The AGENDA FOR THE MEETING OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 2017
Venue: PIPERS INN, ASHCOTT
Thursday, January 26th, 2017
1. Apologies
2. Approval of the previous minutes and action notes
3. Disability
4. SW Council
5. Road Running/Cross Country
The 2016 TriCounty XC championships
The 2017 SW XC championships
6. Track and Field
7. County network
8. Schools
9. Officials
10. Treasurer
11. Sportshall
12. Any Other Business
13. Date of next meeting
Action notes
Medals to be distributed to County RR champions – IH (from previous minutes)
IH to liaise with Avon AA re the National XC championships
DC to arrange sub-committee re the 2017 County T&F championships
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY
ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 2016
Thursday, November 24th, 2016
at the Pipers Inn, Ashcott following the AGM
1. Present
DELEGATES ATTENDING
11 delegates and one guest
Noel Frost NF President
David Cooke DC Secretary
Roger Lee RL Chairman
Ian Humphreys IH Team Manager
Brian Mountjoy-Row BMR Yeovil Town RRC and Treasurer
Sally Higman SH Officials’ Secretary
Julie Singleton JS Taunton AC
Peter Grosjean PG Mendip AC
Paul Guest PGu YOAC
Justin Worringham JW Frome AC
Richard Bowden RB Somerset Schools’ AA
Nick Higman NH attended as a guest
2. APOLOGIES
Paul Chadwick Wells City Harriers
Graham Goldsmid GG Wells City Harriers
Debbie Stanfield DS YTRRC
3. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting
SH pointed out an error in the last minutes under ‘Officials’. Upgrading of certain officials was pending and not yet approved.
The minutes were otherwise recognised as a true record of the meeting.
This was proposed by PG and seconded by JW
4. Action Notes and Matters Arising
DC’s Action Notes arising from the previous minutes had been completed.
5. Disability
No report
It was agreed that RL would contact Jenny Slade to see if she was happy to continue to hold the post of Secretary for disability matters.
6. SW Council
DC reported that the SW regional awards had been made at the Mercure Hotel, Exeter on November 23rd.
No clubs or individuals from Somerset had been amongst the award winners.
Minutes of the SW Council meetings were available.
At the last council meeting, it was agreed that the format of the 2017 SW T&F championships would differ from the 2016 format. In 2017, the championships would be based on entries from individual athletes. Entries would be published before the championships and Counties could select teams from those athletes that had entered.
7. Road Running and Cross Country
Cross Country
The Tri-County XC championships were to be held on December 11th
IH has county vests and the County banner
The County team for the SW XC event will be made after the Tri-County event.
Following the SW XC event on January 8th, initial selections will be made for the combined Avon/Somerset team which will contest the National XC championships.
IH to liaise with John Deaton from Avon.
Road Running
It was agreed that IH would discuss with BB whether the latter wished to continue as the RR secretary. JW offered to help in this capacity if BB was unable to continue.
DC will write a ‘job description’ outlining the responsibilities of the post holder.
DC was asked to invite affiliated to clubs to bid the 2017 County RR championships.
This race must have an EA permit, be entirely on a road surface and must not (in 2017) be a 10km race.
IH said that there will be a marathon event on June 11th which the County may wish to include as a County championship event.
There will be two intercounty (6 counties) RR events in the SW in 2017.
8. Track and Field
DC mentioned that a series of Indoor events were to be promoted by England Athletics (SW) in conjunction with Welsh Athletics. The events were to be held in Cardiff, the first event being on December 4th.
It was agreed that a sub-committee would be convened in the New Year to discuss the format of the 2017 County T&F championships. All clubs would be invited to attend.
The whereabouts of the Sue Somerset trophy is still not known. RB volunteered to look in the Brymore trophy room when he was next at the school.
9. Network
By E mail from Paul Chadwick
Wearing my Somerset Athletics Network chair hat Adrian M has advised Brian and I that we need to allocate the remaining funds to avoid EA requesting back. When Brian lets me know the amounts left I will be consulting with the Network members on their plans - I know that YOAC are happy with Adrian's suggestion for the amount to be divided up amongst the sponsoring Clubs with one share also going on officials costs. Of course I also know that some clubs have recently spent some money's on development activity such as Mendip AC's First Aid course; and the Harrier's spending money on Coach education courses; so the alternative may just be to do a last call on that basis. I will see what the Network members wish to do in consultation with Adrian. Beyond this year, the item won't need to be on the agenda.
Paul’s recommendations were discussed and BMR was NOT keen on the suggestion regarding the distribution of remaining funds to clubs- he stated that the money would not simply ‘disappear’.
