April 2006

This year’s London Marathon saw three senior Tamworth AC athletes donning their running shoes and taking part in this awe inspiring event in near perfect Marathon conditions.

In the W50 age group Marie Wood, in her second London Marathon since taking up running two years ago, came home in a time of 5:45:24 knocking half an hour off her previous time.

Seasoned athlete Ian Rutherford finished in a time of 3:47:27 in the M40 section and new club member Michael Bywater , also an M40 clocked 4:44:12.

Five Tamworth AC Athletes were selected to represent Birmingham in the National Sports Hall finals last weekend.
  All five picked up medals - ten in total - at the competition, which saw 13 regions battle it out at the NIA.
  Ted White picked up four medals. He was second in the standing triple jump, the eight lap paarlauf and was a member of the under-13 boy's Birmingham team who finished second overall. He was also third in the six lap time trial.
  Stephen Parkes picked up two silver medals when he paired up with White in the eight lap paarlauf and the Birmingham team.Parkes also finished sixth in the six lap time trial.
  Tom Challis won gold medals as a member of the Birmingham team that won the under-15 boy's 4 x 2 lap and the overall team title.
  Challis also finished 12th in the four lap event, 22nd in the standing triple jump, 26th in the shot and was ranked 35th out of 93 competitors overall in his age group.
  In the under-13 girl's events, Sophie Taylor and Milly Kellyman picked up a silver medal each as members of the Birmingham team, who finished in second behind Essex.
  Taylor and the Birmingham team were seventh in the 4x2 relay and 14th in the individual shot event.
  Kellyman was also part of the Birmingham 4x2 lap relay team. She was 13th in the standing long jump event and 16th in the two lap time trials.

TAC's Danielle Norton won her non-scoring event as a reserve for Birmingham and we are sure to see her in action again next year.

Congratulations to Tamworth AC's National Junior League team who performed so well today at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, where they took a magnificent 2nd place.

This is the first year of the Midland Premiership Division. The National Premiership Division was split into 3 regional premierships in order to cut down on travelling. Tamworth AC gained entrance to the Premiership by having won the Midland League last year.

Birchfield, Bristol, Cardiff , Norwich and Nottingham were in last years National Premiership league.

The home club were competing against 7 other teams and the results were as follows:

1st Birchfield-502 points ,2nd TAMWORTH AC-437.5 , 3rd Nottingham-419 , 4th Bristol and West- 411, Joint 5th Cardiff and Tipton- 392.5 , 7th Mansfield - 339 and 8th Norwich-317.5 .

Photos on the website NOW.

The Herald held its annual Sports Awards night at Drayton Manor on Monday and it proved to be another fantastic success.
  Forty-four awards were handed out to winners from a whole host of sports and trophies for the overall Young Sportsperson, Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year were also presented.
   Tae kwon do world champion Andrew Deer was named Sportsman of the Year.

The Sportswoman of the Year for the second consecutive time is Tamworth AC athlete Meghan Beesley.
   The 16-year-old from Birchmoor was picked to represent Great Britain after becoming the English School multi-event champion and has been earmarked as a potential star of the 2012 Olympics.
   She was unable to receive her award on the night as she was in Spain on warm weather training.
   The Junior Team of the Year was the cross-country squad from Tamworth Athletics Club.The squad had recorded the club's best results for 20 years.

Athletics awards also went to TAC's Mark Williams and Nathan Woodward.

After the lunch special guest speaker Jeff Winter made a superb point during his speech.
  He highlighted the contrast between Tamworth AC race walker Mark Williams, who picked up an athletics award, and today's top Premiership footballers.
  Williams is at the pinnacle of his sport. He is the number one Welsh race walker and achieved the qualification standard for the recent Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
  However, a lack of funding forced the Welsh team to withdraw the race walkers and Williams' dream of competing in a major championship was over.
"I find it ridiculous that funding has stopped Mark fulfilling his dream and yet we have revelations in the national newspapers this week that Premiership footballers can blow £700,000 in one go on gambling," Winter said.
  Williams may not have got his moment in the spotlight of the international arena but he did get a few seconds under the spotlights of the Tower Suite as we honoured him and all our others awards winners on Monday night.

  

As the numbers training on an evening have continued to rise, the club has been presented with a welcome problem – there are too many athletes on the track at one time.

  This means that we aren’t able to offer the premium coaching service that we would like and also that there could be a serious health and safety issue.

   With this in mind and after much discussion and re-organisation  the club has operated a tiering or block system, as at sports centres and the larger athletic clubs, since  Thursday 3 November 2005.

Check with your coach or at the registration table to find out when you will be training.

Here are the new times:

JUNIORS/EARLY SESSIONS

6pm – Club Open	Junior multi-discipline squads
6.15-6.30pm	Warm up for junior multi-discipline squads
6.30 to 7.15pm	Junior multi-discipline squads with respective coaches
7.15pm	Junior multi-discipline squads finish

INTERMEDIATES/ SENIORS & OTHER LATE SESSIONS

6.45pm	Warm up	Juniors are still taking precedence
7.15pm	Track and infield available

Athletes will not be able to take part in both sessions as this defeats the object of splitting the times and it is equally important that older athletes allow the junior groups this uninterrupted use of the track.

