Happy Birthday from this Thursday 28 October to Rohan Bagai, Samuel Bordoley, Jessie Concannon, Shadine Duquemin, Edson Gomes, Bobbi Harrison, Ben Jackson, Simon Keene, Kieron Lee, Ted Ntibazonkiza, Freddie Ogilvie, Tommy Parker, Jasmyn Perrin, Richard Samuel, Kenan Stephens, Luca Stubbs, Katie Webb and Aimi Weightman

RECENT NEW MEMBERS – We wish you a very warm welcome, and a happy, healthy and successful time with Shaftesbury to EMILIA ECONOMU, DAISY FEINSON, ANNA FRIGERIO and ELI REICH

PARKRUN 150 CLUB – Congratulations to BRADLEY SINGER, who at the Oak Hill Parkrun on Saturday 16 October completed his 150th race.

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2021 – Notice is hereby given of the 131st Annual General Meeting of Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers to be held on Tuesday 30 November at StoneX Stadium. Link to notice – SBH AGM Notice 2021

SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS SUBSCRIPTIONS – SBH Treasurer GEOFF MORPHITIS has sent me the following regarding subscriptions.
Our new year started on 1 October 2021. The SBH annual subscriptions is £50 and the current England Athletics annual registration is £15. The total is £65 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. I will still be collecting subscriptions for the year to 30 September 2021 from those members who did not pay. Thanks GEOFF

NORTH WEST LONDON LEAGUE – The second North West London League takes place this Saturday 30 October at Uxbridge. Race headquarters being provided at Hillingdon Stadium, Gatting Way, Uxbridge (SatNav UB8 1ES).
Timetable – North West London League 12.30 U11 Boys & Girls (2000m), 12.40 U13 Boys & Girls (3000m), 12.55 U15 Boys & Girls (4000m), 13.15 U17 Men & Women (5000m). Numbers will be given out close to the start area.
Note: You do not have to be pre-entered, just turn up and run. Will any of our Female athletes please see JEREMY SOTHCOTT who will give you a race number

Map of the course;

Car parking and local transport;

Timetable – 12.30 U11 Boys & Girls (2000m),12.40 U13 Boys & Girls (3000m),12.55 U15 Boys & Girls (4000m),13.15 U17 Men & Women (5000m). Numbers will be given out close to the start area.
Note: You do not have to be pre-entered, just turn up and run. Will any of our Female athletes please see JEREMY SOTHCOTT who will give you a race number

Following our good start at Greenford, let’s see if we can improve on the performance.

NORTH LONDON CHAMPIONSHIPS – Takes place this Saturday 30 October at Uxbridge. Race headquarters being provided at Hillingdon Stadium, Gatting Way, Uxbridge (SatNav UB8 1ES).
Timetable – 14.00 Under 20 & Senior Women (8000m), 14.45 Under 20 & Senior Men (8000m). Numbers will be given out close to the start area.
Entries Close Saturday 16 October.
Note: You will have to be pre-entered by your respective Team Manager

SOUTHERN CROSS COUNTRY RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place last Saturday at Wormwood Scrubs.
Another excellent championships for Shaftesbury, with the best performance of the day coming from our Under 17 Men. From the gun HENRY DOVER took the lead and ran the fastest time of the race (9.12), to hand over a 17 second lead to LEO RONCARATI, who produced a solid run of (9.53) handing over a lead of 8 seconds to ABDIRAHIM HAMUD, with determination ABDIRAHIM produced the 2nd fastest time of the race (9.21) to lead the team to victory over St Edmunds Pacers. The Under 13 Girls finished in 9th place, with POSIE SHAW running the 2nd fastest time of the race (7.22), also the Under 17 Women finished in 9th place, with RUBY VINTON running the fastest time of the race (10.45). Finally, the Under 20 Men finished 11th, Under 15 Boys finished 13th and  Under 15 Girls finished 22nd.

