Midland Masters Athletic Club
General
Sad News….
I received the sad news today that Yvonne Withers died in her sleep this morning afer a long and debilitating illness. Our condolences go to her family. Yvonne was member number W0005, one of the first women to join in January 1979 and was the wife of Denis Withers who also sadly passed away earlier this year. R.I.P.
The funeral will take place 1.30 pm Streetly Crematorium on Friday. 20th August 2010
British Masters’ Medical Services
Funds raised will contribute to physio, chiro and massage services provided to masters athletes at competitions.
Coaching & Leadership Courses
Dear Colleague
Please find attached the flyer for the coaching and leadership courses set for the autumn as part of UKA’s new coaching pathway – please can you circulate to your members/coaches/volunteers. As you will notice there is only a limited number of the new Coach Award courses at present, this is mainly due to making sure it is delivered in the most professional way and UKA want to make sure everything is in place before increasing the number of courses available. I have attached the flyer in the older version of Word to ensure everyone can open the file.
You will notice on the flyer and website there is a separate cost for those clubs affiliated to England Athletics as we are offering a subsidy to all affiliated clubs who have coaches attending courses and they will need their affiliation number to book on the course and get the discount.
I have attached the course booking form for all courses to assist you in booking. education-course-booking-form-v3a Current Coach Ed Prog Mids.SW
If you have any queries please see the links below or contact me on the email or phone number below.
Please ask your members/volunteers to book early to avoid disappointment as some of the courses do have information to read before attending the course.
http://www.englandathletics.org/page.asp?section=449§ionTitle=Coaching
http://www.englandathletics.org/courses.asp?section=33§ionTitle=Coaching+courses
Many thanks for your help in forwarding the information to the correct contacts – any queries at all please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Morag
Morag Ford
Education Co-ordinator
England Athletics – Midlands & South West
Wellington House
Starley Way
Birmingham Int Park
Solihull
B37 7HB
Tel: 07920 532558
Website: www.englandathletics.org
Benefits of Supplements to Master Athletes
Performance Enhancement Research
I am a PhD student at Leeds Metropolitan University researching performance enhancement in sport. I am currently trying to recruit participants for a study I am conducting, which involves filling out a short questionnaire online regarding the characteristics and outcomes associated with performance enhancement use in sport. I am particularly after masters athletes that participate/have participated competitively in any sport at any level. The link to the questionnaire is:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/characteristics_outcomes
If you can help me in any way, then it would be much appreciated.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
Lisa Whitaker
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If anyone can help Lisa, please fill in the questionnaire on the link
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Tipton Harriers Centenary Newsletter
This is an up date on the Tipton Harriers Centenary Project. Any members who can help out with this project, please contact them direct……
Loughborough Uni. Sports Science Service
Hi All, Please find attached information about the services available for your club from Loughborough University's Performance Sport Services. We are currently offering 10% off a sports massage if you book a physiology assessment, gait analysis or musculoskeletal screening. Regards, Rhona. Running Summer flyer April 2010 Rhona Pearce BASES Accredited Physiologist Sports Science Manager Loughborough University Sports Science Service Performance Centre Loughborough LE11 3TU Tel: 01509 226259 www.loughboroughsport.com
General & Membership Secretary’s Report 2009
Since taking on the job of Secretary in 2006, 
I find that the writing of this report comes round remarkably quickly and once again I have found myself composing this too late for inclusion in the February Newsletter. An error I promised myself wouldn’t happen again in 2008! The problem is that the track record of membership attendance at our AGM is abysmally low (last year there was NO paid up members attending) so hardly any of the membership gets to read it. Not much motivation therefore for me to write it! However, hopefully, this is now rectified. More of that later.
The year starts with membership renewals pouring in and can I thank all of you who always pay early and plead with the late payers (predominately the same people) to change their ways. I know that filling in the Renewal Forms is a tad boring but you wouldn’t believe how some information changes without me being notified and this is very often the only way I pick it up to enable our database to be updated and as accurate as possible. With the possible phasing out by the banks of cheques we will also have to look at alternative ways of collecting yearly subscriptions some time in the future.
Membership levels over the last few years have remained fairly static, which is encouraging but the influx of new members each year has gradually seen a decrease, although the ratio of men to women has narrowed. Women are at last catching up!
Our 1st Claim Membership hovers around the 90 mark and our track & field team are fast becoming established in the Midland Veterans T&F League. Any members of road running clubs not affiliated for T&F can compete for us legitimately on the track but only after applying to Athletic Services with an “Other Discipline Form”. This should be done pre-season.
We continue to be involved in the organisation of both our own and National events and keeps your committee active behind the scenes. No doubt reports of these events will appear elsewhere but I’d just like to mention three events that we contributed in a major way.
* The National Masters Open Road Relays take place each year at Sutton Park in May and are organised by us on behalf of the BMAF with considerable help from Birmingham City Council. Thanks must go to Irene Jones and her team without their input the event wouldn’t take place quite so professionally.
* The BMAF Track & Field Championships although not organised by us have a considerable input by your committee, particularly Irene Nicholls & Margaret Simpson on results.
* Finally, at short notice, we put together a package to allow the International Masters Cross Country to go ahead in Birmingham. A big thank you to Irene Nicholls for taking on the lion’s share of the work.
