Sent: 19 November 2006 23:34
Subject: V S Update - Key dates, XC results, Fell dates, Grading of
officials
Key Dates
Tuesday 21 November – 8:30pm – discussion of Grand
Prix events for 2007 and Captain’s roles – everyone welcome
Tuesday 28 November – 8:30pm – continue discussion of
registration of race officials – everyone welcome – see the discussion document
at the end of this email (thanks to
Sunday 3 December – final cross-country – we have a
good chance of winning the J E Smith trophy, let’s get our best team out
Friday 15 December – Christmas meal at Leo’s – 7pm for
7:30pm, £9 cheque payable to “S. O’Callaghan”, contact Steve on 267-7779 or [email protected]
Sunday 17 December – first race in Sport Direct cross
country league
Sunday 31 December - Winter Handicap 5 miles, meet by
Res at 11:00
The Dates page on the website has been updated with lots
more events http://valleystriders.org.uk/vsdates.htm
Cross Country results
Women finished 5th team, our highest place
this year
GP pts
20
33
37 Karen
Wright
0:22:29
93
38 Anna
Costello 0:22:35
91
40
79 Sylvia
Watson 0:27:16
85
88 Lyn
Men finished 14th team
48
71
92 Drew
Taylor
0:36:58
99
106 Ian Sanderson
0:37:39
98
157 Bob
Jackson
0:40:53 95
161
164
191
193 Eric
Green
0:44:26
89
199
207 Bob
Wilkes
0:47:39
88
208 Geoff Webster
0:48:08
87
213 Paul Sanderson
0:49:01
86
Abbey Dash race number
Have you read the 13 rules why you should not borrow
someone else’s race number? http://valleystriders.org.uk/borrow.htm
If you have and you comply with the conditions and you
want to run in
Some Fell Races you may care to try (from Madeleine Watson)
I made a comment about not seeing many Valley Striders at
races I’ve been to recently, and I got the response that I didn’t tell people
where I was going. So here is my list until the end of the year. Hope to see
some of you there. Happy to share lifts if it would help. Madeleine
Sun 26 Nov – Rivock Edge, Keighley
Sun 3 Dec – XC, Guiseley
Sun 10 Dec –
Sun 17 Dec – The Stoop,
Tues 26 Dec – Chevin Chase
Sun 31 Dec – Auld Lang Syne,
Next year’s English Fell Championships (from Madeleine Watson)
In case you’re in planning mode, below are English
championship races for 2007. It would be good to get teams out – 5 men, 4 vet
40 men, 3 vet 50 men, 3 women. Some of these require pre-entry. And some are
more suitable for people new to fell running than others. The championship is
based on the best 4 out of 6, with one at each distance (short, medium, long)
if you do have 4 races. You enter the individual races and the points are
allocated by the FRA statistician (which has been me for the last 3 years, but
is about to change). There are a different number of people who get points
depending on your age (eg first 50 men, first 40 men over 40, first 30 women).
Contact Geoff or Madeleine for more details. Or look on the FRA website –
www.fellrunner.org.uk
Sunday 18th March – Edale Skyline, Derbyshire.
Long. 21miles/ 4500’ climb
Sunday 22nd April – Paddy’s Pole, Lancs.
short 4.5miles/ 1100’ climb
Saturday 19th May –
Saturday 2nd June –
Saturday 18th August – Weasdale Horseshoe, Lakes.
Medium. 8 miles/2000’ climb
Saturday 6th October – Great Whernside,
Kettlewell. Short. 4 miles /1555’ climb
UK Athletics (UKA) changed
the rules in April 2006 regarding the officials needed for races, although on
the very first page of the rule book it does say that final decisions have not
yet been taken! For those who are interested I have copied rules as published
below. For those that would like to see the full rule book then it can be
downloaded from the UK Athletics website (under the tab of ‘Competition’) or
purchased from the UKA bookshop. However for those who want an abridged version
read on.
There have always been
qualified officials in track and field, but endurance events have escaped. Not
for much longer! UKA are now extending the idea of qualified officials across
all disciplines including x-country, road and trail – the Fell runners got
themselves organised and have a stay of execution. There are now new ‘Levels’
of officials (as opposed to Grades!), and UKA are working on getting all the
processes behind supporting these Levels and the hoops you have to jump through
to qualify. This is relevant to Valley Striders because we put on two races
classed as Endurance (Meanwood and Harewood). UKA have not yet announced how
many qualified officials an event needs, nor what level they have to be.
However it is in our interest to have qualified officials, as to ensure the
validity of the insurance we get from UKA for our races we have to show that
qualified officials are looking after the unqualified helpers.
“Why now?” and “Why me?” I
hear you ask. Well, the rule book came out in April, but as with all good
organisations UKA issued the rules before the processes were in place to
support the rule changes. So as yet there is not a syllabus in place in order
to qualify Endurance Officials. UKA’s way around this is (look at rule 4.2)
that until at least 31 December 2006 clubs can recommend to county
associations those they think are suitably qualified. So, by filling out a form
(the club has copies but it can also be downloaded from the main page of the
North of England Athletic Association web site) and the form being signed by
race organiser / club secretary and sent to the Yorkshire County Athletics
Association you can become a grade 2 official.
Grade 3 is slightly more
stringent and will need support from the county so will require a bit more
work.
My guess is that once UKA get
more organised to get these pieces of paper there will be a course and a log
book to log all your experience before you can qualify, hence the idea to act
now if you can.
So why might you want to want
to do this?
Of course you may think this
is all bureaucracy and you want nothing more to do with it. There is also a
risk of your name being on a list and perhaps being asked by other clubs to
help them, but I’m guessing there. Please note that not having the
qualification does not stop you helping out in future, it just means that in
the event of a problem the race organiser would have to show you to be acting
under the guidance of a qualified person.
The forms were at the club on
Tuesday 14th and we plan to have a filling out session on Tuesday 28th
after the run for those that want to do this. I am not an expert by any means
on this but if you have questions then please contact me at:
The rules are laid out in the
Rules, from page 171 (Adobe page 180) onwards
Postscript from Bob
Our current plan is to register at level 2 all
Striders who have marshalled or officiated in any way at two or more of our
races in the last 4 years, and to register at level 3 all Striders who have
supervised (e.g. team leader) or held a technical position (e.g. timekeeper) at
two or more of our races in the last 4 years.
More details will follow after our November 28th
meeting. You don’t need to attend to be registered, but if you are
interested and wish to participate in the discussions, then come along!