Easter Holiday training

Balerno High School will be closed during the school Easter Holidays. The last night of training before the holidays will be Wed 2 April. Training will resume in the summer term in Malleny Park on Wednesday 23rd and Monday 28th April. As summer training is usually outdoors everyone should come prepared for the climatic variation of a Scottish spring and the underfoot conditions of Malleny Park. We have use of the Gymnasium in the event of really bad weather. (Unfortunately the Games Hall is not available to us during the summer term due to exams.)

Thursday night training at Saughton Track will continue during the Easter Holidays. Any younger members who would like to come along on Thursday 10th or 17th April (when the School is closed) will be welcome. (Be prompt for a 6.30 start; cost is £1.30 charge by Edinburgh Leisure for track access; coaching is by Monika & Bob)

Other groups should check with their coaches what the training arrangements will be during the school holidays.

High Jump Sessions: Brian Burgess, a UKA Level 3 jumps coach will be taking indoor High Jump sessions at Bathgate Sports Centre on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 – 9:00 (starting 11 March). Please note that the opening height is 1m25. Anyone interested who would like more info should contact Alex McEwan (West Lothian Council) 01506 776178 / alex.mcewan@westlothian.gov.uk. If this is successful there may be further sessions on throws and hurdles.

Meadowbank Track sessions: (U20 upwards): If any seniors are looking for some track work and can't make our Thursday night sessions at Saughton, it is worth contacting Gary Wilson (0131-652-0661). Gary's group meets on Tue & Thu evenings, and Sunday afternoon.

Pole Vault: Over the years this has been one of Harmeny's relatively strong events. We'd like to see if there are any new potential vaulters in our ranks. Kevin Maguire is one of Scotland's leading coaches and we could set up a session if there is sufficient interest. (Several members know Kevin's daughter Kirsty who is one of Scotland's top vaulters.)

Forthcoming Coaching Workshops & Courses: Unfortunately club coaches aren't beamed down from a distant planet as ready-made experts, we get involved through supporting our children, then finding out more to help them and others improve. There are coaching workshops and courses going on all the time. Locally held events that would be of use to interested parents are:

Contact Val Murdoch at Scottish Athletics on 0131-476-7328. Harmeny will reimburse the course cost for those who coach our members.

Summer Fixture List

The fixture list for the various track and field competitions the club participates is now taking shape – and it's taking a very strange shape this year with most of the meetings in April-June. Information about the various club leagues is given below, and the full fixture list, as currently known, is at the back of this Herald.

Scottish Athletics League (Men's League)

Notes:

* U17 can only compete in track events if they have reached certain standards. They cannot compete in throws, but can compete in jumps
** Veterans (over 40) compete as Seniors.

Young Athletes League (YAL)

Notes:

Boys and girls are treated as separate competitions
Central Scotland is organised as a round robin series with a different mix of clubs at each meeting

Forth Valley League (FVL)

*Note: There is a representative match between Div 1 v Div 2 v League President's Select.

Railtrack Women's League

Notes: Our girls compete as part of Lothians club grouping.
* Veterans (over 35) compete as Seniors.

Monklands Cup (girls and women): We have made a provisional club entry into this "Scottish Cup" under all the age groups (U13, U15, U17 and Seniors). This is currently scheduled for Sunday 27th July. Hopefully most Juniors will be back from summer holiday and U17 / Seniors with holiday work on Sundays will book time off!!

Central and South of Scotland League (former Scottish & North-West League): The club has withdrawn from this league. There were several contributory factors: the amount of red-tape in filling out the team sheet, the mix of events on the programme doesn't suit what most athletes want to do. However the main reason is the demand on the handful of club officials and coaches. Although we have been putting out large, and relatively successful teams in the last couple of years we simply have not been getting enough support from parents to help out at league meetings, and with insufficient officials / helpers we cannot compete as a club.

As a special incentive to members this year we have decided to award medals to everyone who competes for the club in the Forth Valley League, McDonalds Young Athletes (Boys and Girls separately) and Men's League – provided we improve sufficiently on last season's points performances. Medals will be awarded for each League based on the points scored over all the meetings (taking into account any changes in the scoring system):

Last year's total + 30%: Gold Last year's total + 20%: Silver Last year's total + 10%: Bronze

Open Meeting at Meadowbank Sunday 13th April

There is a chance to check out our early season form alongside the other Lothian clubs at Meadowbank on Sunday 13th April. This meeting is open to all members, and you select the events you want to do. (For those familiar with League format who have not attended an Open meeting, there is no restriction on the number of club members per event.) Everyone should go along, if you're not away on holiday...!! Entry forms will be distributed as soon as available.

It is particularly important for the girls & senior women, as the first selection of the combined Lothians team will take account of performances at this meeting.

And Now For Something (not) Completely Different

Harmeny's primary activities as a club are based around Track & Field and Cross-Country competition and will remain so. The club will continue to organise teams for inter-club competition and relay championships, but it's worth reminding everyone of all the other events and opportunities that are available, especially with the League season being so concentrated into the April – Jun period:

Open Graded Meetings: Turn-up in plenty of time and register for the event(s) you want to do. The main venues are Livingston and Grangemouth, plus the Lothian clubs meeting at Meadowbank on 13 April (pre-entry needed). We hope to take some small groups along.

