arranged, but October 24 and October 31 look most likely. These also represent about 40% of all parkrun events in the UK. Nick Pearson, chief executive of parkrun, told AW: “We are ready to go and this is a moment where we are definitively coming back and the end of October is, we think, the earliest that we think we can get everything in place such as the volunteer teams, the training, the communication, the understanding and the support and all the mechanisms. “End of October is the target. That doesn’t mean it can’t be earlier. It also doesn’t mean it can’t be a week or so later.”

Read More: Fastest and toughest UK parkruns

What will parkrunners find different at events in the post-pandemic world? The start area will see the main changes, with organisers reluctant to allow participants to gather on the start line for a long period of time. Event briefings will be shorter than in the past and the traditional announcements relating to parkrun tourists or those completing a significant milestone will be made at another time elsewhere or maybe just online. “Briefings will be limited to health and safety necessities and not the colourful individualism that you historically find at your briefing,” said Pearson. “At the finish more scanners and a change in technology will mean the amount of time people spend queuing in those areas is reduced from where it was before. And we will discourage people from gathering in the park but outside of that it will be very much the same.” In addition, some courses will be increased in size to make the start and finish areas bigger. So some events might be roughly 10% longer than 5km but never shorter. As for the prospect of English towns or cities going into lockdown due to a spike in the virus, Pearson explained that parkrun events are sometimes called off at late notice due to ice on the ground or strong winds, for example, so their teams are flexible enough to deal with such cancellations and a coronavirus regional spike would be no different. Founded in 2004 at Bushy Park in London, parkrun has grown swiftly into a cultural phenomenon. Each Saturday morning parkrun in the UK sees about 15,000 volunteers helping to stage events for around 175,000 walkers and runners. As the summer unfolded the parkrun community has grown more frustrated as they have seen other sports – some of which are full contact team games – return to competitive action. In addition to parkrun being held in the fresh air there is the fact it provides multiple physical and mental benefits for its participants. Indeed, in recent weeks, parkrunners have become more impatient after being starved of their parkrun pastime during the spring and summer and various experts have got involved in analysing the risks of its return. A study of outdoor transmission of coronavirus, for example, was commissioned by parkrun and undertaken by the Centre for Sport, Physical Education & Activity Research at Canterbury Christ Church University. It concluded that the risk of coronavirus passing from one person to another outdoors for low and that infection was more likely when people travelled on transport, spent periods of time in crowded indoor environments or breached natural social distancing and personal space. “We have resolved the risk issues in the best way that we can,” said Pearson, who has been working hard behind the scenes with the DCMS, Sport England and others to get parkrun back up and running. “The public health need for us to be back is growing the whole time. The health inequalities are growing the whole time. There are tens of thousands of people out there who have parkrun as their only access point for social interaction. So we feel this great responsibility to support those people in a way that nothing else can support them.” The news will be welcomed by thousands of runners and walkers, many of whom will now be planning which event to return to. They are not short of options. There are around 800 events in total in England alone and earlier this year we ran an article on the fastest and toughest courses here with Berkeley Green in Gloucestershire topping the list and Great Yarmouth North Beach being the slowest.

The parkrun ‘records’ of ANDY BADDELEY (13:48 from Bushy in 2012) and CHARLOTTE ARTER (15:49 from Cardiff in February this year) are also certain to come under renewed attack in coming months.

THE ATHLETICS LANDSCAPE – The following was written by TOM MCNAB, which he completed on 1 January 2020. This is Part 3 of 3.
What follows is my attempt to deal with some of the issues which I believe that athletics has to address, if we are to advance in the coming century. Much of it based on personal experience, starting from the point when I first entered the sport. This is because many of our present problems have historical origins, and may thus have lessons for us. To make them more digestible, I have presented them in a question/answer format.

