WCAC Newsletter #303, 11-12-2020

NATIONAL FINALISTS!

West Cheshire AC has been named as a finalist for the England Athletics National Volunteer Awards Evening being held on Saturday 23rd January from 7.30pm via social media with Katharine Merry compering the whole event.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Many happy returns to the following Club members who celebrate their birthdays this week:

Theo Shepherd, Libby Wheldon, Emmanuel Isaiah, Chris Beckerleg, Alex Kearns, James Pascoe, Kate Simpson, Chris Wright, Nathan Broomfield, Luke Haslam, Sophie Haslam.

And Next Week: Fatoumatta Bojang, Conrad Payne, Andy Payne, Reece Munro, Steve Watkin, Brian Wright, Amber Millard-Smith, Scarlett Jones, Tim Palmer, James Haslam.

EPSV TRACK TRAINING IS BACK!

The Club has resumed EPSV track training under Tier 2 England Athletics guidelines. The Club has received permission from site operators, Brio Leisure, to re-start training.

Please look at the link to further information here.

MANY CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to Keely Smith for knocking nearly 20 minutes off the club’s female marathon record;

Chris Shaw and Michael Young for knocking slightly lesser-sized chunks off the MV45 marathon and M21-35 10k records respectively, and Tom Booth for setting the fastest known time for the club over 20 miles.

REVISED ENGLAND ATHLETICS GUIDANCE

Following the UK Government’s new national COVID-19 restrictions and the publication of bespoke instructions from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), England Athletics revised the current guidance for athletics and running on December 9^th.

HELP URGENTLY NEEDED FOR 2021 CHESHIRE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Cheshire County AA has announced that the 2021 County Cross Country Championships are planned to go ahead on the 20th February, at Betley Court Farm, subject to the current COVID restrictions continuing or being eased.

A Zoom meeting to discuss the event is scheduled for Monday 14th December at 7pm. If you are interested in the state of the planning, and maybe wish to offer volunteers for set up, marshalling or dismantling, please contact the CCAA Chairman, Andy Garnett, for login details at [email protected]

Unfortunately, because of the venue, the event has no host club and the event can only go ahead with the direct support and help of Cheshire Clubs. Last year, in a similar situation, most clubs provided volunteers.

Help is needed to set up, marshal and dismantle the course:

Set up will be mainly the day before, Friday 19th February, with final touches from 08:30 on race day, ready for the first race at 10.45. At least 12 helpers are needed to support 4 team leaders on the Friday and a similar number on Saturday morning.

Marshalling needs to be in place for the first race at 10.45. 7 marshals minimum are needed to support 3 key marshals for the shorter lap races through until about 12:45.

9 marshals are needed from 12:45 through until about 15:00. These will be in place throughout the under 20 and senior races. All these races are using the full, large lap. Those marshalling earlier could stay for these races. but there is an opportunity to change and relieve earlier marshals, if we get the support.

Finally, we need 16 people to help 4 key individuals to dismantle the course. This should only take 30 minutes from the end of the last event, about 15:00.

As many clubs as possible are needed with named helpers and an indication of the role they would like to help with or time they are available.

If you want to nominate volunteers, or seek further information about helping, please respond directly to Andy Garnett, or the volunteer coordinator, Nick Bishop at [email protected]

All roles need to be filled by the mid-January to be comfortable holding the event – so please respond promptly.

WIRRAL AC OPEN CROSS-COUNTRY FIXTURE

Wirral AC are planning to host an open cross-country fixture at Claremont Farm, Clatterbridge, on Saturday, 9th January. The event will start at 9am, Further details here.

2021 ENGLISH NATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS POSTPONED

The English Cross-country Association has reluctantly decided it is not going to be possible to promote the annual English ‘National’ Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill, London, on March 6th 2021 as originally planned.

Whilst there may be some degree of relaxation of COVID-19 conditions by then, it is not realistic to start planning and incur costs – both for clubs and their competitors and the ECCA – when the risk of limitations on travel and the size of gatherings continue to exist.

ECCA are well aware how disappointed Clubs and Athletes will be with this decision and we know how they enjoy the trip to London every three years but under the circumstances the ECCA had very little choice.

At this stage this decision is a postponement rather than a cancellation and ECCA are considering the possibility of staging the Championships once national lockdown regulations are removed.

To this extent ECCA are exploring the possibility of still holding the event at Parliament Hill on a date in the future and will keep Clubs and Athletes informed of progress when plans are confirmed.

The ECCA Championship Committee is also reviewing the practicality of promoting the annual Relay Championships which were planned for October 2020. Further information will be published if this review returns a positive conclusion.

NEW 2021 ROAD RACE FIXTURES DATES

Active Leisure Events Ltd as published the dates of their Chester Triple Fixtures for 2021:

ALDI Chester 10k – 18th July; Essar Chester Half Marathon – 19th September; and MBNA Chester Marathon and Metric Marathon – 3rd October 2021.

SUPPORT WITH TRAINING AND QUALIFICATIONS

Funded training is currently available for employed people who live or work in Cheshire or Warrington.

Fully covered for those who work for a company with under 250 employees (inc. self-employed), 40% funded for larger employers.

This really is a chance for people to access quality training and boost qualifications without the associated cost.

If anyone is interested contact Mark Shepherd on 07494 869 282.

RUN LEADER DEVELOPMENT DAYS…

England Athletics Run Leader Development Days is a series of informative and engaging workshops aimed at leaders and coaches from affiliated clubs and RunTogether groups. They are designed to bring leaders and coaches together in an environment where they can network and learn from each other by sharing skills and challenges, plus expand their knowledge of managing and growing groups, and enhance their understanding of technical skills in running.

