Masters

EA Registration – MMAC Survey Results

The following is a report on the results of our survey carried out recently. It was not a scientific survey but I believe it conveys the views of most of our members.

Owing to the surprising announcement at the end of September by England Athletics about the increases in registration fees and a change in structure and the potential impact on MMAC, I quickly produced an online survey on our website seeking our member’s views. This survey ran for approximately 7 weeks and had a total of 147 participants.

The following questions were asked:-

1. Are you a member of a UKA Club? YES/NO
2. Are you a 1^st Claim Member to MMAC? YES/NO/YES track & field only
3. Are you happy to pay a registration fee to EA? YES/NO
4. Do you recognise the need to pay a registration fee? YES/NO/Please help us understand why you selected this answer
5. If you answered YES to question 4, what would the maximum amount be that you are prepared to pay? £7 to £10 /£10 to £15/ £15 to £20/ Other option
6. Do you agree to a two tier system? i.e. road runners pay less YES/NO
7. Are you satisfied with what you get from the registration scheme? YES/NO/Please help us understand why you selected this answer
8. What would you like to see EA provide out of this extra fee? To your Club/As an individual/Please help us understand why you selected this answer

The above questions were a ‘knee jerk’ reaction to the announcement and with hindsight would probably be either different or phrased differently. However, I felt it important to seek views immediately so that I could present the results at our November Committee meeting. Subsequently to the EA announcement, their own AGM was held where Clubs expressed strong views and as a result a series of Forums have been set up by EA.

Following are the results received to the questions giving both numbers and percentages.

Question 1 – Are you a member of a UKA Club?

136 answered YES (94%); 8 answered NO (6%) – there were 3 who skipped the question

Question 2 – Are you a 1^st Claim Member to MMAC

25 answered YES (17%); 113 answered YES (79%); 6 answered YES Track & Field Only (4%) – there were 3 who skipped the question.

Question 3 – Are you happy to pay a registration fee to EA?

97 answered YES (66%); 50 answered NO (34%) – No skips.

Question 4 – Do you recognise the need to pay a registration fee?

113 answered YES (77%); 34 answered NO (23%) – No skips and 108 comments.

Question 5 – If you answered YES to Question 4, what would the maximum amount be that you are prepared to pay?

52 answered £7 to £10 (44%); 19 answered £10 to £15 (16%); 16 answered £15 to £20 (14%)

31 answered ‘Other Option’ (26%) of which 68% wanted £5

Question 6 – Do you agree to a two tier system? i.e. road runners pay less.

144 answered NO (74%); 38 answered YES (26%) – there were 3 who skipped the question.

Question 7 – Are you satisfied with what you get from the registration scheme?

80 answered NO (56%); 64 answered YES (44%) – 3 skips and 104 comments.

Question 8 – What would you like to see EA provide out of this extra fee?

68 answered ‘To your Club’ (64%); 39 answered ‘As an individual’ (36%) – 40 skips and 113 comments.

General Observations

The overwhelming thing that stood out from the comments was the ignorance of members of either what EA is or does or where we as a Masters Club benefit. Even 1^st Claim status was not understood by all as a few ticked YES both for a UKA Club and MMAC, thus shifting the analysis slightly!

As we would expect, the majority of our members belong to a UKA Club (Q1) but the numbers claiming to be 1^st Claim members was too high at 17%, the actual figure being nearer 11% (Q2). The majority seem happy to pay a registration fee and do recognise the need (Q3 & Q4) however some did question what EA provides for the veteran/master athlete competing in only a few events per year. Others thought that a nominal fee was acceptable but not the large 4x increase. The majority 44% were prepared to pay between £7 and £10 (Q5) and as most members were against the two tier system (Q6) then an across the board registration fee of £10 seemed to be acceptable. It’s interesting that although members generally are happy for a registration scheme the majority are not satisfied with what they get from it (Q7), many not seeing any benefits particularly as veteran/master athletes. From the comments made this is mainly through a lack of understanding. Members wanted EA to provide more to the Clubs than individuals (Q8) but there was a range of comments from wanting more to be done for youngsters through to more for the older athletes.

Conclusions

More education for our members on what EA provides and why we have a registration scheme in the first place is required. I can reply to some of the concerns expressed on the survey to explain or allay their fears and misunderstandings.

This was not a scientific survey and only 22% (147) of the potential 652 members on email/internet actually took part. But it is a guide as to how our members feel. The bottom line is that most are happy to pay an increase up to double the current fees providing it is across the board i.e. road runners and track & field pay the same.

Tom Morris – 23rd November 2013

Perfect Christmas Present ….

Received in my Inbox this morning: –

Dear Secretary,

Re: Book titled My Brother Jeffrey’s Favourite Little Books featuring Who Ate All The Paella?  Stories from the World masters Athletics Champs 2005.

I’ve been down to my last 100 or so copies for a few years now, so have decided to try and safely dispose of them to the good homes of new Masters or those who missed out first time round.  The deal is £4.50 for one, £3.50 every other copy inc. p&p and for every copy sold I will re-imburse your association with £1 per copy for your help. Please note that any money is only going towards off-setting the original print costs (it wasn’t half as cheap then as now!)

