June 2007

The Annual Open Meeting entry forms will be available soon from the website but in the meantime they are now available in pdf format by emailing tamworthac@aol.com

Please note - There have been 2 minor changes to the original form. They are:

Early form lists Under 13 boys 1000m and should read 1500m

Early form lists Under 13 girls 1000m and should read 1200m

Seven Tamworth AC athletes won titles at the Staffordshire County Schools Championship in Cannock last week.

Milly Kellyman won her heat of the 100m in 13.4secs and went on claim gold in the final of the under-15 girls' race in a time of 13.1secs.

Newcomer Lauren Hall won the 3,000m for under-17 girls in a time of 11:42.9mins.

Luke Roughley won the under-15 boys' 800m in a personal best time of 2:08.0mins and Brett Cash won the under-15 boys' pole vault with a personal best of 2m.

Dan Cash won the senior boys' 400m in 52.3secs, Simon King won the senior boys' 3,000m in 9:36.1mins and Brett Byrd, the Midland Champion, added another title to his collection when he won the javelin with a throw of 56.87m.

Silver medals went to Sophie Taylor and Elyse Jinks.

Taylor won her heat of the 200m in 27.1secs and went on to finish runner-up in the final in a time of 27.2secs.

Jinks made it a one-two for Tamworth in the 3,000m when she took second place behind Lauren Hall in 13:05.7mins.

Bronze medals went to Meghan Jacobs and Chris Boden.

Jacobs finished in third place in the senior girls' 1,500m in 5:27.9mins and Boden finished third in the under-17 boys' 200m in 24.3secs.

Boden also picked up a fourth place in the 400m in 54.4secs.

Adam McGee and Samantha Storey also claimed fourth places.

McGee clocked a personal best time of 26.3secs in the under-15 boys' 200m and Storey a personal best jump of 4.40m in the long jump.

Storey also gained another personal best in the 75m hurdles when she ran a time of 13.9secs.

Lauren Mann took fifth place in the under-15 girls' 1,500m in a personal best time of 5:24.6mins.

Kellyman finished in sixth place in the long jump with a leap of 4.12m and Sophie Taylor occupied the same place in the shot with a personal best of 7.69m.

In the West Midlands Schools Championships at Birmingham, Ben Horsley took fourth place in his heat of the 100m in a personal best time of 11.6secs, fourth place in his heat of the 200m in a personal best 23.0secs and seventh place in the final of the 200m in 23.6secs.

Tamworth Athletic Club is very pleased to announce that following an emergency meeting,  a group of club members and supporters have answered the call for helpers to coordinate the annual Tamworth Open Meeting which will now go ahead on Bank Holiday Monday, 27th August 2007.

Entry forms will be emailed to clubs and appear on the club website very soon. Individuals should contact tamworthac@aol.com for an email copy.

Tamworth AC stars Alex Berrow, Jordon Roach, Stephen Parkes, Tom Challis and Hollie Owen all picked up titles in their respective county schools championships over the weekend.

Berrow won the Staffordshire hammer title with a fine personal best throw of 54.03m - a qualifying standard for the European Junior trials at Bedford in a couple of weeks time.

Roach won the West Midland Schools' under-15 boys high jump title with a clearance of 1.70m and Parkes won the Warwickshire Schools under-15 boys 1,500m in a personal best time of 4:20.5mins.

Owen claimed victory in the Warwickshire senior girls 400m in a best time of the season of 58.1secs, which was also a personal best.

Challis won the Warwickshire Intermediate Boys 400m hurdles title and took third place in the 400m when he equalled his personal best of 52.4secs.

He also claimed another third place in the long jump with a leap of 5.51m.

Hannah Sargeant finished in third place in the Warwickshire Intermediate Girls 80m hurdles in a time of 13.8secs and was fifth in the high jump with a clearance of 1.40m.

Josie Cassar, in her first schools championships, took sixth place in the 75m hurdles in a personal best time of 14.1secs.

Meanwhile, Tamworth race walker Mark Williams smashed his own British record when claiming the men's 5km walk title at the Midland Masters Championships in Solihull last weekend.

