UP COMING EVENTSAPRIL

17/4 Virgin London Marathon

22/4 Roger Wing Charity 10K

22/4 Sudbury 5 mile Fun Run

24/4 Trowse 10k Norfolk

30/4 SWL Wycombe

MAY

1/5 NJL Eton

1/5 EYAL Ipswich

1/5 Bury Marathon

2/5 Breckland 10k

7/5 SML Bexley

8/5 EAL Ipswich

8/5 Alton Water 10k

8/5 Colchester 10k

15/5 Suffolk County Champs

15/5 Woodbridge 10k

21/5 SML & SWL Ipswich

27/5 Ipswich Friday 5s

28/5 EAA Champs Cambridge

29/5 NJL Chelmsford

29/30 CAU Inter Counties

Champs Bedford

SML - Southern Mens League

SWL - Southern Women's League

NJL - National Junior League

EYAL - Eastern Young Athletes

EAL - East Anglian League

With the snow once again putting pay to most of the pre-christmas training and race schedule, its good to know that athletics can continue despite the weather with indoor competitions. There have been several over the last few months, some high profile like the European Indoors where Team GB had its best showing ever on foreign soil taking 8 medals including two golds in the 3000m for Mo Farah and Helen Clitheroe. Others closer to home have featured several of our own athletes. Sarah Prescott-Smith and Matthew Constable two of our younger stars, competed well at the English National Indoor Championships in Birmingham on 27th Feb. Sarah won a silver medal for 2nd place in the U15 Long jump with a jump of 5.37m and Matt finished 5th in the U17 400m with a new pb of 50.70s. More recently the Eastern Counties & Essex Indoor Champs took place at The Lee Valley Stadium and a good contingent of Harriers made the journey to Edmonton to compete. Best performances on the day were George Johnson who won both the 60m and 400m for U15 boys, U13 Benson Craven who finished 2nd in the long jump with 4.48m and 4th in the 60m and Sarah Prescott-Smith who gained victory in the U15 long

jump with 5.15m and placed 2nd in the high jump with 1.53m.

With the 2011 Track and field season almost upon us here’s a reminder of two very important dates for your diary. The County Championships are being held again this year at our home track on Saturday 15th May. Whilst on May 28th the Eastern AA Championships will take place at the Wilberforce Track in Cambridge. These are competitions which you must enter for yourself but can represent the club at the same time by competing in your club vest. All track and field events from U13 to Seniors are included with medals awarded for the first 3 places in each age group. Anyone can enter you just need to meet the qualifying conditions. Both events provide good competition and a chance to gain experience, have fun and maybe come away with a championship win! It would be great to see the club well represented at both events. Closing dates for entry are 29th April for Suffolk and 12th May for Eastern AA so get your skates on! For more details and to download your entry forms go to www.suffolkathletics.org.uk (the official web site for suffolk athletics).

Good Luck for the season and enjoy your athletics!

Welcome to the latest issue of the Harriers Newsletter. We’ll be catching up with the muddy goings on in the Suffolk Winter League and looking forward to a new season of Track and Field with details on some upcoming competitions you may want to enter and details of our summer leagues. We hope you enjoy it and remember, this newsletter is for keeping you in touch, so let us know what you want included, all input will be greatly appreciated!

(email ipswichh@ipswich-harriers.co.uk fao Maria )

CLUB NEWS

Ipswich Harriers Issue 8 April 2011 www.ipswich-harriers.co.uk

Track and FieldSummer League Details

With the 2011 Track and Field season just a few weeks away here is a quick guide to the Leagues in which Ipswich Harriers participate during the summer months.

The Southern Women’s League (SWL)

This is a female only league for athletes from the U15 age group upwards covering most track and field disciplines. Ipswich are competing in the Southern Premier Division again this year. This is the top Division in the SWL and we will be competing against top class competition from fifteen other clubs including Thames Valley Harriers and Windsor Slough and Eton.

Team Managers:Elizabeth Welbourn & Leanne Thorndyke

First Meeting: Saturday 30th April away at Wycombe

The Southern Mens League (SML)

This competition is open to senior men, junior men and U17 men (except that the latter may not compete in the 3000m steeplechase, nor the 5000m). The club are currently competing in Division One of the SML this is the top division and several of the countries top cubs participate including, Newham and Essex Beagles and Woodford Green and Essex Ladies providing extremely tough opposition. There are a total of twenty-five teams in the league for 2011 competing in six matches held on Saturdays over the season.

Team Manager: Colleen Fuller

First Meeting: Saturday 7th May away at Bexley

The National Junior League (NJL)

The National Junior Athletic League provides athletics competition for the best young athletes in the under 20 age group (under 17’s with potential are also allowed to compete to gain experience).