Q Were you optimistic when there was a vast increase here in professional staff in the early part of the century?
A Yes, but I was naïve. Because we immediately dropped into the familiar trap, by creating legions of Club Support Officers, Liason Officers, Partnership programmes, County Networks, Flying Coaches. Hundreds of thousands of car-miles, to little positive end.
Everything had to be “new”- that was the only way that the newcomers felt that they could make their mark. Thus, Five Star was replaced by Shine, we had two failed versions of Elevating Athletics, an Inter-City competition, 365, a sports-transfer Throws Initiative. The total cost was probably well over £4 million. All died the death, with no reviews, no effort to find out what lessons might be learnt. And now we have something called “Funetics”, and a promise of “ten thousand coaches “, both of which will almost certainly take the same path.
Q What was the Throws initiative?
A A 2011 UK Sport project which involved moving international representatives from one sport to another. It had worked well in cycling/ rowing, sports with strong physiological similarities. Strangely, in athletics throws were chosen and in the promotional literature candidates were offered the prospect of medals in the 2016 Olympics.
Q Starting from zero?
A Yes. MIKE MORLEY, one of our leading hammer coaches, immediately pointed out, in a caustic AW article, that this would mean that those choosing hammer would have to be throwing around seventy metres almost immediately, because that was what would be needed to reach seventy-six metres to medal in 2016.
Q But no one listened.
A Yes, and it was pretty much the same situation with all of the other throws. Throwers are like wine, they mature with age. This project was absolute nonsense from the start.
Q So what happened?
A The candidates were put through a range of quasi-scientific tests, bio-mechanical analyses, then taken off on warm-weather training camps. Tens of thousands of pounds of Lottery money were lavished on them. Then the Throws project simply vanished into the mist.
Q Was there ever any Report on it?
A Not to my knowledge. It was probably under the Official Secrets Act.
Q What about other strategies and initiatives?
A Immediately following the 2012 Olympics, England Athletics produced a very odd national strategy. It led with a verbal/ visual description of what a Club–day in 2013 might involve. Alas, the visual expression had more in common with an issue of the “Beano” than anything remotely resembling athletics. I include it an attachment.
In it, there are four races taking place on the track at the same time. In the hurdles race, several competitors appear to be running in the same lane. Meanwhile, out on a crowded infield, hammer and discus-throwers are busy hurling their implements into the ranks of javelin/shot groups at the other end. So, this would certainly have been an eventful Club day, though short-lived for some.
Q I’m not surprised-there are three hammers in the air at the same time!
A Yes, and three discus! And over at the high jump, a lad is flopping over what appears to be a football crossbar, from an oddly-shaped runway, a mixture of a long and high jump approach.
Q And there is a triple jump runway which has no sand-pit!
A Meanwhile, outside the clubhouse stands a bus containing children for a Quadkids session But what is happening out on the infield, showing pole vault and hammer, has nothing remotely to do with Quadkids, which does not contain either event.
Q That pole- vault looks tricky- the crossbar has no supports!
A No, this is truly the stuff of nightmare, possibly reflected in the quote at the bottom of the page. “If we build it, they will come”, from the movie “Field of Dreams”.
Q You sound pessimistic.
A Both projects reflect a complete inability to relate to reality. What we now have is toxic, inward-looking organizations, unwilling to engage with those they exist to serve, even in elements such as coaching. Let me provide some practical examples. About ten years ago, we had a great coach, the Frenchman Rafelli, taking HOLLY BRADSHAW from zero to (4.87m). What he had done in Manchester was to create, without any support, a centre of excellence, yet his expertise has never been tapped, supported and repeated by UKA.
Q And ten years after she had left RAFELLI, BRADSHAW has not improved on that height.
A And then we have JOHN ANDERSON, who has coached ten times as many athletes as the entire UKA staff put together- never once in twenty years has he been consulted by them.
Q Did you receive any contact with UKA when GREG RUTHERFORD first emerged?
A Not a word. And what I have just described could be repeated a hundred times, a total failure to engage with the body of the kirk.
Q So what can be done?
A Unless there is a strong, groundswell of focused criticism from the membership, or a rigorous review by our funding agencies, then little will change. There is no good cause for optimism. It is worth observing that there was no groundswell of club- criticism when the ludicrous England Athletics comic-book strategy appeared back in 2012.
As things stand, we have only around four thousand senior athletes, a diminishing pool from whom our future population of coaches and officials will be drawn. We therefore face a slow athletics anorexia.
Thus, senior county championships have vanished, and even our regional championships are now faint shadows of the past. Only around a quarter of our clubs have sufficient athletes to compete in our regional age-group leagues, and in Scotland no single club could field a team in our newly-formed national league. And at a recent Southern indoor age-group championship, event-boards went unmanned and there was no announcer. Reality is a bitch.
Q Let’s go back to where we started- are we able to provide a good quality of teaching, coaching and competition throughout the nation?
A Not remotely, but the first step must surely be for our present situation to be recognized. And it is that for only a small fraction of our membership can we offer any quality of athletic experience; and by that I mean one which is both rich and challenging, in terms of coaching and competition. Because in the end, for a participant, staying in athletics is a matter of choice. It is usually a choice between one sport and another, in what is also now a highly-competitive world of increasing educational demands, mobiles and video-games.
And it is a world where there are more sports than ever available, where athletic young women are now pouring into netball, football and rugby, one in which there are five million Health Club members, evenly- divided between the sexes. There is everything to play for, and athletics will have to fight for its survival as a major sport.
Q And at performance-level?
A Every conceivable permutation has been deployed by UKA, from High Performance Centres, to the deployment of “magic” foreign coaches. The only constant has been to remove athletes from British coaches who had brought them to international-level, thus depriving them of invaluable experience. The discovery of athletes like RUTHERFORD and BRADSHAW surely tells us that there are others with similar potential out there. Our aim should be to try to make contact with them, and provide not only coaching, but also challenging competitive opportunities.
Bale’s 2002 book “Geography of Sport” makes clear the massive disparity of opportunity which living in rural areas involves, one which applies fairly evenly throughout sports. Government funding and voluntary energy can do little more than cut down the odds, but there is no evidence that our governing bodies have done this, despite massive increases in funding.
Q Have you any answers to this issue?
A There will never be any absolute solution, any true equality, but a policy similar to that of the LTA twenty odd years back, might well lower the odds. They built around twenty basic indoor tennis-areas throughout the country. For us, this might mean being Lottery-granted to build a dozen primitive air-hall type facilities in rural areas. These would be attached to schools, and used by them during the day. It would mean that it would be possible for thousands more to train throughout the year in the technical events. The £2million that UKA spent on the pointless 2018 World Championships might have been a start, possibly two such centres.