His winning time was 21:46.90mins.  

Kristian Edwards claimed a medal in the Lothersdale Fell Race recently and is now lying in second place overall in the under-12 section of the English Fell Running Championships.

The fell running Tamworth AC athlete, who also competes for the club in cross country, track and field and Sports:hall athletics, claimed second position in the challenging race which was punctuated with several sharp uphill and downhill sections over 2km.

Edwards caught the leader, James Knox, on the last downhill run and finished only three seconds behind his opponent who hails from Helm Hill in the heart of fell running country.

Tamworth AC's men's and women's teams earned themselves a place in the National British Athletic League Cup semi-finals when both finished in second place in their first round matches at Cannock.

In the women's match, Alana Smetham won the hammer competition with a best throw of the season of 38.01m.

Smetham also took fourth place in the shot with 6.73m.

Pupils at primary schools across Tamworth had the opportunity to take part in a 'taster' pre-sports day session, organised by Tamworth Athletics Club last week.

Seven primary schools took up the chance to send ten pupils each and young athletes were coached in four disciplines - 75m, long jump, relay baton and throwing in preparation for the annual Primary Schools Sports days, hosted by Tamworth AC each year.

The afternoon sessions were followed up by the ever popular 'tug of war' competition which involved pupils, staff and coaches enjoying the friendly competition and experience.

Help Our Club Win £50,000 With The Norwich Union  ‘Join Our Team’ Project

IF you have access to e-mail and the Internet then you will be able to vote for Tamworth AC’s exciting new initiative (see below).

Take a look at the Norwich Union "Join our Team" campaign

On behalf of the committee, John Graves, Tamworth AC’s Chairman, has recently applied for some funding via a Norwich Union "Join our Team" campaign. If successful, the funding will part fund a much needed indoor training centre that will contain facilities for jumping, vaulting, throwing, sprinting, hurdling and conditioning. The club has already raised £75,000 and has applied for further funding from two other sources.

This project for the indoor training centre will go a long way to raising the standards of support that we are able to give to the athletes in Tamworth and the surrounding areas whilst at the same time enabling technical event athletes (throwers, jumpers, hurdlers, vaulters etc.) to raise their standards of performance by having an indoor centre for the winter months. The facility will be open for use by members of all clubs in the region and so will ensure that standards are being raised not just in Tamworth but in the region as a whole.

Junior athletes in the area will once again have the opportunity of taking part in Sportshall athletics, an excellent introduction to the exciting world of athletics. The club currently has to make use of a gym at a local school that is closing at the end of this term.

Please pass this onto all club members, friends, families, your Christmas card list and work colleagues and encourage them and their families and friends to vote... it will only take a few minutes and the potential future benefit to our club and to sport in Tamworth and the surrounding areas is enormous.

The application is now on a website along with all of the other proposed projects and members of the public have to vote for which one will win the money! 30 votes will win £1,000 and the most votes in the West Midlands will get £12,500.  If that happened then the clubs project would go forward to the final against all of the other Regional winners for £50,000!!

The club is asking for your support to :

·         Vote for Tamworth AC’s project

·         Forward this to anybody else who you work with etc to also support the project and vote.

·         By registering your details and voting you can win prizes such as holidays, tickets to athletics competitions etc so it might be worth your while!

To vote you need to go to www.joinourteam.com. You need to register your details first in order to be able to vote - name, address etc which doesn't take long . Once you are registered go to "Cast your vote" and in the Find Initiative box at the top right hand side select "West Midlands" from the drop down menu. This brings up a list of all of the projects in the Region. Ours is called "Tamworth Athletic Club Indoor Facility". What a massive difference this would make to the club and the community of Tamworth. Please get voting!!!

