track & field

Important Message to BMAF Sacramento Competitors

An important message from the Secretary of the British Masters Athletic Federation

Bridget Cushen

The Sacramento Skyline

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Fixtures Updated

Our fixture list has just been updated mainly for the BMAF dates for 2012. Some of these are provisional so it’s very important for you to note this in case of any future changes of date.

Please click on the “FIXTURES” tab for a full list.

Oh! Don’t forget to partake in our ‘social’ Poll in the previous post.. two clicks is all that’s needed… simples! And it will help us tremendously.

Also, spend a few minutes answering the BMAF Road Questionnaire

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• BMAF Road Survey (britishmastersaf.wordpress.com)

The Tartan Games

Tartan Games, Gateshead, 27th August 2011

Member #M2978, John Steel form Cheltenham & Co. Harriers, intends to compete in the The Tartan Games, on the 27th August in Gateshead. At the moment there are NO masters/veteran races but the organizers have agreed to put races if enough masters/veterans enter. John wants to compete in the 100m and 200m and wants to know if any masters/veterans, whether members or not, are interested in entering, thus meaning he doesn’t have to compete against much younger adversaries!

Anyone interested should contact John on john@strictlymortgages.co.uk

Click this link to go direct to the Gatehead Harriers page giving details and entry form… http://tinyurl.com/44erbop

Jo Ogden

We have just heard the sad news that long serving member Jo Ogden died of cancer on the 30th May 2011 in Lincoln Hospital. Jo joined MVAC, as it was then, in 1989 and still holds 6 Championship Best Performances in our Track & Field Championships, the earliest from 1990 and the latest from 2003. In recent years her health had deteriorated but she was always looking forward to competing again, maintaining her competition licence with England Athletics.

Colin Simpson writes:

“I was sorry to learn of the death of Jo Ogden.  We corresponded for many years, particularly after she moved to Sleaford at Cranwell Village.

We shared a common hatred of the EU and she gave me a supply of stickers with “GB out” emblazoned prominently.  After she moved to Sleaford, she complained that she could no longer practise her javelin throwing because the ground was too stony and it bent the point of the javelin!

A charming woman”.  CS

Her Championship Best Performances are:

R.I.P.

Track & Field Championships 2011

Image by Luther College Photos via Flickr

Results from the Track & Field Championships 2011 held on Sunday, 12th June at Leicester are now published at  http://ow.ly/5ipKf

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Results Midland Veterans Track and Field

Results Midland Veterans Track and Field League Meeting 2 South Division – Mozilla Firefox http://ow.ly/5ibFs

BMAF Track & Field Championships

Alexander Stadium

A very important message from Maurice Doogan to all masters athletes who want to enter the BMAF Track & Field Championships 2012 at Alexander Stadium on the 25/26th June: –

The On-Line Entry Form should be up and running in a few days time – go to www.areg247.co.uk to access, although a link may also appear on the BMAF website, but with that there might be a delay.

As I stated earlier, you need to have your NATIONAL [England, N.I. etc.] Registration Number and your Area Club [MMAC etc.] Membership No. to complete your entry.

We have a further problem, in as much that the External Throws Area at Alexander Stadium will not be available, so although I have, allegedly, squeezed in most of the throws, it does mean a 09.00 start for some age groups. However we do have a problem with the weight throw, which I am trying to resolve next week with a meeting with Alexander Stadium management. Hopefully I will be able to post a provisional timetable on the BMAF website in the next week.

Due to this problem, we are having to switch the Men and Women’s Pole Vault competitions. Womens competition now on the Saturday and Men’s on the Sunday.

Yours in Masters sport

Maurice

Accommodation details for the event can be downloaded here…… ALEXSTADIUMHOTEL_DEALS_2011

MMAC Fixtures

Fixtures Update

In a brief break from National Masters Relay entries and Royal Weddings, I have been able to update our “Fixtures” page. Of particular interest to our endurance athletes will be the BMAF 10k Track Championships which will incorporate our very own MMAC Championships. Not many of you have entered these in the past and it’s a chance to run the rare 10,000 m distance on the track. It will also allow entry to our full Track & Field Championships the following week in Leicester.

