Seven young athletes from Teesside
Have been selected to represent North East Schools at the forthcoming UK School Games. The UK School Games is the second largest multi sport championships to take place in Britain each year behind the British Universities Championships. This years Games will take place in Cardiff over from the 4th - 6th of September.

Christian Carson is rewarded for a successful season by being named to run the 200 metres and relay. In the men's field events Jack Chapman has been selected to compete in the hammer while his training partner Ben Daley, also an accomplished hammer thrower has been selected to compete in the high jump.

Four girls have been selected for the Games. Kate Welford is looking forward to a busy campaign. Kate will be running the individual 300metres as well as the 4 x 100 metres and the 4 x 300 metres relay events. Joining Kate in the 4 x 300 metres will be Rebecca Macguire. Rachel Goodier has been picked to compete in the shot putt while Leah Kennedy will be going in the women's high jump. Rachel Goodier Shot Putt, Leah Kennedy High Jump.

Rick Betts

'UK School Games' more>>

A request to all adult members or parents of junior members
Dear all, Our membership is healthy and will, undoubtedly, continue to grow, but, despite this, the club is being run, largely, by the same small handful of volunteers who do the best that they can with the finite knowledge, and expertise, that they have.

If the club is to progress, and continue to be successful, we need more volunteers to help with the ever-increasing number of jobs that come along. Our current volunteers often have to “wear many hats”, simply because there is nobody else to delegate the workload to, and yet, there are probably members, or people connected with the club, who's day-to-day jobs give them the expertise to do these jobs far more efficiently.

We are asking you to look to see if your everyday skills could, in some small way, be utilised to the benefit of your (or your child's) club. A few examples of where your skills could be used:-

• coaching or assisting with equipment
• finance/fundraising
• marketing/publicity
• tuck shop
• event management/team management
• match day official/helper
• customer service/meet and greet

We all have busy lives, and it would be very easy to say “I don't have the time” but neither do those volunteers who are currently running this club. Just a few minutes each week could make all the difference between us producing an Olympic champion and us failing to do so.

Could you help us bridge that gap??

If you can and would like to discuss how you could help, contact any committee member. You can find supportive information regarding club volunteer roles and responsibilities can be found on our club information page. more>>

Charlie Dryden has been selected to represent the North of England in a series of international matches in Malta this year.

The teenager has been given the place based on his performances during the indoor season this year. These performances have included him winning both the North Eastern and North of England under 20 titles both with lifetime best performances. The team was selected from the 16 best applicants to the North of England Athletic Association and was open to all athletes in the under 20 age group in the region which covers Merseyside, Nottingham, Northumberland and Cumbria.

On hearing the news Dryden who is coached by Jean Simmons at Middlesbrough's Clairville Stadum said “I am really pleased to chosen for this trip and hope it will help me with my preparations for major competitions in the future”.

The team will fly out for the week long trip on April 17 th and will be competing against young athletes from France, Malta, Egypt, Spain and Tunisia.

By Rick Betts

England athletics registration numbers, athletes who require this information please contact Jill King (membership secretary) for guidance.

Great night had by all at the 2008 Club Awards
At this years well attended event, Charles Stuart introduced the evenings proceedings by making a special note of the ground work Cyril Banks had done, helping collate with himself, this years data for the awards using the formula:

YAL age groups decided initially by League Grades, if a tie then “North East Power of 10” If still a tie then UK “Power of 10” rank was used. U20/Seniors initially selected by their grades in League with U17 and U20 eligible with reference to Regional and UK “Power of 10”.

Prior to the awards ceremony proper, Charles pointed out the achievements of several members of our club included were; Jackie Hay (club secretary) a competing British team marks person, who in a recent international competition had attained two gold's and a silver.

Acknowledged that Jean Simmons (coach) had been honored at the '2008 North East Regional Athletics Awards' where she had been nominated for the 'Services to Athletics Award', for her involved in athletics for over 50 years.