 Our Initiative – taken from the NU ‘Join Our Team’ website

Tamworth Athletic Club has a track record of innovative club development and sound management, developing, financing and operating our own facility. This initiative began in 2004 and is for an indoor athletics training facility to provide athletes with the opportunity to continue year round training whilst increasing participation opportunities for the local community. There is evidence that facility usage increases by approximately 50% if an indoor facility is available during the winter months. The club has 400 members of who 100 are volunteers who ensure the club functions professionally and are responsible for raising funds for the club. The facility will allow the club not only to offer an enhanced program of formal athletics coaching but also to increase participation in physical activity by all sections of the community particularly females, children of primary school age and those with health or weight issues. Local schools have free access to the outside facility as the club is committed to increasing community usage. Discussions have already taken place with the Local Education Authority for local primary schools to use the facility for Sportshall Athletics and with the Local Authority who are keen for the club to use this building to help address the Authority's health agenda. It is anticipated that the building will be used from 9am until 9pm, 6 days a week - a considerable undertaking for a voluntary organisation.

 John and Chris Graves

Chairman and Club Secretary, Tamworth Athletic Club, tamworthac@aol.com

Norwich Union Star:track

HOLIDAY ACTIVITY

at

 Tamworth Athletic Club

Monday 6 - Friday 10 August  2007  

 10 am-3 pm

Suitable  for  8–15 yr olds

A WELL KNOWN ATHLETE WILL BE PAYING A VISIT

Covers all aspects of Track and Field and includes competitions, goodie bag and more! All in a FUN environment

Sports kit and trainers, packed lunch required

Cost

£35 (1 week)   or   £8 per session

(minimum 2 sessions)

 Registration forms and more information   

     from Chris (Star:track Scheme Organiser) 

     at the club or phone 01827 287177/260897

email tamworthac@aol.com

(photos from the last two years are in the gallery section)

Jog England

Be part of an exciting new venture!!!

Tamworth AC has the opportunity to host a pilot project aimed at increasing the opportunities for people to increase their fitness through running and walking.

Could you get involved and help Tamworth AC be pioneering in the new Jog England scheme?

England Athletics will fund a “Fitness in Running and Walking” course (normally £60) which would qualify interested individuals to lead groups. The course could come to Tamworth if sufficient interest is shown.

For more details contact Jackie Wakeman by e-mail:

jackiewakeman@doctors.org.uk

or mobile 07890 743369

or

Meeting @ Tamworth AC – Tuesday 26^th June 7.30pm

All those interested in taking part in the project, whether as coaches or joggers, please come along to the meeting.

London 2012 hopefuls Nathan Woodward and Meghan Beesley continued their athletics education in style by shining against international opposition.

Woodward gained valuable experience of a top-level meeting as he headed to Greece to compete in the Papaflesia 2007 European permit meeting.

The 17-year-old from Coleshill gave another demonstration of his potential as he finished third in the 400m hurdles in 52.63secs, only being beaten by two senior Greek athletes.

Tamworth Athletics Club team-mate Beesley, meanwhile, was also in 400m hurdles action at a top-level race in Manchester.

And she ran an excellent race, finishing fourth in a European Junior Championship qualifying time of 58.42secs.

Beesley's coach Trevor Marsay was delighted with her success, adding that it was the result of a lot of hard work.

He said: "We are very happy with Meghan at the moment, things are going along very nicely."

Beesley's time was well under the qualifying standard for the championships, which will be held next month in Holland.

And Marsay added that he hopes that feat would ensure selection for those championships.

He added: "She has got the time but there is a definite policy of selecting podium athletes.

"However, being a second inside the time set, I can't see anybody getting ahead of her.

"She is a second and a half in front of anybody in Britain."

Beesley is also aiming to make the qualifying time for the 400m flat, to give her a choice of event at the championships should she be selected.

Woodward has already set the standard this summer, meaning both athletes have a good chance of selection for the British team.

The Midlands Veterans team at Tamworth Athletics Club secured a commendable and hard-earned third place in the men's section at the recent eight-team league competition in Nuneaton.

The women's team also put in some good performances at the event - featuring teams from Charnwood and Rugby and Northants Lions - to finish sixth.

International race walker Mark Williams set the standard for the men when he took first place in the 2km walk in 8:17.2mins.

Road race runner Martyn Naunton was the toast of not just Tamworth AC but also Staffordshire last week after he lifted a county title.

