Saturday, 7 February 2009
Livingston AAC
I don't know how many club members look at the Forum on the scottish athletics website (www.scottishathletics.org.uk) but there was a post on the 'Non Athletics' bit. It was from Livingston seeking a secretary and treasurer - the posts would be paid with the fee to be negotiated and anyone living in the Lothians or close who was interested was to reply as soon as. This is quite a serious state of affairs - Livingston is a good club with athletes in all the league and open meetings as well as highland gatherings. Given that they have no one willing to take on the posts is a reflection on the state of Scottish Athletics as a whole. The jobs in question require someone prepared to take some trouble and do some work on behalf of their own club and it may be that we at Clydesdale take our own officials too much for granted. The work done by Jim Wright and the care he takes over the books, the time spent by Yvonne Green (and David) on club business as well as on the club website is considerable. Other Committee Members put in time as well and should be thanked. At one point in the very recent past the club paid an honorarium (about £125 a year?) to the holders of significant posts as a signal of how much we appreciated what they did. Maybe we should revive the practice. How can we help them? It would be a useful first step for as many club members as possible to go to the Annual General Meeting and at least show some interest in what they do.
Friday, 6 February 2009
LAP AGM - 30th January
Last Friday the Local Athletics Partnership held its AGM in Balloch Castle. Three clubs were represented (Clydesdale, Helensburgh and West Dunbarton with apologies from Milburn Harriers. Office bearers were elected as follows: President: Chris Colmar (Helensburgh), Treasurer: Vince Gardiner (West Dunbarton) and Secretary: Duncan McNeill (West Dunbarton). These were all re-elections. The only one that will have to be re-visited is that of Duncan who retires at the end of June 2009 and a new secretary will have to be found. The positions in the competition for the two Junior Cross Country competitions were discussed and the number of Clydesdale athletes in the lists was commented upon. Copies of the accounts which were eminently satisfactory are available from me if anyone wants to see them: I might just send them on to Yvonne anyway for the Committee to see. The Clubmark Scheme was discussed and it seems that all three clubs are in the same position - not all documents yet returned and no club had yet submitted the information to Scottish Athletics. Scottish Athletics is keen to get them in.
The new West Dunbarton Sports Development booklet is now available - very handsome in full colour throughout it lists all clubs in all sports in the County. Many have the slogan 'Quality Club' against their name and these are the clubs who have signed up to the Local Authorities version of Clubmark. The Sports Show is on 21st February in the Play Drome from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and the club will be represented there along with many other local sports outfits.
The next regular meeting is on the first Friday in March in the Play Drome at 5:00 pm.
The new West Dunbarton Sports Development booklet is now available - very handsome in full colour throughout it lists all clubs in all sports in the County. Many have the slogan 'Quality Club' against their name and these are the clubs who have signed up to the Local Authorities version of Clubmark. The Sports Show is on 21st February in the Play Drome from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and the club will be represented there along with many other local sports outfits.
The next regular meeting is on the first Friday in March in the Play Drome at 5:00 pm.
Scottish Schools Indoor Championships
Peter Bowman had a good day at the Scottish Schools Indoor Championships in Kelvin Hall on Thursday, 5th February. Running in the 800 metres he qualified for the Final where he was fourth in 2:06 exactly. The Schools Indoor Championship is open to every secondary school in Scotland and Schools can enter two athletes per event. To make it even half manageable, they only have two age groups: Under 16 and Over 16 so most athletes are competing against older pupils. First year runners (who can be as young as 11) race others who can be as old as 15 years 11 months! Peter is just 16 so he was racing guys of 17 and 18 as well as his usual opposition.
He was clocked at 2:05.3 in his Heat and then went into the Final where the finish was very close with the three in front of him having times of 2:02 (winner), 2:03 and 2:04. The winner was considerably older than Peter. His strength has always been his strength but Coach Dolan (American terminology - does it sound right?) has had him doing some sharpening up work over the past couple of weeks to get him ready. It was a good day for him and how he runs on Sunday in the Indoor League will be interesting.
