IDLE

Athletic Club

 affiliated to UK Athletics

presents…IDLE GOSSIP!

                                                                                    September 2002

Idle Tide - Marathon Man!!

Many local people saw the recent coverage in the Telegraph & Argus of Chris training, in the new Idle AC vest, in preparation for his treadmill marathon at the Idle Tide on Saturday 21st September 2002!. This is of course a big stunt to publicise the club, with the beneficial effect of money being raised for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal.

 

In addition to the support from Kent’s (suppliers of the treadmill), the Symposium is backing the fund raising effort by not only donating generous prizes (£30 and £20 vouchers) but they have also organised a real ale named ‘Idle Tide Marathon Man’ to be on sale on the day. For each pint sold £1 will be donated to the Lord Mayor’s Candelighters (children’s cancer charity) Appeal. The Lord Mayor will be at the Tide from 1pm when he will meet Chris (who by then will be an hour into his marathon) and other club members. Its therefore important to have as many members as possible at the event, to work on the stall, to give out leaflets and to talk to people about running and the club.

 

On the day we will charge people £1 to guess Chris’s finishing time, profits from which will go to  Candlelighters. We will also be having a stall selling running and sport related items, including sports drinks, profit from which will go to club funds.

 

Car boot Sale - 1st September

The car boot was a brilliant success, not only in terms of the £75 raised for club funds, but in the fact that people became aware of our existence -  two people asked for club details. We were also able to show our support to Hepworth and Idle Cricket Club, as they build the new pavilion. We have already witnessed how friendly and approachable they are, and looking at the size of the new club house, it will, in time, be a great base for us. Indeed the cricket club won a recent T&A competition for a developing local community club. They were successful partly because they had a running club based there too. They won £3000 and £1500 worth of power tools to help with the building of our new clubhouse, which they tell us will have separate showers!

 

Away Run- Sunday 15th September - Haworth.

In early preparation for the start of the cross country season, we have arranged an ‘away’ on Sunday 15th September. Please meet in the car park at Penistone Hill Country Park in Howarth for a run (approx. 6 miles or 10 - 11miles) up to Top Withins. 

 

Cross Country Season - The West Yorkshire Winter League.

As Co-ordinator of the West Yorkshire Winter League, Chris invited the League representatives to a meeting on Friday 6th September when the dates and venues for the 2002/03 were fixed as follows:

 

1          17th Nov 02     Dewsbury.

2          15th Dec 02      Pudsey - Festive event with optional fancy dress and silly hat competition.

3          19th Jan 03       Stainland

4          9th Feb 03        St.Bede’s        

5          23rd Feb 03      Skipton

 

The Presentation Night (subject to confirmation) will be on Friday 14th March 03 at Skipton.

 

All the above races will start at 11 am, with the exception of the 3rd event at Stainland will start at 10.30 am. They are all around 4-5 miles of mixed terrain. Further details will be circulated prior to each event.             

 

 

The Clubs in the League

The League is a team event over five races during November - March of each year. There are currently 8 definite clubs within the West Yorkshire Winter League: Idle A.C, Pudsey Pacers, Leeds & Bradford Tri, Dewsbury Road Runners, Baildon Runners, Stainland Lions and St.Bede’s. Eccleshill Road Runners will give a decision later.

 

The Cross Country Races

Each race is usually different in the terrain that it offers - a mixture of woodland, canal, fields tracks and streams, sometimes in fairly muddy conditions. There are usually between 100 -150 runners at each event. Cross Country studs are recommended and club colours (club vest and black shorts or bottoms)  should be worn.

 

The League

The West Yorkshire Winter League (WYWL) is an ‘entry level’ league with a positive and friendly ethos. It consists of smaller West Yorkshire Clubs, and encourages slower runners and those new to the sport, as well as having a competitive ‘top end’. The emphasis, although there are individual awards, is on team participation.

 

Our Club encourages all members at all levels to take part. The events are important for all the clubs socially as well as purely in racing terms, and a big presentation ‘do’ is held every year (March).

This year the League has affiliated to the North of England Athletic Association, and continues to improve in stature in our sport.

 

Mid Summers Day Canal Relay - advance notice.

 

The League will again organise the Canal Relay on Saturday 21st June 02. The relay is run over 5 legs, each run by a pair of well matched runners from each club, the total distance being around 181/2 miles. Pudsey Pacers are the current trophy holders, and will therefore organise the event. The race runs at 5pm from Leeds Granary Wharf, to the Marquis of Granby pub at Riddlesden, near Keighley, where some runners have been known to have a drink afterwards.

 

Veterans Captain!

Idle AC has recently affiliated to the Yorkshire vets Athletic Association, which means that veteran members (men over 40 and women over 35) can enter Yorkshire Vets races. The Association offers members the opportunity to race in both Yorks vets monthly (closed) races and open races (e.g. Holmfirth 15 on 27th Oct).

We are currently looking for a volunteer to act as Vets Captain. The role will include liaising with the club’s vets and encouraging participation in events, monitoring age categories of members, and organisation of the Vets team during West Yorkshire Winter League events. The role will be as much, or a little, as the individual wants it to be. 

 

The Move to Hepworth & Idle Cricket Club- Autumn approaches:

As the nights are now drawing in, Tuesday 10th September 02 will be the final session at Apperley Bridge and I’m sure everyone agrees that the summer speed sessions have been greatly beneficial (We’ve certainly seen a lot of PB’s this Summer). From Tuesday 17th September the club will be based at Hepworth & Idle Cricket Club for the Winter, when Tuesdays will see the start of more hill work. 

 

New members:

Idle A.C now has 26 members (including 3 second claim members) and  we are delighted that Steve Little has now joined the club as a first claim member. We also welcome Pauline Athwal who has recently joined.