Naunton is the defending champion in the Burton Road Race League individual competition and is well placed to retain this title.

The 19-year-old is currently lying first in the league and to add to this success, he is first in the county, making him Staffordshire County Champion over ten miles.

Mark Williams proved he is the king of the Midlands after adding another walking title to his growing collection last weekend.

The Tamworth AC star was in outstanding form on his home circuit at Marlborough Way as he comfortably claimed the Midland Men's 10km Walk Track title.

That followed up his success in the Midland 10km and 20km Road Walking Championships earlier in the season.

Tamworth AC's Midland Men's League A team moved a step nearer to Division One when they finished in second place in their latest league match at Brierley Hill to retain top spot overall.

Athletes earning personal bests were Nick Crawford (200m, long jump and triple jump), Tom Burton (400m hurdles and 100m), Alex Berrow (shot), Paul Tasker (javelin), Simon King (3,000m steeplechase) and Adam Smith (long jump).

For the rest of the report go to the reports page

Coleshill athlete Nathan Woodward continued his superb start to the outdoor season with a personal best over 400m at the Inter Counties championships in Bedford.

Woodward clocked a best-ever one lap run of 48.1secs in the heats of the competition.

He finished fifth in the final, won by Great Britain senior runner Graham Hedman in a time of 48.3secs.

Level 1
30th June, Warwick University, Coventry
21st July, Warwick University, Coventry
15th September, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham

Level 2 - Core
08/09th September, Alexander Stadium Birmingham
10/11th November, Alexander Stadium Birmingham

Level 2 - Event Modules
13th October, Throws & Speed, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham
14th October, Jumps & Endurance, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham

Level 3
Phase One - 29/30th September 2007, Loughborough University
Phase Two - 26/27th April 2008, Loughborough University

Level 4
Phase One - 4th November 2007, Loughborough University
Phase Two - 3rd/4th February 2008, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham

Fitness in Running and Walking
22nd July, Children in Athletics, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham
Sat 11th August at the Alexander Stadium

Norwich Union Star:track

HOLIDAY ACTIVITY

at

 Tamworth Athletic Club

Monday 6 - Friday 10 August  2007  

 10 am-3 pm

Suitable  for  8–15 yr olds

A WELL KNOWN ATHLETE WILL BE PAYING A VISIT

Covers all aspects of Track and Field and includes competitions, goodie bag and more! All in a FUN environment

Sports kit and trainers, packed lunch required

Cost

£35 (1 week)   or   £8 per session

(minimum 2 sessions)

 Registration forms and more information   

     from Chris (Star:track Scheme Organiser) 

     at the club or phone 01827 287177/260897

email tamworthac@aol.com

(photos from the last two years are in the gallery section)

Jog England

Be part of an exciting new venture!!!

Tamworth AC has the opportunity to host a pilot project aimed at increasing the opportunities for people to increase their fitness through running and walking.

Could you get involved and help Tamworth AC be pioneering in the new Jog England scheme?

England Athletics will fund a “Fitness in Running and Walking” course (normally £60) which would qualify interested individuals to lead groups. The course could come to Tamworth if sufficient interest is shown.

For more details contact Jackie Wakeman by e-mail:

jackiewakeman@doctors.org.uk

or mobile 07890 743369

or

Meeting @ Tamworth AC – Tuesday 26^th June 7.30pm

All those interested in taking part in the project, whether as coaches or joggers, please come along to the meeting.

Tamworth Athletics Club finished in a creditable fifth place in their second National Junior League Premier Division match, despite atrocious weather conditions in Mansfield.

First places for the Tamworth team went to Meghan Beesley, Tom Burton and Tom Adams. Full results on the Results page.

Tamworth athletes earned themselves one gold, three silver and a bronze medal at the Midland Championships held at Alexander Stadium over the weekend.

Brett Byrd earned himself the Midland under-20 men's javelin title with a fine best throw of 56.76m.

All six of his throws in the competition were over the 50m mark.

Go to results page for more details.