10. Schools
SOMERSET COUNTY AA – COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday 24 November 2016 – The Piper’s Inn
SCHOOLS’ AA REPORT
Following a question at the last meeting (29 September) I can confirm that a total of 38 athletes who participated in one or more of the 2016 SSAA Coaching Courses entered the Somerset County AA Track and Field Championships.
Since the last report we have been engaged in the major planning and preparation period for 2017.
To these ends, various meetings have taken place:
Thursday 6 October – Somerset Schools’ AA Annual General Meeting – King’s College.
Saturday 15 October – South-West Schools’ AA Annual General Meeting – Wellington School.
Saturday 19 November – English Schools’ AA Annual Council Meeting – Birmingham.
Various English Schools’ AA Committee Meetings – General Committee, Summer Events Committee, Winter Events Committee and Standards Sub-Committee.
To come: Wednesday 30 November – Somerset Schools’ AA Coaching Committee Meeting – Frome.
Notable developments:
ESAA Track and Field Championships – The ESAA will now operate with 4 county groups, A, B, C and D. Somerset will remain in Group C but the maximum number of athletes per county in each group will be: A = 70, B = 40, C = 32, D = 24. The differences from the former numbers will be: A +10, B +5, C +7, D -1.
ESAA Special Award - Following Pat Gillett’s Honorary Vice-President award last year (for those on the ESAA General Committee who have not taken the Chair and therefore cannot be made Vice-Presidents), the ESAA have now instituted a Special Award for members of counties in order to recognise outstanding service to the ESAA. Many congratulations to Brian Baker who is one of the first two to be recognised in this way (the other being Gwilym Price MBE of Warwickshire Schools’ AA).
Congratulations to Adrian Palmer who has been appointed as one of the England Team Managers for the SIAB Cross-Country Championships in Port Talbot on Saturday 25 March 2017.
Congratulations to Richard Llewellyn-Eaton who has been appointed as one of the England Team Managers for the SIAB Track and Field Championships in Dublin on Saturday 15 July 2017.
Coaching – 4 Somerset Schools’ AA Coaching Days are planned for 2017 at the Bill Whistlecroft Athletics Arena, Yeovil – Sundays 19 February, 26 February, 26 March and 23 April.
Between 25 and 30 coaches will be asked to indicate availability for 2017. The four main Track and Field clubs are very welcome to nominate other coaches.
Personal invitations (via schools and colleges) will be sent to almost 600 young athletes on Monday 9 January, supported by emails to around 150 of those. All schools and colleges will be invited to nominate extra athletes and those receiving no personal invitations will be implored to give out blank letters to their most talented athletes.
The six other South-West counties will be invited to send athletes and a number of those will be invited personally by email.
Full details of the 4 sessions (including the names of the invited athletes) appear on the website.
Somerset Schools’ AA are extremely grateful for the coaching grant from the Somerset County AA.
2017 SSAA Handbook – 2 copies will be sent to each Somerset school/college. Copies also to Somerset County AA Officers and to the 4 Track and Field clubs. The Handbook will be on the website and may be printed.
2017 Somerset Schools’ AA Cross-Country Championships – Full details have been sent to the Area Secretaries. The 4 Area Cross-Country Championships have been organised and the dates appear on the website.
Please refer to the Somerset Schools’ AA web-site frequently for important dates and information on all our activities:
somersetschoolsathletics.org.uk
11. Officials
Courses.
The new Tutor Courses for Level 1 Disciplines are being gradually rolled out over the next 18months. They are 2 day Courses and have a limited number of candidates for each Course. The presentation style will be less power point, more adventuresome!!
South West Indoor Championships, 4th December – Cardiff.
Following a request for more officials (Field especially) I have sent out over 80 e-mails and received just one positive reply. Information regarding these Meetings needs to be more proactively advertised by the organisers. Despite the shortage of officials there is no shortage of athletes.
DC thanked NH for his organisation of the very enjoyable social evening for Officials that had been held at the Johnsons’ sports and social club on November 11th.
12. Treasurer
Details in the AGM minutes.
13. Sportshall
RB said that SSAA were planning to give £50 to sponsor T-shirts for Sportshall events.
The delegates at this SCAA meeting agreed to sponsor the event, as well, to the tune of £50.
The T shirts will show the SCAA Griffin emblem.
15. Any Other Business
PGu mentioned YOAC track events to be held over the weekend of April 1-2.
Details on the YOAC website.
PG congratulated PGu on his success at the recent World Masters T&F championships.
The meeting closed at 10.10 pm.
16. Date, Time and Venue of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be at the Pipers Inn, Ashcott on Thursday, January 26th, 2017 8.00pm start.