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Due to school performances this week, our training is taking place at different venues - each group's details are shown below:-
Dan (Juniors) - juniors will be meeting at the Holiday Inn in Washington (same as last year). Please note that you’ll need a high-vis and a torch to run with us — this applies for tomorrow and Thursday. Zoe/Lee (Joggers) and Tommy's group - will meet at the bottom end of the car park behind Morrisons in Birtley (next to the laser tag place) on both Tuesday 21st October and Thursday 23rd October at 6.45pm
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Two senior women’s teams and one senior man running 1st leg. Fantastic Club performances!!! Birtley AC Silver Medalists and fastest overall leg!! Hannah Linton, Abby Codling, Amber May Leigh, Amy Drummond, Lydia Turner, Scarlett Newby, George Beevers, each and everyone a credit to your Club!!!   Fantastic racing at Farringdon!!! Well done to everyone who raced for the Club at the Farringdon XC Relays and Young Athletes Open Races. Starting the day was Ollie Maw, racing again in the Blue and Yellow, in the U11 race, and that’s after having a football match in the morning, well done Ollie!! In the U15 Girls race Poppie Phillipson showed all the girls and most of the boys, the way to the finish line, crossing the line as first girl and for Gold!! Well done Poppie! 👍 Then it was the turn of the Women’s Relay and Team Birtley had 3 complete teams racing and representing the Club. Well done everyone and, as a big bonus the team of Abby Codling Amber Leigh and Lydia Turner won the race along with the Women’s Ken Jefferson Memorial Shield!!! Next off were the Men and, again, the Club had 3 complete teams racing. Well done those Men, and again, Team Birtley came away with 1st Team, George Beevers, Lewis McConnell and Adrian Bailes being the winning team along with the Men’s Ken Jefferson Memorial Shield!!! A great day of competition and it shows massive potential for the coming Cross Country season. Let’s get “toes on the line”, see Spond for up coming races.   It was a long weekend for Ceinwen Bishop was racing over the 2 days at the weekend, representing the North East Region at the TriStar 3 Inter-Regional National IRC Triathlon Championships at Mallory Park. From being elbowed in the face, her goggles getting pulled off, and swimming off course, she had some strong runs and bike. Overall, the NE team came third which is a great achievement considering the size and the funding other areas receive. Very well done Ceinwen, enjoy your recovery and hopefully see you soon with the Birtley blue and yellow on Our AGM will be taking place just before our celebration evening - we are starting at 6.30pm (which should give everyone time to get themselves in the party mood before the celebrations start!). All members are welcome to attend and have their say - this is YOUR club! If you would like to step up to one of our committee roles, there is a list on Spond and we will obviously take nominations during the AGM as well. Don't be shy, we would love to have you on board!  Our Celebration Evening will be taking place at Birtley Catholic Club on Saturday March 22nd (straight after our AGM, which any interested members are welcome to attend). The doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start, £5 per ticket, friends and family are welcome to attend. Please use this link to apply for tickets. There will be party games taking place throughout the evening to help raise club funds, so bring some change with you! We will also be holding a tombola/raffle, if you have any suitable donations (bottles, toiletries, chocolates etc.) please bring them to club prior to the event. A buffet will also be provided, with music and dancing after the presentations. Dress smart/casual, or whatever you feel comfortable in!  Click the pic to go straight to the relays page, where you can see full info and how to enter. If you're a member of Birtley AC, please check Spond so you can get your name down to race!  Click the pic to go straight to the relays page, where you can see full info and how to enter. If you're a member of Birtley AC, please check Spond so you can get your name down to race!  Huge Thank You to everyone who has represented our club during 2024 whether it be on Road, Track or X Country. Every time you pull on your Birtley AC vest you are helping to raise the profile of the club and contribute to all our successes over the past 12 months. As Captains, myself and Kirstin really appreciate the fantastic efforts put in by each and everyone of you at every single race during the year. Having 'Competition' for places in Relay Teams across the board shows that the Club is in a good position and let's hope that we can continue our great work going forward into 2025.
