NEWSLETTER OF HARMENY ATHLETIC CLUB, BALERNO, EDINBURGH

Club News.....Club News.....Club News.....Club News.....Club News.....

Wednesday Night Training

Thanks to Shelagh and Dave we are pleased to confirm that training will also take place on Wednesday evenings in addition to Mondays.
We don’t expect everyone to come along on both nights, but it does mean that those who do wish to do a bit more can do so, and it also means that anyone who finds Mondays are not a good night can come along on Wednesdays as well. We will also be contacting parent helpers to see which night they are able to help out.
In the summer term training is usually in Malleny Park, which gives us a bit more room for running, jumping and throwing.

 Special Mini-Championship evenings
 This summer we’re also going to try something a bit different. We’re planning to have club mini-championship events spread over three different evenings.

Monday 16^th May                                 800m races,             Shot Putt
Monday 30^th May                                 100m races,            Long Jump
Wednesday 8 June                           Water of Leith Mini-marathon

Medals will be awarded to the first three in U11, U13 and “Open” age groups, boys and girls.

This is primarily for club members, and there will be no charge on these evenings for those who have paid their club subscriptions. But as we would like to encourage more youngsters to have a go, non-members will be able to participate, but they will be charged £3.00 on these evenings.

 Summer Events
 We’re now entering the busy period when there are all sorts of events taking place, inter-club competitions, open fixtures, school & national championships and junior fun runs. There should be something for everyone (including some of the more active parents).

In this Herald we’ve included details obtained so far about the various events that will be taking place throughout the summer, and some of the information that is useful for parents. Many of these take place after the summer term has ended (when the weather will be at it’s best)
We’ve also included a summer term schedule as an additional reminder of what is happening up to the end of June.

 Summer Holidays
We do not normally organise training at Balerno High School during the summer holidays when our coaches have a well earned break. If we do decide to organise something, we’ll send out a note before the end of term. There may be activities organised by the local schools, so keep your eyes open for their summer programmes.

 Training at Saughton and the jogging groups continue as normal through all school holidays.

 Coaching update

Congratulations to Anke Baillie and Jenny Robertson who have no completed the UK Athletics Level 1 coaching qualification. On the jogging side, Catherine Barr has completed the jogleaders course.

Results.....Results......Results......Results.....Results......

Cross-Country at Corstorphine Hill, Sat 5^th Feb

 This was probably one of the most important days for the club in the last few years. We do not have a tradition of local youngsters running cross-country, and, apart club stalwart Ian Hislop, we have little experience of organising cross-country events. When faced with the challenge of co-hosting the third meeting of the East District League with Corstorphine AC, it was quite a daunting prospect. But with the event being held locally, it gave us a chance to encourage the club’s youngster’s to have a go. 

 For the first time in many a year we had teams in both the U11 boys and U11 girls age groups – and both teams performed very respectably – plus a couple of runners in other age groups. Just as important, we fulfilled our obligation in taking our turn at organising an event in which over forty clubs participate, so many thanks form Ian Hislop and Bob Douglas to Iain Morrice, Richard Gray, Carol Blamire, Tom White, Carl Dennis, Anke Baillie and Shelagh Jackson.

 In the U13 age group Ailsing Dennis was our only finisher, in a time of 15min 32 sec, for 32^nd place out of 44. We hope Ailsing will have a few more team-mates next year!  In the Senior Men, David Gibson was round in 40min 7 sec, for 131^st place out of 234 runners.

 Postscript: Due to the limited number of venues around the East of Scotland we’ve been asked if we would be prepared to co-host races at Corstorphine Hill in the next couple of years….

Scottish Masters Indoor Championships, Kelvin Hall Sat 12 Feb

At the opposite end of the spectrum to all those who run for miles … and miles … and miles, the shortest race on the fixture list is the 60m sprint. Bob Douglas competed in the M50 category at the Kelvin Hall and was very happy to finish 4^th out of 5 (ie he actually beat someone without needing a handicap start) and was very pleased with a time of 8.46 seconds.
However, his time was put into perspective a couple of weeks later when Claire Carmichael ran 8.45s in the Scottish School’s Indoor Championships, 1/100 second faster than Bob.

 Fixtures.....Fixtures......Fixtures......Fixtures.....Fixtures......

