NEWS

Training Resumes - 5th January

Training resumes on Thursday the 5th of January at the Kelvin Hall.  Unless you've made special arrangements with your coach, everyone will be at the Kelvin Hall on that date.

Kelvin Hall - Closures for January 2006

Scottish Athletics Indoor League - Sunday 8th January

The last meeting of the indoor league takes place on the above date.  With 7 of our teams challenging for a place in the final, we need to have as many of our athletes available for selection as possible.

Please notify your team manager on or before Thursday the 5th of January if you are available for selection.

Kate Young is the Team Manager for the Men and Boys and Linda Innes is the Team Manager for the Ladies and Girls.

Death of Chick Forbes

We received the sad news yesterday, Thursday the 22nd, that Charles Forbes died aged 80 at Greenbank Nursing Home, Irvine.  Chick as he was known, was a Life Member of Victoria Park.

Chick and his brother Andy were members of the famous Victoria Park Relay team that in 1952 became the only Club outside of England to win the English National Cross-Country Championship.  The other members of that winning team were John Stirling, Ronnie Kane, Jimmy Ellis and Ian Binnie.

He had been ill for some time and was unable to attend the 75th Anniversary Dinner but we are reliably informed that he enjoyed having the signed menu cards read out to him.  His former team mates spoke very fondly of him and he was greatly missed on the night.

We have sent a message of condolence from the Club to Chick's daughter Rosalind Dunn and her husband Steve, but should anyone wish to send their own personal message, please contact Gordon Innes for their current address.

His funeral has been arranged for Thursday the 29th December 2005 at 3 P.M. at Holmsford Bridge Crematorium, by Dreghorn, Irvine.  An announcement has been placed in the Glasgow Herald and the Scotsman stating "all friends respectfully invited".

An obituary will appear in The Herald this week.

Jigsaw Puzzles

Follow this link and try out our jigsaw puzzles.  More familiar faces of course.

Christmas Road Race - Result

Well done to all of those who took part in this years Christmas Road Race, especially the sprinters who made up the numbers and created a wonderful Christmas spirit.

It turned out to be more like a Christmas Panto when The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Liz Cameron who was passing by in her Chauffeur driven car, saw our junior athletes about to start the race at the entrance to Scotstoun.  She stopped the car and offered her services to the Club as the official starter.  The race was thereafter started in some style by the Lord Provost.

Unfortunately she didn't have 10 minutes to spare or she would have seen Martin Hayes come home ahead of the field in a time of 10.01.

"This story is likely to feature in the West End Mail on Wednesday 28th December"  along with the Club Photograph taken at the Club Championships.

Training

Training will be at the Kelvin Hall on Tuesday 20th December as usual.  Unless you have made other arrangements with your coach, we will not train again until Thursday 5th of January at the Kelvin Hall. 

We will train that night at the Kelvin Hall in preparation for the last meeting of the indoor league on Sunday the 8th of January.  Please inform your coach if you will be available for selection on that date.  Remember, a good performance can get up to 7 of our teams into the final.

Sprint Group

Rickys sprint group will train as usual on Thursday 22nd December at Scotstoun from 7pm.  On Wednesday 28th and Friday 30th December they will train at the Kelvin Hall from 10.30 am.

Annual Christmas Road Race - Saturday 17th December

Everyone is invited to take part in our Christmas Road Race on the 17th.  If you would like to take part, you should meet in the Pavilion at Scotstoun in time for a 12pm start.

Competitors should arrive bearing a gift for the Lucky Dip. (Value in the region of £4 - £5. e.g. Selection boxes/sweets/chocolates for the younger athletes and Bottle of Wine/Box of Biscuits, etc for the adults.

We're hoping for a large turnout on the day with £100 in cash prizes up for grabs.  We're very grateful to Gerry Craig of Jordanhill Garden Supplies for making such a generous cash donation.

The senior winner will receive £25 after handicapping.

The fastest Senior will receive £15.

The fastest among the U17/U15 males will receive £10

The fastest among the U17/U15 females will receive £10

The fastest among the U13/U11 males will receive £10

The fastest among the U13/U11 females will receive £10

There will also be 4 spot prizes of £5 each.  (A draw will be made and four finishing places in the field will be winners)

Scottish Athletics Indoor League - 4th December 2005

Here are the results of the 2nd meeting of the indoor league.  Download here.

With one more league meeting to go several of our teams are looking good for a place in the final.  The first two teams in the AM league will meet the first two teams of the PM league in the final along with the highest scoring of the two 3rd placed teams at each age group.

AM League 2005 - 2006
U11 Boys - 3rd on the day, 2nd overall	U11 Girls - 2nd on the day, 3rd overall
U13 Boys - 2nd on the day, 3rd overall	U13 Girls - 2nd on the day, 3rd overall
U15 Boys - 1st on the day, 1st overall	U15 Girls - 10th on the day, 9th overall
U17 Men - 1st on the day, 1st overall	U17 Women - 1st on the day, 2nd overall
U20 Men - 6th on the day, 6th overall	U20 Women - 5th on the day, 4th overall

Well done to everyone who competed for the Club at this meeting especially the athletes who filled in with unfamiliar events and picked up valuable points.  Thanks to them, 7 of our teams still have an excellent chance of reaching the final.

Annual Christmas Road Race - Saturday 17th December

Everyone is invited to take part in our Christmas Road Race on the 17th.  If you would like to take part, you should meet in the Pavilion at Scotstoun in time for a 12pm start.

