What do we need?
We need at least one parent to help every Tuesday in order to be sure that we are meeting the athlete:coach ratio necessary to keep things running safely. With the numbers of people in the squad this should be very achievable. If you volunteer you won’t be dropped in at the deep end, but will work alongside another coach for the evening, assisting with a group.

What if nobody volunteers?
If nobody volunteers to assist on a particular night then we will have to turn some young athletes away that day. Busy tracks are dangerous places and we are not prepared to compromise safety when there is a lack of adult supervision.

How can I volunteer?
To sign up to assist at a Tuesday training session click on the ‘Tuesday sign on’ link on the right hand side of this page. Remember, we need at least one parental volunteer to assist each and every Tuesday for the full session to go ahead.

Thank you for helping the coaches and most importantly the athletes with this.

These certainly aren’t anything to be scared of and are a good introduction to competition. They are normally very succesful for SMRAC athletes.

MIDDLESEX or SURREY

1) Do you live in what is defined as Middlesex (anywhere north of the river, e.g. Twickenham, Teddington, Hounslow, Hampton, Hammersmith)? If yes enter the Middlesex Champs. If no go to Q2.

2) Do you currently live in Middlesex (anywhere north of the river, e.g. Twickenham, Teddington, Kew, Hounslow, Hampton, Hammersmith) and have done so for the last 9months? If yes enter the Middlesex Champs. If not go to Q3.

3) You don’t have any link to Middlesex (schools don’t count here), but were you born or do you live in Surrey (anywhere south of the river, e.g. Richmond, Putney, Sheen, Kingston)? If yes enter the Surrey Championships. If no, email Noel for advice!

HOW DO I ENTER?

Middlesex entry forms are available HERE. U13s should choose whether they would like to run 800 or 1500 – ask Tink or one of the other coaches for advice. Other age groups should chat to Noel to make a decision fitting in with their other races. Note that the U17/U20/Senior races take place on Saturday at Barnet Copthall and the U13/15 races take place on Sunday at Perivale.

Surrey entry forms are not yet available but a link will appear here when they are.

Middlesex:

U13: Jivendra / Jamie, Rebecca / Ella

U15: Eoin / Tomm / Luke, Christina

U17: Bradley / Jack, Molly / Katie / Florence

Surrey:

U17: Maddie

Seniors: Liz

The timetable for the races, a course map and directions are all available HERE.

If you need a lift you must let Noel know asap so he can try to arrange one for you. If you have spare room in your car and can give someone else a lift then please let me know that too so we can try to get everybody there.

Tim, Ian and Rebecca passed their Level 1 courses on Sunday at a course held at the new track in Isleworth – well done to them.  Any parents etc interested in getting involved with coaching or helping out wth the squad in any other way should speak to Noel.

Noel spent the weekend with 50 other coaches at the UKA/BMC National Endurance Conference in Coventry where guest speakers included Steve Cram, Honore Hoedt (a Dutch 400/800 coach) and Trevor Painter (coach to Jenny Meadows).

Tuesday 2nd – Track session at 18:30 for all

Thursday 4th – Track session for performance group at 18:30

Saturday 6th – Session for all at Marble Hill House, 09:45

Tuesday 9th – Track session for all at 18:30

Thursday 11th  – Track session for performance group at 18:30

Saturday 13th – UK Inter Counties, Birmingham or parkrun

Tuesday 16th – Track session at 18:30 for all

Thursday 18th – Track session for performance group at 18:30

Saturday 20th – English Schools XC Championships, Manchester or parkrun

Tuesday 23rd – Track session at 18:30 for all

Thursday 25th – Track session for performance group at 18:30

Friday 26th – Winter tour awards and prize giving, Twickenham Green Cricket Club

Saturday 27th – Session for all at Marble Hill House, 09:45

Tuesday 30th – Session at track for everyone, 18:30

At Bushy Rebecca Killip had the pick of the runs as she ran a pb and just pipped Mum Liz in the race for 2nd and 3rd woman. That makes it 4 pbs in a week for Rebecca if you include the three 1500 pbs she set in training on Tuesday!

