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.