With this in mind we have the ideal opportunity to start the New Year in great style with our very own Birtley AC XC Relays on Sunday 12th January, held in the grounds of our training HQ at Lord Lawson School. Each leg is approx 3K and open to every Birtley Athlete aged U20 and upwards - please have a look and add your names to the list on Spond if you possibly can. Thanks to everyone who has signed up so far but we really could do with more names to ensure we can be competitive in every Age Category both Male & Female. If you're not competing (or even if you are), we also need people to volunteer for the various roles required to host the event, e.g. marshaling, please add your name to the volunteer list if you can help out. Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year and All the Best for 2025 - let's make it another year to remember for Birtley AC. PJB & Kirstin 💙💛 For anyone not on FB or Spond!  As we don't have access to the school due to an open evening, alternative arrangements have been made as follows:-
We will return to school training on Tuesday 26th November
The annual Remembrance Day races held on the Newcastle Town Moor produced some great performances from all the Birtley AC athletes racing in different age groups. Two U13 girls raced the 3k course and both came away with medals. Poppie Phillipson won in a time that was quicker than her own course record from last year and Izzy Hall had a great race coming in 3rd and quicker than last year. Niamh Phillipson was the only Birtley athlete in the U15 age group, and also quicker than her time from last year for 9th position. After the 2 minutes silence of Remembrance at 11am it was time for the 10k race and the Club was represented by 11 athletes. The race also incorporated the North East 10k Road Championship as well as the North East Masters 10k Championships. Fantastic racing from everyone with Adrian Bailes, Gold and North East Champion and Lewis McConnell Bronze Medal along with a massive 50 seconds PB. 3rd team for the Senior Men which included Adrian Bailes, Lewis McConnell, Alex Bellew and Joe Wallace. Age category prizes also went to Graeme Swaddle and Kelly Bentley. Shout out to Laura Turcato with a 10k PB. Well done everyone, great to watch, a good morning’s work. U13 Girls Poppie Phillipson, Izzy Hall U15 Girl Niamh Phillipson. Senior and Vet athletes - Adrian Bailes, Lewis McConnell, Alex Bellew, Joe Wallace, Phil Atkinson, Ruth Dadswell, Karl Oakes, Graeme Swaddle, Paul Agnew, Kelly Bentley, Laura Turcato     Due to an open evening at the school, there will be no junior training (Dan/Fiona/Ed's groups) this evening. The Joggers and Tommy's group will be meeting at Birtley Swimming Pool - please use the large car park adjacent to Morrisons, NOT the swimming baths parking.
The forecast was rain, and during the drive to the event, it certainly looked like it would be, however the rain stopped, and the warm sunshine that followed was a bonus. And the sun certainly shone on the 6 Birtley AC athletes who travelled to Sheffield. Once again the U15 girls trio of Olivia Murphy, Kitty Graham and Nell Graham pulled on the blue and yellow vest to compete, and they were joined by a Senior Women’s team of Katie Francis, Amber Leigh and Lydia Turner. First off were the U15s, and Olivia, on the first leg, came back in second place, with a time that was second fastest overall. She handed over to Kitty, who had a fantastic leg, working hard, especially up the long (very long) leg sapping hill, holding on for 4th place, when handing over to Nell, and what must be a big confidence boost for her. Nell completed the team with another strong race throughout, and brought the team in for 4th position, only 7 seconds off a podium place. These girls are all first year of their age group and were very near to a medal. Their next team event is the National XC Championships in a couple of weeks time and the comments were “we’re going to be after those teams that were ahead today”. Now that’s a positive attitude 👍. The Senior Women’s team were off next. Katie coming in a strong 14th place to hand over to Amber, who came back in 6th to hand over to Lydia who ran the team through to a well deserved Silver medal. Katie was racing in what was her first Senior event in a Northern Championship and is still in the U20 age group, she put her toe on the line and came away with a medal (the smile was massive). Amber last raced this event in 2015 (still U20) and her primary sport is now boxing, although she’s raced 5 times during 2023/24 for the Club, each time in a relay, competing as a team, she put her toe on the line and came away with a medal. Lydia has had some good success throughout the years, and although only racing a handful of races since 2018 due travelling and living in Australia, she’s raced well this year locally, for your Club, and stepping up to a Regional Championship, she put her toe on the line and came away with a medal, and as a bonus the 3rd fastest leg of the day. Of course it’s not all about medals, there’s only 3 medal positions to race for. The sport is about “taking part” “racing against yourself” “competing” “supporting”. There were 29 teams in the U15 girls and 40 in the women’s, each one having their own race, and being supported by their Club members around the course. These Birtley AC girls deserve a massive big shout out, although the main reason they did race, and represented your Club, was that they really enjoy doing it. Keep smiling, keep positive girls!!  Our popular cross country relays will be taking place next year on the following dates:-
Senior XC Relays (inc. NEMAA & NECAA Champs) January 12th 2025 Junior XC Relays March 9th 2025 Entries will open in December for the senior relays and late January for the junior relays. |
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October 2025
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