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OSWESTRY OLYMPIANS JUNIOR ATHLETES ANNUAL REPORT 2006

 
 JUNIOR CROSS COUNTRY REPORT 2005-2006.
       Oswestry Olympians enjoyed another successful cross-country season with both individual and team successes to celebrate.
       In the Shropshire Young Athletes X-C League the club finished in third place overall and won the Under 11 Girls team trophy.  Four young athletes received individual awards:  Lauren Bathers - 1st Under 11 Girls, Matthew Jones - 2nd Under 11 Boys,  Ryan Stokes - 3rd Under 13 Boys,and Toby Griffiths - 1st Under 15 Boys.
      Olympian Under 17 and Under 20 athletes competed in the North Wales X-C League during the winter season. Alison Lavender won the Under 17 Womens age group and Olli Blake the Under 20 Mens age group.
     Several young Olympians won medals at the Shropshire AA X-C Championships and the Olympians Under 15 Boys team won the team trophy with excellent performances from Toby Griffiths 1st, Rowan Dell 3rd, Josh Ogden 5th and Toby Blake 7th. Alison Lavender retained her Under 17 Womens title and Dan Evans won the Under 17 Mens race. Twelve young Olympians were selected to represent Shropshire in the Reebok Inter Counties X-C Championships at Nottingham. The Midlands X-C Championships were held at Leamington with several Olympian athletes taking part.  Highest Olympians finishers were Toby Griffiths 5th in the Under 15 Boys, Olli Blake 11th in the Junior Mens race and  Alison Lavender 12th in the Under 17 Womens race.
     There was success for Olympians athletes in the Shropshire Schools X-C Championships and six Olympian athletes - were selected to represent Shropshire Schools in the English Schools X-C
Championships at Mansfield where Olli Blake's 45th place in the Senior Boys race won him the Bob Parker trophy for the best Shropshire performance
      The Shropshire AA Under 10 and Under 11 X-C Championships were held at Oswestry where the Olympians Under 11 Girls team won the team trophy with excellent performance from Lauren Bathers 1st, Georgina Butler 4th, Bryony Davenport 7th and Hannah Curzon 12th. Other Olympian medallists were Matthew Jones - 2nd in the Under 10 Boys race and Ryan Wallis - 3rd in the Under 11 Boys race.
 
SHROPSHIRE SPORTSHALL LEAGUE:
     Oswestry Olympians won overall, narrowly defeating rivals Telford. The club also took the Under 11 and Under 15 Boys trophies and the Boys overall trophy.
      There was a good turn out of Olympians at the Shropshire Sportshall Championships held at Wenlock with Clare Powell winning three gold medals in the Under 15 age group.
      Twelve young Olympians represented Shropshire at the Under 11 Fun in Athletics meeting held at Cannock and six Olympian athletes represented Shropshire at the Under 13 and Under 15 Regional Sportshall Finals at Worcester.
   
 INDOOR MEETINGS :
       In January 2006 Gemma Weetman started what turned out to be another outstanding year, with 2nd place in the AAA Under 20 Indoor Combined Events Championships at Sheffield. Her Pentathlon score of 3643 points put her 17th on the UK all time Junior Womens rankings.
      This performance earned Gemma her first GB vest and a trip to France in February 2006 for an Under 20 Combined Events International match. Gemma won overall with PBs in each of the five events and improved her Pentathlon points score to 3822 to move to 5th place on the UK all time Junior Womens indoor rankings.
      In the AAAs Under 20 Indoor Championships Gemma took silver in the Long Jump - 5m 95. Olli Blake reached the semi finals of the 800m. setting a PB of 1m 56.01.
 
JUNIOR TRACK AND FIELD REPORT 2006 
   The track and field season got off to a good start with the Shropshire AA Track and Field Championships held at Telford in May.
      Olympian athletes put in good early season performances with several young athletes winning two or three medals.   Gemma Weetman set a new Championship Best in the Junior Womens Long Jump.   As a result of the Shropshire Championships a number of Olympian athletes were selected to represent Shropshire AA in Inter County meetings at Cosford.
      Several Olympian athletes competed in the Midlands Under 20 Track and Field Championships at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham.  Gemma Weetman came 1st in the Womens Long Jump and Olli Blake finioshed 3rd in the Mens 800m setting a new PB of 1m 52.55. Charlotte Roberts, set a new PB of 65.6 secs in the 400m Hurdles race.
     There was further success for Olympians athletes at the Shropshire Schools Track and Field Championships held at Telford in June, with a number of athletes finishing in the top three in their events. Charlotte Roberts, running the Senior Girls 400m Hurdles on her own, broke a record that had stood for 21 years to set a new Championships Best Performance in her first year in this age group. After these championships a number of Oswestry athletes were selected to represent Shropshire Schools in the Mason Trophy Inter Counties meeting.
 
    This year Olympians had six athletes selected to represent Shropshire Schools in the English Schools Track and Field Championships held at Gateshead. in July. Congratulations to Gemma Weetman: Senior Girls Long Jump, Charlotte Roberts: Senior Girls 400m Hurdles, Cherida Lauriello Inter Girls Long Jump, Ben Richards Junior Boys Shot, Toby Griffiths: Inter Boys 800m and Olli Blake Senior Boys 800m on achieving the high standard required to be selected for this prestigious event.   Further congratulations to Gemma who took gold in the Senior Girls Long Jump with a PB of 6m 07 and also to Toby Griffiths who reached the final of the Inter Boys 800m in his first year in this age group. He finished in 6th place with a PB of 1m 57.99secs.
           Toby also competed in the AAA Under 15/Under 17 Championships in August, where he won his heat and qualified for the final of the Under 17 Mens 800m setting a new PB of 1m 57.22 in the final to finish in 7th place,.
       Olli Blake was selected to represent the Midland Counties team in the 800m at the Antwerp International meeting in August .
 