He was clocked at 2:05.3 in his Heat and then went into the Final where the finish was very close with the three in front of him having times of 2:02 (winner), 2:03 and 2:04. The winner was considerably older than Peter. His strength has always been his strength but Coach Dolan (American terminology - does it sound right?) has had him doing some sharpening up work over the past couple of weeks to get him ready. It was a good day for him and how he runs on Sunday in the Indoor League will be interesting.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Club Membership Part Two
There have been several comments - verbal and by email - since the first of these posts and some of the comments will be incorporated into this one, the second and last! I asked what the responsibilities of athletes were to their club and to their coach - I was pleased that one of the emails said 'our club not the club' because how you see it reflects what you see as your responsibilities if any to the club. The phrase that I got from David Bowman when I was a new member was "You do what your club needs you to do." That's fine but different people have different talents and different responsibilities away from the club and they must be borne in mind.If the club is seen as 'our club' then we will want to do what we can for it. Let's take athletes first.
The club provides members with training partners who often become good friends socially, training routines, coaching if you want it, training premises, information about races and often help with expenses and even the occasional social outing such as Brampton - Carlisle. In return for that it is not unreasonable to expect the athletes to support the club in the few races which matter to the club and determine its status nationally. There are seven main races in the cross country season which should be supported by senior club members - the County, District and National Relays, the County, District and National Championships and the Six Stage Relays. My opinion for what it's worth is that all racing members who are fit enough to do so should support the club in as many of these races as you can. It's clearly not my opinion alone as Peter Rudzinski has run in and completed 25 consecutive Nationals and 26 consecutive district championships. All club members used to do the championships. There are people in the club who were at the Brampton trip last year, supported by the club who have yet to run in a championship for the club this year! Club members should also run in club races - the Sinclair Trophy, the Hannah Cup and the Championships. It doesn't matter whether you are 'good enough' -whatever that means. A bulk of club men on the start line helps the morale of those who are the counting runners, they can help the club's position - on one occasion I was fifth club runner in the County Championships and helped the team to first place because I was one place ahead of Dumbarton's fourth runner. The extra point made the difference. Running in major championships also adds a new dimension to your own racing experience that will affect furure racing wherever it is done. Basically I am saying that it is the responsibility of club athletes to support the club in as many championship events as they can, health and work commitments permitting. Athletes working with a coach should always turn up in time, appropriately clad for the upcoming session and be prepared to start the warm up on their own if necessary.
Wider than that, they have the same responsibilities as all club members in any club anywhere. The very least they can do is to attend the Annual General Meeting. This is where the club's committee is held to account, where an oversight of the club's business and activities is possible and where every member can have his/her say in the running of the club. Of course if you have the time and you can help the Committee, ease the lot of existing Committee members, and develop your own skills in that direction, then you should do that but I would suggest not at the expense of your own running.
The club provides members with training partners who often become good friends socially, training routines, coaching if you want it, training premises, information about races and often help with expenses and even the occasional social outing such as Brampton - Carlisle. In return for that it is not unreasonable to expect the athletes to support the club in the few races which matter to the club and determine its status nationally. There are seven main races in the cross country season which should be supported by senior club members - the County, District and National Relays, the County, District and National Championships and the Six Stage Relays. My opinion for what it's worth is that all racing members who are fit enough to do so should support the club in as many of these races as you can. It's clearly not my opinion alone as Peter Rudzinski has run in and completed 25 consecutive Nationals and 26 consecutive district championships. All club members used to do the championships. There are people in the club who were at the Brampton trip last year, supported by the club who have yet to run in a championship for the club this year! Club members should also run in club races - the Sinclair Trophy, the Hannah Cup and the Championships. It doesn't matter whether you are 'good enough' -whatever that means. A bulk of club men on the start line helps the morale of those who are the counting runners, they can help the club's position - on one occasion I was fifth club runner in the County Championships and helped the team to first place because I was one place ahead of Dumbarton's fourth runner. The extra point made the difference. Running in major championships also adds a new dimension to your own racing experience that will affect furure racing wherever it is done. Basically I am saying that it is the responsibility of club athletes to support the club in as many championship events as they can, health and work commitments permitting. Athletes working with a coach should always turn up in time, appropriately clad for the upcoming session and be prepared to start the warm up on their own if necessary.
