Weekly Update Friday 2nd October

This week we have results to round up for you from Swindon & Trafford, a London Marathon preview, a recruitment call for volunteer officials and even more coaching webinars.

Results:

Saturday 26th September at Trafford U15B Lewie Jones threw (12.22m) Shot & (37.26m) Javelin.

Sunday 27th September was the Swindon Harriers open meeting at Swindon. Swansea Harriers had two members taking part; U13G Millie Pierce who ran (32.94) for 200m and (5.52.11) over the 1500m, and SM Nathan Phillips who ran (2.06.43) for the 800m.

London Marathon Real & Virtual:

Our very own Swansea Harrier Joshua Griffiths has made the elite field in the actual race on Sunday 4th October. Running Review Cymru have written a great race preview “Joshua is in fine form having recently broken his half marathon PB at the Antrim Half Marathon in 63:08. The Welsh and GB international surprised the UK domestic scene at his debut Marathon in London back in 2017 after he started in the Championship race to go on to finish first Brit and 13th overall to gain automatic selection for the World Championships (also in London)” You can read the full article here.

Another 45,000 athletes have entered the virtual London Marathon, next week we will round up how all the Swansea Harriers amongst them got on. In addition several of our juniors are representing their schools amongst the 54,000+ entries in the virtual mini marathon, if the results are published we’ll try to round them up too!

Would You Like To See More Competitions At Swansea?

If you answered Yes. The good news is that online Welsh/UK Athletics Level 1 courses for on track judging, field judging, timekeeping, starter/starter assistant, photo finish, race walking and endurance for off track events, can now be delivered by a tutor in a virtual (Zoom) classroom.
The more officials we can get qualified in Swansea Harriers over the coming months, will mean that more competitive opportunities can be made available to our athletes of all age groups, abilities and event disciplines, when we can return to regular competitions. If you are interested in the opportunity to book onto a Level 1 official course and support your club, please fill in the expression of interest form click here.
For more comprehensive details on how to become an official, resources, qualifications and calendar of events, click here.

Webinars for coaches:

There are now additional event specific and generic webinars available over the next few weeks for coaches.

Welsh Athletics cover:

8/10 What is an athlete? How to learn to run, jump and throw through play.

20/10 Developing the junior endurance athlete.

26/10 Looking back to look forward, what lessons can be learnt from experiences.

For the full calendar of webinars click this link.

England Athletics cover:

7/10 Coaching the triple jump hop take off.

10/10 Resisted sprinting research and application.

15/10 Throws, nurturing emerging talent.

for their full webinar calendar click this link.

Training Fees:

The club cafe is Covid ready to start collecting the training fees ourselves since Monday 21st September. Athletes/Parents will queue 2m apart outside, and payment will be strictly by contactless only at the door where a desk and perspex screen will be in place. Two volunteers collecting subs will be in the building. The club has purchased an Ipad and Izettle system to make this possible.

New Members:

The club is unable to take on any new members at this time. With outdoor gatherings still restricted to 30, the club have been unable to recommence training on track with all of our existing membership. Until outdoor track capacity is increased significantly from 30 by Welsh Government with guidance then cascading down to Welsh Athletics and Swansea University, we are “snookered”.

Covid-19 Version 3:

The covid 19 plan has now changed to version 3 for the Monday to Thursday 5pm and 6.30pm sessions inclusive. The numerous changes effect all event disciplines. The plan MUST be read in full again before any athletes recommence training. All sessions must be pre booked with your coach, you cannot just turn up. Swansea Harriers Covid Plan Version 3 @ 15.09.20

Swansea University have now moved their booking system online for all other time slots, these are now Monday to Thursdays inclusive 2pm to 3.15pm and 3.30pm to 4.45pm also Saturdays 9.30am to 11.30am. To book and pre pay click here. again all sessions must be pre booked you cannot just turn up.

The club is in need of additional covid 19 officers from 5pm Mondays to Thursdays inclusive. If you are willing and available to assist once a week please speak to our existing covid officers at training. These are essential short term roles that the club needs to fill, any offers of assistance are greatly appreciated.

Annual Membership Fees:

All athletes being coached on or off track must have renewed their annual subs, as per the covid plan and for their personal insurance 2020-2021 Membership Application for New Members & Renewals