Harmeny AC Summer Outdoor Fixtures 2005

  Track and Field Leagues

In inter-club league meetings we select athletes to make up a team to cover the events on the programme. In these meetings we are limited to 2 competitors per event in each age group for both boys and girls.  With a team of 4 in each age group we can usually cover all the places and field a relay team. We leave from opposite Balerno High School (parents & cars required).

* The track at Livingston needs to be repaired, so the venue might change to Pitreavie or Grangemouth

Thursday evening fixtures start at 7:00. Saturday fixtures start at 11:00. We normally arrange to be at the track 45 minutes before the start so we can confirm everyone has turned up and make any last minute changes to the team sheets

The Scottish Womens League Meets on Sundays 24 April, 3 July, 7 August. We are part of a multi-club combined Lothians team which some of the older girls may be selected for.

Local Open Graded Meetings

Open graded meetings are events that ANYONE can go along to and enter on the night. The organisers (usually the local club) will have a small selection of events on the programme.. You register for the event or events you want to do. We would encourage everyone to have a go at some of these, and will attempt to help out with transport. Registration must be at least half-an-hour before your first event.

At Grangemouth, the track races are drawn according to ability (rather than just by age).  There is usually a sprint, a distance race, a jump and a throw

The Open Graded meetings at Grangemouth will be held on the first Wednesdays of the summer months: May 4^th, June 1st, July 6th, August 3rd, September 7th

Other Open Graded Meetings

Entry forms will be distributed as soon as available.

Scottish Championships

Competing in a regional or national championship is not as daunting as it seems. Over the years we have had dozens of medallists and champions. 

Schools Events

Entry is through your school.  Many of the local schools do participate and organise teams, some don’t. It is worth contacting you PE teacher at the start of the summer term if you are interested.

Junior Fun Runs

Several of the big distance races for adults – 10k, half-marathons and marathons have shorter (!!) junior fun runs associated with them. Why not have a go in some of them? Here are some of the ones we’ve heard about so far.

Age Groups for Children & Juniors up to 17

Under the rules of most athletics leagues, only members aged 9 and above can compete. For that reason we cannot accept membership applications from children under the age of 8. The age groupings for competition are:

Under 11  Boys & Girls
Under 13  Boys & Girls
Under 15  Boys & Girls
Under 17  Men & Women

For track & field your age group for the season is based on the age you will be on the 31 Aug. For example:

If your 10th birthday is on 20 June, you would be 10 on 31st Aug, so you compete in the U11 age group.
If your 11th birthday is on 20 June, you would be 11 on 31st Aug, so you compete in the U13 age group.

(Note: Schools have different age groups for competitions)

Club Running Vests

 When competing on behalf of Harmeny, club representatives need to wear a club vest. We take a supply with us to league meetings, but we’d encourage those who will be competing regularly to buy a running vest. Children’s sizes (26in and 28in) cost £10, adult sizes cost £12. In the larger sizes there are male and female vests. Contact   Bob Douglas / Shelagh Jackson for more information. Order Form

Your Performance Record

Included in this Herald is a performance record sheet for you to record how you do over the season. If you fill this in for every event you compete in, you’ll be able to keep track of your personal best’s (pb’s), and you should see how you improve over the season … and over the years. We have put in rows for the most common events, but there are spaces to write in some additional events which older members may be doing (eg 400m, hurdles, triple Jump, Pole vault)

We’ll do our best to publish results from club fixtures and championships. There are many meetings (eg Open Graded, Schools) where we may not know you’ve competed, or the results aren’t published so please take a note on the day of how you’ve performed.

Frequently Asked Questions – For new Junior members and parents

 Every Summer at the start (and during) the Track and Field season we are asked questions by the many new parents about the procedures for the various Inter-club meetings and Leagues we participate in, so we've compiled a Q&A sheet. It's also worth reminding everyone else who may have forgotten.

 Rough Guide to Track Locations

We've also proveded directions to the main venues we compete at during the summer. Please keep in a safe place. All directions are given as if travelling from Currie / Balerno. At some venues without proper cover or seating parents are advised to bring camping chairs (and warm clothing)!

Summer Training Diary: We've noted the training evenings and events on a week-by-week basis for the summer term.

Other Information

Pentland Runners March Update

Club Contacts
Fees 2004/05 (Word File)
Membership Form 2004/05
Junior Members Charter (Word File)
Child Welfare policy (Word File)

Updated 5/4/2005

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