Competitors should arrive bearing a gift for the Lucky Dip. (Value in the region of £4 - £5. e.g. Selection boxes/sweets/chocolates for the younger athletes and Bottle of Wine/Box of Biscuits, etc for the adults.

We're hoping for a large turnout on the day with cash prizes up for grabs.

Calendar for December 2005                             Link to Kelvin Hall closures (December)

All of the U11's to U17's should follow this plan unless they have made alternative arrangements with their individual coach.

For the information of our new members, when you attend training nights at the Kelvin Hall, you should pay for a junior ticket for the track at the reception and then make your way to our rendezvous point between sections K and L of the grandstand.

 

	Thursday 1st - Scotstoun
Sunday 4th - Kelvin Hall - Indoor League
Tuesday 6th - Kelvin Hall	Thursday 8th - Scotstoun
Sunday 10th - Schools Pentathlon International KH / West Dist X Country - Irvine
Tuesday 13th - Kelvin Hall	Thursday 15th - Scotstoun (Starters Hut)
Saturday 17th - Xmas Handicap - Scotstoun
Tuesday 20th - Kelvin Hall	Thursday 22nd - No training

Thursday 15th - Starters Hut (Pavilion Closed)

The sprint group will also train at 10.30am on Sundays at the Kelvin Hall.  Ricky has asked for the sprint group to meet him in front of the pole vault mat at the 60m start.

Coaches Meeting - Wednesday 7th December

A reminder to all of the club coaches that a meeting will take place in the Pavilion from 7pm on Wednesday the 7th of December.  Please attend if at all possible.

Special Training Event - Kelvin Hall - Friday 16th December

Joanna Ross, our current club record holder at 800m and 1500m and a current GB international athlete and her coach (John Lees) have accepted an invitation from Graham Smith to host a training session at the Kelvin Hall on Friday 16th December at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.

This is an excellent opportunity for any of our young athletes to come along and get the experience of working with and listening to one of our top athletes.

Graham is hoping to arrange more of these training sessions with our other international athletes in the near future.

Glasgow City Council; Indoor Open Graded Meeting

Date, Start Times and Events.

30 November 2005 - 19:00 - 200m, 800m, 2000m, 60H (2 runs),  High Jump, Triple Jump, Shot Putt.

Registration begins two hours before the first timetabled event and closes one hour after the first timetabled event.

Entry is £2.00 per event.

Track events will be run from fastest to slowest heats.

Field events will be organised so that Senior and Under 20 athletes compete against each other if numbers and time permit.

Bag Packing – Sunday 27^th November

What a result, a tremendous effort by all the bag packers.  We were so proud of everyone who was able to attend. Over 30 athletes, parents and coaches turned up on the day.

We appreciated all of the help we received from those who manned the checkouts from 12pm till 6pm, those who managed a few hours between their other commitments and parents who helped out with duties from bag packing to providing the transport.

It was a great success, I can tell you that it took a family of five over 3 hours to count the takings which are listed here:

Well done to everyone who helped with an enjoyable and profitable day.  It came as no surprise to anyone connected with the Club that the behaviour of the athletes was a credit to Victoria Park.

Kelvin Hall - Closures for December

Found Property - Running Spikes

Two pairs of running spikes were left behind at Scotstoun on Tuesday 22nd November.  If you know who they belong to, contact Linda or Gordon on 563 7013.

New Club Tracksuits

We will be ordering the first batch of the new tracksuits and training tops in the next couple of weeks.  If all goes well with the bag packing at Sainsbury's on Sunday 27th, the cost of the tracksuits on the left will be £20 and £15 for the new training tops on the right.

Please speak to Linda or Gordon at one of the training nights if you want to order any of the new kit.

Concentration Game

Try out this interactive game and see how many faces you can recognise.

If you take less than 18 tries, you really need to brag about it on the message board.

Scottish Athletics - Annual Awards

Scottish Athletics held their Annual Awards Ceremony at the Strathclyde Hilton in Bellshill on Friday 18th November.

Around 300 people attended the evening including athletics legends Liz McColgan, Yvonne Murray and Steve Cram and prominent politicians Patricia Ferguson MSP and Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell MP.

Victoria Park's David Martin won the Bank Of Scotland U17 Male Athlete Of The Year award as a result of his successes at the British Schools, AAA's in Birmingham and for Scotland at the Celtic Games in Carmarthen.

More success followed for Victoria Park when it was announced that John Innes had won the Services To Officiating Award.  John who is currently our Membership Secretary has many other responsibilities including being Vice Convenor of Scottish Athletics Officials Commission and Chairman of the Central and South Of Scotland Athletic League.

Congratulations to David and John, everyone at Victoria Park is delighted at their success and very proud of their strong links with the Club.

The full list of Award winners can be found on the Scottish Athletics Web Site.

Coaches Meeting - Wednesday 7th December

A coaches meeting will take place in the Pavilion from 7pm on Wednesday the 7th of December.  All of the coaches are invited to attend.

Road Race - Thursday 17th November

Well done to everyone who took part in the first of our series of Road Races.  The results are recorded below.

 

U11		Time		U11		Time
Girls				Boys
1st	Iona Wilson	16.16		1st	Max Aitchison	11.03
2nd	Ruby Gray	17.49		2nd	Robbie Pollock	14.34
3rd	Danielle McLellan	17.59		3rd	Steven Thistleton	16.10
4th	Eve Dunlop	18.14