Gosforth Harriers and Athletic Club

Way to go Silas! Silas put in an impressive performance to come 6th out of 250 children in a time of 18 mins 33 seconds. All the hard work's paying off!

Well done to Andrew Heppell, Al Johnson, Steve Boddy, Steve Bond and representing the ladies - Sasha Gartside. This event is open to anyone age 35yrs and over and the next fixture is the 3rd June 2019. Any takers?

Well done to Elaine McKechnie, Hayley Carr, Angela Richardson supported by Jenny Graham, Niamh Bell and Ella lea. Fantastic Running Ladies.

Well done to all the runners who set their alarm clock on an early, misty Good Friday morning to participate in the relays. It was a fantastic turn out by the club and everyone did us proud.

Congratulations to the U13 Girls 1st team (Faye Landless, Hannah Wightman and Alice Lewis) who won their race. Amazing running girls - we are very proud of you.

Fantastic achievement for Ethan Bond who was 5th in U13 Boys Relay. Well done Ethan, keep up the good work.

A big well done to the Senior Women's A team (Helen Warburton, Rhian Purves and Katie Mellor) who came in at second place, after giving Laura Weightman and her team mates a run for their money! Fantastic achievement.

From Monday 22nd April 2019, all juniors will be meet in Gosforth Park opposite the Border Minstrel pub.

On the 22nd we'll also meet at 10am as it's a Bank Holiday.

Thursday night training will also start from the same place - meeting at 6.45pm for a 6.50pm start.

This will continue throughout the summer.

The first NEYDL fixture of the season is on Sunday 28th April at Churchill Playing Fields in Whitley Bay. For more information click on the link below

We are hoping to host the annual Gosforth Summer Relays on Sunday 4th August.  As always we will need lots of help before the race and lots of volunteers on the day.  Please refuse all other offers and save the date. Please let committee@gosforth-harriers.org know if you can help.

Wallsend Gordon Smith Relays - Wednesday 8th May 2019

A great turn out by the green and whites for this event. Well done to Andrew Heppell, Ben Moore and Zack Wylie who came an impressive 5th out of 75 in the mens 3x2 mile relay. The ladies relay teams were equally out in force. Well done on an impressive performance by Sarah Seymour, Anna Fletcher and Elaine McKechnie who came 9th out of 70 teams. Fantastic performance from everyone who took part. 

Thanks to a kind donation from John Reed associates, the committee is able to offer some financial support to junior members who wish to compete and represent the club outside of the region.  We can contribute to travel and/or accommodation costs.  Please contact the committee if you wish to apply for support.

Read All About It!

Neil Ramsay has been writing a blog for the last couple of years about his races. It's always an interesting read and it's good to hear a different perspective on races you were involved in.

If you want to read Neil's blog it's here:

https://neilramsay.wordpress.com/

The girls are flying again...

Congratulations to Rhian Purves who beat a 5 year old road 5k club record as she cruised to victory at the Simply Health Great North 5k in 18:50- well done Rhian

More congratulations to Faye Landless who beat her own 100m record when she came in in 13.9s at Hexham.  Keep it up Faye

I have to announce the passing of a dear old friend and Gosforth Harrier, Bill Flannigan, who died on the 3rd of September 2018. Bill joined the club in 1958, holding the job of secretary and chairman, and also coach. Bill was always enthusiastic about his running. Through hard work, building up to training 3 times a day at his peak, he produced, by todays standards some very good times at various distances.

Bill gave a lot of his time to coaching, organising our club presentation nights, and the then very popular Gosforth Road Relays.

Even now 60yrs later and with a lifetime in screen printing, we still use items printed by him.

I believe that by Bill's doggedness in his training outlook, he helped me become a much better runner, and probably changed the mindset of anyone who trained with him, as to what hard training runs entailed.

Bill was a one off. RIP old friend.

Colin Haggie President of Gosforth Harriers.

The club would like to congratulate Faye Landless on her recent record breaking triumph over 200m.  Faye, who was already the holder of the club U13 girls 200m record, took a massive 0.3 s off her own pb to record a club record of 27.6 s.

Well done Faye!! this goes down in history.

Faye has also recently broken the club 100m and 150m records which had been held for 55 and 14 years, respectively.  Fantastic work.

For those who are aiming high, club records are listed on the club record page

There are new laws which come into effect on May 25th 2018 which require all members to give their consent for their personal data to be shared with England Athletics.