This double session will allow the younger athletes to train on the track safely and to receive more individual coaching, the younger athletes will be able to go home earlier and to prepare for the next day’s school, the older athletes will have more space on the track and will not be worried about running in to the youngsters, more coaches will be available for the later sessions and the club will be able to add  another sprints hurdles group for older athletes, another long throws group and heavy throws coach and a high jump group to the groups that already meet.

Please be patient whilst this new system 'beds in' and if you are not sure at which time you should be training - ask your coach.

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The 2006 Tamworth August Open Meeting will be held on 28 August which is August Bank Holiday Monday. Entry forms are currently being prepared and will be posted on the website as soon as available.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP AND TRAINING FEES 2006/2007

All membership subscriptions were up for renewal on 1st April 2006. In line with the Midland Counties rules, athletes who have not paid their subscriptions by June 1st will not be able to compete or train at the club as they will not be insured.

The fees have been held for one more year at the 2005/2006 prices  and are as follows

                 Membership fees 2006/2007                         Training fees 2006/2007                               

Renewal forms will be available from the registration table in the clubhouse and the website .

What you get for your membership and training fees

The funeral of Jack Cross will be held on Thursday and family and friends are meeting at the stadium clubhouse afterwards. Therefore the club will not be open for training until 7pm . Consequently there will be no early training session on Thursday.

It is difficult for the club to inform every one of these changes so would you please help us by informing all your friends.Thank you

Club members will be very sad to hear that Jack Cross passed away in hospital at 6pm on Sunday evening 9th April.

A Book of Condolences has been opened on the website for club members and  friends to leave their messages . Click on the black box at the top of the front page, then click on new topic, fill out all of the fields, type in your message and then click on 'post new topic' button.

Jack Cross    1929 – 2006

Jack, who had been a member of the club since 1975, passed away on Sunday evening.

Jack fulfilled many roles at the club; athlete, coach, timekeeper, team manager, committee member, Vice Chairman and Chairman and friend to us all but it will be his part in raising funds for the track and clubhouse that will be his lasting legacy. Jack’s work in dealing with councils and funding agencies reflected his views that he competed in athletics to be the best and would not be defeated without a fight. His tenacity lead to one headline in the Herald describing ‘Jack the tough of the track’. This attitude has enabled the athletes of today to train and compete in facilities that are the envy of most clubs in the country.

He and Freda have devoted the last 30 years to the club and we are indebted to them both. Everyone connected with Tamworth Athletic Club sends to Freda and her family our heartfelt sympathy at their loss. We all know that Jack will be long remembered with fond and loving memories by all who knew him at Tamworth Athletic Club.

The funeral will take place at Mancetter Church, Atherstone at 2.30pm on Thursday 13^th April and family and friends have been invited back to the TAC clubhouse after the funeral service.

The club will not be open for training until 7pm on Thursday in order to allow this function to take place. Consequently there will be no early training session on Thursday. It is difficult for the club to inform every one of these arrangements so would you please help us by informing all your friends that are not here this evening. 

Five Tamworth AC athletes completed the tough course at the 46^th Boys and 38^th Girls English Schools Cross Country Championships which took place in Mansfield at the end of March.

    The Staffordshire team stayed overnight before competing in their events on the following day. In the Senior boys race run over three laps Lichfield schoolboy Tom Adams placed 158^th and Adam Bache 259th overall .

    Selected for the Intermediate Boys and Intermediate Girls events were Steve Deeley and Megan Jacobs who took 227^th and 295^th respectively in strong races against the best cross country athletes in the country.

    Steve Parkes representing Warwickshire in the Junior boys race found himself boxed in as he left the pen and was unable to move up the field to achieve his expected final position. He eventually took 202^nd place.

    This has been a long and tiring season with many successful cross country achievements made by Tamworth AC athletes. All the boys who competed in the above event are at the bottom of their age groups and therefore have another opportunity at this level next year.

Meanwhile in the Primary Schools Cross Country competitions Tamworth AC youngsters are showing which promising athletes are making their way up the ranks.

Warwickshire’s Anthony Parkes secured 2^nd place in the Year 6 race just missing out on 1^st   in an exciting sprint finish to the tape and Eloise Redfern took 3^rd place in the Year 5 event for Derbyshire Schools.

Although the weather outside doesn't give us much of a hint that summer is on its way, the outdoor track and field season for athletes at Tamworth Athletic Club is less than a month away, and on Saturday 1^st April a group of fifty talented athletes completed a training day at the town stadium to prepare for the coming season.

   The athletes, ranging from eight to fourteen years old, not only resisted the temptation to play April Fools jokes on the coaches involved, but successfully completed the day which included a running, a throwing, and a jumping activity and the Triathlon Agility Challenge. The activities included hurdling, high jump, and even pole vault, and many athletes took part in events that they hadn't tried before. The action packed day ended with a Tug of War competition and the presentation of certificates to the young athletes.

   The day was also a great success on the coaching front, with no fewer than fourteen Tamworth AC coaches involved, ranging from more experienced coaches to those just beginning to get involved and a number of helpers who all made a valuable contribution to the success of the day, which was not only a great deal of fun, but also shows there is a lot to be excited about for the summer.

   Thanks to Sarah for her organisation and to all those who helped out on the day.

 If you want to know more about training, competition or coaching at Tamworth AC please call Chris on 01827 287177, email tamworthac@aol.com or visit the website at tamworthac.co.uk