October notices

VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE IS THE ***NEW*** CLUB WEBSITE! IT’S FULL OF GREAT INFORMATION – CHECK IT OUT!!
http://www.thamesvalleyharriers.com

1. Volunteer officials needed for TVH event on 18 October
2. TVH is hiring!
3. Rail station on Wormwood Scrubs
4. Upcoming cross country fixtures
5. Marathon workshop
6. Some recent results

1. Volunteering at TVH

If you can help us run some events either this Saturday or in general please email Mairie m.gormal.12@ucl.ac.uk.
 

Marshals & tea makers needed!

This winter season TVH will be hosting the following cross country events on the scrubs:

Saturday 18th October: SEAA XC Relays

Saturday 7th February 2015: Active Training World, Cross Country, Fixture 5

Saturday 31st March 2015: North West London Young Athletes League

 

We will of course be needing people to marshal and also people to serve hot drinks & snacks in the clubhouse.

 

Summer Season 2015

Yes we've only just finished this summer but we already know that we will be hosting next yeat at the LCS:

SAL: Saturday 4th July

UKWAL: Saturday 8th August

and also applied to host a BAL meeting and a Young Athletes League Match as part of the UK YDL league(TBC).

 

Track & Field matches cannot go ahead without officials both home matches & away matches.

 

As part of the league rules, each club has to provide a certain number of people at each meeting to help run the various field events, do the timekeeping & track judging(order athletes finish race) aka officiating.

 

Otherwise the club loses points.

 

At the moment we are heavily reliant on a very small group of dedicated volunteers whom officiate week in week out.

 

The club is therefore asking for people to consider getting into officiating.

 

NOTE: It's not as scary as what it might sound ;-)

 

More details can be found on our website:

http://www.thamesvalleyharriers.com/us/volunteering/

 

If you can do just a handful of meetings each year then this would be a real help. For example if you are a parent with a child competing in the YDL league you are free to travel on the coach see your child compete and also contribute to the team score by gaining officiating points.

 

There is an upcoming course at Allianz Park on Saturday 25th October. Details can be found here:

http://www.englandathletics.org/courses.aspx?siteSectionId=33&postCode=Postcode&distance=5&region=000100010002001700010003&keyword=&courseType=0001300000030013

 

The club will of course pay the fee!

 

If you are interested please do drop me an email. More than happy to chat in the clubhouse and/or at the various cross country matches this year. I will be at the Met League this Saturday :-D (look for a purple headband)

 

If you cannot make this date, as part of the West London athletics network we are planning on hosting a course in February on a weekend which doesn't clash with the cross country matches. Details tbc.

2. TVH is hiring!
We have secured some funding for a Community Development Officer to increase our engagement with the local community, and also a gym supervisor to increase the benefit members get from the gym facilities. More details to come soon, including on how to apply. 

3. Rail station on Wormwood Scrubs
The new Crossrail line will pass by Wormwood Scrubs, and there is a proposal to build a new station at Old Oak Common to allow interchange with overground services. This would make it easier for some of us to get to training, but would entail some loss of space in Wormwood Scrubs. The Scrubs are used heavily by TVH members, with some of us having been known to run around them twice, and so I'm sure lots of people will want to comment. If you do, check out  www.tfl.gov.uk/old-oak.

4. Upcoming cross country fixtures
The Met League has started, with the first meet at Claybury on last Saturday. Next fixtures are:
                         
8 November 2014             STEVENAGE                        
20 December 2014           UXBRIDGE (TBC)                
10 January 2015 HORSENDEN HILL            
7 February 2015 WORMWOOD SCRUBS
 
We have a big challenge this season with the Senior Men having been relegated to Division 2, and the Veteran Men squeezing back into Division 1. The Ladies continue comfortably in Division 1. 

Other races to put in your calendar are as follows:
 
25 October 2014               Liddiard XC Trophy and North of Thames Championships @ Kingsbury
15 November 2014          London CC Championships & Youth Games @ Parliament Hill
22 November2014           North London Cross Country Champs @ Alexandra Palace
13th December 2014       SoEAA Masters & Inter Counties Championships @ Horspath, Oxford          
4^th January 2015               Middlesex County Cross Country championships @ Alexandra Palace
24th January 2015            SoEAA Cross Country Main Champs @ Stanmer Park, Brighton
 
The Middlesex Veterans/ Masters has not been finalised yet, expected to be in March

