NMAC May Newsletter
Well, the start of another month and another exciting piece of correspondence for you to avoid, if you are that way inclined.
Now that the much lighter nights and warmer weather has arrived many of you will be at the track on club evenings working on your throws, jumps and sprints. As a road runner, we had to find alternative venues to train at. When I was a member of Cambridge and Coleridge AC, we used to meet up at Bar Hill about 5 miles from Cambridge for a speed session about once a month. It had a two-and-a-half-mile circuit which included 2 slopes. I say slopes as to call them hills would be an insult to this area. We would set out as a mixed ability group of about 15 and run at pace for 2 miles before our recovery jog back to the start. What happened was that everyone would be running in their places. The 2 top runners would finish first and the rest of the field would finish in order of ability.
I suggested that we set off at 15 second intervals to make it more interesting but the top guns were against it. After about 5 years it was finally tried out. So, we were set off at 15 second intervals and the slower runners had as much as 2 minutes start on the fastest. It resulted in some of the reasonable ability runners actually finishing before the top two. This resulted in them complaining bitterly about not being first. I asked them what their time was, and they replied they were 20 seconds faster than usual. They could not see that this was the result of them having an incentive to go faster but still complained about being beaten. Needless to say, we never ever did a
handicap session again.
We have come to the end of the year for the Postal Half and Full Marathon competition. It has been very interesting as results have been entered over the year and changes made to the age group order as time went by. NMAC are interested in what you have thought of the Championship. Has it been ideal for you to pick the races you want to compete in or have you missed the cutthroat competition of a head-to-head event. Please let NMAC know your thoughts as they look to continuing the event for 2025/26.
NMAC T&F athletes took part in the first Mid Lancs T&F Meeting at Preston in April. There was a good attendance, and some very good results were posted. The next meeting will be at Lancaster on the 18th of May. Again, if you are a new competitor who wants to compete contact Team Manager, Carol Holt, with your details.
Hopefully some of you may have competed in the first of the Road Race Championship nominated races as the competition gets underway. So far 66 members have registered for this competition. It will be interesting to see how the competition develops as the results are based on Age Grading tables which means that everyone in the five-year category has an equal chance based on their times.
For those who are more T&F inclined here are two dates for your diary. NMAC T&F Championships will be at Trafford track on Sunday 10th August. Further details will be forthcoming nearer to the date.
Also, in August but a week later the 17th is the EMAA T&F Challenge which this year is at Hull. As usual we will be asking for athletes who would like to represent Northern Masters AC at this meeting.
The BMAF T&F championships will be held sometime in September so quite an intense programme for those who compete in T&F.
Full details as usual can be found on the website.
Finally, I would just like to give my very grateful thanks and appreciation to all the committee who make it such an enjoyable job being chair as they help NMAC to provide all the competitions that you are able to participate in.
Take care and keep injury free.
Phil Lee Chair