I hadn’t noticed that three St Mary’s ladies lead the way last week in Richmond. Kate Brown (19:15) set an age group record in winning the race, Liz Killip was 2nd (20:44) and newcomer Alice Hewitt was 3rd (21:16) (Alice – update your details with our club!). Well done to all three.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Maddie was 2nd and Ollie 4th in the Kingston Mini Marathon trials.

Our annual winter prize giving and social evening will take place at Twickenham Green Cricket Club on Friday 26th March.

We hope that as many of the smrac distance squad (U13 to Over 80) will be able to attend with any parents, siblings, husbands, girl friends, etc who would like to come along.  We hope to have another guest to give out the awards.  The more people who come, the better the evening is so please come along help us say well done to all the award winners and thanks to all the assistant coaches.

There will be prizes for the winter tour winners, most improved athletes and to the athletes who we judge to have provided the performances of the winter.

More details to follow…..

Liz with her Silver medal

Sophie Morris won the race and was at the front from the start. Behind, Liz was having a good battle with Karen Ellison of Herne Hill. Liz finished two minutes behind her at the Southerns 4 weeks ago (10th compared to 28th) and 30 seconds back two weeks ago in the Surrey League so it was vital that she hung on in the early stages. Hung on she did and towards the end of the first lap she started to open up a gap on third place. On the 2nd lap that gap grew to 12 seconds before Ellison and the 4th placed Belgrave runner closed slightly in the last km. Liz had enough in reserve and dug in for silver. A great run and reward for a lot of hard work this winter. Congratulations!

STOP PRESS – Liz lead her Ranelagh team to surprise team gold medals.

After the early comings and goings Maddie had a good but lonely run in her race, spending the large amount of the race with a big gap back to 6th and an annoyingly big gap to 4th – just too large to bridge. Hopefully 5th will be enough to join Liz on the Surrey team for the inter counties.

Maddie on her way to 5th

Ollie was 11th in the u15 boys, up there as one of his best runs of the winter. I was pleased to see him committ early on and give himself a track. Time to brush off those track spikes now!

Ross was ill on Friday so didn’t run.

Results HERE

Numbers were down from SMRAC and from other clubs in the age group races following on from the Middlesex Schools Champs on Thursday and with the Essex version being held today.

Jacques was our sole U13 and looked to be going well on the hilly course.  Rebecca took her third win of the league season in the girls race, pulling away from the 2nd placed athlete on the final climb.  Ella was third and Kirsty was unlucky, loosing her shoe in the mud.

In the U15/17 boys a number of our U17 men sat the race out leaving Eoin to be our first counter home, closely followed by Rory and then Tomm( together they were the first 3 U15s).  Adam and Ed came home and a quick check of the league title revealed that in the absence of league leaders Shaftsbury Barnet Harriers, with 5 in the first 11 the boys had done enough to win the title for the first time.

The U15/U17 girls went in to the last match with a lead in the league but with only three girls racing on this occasion victory was far from assured.  Christina had her best XC run of the winter, catching Georgia Bell half-way through the race to give the Ealing runner something to think about.  In  the end Georgia pulled away and Christina was caught by a Barnet U17 in the last half a mile.  She still finished as first U15.  Florence and Bella did well running again after Thursday’s efforts and did enough to defend the title.

Only three seniors made it out this time.  Liz Killip was our sole woman while Andy made his league début in 50th ahead of Tim (who needs to get fit before Portugal!) in the men’s race.

Many thanks to Kim for acting as team manager on the day again this season.

Results will be available HERE.

Information for next year:

Directions:  From A40 follow directions to Perivale and Horsenden Lane South. Centre is approx 1000m from A40.  The changing rooms are at Perivale Community Centre, Horsenden Lane South (junction with Bilton Road), Greenford.  Parking is available on adjacent roads and Horsenden Farm. There is also a car park on Horsenden Hill itself.

The timetable for the day is as follows:

9.45 Meet Sports Hall
10.15 Track session believed to be 3 sets of 1000,300,300,300 with amended sessions for younger athletes
11.30 Judy Vernon – Drills – use of hurdles etc
1.00 Lunch – bring some!
1.30 Steff Twell/Mick Woods – interview
2.45 Close

Make sure you are there at 09:40 and bring lunch and a change of clothes.  I may send those who will have run the Surrey Championships the day before for a long run rather than doing the main session but they will be able to join in with the hurdles workout.