Hon. Secretary’s Report

Well I joined the association in June 1972 and took on my first roll as Cross Country Secretary for 11 years and then again for 14 years after a break of 7 years. I was president from 1998 to 2000 and chairman in 2008. I took on the roll as Honorary General Secretary in 1983 up to the present day and I feel that is enough for me. I will however help the person that takes on this roll and I hope to carry on with the endurance officials position. Some of our Officials were at the Olympics and some volunteers were there as games makers and I am sure we would like to congratulate them all.

On the Cross country side the championships went to Ickworth Park at a different location within the grounds. The event was very successful and some very good racing. The inter counties was held again at Cofton Park Birmingham on Saturday 10th March. The Senior Mens team finished in 26th place. Alex Dunbar finished in 42nd place. In the Senior Womens we only had three runner and therefore we had NO team . In the U20 Men the team finished in 13th place with Kieran Clements in 3rd place and in the U20 Women Charlotte Christenson finished in 58th place but we had NO team again. The U17 men the team finished 26th and Macauley Delo finished 28th. The U17 Womens team finished 37th with Lucy Barnes in 159th place. The U15 Boys finished 17th with Cameron McKie in 44th place. The U15 Girls finished 26th with Alice Cheverton in 83rd place. The U13 boys finished 33rd with Matthew Haskell in 110th place and the U13 girls finished 16th and Sophie Tooley finished 6th.

The English National Championships were held at Parliament Hill Fields, London on 25th February 2012 in Glorious weather compared to last year. Several athletes from the county took part and Kieran Clements finished 4th in the Junior Mens race, Michael Bartram finished 61st in the U15 Boys and Macauley Delo was 42nd in the U17 Mens race. In the U15 Girls race Megan Soanes was 24th and Sophie Tooley was 4th in the U13 Girls race.

The English Schools Championships were held at Ilton, Somerset on March 17th. In the Junior-Boys Ben Eames was 40th, in the Inter-Boys Cameron McKie was 32nd. In the Senior Boys Kieran Clements was second in the race. In the Junior Girls Sophie Tooley was 8th.

The English Cross Country Relays were held at Mansfield on the 3rd November 2012. In the U15 Girls team West Suffolk AC finished in second place with Sophie Tooley recording the second fastest lap time. In the U17 Mens West Suffolk finished in 13th place.

The Track and Field Championships were held at West Suffolk Arena, Bury St.Edmunds and 10 Records were broken and one equalled.

The Hibbard Trophy meeting was cancelled due to the Olympics and not finding a suitable date and enough officials to run it.

The Association were going to Copthall Stadium, Hendon for the South of England U20 Inter-Counties Match but it was changed at the last minute to Abingdon which meant a very early start and the committee decided not to go because of the costs involved.

Again Suffolk took an U13 boys & girls team to an U13 Inter-County Match at Kingsmeadow on Sunday 22nd July and in the boys we finished 12th out of 13 counties and 13th in the Girls and the boys & girls enjoyed the day.

Several athletes done well at the English School Championships held at Gateshead on July 6/7th and Harry Hughes won the Javelin in the Junior Boys and Kieran Clements was third in the Senior Boys 3000 Metres. In the Junior Girls Sophie Tooley was second in the 800 Metres.

On the endurance Officials we have had two risk assessment courses done and all passed and I would like to remind officials to send in there endurance log sheets at the beginning of September, these forms can be downloaded from the county website.

Thanks to our faithful team managers, Mrs.K.Mead (Ladies), Steve Benson (Senior Men ,U20M,U17M CC), Gary & Naomi Finch (U15,U13 Boys CC ) also Gary & Naomi Finch for the (Mens T & F) .

On behalf of the Association I would like to thank the St.Edmundsbury Borough Council for the facilities at the West Suffolk Arena; our assistant secretaries – Mr.T.Cheatham (Treasurer, Track & Field and Officials); and our committee members; and all other organisations who have assisted with the running of Local athletics during the year.

To end this report may I wish everyone connected with Athletics a most successful 2013. I hope that all our Clubs and athletes will represent our county at whatever discipline.

J.G.R.Mower

Treasurer’s Report 2012

This year we have an excess of income over expenditure of £352.97. We assisted the Suffolk Winter League with their expenses during the year but I am at present in the process of recovering the amount from the various host clubs.

We still need do need to look for additional income and therefore if anyone has ideas of any Companies that may be interested in sponsoring any of our events please let me know as this would assist in retaining a reasonable bank balance.

Our major expense as usual was in respect of travel costs amounting £1328 but considerably less than last year.

We again provided transport to the U13 Inter Counties, CAU Inter Counties and the SEAA Inter Counties and this will be needed again this year if we support all the events. This year the Hibbard Trophy meeting was not held but if this is reinstated next year and we also support the SEAA U15 / u20 Inter Counties event an additional cost of around £500.per event will be required.

Track and Field Championships made a £600 profit this year and the Cross Country Championships £1100.

