Happy Birthday from this Thursday 28 April to Kachi Akpakwu, Nadav Bond,  Christopher Castro-Neto, Antonio Conradie, Louise Lockwood, Henry McLuckie, Naomi Ogunniyi, Tim Saunders-Mullins, Mark Taylor and Gregory Thompson

RECENT NEW MEMBERS –We wish you a very warm welcome, and a happy, healthy and successful time with Shaftesbury to RAFAEL GAYER and SETH RENNIE-RODDY

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS SUBSCRIPTIONS – SBH Treasurer GEOFF MORPHITIS has sent me the following request.
Our new Club year started on 1 October 2021. The SBH annual subscriptions is £50 and the current England Athletics annual registration is £16 from 1 April 2022. The total is £66 and should now be paid NOW to; ACCOUNT NAME: SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS, BANK: 41308378, SORT CODE: 400426 – Please let me know when payment is made. Thanks GEOFF

UPCOMING SOUTHERN TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPONSHIPS – Have just been published on the SEAA website, and are as follows;
Under 20 and Senior Championships – Are on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June at Chelmsford, closing date is Tuesday 7 June.

Under 15 and 17 3000m Championships – Are on Sunday 19 June at Chelmsford, closing date is Tuesday 7 June.

Under 20 and Senior Inter County Championships – Are on Saturday 9 July at Oxford, closing date is Tuesday 28 June. You will be selected by respective county.

Under 15, 17, 20 and Senior Combined Events Championships – Are on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July at Oxford, closing date is Tuesday 12 July.

Under 13, 15 and 17 Championships – Are on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 August at Chelmsford, closing date is Tuesday 2 August.

Under 15 and 17 Inter County Championships – Are on Saturday 10 September at Oxford, closing date is Tuesday 30 August. You will be selected by respective county.

This is the link to the full SEAA prospectus, which gives full details of each championship – 2022 Southern Outdoor Track & Field Prospectus (2)

RESULTS
UK YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE PREMIER SOUTH ROUND 1 – Took place at Eton on 24 April
Apologies, but the results are still to be published.

BMC REGIONAL RACES – Took place at Wormwood Scrubs on 27 April
800m – Men B ABDIRAHIM HAMUD U20  1st (PB 1:58.36) taking 1.86 seconds off his 2021 time, Mixed C NICOLE MCGOVERN U17  2nd (SB 2:12.63) and is ranked UK No.4 U17 in 2022

THROWS DEVELOPMENT INVITATION MEETING – Took place at Colchester on 24 April
Discus 1kg – SX PHILIPPA DAVENALL 1st (PB 37.45m) adding 3.11m to her 2015 throw
Hammer 4kg – SW PHILIPPA DAVENALL 1st (60.42m)
Hammer 7.26kg – SM JAMES HAMBLIN (HCA) 1st (SB 60.71m) adding 2m to his 18 April throw, OLIVER GRAHAM U23 2nd (60.00m)

SCOTTISH JOINT LEAGUE MEETING – Took place at Grangemouth on 24 April
Long Jump – SW SELINA HENDERSON 2nd (PB 5.65m w3.9)
Shot 7.26kg – SM ANGUS MCINROY V35 1st (14.27m)
Discus 2kg – SM ANGUS MCINROY V35 1st (SB 47.20m) and is ranked UK No.1 V35 in 2022

UK YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE SOUTHERN 2A – Took place at Perivale on 24 April
Long Jump – U20W A RUTH-ANN OTARUOH U20 (2nd Claim) 1st (SB 5.09m nwr)

HARTNELL LAST CHANCE OPEN MEETING – Took place at Salinas, California, USA on 23 April
Discus 1kg – SW A SHADINE DUQUEMIN 1st (SB 56.12m) adding 99cm to her 7 April throw, and is ranked UK No.3 in 2022, B SHADINE finished 2nd (55.03m)

MARK YOUNG INVITATIONAL – Took place at New Haven, Connecticut, USA on 23 April
100m – SW 2 LARISSA GILES U20 (Yale University) 4th (SB 12.58 w2.3) taking .22 of a second off her 9 April time
800m – SM 2 LIAM GARRETT U23 (Yale University 2nd Claim) 3rd (PB 1:56.10) taking 10.70 seconds off his 2019 time
1500m – SM 1 LIAM GARRETT U23 (Yale University 2nd Claim) 2nd (PB 3:52.27) taking 8.83 seconds off his 2019 time

