As most of you are probably already aware, Ed Lown has decided to hang up his coaching hat after 30 years of service (though he will hopefully still be helping out now and again in an unofficial capacity). Ed has made a huge contribution to this club over the years, doing even more work behind the scenes than during his coaching sessions, with numerous grant bids applied for (and won), and countless committee meetings attended. Ed's enthusiasm and dedication is well recognised outside of as well as within Birtley, and we have been very fortunate to have had him at the helm for so long.
Also leaving the club is Christine Pearson, who after 20 years of coaching is taking a well earned break to focus on her own grandchildren's sporting interests. 
Everyone at Birtley would like to wish both of these dedicated coaches all the best for the future, and we hope they have a long and happy "retirement". 

IMPORTANT
Please read the documents below carefully before returning to the club. To book your place on any of our sessions, see our Noticeboard page.  Please note, Tommy is unable to make a 6pm session so is holding his sessions separately at Chester le Street. To renew memberships*, please visit the Club Store. Membership renewals are due by 1st August, so no rush! 

* Memberships are being charged at 2/3 of the usual rate to allow for time lost due to Covid restrictions - renewal date will remain the same, April 1st 2021. 

If images below are unclear, the full document can be downloaded here

Next week (beginning 25th May) I just want you to complete 1 session and then one of the days next week complete a circuit of core exercises! (if you can’t get down I want your child to pick any of the sessions I have posted and go through them !) :
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Pictures are displayed below, park just down from the priory (been circled on picture)
Warm up jog from the car park- follow the white line I created to the stairs which are pictured below. You are going to jog down one and run along path at bottom to get to them stairs.
Session on stairs:
1st) 10 seconds- as many single steps as you can ( keep count) walk back down. Repeat the same till you get to 45 seconds if your not up the top of the stairs by then
2nd) repeat the same again but double stairs at a time. See if you can get further by doing this (remember to drive up the stairs, bringing your knees up!)
3rd) fast sprint up the stairs (up to you whether you do single or double steps at a time, walk back down recovery. Repeat 3 times
4th) try and use the sand just down from the stairs- I want you to try and complete ramp ups- (slow to fast- start heel flicks Into bringing your knees from behind body up into high knees where you will end up into a sprint - fast as can count for 5 seconds when you get into the sprint - slow down gradually not just abrupt. Repeat 5 times, walk back recovery
Light Jog back to car park, static stretches
If you can send any pictures of your children doing the session, it may motivate others! Hope everyone is staying well and keeping safe !

It was intended this year to organise and rerun the C2C relay that the Club completed during June 2008, of course due to the current situation, it’s not possible. So why not have a virtual relay?
The route is along the C2C cycling path from Whitehaven to Roker and has up to 30 legs of various distances and terrain, covering 135 miles of continuous running. There would be 2 cyclists to accompany the runners with mini buses carrying the other leg runners to the next change over point.

This year’s date was to have been 20th and 21st June, depending on the race calendar, so the challenge is for people to choose a leg and run their distance during that weekend. More than one person can do the same leg, and you could do more than one leg, although the estimated time between them should be used, or run 2 or 3 continuous legs. Where possible you should try and run the same type of terrain and gradient as your chosen leg i.e. if you choose a leg in the heart of the Lake District you’re bound to have some uphill running so choose your virtual leg route to match your chosen leg’s terrain, (see the attached information regarding the route). To map a route near home and check out elevation, distance, gradients etc., Mapometer is a great free site that's easy to use.

The challenge is open to everyone in the club and all ages, it’s not about being the quickest, it’s about being part of the “virtual” team to cover the distance.
Below are links to the legs and the distance, and also some further information about the C2C route. Hopefully next year we can do the actual event.
It would be best to message me (Tommy) and not on this post, with your preferred leg/legs, and I’ll put your name against it.
Please note that all government recommendations regarding social distancing should be used, and all young athletes should be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
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C to C (or Sea to Sea) Route

​Information about the route

Hope everyone is staying safe, keeping fit and healthy, and coping with the current situation. This is a bit of a roundup of what people have been up to during the club closure, and it looks like most of you are still training well, even on your own.  Please comment on this post with your own news, training ideas, or thoughts on virtual challenges we could do as a club.

​Fiona's group have been doing some solo time trials, as have Gary's group - if anyone has missed these because they're not on Facebook, drop me an email and I can give you details. Below are the the mile times for Gary's group.