Q And the £4million or more spent on duds like Shine, Elevating Athletics and 365?
A Yes. And though my air-hall proposal is a long shot, bringing in athletes from rural areas into existing indoor centres in winter, to work under experienced coaches, that is not. It will not solve the problem, but it will go some way to alleviating it.
Q Where does curricular physical education come in now?
A Nowhere. P.E has never created any means by which athletics can be effectively presented at curricular level. All that seems to exist now is a school sports, which is essentially a survival of the fittest. P.E is a Dead Zone for most sports, in terms of providing a rich educational experience to all children, regardless of ability.
Q What about success at Olympic level?
A UKA have over the years produced one failed strategy after another to produce Olympic medals. This being said, mere common sense should have told them that their 2011 attempt to take JESSICA ENNIS from family and coach to work at Lea Valley was wrong. What it served to show was a governing body’s desperate to be associated with success, even if it had done nothing to produce it. And the sad story did not end in 2012. When CHARLES VAN COMMENEE departed, he left proposing an in-house replacement, a Performance Director with no background in athletics performance.
Q What about our present financial situation?
A It is dire, the direct product of UKA removing ALAN PASCOE’S company from its fund-raising role, and of a whole series of vanity projects. DE VOS and the members of our national committees must take direct responsibility for a £2 million loss on a 2018 World Cup vanity project, half a million pounds lost in unpaid VAT, and a disastrous relationship with the Nike Oregon Project.
Q Are we living off the income from fitness-runners?
A I am not certain, but we are to some degree doing so by association, because Sport England have been handed the health-related fitness brief by government, which could not find anywhere else to place it.
Q You haven’t yet mentioned the HYDE-PETERS fiasco.
A I very much welcomed her appointment, and immediately offered my help. But I had at that point no knowledge of the Coventry Godiva issue, which the UKA’s Health and safety department should surely have made known to UKA officers, prior to making the CEO appointment.
Q And CHRIS CLARKE’S immediate support for her?
A Unwise. Common sense demanded a sharp intake of breath and further investigation before making any comment.
Q But UK Sport tell us that they have always kept a close eye on the culture of UKA.
A My recent discussions with their partner Sport England would serve to contradict that. Because I found out that they knew nothing about the long list of failed initiatives, or the present toxic culture. It would therefore be remarkable if UK Sport were any better informed. The ZARA HYDE-PETERS fiasco, or something like it, was therefore inevitable.
Q So you are not optimistic?
A Not unduly. There has to be a rigorous review of UKA deployment of public funds. This will inevitably involve the removal of many professional positions. And with it the recruitment of staff sensitive to what is happening on the ground, dedicated to enriching and enhancing best practice. This would be a mixture of full-time national and part-time regional administrators and coaches.
Because cash has to be delivered out to the regions, much of it focused on teams of part-timers, devoted to specific areas like competition and coaching, and required to produce measurable results. But there will be no Golden Age. In my dealings with clubs and counties I have often been troubled by the low level of discussion.
But, much more difficult, there has to be a major culture-shift, away from inward-looking, self-serving cultures to those dedicated to service. That may prove to be much more difficult, and require pre-frontal lobotomy.
Because there will be no magic bullet, no quick fixes, but it will mean an intensity of scrutiny by our funders, light-years away from past practice. One which will result in total transformation of the manner in which public funds are being deployed.
And, as I have said, it must result in two changes at governing body-level. The first will be to cut professional positions to a minimum, the second to give funding and greater responsibility to our voluntary sector at regional level.
Q What might be their role?
A One would be to employ a corps of experienced coaches and meet-organisers, people like ALAN WILLIAMS and CAROL JACKSON, to create a network of competitions, starting with Sports Hall in winter and Five Star in summer, for the 10-14s.
Then a series of specialist meetings at regional level, and possibly a new kind of Festival type meeting, aimed at attracting the general public. This being said, there are no easy answers. We will attract a big audience to our Olympic Trials, but next year, if the normal pattern obtains, we may be back to around two thousand, as occurred this year at the Nationals.
Q Festival?
A The Scottish Highland Games pull in over 250,000 spectators per year, and the Lakeland Games attract more than all of our regional and national championships put together. This is because they are both family-events, with fairgrounds, dance and music. We might try to do something similar, albeit in a different form, think outside the box.
Q Does this approach have any implications at international level?
A Six hundred European Highland Games pull in over two million spectators per year, more than all the World Athletics-based meetings and European national championships put together. Similarly, in the USA their Highland Games pull in more spectators than conventional track and field. There may surely be some lessons for World Athletics there.
Q What role does World Athletics play in making athletics popular at world-level?
A I have mentioned the support given to regional (i.e. Asian Games/ World Junior Championships etc.) events by the IAAF, but they have struggled to secure sponsors for events like Diamond League, TV audiences have dropped, as have live audiences.
The USA will see a lift when the World Championships arrive there, but they have no adult competitive track and field population, and collegiate athletics no longer has national attention in terms of TV or live audiences. So, I do not see any positive long-term change there and there is little that World Athletics can do about it. In Russia, athletics has no school or club-structure, with its surge in the post-war era driven from the top and strongly drug-based. Its tracks are decaying, public interest is dropping and it is difficult see any ray of light there.
Q So the USA and Russia, two of the world’s largest nations, are either static or dropping away?
A Yes, and I see no way by which World Athletics can do much to help.
Q Back to home. Any final thoughts?
A Yes. Track and field athletics has never been evenly available, regardless of location, and never will. And we must widen its definition by including competition, because the only purpose of coaching is to compete. What we tried to do in coaching in the past was to lower the odds, by bringing athletes from rural areas to regional/national camps. Greater government-funding replaced this with wandering bands of Club Support-officers, Flying Coaches, Consultation-sessions, all manner of box-ticking exercises. This must surely end.
Q And competition?
A At what I call the Pre-Athletic (9-12) period we have in Sports Hall Athletics the best winter expression of athletics ever created. And over the years we have seen the development of its summer expression, Five Star Athletics meetings, dedicated to personal achievement. These two programmes could be in place as a National competitive “diet” by next winter.
Q Any other final thoughts?
A Yes. We must surely move away from committees, to greater use of the digital. This will mean using the social media as the means by which the sport communicates with itself. By this means successful local initiatives might be more evenly spread. And policies subjected to wider, informed discussion before they are placed before regional / national committees. But above all, at national level there has to be a change of mind-set, a willingness to accept criticism, a much greater generosity of spirit.