Under 13 Boys (3 Legs of 2000m) – Team Result – 1st Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (20.49), 2nd Chelmsford (21.39), 3rd City of Norwich (22.35) 13 teams finished. The fastest leg of the race was by JAKE MEYBURGH of Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (6.25)

Under 13 Girls (3 Legs of 2000m) – SBH 9th (24.47) Leg 1 POSIE SHAW 1st (7.22), Leg 2 ERIN GIBLIN 8th (8.37), Leg 3 MEGAN HAMMOND 9th (8.48). The fastest leg of the race was by MAYA JOBBINS of Aldershot, Farnham & District (7.16), POSIE SHAW ran the 2nd fastest time of the race (7.22)
Team Result – 1st Chelmsford (22.30), 2nd Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (22.57), 3rd Aldershot, Farnham & District (23.02), 9th SBH (24.47) 16 teams finished

Under 15 Boys (3 Legs of 2000m) – SBH 13th (21.32) Leg 1 THOMAS CADWALLADER 16th (6.57), Leg 2 JACOB CLEMENT 15th (7.21), Leg 3 ARTHUR PHILLIPS 13th (7.24). The fastest leg of the race was by ALDEN COLLIER of Chiltern Harriers (6.11)
Team Result – 1st Chiltern Harriers (19.04), 2nd Holland Sports (19.41), 3rd Brighton Phoenix (19.41), 13th SBH (21.32) 21 teams finished

Under 15 Girls (3 Legs of 2000m) – SBH 22nd (25.46) Leg 1 MYA MAIRS-INGRAM 24th (8.02), Leg 2 PHOEBE MUSIC 24th (8.35), Leg 3 GRACIE ROSENBLATT 22nd (9.09). The fastest leg of the race was by PHOEBE GILL of St Albans Striders (6.46)
Team Result – 1st Aldershot, Farnham & District (21.13), 2nd St Albans Striders (22.23), 3rd Bracknell (22.25), 22nd SBH (25.46) 26 teams finished

Under 17 Men (3 Legs of 3000m) – SBH won the Gold Medals (28.26) Leg 1 HENRY DOVER 1st (9.12), Leg 2 LEO RONCARATI 1st (9.53), Leg 3 ABDIRAHIM HAMUD 1st (9.21), SBH ‘B’ 9th (30.40) Leg 1 MAX WINFIELD 14th (10.16), Leg 2 JOSHUA FISHER 10th (10.06), Leg 3 SPIKE BLAKE 9th (10.18), HENRY DOVER ran the fastest time of the race (9.12), ABDIRAHIM HAMUD ran the 2nd fastest time of the race (9.21)
Team Result – 1st SBH (28.26), 2nd St Edmunds Pacers (28.35), 3rd City of Norwich (29.00), 9th SBH (30.40) 16 teams finished

Under 17 Women (3 Legs of 3000m) – SBH 9th (36.44) Leg 1 RUBY VINTON 1st (10.45), Leg 2 ASHA HORBACKI 9th (13.19), Leg 3 RACHEL PEARLMAN 9th (12.40). RUBY VINTON ran the fastest time of the race (10.45)
Team Result – 1st Crawley (33.11), 2nd Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow ‘A’ (33.36), 3rd Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow ‘B’ (33.55), 9th SBH (36.44) 17 teams finished

Under 20 Men – SBH 11th (30.17) Leg 1 ASHWIN FOWKES-GAJAN 12th (9.44), Leg 2 DYLAN MICHEL 11th (10.03), Leg 3 MUKHTAR MUSA 11th (10.30)
Team Result – 1st Ashford (27.47), 2nd City of Norwich (28.19), 3rd Crawley (28.20), 11th SBH (30.17) 14 teams finished

Under 20 Women (3 Legs of 3000m) – Team Result – 1st Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (33.59), 2nd Guildford & Godalming (35.25), 3rd Aldershot, Farnham & District (35.28) 6 teams finished. The fastest leg of the race was by MOLLY LEWIS of St Edmunds Pacers (10.25)

Senior Men (4 Legs of 4000m) – Team Result – 1st Southampton (46.25), 2nd Guildford & Godalming (46.39), 3rd Newham & Essex Beagles (47.18) 31 teams finished. The fastest leg of the race was by JACOB CANN of Newham & Essex Beagles (11.11)

Senior Women (3 Legs of 4000m) – Team Result – 1st Wycombe Phoenix (32.24), 2nd London Heathside (32.36), 3rd Belgrave Harriers (33.34) 32 teams finished. The fastest leg of the race was by PIPPA WOOLVEN of Wycombe Phoenix (10.14)

BUCKS EPIC TRAIL 10k – Took place at Wendover Woods on 23 October.
CHARLENE JACOBS-CONRADIE V40 6th (45.52) CHARLENE is a recent new member, who in her first race for the club, finished 15th in the Metropolitan League at Claybury. Photograph shows a muddy CHARLENE who was the first woman to finish.

