SURREY COUNTY ATHLETIC NEWS (Issue 76 - May 2014) SURREY COUNTY AA AGM Surrey County AA held its AGM recently and elected Margaret Nelson as its President for the current year. Margaret Nelson was one of the Surrey officials selected to help at the London Olympics in 2012 and you may have seen her on television officiating there. She is one of only four Surrey level three field event officials which means she is eligible to officiate at national championships and international meetings. Margaret's interest in athletics was kindled when she was a pupil at Godalming Grammar School. She proved a competent thrower in the shot, discus and javelin and in 1964 she joined her local club, Guildford & Godalming and has remained a member ever since, chalking up 50 years' continuous membership, an impressive record. She continued to excel in the throws and although she never won a medal in the then Surrey County Women's championships, she did lift the Surrey schools shot putt title in 1967 with a championship record throw and went on to represent Surrey at the English schools championships that year. She continued to compete and described herself as a reasonably good club competitor. As her competitive career wound down, she became involved in athletics administration and served as officials and fixtures secretary at her club. She gave up competing when she married Nigel in 1978 but, as the sport had given her so much pleasure and satisfaction she decided she wanted to put something back into it. She opted to become an official and the newly married couple both became qualified in their wedding year. She finally gave up competing in 1980 shortly before the birth of her first daughter Heather, who followed in her mother's footsteps by qualifying as an official in 1997 and has been selected for this summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Being a thrower, she was a field judge, and in 1990 was upgraded to the old grade 1 which enabled her to act as field referee and was appointed to officiate at national meetings. She made her international debut at an England v France meeting to mark the opening of the Broadbridge Heath, Horsham, track in 1990, where she was technical manager. Since then, Margaret has officiated at numerous international meetings up and down the country, many at Crystal Palace but also at Gateshead and Birmingham. Apart from the 2012 London Olympics her officiating highlights included being a judge at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002. In the way she has remained loyal to her first club, Margaret has also consistently supported Surrey. She made her county officiating debut at the Surrey Women's championships at Wimbledon Park ion 1979 and has attended every county championship meeting since then, another impressive record, and also served as county officials secretary for several years in 1990s, taking over from our honorary secretary Don Turner and handing over to our current joint presidents (Patricia and Michael Cole). 1 The AGM was also the occasion to present awards. In addition to the 2013 Best Performance awards listed in February’s SCAN the Sportshall awards were made as follows:- Under-13 Girls Sportshall: Anna Brophy (Guildford & Godalming AC) Under-13 Boys Sportshall: Alex Odusole (Guildford & Godalming AC) Under-15 Girls Sportshall: Sophia Herovin/Imani Ayimba Golding (both Dorking & MV) Under-15 Boys Sportshall: Matt Ford (Dorking & Mole Valley AC) and the Reg Bale Trophy for Officials was awarded to Brenda Ford. - - - o 0 o - - - DAVID LITTLEWOOD, MBE Surrey vice-president David Littlewood, MBE, passed away in the early hours of Sunday, March 16th. David, who received the England Athletics Services to Officiating Award in 2012, was one of Britain's best known athletics officials and has been involved in our sport for more than 60 years. He was a familiar figure at international meetings both at home and abroad and was UKA's representative on the IAAF Technical Committee. He was Out of Stadium Competition Director at the London Olympics and was the London marathon men's race referee for almost 30 years. He celebrated his 73rd birthday in 2010 by receiving his MBE from the Queen, awarded in recognition of his volunteer service to athletics. He officiated at numerous Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth events and his involvement extended right across our sport and at the time of his death he had been honorary secretary of the English Schools Athletics Association, a post he held since 1992. Since 1981, he was Chairman of the British Technical Officials' Committee and Honorary Secretary of the UK Rules Revision Group with responsibility for producing the UK Athletics Rulebook every two years. He was a lifelong member of Hercules Wimbledon AC and after serving as treasurer for a record 43 years was elected president in 2004. He never forgot the grass roots of our sport and regularly supported Surrey, club and other domestic events, international commitments permitting. Profile. David had been seriously ill for three months before his death and his sister, Carole, is grateful for the many cards and messages David received during his period of ill health when she looked after him. An event to celebrate his life will be held at Sandown Park on Wednesday, May 7th, starting at 2pm. All are welcome. 