We have special coaching pages on this website (links on the home page) with sessions and training suggestions, so keep checking back for updates there if you're struggling with your training plans.
Some of our athletes have been competing in virtual races, and there are various items by EA online such as this one - check your emails for regular updates and helpful advice from EA. If you haven't been getting any emails from EA, your email address has probably changed since you first registered with the club - drop me an email and I'll get your profile updated with the correct one.

Finally, no decision has yet been made on our membership fees - any news on this will of course be passed on both here and via email.

As hopefully most of you are aware, our club membership is normally due for renewal on 1st April. However, as nothing is normal about the situation at present, we are suspending renewals until we have a firm date for a recommencement of club activities. Once everything has settled down, we will decide on a course of action for renewals - in the meantime, stay indoors as much as possible, stay healthy by following your coach's solo training plans if you can (see our coaching links on the home page), and stay safe!

As the Good Friday Relays have been cancelled (along with just about everything else!) we have obviously refunded the athletes who paid for their entries - you should be receiving the repayment in a week or so.  Many thanks for your interest in the event, fingers crossed we have events to enter again in a few months time.

The Birtley AC AGM will be held at 7pm on Monday 20th April 2020 at the Birtley Hub. Decisions about future membership fees, setting of nightly subs, and voting in of committee members will all take place, so it's vital that you come along and have your say - all members are eligible to vote on these important issues.
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If there are any issues that you would like to see on the agenda, please email by April 14th for consideration by the committee. There is a list of key committee posts available for nominations prior to the AGM, please consider volunteering for some of these roles as the club cannot function without our members's support. 

This link will take you to the nominations list and allow you to volunteer yourself or nominate (or second) others - please take the time to have a look at the list and help your club. To enter a name, simply type it in the appropriate column - the document will automatically save. Thank you for your help!

Our presentation night this year will be held at Chester le Street Cricket Club (this is NOT the Emirates!). The admission price includes a delicious buffet and there will be music and games - remember to bring some change with you for the bottle games! Proceedings begin at 7pm, so make sure you're there in time to grab a seat and a drink before we start the evening. There will also be a raffle and chocolate tombola - all donations gratefully accepted at the club in the next couple of weeks prior to the event.

We hope to make this a fun evening, so no lengthy speeches to sit through, and any proceeds will be going straight back into the club, to help develop our athletes even further. Tickets can be bought via our website or at club - we'll need your orders in by April 1st to allow time to order the buffet, so please don't leave it too late to buy your tickets - this is the online link

We also need a few volunteers to help set up on the day (decorations, sorting out trophies, etc.) - I realise we have asked a lot of you all lately, but hopefully some of you still have some reserves of volunteering left and will offer to help out! If you are willing, please either comment on the FB post or email/text me.

As you know, it's Lambton XC this weekend and for the first time this season, Birtley are helping to organise the event. We need to marshal six points on the course, plus help to set up and take down the course, and we currently have very few volunteers, having lost some to the schools event that is also taking place this weekend. If we don't have sufficient people coming forward to help, this event may be in jeopardy - please PLEASE offer to help if you can. You don't need to be an athlete or a member of the club - we are very happy to have parents/brothers/sisters/next door neighbours, all will be welcome! 

Saturday saw the Intercounties XC Champs take place at Loughborough, with Birtley being represented by three athletes - Chris Perkins, Katie Francis and Eve Southern. All three athletes ran well, with Chris coming away with a silver medal for a very closely fought second place finish - well done all. A full report of the event by Bill McGuirk can be seen here.
Sunday saw the action come a lot closer to home, with our club hosting the 4th Birtley Junior XC Relays. Around a hundred teams from north east clubs descended onto Lord Lawson playing fields to run a surprisingly challenging cross country course. The home team won two lots of team gold - well done to the U11 girls, the "Golden Grahams" Nell, Poppy and Kitty, and the U15/17/20 girls Katie Francis, Abigail Thwaites and Tess Graham. There were also individual success for Chris Perkins (fastest U15/17/20), Katie Francis (fastest U15/17/20), Nell Graham (U11) and special kudos to Noah Williamson who despite falling at the bottom of the first hill, picked himself up and proceeded to finish in third place for the first leg of the under 11s.  Full results can be seen on our results page.