After a hiatus, presentation evening is back with a bang! We hope to see lots of you there to help celebrate all of our athletes' achievements over the last year or so, but it won't just be a case of handing over cups and medals. We're planning a fun evening with food, games and prizes, music and dancing, and a chance to win a great prize (TBA) with your ticket which will act as a virtual raffle entry. 
We're back at our usual venue, the Catholic Club in Birtley, so it's easy to get to, as well as being within walking distance for a lot of you (so leave those cars at home and have yourselves a little drink or two). There will be a buffet following the presentation, and an opportunity to take part in various games - bring plenty of change with you! 
Tickets are £5 each and as mentioned above, this includes a free raffle entry - numbers are strictly limited to 150 so it's first come first served, and you can apply for your tickets using the form at the bottom of this page.
Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start - get there early for a good view of the proceedings (or the closest seats to the bar...)

The following coaching courses are now open for registration, and are a mix of online and face to face - any practical sessions are held very locally at Gateshead Stadium. As a club, we would really benefit from more coaches - particularly in the junior age groups, and anyone with an interest in throws or jumps coaching would be especially encouraged to apply! Birtley will cover the cost of the course, and we would really love to see some parents (or older athletes) take this on - coaching can be a very rewarding activity, and without coaches we wouldn't have a club at all.

There are two courses available:-

If you are interested in either of these courses, or you have any questions or would like further info, please email birtleyribbons@gmail.com as soon as possible, as these courses are popular and fill up quickly!

Quick update regarding our new(ish) payment system. First of all, I hope you are all getting on OK with the invoices (as much as you can when it involves parting with your hard earned cash!). As you may have noticed, the system does NOT (as I had originally thought) save your credit card details, so you need to put them in each time. See the end of this post for a quicker way!

Another tip I've just discovered - you can choose to get a text instead of an email. This is a) convenient and b) saves you from having to trawl through your spam folder. All I need from you is your mobile number and your permission to send the invoice that way instead - here's a very short form if you'd like to do this:- https://www.birtleyac.co.uk/invoice.html You won't get a reminder with this service (I'm sure you won't be too upset by that! )
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Finally, no matter which way you get your invoice, it's much easier to pay by Google or Apple Pay if you have them (picture below in case you've missed it on your invoices)

Birtley AC would like to say thank you to all the generous members who donated their time helping out, or food to sell, last Sunday, the officials who attended, Gary Curtis who organised the whole thing, and to those who donated their old trainers to the People's Kitchen. Without your generosity the event wouldn't have happened, and we hope you'll manage to do it all over again in March when we hold the Birtley Junior Relays!

Gary
Training sessions during the holidays as follows:-
Tues 20th, 7pm start. Princess Anne park, Washington. Meeting & Parking at small car park on biddick lane 200m from Harraton community centre or the community centre car park.
Thurs 22nd, Waldridge lane. Meeting at the dead end road opposite the church mouse at Chester moor,
Mon 26th, 10.30am Beamish run, meeting Eden place car park
Wed 28th, 09.45am Watergate park, meeting big car park on Whickham highway just off Lobley Hill
Friday 30th, 10.30am Crimdon Dene meeting outside Dunes Cafe.
Sunday 1st, Cong Burn meeting Waldridge village green. Time TBC

Birtley Joggers
Our group will also be meeting at Birtley Baths car park for a 7pm start

Club will be closing over Christmas and New Year, so our last session of the year, Thursday 15th December, is our annual games night for our younger athletes (weather permitting). Please turn up in the sports hall for 18.45. It would be much appreciated if some parents could stay and help. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

The last date school based sessions will take place on Thursday 15th December, with training recommencing at Lord Lawson on Tuesday 3rd January 2023. Individual coaches will be putting on different sessions over the holiday period - these will be posted on FB and on the website.
Parents of younger athletes - don't forget to bring them early this Thursday for games night (see this post for details).
Birtley AC would like to wish all of our members a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

As there is an event on at Lord Lawson on Tuesday 13th December, the car-park is likely to be quite busy. Please consider car-sharing if possible.

​Birtley AC Xmas meal Saturday 3rd December at 7pm at The Lambton Worm Pub, North Road, Chester-le-Street, DH3 4AJ which is on the No.21 bus route
 
£5 non refundable deposit to be paid before end of the club session on Thursday 25th August to either Steph Young or David Money for each person wishing to attend
 
Menus will be made available in September and £2 will be added to your order to cover a tip

Everyone is welcome including our younger athletes.... see you there!

Birtley AC has been allocated one London Marathon place for 2023. If you wish to be considered for the draw, please complete the form below by November 30th. Only full (competitive) members who are up to date with their subs (this includes weekly training fees if appropriate) will be entered in the draw. If successful, you will be responsible for paying for your entry. Please note the deadline for runners to complete and pay for their entries is 16:00 on Tuesday 20 December. There will be no extension to this deadline under any circumstances. 

In preparation for our Presentation Evening (Saturday April 1st 2023, make a note in your diaries!), we would like all perpetual trophies to be returned to the club. If you have a trophy languishing in your loft (or garage/shed) or maybe even being displayed, and it needs to be engraved, please either get that done as possible or return it to the club for us to arrange this (if it isn't engraved, please attach a label to the trophy with athlete's name and year it was awarded). Trophies can be given to your coach at any club night, thank you.

This talented trio, despite being in their first year as U13s, have been mopping up the top spots in their recent races, with today proving to be the pinnacle of their year so far, with a fantastic first place finish at the NATIONAL XC Relays at Mansfield. Huge well done to Kitty and Nell Graham, and Olivia Murphy (seen above with their coach Gary Curtis) - can't wait to see what they get up to over the next 12 months!
​Young athletes at the club take note - this is what you might achieve if you try hard, train well and believe in yourselves. Let's see lots more of you out there competing over the winter months, and get your entries in for the upcoming North Eastern XC in December (see noticeboard page for sign up details).
​Full results can be seen here

Some great mentions for our younger athletes in Bill McGuirk's blog report which can be read in full HERE - well done all of you! Some excerpts can be seen below:-