Firstly I would like to welcome Rachael Cooper as the new Club Secretary. Rachael takes over from Jenny who can now concentrate on her Treasurer Duties. Many hands make light work.

As mentioned in the last newsletter Mrs Britton passed away before Christmas. The Club has now decided to honour her life and service to Salford Mets by acquiring a trophy to be named the Mrs Britton Trophy. This will be awarded on an annual basis to the Under 11 athlete who shows the biggest improvement in competition between one year and another. This will mean that an athlete who is prepared to compete for the club and finishes last in every competition one year and still finishes last the following year can be awarded the trophy by virtue of hard work and making a bigger improvement in their Personal Best performances than the more adept athletes. Good look to all athletes in the coming season.

Essentially, the new rule imposes an immediate disqualification for any athlete who commits a false start. This is in line with the IAAF rule introduced in November 2009. For senior combined event, competition there will be one false start allowed per race only.

The new penalties apply at all levels of senior competition. The penalties for all other age groups will remain unchanged.

I am pleased to announce that many of our athletes competed for Salford in the recent Greater Manchester Primary Schools Cross Country Championship and I am pleased to announce that Thomas Wiseman came home with the Silver medal in a very close race that saw him given the same time as the winner.

The first Cheshire League Meeting takes place at Trafford on Sunday 11th April.

Under 11 scoring team members will receive the letters they need to wear from Tony before the actual day. These should be worn on the chest. Non counting numbers will be handed out on arrival on the day. The Under 11 team has been preselected as below. If any athlete cannot now compete can you please advise Tony or Scott at training or ring Tony on 07796004920 . This will enable a reserve to be advised.

All scoring athletes must wear club running vests. These can be purchased from Alan Cooper at a minimal price. A fee (£2) per athlete is payable to the host track and will be collected by the team managers on the day.

For most of the Under 11 Team this will be you first ever athletics meeting you have attended and hence your first Cheshire League meeting and I therefore detail below all the information you will require for the day.

You are asked to arrange your own transport to the venue, however parents may wish to consider car sharing with other team members. No doubt you have your own particular friends and and hence please arrange this yourselves. Should your parents be unable to take you to a particular meeting please see one of the coaches and we will try and arrange transport, however due to Child Protection Rules this is likely to be with another family rather than one of our coaches.

DIRECTIONS

The first race starts at 1pm. Can all athletes please arrive for 12-15 at the latest, as we need time to declare our team and to warm up our athletes. This is always a pressure time for me as the clock ticks down to 1pm. Hopefully you will have no problems finding the venue (see directions below) however should something happen that means you are going to arrive late please phone Tony on 07796004920.

I will set up base on the grass if the weather is good or if its raining in the Spectator Stand. Please find me as soon as you arrive. If you want to sit out you may wish to bring chairs, blankets etc. Essentially please ensure athletes bring with them warm, waterproof clothing whatever the weather forecast as the weather can change and our athletes health and welfare is paramount.

Scott & Eddie will take athletes through their warm ups prior to the first event which is the 75m. Approx times for all events are:-

1pm 75m

1-30pm Long Jump

3pm 600m

3-45pm Javelin

4-30pm Relays

Food and drink is available at the track however it is usually best to bring pack lunches. Whilst I do not want our athletes to starve I would advise against eating anything too heavy or sickly prior to the 600m race as this is a tough event and I would not like to see our athletes being sick. Likewise probably best to keep off fizzy drinks.

During the day our athletes times and distances will be posted by the home club so that athletes can see how they have performed. We will however collect all performance details and post these on the web site in the week following the meeting. All athletes PB’s, Achievement Awards and Club Records will also be updated.

The last event for under 11’s is the relay which takes place between 4-30pm and 5pm after which athletes are free to leave. If however you intend leaving before the relays because of injury etc please let Peter know as the relay teams will need to be reviewed.

Our club usually provides officials for the Under 11 field events and for the long jump this requires 8 officials which means we do need assistance from a couple of parents. No experience is neccassary so if anyone is willing to help please approach Tony.

The other clubs competing at this fixture are Trafford, Dash, Bury, Altrincham, Stockport as counters and Blackley as non counters

The most important thing on the day is to ensure that all our athletes enjoy themselves and over the last 6 years the only time this has not happened is when the clouds have opened and all present get drenched, so lets just hope for 4 sunny days this year.

All athletes in older age groups should see Mike Lucas (females) or Debbie Hulme (males) if they wish to compete. Debbie in particular is keen to increase the number of athletes she has available.