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Canons Park on 23 October.
LAUREN MALTZ U13 45th (28.29) this was her 17th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Cassiobury on 23 October.
MARTIN GREY V75 294th (32.32) this was his 21st Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Gladstone on 23 October.
JULIAN LAMY 1st (18.14) this was his 25th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Hackney Marshes on 23 October.
BARRY CHISHOLM V60 217th (31.27) this was his 217th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Newby Bridge on 23 October.
RUSSELL DEVITT V70 157th (33.40) this was his 199th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Peckham Rye on 23 October.
EUAN MACKENZIE 5th (18.08) this was his 5th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Poole on 23 October.
HUGH RICHARDS V75 507th (30.31) this was his 159th Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at Pymmes on 23 October.
STUART SINGER V60 19th (23.13) this was his 304th Parkrun, BRADLEY SINGER 20th (23.28) this was his 151st Parkrun

PARKRUN 5K – Took place at St Albans on 23 October.
CLAIRE HOBSON 53rd (23.51) this was her 144th Parkrun

SAC CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Charlotte, North Carolina, USA on 23 October.
8000m – SM MITCHEL COX U23 (Queens University) 13th (24.51)

CCSU MINI MEET – Took place at New Britain, Conneticut, USA on 22 October.
5000m – SM LIAM GARRETT U23 (Yale University) 11th (15.56)

CAMBRIDGE HALF MARATHON – Took place at Cambridge on 17 October.
PAUL LEWIS V45 261st (86.45)

ROYAL PARKS HALF MARATHON – Took place at Hyde Park on 10 October.
PAUL LEWIS V45 142nd (87.27)

NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS – Takes place on Saturday 6 November at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire (SatNav NG18 4JR).
Timetable – 10.45 U20 Women (3 x 2.5K), 10.57 U17 Women (3 x 2.5K), 11.26 U13 Boys (3 x 2K), 11.50 U13 Girls (3 x 2K), 12.15 U20 Men (3 x 3K), 12.40 U17 Men (3 x 3K), 13.06 U15 Girls (3 x 2K), 13.30 U15 Boys (3 x 2K), 13.50 Senior Women (3 x 3K), 14.40 Senior Men (4 x 5K).
Entries Closed
Note: You will have to be pre-entered by your respective Team Manager

START FITNESS METROPOLITAN LEAGUE – The second fixture of five takes place on Saturday 13 November at Stanborough Park, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire (SatNav AL8 6DF).
Race Headquarters – Adjacent to the Start/Finish at the south side of the car park.
Changing Facilities – There will be no changing rooms or showers. Toilets are available in the amenity block by the Splashlands playground. Extra toilets will be provided at the end of the car park, close to the amenty block. There are also toilets located at the Sailing Centre on the south side of the Park.
Refreshments – Will be from the kiosk in the amenity block on the north side of the park or from the cafe at the Sailing Centre on the south side of the Park.
Course Location – North Side Stanborough Park – See course maps.
Course Description – Start and Finish in grassed field, remainder undulating parkland course suitable for spikes.
Public Transport – Welwyn Garden City Station (Main Line) 1.25 miles.
Directions From Major Roads – Leave the A1(M) at Junction 4, (after the Hatfield Tunnel). At the roundabout take the second exit to A414/A6129. At the next roundabout take the first exit A6129. At the bottom of the dual carriageway take the second exit out of the roundabout. The entrance to the car park on the north side is on your left after around 100m. The entrance to the car park on the south side is more or less opposite but you cannot gain access from the left side of the carriageway. As early arrivers will undoubtedly fill the car park on the north side, you may be advised to go straight to the one on the south side.
Parking – There is a fairly large car park on the north side of the Park, adjacent to the course. There is a very large car park on the south side of the Park, 5 minutes walk to the course. These car parks are ‘Pay and Display’. You must display a ticket or you may incur a fine. We have not been able to negotiate a reduced rate.
There is a footpath under the road bridge, providing traffic-free access between the south side and the north side of the Park.
Access to both of these car parks is only permitted from the adjacent side of the carriageway. If you cannot find a space on the north side, to get to the south side you must drive to the roundabout at the top of the hill and return on the other side of the carriageway. YOU MUST OBEY THE TRAFFIC SIGNS
Timetable – 12.28 U11 (Over 9) Boys (1700m), 12.30 U11 (Over 9) Girls (1700m), 12.43pm U13 Boys (3000m), 12.45 U13 Girls (3000m), not before 13.00 U17 Men and U15 Boys (4200m), not before 13.05 U17 Women and U15 Girls (4200m), not before 13.30 U20, Senior and Veteran Women (7800m), not before 14.35m U20, Senior and Veteran Men (7800m).
Other Information – All clubs should arrive before the start of the meeting (12:28pm) in order for numbers to be distributed to each club. To be eligible to score, competitors must compete in the correct race for their age group. Competitors in the Under 13 race must be 11 or over on the day of competition.
Safety: Runners are not allowed to wear I Pods/Walkmans when competing.
Link to Metropolitan League Full Information, please read page 2 for details on Course and Amenities also Covid guidelines – Start Fitness Metropolitan League Race 2 13-11-21 Full Fixture Information
Note: You do not have to be pre-entered, just turn up and run.
Please collect your race numbers from the respective team managers – SIMON KEENE, JEREMY SOTHCOTT and JO KENT
Please go to Start Fitness Metropolitan League web site www.metleague.co.uk for final instructions if any.

