Marina McCallum recently ran a very good marathon in a time of 3:26. The question is, how does that compare with club men's times? It is hard to compare and you probably can't get an exact comparison but if we use the International Scoring Tables which give points for times, distances and heights in events for both men and women we get the following.
Three Hours for Men gets you 373 points. 373 points for women are allocated for 3:46:03. So Marina (326 which equals 3:04:18) is almost on the three hours. Kath is reported to be even faster so I'll just list some times and equivalent points.
Three hours for a woman is equal in the tables to 776 points: 776 points for a man equal 2:31:21.
3:10:00 for a woman = 2:37:35 for a man; and
3:15:00 for a woman = 2:40:41 for a man.
So there you are: not exact but as near exact as athletics can get. So well done Marina and Kath!
Saturday, 6 November 2010
G.U. Road Race
I went to the Glasgow University Road Race this afternoon - the first race that I had attended this year for several reasons and saw some good running. Paul Carroll won the Clydesdale race-within-a-race when he was nine or ten seconds up on Gerry Montgomery. What a contrast in running styles there and then in came Iain Robertson looking very comfortable followed by Marina, Bobby and Colin and I thought I saw young Bobby Rosborough as well. But it was pointed out to me that Kevin Farmer ran as well - but in a yellow vest. What was that all about? I trained in a multitude of vests but when I raced I always, always wore a club vest. It is possible, in fact usual, for a runner to be ruled ineligible for any award if he/she runs in a vest other than their club vest or an international vest. I once organised an 800 metres race at Meadowbank for the BMC which was won by Paul Forbes. He set a new Scottish native and allcomers record for the distance of 1:46 but the record was disallowed because he wore a pink vest and not his club vest. Sandy MacNeil almost had a go at a famous official who accused him of running for Clydesdale Harriers in a different vest. Were we to be among the prizes, and a runner wearing the wrong vest was a counter, we would not have got the award and two others would have lost out. In a race, always wear the club vest. (It's often a good idea for runners or supporters to have a spare vest in their hip pocket just in case ..........................
Friday, 5 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Coaching Courses.
The system for coaches gaining qualifications has changed again - there was a successful system in place for about twnety five years - there has now been three or four different systems in about six years! The original and best was (a) do the Assistant Club Coach Course; (b) do the Club Coach Course and (c) Do the senior coach course. It was simple, straightforward and worked well. They then split tha Assistant CC into Club Coach Level 1 and Club Coach Level 2: so you then had to do two courses to get what had been the basic award! Even after two courses you were still at the old ASSISTANT Club Coach! The most recent version has been inspired by an assortment of UK Governing Bodies and starts from the premiss that all sports (rugby, tennis, swimming, football, cycling, etc) all have elements on commone and so they should have almost identical training courses for coaches. The result is one that suits nobody - and as is the way, costs a fortune. I think from memory that it is £150 for Level 1 and£350 for Level 2: by the time you get to Level 4 (Senior Coach in oldspeak) it is four figures 1e £1000 plus. There is some considerable debate about the system on both sides of the Border.
What would I recommend to any new coach? Well (1) all coaches must have insurance and all coaches must have their enhanced disclosure check. Both can be done through the club if the committee set up the proper structures. It would also be worth enquiring what the club insurance is through UK Athletics: all affiliated clubs are insured and we would need to know how much.
(2) All coaches need input: the number of coaches who say 'I don't need to go to courses, do any reading, mix with other coaches because I have my own ideas' is big and is deluded. Not every coach knows everything and, as they say, why should the athlete be restricted by the coach's limitations? All coaches need to upgrade and add to their information and knowledge base. They also need to do some networking if they want to get their runners into the appropriate competitions.
So the club needs to be prepared to sub coaches to go to courses and coaches need to put some priority on attending courses, conferences at least three times a year. Three days from 365 is not a lot to ask.
Mind you, in the first place we need to recruit the coaches ...................... Who has been encouraging Donna, Paul, Mary Ann, etc in recent months? And idyou go ona course, don't keep it a secret - get into action - a paper qualification without some actual practical with a few athletes on a quiet track is useless.
What would I recommend to any new coach? Well (1) all coaches must have insurance and all coaches must have their enhanced disclosure check. Both can be done through the club if the committee set up the proper structures. It would also be worth enquiring what the club insurance is through UK Athletics: all affiliated clubs are insured and we would need to know how much.
