Latest Club Update from the Chairman
Club Chairman Jerry Odlin has issued an update for all members:- “Like the rest of society, we are all trying to work our way back to normal operations. The governing body England Athletics has issued new guidance which pretty much releases us from any the restrictions on our activities that have been in operation during the pandemic. These can be found here https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/news/guidance-update-2021/.
We have previously asked all member to pre-register for sessions, according to the guidance this is now no longer necessary but our coaches will have their own preferences so I would ask you to check with your coach whether you still need to do this or not. All our sessions are well attended, particularly Tuesday evening at Finsbury Park, which is just great to see. Presently there is a high probability that someone attending has COVID, mitigated of course by the fact that we are outside. I would urge you to follow the guidelines and not come to any training sessions if you feel the slightest bit unwell. Lastly, please for all our sakes, if you have not done so already, get the vaccine.
Over the past 2/3 years we have seen incidences, in a range of sports, of abuse taking many forms. Unfortunately, Athletics has not been immune to such incidences. As an acknowledgement and to counteract this, the governing bodies, UKA and England Athletics have recently issued new guidance on ensuring the welfare of club members and codes of conduct for athletes, coaches and officials. London Heathside has formally adopted all the new rules and codes. Ruth Miller, our welfare officer, will soon be updating members on what it means for you. You can be assured that your safety and welfare are of primary importance to us. The new codes can be found here, https://www.englandathletics.org/clubs-and-facilities/club-support-services/club-welfare/
Despite all these hurdles, so far, the summer season could not have gone any better. All the results and reports are on our website but special congratulations to our Young Athletes team, coaches and officials, Middlesex YA League Champions for the first time beating the so-called bigger clubs around us. Last Saturday at the Middlesex County Champs our Juniors collected 25 medals with 11 wins, more than any other club. This compares to 4 medals the previous year. If the Juniors can do it our Seniors should follow suit! The Senior Southern League team have won their first two fixtures, there are a myriad of personal bests across the track, field events, road races and ultra runs all too numerous to mention here but well documented on our website. Lastly some of our (very) senior members have been getting in on the act and posting UK leading performances. The big marathons are coming up in the Autumn and subject to the permission of landowners the cross-country season is beginning to take shape. (For e.g., Haringey Council have refused us permission to use Ally Pally for XC races). In the immediate future we have …
August 14th at Finsbury Park Southern League Match 3
August 30th Middlesex Senior, U20 and U17’s Champs. Lee Valley. Entries at https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2021/GBR/mdx-s/ (A certain J.Odlin still holds the 5000m CBP!)
Sept 7th Club Champs Part 1 @ FP
Sept 11th @ Lee Valley Southern League Match 4
Sept 12th Middlesex Road Relays, Hayes
Sept 14th Club Champs Part 2 @ FP
Sept 19th YMCA Crouch End 10Km (we are responsible for marshalling this race)
Full details of all of these will be on our website, FB page, Twitter etc.
A note about Finsbury Park Track which is not in the best of shape. We know all the problems and we are on to all of them. Dave Walton and Simon Baker are trying to find solutions as best they can. The reality is, that the facility mostly relies on volunteers to keep it going and maintained. There is one member of staff employed by the charity that manages the track but he has mainly a coordinating and admin role. Unless we have more people coming forward to help across all types of track and field users then maintenance is always going to be an issue. We will be having a series of “make over “days soon. If you see the call on our FB page to help, please do if only for an hour or two.
Finally, also coming up is our Annual General Meeting scheduled for 20th September (probably as a “virtual” meeting-details to follow). The purposes of the AGM are to
Agree and sign off on the annual accounts. Our treasurer Kris Milovsorov will send copies of the accounts to everyone
To agree any changes to our rules. This is most often a change to our subscription rate but for 2021/2 we are not proposing any changes.
To elect the club officials. A full list of our officials is also attached. I would urge anyone who likes the idea of taking over a role to apply as we constantly need to refresh our list of volunteer committee members. If you need any information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Raise any other issues that concern you in “Any Other Business”.
Look forward to speaking soon.”