START FITNESS METROPOLITAN LEAGUE RACE NUMBERS – I have been asked to remind you that your race number must be kept by yourselves, and is to be used for all 5 fixtures.

LONDON CHAMPIONSHIPS – Takes place on Saturday 20 November at Parliament Hill Fields, Hampstead Heath (SatNav NW5 1QR), nearest station is Gospel Oak.
Timetable – 13.15 U20 and Senior Women (6k), 14.00 Under 20 and Senior Men (10k).
To Qualify you must have to be (a) born in the Greater London area, (b) has not less than one year’s bona fide residence in the Greater London area, (c) has not less than one year’s continuous full-time employment in the Greater London area, (d) has not less than one year’s full-time attendance at an education establishment in the Greater London area.
Map of Parliament Hill and adjoining roads and stations, start of races close to athletic track – https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5596772,-0.1597202,15z
Entries Close Friday 5 November
Note: You will have to be pre-entered by your respective Team Manager

JO COATES AND SARA SYMINGTON IN ABRUPT EXIT FROM UK ATHLETICS – The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website recently.

IAN BEATTIE’S first week as governing body’s chairman sees departure of chief executive COATES and performance director SYMINGTON. The JO COATES and SARA SYMINGTON combination that enjoyed such success at England Netball has ultimately floundered in the more complex sport of track and field as their short reign as chief executive and performance director at UK Athletics came to a sudden end this week. The governing body released a statement at 7.30pm on Thursday (21 October) to say “they had given notice from their respective roles”. MARK MUNRO, the recently appointed development director, will become interim chief executive for six months, while the search will begin for a replacement for SYMINGTON, who after being with UKA for little over a year has now swiftly landed a role as head of British Cycling’s Olympic and Paralympic programmes.

IAN BEATTIE, who started his new position as chair of UKA this week, said: “I’d like to thank JO and SARA for their work during their time at UK Athletics and I wish them both all the best for the future.” The news was met with anger from elite athletes on social media, too, with a number voicing frustration that they merely heard via twitter that SYMINGTON was moving to British Cycling. It is unclear whether they jumped or were pushed but it seems more likely to be the latter and it is perhaps no coincidence that Beattie began his role in the past few days. COATES and SYMINGTON both worked together to good effect in netball prior to joining UKA, but adapting to athletics has proved challenging. Where netball is popular and female-dominated team sport that is played by only a handful of countries across the world, athletics is the most globally competitive sport on the planet, the biggest Olympic sport and a complicated ‘sport of many sports’ with sprinters, hurdlers, endurance runners, race walkers, throwers and jumpers tackling widely varied disciplines. In addition, there are multiple organisations in athletics with a rich history of in-fighting, together with a number of maverick coaches with strong personalities to deal with.