SBH MIDWEEK JUMPS CLUB AT ALLIANZ PARK – Please contact CLYDE GORDON on 07753 985525/clyde67@hotmail.co.uk for futher information on High Jump and Pole Vault days and times.

STEEPLECHASE TRAINING AT ALLIANZ PARK – Currently Suspended.

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 open for limited use.

ALAN WELLER

Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers Weekly Newsletter Thursday 3 September 2020

Posted on 02/09/202002/09/2020 by sbharriers

Happy Birthday from this Thursday 3 September to Adam Cahn, Nicole Cara, Danny Digweed, Amy Fry, Jessica Gibbs, Ross Hajipanayi, Dylan Hammond, Philippa Harrison, Talia Hart, Finn Harvey, Jemima Hobbs, Jessica Hurley, Eddie King, Yeshaya Klein, Lucy Koenigsberger, Richard Kurtz, Confidence Lawson, Dovi Levin, Jake Lovell, Theo Machin-Paley, David McKenzie, Kris Robertson and Nathan Thomas

RECENT NEW MEMBER – We wish you a very warm welcome, and a happy, healthy and successful time with Shaftesbury to JESSICA GIBBS

BRITISH ATHLETIC CHAMPIONSHIPS – Takes place on Friday 4 September and Saturday 5 September at the Manchester Regional Arena behind closed doors, we will have many athletes wearing the Black and White stripes. The event will be televised on BBC2 on Friday 18.00-21.00 and Saturday on BBC1 13.15-16.30.

SBH RELAYS AND HURDLES MEETING – Takes place on Saturday 5 September at Lee Valley. We are promoting the “Club Connect 4x100m Relays” for Under 13, 15, 17 & 20 Men & Women.

SBH U20, SENIOR AND MASTERS OPEN MEETING – Takes place on Sunday 6 September at Lee Valley. The events are 100m, 400m, 3000m, Sprint Hurdles, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Shot and Discus. Online Entries via Opentrack. The final list of events will depend on the terms we can agree with LVAC in order to comply with their Covid-19 requirements.In addition U17s can enter the 100m, 400m, 800m and 3000m. If you want to compete, can you please enter ASAP by clicking on the link below. The cost is £4 per event. Due to Covid-19 restrictions you can only enter 1 event. Sunday – https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/liccr3/ please enter ASAP as we expect demand to be very high and numbers are limited.