PURE ATHLETICS SPRING INVITATIONAL – Took place at Clermont, Florida, USA on 23 April
100m – SM H2 OJIE EDOBURUN 1st (10.25 w3.1), 1 OJIE finished 3rd (SB 10.02 w4.7) taking .05 of a second of his 9 April time
200m – SM 1 CHARLIE DOBSON (HCA) 1st (PB 19.99 w3.6) taking .20 of a second off his 15 April time

LOUGHBOROUGH OPEN MEETING – Took place at Loughborough on 23 April
1500m – SM SAM WIGGINS U23 3rd (PB 3:57.63) taking 41.17 seconds off his 2017 time
Discus 1kg – SW ALEXANDRA BALTAZAR-HALL U20 1st (PB 45.86m) adding 47cm to her 20 April throw, and is ranked UK No.2 U20 in 2022
Javelin 800g – SM DANIEL BAINBRIDGE 1st (71.91m)

SCOTTISH STUDENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Grangemouth on 23 April
High Jump – SW CLAIRE MCGARVEY U23 won the Gold Medal (1.75m)

MAGALUF 10K – Took place at Magaluf, Spain on 23 April
JONAH MARKS U17 4th (PB 34.02) although it was classified as short

ARIZONA STATE TWILIGHT MEETING – Took place at Tempe, Arizona, USA on 22-23 April
200m – SW 2 LILY BECKFORD 6th (SB 24.47 nwr)
400m – SW 2 LILY BECKFORD 2nd (SB 52.83) taking 1.81 seconds off her 26 February time, and is ranked UK No.9 in 2022

DEWY DONAT OPEN MEETING – Took place at Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA on 22-23 April
Pole Vault – SM GLEN QUAYLE U23 (Northern State University) 1st (4.98m)

MICHAEL JOHNSON INVITATIONAL – Took place at Waco, Texas, USA on 22-23 April
Discus 2kg – SM B GEORGE EVANS (Kansas University) 8th (52.74m)

UW-WSU DUEL MEETING – Took place at Pulman, Washington, USA on 22 April
110m Hurdles – SM JAMI SCHLUETER U23 (University of Washington) 3rd (14.84 w1.1)
Long Jump – SM JAMI SCHLUETER U23 (University of Washington) 2nd (6.84m w3.4)

MITIN SANTA CRUZ DE TENEFIFE – Took place at Santa Cruz, Tenerife on 22 April
100m Hurdles – SW JESSICA HUNTER 1st (13.81 w-0.4)

VIRGINIA CHALLENGE – Took place at Charlottesville, Virginia, USA on 21-23 April
5000m – SM 2 JAMIE DEE (Iona College) 24th (14:13.24)
100m Hurdles – 1 2 LILY PARRIS U20 (Princeton University 2nd Claim) 1st (SB 14.13 w2.5) taking .28 of a second off her 16 April time

CHARNWOOD OPEN MEETING – Took place at Loughborough on 20 April
Discus 1kg – SX ALEXANDRA BALTAZAR-HALL U20 1st (45.39m)
Discus 1.75kg – U20M PHARRELL HAREWOOD U20 1st (PB 41.46m)

WATFORD OPEN MEETING – Took place at Watford on 20 April
Shows all athletes that achieved either a SB’s or PB’s.
800m – SX 3 LADDIE SHAW U13 7th (PB 2:39.10) taking .03 of a second off his 2021 time, 9 SCARLETT KENT U23 7th (SB 2:22.87), MYA MAIRS-INGRAM U17 7th (SB 2:24.52), 10 POSIE SHAW U15 9th (SB 2:23.45), 11 EUAN PHILLIPS U15 3rd (PB 2:16.83) taking 7.98 seconds off his 2021 time, ARTHUR PHILLIPS U15 8th (PB 2:20.18) taking 4.40 seconds off his 2021 time, LOUIS PELTA U17 10th (SB 2:23.92), 12 THOMAS CADWALLADER U15 3rd (PB 2:09.58) taking 8.39 seconds off his 2021 time, 13 JACOB CLEMENT U17 2nd (SB 2:09.99), 15 JONATHAN BOARDMAN U20 6th (SB 2:05.86), 17 GILAD NACHSHEN U20 4th (SB 1:58.17), GIANLEO STUBBS U20 5th (PB 1:59.13) taking 2.05 seconds off his 2021 time, 18 LUCA STUBBS U20 2nd (PB 1:54.53) taking 2.27 seconds off his 2021 time

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. 