5. Marathon Workshop 
Want to run a marathon but don't know how to prepare? Or doing one and want some tips? Come to the marathon workshop, run by our very own Paul Oppe! Coach / Athlete Development Day West London Marathon Workshop Athletics Network

Sat 6th December 2014 10:30-13:00
TVH Clubhouse, Linford Christie Stadium, Ducane Road, W12 0AE
Participants are encouraged to enter the Wormword Scrubs parkrun @  9.00 am

Topics Covered
• Runners Goals
• Training plan
• Types of training
• Before the event
• The race

Contact
pauloppe@aol.com
Or 07941 311 726

Workshop free (voluntary donation to TVH 
funds welcome). Booking not essential but 
please email / phone to give estimate of 
numbers. Suitable for all levels  of runners and their coach.
Follow up workshop 31 Jan 2015.
• Injury prevention
• Race Day preparation

6. Recent results
√results from the first meet at Claybury available here http://www.metleague.co.uk/results. 
 
Thames Valley Harriers had some very strong performances in the junior races. Charlotte Buckley was 1st in the U13 girls and led the team to a 3rd place finish. Meanwhile in the U17 girls race TVH runners Kosana Weir, India Weir and Verity Walker finished first, second and third respectively resulting in an easy win for the team overall in that division. 

Report on the senior races at Claybury from Simon Maddison:
Despite the change in weather from Indian Summer at the beginning of the week, a drop in temperature, and waves of showers coming through the past 3 days, it turned into a lovely mild autumn day for the first Met League race at Claybury. And although the clouds loomed ominously for a while, the sun came out for the senior races and graciously shone for the rest of the afternoon.
 
The rain of the previous days left sparkling droplets on the grass, and a little veneer of mud on the first breakneck decent, but otherwise the going was firm and fast throughout.
 
The women started with a very short lap, followed by two full long loops out to the short, sharp and very steep climb into the woods at the far end. Imogen Simmonds ran an excellent race finishing 15^thin a close packed field, followed by Siana Jones running solidly at 35, and Maire Gorman taking a steady pace at 62. Lauren Morris at 73 had been level pegging with Jess Bass until the hills of the latter stages took their toll and Jess came in just over 30 seconds later at 83, and a further 2 minutes later Lizzy Sisley at 115.  Christine Munden found the going very hard, but slogged it out to finish at 169.  The team finished 7^th overall with 108 points, in division 1. The Veteran women's team finished 1st in division 3- congratulations!
 
In the men’s race, of a full three laps, the start proved challenging as ever. Funnelling rapidly as it does when the path drops some 50m after the start, a section of the field seemed loth to run over the unmown part of the meadow with its 1ft high grass and sprinkling of weeds and thistles, and to the surprise of the runners behind came to a grinding halt, “Come on guys, this is CROSS COUNTRY after all!!!”.
 
Of course this was of no consequence to the faster elements of the field, although the first section of woods where the path narrows right down also produced a traffic jam worthy of the nearby North Circular even for the back markers.
 
Mo Aadan ran extremely strongly, in close contention for second place through the race to finish just 16 seconds behind the leader in 2 a second ahead of no.3.  Second claimer James Ellis turned in a very welcome performance to finish at 57, followed by junior Lucillo Burrell 37 seconds later at 76, showing how close the field was. Lucillo missed the junior race, but joined in to show the seniors how it should be done, regrettably though his points were not allowed to count. Kieron Sexton was next at 117, with Peter Scannell just 19 seconds later at 136. Manual da Silva paced with Christian Nielsen finishing at 153 with Christian just 2 seconds and 3 places behind. Simon Baptist followed at 184, and Greg Bennett at 208, also the first veteran man, with stalwart Richard Bell at 277 and last scorer Guy Bowles making a very welcome return to the Cross Country team at 285. Guy just edged out Richard Weir at 287 just 2 seconds behind. A bearded Peter Hill also made a very welcome return to the team as part of his training for London next April at 307,  just a few seconds ahead of Mervyn Walker at 310 making up the Vet men scorers. Jason Seward followed at 325 with Paul Woodgate making it round at 338 and newcomer Scott Brewer at 358, and Simon Maddison struggling around at the rear to finish at 416.
 
With a team very light through marathon and other commitments the men’s senior team result of 6^th in Divison 2 was disappointing if not surprising, and the Veteran men’s Division 1 result of 9^thputs it immediately in the relegation zone, so lots of work to be done there!!
 
Next Met League race will be at Stevenage on Saturday 8^th November and the third at Hillingdon House Farm on Saturday 20^th December as a nice run in for Christmas!