Wider than that, they have the same responsibilities as all club members in any club anywhere. The very least they can do is to attend the Annual General Meeting. This is where the club's committee is held to account, where an oversight of the club's business and activities is possible and where every member can have his/her say in the running of the club. Of course if you have the time and you can help the Committee, ease the lot of existing Committee members, and develop your own skills in that direction, then you should do that but I would suggest not at the expense of your own running.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Mystery man??
Here is a photograph of one of our members - taken after winning an event in 1990.
Any ideas who it might be?
Club Championships
The field for the club Championships was better than I had expected with twelve competitors in the men's race and four in the women's event. There were contests in all the young athletes races from Under 11 to Under 20 with the exceptions of the Women's U17 and U20. The men's race was one of the best in recent years with Ian Robertson a worthy winner. The race started with Ryan Savage moving away early on but having to drop out shortly after the start of the second lap. That left Ian, John McArthur and John Kennedy in a wee group at the front. Ian soon took the lead and was never headed to win fairly comfortably with John Kennedy in second. It was good to see runners like Paul Carroll, John McArthur, and brothers Derek and Peter Halpin back in action. Ian ran better than I have seen him and with a bit more confidence and a bit more work he would be finishing much further up the field in every race. Pamela won the Ladies race from Ann Murray with Fiona McCue looking strong in third place, just ahead of Marina McCallum. If the top six or seven at least in the men's race turn out with Prasad, Gary and James in the National we would certainly have our best club result for many years.
In the younger ones races, Ryan Nelson got the reward for two years hard training when he won the Under 20 Men's race for the Cameron Shield, Peter Bowman took the Under 17 championship in style, Tony Dolan was suffering from tiredness after a football match in the morning but won from Lewis Woods, Under 13 David Newton confirmed his good running this winter when he just defeated Connor Shields and Andrew Hunter defeated Lewis Hay by only one second to take the Under 11 title.
The talented and consistent Rachel Busby had the expected win in the Under 11 girls race from Caitlin Reid who although quite new to the sport looked like a talent for the future, Kirsty Alexander won the Under 13 girls race and Claire Reid won the Under 15 race from shoeless Kirsty Kelly. Kirsty lost a shoe early on and decided it would be easier with no shoes than with just the one but still finished less than a minute behind Claire. It was a good day's sport over challenging courses made more difficult by being open to the winds blowing across the fields. Everyone enjoyed it and there were signs of good results to come in the Nationals at Falkirk.
In the younger ones races, Ryan Nelson got the reward for two years hard training when he won the Under 20 Men's race for the Cameron Shield, Peter Bowman took the Under 17 championship in style, Tony Dolan was suffering from tiredness after a football match in the morning but won from Lewis Woods, Under 13 David Newton confirmed his good running this winter when he just defeated Connor Shields and Andrew Hunter defeated Lewis Hay by only one second to take the Under 11 title.
The talented and consistent Rachel Busby had the expected win in the Under 11 girls race from Caitlin Reid who although quite new to the sport looked like a talent for the future, Kirsty Alexander won the Under 13 girls race and Claire Reid won the Under 15 race from shoeless Kirsty Kelly. Kirsty lost a shoe early on and decided it would be easier with no shoes than with just the one but still finished less than a minute behind Claire. It was a good day's sport over challenging courses made more difficult by being open to the winds blowing across the fields. Everyone enjoyed it and there were signs of good results to come in the Nationals at Falkirk.
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