2 The early months of 2014 have also seen the passing of the following:- Bill Worsfold (Surrey Beagles AC) - track judge & starter Doug Birch (Croydon Harriers) - athlete Doug was a hammer thrower and regularly competed in the Surrey Championships from the late-1950s to the late-1970s. Gerry North (Belgrave Harriers) - athlete Cross country international Gerry North sadly died in Portsmouth at 11.15 pm on 1 April 2014, aged 77, after a long illness. His early career was with Blackpool & Fylde AC and Lancashire. Gerry and his younger brother Geoff moved south to London in 1962 and joined Belgrave Harriers. Whilst Geoff retained his Lancashire affiliation, Gerry, who worked as a salesman and was an agent for Asics Tiger running shoes, quickly set about winning Surrey titles on the track and country from 3 miles upwards. Gerry's best times included 14:06.1 for 5000 metres; 28:08.4 for 6 miles, 29:21.0 for 10,000 metres, and 48:38.2 for 10 miles on the track. Dave Smallbone (Mitcham AC / Hercules Wimbledon AC) - athlete. Dave ran in the Surrey Cross-Country Championships each year from 1965 to 1972 with a best placing of 4th in 1965. - - - o 0 o - - - En route to the Inter-Counties when a puncture caused an unexpected delay! 3 INTER-COUNTY EVENTS CAU Inter-County Cross Country, Cofton Park Birmingham, 8 March 2014 SURREY WON 2, WERE 2ND IN 2 & WERE 3RD IN 2 OF THE TEAM EVENTS. AND WERE SECOND IN 2. INDIVIDUAL WINS FOR ALEX BROWN (U13G) & LILY PARTRIDGE (SW) Lily Partridge - Winner of the Senior Women’s race SENIOR WOMEN (8,000m) - TEAM: 3rd. Individuals: 1st Lily Partridge (AFD) 27:26; 5th Emily Wicks (AFD) 28:18; 7th Georgie Bruinvels (AFD) 28:23; 78th Ruth Haynes (AFD) 31:37; 81st Claire Grima (Herc Wimb) 31:43; 82nd Karen Ellison (HHH) 31:44; 117th Sophie Cowper (SLH) 32:35; 164th Yasmin Goater (G&G) 33:08. U20 WOMEN (6,000m) - TEAM: 4th. Individuals: 11th Laura Gent (AFD) 22:03; 14th Suzannah Monk (G&G) 22:13; 32nd Eleanor Harrison (G&G) 23:06; 34th Poppy Disley-May (AFD) 23:18; 47th Ruth Bourne (Tonbridge) 23:48; 55th Beth Gibson (AFD) 24:02. Photos provided by Rachel Disley & Guy Gibbons (more available on website) 4 INTER-COUNTY EVENTS CAU Inter-County Cross Country, Cofton Park Birmingham, 8 March 2014 The Surrey Under-17 Women’s team receiving their runners-up medals. U17 WOMEN (5,000m) - TEAM: 2nd. Individuals: 4th Phoebe Law (K&P) 19:29; 17th Katie Shiel-Rankin (AFD) 20:39; 23rd Eloise Milburn (AFD) 20:52; 38th Josie Savill (WSEH) 21:14; 49th Rebecca Robinson (G&G) 21:24; 72nd Bethany Heddle (Camberley) 21:54; 88th Stevie Lawrence (Croydon) 22:09; 90th Amy Billups (SLH) 22:11. U15 GIRLS (4,000m) - TEAM: 4th. Individuals: 3rd Niamh Brown (AFD) 17:26; 17th Katie Brown (HHH) 18:02; 31st Victoria Robinson (G&G) 18:21; 34th Mollie O'Sullivan (K&P) 18:23; 37th Philippa Monk (G&G) 18:36; 47th Saskia Millard (HHH) 18:49; 67th Eugenie Cockle (AFD) 19:02; 93rd Bea Allan (DMV) 19:24 U13 GIRLS (3,000m) - TEAM: 1st. Individuals: 1st Alex Brown (HHH) 11:24; 6th Eloise O'Shaunnessy (HHH) 11:49; 11th Claudia Lance-Jones (G&G) 11:55; 25th Emily Roe (G&G) 12:16; 28th Darcy Bourne (K&P) 12:17; 34th Dominique Corradi (Sutt) 12:24; 35th Daisy Corbett (AFD) 12:25; 141st Poppy Wardley (Reig P) 13:09. 5 INTER-COUNTY EVENTS CAU Inter-County Cross Country, Cofton Park Birmingham, 8 March 2014 SENIOR MEN (12,000m) - TEAM: 3rd. Individuals: 5th Jonny Hay (AFD) 34:43; 6th Nick Torry (Serp) 34:46; 12th Ian Bailey (AFD) 35:15; 24th Steve Connor (AFD) 35:59; 66th Kojo Kyereme (HHH) 37:12; 92nd James Hoad (Camb Uni H&H) 37:35; 141st Alister Moses (Reig P) 38:34; 208th David White (Croydon) 40:21; Henry Pearce (Tonbridge) DNF.. Eighteen runners out the first twenty in the County Championship indicated their wish to run if selected for the Inter-Counties. The first 13 were entered plus Jonny Hay and Steve Connor both of whom had been unable to compete at Denbies. On the day, with the exception of Josh Grace and Paskar Owor, the team was “rarin to go”.