Amber Valley Athletic Club

October - December 2009

Annual Awards Evening and Disco

This years 'big do' is on Saturday 7th November, at the Riddings Park Community Centre, Church St, Riddings (half way between Alfreton and Ripley), 7.30 to 11.30pm. With a 'Black & White' theme, attendees are invited to dress smartly to suit the theme!

Presentations of trophies will be made to those athletes of all ages who have had an outstanding year of athletics, as well as those athletes who have achieved Standards Grades at track and field, and to U11's achieving primary age grades, plus surprise awards! Presenting the awards will be Daniel Caines former GB international, Olympian and 400m world indoor champion.

Drinks are available from the bar and the ticket price includes a buffet and disco. Tickets cost £5 for a single and £15 for a family of up to four.

Tickets are on sale now from the payment desk or person at a training session at the track (Tuesdays and Thursdays), Sportshall (Saturdays and Wednesdays).

For the safety and enjoyment of all please note the following. Entry is with ticket only. The maximum number of persons in the hall must not be exceeded so for this reason tickets are limited and there will be no pay on the door entry.

The evening is a social time for all, and the event organisers will only be able to offer minimal supervision to under 18's. Single tickets will not be sold to those in school year 8 and below. To comply with our hire agreement of the venue, only drinks bought on the premises should be consumed. Thank you for your cooperation with these arrangements.

Come And Run!

The Cross Country Mini League kicks off on Saturday 7th November with the first race in the league hosted by 2DASH at Mount St Marys College, Spinkhill (not far from J30 M1). The league, now in it's ninth year, is
specifically designed for young runners aged 9 to 15 years (present school year 10's) and is great for novice and experienced runners alike. All AVAC members can take part.

If you've never raced at cross country before that's fine! Give it a go! The league is for Derbyshire club and school teams with a league trophy up for grabs to the winning team after the 3 fixtures. There are also individual medals for the overall top 3 in each age and gender group, so it makes sense to compete in all 3 fixtures.

The first race starts at 11am starting with the U11's, then working through the age groups. Distances are appropriate to age groups.

It's so easy to take part. Turn up at least 45 minutes before the start with a club T shirt or vest, find and AVAC team manager (usually one of our familiar coaches) pay £2, warm up (there will be people there to show you where to go) and then race!

Training will take place as normal at Ilkeston for those not wanting to do cross country.

Updated Club Records

You can now see the updated club records by clicking here - they include all the Summer season's performances.

Important News About Training

Please note that at training on Saturday 24th October payment, registration and training will be on the track ONLY. This is due to The Rutland Sports Park needing the Sportshall for a large event.

Training will be ON for ALL non-Recreation Group athletes regardless of the weather so bring appropriate warm, waterproof clothing as necessary.

Recreation Group athletes will also pay and register at the track, however their session will be cancelled if the weather is wet (heavy rain or showers on the morning). If this is the case athletes should not be brought to training.

Can You Help?

We urgently need a couple of volunteers who would be willing to man the desk to register our athletes and collect their training fees at the start of each Saturday and / or Wednesday session. Would you like to get involved but don’t want to coach?

This would be an ideal opportunity to help the club and our athletes. It would not involve every Saturday and / or Wednesday as we hope to get a small rota of interested people.

Interested? Talk to Nicola or Trev on the desk, or any of our coaches or email us at info@avac.org.uk

North Midlands Cross Country League - race 1 Markeaton Park 10th October.

The cross country season kicked off last Saturday with the first of the North Midlands Cross Country League races at Markeaton Park. The weather was excellent - dry, mild and sunny - this is often the case early in the season so we have to make the most of it.

Amber Valley turnout was disappointing overall with many runners either ill, injured or not available. However, it was great to see so many of our younger members competing for the first time in this event and there were some excellent performances.

In the U'11 race, Niamh Emerson was the first girl home but had to work hard to retain her lead in the closing stages of a very competitive race. Tamsin McGraw was the 2nd Amber Valley girl home in 7th place followed by Emily Coope (10th) and Francis Chatto (15th). Cara Brown unfortunately had to pull out part way round due to a knee injury. The first Amber Valley U11 boy was Daniel Knight in 6th place with Daniel Jones close behind in 7th followed by William Town and Jake Nicholson (10th and 11th).

In the U13 boys race Jethro McGraw had an excellent run in his first season as an U13 finishing 5th supported by Scott Slowic and Cameron Lane (22nd and 28th) both competing in a club cross country event for the first time.