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Avondale Forest on 23 April.
EUAN PHILLIPS U13 2nd (20.44) this was his 33rd Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Du Bois De Boulogne, Paris on 23 April.
RUSSELL DEVITT V70 71st (38.32) this was his 220th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Gladstone on 23 April.
ANDREW HOLMES V50 197th (28.28) this was his 36th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Hackney Marshes on 23 April.
BARRY CHISHOLM V60 160th (31.35) this was his 242nd Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Oak Hill on 23 April.
STUART SINGER V60 35th (22.24) this was his 327th Parkrun, BRADLEY SINGER 45th (22.57) this was his 175th Parkrun, LILY PLASETT U15 160th (29.40) this was her 21st Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Victoria Dock on 23 April.
DAVID BOWERS 1st (16.08) this was his 2nd Parkrun, GLEN WATTS V35 2nd (16.09) this was his 13th Parkrun

UPCOMING FIXTURES FOR THE NEXT 4 WEEKS, FOR THE PERIOD THURSDAY 28 APRIL UNTIL WEDNESDAY 26 MAY – The current 2022 Summer Fixture Card can be found on the SBH website – http://sbharriers.co.uk/fixtures-results/fixture-cards/ – also the contact details for all Team Managers can be found on the SBH website – http://sbharriers.co.uk/athletics/track-field/team-managers

EASTERN YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE ROUND 1  – The first of four fixtures takes place on Sunday 1 May at the Woodside Stadium, Horseshoe Lane, Watford (Satnav Wd25 7HH).
Age-Groups Under U13, U15 & U17 Men/Women.
Link to the timetable – EYAL Timetable 2022
Note: You will have to be selected by your Team Manager, Those athletes who wish to compete as a non-scorer, please contact your Team Manager no later than Thursday 28 April as the declarations have to be in on Friday 29 April

NATIONAL ATHLETIC LEAGUE ROUND 1 – The first of four fixtures takes place on Saturday 7 May at the Sportcity Regional Athletics Arena, Rowsley Street, Manchester (Satnav M11 3FF).
Age-Groups Under U20 & Senior Men/Women.
Link to the timetable – 2022-NAL-Timetable-OTF-2
Note: You will have to be selected by your Team Manager 

MIDDLESEX YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE ROUND 1 – The first fixture of four takes place on Sunday 8 May at Parliament Hill Fields Athletics Track, London (Satnav NW3 2JP).
Age-Groups Under 13, 15 & 17 Men/Women.
Link to the timetable – Awaiting Issue
Note: You will have to be selected by your Team Manager.
To Be Confirmed: Those athletes who wish to compete as a non-scorer, please contact your Team Manager no later than Thursday 5 May as the declarations have to be in on Friday 6 May.

MIDDLESEX U13 UP TO SENIOR CENTENARY T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS – Takes place on Saturday 14 May to Sunday 15 May at Lee Valley Athletics Centre, 61 Meridian Way, Edmonton, London (Satnav N9 0AR).
As a general guide U17, U20 & Seniors will compete on Saturday and U13 & U15 on Sunday.
Link for on-line entries – https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2022/GBR/mdx-all/
Entries Close Saturday 30 April

NIGHT OF THE 10000m PBs – Takes place on Saturday 14 May at Parliament Hill Fields Athletics Track, London (Satnav NW3 2JP).
Established in 2013, the 2022 races incorporates the British 10,000m Championships and return as the British Athletics 10,000m time trial race for the World Championships and European 10,000m Cup. Taking place at Parliament Hill Athletics Track, it will also provide a key performance indicator for athletes targeting the European Championships in Munich later in the summer. Free for spectators against a backdrop of music and entertainment, the high-quality open races are sure to be an event for all the family. 

MIDDLESEX YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE ROUND 2 – The second fixture of four takes place on Saturday 21 May at the Finsbury Park Athletics Track, Endymion Road (Satnav N4 1EE).
Age-Groups Under 13, 15 & 17 Men/Women.
This is the link to the timetable – Awaiting Issue
Note: You will have to be selected by your Team Manager.
To Be Confirmed: Those athletes who wish to compete as a non-scorer, please contact your Team Manager no later than Thursday 18 May as the declarations have to be in on Friday 19 May. 