(2) All coaches need input: the number of coaches who say 'I don't need to go to courses, do any reading, mix with other coaches because I have my own ideas' is big and is deluded. Not every coach knows everything and, as they say, why should the athlete be restricted by the coach's limitations? All coaches need to upgrade and add to their information and knowledge base. They also need to do some networking if they want to get their runners into the appropriate competitions.
So the club needs to be prepared to sub coaches to go to courses and coaches need to put some priority on attending courses, conferences at least three times a year. Three days from 365 is not a lot to ask.
Mind you, in the first place we need to recruit the coaches ...................... Who has been encouraging Donna, Paul, Mary Ann, etc in recent months? And idyou go ona course, don't keep it a secret - get into action - a paper qualification without some actual practical with a few athletes on a quiet track is useless.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Action, Please.
I was at the Scottish Athletics Awards Presentation and Dinner on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. Apart from the great and the good of Scottish Athletics as at present set up, many of the very best athletes in the country were also there from the top veterans (Darren Scott got the award) to the best of the Commonwealth Games athletes (Steph Twell got two and Eilidh Childs got one). There were many runners and former runners in attendance and Daley Thomson was the Guest of Honour. Tables had been taken by Central AC, Shettleston Harriers and Inverclyde among others. Not many clubs were not represented but, I'm sorry to say, Clydesdale Harriers was among that number. When I joined the club - and right up until almost the start of the 21st century - we always had a representative or two at all of these occasions. At £39 a person, it was only £390 per table and we could easily afford that. Go to a hotel in Glasgow, eat your dinner, clap the award winners, maybe dance at the ceilidh and go home. How difficult is that? And CLYDESDALE HARRIERS is mixing with the best in the sport in the country and getting seen to be there.
It got me thinking about how the club has been shrinking unnecessarily in recent years.
* We have no one attending West District meetings;
* Our attendance at County Association meetings is better than it was but not as good as it used to be;
* We used to host many cross-country championships: county, district, Scottish vets, Scottish Schools and even the world championships have all been hed in Clydebank in the past - why not now?
* We used to organise the County Schools but that has been handed to the LAP;
* We used to have races for young athletes in conjunction with the Dunky Wright - why not now?
That's just a start - I could go on for much longer. In particular we are letting the young athletes in the club down by not hosting these championships and races aimed at the younger generation but we are enthusiastically promoting 5000 and 10000 races for seniors and joggers.
First suggestion: put on a 3000 for young athletes on the day of the Dunky Wright;
Second suggestion: get really involved in the County Schools and encourage local schools.
Remember we as Clydesdale Harriers
* were the first ever club in Scotland;
* were the first club in Scotland to have a Junior (ie Under 20) section;
* were one of the first three clubs in Scotland to form a women's section;
* in organising the Youth Ballot Team race for U17's after the war were organising one of the very first races for that age group in the country;
* were the club who proposed to the AGM of the SAAA that there be a national championship for U15's.
So why the lack of initiative now? I say to the Committee that we must develop as a club and we really must do more for the younger athletes.
It got me thinking about how the club has been shrinking unnecessarily in recent years.
* We have no one attending West District meetings;
* Our attendance at County Association meetings is better than it was but not as good as it used to be;
* We used to host many cross-country championships: county, district, Scottish vets, Scottish Schools and even the world championships have all been hed in Clydebank in the past - why not now?
* We used to organise the County Schools but that has been handed to the LAP;
* We used to have races for young athletes in conjunction with the Dunky Wright - why not now?
That's just a start - I could go on for much longer. In particular we are letting the young athletes in the club down by not hosting these championships and races aimed at the younger generation but we are enthusiastically promoting 5000 and 10000 races for seniors and joggers.
First suggestion: put on a 3000 for young athletes on the day of the Dunky Wright;
Second suggestion: get really involved in the County Schools and encourage local schools.
Remember we as Clydesdale Harriers
* were the first ever club in Scotland;
* were the first club in Scotland to have a Junior (ie Under 20) section;
* were one of the first three clubs in Scotland to form a women's section;
* in organising the Youth Ballot Team race for U17's after the war were organising one of the very first races for that age group in the country;
* were the club who proposed to the AGM of the SAAA that there be a national championship for U15's.
So why the lack of initiative now? I say to the Committee that we must develop as a club and we really must do more for the younger athletes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
