Following discussions with the school, we will be returning to Lord Lawson from next Tuesday 4th May. All sessions will take place at the usual time of 7pm. 
We will not have access to the indoor areas or toilets until Coronavirus restrictions are lifted further. We will, however, have to pay to use the school grounds, so could all members attending sessions please remember to pay their weekly fees of £2.00

It's been a great couple of weeks of racing for our Birtley athletes. It's so good to have racing back, with the blue and yellow vests popping up all over the North-East.
Last week we had a great turn out at the rescheduled Croft Pitstop races held by Darlington Harriers. In the Junior race we had some amazing efforts, first place went to Noah Williamson followed by Ed Moon, Poppy Graham, and Izzy Hall.
The 5K race saw another fabulous race by Katie Francis who was 2nd female overall. Also racing were Nigel Simpson, Brian Bailes, Jason Williamson, Sara Francis, and Dave Francis. Lovely to see Dave getting back to fitness after his bike mishap!
Craig Buchanan did us proud in the 10K race, well done Craig. 

On Sunday we had two warriors braving the Derwent Reservoir Duathlon. Well done to Lee Drummond and Rebecca Pottinger. They raced a 10km run, followed by a 40km bike ride, finishing off with a 5km run. This testing course was "brutal", and they finished with times of 3:04.12 and 3:23.27 respectively. 

Also, on Sunday Katie Francis had her spikes on for a 3K race on the track at Hexham. She finished in 10:25.8, a seasons best,  finishing 3rd female. Well done Katie.

Lastly, Sunday also saw the Shildon Open where we had a number of junior athletes running and throwing. Some great performances by Izzy Hall, Ed Moon, Poppy Graham, Joseph Perkins, Ryan Cook, and Fynn Errington, 

It's now been over a year since our last Couch to 5K group graduated and moved into our newly formed 'Joggers Group'. They worked so hard during all the challenges that 2021 threw at them and they have not given up. We are incredibly proud of the progress they have made with their running, especially when the club was unable to meet. They paired up to run during the last lockdown and continued to support each other during the difficult winter months. 
We can't wait to see what the future holds for our new Birtley athletes and we look forward to running up many more hills together!
Well done Marines!!!
Zoe & Lee

...no, not Covid time (because we've all had enough of that)! It's April, which means Birtley AC memberships are now due for renewal. You'll be pleased to hear that we haven't raised the cost of membership, which remains at £35 for children, £60 for adults and £95 for a family. This is a great deal for athletes when you consider that you can get free entry into any (or indeed all) local or national championships (road, T&F, cross-country, relays, and masters), as the club will refund your entry fee once you've competed. 
To help us develop the club and give our athletes the best training we can, we need our members to pay their weekly training fees as well as renewing their membership. This will allow us to fund more training opportunities for our fantastic coaches, buy equipment, and other things that will help our athletes to improve and reach their full potential. Thank you!

Remember, if you have any news to share of your own or your child's achievements, email me and we'll get it put on the website for everyone to see - Birtley AC is proud of all their athletes and likes to share their successes!

After a long dry spell due to lockdowns aplenty, it was lovely to see some of the Birtley athletes out there today giving it their all. Typically, like buses, the events both came at the same time, so we were spread out a bit, but everyone did really well in both races. 
The NECAA Senior XC Relay Championships took place at Thornley, and weirdly for cross-country there was a dearth of mud - in fact, after a hard frost in the morning, the day was glorious, with blue skies and sunshine. The hard going suited some better than others, but our teams did really well, and we had some very fast times, notably from Lydia Turner with the 3rd fastest leg in the senior ladies race, and Lorna Graham snagging 4th fastest in the masters ladies race, with Andrew Beevers doing the same in the masters mens race.  Full results can be seen here and pictures from the race can be seen on the links below (photos by Stuart Whitman)
Masters Women   Masters Men   Senior Women   Senior Men
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Meanwhile, we had quite a few juniors and adults out at the Lambton Castle X-trail events. Noah Williamson was first in the 2.5K race, and along with him, our young athletes actually grabbed the first seven positions, which is amazing and shows what young talent we have in the club! Another talented athlete, Lisa Short, finished first lady in the senior race - well done to both her and Noah.