BOURNEMOUTH THROWS INVITATION TRIAL EVENT – Took place at Bournemouth on 30 August.
Discus 2kg – SM A NICK PERCY 1st (61.57m), B NICK finished 1st (59.87m)

CHARNWOOD AUGUST OPEN – Took place at Loughborough on 30 August.
100m – U17X 8 OBINNA NWOKEJI U13 (2nd Claim) 1st (13.16 w-0.2), 10 EBUKA NWOKEJI U15 (2nd Claim) 2nd (12.58 w-0.4)
200m – U17X 4 EBUKA NWOKEJI U15 (2nd Claim) 1st (PB 25.53 w0.7) taking .40 of a second off his 22 August time, OBINNA NWOKEJI U13 (2nd Claim) 1st (PB 27.19 w0.7) taking .59 of a second off his 22 August time, and is ranked UK No.5 U13 in 2020
300m – U17X 4 MANON BAINES U17 3rd (PB 43.15) taking .10 of a second off his 2019 time
400m – SX 2 SOPHIE FORBES-LAIRD U17 3rd (60.17)
800m – SX 2 NIALL CARNEY 2nd (PB 2:01.96) taking 4.04 seconds off his 2015 time
High Jump – U17W KACEY WALTERS U17 1st (SB 1.68m) adding 3cm to her 25 January height, and is ranked UK No.6 U17 in 2020
Discus 1kg – SW A JADE LALLY 1st (58.39m), SHADINE DUQUEMIN 3rd (53.05m)

SOUTH OF ENGLAND COVID GAMES – Took place at Chelmsford on 29-30 August.
100m – U15B H6 MALACHI AMADI U15 1st (11.39 w2.7), in Semi-Final 1 MALACHI finished 1st (11.20 w5.0), in the Final MALACHI won the Gold Medal (11.23 w2.0)
100m – U17M H3 BRADLEY UKPETENAN U17 3rd (SB 11.61 w1.6) taking .21 of a second off his 1 August time, H4 NICHOLAS SAVVA U17 3rd (SB 11.72 w2.8) taking .25 of a second off his 1 August time
100m – U20W H3 MARLI JESSOP U20 3rd (SB 12.69 w-2.5)
100m – SM H3 CHARLIE DOBSON U23 (HCA) 1st (PB 10.12 w4.4) equalling his 23 August time, H4 NENGI OSSAI V45 1st (SB 11.22 w3.8) taking .15 of a second off his 18 August time, in Semi-Final 2 NENGI finished 6th (11.29 w3.6)
100m – SW H1 REBECCA JEGGO U23 (HCA) 2nd (11.71 w2.8)
300m – U15B H4 ZICO JONES U15 1st (37.97), in the Final ZICO won the Gold Medal (37.78)
300m – U15G H2 LOLA MCCANN-EZEKIEL U15 1st (44.96), H3 LUCY MARCUS U15 6th (49.04)
400m – U17M H1 GILAD NACHSHEN U17 3rd (SB 54.00)
400m – SM H1 COLUMBA BLANGO T20/F20 2nd (51.62), in the Final COLUMBA won the Bronze Medal (55.23)
400m – SW H1 HAYLEY MCLEAN 1st (55.71), ALEXA EICHELMAN U23 6th (PB 64.03) taking .41 of a second off her 2 August time, in the Final HAYLEY won the Gold Medal (56.81)
Long Jump – U17M Straight Final ARUN YAVUZ U17 (2nd Claim) 11th (SB 6.12m w3.6) adding 46cm to his 25 January jump
Long Jump – U20M Straight Final JAMI SCHLUETER U20 won the Bronze Medal (SB 6.96m w4.8) adding 6cm to his 9 August jump, CHARLIE KNOTT U20 8th (SB 6.16m w2.0)
Long Jump – SM Straight Final PAUL OGUN (HCA) won the Silver Medal (6.98m w2.4)
Long Jump – SW Straight Final ALEXA EICHELMAN U23 won the Bronze Medal (SB 5.03m w2.7) adding 24cm to her 5 January jump
Shot 5kg – U17M Straight Final JAMES ISAACS U17 won the Bronze Medal (13.60m)
Discus 1kg – U17W Straight Final KATIE WEBB U17 5th (SB 34.36m) and is ranked UK No.9 U17 in 2020
Discus 1.5kg – U17M Straight Final GABRIEL LAMB U17 4th (PB 44.25m) adding 2.29m to his 9 August throw, and is ranked UK No.5 U17 in 2020, JAMES ISAACS U17 5th (PB 44.03m) adding 2.95m to his 11 July throw, and is ranked UK No.7 U17 in 2020
Discus 1.75kg – U20M Straight Final JAMI SCHLUETER U20 won the Silver Medal (PB 40.06m), OLIVER GRAHAM U20 4th (38.35m)
Discus 2kg – SM Straight Final NICK PERCY won the Gold Medal (58.94m)