I proposed that we increase the affiliation fee by £5 to £45 in 2013.

The accounts are being checked at present. Copies of the accounts will be available at the AGM.

Tony Cheatham

Track & Field Secretary’s Report 2012

The championships were again successful. 207 athletes entered covering 415 events compared with 233 athletes covering 479 events in 2011.

This year we only sent teams to the U13 Inter Counties. The Hibbard trophy event was not held due to a suitable date not being available. The U15 / U20 Inter Counties was suddenly moved to Abingdon and this would have involved considerable extra costs and leaving Ipswich around 5.00am in the morning and therefore no teams were sent.

UKA have set the week end for County Championships as the 25th & 26th May 2013 and have confirmed that permits will not be given for other dates. Therefore our Track and Field Championships will be held on the 26th May 2013 probably at Ipswich.

Entry forms will be available at the AGM and will also be available on the county’s web site.

The County continued to support the SEAA Inter Counties meeting for u15’s & u20’s and the u13’s.

The Hibbard trophy was not held this season due to problems arranging a suitable date for the fixture.

Tony Cheatham

County Officials Secretary’s Report 2012

Thank you to all our officials who helped at our Championships and have helped their clubs throughout the past season. Congratulations to all our officials who were appointed to and officiated at the 2012 Olympics and others that volunteered as Games makers.

If you know of anyone who wishes to become an official please ask them to contact me and if there are a reasonable number we may be able to arrange a local course. Alternatively they can look on the England Athletics website for courses already arranged.

Tony Cheatham

Walking Secretary’s Report 2012

There are only a handful of race walkers active in the county, but they do make an impact nationally. Angie Alstrachen was runner up in the UKA/RWA national 50kms clocking 6.22.17 and along with Linda Spinks collected national team medals with EHAC in the national 10km and 10 miles championships.

However, revelation of the year has been fifteen year old Callum Wilkinson (King Edwards School, BSE), who since April when he first tried the discipline with the aim of completing the Moulton 5 in under an hour, has made rapid progress. He has covered 6m 270y in the hour, clocked 47.32 for 5m and 28.43 for 5km.

The annual Moulton 5 mile walk has been fixed for 1st June. I am usually at Bury track with Callum on Wednesday evenings (courtesy of SEP’s) at 6pm and anyone interested in more information about race waking can chat with me there or contact me on 01638 751 869 or

Ron Wallwork

Road Running Secretary’s Report 2012

As has been reported throughout 2012 the majority of road races have seen good entries. We have also seen some new faces emerge at the front of events which can only be good for our sport. There is no doubt that the Olympics had a major influence on the sporting scene for the UK, and it is now important that the events in our region look to use this upsurge, to raise the profile of road running by improving their events and looking atways to bring athletes of all ages into our sport. It would be sad that this renewed enjoyment that sport has given the country was not tapped into.

Our sport has widely been recognised as being a cheap and easy sport to take part in, but it is now more noticeable how finances are being squeezed and the cost of entering events has risen. Not that many years ago it was possible to run a Friday 5 event for £5 or £6 this year (2013) that will cost double that. This is not that events are making large sums out of it but just due to the rising cost of venues, and infrastructure items like first aid, radios and traffic management. It is important that we keep a lid on these cost as many smaller events may well drop from the racing calendar rather than loose money. This may be an area that the SCAA and Network of clubs can pull in companies and get reduced rates to services offered for a guaranteed number of events. For certain the large number of unattached runners in larger events such as the Woodbridge 10k and Ipswich half marathon help to bring in extra revenue that help offset some of this effect but not all events are so lucky.

Another worrying issue is the rise of such events as Park Run. We now have one running in Ipswich and numbers for the free weekly event have grown to around 100+, this must have effect on events as this number grows. So how can they produce an event with no income, use of council facilities (that clubs would normally be charged for), no first aid cover on site and many other parts of event management that they some how have been able to get round? As a new runner if given the choice of running a free event by just register on line and paying £6 to £10 for a club event, what would you do? This may well be the death of a number of smaller races. They do not appear to be active in encouraging runners to join local clubs which I believed was the original concept.

We have had many good events during 2012 and the first running of the Suffolk grand Prix finished in November with Stowmarket taking the team honours. With "Runability" from Bury St.Edmunds keen to continue their support for the series 2013 should see improvement in numbers entering the series races. The Friday 5 series is growing from strength to strength and after a meeting at the end of 2012 the clubs have now reorganised to take the series forward on a rota basic, with Bury Pacers covering 2013.

In my first year as road race sec. I was surprised that little effort had been placed in keeping our county road championships on the racing calendar; I therefore have spoken to a few race directors and am pleased to report that the Kirton 5 and Framlingham 10k have agreed to help begin the process of getting these events back. I would also like to try and get a 10mile and half marathon if not this year than almost certainly next.

I would like to thanks Joe, Richard and Mike for their support during 2012 and look forward to 2013 being a good year both in events and weather.

Terry Back