Since COATES began her role at UKA in spring 2020, she tried to apply some of the ideas and principles she learned in netball to athletics – including the appointment of SYMINGTON to work alongside head coach CHRISTIAN MALCOLM, but judging by today’s news it is deemed not to have worked.  COATES made safeguarding her No.1 priority and made good progress in this area, whereas she was also instrumental in helping create the Athletics Unified 12-year plan with the ambitious goal of fielding athletes in every single track and field discipline at major championships. It did not start well, though, with only six medals – and no golds – at the Tokyo Olympics, with that tally likely to reduce to five medals due to CJ UJAH’S drugs positive. BBC’s long-time coverage of the sport has also stopped during her tenure, with the Olympic trials this summer being streamed on the governing body’s own website. If 2020 was her honeymoon period with athletics then more recently the media pressure has cranked up with much negative publicity given to an incident at the Diamond League finals in Zurich where leading athletes and coaches expressed their concerns about UKA’s leadership to none other than World Athletics president SEB COE. Even when trying to do the right thing, by improving safeguarding, she has found herself under fire. She was heavily criticised, for instance, by CHARLIE WEBSTER on social media when the documentary Nowhere to run: abused by our coach was aired on BBC last month.

In COATES’ defence, she started her role in unprecedented circumstances just a few days before Tokyo 2020 was postponed. She also had to run her organisation primarily by using online video conference calls and was under pressure to cut costs, leading to a number of redundancies, some of which raised eyebrows within the sport as experienced athletics experts at UKA lost their jobs. In addition, COATES could argue she has not been given enough time. Her period in charge has been punctuated by a number of controversial incidents, too, but UKA and its predecessors have never been too far away from trouble over the years. When DAVID MOORCROFT became chief executive in 1997, for example, he inherited a governing body (the British Athletic Federation) that was literally poised to go bankrupt days later. The headlines at the time screamed “BAF goes bust!” and domestic televised events were briefly a laughing stock as the world’s top athletes boycotted them due to being owed money. Moorcroft began to turn things around with the help of UKA’s London-based marketing arm Fast Track but even then had to deal with a spate of nandrolone positives to big name athletes, the Picketts Lock fiasco of 2001 and the Foster Report of 2004 where the architect of the review, Sir ANDREW FOSTER, spoke of a sport riddled with endless “political infighting”. Yet MOORCROFT left the role after 10 years and was generally lauded. Such a tough job has multiple challenges and the last 18 months under COATES look tame in comparison. Whether COATES should have been given more time is debatable. Yet surely everyone can agree on two things. Firstly, that the sport has squandered a golden opportunity during the lockdowns and comparatively quiet competitive period of 2020 to restructure and rebuild the sport almost from scratch. Secondly, that netball tactics don’t necessarily work in track and field.

NORTH WEST LONDON LEAGUE – My next challenge is compiling the Club Team wins for the period 2009 to 2021, could be my Christmas present to you all. But hopefully sooner.

These are the documents that were used in the NWLL statistics;
Girls/Women Individual Wins – Q North West London League Women’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 11 Girls)  Q North West London League Women’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 13 Girls)  Q North West London League Women’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 15 Girls)  Q North West London League Women’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 17 Women)  Q North West London League Women’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Women’s All Age-Groups Summary)
Boys/Men Individual Wins – P North West London League Men’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 11 Boys)  P North West London League Men’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 13 Boys)  P North West London League Men’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 15 Boys)  P North West London League Men’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Under 17 Men)  P North West London League Men’s Individual Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Men’s All Age-Group Summary)
Girls/Women and Boys/Men Team Analysis – R North West London League Men’s And Women’s Combined Individual Team Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Men’s Team Analysis)  R North West London League Men’s And Women’s Combined Individual Team Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Women’s Team Analysis)  R North West London League Men’s And Women’s Combined Individual Team Winners From 2009 to 2020 (Men And Women Team Analysis)

Link to the NWLL website which has the results from 2009 to 2020 – http://www.british-athletics.co.uk/nwll/

BIRMINGHAM 2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES, OPEN FOR VOLUNTEERS – Birmingham 2022 are looking for more than 13,000 spirited, dedicated and dynamic volunteers to be the heartbreak of the Commonwealth Games, a community of passionate people coming together to help deliver the biggest sporting and cultural event the West Midlands have ever seen. As part of the Commonwealth Collective, you’ll be the public face of Birmingham 2022, the heart and soul of the Games experience for athletes, officials, spectators, and a global audience of more than one billion.
For more information on volunteering, this is the link – https://www.birmingham2022.com/get-involved/volunteering/