LONDON ANNIVERSARY GAMES –  Takes place on to Saturday 21 May at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London.
For full information on tickets and how to get there please use this link – http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/

EAMONN COUGHLAN’S GREATEST RACE – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website recently. Photograph by MARK SHEARMAN.

After suffering disappointment at successive Olympics, the middle-distance runner wrote a redemption story that has gone down in Irish folklore. I was living between Dublin and New York after I graduated from Villanova University but, after the 1980 Olympics, when I finished fourth for the second time, my coach told me to go back full-time to America and train for the first ever World Championships which had just been announced for 1983. And he says: “Go and break the sub (3:50) indoor mile because that achievement will be like JOHN WALKER or ROGER BANNISTER in terms of a milestone. And you’re an indoor guy and you love indoors.”  Disappointingly, I ran (3:50.6) (still breaking his world record by two seconds) and then, in 1982, I was injured all year with Achilles tendon problems and with stress fractures in my shin bone. Miraculously, I got cured in West Germany, thanks to THOMAS WESSINGHAGE, my great rival and friend, so from September 1982 I just devoted that following year to chasing sub (3:50) miles and the World Championships. I made sure I didn’t overtrain. I just kept an average weekly mileage of 80 and if I got that for 20-30 weeks a year, that was fine. [The focus was] definitely don’t go much over that and stay healthy. And that’s what I did. I trained in New York up in the Rockefeller estates in Westchester. I had my training partners there and off I went to pursue that goal.

No doubt about it, there was an excitement about the first ever World Championships. It was perhaps seen at a political level as a breakaway from the Olympic movement … ‘The IAAF are now holding their World championships – how dare they!’ But in terms of the athletes and the coaches, the championships was going to be one for all the nations who participate in athletics to be there with no boycotts, so this was going to be a standout event. There was a good vibe about Helsinki all that year.  My confidence level was on a high, because I had run the (3:49) indoor mile. That was goal number one. But number two, my dad passed away, my coach in America passed away and my coach in Ireland passed away – all during that period when I was injured. So, going in there, I was highly motivated to try and do what those guys always believed I could do, which was win the Olympic Games. But, instead, we’d be competing at a World Championships, which was going to be even bigger. The times that were coming back in my workouts were all showing really well and I was injury-free and fresh, but there were going to be heats, semi-finals and the final all within a five-day period. I had that in the back of my head: “Will these other guys be able to maintain three 5000m races in the Championships?”

I was very fortunate that was the perhaps the greatest era of athletics in Ireland at world level, both indoors and outdoors. Just before me, there was FRANK MURPHY and RONNIE DELANY and so forth. And then there were all the guys that went to Villanova, JOHN HARTNETT and TOM GREGAN. We were all very competitive. And then RAY FLYNN and JOHN TREACY came on the scene at a young age in college. JOHN was out to kick my ass. I always had to kick his ass. RAY was able to kick my ass. I was able to kick RAY’S. We all had a very good friendship and a strong rivalry that really helped us. That was certainly a major part of getting to a world-class level. Going into the World Championships, I needed it to be completely the opposite of the tactics which I applied in the heat and semi-finals in the 1976 Olympics, which I learned from. I’d kicked ass in the heats and the semi and then I came out in the final, took the lead after 400m and completely stuffed it up.  The tactics in Helsinki were just to barely qualify for the semi-final without using too much energy. In the semis, it was awful rain. I just focused on staying out of trouble. I told myself: “Don’t show any cards”. In the final, my plan was to not show any cards, stay in the middle to the rear of the field for the first eight laps and then, after that, it’s a miler’s race. With about three laps to go, DIMITRIY DMITRIYEV took off. I stepped behind THOMAS WESSINGHAGE, having moved up. No-one was going anywhere and then, with 500m to go, I decided to pursue DIMITRIY gradually. When I caught him with about 300m to go, I knew I was going blow him away because I was so fresh and so strong and sharp. My tactics played out perfectly. One move and one move only. I raised my fists and my arms in a gesture that was “Thank God, I got it for you guys.” That’s what went through my mind when I knew I was going to win. I was gesturing a prayer almost. Some people took that as me being a really cocky son of a bitch. But they didn’t finish fourth in the Olympics twice before that. I was going to win. This was my moment of redemption. I put my arms up again, kind of in disbelief, coming up the straight. There was relief in there, as well. The podium was a real celebration. It was about my whole life of training in athletics, racing in athletics, being mentored and coached. The memories of the people who had been around me all came flooding back. This was the greatest feeling, to have achieved something that I was told I could always do.