The League is divided into three Regions Northern, Midland and Southern which are then sub-divided into area divisions topped by a Premier Division. Club teams that finish in top place in the Area Divisions are invited to a promotion match along with the team finishing second from bottom of the Premier Division. The teams finishing in first and second place at this match gain promotion to their Premier Division for the following season.

Ipswich Harriers compete in a joint team with Chelmsford AC under the name of “The Saxons”. Club vests are not worn instead a purple Saxons Vest is loaned for each meeting. This season will again see us competing in the Southern Premier Division the top division for this region!

Team Managers: Graeme Crissell & Keith Moore

First Meeting: Saturday May 1st away at Eton

The East Anglian League (EAL)

We are currently 2010 Overall League Champions for the EAL. It is an Eastern region league which sees us competing against teams from Essex and Cambridgeshire as well as local rivals such as West Suffolk, Diss and Colchester at various venues throughout the region. The League has a real team focus with events for all age groups from U13 to seniors. A league final is held at Bury in September for the top six teams in each individual age group.

Team Managers: Megan Day, Maria Thompson & Colleen Fuller

First Meeting: Sunday 8th May home at Northgate

The Eastern Young Athletes League (EYAL)

The EYAL is a league for our younger athletes from U13 to U17. It is a highly competitive league where we regularly compete against some of the best young athletes in the region. Two League finals are held in September the top six teams in the league compete in the main final with the next six teams contesting a plate final on the same day. Last season we reached the plate final in Peterborough where our Under 15 girls team won the trophy.

Team Managers: Yvonne Holmes & Vicky Lehkyj

First Meeting: Sunday 1st May home at Northgate

General Information

In all leagues two competitors per event, per club.( 'A' and 'B' ) plus relays are allowed to score points for the team. However sometimes we are also able to field some non-scoring participants allowing others to take part. If you aren’t competing in the maximum number of events allowed for your age, your team manger may ask you to compete for extra points in events where there are no entrants from the club. This will support the team as participation usually means points but it can also mean you’ll find a new event your great at!

Competitors taking part in all leagues (except NJL) will be required to wear a club vest when participating in their events, these can be purchased from the clubhouse on training nights.

Transport to away league matches is included in your membership fee as an athlete, however parents travelling in support on the team bus will be charged £5 per person for each away match attended.

Finally and most importantly don’t forget that we're a competitive club and as a member you have agreed to represent us in league and open competitions throughout the season. Remember competing is the ultimate reward for all your hard work and training - you can’t be a winner either individually or as part of the team if you don’t take part!

News ExtraIpswich Harriers Time Trials

A big thank you to all of the organisers and helpers at our club time trial evenings. I am sure you will agree that they were very successful and all those taking part enjoyed themselves. It was a fun un-pressured way to start the season allowing our athletes to check on their progress after a strong winters training, whilst also enabling our team managers to assess athletes progression and see where new members fit in with their selections for the early meetings.

Supporters Travel

The Club welcomes and encourages the support of parents to its away matches. However, if you wish to travel on the Club transport, please check availability with the respective Team Manager on the Thursday evening preceding the weekend fixture at the latest to make sure there will be enough room on the coach. There is a charge of £5 per non-competing adult for each fixture.

Saxons Vests

With the new season days away we seem to be short of a few of the Clubs purple Saxons vests. Could all athletes who have previously competed in the NJL check to see if they have one hidden away at home. If you find one please bring it into the clubhouse on training night. Thank you

Sports Therapist

If you find you are suffering with an athletics related niggle/injury during the season we have had a Sports Therapist recommend by Jermaine Bernard who is himself recovering from a serious sports injury. The company is MB Sports Therapy based at Framlingham Sports Club. You can contact Michael Beaton on 07932085262 - we have a £5.00 discount voucher in the clubhouse if you want to give it a try.

Senior Road Running ResultsHadleigh 10 - 21st November48th! 01:10:26! Tonya Antonis 58th! 01:12:23 ! Neil Gillingham

Stowmarket Scenic 7 - 14th November 67th! 48:40! Neil Gillingham

Wymondham New Year's Day 10k 109th! 46:06! Neil Gillingham

Brass Monkey (York) Half Marathon - 23rd January 473rd! Neil Gillingham ! 1:36:25

Great Bentley half marathon, 6th February46th ! Kevin Peirce ! 84m48s (PB) 151st ! Neil Gillingham ! 93m58s 155th ! Tonya Antonis ! 94m34s 433rd ! Kirsty Thorndyke !1h53m19s (PB)

Results Update

Tesco VouchersAs those of you who shop in Tesco probably already know they are once again issuing their Sports and IT Vouchers. And as a club we will be once again collecting them! Last year we managed to obtain several essential pieces of sports equipment and it would be great if we could manage the same again this time. There will be a collection box available for your donations in the clubhouse until 26th of May so get collecting WE NEED YOUR VOUCHERS.......