All I need from prospective buyers is cheque payable to Kevin Archer, their contact details, any dedication they want in the book and confirmation of their association so you get re-imbursed.

My contact details are:-

Kevin Archer 3 Lower Saint Edmund Street Weymouth Dorset DT4 8AJ Tel: 01305 830096 evenings, 07453698759 day, email kevin_archer45@hotmail.com. That’s kevin (underscore) archer.

About the book.  An attempt at humour with the back drop of the World Masters Athletics Champs.  I got injured there so started writing stories about the characters and just added all the corny jokes that came to mind, but funnily enough not the one about the Chiropodist who only ever ate corn flakes for breakfast!  Characters from all the Associations appear in one guise or another, so your area is represented, including a true but funny piece on the birth and death of Antrim Harriers contributed by Terry Eakin.  The original press and peer reviews in the book are so good I could have written them myself!

So don’t miss out on possibly the best stocking filler since………(buy the book to reveal!)

BMAF XC Relays 2012 – Results

Full results now appear on the BMAF Blog at

http://britishmastersaf.wordpress.com/bmaf-xc-relays

40th Anniversary Celebration

40th Anniversary Celebration
Our celebrations took place yesterday at the Tamworth AC’s headquarters. An afternoon of fun and frolics was planned by a small team headed by our current President, Adrian Lloyd.

The weather was kind and the forecast of light rain fortunately didn’t materialise. John Walker, our Road/ XC Secretary, organised a “Torch” Relay from Halesowen ( the place where it all began) to Tamworth, timed to perfection, arriving at the start of the meeting and ending with a lap of the track consisting of a genuine Olympic Torch and plethora of past Presidents.

Seconded at the last minute for timekeeping duties with fellow past President, Derek Fellows, we were grateful that our tasks were not too onerous. The show kicked off with a two- man Paarlauf, 12 minutes in duration. What a pity only two teams participated because once everyone had ‘sussed’ out how it worked it proved to be quite a close fought contest. A mixture of techniques was used, run 300m; jog back 100m or run 200m; jog across grass, adding to the interest.

On the track, 1 mile handicap races followed both for race walkers and runners, whilst field events consisted of long jumps and shot put plus welly wanging, the latter proving the most popular! Obstacle races and family shuttle relays rounded of the track events and a demonstration of tug- a – war being the afternoon’s highlight.

After all these efforts everyone fed themselves on jacket potatoes with various fillings and a substantial buffet.

Presentations to the winners were then carried out by Sue Kneill-Boxley, one of the organising team who sorted all the obstacle races, bouncy castle and who contributed in such a tremendous way.

With darkness falling, our Treasurer, Martin Wilkinson, and small team prepared the firework display. Wow! What a way to see off our 40th year, a really beautiful display and I’m sure Tamworth enjoyed it too!

The evening was rounded off with music and dancing.

All in all a very enjoyable and entertaining day. Congratulations to Adrian and his team for organising such a great event.

I’m off now with a little break with the family in Cornwall, so the full report with pictures will appear on the dedicated page in a couple of weeks, my apologies for this delay. But I thought it important to get this post uploaded.

Please feel free to make comments on this or the dedicated page and I’ll do my best to get them all approved before I am back in action.

Tom Morris – Secretary
1st October 2012

40th Anniversary Celebration

The programme has now been finalised although it will have to be remain flexible depending on the weather etc.

Full details can be seen on the dedicated page on this website, a quick link to it http://tinyurl.com/d3fat8x 

Please take a look and download the programme.

Become a Race Walk Judge or Coach

Midland Race Walking Association

Anyone interested in learning officiating or competing in race walking/ athletics, please check out the details below.

Thank you

Regards,
Catharine Telling – Midlands RWA

2012 midlands coaching day leaflet

coaching day advert

40th Anniversary Celebrations

40th Anniversary Celebrations, 30th September 2013

2.30pm – 9.00pm

Tamworth Stadium, Marlborough Way, Tamworth B77 2HF

Please note that the advanced booking closing date has now been extended for a further week until the 23rd September 2013. RESERVATION FORM

Fun for everyone, either take part or come along for a chat.

Please read the “Comments”

Torch Relay to celebrate the MMAC 40th Anniversary

As part of the 40th Anniversary Celebrations, John Walker, our Road/XC Secretary, is organising a ‘Torch Relay’ from our birthplace at Halesowen to Tamworth where we are holding our celebrations. John is hoping that the whole relay (not a race) can be run in pairs for safety reasons and currently we are short of runners. The total distance will be in the region of 26 – 30 miles and will start at around 9.00 am from Halesowen and is aimed to finish with a lap of the track at Tamworth Athletics Stadium.

So, we are after volunteers to run to make this venture a success. Please contact John Walker on 07831592327 and leave a message if necessary stating the minimum distance you would like to run and John will contact you with all the details. Let’s make this venture, which is part of our celebrations, a total success….. contact John Walker NOW.

MMAC 10k Road Championships

Time is rapidly running out!!!!

Please note that a late entry fee will apply after Wednesday 16th August. If you have been teetering on sending in an entry, then DO IT NOW. A full list of entries so far for MMAC members can be found at http://www.wilne.co.uk/mmac/mmac.html

Entry Form for MMAC entry … http://tinyurl.com/95t5c85

40th Anniversary Celebrations