Biggleswade AC May 2007

Biggleswade AC Quiz and Social Evening with Buffet
starting at 7:30pm, in the main Dining Room/Bar at Sandy Upper School. This is an opportunity for all Junior and Senior members of the club (with family and friends) to get together for a fun-filled evening. You can either come along with a pre-organised team of four, or we will form teams on the night. Quiz questions will be on a variety of subjects (e.g. modern music, sport, general knowledge, French, etc), so make sure your team has a broad range of knowledge if you want to win. Tickets are now on sale priced at Ł6 for seniors and Ł4 for juniors, including the buffet food. A licensed bar is available to purchase drinks.

We need to sell a minimum of 40 tickets to make this event viable, so please get your tickets as soon as possible from Gavin, Nigel or any coach, on Tuesday or Thursday evenings, or by sending a cheque (payable to "Biggleswade AC") to Biggleswade AC Quiz Night, 254 Station Road, Tempsford. Beds. SG19 2BA

Club Annual General Meeting - Tue 24 Apr

Club Annual General Meeting - Tuesday 24th April 32 people attended the AGM, breaking all previous records - our thanks to all those who supported the event and who contributed to making the evening such a success.

Reports were given by the Chairman, Secretary, Track Manager, Road /Cross Country Secretary and Coaching Secretary. All indicated that 2006 had generally been a very successful year for the club.

Agreement was reached on the way forward regarding our Affiliation - we shall be affiliating to both England Athletics (EA) and the Association of Running Clubs (ARC). All junior members will automatically be affiliated to EA, and those senior members who so choose will also be affiliated to EA. The remaining senior athletes will effectively be affiliated to ARC.

Track Charges were also discussed at length and although we are still in discussion with Stevenage Leisure and MBDC we hope that the use of Track Passes will be agreed again this year. The meeting agreed unanimously that this is the best way forward.

The accounts were presented to the meeting and showed a healthy state of affairs. Adoption was unanimous. Thanks go to Chris Clarke as the retiring Treasurer and to Martyn Cole for having audited the books.

Two members of the Committee stepped down - Tanya Tatchley and Giles Keen. Anne Lincoln was elected to the Committee by a unanimous vote along with the rest of the previous year's Committee:

Chairman	-	Nigel Bush
Hon. Secretary	-	Stuart Galloway
Hon. Treasurer	-	Martyn Cole (ratified by the meeting)
Vice Chairman	-	Ken Prior
Track Secretary	-	David Brown
Road/Cross Country Sec.	-	Neil Gregory
Youth Secretary	-	Lee Welham
Coaching Secretary/ Schools Liaison	-	Ken Prior
Child Protection Officers	-	Zoe Dawson and David Hindle
Newsletter Editor	-	David Hindle
Ladies Captain	-	Zoe Dawson
Deputy Road/X-Country Sec. & Marketing Manager	-	Gavin Elliott
Publicity Officer	-	Anne Lincoln
Webmaster/Committee member	-	Tim Huxtable
Committee Member	-	Vacant Post

The Chairman thanked all those in the retiring committee and welcomed the new committee.

It was agreed that Chris Clarke be appointed auditor for the coming year and our thanks go to him for agreeing to undertake the task.

It was agreed that the Trustees of the Club will be appointed by the Committee at their first meeting.

Everton 3 mile Fun Run - Sat 9th June @ 1030

This Fun Run is part of the Everton Fun Day, which makes a good morning or day out for the family. Other attractions include a 5-a-side football tournament and various stalls and games. Entry Forms for the 3 Mile Fun Run are available from Nigel. There is also a 1 mile Fun Run for kiddies.

Biggleswade AC Club Tour Fri 5th to Mon 8th October 2007

The accommodation is booked and 21 people are going on this trip. We are staying in four well appointed cottages at Darwin Lakes near Matlock in Derbyshire (see www.darwinlake.co.uk). If anyone else would like to join us on this weekend, there is still time to add your name(s), but please let Nigel know as soon as possible as the other free cottages will not be free for long. We have already organised a training run with local club Matlock AC (Jan Forrester's club), and other weekend activities will include walking, sightseeing and socialising.

Biggleswade AC enter into the Carnival Spirit

This year Biggleswade AC (Juniors and Seniors) will be entering a walking float into the Biggleswade Carnival on Saturday 30th June. If anyone can build, paint or sew please let Gavin know or pop your name on the forum. The theme this year is "50 years" and as our club has been going for more years than that we will be themed "Biggleswade AC through the ages".

The Tuesday Night Programme

You can find these and other training events in the training section of the Club website

1st May Royston Hills Away Day - led by Gav
*** 8th May Annual Penthalon (Please Remember your Track Fee)
15th May Black Barn
22nd May Everton Loop
29th May Hill Training

*** 5th Jun Speedwork with Zoe (On Track)
12th Jun Old Warden Away Day - led by Tan
19th Jun RSPB Loop & Club Photo (Please Wear Club Colours)
26th Jun Blunham River Loop

3rd Jul Inclines are Fun!
10th Jul Lonely Pines Loop
*** 17th Jul Speedwork with Zoe (On Track)
24th Jul Route 51
31st Jul Grafham Picnic Away Day

August Look out for Buffy's talk on Sports Psychology (Date TBC)

*** you may need a track pass or to pay for a day pass when doing Speed or Track work

Thursday evenings will be "General Running", dictated by the race calendar, and are tailored on the night to the participants needs. Runners are usually split into ability groups to ensure everyone has a good run.