I can’t believe its already time to include a round up of the Cross Country Season for 2010/2011. It only seems like yesterday we were cheering our teams on in the sunshine at the Bury track finals! Well here we are with winter season coming to an end and the new track season almost upon us, now’s the time to congratulate those hardy soles who trained through the snowy days of winter and competed for club, county and country whilst the rest of us were tucked up in bed having a weekend lie-in! Here’s a reminder of some of the highlights.

October saw the first race in the Suffolk Winter League take place on an eventful course at Framlingham, potholes aside it was a great start to the season with a good turnout and some wonderful performances, especially from our younger athletes many of whom were performing in their first xc season. There were top ten finishes for Olivia Mair (2nd), Chloe Godbold (7th), Theo Passmore (3rd), Chris Jones (6th) and Richard Ling (9th) in the U13s. For the U15s Katie Peake (6th), Toby Upson (6th), James Bemrose (8th) and Aiden Kitchen (10th). The U17 age group saw all of our athletes finish in the top six - Claire Caiger (4th), Lucy Barnes (5th), Charlotte Bones (6th), Andrew Revell (1st) and Oliver Norman (3rd). Our older runners proved equally successful with 1st and 2nd going to Laura Thomas and Emma Burroughs and 1st and 3rd places to Ross Fawcett and Tim Byford in the junior races. The senior men rounded off a superb meeting with a win for Matt Barnes-Smith and third place for Simon Gardiner.

The EAA XC Champs were held in Colchester on 28th November and the Harriers had three young representatives who performed really well on the day. Olivia Mair finished 8th in U13 girls race, with Christopher Jones coming home 5th in the U13 boys equivalent. Our best result on the day was from Andrew Revell who ran strongly to finish 4th in the U17 mens event.

The beginning of December was lost to the cold weather with the Suffolk League meet at Woodbridge the first casualty of the season. Luckily some meetings survived and on the 11th a good young team of athletes made the journey to Biggleswade for the SEAA Inter-counties XC Champs. Bradley Wattleworth was our best placed athlete finishing 3rd in the U15 boys race with a good top 50 finish for team mate Ross Tennant who came home 41st. On the 19th some of Stephen Benson’s group represented England in the Lotto Cross Cup which took place in Brussels. Kieran Clements won the U20 mens 6k race and U15 athlete Bradley Wattleworth finished his 2.5k in second place. Elliot Palmer also U20 finished 19th whilst James Powey and

Jack Garvin in the U18 race finished in 15th and 18th terrific results for the boys against international opposition.

The New Year started off with a bang as our athletes took part in the Suffolk XC Championships held at Ickworth Park. There was a great turnout from the club and several team and individual titles were achieved in very boggy conditions. Most notable results on the day were a first place team finish for U13 girls, comprising Charlotte Wickens, Olivia Mair and Chloe Godbold. A win for the U15 boys team who were led home with a 1st place finish from Bradley Wattleworth with Ross Tennant 3rd and Tobias Rankin 8th. Both U17 teams achieved the win with Hannah Petterson and Kieran Clements each coming home first in their respective races. And in the Senior mens race Elliot Palmer finished in first place closely followed by team mate Andrew Rooke in second. The second round of the Suffolk Winter League took place at Haughley Park on 23rd January, turnout was good for Harriers despite the cold weather. Several individual performances stood out on the day including Theo Passmore who finished 3rd in U13 boys race despite carrying a rugby injury. Lucy Barnes and Ruby Budd who came home 1st and 2nd in U17 girls race and Andy Revell completing another victory in the boys race. In the Junior section, Emma Burroughs and Ross Fawcett won their individual races and in the Senior mens event Tom Tica was a revelation as he won comfortably in his first race of the season for Harriers. On the same date in January faraway in a much warmer setting, Kieran Clements was competing in his second international of the season. The cross internacional Juan Muguerza was held in Elgoibar, Spain and Kieran acquitted himself very well finishing in 11th place against top quality opponents. The final event on the January calender was the Southern XC Championships held at Parliament Hill three of our best young runners once again achieved great performances against top class fields. Bradley Wattleworth finished 5th in the U15s race, Kieran Clements finished 1st in the U17s and Elliot Palmer also came home 5th in the U20s section.

