Swansea Harriers Gwilym & Pat Evans Memorial Open Meeting Sunday 23rd April

Sunday 23rd April sees the outdoor track & field season get underway with the Swansea Harriers Gwilym & Pat Evans Memorial Open Meeting, kindly sponsored by their son & daughter in law Paul & Maria Evans from the Evans Family Foundation, NPT Transatlantic. We are very grateful for their generous support from across the pond in the USA where they now reside, enabling us to put on this meeting for athletes of all ages and abilities, especially now that the overheads for hosting a match have increased significantly. Gwilym & Pat were two of our club volunteer stalwarts in various roles in the club many, many years including Gwilym as our Chairman, their son Paul was a superb 2m+ high jumper in his youth and grand children Ben, Lottie & Lucinda all competed for the club too.

For the meeting to be successful we will be looking for as many volunteers as possible to help us out please, details are below of how you can help:

Any UK Athletics qualified officials in field judging, track judging, timekeeping or starter/marksman who are willing and available should email meeting manager Jo Wood at [email protected] please.

THIS IS A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR THOSE NEW TO OFFICIATING AS THE DAY WILL INVOLVE PRACTICAL OFFICIATING EXPERIENCE IN A OPEN MEETING. THIS DAY IS OPEN TO PARENTS, GUARDIANS, GRANDPARENTS, VOLUNTEERS, STUDENTS AND ANYONE INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT OFFICIATING.

An overview of the days taster sessions are outlined below. Arrival time is 10:30am, to offer your help SIGN UP HERE

Photo Finish:

It is planned to hold training sessions for existing officials in setting up the system. Also training will be available in operating the system for volunteers who have expressed an interest in working on photo finish. Trainees and volunteers will have the opportunity to repeat their training at the West Wales Regional Championships, and will have the opportunity to work on photo finish at other meetings in West Wales through the season.

Track Judging:

Those who express an interest will have the opportunity to work alongside an experienced team at what is a ‘live’ meeting. They can undergo more training with a team of Track Judges at the Regional Championships, and will have the opportunity to work on photo finish at other meetings in West Wales.

Timekeeping:

Those who express an interest will work alongside an experienced Timekeeper at what is a ‘live’ meeting. They can undergo more training with a team of Timekeepers at the Regional Championships (Sunday 14th May).

Starters Assistant/ Starter:

The Starting team are very experienced and can Tutor anyone who expresses an interest to join the team. Volunteers will train on the different aspects of preparing athletes to compete in the various middle distance and sprint events as a Starters Assistant. An electronic starting device will be used by the team and volunteers will have an opportunity to use the starting device and experience the starters perspective when starting a race, and will have the opportunity to work with the start team at other meetings in West Wales.

Field Judge:

Any volunteers who express an interest in working on a Field event, will be allocated to a team who will probably Officiate on more than one event discipline. Further opportunities to work on a different Field event will be available at the Regional Championships, and will have the opportunity to work on field events at other meetings in West Wales.

When you’ve finished reading all that, click here for the swansea-harriers-open-meeting-provisional-timetable

Update 6/4/23 no endurance races will be scheduled as we are still awaiting for contactors to commence the repairs in lane one of the track, therefore 150m/200m have now been added to the program instead.

The subsidence is now resolved and the hole pictured above filled, with just the resurfacing and line marking to go.

Enter online here. Entries close 9pm Tuesday 8th April, unless they sell out sooner.

Track Events: 75m/100m, 150m/200m, 300m/400m, Sprint Hurdles (*there will be no endurance races as we are still waiting on contractors to undertake the repairs to lane 1, therefore 150m/200m has been incorporated instead.)

Field Events: Pools – Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Pole Vault, Shot, Javelin, Discus, Hammer

Age Groups:

U11 Boys & Girls – School Years 4 & 5 (Must be 9 on day of competition)
U13 Boys & Girls – School Years 6 & 7
U15 Boys & Girls = School Years 8 & 9
U17 Men & Women = School Years 10 & 11
U20 Men & Women = School Years 12, 13 & 14
Seniors = School Years 15 to infinity