A direct link to the page is here … http://bit.ly/kiQRGu or just click on the “Fixtures” button.

“Old Guard” Track & Field April Meeting

The next “Old Guard” Track & Field Meeting takes place on the 3rd April 2011 at Stourport. All the details and entry form can be found at http://wp.me/PDLtv-bo

This event is a relaxed masters meeting and is open to non Midland Masters AC members.

This is your chance to see how winter training has gone or to try out new events and just to have FUN.

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WMA Stadia Championships – London Bid 2015

Dear Fellow Athlete [I live in hope, but I do now have an EA Competition Licence]

SO THAT YOU ARE THE FIRST TO KNOW:
I have just submitted the paperwork to WMA for a prospective bid for the WMA Stadia Championships of 2015 in LONDON.

After my DREAM and efforts to bring the WMA Stadia Championships to London in 2011, in the proposed new London Olympic Stadium as a precursor to the Olympics, turned into a nightmare and failure, I withdrew to re-energise. I kept returning to the Third Way, this can work, we can make it work.

So, over the last couple of years, following Championships in one horse towns in the back end of beyond, with farcical [I am being kind] officiating, a few of us have continued to pursue the DREAM.

We have now elicited the approval of our exuberant Mayor of London and UK Athletics to support the BID, which gets us to the alleged Start Line. Ken Livingstone has also added his support today.

In reality, all that has happened, hopefully, is like you have all done, is filled in the Entry Form. In doing so, as I have done over more years than I would care to admit to, is that I assume I will find the time to do the training and go through the Call Room [you know that funny thing that some people still think is stupid] thinking I can win this – DREAM PART 2.

We [and not the Royal this time] now have 10 months to prove we are the best thing since sliced bread – which we know we are – you an’ me Bruv.

The downside is there are a couple of hurdles on the way, but our record in hurdles in previous Championships, shows we are simply the best, and we will overcome, with faith and the other two.

The hurdles are – UKA have to lose the vote for the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2015 – sorry Ed and Cherry, I am not trying to put the mockers on things, just stating the fact – and the Stadium track and associated facilities are retained after the Olympics by the selected operating company.

We also have the small question of finding a few £100k’s from funding and sponsorship, which is where you come in [remember Teamwork in action].

A small team will be assembled to set out the parameters for Phase 1 of Project London Foremost 2015. Should we negotiate the hurdles, we need to hit the ground running [sorry throwers, it is just an expression, not a fact] in December/January when Phase 2 – funding and sponsorship becomes the priority. Strangely enough, the organisational side of the actual competitions appears to be the relatively easy bit – is it because we have seen how not to do it to many times for it to cause any fears, or is it that males are so crap at multi-tasking my brain will not let me get past the Presentation in Sacramento – so probably the latter.

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty – YOUR BIT.

Team Management are not going to be able to all of this on our own, not only are there not enough hours in the day, but we do not have all the expertise. So what we are looking for, is your speciality – be it legal, financial, linguistics or are you a web site designer, bona Blogger, Facebook fanatic or Twitter[ing] twit. A few hours of your input, from your home via e-mail etc., will make a difference. Like the relays without the fourth you cannot finish, so the 100th expert could be the difference between Winning and a DNF.

Sponsorship will be obtained if we can present OURSELVES as something worth selling – could it be numbers. Can we get thousands and thousands of Friends [Masters Athletes] on Facebook from around the World? A London Foremost 2015 Blog that people want to read, that they fully hook into and ultimately persuades them that London in 2015 will be the MUST place to be. Dialogue and the numbers will matter.

I need you to tell me. I am just a single tasking grumpy old man, prone to the odd rant, so humour me. What ideas or skills do you have, come back to me – between us we can make this work.

We need London to do for Masters Athletics, what Los Angeles did for the Olympics – MAKE IT SALEABLE – we must put Ageism to the sword, once and for all.

No more One Horse towns, in the back end of beyond – we have had our full of those – that is all you have to lose, not so hard a choice then. So volunteer your ideas and a little bit of your time.

Great Britain at the head of the Medal Table cannot happen without you, in more ways than one. The ULTIMATE DREAM – being chucked in the Water Jump Pit because we succeeded – bring it on.

Maurice Doogan