Jennie Lockwood finished 24th in her fist race as an U15. In the boys event we had a very strong squad with Josh Rae finishing 3rd, Andrew Fenwick 10th, David Narborough 13th and Luke Turner 40th. The boys team performance was enough to put them in 1st place overall just one point ahead of Nott's AC.

Michael Bosworth was our only U17 man finishing in 27th place.

In the senior men's and ladies events we had Trevor Jolly finishing 176th and Wendy Ray 53rd.

The next North Midlands Cross Country League event is at Corby on 14th November - see North Mids League website for details.

Updated Fixture List

This is available HERE and lists dates of the cross country, Sportshall and indoor track and field meets our athletes are likely to be interested in.

Further details are on club notice boards or given as handouts at training.

Throws Area Opens for Business

After 3 years of planning, sourcing funds and much work behind the scenes, the wait is finally over for our new throws area.

It was opened on Saturday 26th September during the annual club Track and Field Championships. Around 150 athletes, parents, coaches watched as Mike Wallis, Erewash Borough Councils portfolio holder for Culture and Leisure Services cut the ribbon, assisted by 10 year old Jake Casey.

AVAC throwers Kelly-Jay Payling and Tom Bridge christened the shot putt area and the discus / hammer cage with demonstrations.

The throws area marks a successful collaboration between the club, Erewash Borough Council and the Rutland Sports Park and represents an investment of £29,000 by the club. The area is totally fenced off and is situated between the nearby municipal golf course and the adjacent track. Unlike most athletics tracks the astro-turf pitches in the infield at RSP make it impossible to hold the long throws from their traditional position.

Since the club relocated to Ilkeston in January 2006 throws coaching has been limited to shot putt only, with no safe place from which to throw discus, hammer or javelin which has severely limited athletes and the clubs ability to field athletes in these events in league competition.

The second phase of the development is already being considered with the plan for a purpose-built javelin runway to be installed within the throws area.

Sunshine and Success at Club Championships

The annual finale of the track and field season saw 60 young athletes taking part in the informal Club Championships at the Rutland Sports Park track on 26th September.

Amazingly for the end of September we were blessed with beautifully warm conditions for the friendly and not too serious business of one jump, one throw and one run to decide this years age group champions.

The U11 trophies went to two outstanding young athletes - Niamh Emerson and Ben Michell in their last track competition as U11's, both winning by comfortable margins from club newcomer Daniel Jones in 2nd and Tiago Geraldo 3rd for the boys and Tamsin McGraw 2nd and Emily Coope 3rd in the girls event.

In the U13 age group Imogen Cresswell had a runaway victory from club mates Molly Mee in 2nd and last years U11 winner Megan Bruce in 3rd. Jethro McGraw capped an outstanding first year as an U13 by winning the boys trophy with George Coutts narrowly beating Jack Allen to the 2nd place medal by one point.

At U15 Kelly-Jay Payling regained the girls trophy which she won last season, with Aimee Ward in 2nd and Jessica Turner in 3rd. The boys trophy was won by Rory Chambers in convincing fashion. Dominic Hare had the edge over Tom Bridge in taking the silver medal by one point.

Emily Allsop was the surprise winner of the U17 women's trophy from Lori Marshall in 2nd and Jodie Wills in 3rd, while Michael Bosworth won the U17 men's trophy with Ryan Newton and Alex Harker tying the points for silver.

Rounding off a great day of competition came the athlete v. coaches v. parents relays. Most of the coaches cried off with claims of varying life threatening medical conditions and injuries but a small team was mustered of Paul Smith, Deana Emerson, Tony McGraw and Michael Feeney.

The parents rallied to produce a team of keen but varying talent and the athletes team were ... well, just fast!

It would be wrong to suggest that the last race of the day was close, however for some reason last leg runners Michael Feeney and Ryan Newton celebrated their teams victories in Usain Bolt fashion in the home straight to an adoring crowd only to be caught by the fast closing super-charged Matt Bridge for the parents team. Who eventually won? Well nobody knows but it certainly rounded off a fantastic day!

Results HERE.

Presentation Evening

This years annual extravaganza is extra special as we celebrate the clubs 10th birthday. The theme this year is 'Black and White' and as well as presenting awards and certificates to our athletes we hope to welcome back those people who have played a part in the clubs first 10 years!

Tickets will go on sale at training very soon for the event at the Riddings Community Hall (last years venue) on Saturday 7th November.