4J STUDIOS OPEN SERIES 4 – Took place at Meadowmill on 29 August.
100m – SX 1 KRISHAWN AIKEN 1st (SB 10.74 w2.1)
High Jump – SX A LEWIS MCGUIRE 1st (2.06m)

BACK TO TRACK 200 – Took place at Darlington on 29 August.
Shot 7.26kg – SM F SCOTT LINCOLN (HCA) 1st (19.50m)

BMC GOLD STANDARD RACES – Took place at Lee Valley on 29 August.
800m – U13G A DINA SILVERMAN U13 1st (2:26.58)
800m – Men’s B LIAM DEE 5th (SB 1:54.80), D JUDE MIRANDA U20 7th (2:04.93)
800m – Women’s C JOANNE MIRANDA U17 5th (2:19.39), SCARLETT KENT U20 8th (2:22.38)
1500m – Women’s C RUBY VINTON U15 4th (SB 4:45.98)
3000m – Men’s A HENRY MCLUCKIE U20 1st (PB 8:15.91) taking 2.01 seconds off his 2019 time, and is ranked UK No.3 U20 in 2020, DYLAN EVANS 4th (PB 8:22.34) taking 3.66 seconds off his 12 August time, PHILLIP CROUT 5th (SB 8:26.03), B TOM BUTLER U23 1st (SB 8:28.92)

FOLKSAM GRAND PRIX – Took place at Goteburg, Sweden on 29 August.
400m Hurdles – SW LINA NIELSON 2nd (57.61)

HARROW 800m AND 1500m RACE NIGHT – Took place at Harrow on 27 August.
800m – SX 12 FINN HARVEYU20 1st (SB 1:57.4)

HERCULES WIMBLEDON 3K NIGHT – Took place at Wimbledon on 26 August.
3000m – SX 8 ALEXANDER LEPRETRE (HCA) 3rd (PB 8:18.9) taking 2.72 seconds off his 2018 time

MEMORIAL JOSEFA SECKARE – Took place at Brno, Czech Republic on 25 August.
100m – SM H2 OJIE EDOBURUN 2nd (SB 10.40 w0.8) taking .10 of a second off his 16 August time, Final OJIE EDOBURUN 2nd (SB 10.39 w0.8) taking .01 of a second off his H2 time, and is ranked UK No.7 in 2020

BMC GOLD STANDARD – Took place at Stretford on 25 August.
800m – Women A ELLIE BAKER U23 2nd (2:04.62)
1500m – Men A MARK PEARCE 2nd (PB 3:45.76) taking 1.90 seconds off his 2019 time
1500m – Women A LIZZIE BIRD 3rd (4:17.84)

JERSEY SPARTAN OPEN SUMMER SERIES – Took place at St Clement on 25 August.
100m – U20W LUCY WOODWARD U20 3rd (PB 13.5 w-2.5) taking .30 off a second off her 2017 time

THE ATHLETICS LANDSCAPE – The following was written by TOM MCNAB, which he completed on 1 January 2020. This is Part 2 of 3.
What follows is my attempt to deal with some of the issues which I believe that athletics has to address, if we are to advance in the coming century. Much of it based on personal experience, starting from the point when I first entered the sport. This is because many of our present problems have historical origins, and may thus have lessons for us. To make them more digestible, I have presented them in a question/answer format.