 

 

 

Christmas Party:                                                                                      

We have provisionally booked the Symposium (Idle) for the club’s Christmas celebration on Friday 13th December. If we can book for between 12 -18 places we can have the ‘snug’ at the back to ourselves. Please see attached menu for details. If we confirm the booking by 30th September and each pay a £5 deposit then we will each get a free half bottle of quality wine with each meal. Please let Davina know if you are interested by Saturday 28th September.

 

Coming Events for September and October:

 

Date                     Event

Sun 15th Sept               Away Run at Haworth or Robin Hood Half marathon.

Sat 21st Sept                Idle Tide - 12 Noon to 4pm. Please come and help!

Sun 29th Sept              Horsforth 10k, 10am. All members encouraged to run this race.

Sun 6th Oct                   Great North Run.

Sun 13th Oct                 Brid Half marathon or Manchester marathon.

Sun 27th Oct                 Holmfirth 15. Yorkshire Vets Championship.                            

 

There will be Idle AC members at all the above events.

 

London Marathon:

Entries close on 18th October 2002 for the 2003 marathon to be held on 13th April 2003. In addition Idle AC will have one club entry. A draw will take place in December (Christmas ‘do’) for this entry for any members who have entered and been rejected.

 

Recommended Physiotherapists:

Members have recently visited the following physios and can recommend the following:

 

Haworth Physiotherapy - Rebecca Marshall, 5 Main Street, Haworth, Tel: 01535 648373. Peter Vickers and Davina can both highly recommend Rebecca.

 

The I.T.T.I.D Clinic of Alternative (Holistic and Biological Medicine - Dr Ahmed, 809 Manchester Road, Bradford, Tel: 01274 305590. Peter Helliwell recommends this clinic.

 

The West Yorks Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Centre - Rachel Wilson, The Old School House, Towngate, Wyke, Bradford, Tel: 01274 693591. Edward can recommend Rachel.

 

Club Kit

The distinctive Idle A C vests are attracting a lot of positive attention at races. A runner at the Kendal Half asked about the club name  as he was from a place in Essex called Ugly! We told him about Idle Working Mens’ Club, and he told us about the Ugly Womens’ Institute. Vests are selling quickly, a bargain at only £14, for this quality Ron Hill item.

 

We hope to be in a position to sell Idle AC fleeces in a next few weeks. The fleeces will be as distinctive as the vests with a black collar, red top half and black bottom half, with IDLE  AC embroidered on the back and front. Its likely that the fleeces will be in the region of £20 each, Chris and Davina are taking orders now, and in fact would love to take your money, as it’s cash on delivery, and we want to order at least twenty!

 

Sewage Works Surprise Club Handicap Race!!

The enthusiasm within the club for handicap type activities means that this venerable event originally devised by Chris as a short course club championship accessible to members of all levels and abilities, may be resurrected. Watch this space!

 

 

 

Coming events at Hepworth and Idle Cricket Club.

Please support the club at their final match of the season on Saturday 14th Sept and afterwards at the end of season Bar B Q, which starts at approx 6pm.

 

Website Update:

The Website has had over 1100 visits since its launch on 22nd March 02 and it continues to attract positive feedback from all who visit it. The site contains all details of the West Yorkshire Winter League and will be visited by all the clubs within the League, although Idle A C members will also continue to receive all League information through  the monthly ‘Gossip’ newsletter. 

 

Martin is continually updating the website and welcomes input from any members as to any improvement suggestions. In addition we’d welcome for Member Profiles for the site.

 

Members views sought - Club Member telephone List?.

 

At the present time all member information such as address and phone numbers is kept confidential by the club and NoEAA. However, we are seeking members’ views as to whether individual members would like their phone numbers circulated to each other (only to other members of Idle A C). This may be useful if members want to contact one another to arrange independent training runs etc. This information WILL NOT be circulated without the expressed consent of the individual members. Please think about this and we will circulate a form (with the next Committee minutes) for individuals to express their views on this. In the meantime, if individual members do want to contact another club member, please phone Chris and Davina and they will pass a message on to member concerned. 

 

Idle A C Development Plan:

Following the club’s initial input into the development plan, the Committee will continue to work on this document over the coming weeks to produce a first ‘draft’ of the Plan.

 

Items for future editions of Idle Gossip:

It would be great to start getting items for future Gossips from members as we want to move this newsletter on from being an ‘information’ sheet to being a newsletter which has contributions from a variety of sources, about a variety of running related issues. This first 6 months have been important in laying the foundations of the club and it has been vital to continuously keep our members updated as the club developed, but it’s time we had a newsletter which features others people’s input. You are therefore STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to put pen to paper (or better still finger to keyboard!) and give all contributions to Davina either via email: davina@idleac.co.uk, or personally.

 

The First 6 months of Idle A C - achievements to date:   

We have: formed a club, found a base (Hepworth & Idle), affiliated Idle A C, formed a committee, set up a website, opened an account, issued membership cards to 26 members (and counting), offered coached sessions each Tuesday and runs on Thursdays, offered informal runs on Sundays, raced in 5k, 5 milers,10k’s, half marathons, marathons, fell races, and other races, produced T shirts and vests, run with Pudsey Pacers, offered two ‘away’ runs, given out free raffle tickets, held a car boot sale, organised a fundraising event (Idle Tide), had press releases in ‘T & A’, won a trophy, entered the WYWL, and gained acceptance, acknowledgement and indeed encouragement form those within the sport. Because of the huge enthusiasm of all its members, Idle AC has achieved a huge amount in a very short space of time, and this is only the START.                     

 

 

Website:         Visit us at www.idleac.co.uk