Midland Masters Athletic Club
Masters
Old Guard Winter Competition
I know the Summer T&F season has hardly got under way but here is some advanced news for next Winter!! The “Old Guard Winter Competition” will once again be organised by Tony Crocker for some good old out of season contests. The first meeting will be held at Stourport on the 17th October 2010. The date of the second meeting still has to be confirmed but will be in March 2011.
Entry forms will be available later but in the meantime make a note in your diaries and watch this space!!
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
MMAC 10k Track Championships
Please note that the 10,000m Championship event is incorporated with the BMAF 10k Track Championships taking place on the 23rd May at Horspath Athletics Track, Horspath Road, Oxford OX4 2RR. An entry form specifically for this event can be downloaded here…. http://www.bmaf.org.uk/fix/bmaf201010ktrk-entry.pdf
See also the “Track & Field Champs” Page.
Important:
This event also includes the 10k Track Walk
Age Groups – BMAF Road Relays
We have received a proposal that from 2011, the age groups for MEN replicate those for WOMEN and the age groupings under EVAA Non-Stadia Team Rules for Road events, namely:
M35-44 / M45-54 / M55-64 / M65-74 / M75+
It’s important that as many Clubs vote to make it representational as possible.
Download a voting paper…. RelayAgeGroups-VotingPaper[3]
Road Relays Results
Anyone wanting to look at the results from the relays that took place yesterday should click on the “Road Relay/AGM” page where there is a link to download them.
The results of the walks handicap can also be downloaded.
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
Old Guard T&F Event – Results & Report
Tony Crocker invited us all to his “Old Guard” Winter Track & Field meeting held on the 14th March at the Kidderminster & Stourport AC track. This informal meeting open to non MMAC members as well as members was designed to give t&f athletes competition outside their normal season
in a friendly environment. This, Tony believes, was achieved. Anyone who competed, please post your comments here.
A set of results and a small report by Tony on the plans for next season can be downloaded here
JOGLE 2010
A group of masters from Birchfield Harriers are running from John O Groats to Lands End in May to raise awareness of leukaemia. I reproduce here an email from one of the runners with details of their website….
The Team
Cobra Classic
Entry Forms are now available for this years Cobra Classic, click here..Cobra Classic
Please visit the official website for more details.. http://www.cobrarc.co.uk/
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 