   A big welcome to both new and old members of Luton Athletics Club to the first Luton Athletic Club newsletter of 2022. We have set up this newsletter to keep you up to date with any club news and upcoming events which you may be interested in. If you have any club news you would like to share please send to rosiemcnabola@gmail.com for it to be included in the next newsletter. Without contributions the newsletters will have limited club news so please do share. Luton Athletic Club Club news I am sure many of you will have heard of the very sad passing of long standing Club President Mike Hardy. Mike was ever present at almost all club competitions and did do much for the club behind the scenes, leaving a big hole to fill. We also say goodbye and thank you to race starter George Rollinson who was now officially retired. George was present at almost every home match and his efforts over the years are much appreciated. Revée Walcott- Nolan For those of you new to the club in 2021 Revée was selected to compete for Team GB at the Toyko 2020 Olympics in the 1500m. What an incredible achievement. Revée has been a member of Luton AC since she was a young junior of 10 years of age. She has since moved away from Luton but continues to compete for Luton AC. In her junior years she was coached by Luton AC middle distance coach Gordon Addison who is immensely proud of Revée’s achievements. We are very hopeful for another great athletics season for Revée in a year where there are multiple big competitions including the World Athletics Championships in Oregon (USA), the Commonwealth games in Birmingham and the European Championships in Berlin. Unfortunately Revée suffered an injury in one of her early season races this year, we wish her a speedy recovery and hope to see her racing again soon. Cross Country It was great to see the return of Cross Country racing after the 2020-21 season was cancelled due to Covid 19. I would like to start off this section by thanking Alan Daglish for his hard work both entering teams for the Chiltern Cross Country League and organising the Luton Cross Country match as part of the Chiltern League. This is a huge organisational task and involves months of planning and coordinating. Thank you also to all those that helped out with both organisation and marshalling on the day. Cross Country 2021/2022 (Alan Daglish) The revelation of the season has been 15yr old Holly Lathwell. Training with older athletes in Tony Simmons group she has made astonishing progress. Unbeaten in the under 20 age group in the Chiltern cross country league along with the Beds county title, she progressed through Luton and Bedfordshire schools titles to a magnificent seventh place in the English schools coming through strongly after a difficult start. She then represented the English schools in the Home International against athletes from Wales, Scotland and Ireland, finishing 5th and scoring for the winning England team. The season kicked off in October at the Ampthill trophy with victories for Jake Davis and Libby Flitton in the U11’s and Nathan Davis in the under 15’s, with good performances from Oliver Paterson, Phoebe-Rose Roberts and Georgia Miller on a hilly and challenging course. The Chiltern League season opened at Oxford with victories for Holly in the Junior and Rosie McNabola in the Senior ladies. Top ten places also for Claire McMahon-Adie, Rosie Canham. Leah Jay, Nathan Davis and Joseph Cashin. Jed Noblett finished second and went one place better in the next fixture at Luton. A performance matched by Jake Davis 3rd in the U11’s and backed up by Oliver Paterson, William Fraser and Nathan Belmar the team finished fourth. Rosie finished 2nd on this occasion but backed up by Claire McMahon-Adie, Rosie Canham. Anita Davis and Lorraine Daglish and strong performances by Holly, Leah and Emily Brown, making her debut, they won the overall female team title. Rosie consolidated her lead with victories at Teardrop Lakes and Campbell park to take the overall senior ladies league title. Jed finished 3rd at Campbell park and 2nd at Shuttleworth to finish 2nd under 20 overall. Claire McMahon-Adie took 2nd in the ladies V35 age group. Other top ten finishers were Rosie Canham, Richard Hardy and Joseph Cashin in their respective age groups. The Bedfordshire club’s county championships were also held at Campbell Park with winning performances from Holly Lathwell and Libby Flitton. The Luton school’s championships at Stockwood Park in January saw convincing victories for Holly Lathwell, Grace Smith and Joseph Cashin in their respective age groups. Holly and Joseph taking Bedfordshire schools titles later at Ampthill Park with Nathan Davis also qualifying for the English schools. James Haunch also gained representative honours running for Hertfordshire schools in the Primary schools national championships, running a speedy 8m 23s over a 2.1km course Road Races Liam McNabola and Pat Davis both entered into the Cambridge Half Marathon in March.Both had their training disrupted due to a number of illnesses however both ran better than expected. Liam McNabola finished with a time of 74.45 and Pat Davis 76.56, in his first race for Luton AC. Earlier in the season Liam McNabola got a surprise place in the London Marathon ballot for October 2021. He put in many months of hard training