Charles then introduced the presenter of this years awards Brian Davison (club life member) and backgrounds to all this years awards recipients, (full transcript available here). At the conclusion of the awards Charles made a special mention about the evening's event organizer Michele Sullivan (newly appointed fundraiser).

The floor was then open for the rest of the evening entertainment, various club members coming on to the stage to sing along with a Karaoke, notable performances were made, and have been put forward for next years X Factor!

Full awards details. more>>

Club and Borough come first at the 2008 Regional Awards, 'celebrating the regions success stories'.
Congratulations to Jean Simmons who accepted the 'Services to Athletics, Life Time Award', for her endeavours over the past 50 years, and to Kayleigh Mills 'Young Athlete' for her overall achievements in Track and Field. Middlesbrough Borough Council were recipients of the Local Authority Award for 'Services to athletics'.

The awards were presented on Saturday 27th September at a formal dinner at the Hilton Hotel, Gateshead. With special Guest Stephen Miller who has represented Great Britain for over 10 years, competing in 3 Paralympic Games, 3 World Championships and 2 European Championships. Currently he is world record holder, Paralympic, World and European Champion in the club event.

Middlesbrough AC ( Mandale ) AGM September 2nd 2008 Chairmans Report.
We have had a successful track & field season in the three leagues in which we compete and congratulations must go to our team managers, athletes, coaches, officials and all involved in ensuring meeting were completed smoothly and successfully.

Our NYAL team, managed by Sue Penny and Andrew McGuire finished 4th out of the 20 teams and would have moved up a place had one of our matches been able to have the Hammer & Discus contested but due to an unacceptable “Cage” this was not possible.

The Tees Valley Tigers (TVT) Junior League, managed by Michele Sullivan, had us in 3rd place behind two major composite teams from the Glasgow and Forth Valley . As the vast majority of TVT competing athletes came from our Club with only a small number from New Marske Harriers our contribution was more than significant.

Our North of England Division 2E Senior League Team under the guidance of Greg Blenkinsop for the men and Rachel Fairless for the ladies managed an excellent 2nd place and a League 1 play off qualifying position. However, due to a change of date of the Play-off match and other demands several key athletes were unavailable to compete and therefore the Team Managers decided not to contest the promotional match this year.

We must also applaud our athletes, especially the younger ones who compete in the NYAL, plus regional and national championship, for some outstanding performances during the year. Richard Hodgson (U15) ran the 2nd fastest 60m indoors ever with 7.08s in his age group final, simply outstanding. In the U17s Ladies we had exceptional performances with Kayleigh Mills winning the ESAA Championship “Hammer” Gold medal, taking bronze in the GB Schools International and repeating that performance in the “Schools Cup” held recently in Bath. In the same competition Ashleigh Wood took the bronze medal in the long jump, Ashleigh also had NYAL ”Grade 1” performances in four events, is ranked 7th in the UK Heptathlon so is looking good for a multi-event future.

In my role as Coach Coordinator I am pleased to say we had very good attendance at our several Coaches meetings where Team Managers could easily access their team's names from the attending coaches. We do appear to need more middle distance athletes to help complete our team's line up so if we have any budding middle distance coaches to help please let me know. In one meeting we addressed Sports Injuries with Trevor Langford from the Teesside Sports Injury Centre.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Anne Banks for her outstanding performance as treasurer. She took over at a time of financial difficulty and leaves us now in a very healthy condition. In addition Anne did much to help steer the Club through the Clubmark scheme and in our deliberations with Middlesbrough Council, I wish her well in her future endeavors.

We desperately need more members willing to take on the roles necessary to continue the successful running of the Club and second but probably more importantly I would ask you to put aside personal disagreements and let us all work together as a harmonious team. Remember all of us who coach, officiate or help in any way are doing so for the benefit of our young athletes and I feel we owe them our united support.