Tamworth AC international race walker Mark Williams has been in impressive form this season.

He has already recorded 15 wins from 16 starts - the only blot on his record to date being a retirement after suffering from a shin injury in a race last month.

Williams, who set a new European 3km track record at the Warwickshire County Track and Field Championships the previous weekend, claimed another comfortable 3km track win last Wednesday evening at Oxfordshire's County Track Championships in Banbury.

Rising Coleshill athletics star Nathan Woodward has achieved his first goal for the season by setting a qualifying time for the European Junior Championships.

The talented Tamworth AC ace was in magnificent form at last weekend's prestigious Loughborough International, storming to victory in the invitational 400m hurdles race in 51.50secs.

That was well inside the qualifying time of 52.25secs and Woodward is now hoping to be in the Great Britain team which competes in Holland from July 19-22.

Tamworth AC athletes picked up 21 county titles and 40 medals from the Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire County Championships over the weekend. Full details on the Reports section.

Mark Williams and Anne Wheeler produced superb performances to lead the Midlands challenge at the Annual Inter Area Race Walking match held at Dartford Athletics Stadium on Sunday.

Both recorded wins in the opening two events and justified their selection in the squad.

Williams headed the Midlands challenge in the men's 5km walk.

Tamworth Athletic Club opened up their Midland Men's League Division Two season in fine style at Yate as the A team won their first match.

There were several personal bests for the Tamworth team including Tom Burton (400m hurdles and 400m), Nathan Woodward (200m and high jump), Adam Smith (high jump), Daniel Cash (100m) and Howard Bush (2,000m steeplechase).

Alex Berrow and David Levett both set personal bests in the senior hammer.

Newly-promoted Tamworth B squad also got off to a good start to their Midland Men's League season when they finished in second place in their opening match.

Personal bests went to Nick Crawford (100m, long jump and triple jump), Matt Hargreaves (800m and 1,500m), Neil Rudd (400m hurdles), Rob Scattergood (hammer), Ben Horsley (400m hurdles) and Nigel Fisher (5,000m).

Crawford took second place in his long jump with a leap of 5.60m, third in the 100m in 11.8secs and third in the triple jump, with a distance of 11.58m.

Tamworth Ac star Meghan Beesley has secured a three year sponsorship deal with leading Midland company LDC.

The 17-year-old hopes the deal can help as she moves forward with her dreams of competing at the 2012 Olympics.

Beesley, who trains at the High Performance Centre in Perry Barr, has been asked to take part in the UK Athletics World Class Talent programme and is a member of the national squad for both the 400m hurdles and the multi events.

Tamworth Athletics Club took fourth place in their opening Young Athletes match at Cheltenham with Jordan Roach and Sam Micklewright taking a Man of the Match award each.

Roach won the high jump event with a clearance of 1.80m, the best clearance by an under-15 athlete in Britain this year.

He also won the 80m hurdles in a personal best time of 13.1secs and made it a hat-trick when he took the pole vault title with another personal best jump of 2.10m. Full results on the Reports section.

TAMWORTH ATHLETIC CLUB

COACHES AND COACHING ASSISTANTS WANTED

Can you help with 2 coaching sessions on

Tuesday 5^th June and Thursday 7^th June

3.45 to 5pm for Tamworth Primary Schools

(for practice prior to their Annual Primary Schools Sports which is held at Tamworth AC Stadium)

You would work with 10 pupils and their teacher, with the teacher having overall responsibility. You would be there to pass on your knowledge on the event and to encourage the young athletes as you know the sport. This would count towards School Junior Leadership Awards and coaching contracts at TAC.

We will start with a general warm-up.

Then the events will be 75m, long jump, cricket ball throw (similar to shot putt skills), soft javelin and relay/baton practice.

We will finish with a continuous relay or a TUG OF WAR!!

Coaches can then stay and have tea in the clubhouse before training or coaching if they wish. Ricky, Ribz and Matt W have already signed up to help which leaves spaces for 3 more coaches.

Please let me know asap if you can help.

Chris Graves

Club Secretary/Club Development
email tamworthac@aol.com