Cross Country Round-up

February proved to be a very busy month for cross country beginning with the Anglian Schools Championships at Corby on the 5th. The Harriers had several athletes chosen to represent the county at this prestigious schools event and everyone should be congratulated for their achievement. The pick of performances were Susannah Reid who finished 6th in the Intermediate girls race, Bradley Wattleworth who came 1st in the intermediate boys and Kieran Clements who also won his event for the senior boys. The following day at Nowton saw the next leg of the Suffolk Winter League and several brave (but tired) soles who competed in Corby turned out including U13 girls Chloe Godbold and Olivia Mair who finished in 4th and 5th place. U15 Katie Peake who finished 5th in her race and Theo Passmore and Chris Jones who managed 2nd and 4th places despite the previous day. Lucy Barnes and Ruby Budd again finished 1st and 2nd in the U17 race to consolidate their position at the top of their section. In the U13 race Richard Ling made a huge improvement coming in 3rd. The U15 boys had a good showing with Toby Upson coming in 3rd followed by James Bemrose in 5th place and Aidan Kitchen in 8th. Once again Ross Fawcett won the junior mens event with Tim Byford 2nd. It was the same for the senior mens race, Tom Tica winning with Simon Gardiner 10 seconds behind in 2nd place. Our top youngsters were in action against the country’s best on 19th at the English National XC Championships which were held this year at Alton Towers. Kieran Clements continued his winning run with first in the U17 boys race whilst Elliot Palmer came in 13th in the Junior mens and Bradley Wattleworth finished 11th in the U15 boys. The second of three SWL meetings this month took place at Ditchingham near Bungay on Sunday 20th. Against some top Norfolk opposition Andrew Revell lead the way finishing 1st in the U17 boys race whilst Lucy Barnes came home second for the girls. In the U15s race Lauren Ramsey finished 2nd in the girls section with James Bemrose 6th and Aiden Kitchen 9th in the boys. The U13s saw Henry Milldown finish in 3rd closely followed by Richard Ling and Chris Jones in 5th and 6th with Chloe Godbold coming home in 4th for the girls. The senior races again saw Tom Tica maintaining his challenge for individual glory with a 2nd place followed by Simon Gardiner in 4th. Whilst Emma Burroughs claimed another 1st in the junior women’s race. The final meeting of the month was the re-scheduled SWL meeting at Woodbridge. This also being the final deciding meeting for the 2010/2011 League as a whole. With lots of titles up for grabs the Harriers had a good turnout of athletes vying for trophies. Theo Passmore came home 1st for U13 boys with Henry Milldown 4th, Richard Ling 6th and Chris Jones 7th. In the girls race Olivia Mair finished 3rd, Chloe Godbold 4th and Eleanor Tennant 6th. James Bemrose and Aiden Kitchen competed well for the U15 boys coming home in 6th and 9th places and Lauren Ramsey had another good run to finish 5th in the girls race with Katie Peake just behind in 8th. Andrew Revell and Lucy Barnes put in another outstanding performance in the U17s age group, Andrew again claiming a well deserved first place and Lucy finishing second. Tom Tica and Simon Gardiner continued their great league form to come home in 1st and 2nd place in the senior mens race with Kevin Peirce finishing in 9th. In the junior mens section Ross Fawcett continued his winning ways in 1st place with team mate Tim Byford following in second whilst Emma Burroughs crowned the day winning the junior women’s race.

Overall Results for Suffolk Winter League

Team Results Boys Team 1st Place one point ahead of St Edmunds Pacers.

Girls Team 2nd place behind St Edmunds Pacers.

Senior Men 4th place

Individual Results U13 Girls: Olivia Mair 4th, Chloe Godbold 5th, U15G: Katie Peake 4th, Lauren Ramsey 6th

U13 Boys: Theo Passmore 3rd, Richard Ling 5th, Chris Jones 6th, U15B: James Bemrose 5th, Aiden Kitchen 7th

U17 Girls: Lucy Barnes 1st U17 Boys: Andrew Revell 1st

Junior Female: Emma Burroughs 1st, Junior Male: Ross Fawcett 1st, Tim Byford 2nd

Senior Male: Tom Tica 1st, Simon Gardiner 2nd

Well Done to everyone who made the effort to take part and represent the team in the Suffolk Winter League and a special congratulations to all of our wonderful winners.

March the final month of the season saw the Inter-counties XC held at Birmingham on the 5th. Best results on the day came from Chris Rooke 85th in the U23 race, Kieran Clements 23rd in the U20 race and Bradley Wattleworth 39th in the U15 race. Ending on a high note after a great winter season for the club Kieran Clements finished 1st in the U20 category at the English Schools XC Woolaton Park Nottingham on the 19th. WELL DONE on a very successful Cross Country season to everyone of our hardworking athletes who turned out in all weathers and represented the club.