After much thought and deliberation I decided on a personal note to try to write a Blog. For those who don’t know, a blog is basically an online diary. After realising the potential of this free service, we thought it would be a good idea to produce a blog just for the International XC. I misinterpreted the request and initiated a blog for MMAC. This was quickly put right and the EAMA Blog subsequently had, in October & November, nearly 6000 views. Meanwhile I also developed the MMAC Blog and between October and the end of the year we had almost 3500 visitors. This blog provides a quick and efficient way to post details of events/news etc to as many members as possible and compliments both the Newsletter and our official website.
In 2008 we initiated an “opt-out” system for our Newsletter and many of you have continued this with your 2010 renewals. The result is that we have currently over 200 members willing to read/print the Newsletter from the online copy on our website. This represents a saving of well over £1000 per year and helps to keep your subscriptions down at a low-level. The problem I had with this is that mass emailing wasn’t an easy task and was often seen as sending spam. The result was that many emails bounced back to me as undeliverable and some never reached their destination because of the way personal firewalls were set up. Dealing with this was both time-consuming and time-wasting. A solution was to get you, our members on email, join the Yahoo Group, which enabled me to send one message only and reach all of you. How good this proved to be depended on the members co-operation and to date we have nearly 120 signed up out of potentially more than 400. This has meant that some of you have not been reading the notifications of when the Newsletter goes online. I have done my best to be able to reach as many of you as possible with all the latest news and developments via the Yahoo Group; the MMAC Blog; the MMAC Website and the Newsletter. In addition I am on both Twitter & Facebook, so there really is no excuse for not being aware of what’s going on. The information is there, please do your bit and sign up free to the Yahoo Group and bookmark as favourites all 3 sites. To those who do not have internet access, then you must rely on the Newsletter as ever.
I shall therefore be posting a copy of this report for all to read before the AGM on the MMAC Blog.
Personally, I should like to give a big thank you to your Officers, Irene Nicholls; Colin & Margaret Simpson; Brian Owen and the General Committee who keep me in my place and offer me such wonderful support, especially when master’s matters get a bit excruciating!
Tom Morris — April 2010
MMAC Member Renewals 2010
This is the last call for any member who has not yet renewed their subscriptions for 2010 to do so now please. Any renewals received by me after the 31st March 2010 will be classed as rejoining and you may miss an edition of our Newsletter (if mailed) and a copy of “Masters Athletics”.
There will be a strict cut-off date of the 31st March 2010, in practice it may be a few days before. This allows me to update the BMAF before the next edition of “Masters Athletics” goes to press.
You have been warned………….
Tom 16/03/2010
Training Camps…
JF Pacemakers
Running Holidays in Spain
Ronda de Andalucía, 100
14812 Almedinilla
Córdoba- Spain
Object: Professional and Affordable Training Base in Andalucía, Spain.
Hello fellow sportswomen and sportsmen,
Who are we?
We are John Graham, former British, Commonwealth and Olympic Athlete and Frank McGowan, former Scottish Internationalist.
What do we do now?
After years of training together, we have relocated to secluded southern rural Spain: we have joined forces to pass on our knowledge and training techniques in a relaxing but challenging natural environment…but without the over-inflated price tag, in the dim economic context on both sides of the Channel.
Where and Why?
Like most Northern European teams of all sports, we have always been drawn to Spanish facilities and conditions: After Switzerland, Spain is the highest country in Europe, with an average altitude of 600 metres. We are based near the inland rural town of Priego de Córdoba, nestled at 2000 ft, between Granada’s Sierra Nevada and Córdoba’s Sierra Subetica. We are surrounded by endless hilly olive groves, crossed by meandering paths, ideal for walkers and runners. For you cyclists out there, we are already expecting with anticipation the 2010 Spanish Vuelta stage which will take the cyclists through the feared sixteen hills of Valdepeñas de Jaen.
What are the weather conditions?
The historical southern province of Córdoba has a continental climate which offers a wide range of training conditions, with crisp bright but cold winter days, a long scorching summer_ the province is registered as the hottest in Spain year after year and long pleasant sunny days in Spring and Autumn.
What are the facilities?
We would put at your disposition one or two beautiful private typical Spanish villas, comfortably sleeping 20 to 30 people with a small sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi. We have ample secure car park, bike servicing facilities, two private swimming-pools set in flower gardens and a flood-lit tennis court.
Why choose us?
Not only can we offer you our invaluable experience, exceptional surroundings and warm-weather training conditions but with your cooperation, we have opted for a low-key advertising campaign which will enable us to pass on the savings to our customers. We ask you to please take time to print the present e-mail and our attached colour poster and place it on your club notice -boards.
How affordable is “affordable”?!
Our prices per person start at £150 for a week-end training break or £300 per training week. They include food (breakfast and evening meal), accommodation and transfer from the accessible airports of Malaga or Granada depending on group sizes.
For more information please contact
john@jfpacemakers.com or frank@jfpacemakers.com. Take a look at our website at www.jfpacemakers.com Tel 0034 957 70 3116 or 0034 620 68 1415.
We look forward to being your hosts soon.
John and Frank.
Midland Masters Athletic Club 