Q What were attendances at major meets like in this period?
A In the immediate post-war period, massive- we had sixty thousand every year at the Ranger’s Sports, simply to watch a meeting consisting mainly of handicap events. And it was the same down South, big crowds at the White City for GB matches- the 1954 CHATAWAY-KUTS 5000m. race in October 1954 saw thousands shut out of the White City. And the BBC TV coverage was outstanding, with DAVID COLEMAN arriving in the second half of the decade.
Q So it was boom-time?
A Yes, but it had tapered off badly by the late 1960s. By 1970 the AAA Championships attracted less than 5000 spectators to White City, and it was because of that I got my first chance as a meet-promoter, when it was moved to Crystal Palace. To put it simply, the AAA asked me to fill the house.
Q But you had no experience in that kind of work.
A No, but I soon had athletes high jumping off concrete in demonstrations the City of London, and for the first time I had athletes like DAVE BEDFORD giving pre- championships interviews-anything that I could think up. The result was 15,000 spectators in an arena that was only built for twelve thousand. I well remember BRUCE TULLOH cursing me because he said that he had been forced to climb up a tree to watch. I never really believed that.
Q And this was the period when event-specialisation began.
A Yes- I had already started with decathlon, but we decided to divide the events amongst the National Coaches, with funding now beginning to come in from Five Star. It was obvious that we were never going to be able to provide even a small band of exceptional athletes with local coaching, so we pulled them in, to national courses.
Q Was there no opposition to this from the voluntary sector?
A No, none. Our coaches knew that everything that we were learning had always been ploughed back into coach education, and I don’t remember a single problem in that regard.
Q Sounds like a Golden Age.
A No, it was not. For, though the British Amateur Athletic Association had taken over the work of the National Coaches in 1973, there was no Dyson-type Director.
The National Coaches therefore lacked leadership, and I have no recollection of any advice ever given to me by any senior colleague. Earlier, in 1968, when a group of us were to attend the Mexico Olympics, I had proposed that we return with an Olympic Technical Report, to present to the voluntary sector. But we received no official support, and I secured sponsorship from Adidas and had it privately published. There was still a divide between the Blazerati and professionals.
Q What was the composition of the clubs in the 1970s?
A First, there were now fewer women’s clubs. But in all clubs the main entry-point was about fifteen, early developers who had already demonstrated ability at school. And high percentages of them went on to senior athletics. This was a golden period for British athletics, the era of BEDFORD, COE and OVETT, with a host of big events at Crystal Palace, which had now been expanded by the addition of another stand.
Q But none of this was the direct product of any central planning?
A At best, partially. The work of the National Coaches was random, chaotic, particularly outside of the South, with coaches taking sessions at schools and clubs, whoever would hire them, yearly covering tens of thousands of miles to no great purpose. And without a shred of in-service training.
Q So what informed the national coach education-programmes?
A Essentially the experience of each National Coach, which varied immensely from event to event. We had no agreed policy on each event, no syllabus- it was all up to the individual National Coach. The only central points were the National Coaches’ event-booklets, which were excellent for their time. But in essence, there was no structure to coach education.
Q But were still experiencing success at international level?
A Yes, chaotically, the product of random athlete-coach links, though event-specialisation had begun to cut down the odds.
Q And from 1952 onwards the East European bloc had put up legions of state-aided athletes, to make success even more difficult?
A Yes, and from 1968 onwards their state-aided drug-programmes.
Q Was there no attempt from our national or international governing bodies to deal with these clear breaches of the rules?
A None. No more than there had been in 1920 when the USA had first introduced college athletics scholarships, in clear breach of amateur rules. No more than the IAAF or the AAA had protested in the 1930s, when the Nazis had denied opportunity to Jewish athletes. Indeed, when an Olympic boycott was proposed in 1936, the AAA voted 99-1 to go to Berlin!
And yet the IAAF handbook contained reams of detailed material on the amateur definition, even to the point of discussion of the life-expectancy of prizes. This in a world of college scholarships and brown paper envelopes, soon to see the creation of state-aided athletes. There was always a massive gap between official rhetoric and what was happening on the ground.
Q What was the extent of drug-taking in the United Kingdom?
A We will never really know, but my feeling is that it followed the general pattern of the sport, existing in patches, particularly in the throws in the early 70s. My only insight came in a discussion with a leading official of the 1980s, who let slip that with an official, ANDY NORMAN, and a leading National Coach, he had negotiated the purchase of anabolic steroids from Holland.
Q NORMAN was a leading figure in this period, was he not?
A I knew ANDY NORMAN as the Southern Coaching Secretary, where he was outstanding. He then moved on to being the bagman/ fixer for the BAAB, doing the dirty work that they wished to avoid. This meant dishing out cash at our big meetings, and acting as an agent for leading British athletes in Europe. And it almost certainly also involved breaking drug-regulations, no question of that. We will never know the true extent of this activity, or the involvement of the BAAB. But Andy was central to the final removal of the amateur rules in 1982, and should always be remembered for that.
Q Were there any change in the National Coaching personnel?
A Yes, in 1972 WILF PAISH was given the task of testing a potential National Coach who did not have the necessary Senior Coach qualifications. He returned to tell us that there had been little point in examining him, since the applicant had never coached. There was, in effect, nothing to test. He was told to go back and examine him again. Not surprisingly, WILF came back with the same result.
Q And did he become a National Coach?
A Yes. It was FRANK DICK. I now see that this was the beginning of the process of coaching becoming an academic study. It co-incided with Physical Education assuming degree-status.