Charles Stuart Chairman

Congratulations to Brian Davison
Brian attended the 2008 AGM were 'Life Membership' was bestowed to him from the club, this was in recognition of his outstanding contribution as a Sprints Coach to our Club over 23 years.

Brians skill and enterprise resulted in many of his athletes winning titles at the ESAA Championships, County, Regional and National Championships. In addition to competing with distinction in “League” matches which elevated the Club in League status.

Charles Stuart article Athletics Weekly, June 26th 2008
Ref:- Poor Timing-Alan Garton. Gateshead.
In response to Alan Garton's comments on slow time-keeping in the North East I would like to stress that all graded timekeepers are assessed against electronic systems, not only in the North East but throughout the UK. The maximum error allowed is a 10 th of a second. Errors of our North East graded timekeepers are in the low hundredths, 1/00 th to 5/00 th being the average. At a Gateshead meeting earlier this year my own average over all track events was 1.92 hundredths of a second.

To achieve a time which corresponds to an electronic time the “stop” button on the watch is “started“ to be stopped as the athlete's torso crosses the line (no question of waiting for a trailing leg). Obviously the button will be fully depressed some fraction of a second later but this compensates for the timekeeper's response to the flash of the gun at the beginning of the race, typically 0.25 to 0.35 seconds.

When two athletes are given the same time but are visibly a metre apart, this is because the rules associated with hand times state that all 100 ths below 10th of a second have to be rounded up to that 10 th, e.g. 12.51 becomes 12.6 and likewise 12.59 also becomes 12.6.

A Chief Timekeeper can only work with the number of timekeepers he is given. At a recent 4 team Schools Inter Counties match there were 6 timekeepers, 3 of whom recorded the time of the winner, this is required to ratify records, the other 3 were given 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th place to record. Of the 3 times submitted for the winner, the average is accepted and rounded up as stated above.

In sprint races a timekeeper should only be given one place to time, over 400m it may be necessary for a timekeeper to take a second time. On occasion due to insufficient timekeepers being available, there may be a necessity for someone to record a second sprint place but this would never be of a prime position in the race.

If as Alan says, athletes are being given faster times outside the North East, and I have no influence over this, it does the athletes themselves no favour, for when they are eventually timed electronically they will have a rude awakening. I would suggest he should be proud of the high standard of time-keeping in the North East region. We would be happy to have Alan join the timekeepers at Gateshead should he wish to improve his timekeeping skills and possibly go on to assist in League and Open meetings elsewhere. Charles Stuart

Middlesbrough AC ( Mandale )
Level 4 Timekeeper,
Level 4 Sprints Coach Performance

Basic information about Officiating at events
If you want to get involved, you'll need to get onto the UK Athletics Level 1 course the following is covered:

• Measure distances and times
• Make and share judgments
• Record observations, judgments and data
• Ensure safety and report concerns
• Liaise and communicate with other officials and athletes
• Report rule infringements, follow procedures and apply rules

After the course you will be given the opportunity to apply your new skills at an event, you will be provided with a log, if you wish to progress to higher levels this needs to be completed and passed on to be scrutinised, contact any of the club officials at an event for further information.

Courses are always advertised here and are available at various locations throughout the year.

The following entry prices will be operating from 1st April at Clairville Stadium
£1.85 for club members and young people 17 or under, full time students and anyone on a recognised list of benefits *****as long as they purchase a Leisure Link Card***** which runs 1st September - 31st August each year - £2.00 proof required once.  Membership Card or Leisure Link Card must be shown each visit in order to get reduced rate.

Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) and how it effects you
Sporting organisations already require police checks on those involved in sport with young people, all our coaches are all Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checked; we would encourage all volunteers to apply for CRB verification which is free.

Shortly it will be Middlesbrough Borough Council's policy that all adults, using Clairville Stadiums facilities and working with young persons to be CRB certificated as part of an overall child protection policy.

A CRB check is free and valid for 3 years; a guide can be downloaded here to how to apply, if you are not sure about this, please speak to our Club verifier for CRB Jill King.