Weekly Updates Sunday 7th June

National Volunteer Week:

We thanked them all on last weeks update, and to end National Volunteer Week, we again thank all our volunteer coaches, officials, team managers, club trustees and cafe team, all of whom are absolutely priceless, there would be no club for the athletes without all of them. We will be looking for additional volunteers to join them, when training eventually resumes at the track once restrictions are eased by the Welsh Government, specifically to support our volunteers in whatever adaptations the club have to make for Covid-19. Exactly what the support could be we are working on behind the scenes as its an ever changing situation. For example, we will be trying to minimise or even cease the number of cash and cheque transactions made, and are looking into the various options for this as you read, another example could be supporting the coaches in taking and submitting accurate registers of who is at the track and when, not least for track and trace should it be required. If you would consider helping us out, please get in touch, and we will allocate you a role as soon as we can.

Results:

Wednesday 3rd June was the Run 4 All Neath virtual 5km, where Swansea Harriers had seven members participating. With Steven Taylor coming home in (16.51) and 3rd overall & 1st M35!!; Gabrielius Stuokus (18.24) & 3rd SM; Rachel Davies (18.30) 10th overall & 1st SW!!; Llinos Jones (19.12) 18th overall & 1st W35!!; Gair McAdie (19.57) 20th overall & 1st M40!!; Megan Clements (20.39) 30th overall & 3rd SW and Jenny McAdie (23.38) 66th overall & 3rd W40. Very well done to them all, click here for the full results.
Other virtual races have been added to the annual fixtures page on the club website, that page endeavours to keep up with all the other event postponements and cancellations for you.

Webinars on this week and a bit:

Welsh Athletics have coaching webinars on this link for10km training & racing; female health and coaching the 800m. Don’t worry if you miss them or any previous webinars, you can watch them all back on the Welsh Athletics You Tube channel.

England Athletics have coaching webinars on this link for Youth Development; Endurance; Warm Ups; Steeplechase; 400m Hurdles and Race Walking. Only licenced coaches can watch these back if you missed these or any previous webinars, by using your URN to login on athletics hub.

What Have Our Seniors & Masters Endurance Athletes Been Up To in Lockdown:

This week for our something different article you’ve not read before. Swansea Harriers has a thriving seniors and masters off track section known as the TNT, as they train Tuesdays and Thursdays! Our thanks to Owen Davies who has written this great article for you on the camaraderie and competitiveness that has always kept the team together and pushed them as a group, but as the reality finally began to bite for the Endurance group, as group training was curtailed and the lockdown hit. What challenges have they all been getting up to, including some impressive Starva art?……..TNT Harriers Endurance Group Lockdown Update
The squad are continuing to post regular training sessions and challenges to follow on their private Facebook group, if any of our existing senior members are not signed up, to request to join the club and group click here.

(Don’t worry Senior Men your track & field dream team article will be posted soon!)

The next four points are all repeat articles from the previous weekly updates, but are awlays worth a recap in case you need a reminder or missed them previously:

Online Fundraising:

In addition to easy fundraising, Swansea Harriers are now also registered as a charity with Amazon Smile.
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Swansea Harriers charity of your choice every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.co.uk, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as amazon.co.uk, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your selected charity of Swansea Harriers.
To help raise much needed funds for the club, before you buy anything online please consider login in here https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/shac/ and register for Swansea Harriers. At no extra cost to you a percentage of your item will go to the club and there are thousands of retailers to choose from, 100% of the income raised goes back into the club.

Annual Membership Renewals:

Please support your club. When we try to regrow the club on its eventual return, please can all those members that are yet to renew their annual membership to the club do so please; you can print a renewal form here ready for when training recommences.

Statistics:

If you’re into statistics then athletics is the sport for you! We are all familiar with the Power of 10 website. A lesser known site is the fantastic Athletics Stats Wales, where the aim is to try and give as complete a record as possible of the statistical history of athletics in Wales from the earliest times to the present day.  It is vital that information about our sport is not lost. Track and field, cross country and road running is covered, with statistics as the main focus of the site, but there will be articles on various topics. It is hoped that the site will eventually give a complete picture of the sport in Wales. Some of the information first appeared in the book ‘History of Welsh Athletics’, published in 2000, written by the late great John Collins, Alan Currie, Brenda Currie, Mike Walters (Joseffs grandpa) and Clive Williams, who was also the editor.

Shopping:

Looking to buy athletics equipment for pre or post lockdown? For Fitness and athletics equipment Dr Nueff has been supplying athletics equipment since 1966 for athletes, officials and schools. You can read about their company history here including the use of a ship ariel for pole vault! Then click here to view their website.