Cross Country Starts Soon

There are lots of opportunities for all members of all ages to take part in cross country this winter.

The North Midland League kicks off with the first fixture on 10th October at Markeaton Park, Derby with races for all age groups, and as usual the club will be entering runners. Details of race start times and venues in on www.northmidsxcleague.co.uk.

Taking part is easy - turn up, find the club base (usually the club tent), let a team manager know, then RUN. No charge or pre-entry needed.

Runners in the U11, U13 and U15 age groups can also do the Derbyshire Mini League cross country series.

The first match is at Mount St Marys College, Spinkhill (5mins from Junc 30 M1, easy to find) on their purpose-built cross country course on Saturday 7th November. First races start at 11am, £2 charge.

Further matches are on 28th November hosted by AVAC at the Rutland Sports Park, and on 13th February at Moorways, Derby. There are medals for age group winners and an overall trophy.

Wednesday Training

The matter regarding availability of the Sportshall on Wednesdays has now been resolved with Rutland Sports Park.

We have been reassured that the Recreation Group will be able to train in the Sportshall 7 - 8pm on September 23rd and 30th. This group should register and pay in the Sportshall.

Those athletes who normally train on Wednesdays on the track who are non-Recreation Group will continue to train on the track on 23rd and 30th September. As from 7th October all athletes will register and train in the Sportshall until spring.

There is also a slight change to the format of sessions. Those older athletes who would normally do fitness work with Julie in the furthest court, this session is no longer being offered. Instead these athletes must take advantage of the Tuesday and Thursday sessions on the track. Fitness work will be done on Saturdays for this group as well as the usual event-specific work.

Athletes in the non-Recreation Group i.e. those moving out of Rec Group, new starters, less experienced etc, their session on Wednesday will be a variety of fitness-based work relevant to athletics, which will include some speed, throws and jump-type training but technical coaching (e.g. high jump, shot putt etc) will not be done.

Mini League Cross Country is coming soon!

Dates and venues to be confirmed very soon. Watch out for info on the website, noticeboard and letters given out at training. Local competition opportunity for all U11, U13 and U15 athletes of all abilities and experience.

Heart of England League

At the third and final match at Worcester on 6th Sept AVAC finished 3rd overall. The final league finishing positions in Div 1 are:

1st Stratford
2nd Rugby & Northants
3rd = AVAC
Worcester
5th Solihull
6th Bromsgrove & Redditch
7th Halesowen

The clubs females in particular have done very well, topping the overall female category and also winning the U15, and U17 / Women age group categories too.

Overall the U17 men finished 2nd, U15 boys 3rd, U13 boys 4th, U11 boys 4th, U11 girls 2nd,and U13 girls 2nd.

U11's Ben Michell and Niamh Emerson won one gold and one silver medal apiece for individual best performances across the three matches. Ben won silver for long jump and 'shares' the gold for the 75m with 4 other athletes. Niamh won gold for long jump and silver for 600m.

Young Athletes Inter-Counties

14 club athletes in the U13 and U15 age groups were selected to compete for Derbyshire in this annual match, this year at Nuneaton on 12th Sept. In warm and sunny conditions, watched by a bumper crowd, the Derbyshire team finished in 3rd place overall. All athletes were selected based on their performances in Mini League and the County Championships.

Performances of note from AVAC athletes came from the in-form Tom Bridge who won the U15 Javelin with a massive lifetime best of 45m and took 2nd in both the shot putt and discus, and Imogen Cresswell who won the B string shot putt breaking the existing club record by12cm that had stood since 2003.

Molly Mee and Jethro McGraw ran well to take 2nd places in their respective U13 800m races and a special mention to Ben Michell who made his county debut despite still being an U11. He finished midway in the U13 boys high jump against boys up to 2 years older than himself.

1st Warks 522, 2nd S York's 433.5, 3rd derbys 403.5, 4th Humberside 390, 5th Nott's 385, 6th Leics 378, 7th Lincs 340

Further Success for Feeney

David Feeney rounded off his decathlon season with a 2nd place finish in the Home Countries Combined Events International at Stoke. Competing for Scotland he finished 2nd to David Guest of Wales in the senior Mens event.

His performances across this season in decathlon also earnt him 2nd place in the UK Athletics McCain Combined Events Initiative. This nationwide, season long competition comprising qualifying events from mid May to the series final at the end of the summer tots up an athletes top best 3 performances. David wins £150 for his efforts.