Q Did you stay involved after 1978?
A It was a way of life for me, and I spent the 1978-81 period working on “Chariots of Fire “, and on my first novel “Flanagan’s Run”. And in working with regional and national Sports Councils and the IAAF. 1981 saw a massive breakthrough, in CHRIS BRASHER’S London Marathon. This triggered off an explosion in running for fitness. Alas, it caused confusion within Sports Council, who were only geared to dealing with governing bodies, but wanted to be in some way associated with this mass movement. So they formed a governing body, the National Jogging Association, and parked their Secretary in a posh London office.
Q And who was this Secretary?
A Me! But they offered me neither cash, nor any support-services, so after a few months I resigned.
Q But what about our clubs?
A They had no initial interest in this sudden flood of fitness-runners, and offered them no support. The governing body’s only contribution to the national running boom came from the head of women’s athletics, MAREA HARTMAN. She proposed that any professional footballer, running for charity, should operate from a different starting-line from the amateurs!
Q But that attitude soon changed.
A Yes, first because our governing bodies wanted to be on the same page as their funding-agencies, the Sports Councils. Second, because the registration of 1600 clubs and hundreds of thousands of their members meant a massive rise in governing body income.
Q What was your experience of Sports Councils during your period as National Coach?
A I was chairman of the British Association of National Coaches in 1965-1978, and was involved with them during that period. And after that I worked for and with my regional and national councils for over two decades.
Sports Councils were set up in the post-war period by governments as agencies to deliver them a link with sport. This was naïve, because few of their officers brought to their Councils any level of practical experience in running clubs or coaching. Consequently, they have rarely showed much rigour in judging how public money was being spent. And our Ministers of Sport have never been politicians of any weight or substance.
Q And so much taxpayers’ money was being wasted?
A Yes, at least until 1996, when UK Sport took on the task of deploying Lottery- cash to secure Olympic medals, over twenty years ago. That worked, because there was now clear means of judging success. We now have what is probably the best agency on earth for securing Olympic medals, and have gone from sixteenth to second in the rankings during that period.
Q And, looking back, how do you view your time as National Coach?
A I see now that my governing body was totally unfit to run a group of men dedicated to serving and developing a national coaching scheme. At no point was there any in-service training, at no point was there any man to man discussion of our roles or our future in the sport. At no time in fourteen years was there a single question addressed to me about my family or personal life. These men were mediocrities, totally unfit to run professional staff or a governing body.
Q But you stayed involved in athletics, and in sport?
A Yes, initially indirectly through “Chariots of Fire”, then through novels like “Flanagan’s Run”. Then I became Olympic Bobsleigh Coach in 1980, and coached the first two English World Cup Rugby teams, under Geoff Cooke, in 1987 and 1991.
Q What was your next project?
A The creation, in 1989, of an athletics club in my home town of St. Albans. I had been running Saturday athletics sessions for around a hundred children in the 10-13 area for a couple of years, and decided to form a club.
Q And?
A I was engulfed! Because I had been naïve, and though I broke the group down into two one-hour squads and brought in paid coaches, I struggled.
Q What about the regional governing body, and the local Sports Council?
A I am still waiting to hear from them! But I did manage to secure £10k. in sponsorship for each of the next five years from GODFREY DAVIS, a local car company and my local authority. Alas, my county athletics association were less helpful- they voted 11-3 to keep us out of athletics.
Q Was any reason ever given?
A None. But to add to this, several of my parents reported to me that they had experienced hostility from county officials, with hints that a large volume of club- cash, as much as £70,000, was being concealed from them.
Q Welcome back to athletics!
A All of this hostility was driven by self-interest, the fact that a source of talent was now being withdrawn from them. It was very sad.
Q And you say you worked with the IAAF?
A Initially, to try to promote the introduction of women’s hammer and pole vault. At that time, the IAAF operated from a tatty little office in Putney. At a meeting with their CEO, his only suggestion was that they provide me with a dozen four kilo hammers! I managed to get the two vault/ hammer events moving through the Master’s set-up, then through exhibition-events, all through ANDY NORMAN.
Q Did you conduct courses for the IAAF?
A I led on several, all over the world. All of them had one thing in common; that no prior attempt had been made to check out their national needs. Thus, the technical level of the coaches deployed was always much too high. And no attempt was made to secure any report on the state of athletics in each nation. In short, these were box-ticking exercises.
Q But it is surely difficult for the IAAF to make any long-term impact upon individual nations?
A Of course it is, but in the final quarter of the century through support for regional championships and age-group events, and the creation of the Diamond League, they have been much more proactive and relevant.
It is very difficult for any central agency to have much impact upon the development of the sport in nations with such diverse sports and political structures, many of them corrupt. And the IAAF suffer from the same ailment as we do, a lack of employees with any successful experience at the pit-face. But what they have succeeded in doing, under COE, is taking the lead on doping by banishing the Russians- I don’t think that he has been given sufficient credit for this.

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

PARKRUN 5K RESULTS – Currently Suspended

UPCOMING SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS FIXTURES AND OTHER FOR THE NEXT 4 WEEKS – Currently there is a small number of fixtures planned to commence from Saturday 1 August, details to be published on the current status in the 23 July SBH Newsletter.

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 open for limited use.

ALAN WELLER