If anyone would like to organise an AWAY DAY in your village or town in 2007, or a run on your favourite training route, please let Gavin or one of the committee know (AWAY DAYS for 2007 are already planned for Grafham Waters, Royston Hills, Bedford Embankment and Parks, Old Warden).

Leagues, Series, and Other Events

The Greensand Ridge Relay: Sat 23rd June
The Greensand Ridge Relay is a fun and friendly local relay race. Although it is organised by the South Midlands Orienteering Club it is patronised primarily by running clubs in the region. It follows the Greensand Ridge Way from Leighton Buzzard as far as Northill, passing through Woburn and Ampthill.
We first entered a team last year and it was a great day out. So far we have a ladies' team and are just a few people short of entering a second team. Legs range from about 5 miles to a little over 8. It's good practice for the Round Norfolk Relay as you will definitely need to recce your leg! If you fancy representing the club in this race, please add your name to the GSRR forum topic or contact Giles, or a member of the committee. For more info, see the forum and also: www.smoc.info/GSRR
Round Norfolk Relay - 15th/16th Sept
Make a note in your diary for this years RNR. Entry for the race is now open. Once again, we will be looking to enter a team in this magnificant running event. See the forum for updates, for more information about the race see www.roundnorfolkrelay.com.
Please let Mark, Ken, Tim or Gav know if you are interested in competing this year and get your money and race questionaires back as soon as possible so a team can be selected.
Three Peaks of Great Britain - 30th June
Four runners are tackling the Three Peaks challenge on the weekend of 30th June. This is an unsupported challenge, attempting to run up and down the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, Snowdon) within 24 hours, including travelling between the peaks. If any one else is interested in joining them, you can find details on the website forum.

Southern Mens and Womens Leagues
All dates are for Saturdays.

	Mens League		Womens League
May	5th	Ilford (Co-Host)	19th	Braintree
Jun	2nd	Sandy (Prime Host)	2nd	Cambridge (co-hosts)
	23rd	Parliament Hill
Jul			7th	Erith
			28th	venue tba
Aug	4th	Walthamstow
Sep			1st	Tonbridge school
			Past member Peter Ebbage teaches at this (private) school and still holds some club records

Eastern Young Athletes League
All matches are on Sundays

17th June Bedford
1st July Sandy
15th July Milton Keynes
5th August Bury St Edmunds
9th Sept Cup and Plate finals

National Junior Athletics League, Thames Division
This year we have also joined the this League as a composite team with Bedford and County and Luton. This is a league for athletes who are primarily U20 but U17's can compete. All matches are on Sundays.
NB some dates are different to those previously published

27th May		Gloucester Park Arena, Basildon
1st July		Mayesbrook Park, Havering
29th July		Colchester Garrison Track
9th Sept		Finals at Moorways Stadium, Derby

UK Womens League

Sun 3 Jun Wigan
Sat 7 Jul Eton
Sun 5 Aug Rugby

Membership

Welcome to the following athletes recently elected as members of the Club. We are very pleased that you decided to join us and hope that you get much pleasure from your membership:

  Craig Brown   a senior who lives in Biggleswade
  Janice Blake   a senior who lives in Gamlingay
  Conor Byrne   a junior who lives in Upper Caldecote
  Anne-Marie Huff   a senior who lives in Sandy
  Stephen Down   a senior who live in Upper Caldecote
  Vincent Plosky   a senior who lives in Potton

Best of luck in all your athletic endeavours!

115 people have renewed their membership or joined the club since the beginning of the year. We have, unfortunately, lost about 40 people since last year but perhaps that is to be expected.

News of members...

Sharyn Bray is a New Zealander who has lived in Tempsford for just over three years and is a Radiographer for Cambridge University at Addenbrookes Hospital. On 3rd March she completed her first Ironman Triathlon in New Zealand. Sharyn has competed in other Triathlons, which involve a swim, a cycle race, and a run. The "standard" Triathlon is a 1500 metre swim, a 40 km cycle and a 10 km run, but there are variations. An Ironman Triathlon comprises of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile cycle ride then a full marathon of 26.2 miles.

So, in Taupo, New Zealand on 3rd March at 7am, Sharyn lined up amongst both International professional athletes and amateurs for the start of the race. The weather was perfect, warm with only a light breeze throughout the day. This allowed hundreds of spectators to line the course and encourage the athletes from 7am till midnight when the last runner finished. Sharyn completed her swim in 1:11:02, the 112 mile cycle in 7:46:37 and the run in 5:48:39 which meant an incredible overall time, including changeovers from one discipline to the next of 15 hours 4 minutes and 12 seconds.

Sharyn says "For me it was an amazing experience. The buzz of family, friends and spectators yelling and encouraging you was something else. Crossing that finish line was an awesome moment. In an instant you forget the pain of tired legs..am I going to do another one..definitely!".

Sharyn would like to thank Biggleswade Athletic Club for the support from all the club members. Without training companions, the marathon at the end would have been twice as hard.