Leading Athletics- Workshop run by England Athletics
The workshop will teach Leaders to set up and monitor a group of standard sessions covering a range Athletics events. Leaders will be able to lead sessions under direct supervision of a qualified Athletics Coach or in schools under school insurance and supervision, as long as they stick within the remit of the published, standard sessions and task cards.  This Workshop is supported by an App based resource. The App is both Apple and Android compatible and can be used on iPad / iPhone or android smartphones”
Age 14yrs plus.

First Aid course run by DABGC - date and venue to be confirmed, but likely to be in Durham next month. 

If anyone from our club is interested in either of these courses, please email me.

Here are two of our newer young athletes, proudly showing off their Birtley vests and their winner's medals - well done boys! On the left is Callum Chambers, who was first under 9 boy in the Druridge 2k event on 26th May, whilst Noah Williamson finished first in the Great Manchester Mini Run last weekend. Congratulations to both of them!  
Some more established athletes also performed well last weekend, with Chris Perkins and Abigail Thwaites both becoming County Pentathlon Champions - well done to both of them!

Words of wisdom from coach Tommy:-
​Have a look at the photo with this post. It’s a tweet from Ben Fogle which includes a photo that was taken on 22 May of the top of the highest mountain in the world and the queue leading up to the summit (unbelievable??!!). In a recent post I mentioned about there being more people who had conquered Everest than have run a sub 4 min mile, and that to get to the top of Everest you relied on a big team of people, (I didn’t mean going up virtually holding hands though) although when you step on the track or throwing circle or jump run up, it’s up to you to perform and your “team” can only watch.
My point is, don’t stand in a queue to get to the top of an “easy” mountain. Your win or your PB is your mountain and your goal, so give it a go. There are going to be bumps and bruises along the way just like climbing Everest, and if you don’t get there first time or you feel you’ve reached your limit, have a rest, have a rethink, ask for advice, and maybe even look for a different path. Then when you reach the summit, look from the top towards a higher one and move towards it. 
As a coach (who I have a great respect for) once said - “There are 2 types of people,  mountain people and valley people” Don’t stay in the valley aim for the mountain.
Second 
I’ll be at Herrington Park on Monday morning 10am for an endurance training session. It’ll be mainly on grass (it’s forecast it might be damp so maybe some spikes would be a good idea) and hills will be involved (not a mountain, although maybe at the end you might think different and there certainly won’t be any queues to the summit 🏔🤔). Don’t be shy​

Club membership renewal date was 1st April - you've missed the early bird special, you now have less than two weeks to renew before late charges apply, please don't miss out! Click on the picture above to take you to the renewal page, prices have been held at £35 for junior, £60 for adult and £95 for family memberships. Remember our club offers fantastic value for money with free entry to all north east, northern and national championship competitions, plus subsidised (or free) transport to some events, but we need membership income to fund these activities. Also, if you haven't renewed, you aren't currently registered with England Athletics, so you won't be eligible for most competitions, and may be disqualified if you do compete. 

Apparently they weren't so smiley on the hilly part of the course! Well done to all who competed, results when available will be published on our results page.

A beautiful warm and sunny day at Middlesbrough saw lots of Birtley athletes shining too, with another host of medals being won and almost a dozen new North East Champions. Joey Perkins made it a sibling double with his brother Chris in the gold medal stakes. Molly Elliott got an amazing CBP in the pole vault, adding a whole 20cm to the Champs record as well as winning the gold. Adrian Bailes and Sophie Burnett are regulars in the County winners list, with both of them winning in new age groups for the first time this year (Senior and U23 respectively). Katie Francis improved dramatically on last year's 3000m bronze with her first championship gold. Rebecaa Pottinger made a great comeback after several years out of thes sport, whilst Eve Southern tackled a new distance for her, both coming away with golds. Michael Graham retained his title from last year with another great throw, whilst Fynn Errington came away with a gold following his very first attempt at hammer. 

There were many silvers and bronzes won too, and even the athletes who didn't manage to come away with a medal had a great experience, with lots of PBs and some new events being tried. Special mention to Ryan Cook in his first competition, winning silver in the hammer (a new event for him) and bronze in the discus. Here's the list of winners from the whole weekend:-

Gold
Adrian Bailes  1500m  04:01.67  
Sophie Burnett   02:15.71  800m  
Katie Francis  10:41.82 3000m  
Molly Elliott  3.50  Pole Vault  
Eve Southern  02:31.60  800m  
Sophie Burnett  04:35.01  1500m  
Rebecca Pottinger  1.50  High Jump  
Joseph Perkins  7.52  Shot   
Christopher Perkins 09:11.02  3000m  
Fynn Errington 14.61  Hammer  
Michael Graham 51.50  Javelin  
​
Silver
Christopher Perkins 15 04:12.44 1500m 
Keeley Llewellyn   26.3  Javelin
Adrian Bailes   1:55.53   800m
Rebecca Pottinger 1:13.14  400m Hurdles
Ryan Cook 13.67  Hammer

Bronze
Kelly Bentley   20:40.64  5k
Ryan Cook  19.01  Discus
Katie Francis  4:54.58  1,500m

Pictures by Karen Harland can be seen on her Flickr account here and here.

