Weekly Updates Wednesday 24th June

Both the outdoor and indoor tracks at Swansea University remain closed to all users despite last Fridays Welsh Government announcement. As part of the university recovery/reopening plans across both campuses, of which the tracks are in phase two. The staff are working very hard behind the scenes to open as soon as possible for the club. Please bear with them as they have a considerable amount of preparation, planning, paperwork and deep cleaning to undertake, to ensure all social distancing measures are in place.
When a date for reopening is set, coaches will be advised, then depending on what the permittable coaching ratios are at that point in time, coaches will then contact athletes directly to arrange training. Be aware that there will many other adaptations for the club to consider, which are ever evolving and outlined here.

Results:

From 18th to 22nd June was the British Milers Club Virtual 3km Time Trial. Four Swansea Harriers participated with W35 Llinos Jones placing 321st overall and 2nd in her age category in (11.21); three McAdies were running too with M40 Gair (12.05) 429th & 29th M40; W40 Jenny (13.35) 556th & 7th W40 and U13G Imogen (17.13) 644th & 41st U13G. Well done to them all, click here for the full results.

From 15th to 20th June were the British Masters 5km Virtual Relays where there was a substantial Swansea Harriers presence in this event in which no fewer than 20 of our Masters athletes logged a time.  We had complete teams in the W45-54 (Julie Hartley-Green, Chris Webb, Kelly Gipson & Tina Gabb), M45-54 (Paul Flynn, Matt Kinane, Owen Davies, Simon Brewer, Geoff Robinson, Heath Brett & Bernard Murphy) and the M55-64 (Ifan Lloyd, Thomas Guest, Rob Falconer) all of them ranking in the top half of what were huge fields.  As it was a virtual event individuals were also allowed to enter with Llinos Jones (W35), Jenny McAdie (W40), Steven Taylor (M35), Edward Cullen (M35), Gair McAdie (M40) and Simon Coombes all recording creditable performances. Despite the absence of group sessions and races, the Endurance Group’s training efforts have continued to bear fruit with PBs being recorded by Steve Taylor, Edward Cullen, Paul Flynn and Owen Davies.  Much credit must go to Steven Taylor who has organised a Club Competition which has helped to keep everyone motivated through the long weeks of lockdown and solo running. Congratulations to all those who took part, click here for the full results.

There are still seven days remaining to enter and submit your time for the Swansea Harriers 2km Lockdown Time Trial the Sequel. There have been over 40 entries to date, with a few impressive times being submitting already. We have selected 2km as this allows our junior members to participate too, and possibly not a too overwhelming distance for some fed up sprinters & jumpers, or maybe some very fed up throwers? in addition to individuals times, we will again publish cumulative times for mother & son, mother & daughter, father & son and father & daughter, fastest coach, fastest club trustee and more! For all the rules, to enter, instructions and to view a live list of entries click here.

Annual Membership Renewals:

Please support your club. When we try to regrow the club on its eventual return, please can all those members that are yet to renew their annual membership to the club do so please; you can print a renewal form here ready for when training recommences 2020-2021 Membership Application for New Members & Renewals

National School Sports Week:

We would usually be in the midst of the many West Glamorgan Primary Schools Athletics Association and Afan Nedd Secondary Schools & Colleges Athletics Association fixtures at this time of year. In addition to our 2km challenge, with no schools events on as part of National School Sports week there are additional athletics resources you can try at home;

For games and challenges and other athletics activities click here. 

For U9 pupils why not try Starting Blocs.

The fantastic Athletics 365 handbooks are currently free to download here.

Officials Survey:

For our team of UK Athletics qualified officials ably led by Christina Jones our officials secretary, please can you all complete the Welsh Athletics Officials Covid-19 survey here. The survey will help understand the challenges faced over the coming months, and the steps that can be taken to overcome them to ensure that competition can return across all regions and disciplines.

Webinars on this week and a bit:

Welsh Athletics have coaching webinars on this link for; Discus; Endurance; Horizontal Jumps and Nutrition.  Don’t worry if you miss them or any previous webinars, you can watch them all back on the Welsh Athletics You Tube channel.

England Athletics have coaching webinars on this link for Steeplechase, Shot, Race Walking and Youth Development. Only licenced coaches can watch these back if you missed these or any previous webinars, by using your URN to login on athletics hub.