We recently met with Abingdon School for an update on the Tilsley Park developments and can report:

Oxfordshire AA are planning to run Level 2 courses on:

Sunday 17 April, at Horspath Road - Health & Safety
Sunday 17 April, at Horspath Road - Track
Sunday 24 April, at Iffley Road - Photo Finish

In addition, there are L2 modules running at TVAC, Eton on 28 February, in Track, Field and Timekeeping.

For the latter two disciplines, these are likely to be the nearest opportunities now available before the summer season.
All these and other course details are on the England Athletics website (Volunteers - Officials - Courses).

As a first year u20 women Alice Hopkins and Luisa Chantler Edmond went to this years championships on a bit of a learning curve. Both had older more experienced opposition but undaunted they set about trying to recreate last years medal haul of 3 medals (as u17 athletes). Luisa had set her eyes firstly on both a pb and a Radley club record. After a week of training in freezing conditions when to be honest shot putting was a nightmare she opened with an equal to her pb of 11.56mts.

The Club is holding its annual presentation evening on Saturday 23rd January at Drayton Village Hall. Please come and join us for this fun social evening, taking this opportunity to mix socially with other athletes, their families, our coaches and other volunteers.

The evening starts at 6.30pm – there will be a disco, bar and raffle (any donations to the raffle prizes would be greatly appreciated - please see Annalise) and will include the presentation of the Clubs 2015 trophies.

Tickets are available from Annalise on training nights - £3 per ticket or £10 per family.

The Club records have been updated to include 2015 performances. They can be found on the Club records page.

The Club has been allocated a place for the London Marathon taking place in April. Members who are interested in this opportunity should contact the Club secretary (with their name and email) by 20th January.

In light of the recent media attention with regards to drugs cheats in sports globally, the Club felt it would be useful to provide some information to support athletes and parents.

General Principles

Younger athletes and their parents should not be unduly worried about the threat of drug testing unless they are competing at championship events but it’s useful to know the principles for when you/your child develops in the sport.

Athletes are fully responsible for what they put in to their bodies.

When the world champion and world recorder holder is facing you in your first year as an u20 what do you do? Buckle under the strain or rise to the occasion? This was the prospect Alice Hopkins faced in Sheffield last Saturday as she settled into the first of her 5 pentathlon events drawn next to Morgan Lake in the fastest 60mts hurdles race. A false start did nothing for the nerves as Alice has twice before fallen foul of the disqualification rule (in Sheffield!!) thankfully this time it was someone else!

5 Athletes – Petrina Chantler Edmond, Steph ward, Ollie Stacey, Blake Strickland-Bennet and Holly Griffiths-Brown pitted themselves against the best in the south of England at the indoor championships.

Petrina did the long jump (4.55mts) 200 (28.18sec) and the 60 mt hurdles (10.23sec) a very solid set of performances but no pbs. Steph Ward on the other hand had a huge pb in the 60 hurdles getting her 11.0sec time down to 10.53sec.

Round 3 of the Oxfordshire XC League takes place on Sunday at Horspath (OX4 2RR) which is near the Eastern bypass around Oxford. The event also incorporates the 2016 Oxon XC Championships.
Be aware that the event clashes with the FA Cup fixture between Oxford United and Swansea City – it kicks off at 12 noon. All roads in the Horspath area, the ring road in particular, will suffer from congestion on the day plan to arrive 45 minutes earlier than normal.