If you have not already done so, please click here https://www.gosforth-harriers.org/consent
and follow the on screen instructions. If you are completing the form on behalf of your child, it's their name that needs to be entered, not yours. We must have a form for every member.

If you have not given express consent to share your details before 25th May, we will have to delete your records and you can no longer be a member of the club or be registered with England Athletics- It's that serious!!

Faye Landlass has set a new U13 girls club record of 27.9s in the 200m at the NEYDL.  Well done Faye!

To check out all the club records go to the track and field or road records pages

From Monday 8th May for the FORESEEABLE FUTURE  IE DURING THE SUMMER, Monday night training for 'Colin's group' will begin and end at the Border Minstrel carpark, Gosforth Park.  Juniors should meet from 7:00 and be ready to run at 7:15.  Parents should be ready to pick juniors up at 8:00

The group of juniors is now very large and of quite mixed ability.  Training within Gosforth Park during the summer makes it much easier for the coaches to deliver the appropriate training sessions for everyone while keeping all youngsters safe.  We realise that it may be less convenient for some parents to get their children to Gosforth park but hope that you will support this move.

Note this includes juniors who normally go out on the roads with Colin, Steve Bond, Neil Ramsay, Kevin Spreadbury, Paul Waggott.  Beginner juniors who train on the field will continue to do so.

Newburn River Run 

The Elswick Harriers Newburn River Run takes place on Wednesday 12th June 2019. Postal entry and online entry closes 7th June at 6pm. This is an excellent race and very scenic. It would be nice to have a good turnout from the club.

More info and entry details here:

http://www.elswickharriers.org.uk/elswickharriers/?page_id=866

The club has a growing membership and is keen to increase the quota of qualified coaches and volunteers.

The club can offer financial support to any member to gain a formal coaching qualification as long as they will commit to using that qualification for the benefit of the club e.g. helping out with coaching on a flexible basis when needed.  UK athletics runs coaching courses locally at coaching assistant and higher levels.  Please contact Sasha or committee@gosforth-harriers.org for details.

This is an appeal to anybody who can help out with the coaching and supervision of the Monday night (6pm) beginners' and junior training group. We have an ever increasing number of new beginners and juniors, and currently do not have enough adults to service this need.

Steve Boddy, Irene Ewart, Kevin Spreadbury, Paul Waggot, Steve Bond and Co have done a brilliant job in co-ordinating the training, however, they need our support from parents or other members of the club.

We hope to set up a rota with 5 adults available each Monday night to assist the junior session. We need supervision for the juniors who train on the playing field at the clubhouse as well as for those that go out running on the roads. Parents of juniors are particularly encouraged to help out- you don't have to be a runner!. 

Please contact committee@gosforth-harriers.org or message via facebook.

Once we know roughly how many adults we have available, we can start to think about how to organise a rota that will work for everybody.

Kit man Kevin has a few limited edition T shirts left printed with Drew Graham's painting. The shirts are £12 and all profits are going to the rehabilitation fund for Drew who was badly injured in an accident last September.

The T shirt is available in junior and senior sizes- see Kevin to place your order.

Subs are due.  You can pay by bank transfer into the Gosforth Harriers TSB account

account number 10542768 and sort code77-20-33.

Please make sure it is clear who you are paying for in the reference.  If you wish to pay quarterly divide the total approximately by 4 and make a note in the reference (e.g. Brown Jnr £15 30 to pay- put as much info in the reference as you can fit. Other payments will be due Dec 1st , March 1st and June 1st.

Family                              £90 (2 )  + £25 for each additional person

Senior                              £60   

OAP/student/ associate   £50

Junior                               £45

Cheques and cash will also be accepted by Colin but online payment is preferred.

These tops are available for members to buy at a reduced price of £10 for Junior and £12 for Senior. See kit man Kevin Thomas for details.

In line with good practice and the requirements for accreditation under the Clubmark scheme, Gosforth Harriers has launched a new membership form.

We require all current members to complete a new membership form and to sign to indicate that they have read and accept the relevant codes of conduct. 

Please click here to download a copy of the new membership form and here to view the code of conduct for seniors, juniors and parents/carers.

Please hand your membership form to a member of the committee a.s.a.p

Remember to check this website for information about club events.

Members can join the Gosforth H & AC facebook group- just search for groups and send your request.