Track Championships: The East District Championship usually takes place in early May, with entries in by mid-April, usually before anyone has had any competition, so a lot of people miss out. The entry form is in the booklet sent out to everyone registered with Athletics Scotland. Your coach will remind you to enter.

SGA, Highland Games, Border Games circuit: The days when "professionals" and "amateurs" runners could not compete against each other are gone, and the sport is now "open". During the summer there is a healthy circuit of race meetings around all of the main border towns and in some other counties (eg Ceres in Fife). There is prizemoney to be won (which we know some people are opposed to), and the format of the races is to give people of different ability a distance of a start, so that in theory everyone has a fair chance of winning.

Fun-Runs and Youth races: A lot of the bigger road races have junior races or fun runs associated with them. So if you'd like a change from getting dizzy going round the track lots of times, it's worth thinking about some of these. There are youth races associated with the Capital City Challenge, (Edinburgh), Great Scottish Run (Glasgow), Great North Run, (Newcastle) plus many others.

Aquathon (Swim / Run), Duathlon (Cycle / Run) or Triathlon (Swim / Cycle / Run): There are events at Portobello and Penicuik coming up in the next few weeks, plus the big New Years Day event in Edinburgh. (See after the Fun-Runs / 10k Fixtures)

Hill-Running: This is one of the few disciplines where you can represent Scotland in the World Championships. Many of our older members will be aware of Marbeth Shiell's record of achievement in Scottish colours. There are some events being organised especially for juniors this year. (See after the Fun-Runs / 10k Fixtures).

Orienteering: We have a contact with one of the Edinburgh clubs who regularly organises beginner's events in the Lothian's. This is also suitable for small groups or families.

Volunteers needed for major events: As well as needing a steady stream of volunteers for our own club activities, there are a few major events in Edinburgh this year which will need volunteers:

Edinburgh Marathon, Sunday 15th June: Marshals
European Cross Country Championships, December, Holyrood Park: A whole variety of tasks!
.. and, closer to home:
Rigg Race: Monday 26th June, Balerno Timekeepers and Marshalls

Officials Training: The legislation covering the supervision of sports events requires all clubs to provide more qualified helpers. Many of our regular helpers have the necessary expertise, but no formal qualification. There is a new course being held at Grangemouth on Sunday 6th of April (1:00 – 4:00): "UKA Assistant Officials Award". There is no charge for this, and we would strongly encourage regular helpers to go on this course to get the necessary accreditation. Contact Val Murdoch at Scottish Athletics (0131-476-7328)

To volunteer, or for further information on officials contact Bob Douglas (449-6105), or for Cross-Country, Ian Hislop (441 1604).

Every so often there's a day when it all comes together and makes the hard work worthwhile! That was the case at the East of Scotland Regional Sportshall event in on the 8th February when Harmeny Athletic Club's Under 15 Boys and Girls teams did Edinburgh proud. We were originally going to be competing as Edinburgh "B", but as the rest of the city couldn't put together any U15 "A" teams, we became "Edinburgh". Our girls reaped the benefit of the extra training they've all been doing over the winter with an excellent win (preventing a clean sweep of all the age groups by Argyll). It's wrong to pick out individuals in such a great team effort, but pride of place must go to Kirsty Dewar who led Harmeny (sorry, Edinburgh) to a clean sweep of the first three places in the 4 lap race, and combined with Jenny Hunter to win the 8 lap Paarlauf. The two girls showed real determination to overcome a deficit at the half way stage and ease ahead of the opposition. The girl's team was Kirsty Dewar, Fiona Dewar, Jenny Hunter, Emma Mitchell, Robyn Addinal, Claire Carmichael and Karen Milligan.

The Boys team of Neil Campbell, Paul Brash, Martin Robertson, Liam Narrie, Michael Smith and Alasdair McIntosh were up against an awesome team from Argyll, but showed real determination to hang in there and were rewarded with a second place finish. Both of "our" teams qualified for the South of Scotland finals at Cumbernauld on 8 March

.. and so to Cumbernauld....

The girl's team was unchanged, and for the boy's team Oliver Kerr came in. In a packed and at times very noisy arena, the level of competition was noticeably higher with six teams qualifying from the regional finals. There were very powerful (well-funded?) teams from North Lanarkshire and Wigtonshire vying with ourselves and Argyll. In the end our girls finished 2nd to North Lanarkshire and the boys finished 4rth with Argyll winning. We wish the two winning teams well in representing Scotland in the UK finals in Birmingham.

Been there, done it, got the (Edinburgh Team) T-shirts...

All the athletes voted it a great experience, and it is definitely something we would like to do again. We may negotiate with whoever as to what we call our teams next year (or we may be "Edinburgh" again if the City can't organise itself).

Also on 8 February Stephanie Lyall and Shaun Desport represented the East of Scotland in the UK National Inter-Counties team championship held at Wollaton Park Nottingham. Steph was 125th (3rd East counter) in the U15 girls race over a 3k course. Her time was 17m 36s and there were 296 runners. Shaun had 279 runners in his 6k race and he finished 96th (4th East counter) in 22m 50s.

Congratulations to Shaun Desport who won the indoor U17 Scottish 800m title at the beginning of March!!

See Pentland Runners site for any news