THE ART OF MIDDLE DISTANCE RUNNING – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website recently.

ANDY YOUNG, coach to Olympic silver medallist LAURA MUIR and Olympian JEMMA REEKIE, outlines what is involved in tackling disciplines from 800m to 3000m. Middle-distance running is a balance of several different elements. These include three types of running – endurance, speed and speed endurance – plus strength and conditioning and technique. That is universal. Everyone at every level can learn to improve their performance by improving each of the different elements.  

Anyone can run – In essence, everyone can become a distance runner of some sort and improve substantially by training, but the level reached will be mainly determined by natural ability. Distance running is perhaps more welcoming than, say, sprinting which relies more on whether you have fast-twitch muscle fibres.
You don’t have to be super skinny to be a distance runner. If you are going to be the very best in the world – that top 0.001 per cent – then the power to weight ratio is going to have to be on target but generally in middle-distance running there’s more scope for different types of body shape.
It’s a myth that skinny is always faster and will always produce a better power to weight ratio. That’s because of the need to ensure that the body is properly fuelled and not breaking down. For elite runners it’s a real challenge to find the balance which allows you to glide over the ground but without losing the power that you need to move yourself and also to provide enough fuel for the body to sustain the training that is required. 

It’s tough – Middle-distance running is not the most fun or the easiest discipline – it’s probably one of the hardest out there. It involves learning to work in that red zone when you’re really tired, your muscles are hurting and you have to learn to keep going. In time the body gets more used to it and adapts. Some people talk about training hard so that you can race more easily because training is where the really hard work is done.Jemma Reekie (FIDAL/Colombo) 

Developing speed – Speed can’t be developed in the same way that endurance can. It’s a lot easier to take someone who can sprint and add endurance than it is to take someone with endurance and add raw speed.
However, there is scope for every runner to get faster. I don’t mean that you can become as fast as DINA ASHER-SMITH over 100m, but through repeated work on technique and speed drills, week in week out – and this is something which is often ignored – over time your technique will improve and make you faster.
If you can run 400m in 50 seconds then doing a lap in 60 seconds is not going to feel that quick, but if you can only run 400m in 59 seconds then 60 seconds is going to feel pretty close to your limits. So you should try to improve your speed and your running economy because having a sprint finish or change of pace really helps a distance runner.   

Technique – Developing a good technique is important but it is not easy and it is not something that changes overnight. It’s about practicing repeatedly, trying to do something the right way, working on drills week in, week out. That can help the technique and help the muscle memory.
If you do things right repeatedly, over a long period of time your technique will get better. It’s incremental, seeing slight improvements followed by more slight improvements.
Old habits can still easily creep back in. To most people’s eye Laura Muir would have really good technique but she still has to work very hard to keep it at that high level.
Even as one of the best in the world at 28 years old with an Olympic medal, there’s still room for improvement. I still find myself pestering Laura about aspects of her technique. There’s no magical way of just walking in and saying “adjust this, change that” but it’s something you’ll be working on throughout your career.ra Muir wins in Monaco (Diamond League AG) 

Mileage – There is no right and wrong answer. One way is to approach it from a slower, endurance-based format with more volume, while the other way is more speed-based – faster but lower volume. I’ve seen both move towards similar results in the end. While those are quite different approaches in terms of total mileage, they both go back to the key elements.
If you approach it from the true distance side – having speed endurance and some speed – it’s going to help, while having endurance is still an important element of taking the approach of the faster but shorter mileage, especially as you get older.
You can’t say it has to be this, that or the other.
I tend to take the approach that everything is done slightly faster without a massive mileage. 

Gym work – For most of her career, Laura has done one gym session a week but I’ve recently put a second one in. I have put weights in for the first time. The session would be some kind of strength work, basically circuits, once a week throughout the year and we don’t necessarily shut it down in the track season. It’s always been a key element of the programme.
If you look at JEMMA [REEKIE] and LAURA you can see that they’ve got strong, toned body types and that’s from week in, week out doing the strength training. We haven’t worked on creating a lot of bulk but what you do see are well-toned athletes.   