Some amazing performances from Birtley athletes today at Middlesbrough, to open the 2 day T&F Champs in style. The performances are shown below, with those athletes winning gold medals now being reigning North East Champions!:-

Eve Southern 800m 2:31.60 Gold
Adrian Bailes 1500m 4:01.67 Gold
Kelly Bentley 5K 20:40.64 Bronze
Sophie Burnett 800m 2:15.71 Gold
Chris Perkins1500m 4:12.44 Silver 
Katie Francis 3000m 10:41.82 Gold
Keeley Llewelyn Javelin 26.30 Silver
Ryan Cook Discus 19.01 Bronze Shot 7.20
Molly Elliott Pole Vault 3.50 Gold and CBP
Fynn Errington 100m16.13, Shot 7.217
Scarlett Newby 800m 2:33.3

Apologies for any Birtley athletes I've missed (let me know!) and look forward to seeing lots of amazing performances tomorrow too! Well done to all who competed!

A bus load of Birtley athletes went off for the day - and came away with a bus load of medals. Far too many to count or mention individual performances, but apparently a great time was had by everyone. Well done to all involved, and special thanks to the organisers, Gary and Shannel. 

On a different note, Tommy Millmore posted an interesting article on the history of the sub 4 minute mile:-
It’s a bit of a read but maybe some of the older ones will be interested and hopefully some of the younger ones will also have an interest in the history of our sport.
I’ve always been interested in the history and stories of running a sub 4 minute mile and the “race” to be the first person to do it. The first person to succeed was of course Roger Bannister on the 6th May 1954, 65 years ago. I read the attached article which lists all of the athletes in the world who have, in the 65 years since Bannister, achieved the sub 4 goal and in total there’s 1,569. There’s always been a saying that more people have climbed Everest than ran a sub 4 mile, so I looked it up and yes, the total number of people who’ve conquered Everest is now well over 4,000. Does that mean it’s harder to conquer a sub 4 mile than to conquer the highest mountain? Well maybe not, although with years of training and the best equipment and the best team behind you, the mountain might be possible. The same applies for the mile although once you’re on the track it’s you alone who will have to achieve your goal. Have a look at the list of champions who didn’t achieve sub 4 and of course the full list of athletes who have, there’s some great athletes in both. The list is alphabetical so go to the “Os” and there’s a name you’ll recognise. Of course the mile isn’t raced as often now so the opportunity to run sub 4 isn’t there as often as it used to be, but wouldn’t it still be an achievement to get on that short list?
This is the article he refers to (for those who don't know, the O refers to Michael Openshaw, Hayley's husband and Mia and Dillon's dad!)

There have been quite a few outstanding performances lately from Birtley athletes. Chris Perkins was the first U15 home by a fair margin in the Good Friday Relays at Elswick, crossing the line in 7:52, and he also ran in the London Mini-Marathon, representing the North East, along with several other club athletes - well done all!

The London Marathon saw a fair number of Birtley athletes crossing the line, with 3 of them incredibly all finishing in 2 hours and 49 minutes - congrats to Darren Purvis, Martin Bell and Tracy Millmore (placing an impressive 32nd lady in a very competitive field). Ruth Dadswell also put in a great performance, finishing a mere 4 minutes over 3 hours and placing 21st in her age category. Phil Atkinson made his marathon debut, having won our coveted club place, and did us proud, finishing in a strong time of 3:25. The race also saw two recent Birtley members, Sally Riding and Chris Tiffen, with Sally putting a tricky year health-wise behind her, to make it to the finish line with pride.

Finally, slightly further afield, Adrian Bailes decided to enter a track 800m race whilst warm weather training in Portugal - and may have annoyed the locals by winning the race (and 50 Euros!), if their expressions are anything to go by!

…there's no access to the gym or sportshall due to an open evening at the school. Training will still be taking place but all groups will be outside, so depending on the weather, remember to bring a hoodie/jacket/sunglasses (well, you never know!)