For 2021, England Athletics will be able to offer virtual Run Leader Development Days online (working around the restrictions in place due to Covid-19). You can book your place now. More details here.

Please get in touch with Dennis if you do book on the course at [email protected]

ENGLAND ATHLETICS WEBINARS

Friday 11 December 2020 7.30pm – Pole Vault Coaching Q&A webinar (topics includecoaching journey, coaching philosophy, approach to coaching pole vault)

With Steven Taeleman (Belgian coach to Ben Broeders), Steve Rippon (Technical pole vault advisor to the Finnish Athletics Federation), Gustaf Hultgren (Swedish coach). Hosted by British Athletics National Performance Institute Senior Coach, Scott Simpson.

Saturday 12 December 2020 10am –Endurance – Let’s start with A Question of Performance. Considerations of athletic development. Hosted by Mark Brace

Monday 14 December 6pm –Youth Development Networking Group

Thursday 17 December 8pm –Throws –Mastering the fundamentals: Hammer throwing in clubs. Hosted by Gary Herrington

Sunday 3 January 2-6pm –Throws Masterclass webinar with Ashley Kovacs
Book now for a special masterclass webinar as Ashley Kovacs, coach to World Champion shot putter Joe Kovacs, joins us from Stateside for live presentations and Q&A sessions. Book your place on this exclusive webinar – with early bird discounts for anyone booking by 30 Nov plus discounts for registered members.

MENTAL HEALTH WEBINAR

Mental Health is important. Join a free informal Zoom webinar on Monday 14 December (7PM) with some of England Athletics’ Mental Health Ambassadors to look at how clubs & RunTogether groups can support mental health during the pandemic & beyond. Sign up .

DISABILITY INCLUSION COURSE

The @BritAthletics Disability Inclusion training modules are still available to book! The interactive eLearning course is suitable for anyone wishing to better engage & support disabled people in athletics & running. Find out more .

PLEASE HELP OUR CLUB WHEN YOU SHOP…

West Cheshire Athletic Club has registered with easyfundraising, which means over 4,000 shops and sites will now donate to the Club for FREE every time you use easyfundraising to shop with them. These donations will help SO MUCH, so please sign up to support us – it’s completely FREE and doesn’t take long via this link.

STAYING IN TOUCH WITH DAN GILROY

Our Club President, Dan Gilroy, rang Dennis Wall on Thursday to pass on best wishes to everyone at the club. Dan said he would welcome members to ring him and have a chat. His number is: 07594 464287.

ATHLETICS WEEKLY NEWS UPDATES

All the latest athletics news can be found on the Athletics Weekly website here.

HEATHER McLINTOCK’S REHAB EXERCISES…

Club member and physio Heather McLintock has provided a webpage developed for athletes to access over the COVID period. The link contains video exercises which can be used to rehabilitate whilst you can’t visit her at the practice.

HOME PENTATHLON UPDATE…

If you haven’t completed the Home Pentathlon yet, please give it a go and let me know how you get on.

VIRTUAL MULTI-EVENT@HOME COMPETITION

England Athletics has linked up with Sportshall Athletics to offer clubs a free to create their own Virtual Multi-Event @ home competition! Clubs can now use the Sportshall scoring system, and online OpenTrack virtual competitions platform, to create their own fun ‘at home’ challenges and competitions featuring up to 13 events.

With athletics training and competition currently limited due to the coronavirus pandemic, Virtual Multi-Event @ home provides a fantastic opportunity for athletes to compete against others from their own club or against other clubs, within their home or close-to-home environment and in line with government guidelines.

CATHRYN WOODALL’S WORK-OUT INVITATION…

Club member and Farndon physio Cathryn Woodall has posted crab walk and squat video exercises on her Farndon physio Facebook page.

Cathryn is also thinking of doing a Facebook live/Zoom video of a 20-30 minute exercise routine, if anyone is interested.

JASON OSWELL’S LOCKDOWN PHYSIOTHERAPY

Jason Oswell has been in touch to say he is doing Physiotherapy video consultations during lockdown. If anybody has any issues, he is prepared to provide a consultation to anybody from the club for £10. His email address is [email protected]

HELP AND SUPPORT

Anyone requiring help and support while self-isolating can contact the local council hotline number of 0300 123 7031.

This is a dedicated hotline number for those self-isolating and who don’t have anyone to help. A call to this number will provide help organising food or medicine deliveries, or some sort of social contact. The number for the most in need is 0300 123 7031. It is open Monday to Sunday (8am-7pm).

ALSO – Please feel free to ring me (Dennis) if you want a chat or need any help or support. My numbers are: 0151 201 1254 and 07968 643038.

UPDATED ONLINE ATHLETICS WEBINARS

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 4-11 year 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.

The link to other updated webinars can be found here, here and here.

STAYING FIT AND HEALTHY

The links below offer a range of advice on exercises we can all do while confined indoors.

MIND provides a series of workouts here.

Joe Wicks has become a household name with his daily online morning workouts which can be found here.

Sport England is offering tips, advice and guidance on how to stay active around the home on this link.

Youth Sport Trust is providing healthy tips including a series of 60-second Challenges on this link.

Realbuzz has provided strength and conditioning exercises to help avoid injury.

MORE GREAT MEMORIES…

This week it’s the Katharina Johnson-Thompson, Steve Cram, and Jenny Meadows. Enjoy…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DUDHgievv8

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6pHdqp_EiU