Recovery – I always give my athletes one rest day per week. We train hard and we train intensely for six days and, having challenged the body that much, it’s important to give it time to recover. Also, if you’ve got any niggles or muscular issues then giving the body a day off gives it a chance to recover.
Recovery is something that I’ve always taken quite seriously. I might face an uprising if I tried to take away that day off! If I needed to put in extra work, I would prefer to do more in the six-day period and keep the recovery day rather than losing the day off.Andy Young with Laura Muir (Mark Shearman) 

Learning to race – There’s no simple answer to this but a vital thing is just racing. Take LAURA and JEMMA. When I met them, they were completely different athletes in terms of their ability to race.
I started working with LAURA when she was 18 and she was not in any way an experienced racer. It was almost a case of teaching her how to do it from scratch.
She hadn’t done a lot of racing and what she had done had not been in a particularly competitive environment so, when she was put in a track race with 10 other good girls, it wasn’t something she was particularly comfortable with or particularly knowledgeable about.
JEMMA had come through the club age groups and had done a lot more racing so she was a much more natural runner and racer in that environment. She was much more comfortable in it, so I had less of those elements to teach her.
A key element is just getting out there and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I am a great fan of the British Milers’ Club races, but there is also a lot that you can learn just running in club races which aren’t paced – learning to position yourself, making mistakes and learning from them.
It’s great if you can start at a young age, where it’s a lot more fun, anlearn where to be in a race, watch and improve. Sometimes it’s easier to watch a different race and point out mistakes rather than always going back and critiquing your own races.
When they are younger and at a slightly lower level I encourage people to race lots – indoors, outdoors, cross country, whatever. After all, racing is what you train for.  

Advice for young runners – In the training I have described so far I am primarily talking about what is suitable for adults. I would make quite a distinction between this and what I would advise for a younger athlete. It would be very easy for me to take a good 14-year-old and develop aspects of their running and make them appear like a potential star very quickly, but it would not necessarily be good for their long-term development.
I prefer a more balanced approach, waiting until the athlete has left school before letting them join my group when they are at least 18. Hopefully by then the body will have developed more before letting them train like an adult.
As youngsters it’s a good idea to be improving all the key elements – endurance, speed and speed endurance – and as an athlete gets older it may be an idea to introduce a bit of strength and conditioning through circuits.
However, it is of key importance not to try cram everything in at once and overdo the training as a younger athlete. At this age these various elements may be spread out over the year, with different focus at different times.
I’d rather see a well-rounded athlete at 18 who is not overtrained when they join my group, than one who has pushed their body too hard or too specifically too early.
What I’d like to see more focus on with younger athletes is working on technique and improving it. If you have worked on technique as a teenager then you are more likely to be better when you get older and increase the training. If you’ve already got better technique and better running economy, you are in a stronger place.
In the early years the way the body responds can be a bit different from that of an adult when exposed to training. Youngsters down at the track might do something that looks a bit more speed-based or less specific with longer recoveries, but even when doing this they may continue to see their overall aerobic and anaerobic capacity improve – even though they weren’t particularly working on that. Just going and doing a workout, doing a mix of things which don’t seem specific for distance running, can bring good secondary benefits.
However, by also doing the speed stuff and having more recoveries, younger athletes are also improving those elements of their running and that’s key for when they get to about 18 years old and are beginning to take it more seriously and becoming more specific in their training. By then they will have developed a wide range of skills and abilities.

DINA ASHER-SMITH – This is the photograph taken at last week’s LICC meeting at Lee Valley. DINA following her outstanding 300m race, to pose with 5 of our young athletes, from left to right MIA HIGSON, LUCY CAMPOS, SEAN SUTHERLAND, MACIE SUTHERLAND, DINA ASHER-SMITH, DAISY HARVEY-DEW and ALANA SAMJI.

UPDATE ON VOLUNTEERS – RAY POWELL has now advised me that the response for The Westminster Mile has been disappointing, and RAY has now advised London Marathon that the club cannot fulfil our commitment.
Regarding the Vitality 10k on Monday 2 May, RAY now has the 10 volunteers required, many thanks to you all, and enjoy your day in Green Park.

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS ON INSTAGRAM – Since the account was setup towards the end of last year, there has been an amazing amount of Video and Photographs contributed with many comments. The following is an update of this week’s contributions.

There are no posts this week.

BIRMINGHAM 2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES – You may wish to sign up to receive their Newsletter. Link – https://www.birmingham2022.com/register-your-interest/. This is the link to the current schedule for the 25 events – https://images.birmingham2022.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/11441664_CWGs_Daily_Competition_Schedule_FINAL.pdf.