and came away with an excellent time of 2.47.46 for his debut marathon. Although he was disappointed to suffer a little in the final few miles. Rumour has it he hasn’t been put off marathon training and may consider more in the future! Returning member Ben Warren took the Luton AC club place for the London Marathon also running his debut marathon. He ran an incredibly race, finishing very strongly with 2.57.30. Continuing on the marathon theme new member Emily Brown also ran her debut marathon in Brighton in April 2022, finishing in 3.28.25. Amazing especially as she only found out 2 days before the race that she was entered as an 18th birthday surprise! Jed Noblett ran in both the Eastleigh 10k and the St Alban’s 10k. His time of 31.26 was enough to put him in 10th at Eastleigh in a quick field and he won the St Alban’s 10k with a time of 31.36. He is entered into the Highgate Night of the 10,000m PBs in May so we look forward to seeing how he gets on then. The South of England Road Relays were hosted by Milton Keynes in March. For the first time in some years Luton AC had a complete women’s 6 stage relay team comprising of Bluebell Cooke, Rosie Canham, Sally Cooke, Emily Brown, Jackie Jay and Libby Jay. All ran brilliantly and enjoyed the experience. At the same event an U17/U20 5k road race was held. Luton entered a team of Herbie Johnson (in his first race for Luton AC), Nathan Davis and Joseph Cashin. All boys ran brilliantly achieving 5k PBs and subsequently won the silver team meal for U17 men. What an achievement! Track Report by Pat Davis Lots of medals from Luton AC athletes at the Bedfordshire 1500m Championships. Recent English Schools International Holly Lathwell, with her coach Tony Simmons looking on, won Gold in the U17 girls as did Nathan Davis in the U17 boys followed home by Herbie Johnson in his debut track race for Luton. Leah Jay closed the day with a silver in the U20 womens after Jake Davis had started the day with a silver in the in the U13 boys. After a successful day for the middle distance athletes at the Bedfordshire 1500m championships on the Saturday, it was the turn of the jumpers, throwers and sprinters to get their season underway properly at the Eastern Athletics League (EAL)match on Sunday. The performance of the day must go to Olly Slinko with wins in the U17 100m and 200m. The most positive aspect of the day however was the number of debut performances from new athletes who along with seasoned campaigners ensured we had representation for U11 to veterans. With more athletes potentially available at later matches it was a positive start to the season. Upcoming races Please note the deadline for the Bedfordshire Track County Championships is only a couple of days away. Please see below link to information regarding this. http://bedfordshireaaa.org.uk/Beds%20AAA%20Website/bedsaaa/TandF/index.html http://www.hertscaaa.org.uk/fixtures7.html Useful web links: www.lutonac.co.uk (Club Website) www.bedfordshireaaa.org.uk/ (Beds AAA’s) www.facebook.com/LutonUnitedAC (Luton AC Facebook group page) www.southernathletics.org.uk/ (Southern Athletics League) www.chilternccl.co.uk/ (Chiltern Cross Country League) http://cambsathletics.org.uk/east-anglian-tf-league/ East Anglian League www.esaa.net/ English Schools Athletic Association www.thepowerof10.info/ Results, rankings and performances Club Kit Can be purchased at : https://web76.secure-secure.co.uk/prestigedesignww.co.uk/live/index.php?route=product/category&path=366_808 Some useful information for New Members and Parents The Stockwood Park track is owned by Luton Council, and is run by Active Luton. Opening times can be found on their web site http://www.activeluton.co.uk/ and the entry fees to the track goes to them (not the club). We have a club room in the front half of the upstairs floor in the track building, including a small canteen which is open whenever we have a volunteer available. You are welcome to wait in the clubhouse while your children are training. There is a limited amount of club information held in the room, including club records, honours board, etc. The club became Luton Athletic Club around 2004, when Luton United amalgamated with Vauxhall AC. The club is completely run by willing volunteers, and we all have busy day jobs (except for those of us who are retired!). We are always looking for helpers and volunteers, so if you are willing to help in any way, here are some of the areas – Helping to run the canteen on training evenings and on match days. Helping to officiate (you will receive training in this, or at least be told what you need to do on the day). It really is not difficult, and can be lots of fun. Assisting in running teams. Helping at home matches. Help on club nights assisting with training, particularly for the younger groups. If anyone is able to help please contact either rosiemcnabola@gmail.com, Alan Daglish or Pat Davis We very much hope that you and your children will enjoy your time at the club. If you have any questions regarding the running of the club or anything to do with athletics or the club in general, any committee member would be glad to help.            Our website address is: www.lutonac.co.uk For information for the next club newsletter please send to: rosiemcnabola@gmail.com Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe  |