     In the Shropshire Young Athletes Track and Field League, Olympians finished second overall behind Telford. The introduction of a new bonus points system for providing officials did have an adverse effect on some of the results as far as Olympians were concerned. The club has suffered from a great shortage of helpers and qualified officials this season and this is still the case. Most leagues now award points for providing officials and those clubs that don't have enough adult helpers forfeit additional points, which of course affect the overall team score.
 
     During the season the club also competed in the National Young Athletes League, NW Division One., having won promotion at the end of last season. Solid team performances over the five league meetings meant that the club finished clear of the relegation zone to retain its place in Division One for next season.
 
COMBINED EVENTS:
      Gemma Weetman finished in 2nd place overall (1st Midlands) at the AAAs Combined Events Championships in Stoke where she set a new Heptathlon PB of 4993 points . This performance earned Gemma her second GB vest in a Combined Events Under 20 International match in Switzerland where she put in an outstanding performance to finish third overall and again increase her Heptathlon score to 5299 points and go to 14th on the Junior Womens all time list.
      In the NW Combined Events Finals at Carlisle  Gemma won the Senior Girls Heptathlon with Charlotte Roberts in 4th place. Both girls qualified for the English Schools Combined Events Finals at Derby where Gemma retained her Senior Girls Heptathlon title to crown another superb season.
 
NATIONAL JUNIOR LEAGUE
     Border Olympians - the composite club with Under 17/Under 20 athletes from Oswestry Olympians and Bridgnorth AC had an excellent second season in the National Junior League. Competing in the Central Division Border won overall and were invited to the Midlands Promotion match at Mansfield in September where the club finished in fourth place. Two Border athletes Charlotte Roberts and Andy Jones qualified as individuals for the Athletics Weekly Grand Prix Finals in Derby.
     Olympian athletes also competed in various Open meetings during the summer. (See also Border Olympians page - Ed.)
 
CLUB RECORDS:  2006 has been another good year with many club records tumbling, including some longstanding ones. Remarkably, standards continue to rise each year and all those young athletes who have broken a club record are to be congratulated. They will be receiving trophies at the Presentation Evening.
 
 NATIONAL RANKINGS:  
        Gemma Weetman is ranked 3rd in the Heptathlon with 5299 points and 3rd in the Long Jump 6m 11cms in the UK Junior Women's Rankings. She is now part of the National Squads for Long Jump and Combined Events, and has recently been accepted onto the National World Class Talent programme in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.
        Hannah Wood is on the Welsh Under 17 rankings and a number of Olympian athletes are on the West Midlands age group rankings.
 
INTERNATIONAL HONOURS:
        During this year two Olympian athletes have been selected to represent their country.  Gemma Weetman has represented Great Britain twice at Under 20 International Combined Events matches in France and Switzerland.
        Hannah Wood represented Welsh Schools in long jump at the British Schools International match at Grangemouth and was then selected to represent Wales in high jump at the UK Games in August.
 
CONCLUSION:
       Despite the loss of our track, Park Hall, the club has had many successes in the past year but without  a training facility in the town it is doubtful if this level of success can be maintained. The Marches field is totally inadequate for training our older athletes who will now have to travel to Shrewsbury or Wrexham to train on a synthetic track. Sprinters, long jumpers and hurdlers cannot train on a school field and we were very fortunate that a small group were able to continue to train at Park Hall while the construction work was going on during August and September. That opportunity has now gone and the prospects for next summer are not good. The lottery bid for a synthetic long jump runway at the Marches was unsuccessful and at the moment there is still some doubt as to whether the Oswald Park leisure development will incorporate a track. In any event, it will be many years before it is completed and the Olympians will have to continue to fund raise for the project. It is ironic that athletes from Shrewsbury travel to Oswestry for coaching while their local club benefits from a brand new floodlit track! Unless facilities improve in Oswestry very soon, the flow of athletes may be in the opposite direction.
We need all parents and older athletes to continue to put pressure on the Borough Council to construct a track in the town before we lose all our promising athletes to other sports. The e-mail address to lobby the council is :-
 ozpark@oswestry-bc.gov.uk
 
As always, the club would like to thank all the young athletes for their enthusiasm and commitment over the past year and also those parents who have responded to the appeals for support   We are always desperate for parents who would like to get involved with the club. Your help is invaluable and without it we would not be able to carry on.  Recently there have been a number of courses organized in the county for those who are interested in getting involved in athletics as coaches or officials. These are a great opportunity to take that first step and we would love to see more people taking advantage of them.
   A big thank you to all who have helped with Team Managing, providing refreshments at events and helping in training sessions. Thank you to Jean Blake and the team who have provided refreshments at the Olympians home meetings during the year and have raised a lot of money for club funds.
   Thanks to the coaches: Arnie, John, Nick, Kathy, Tracy, Andy, Gemma and Steph, also to Jean Blake and Clare Powell, who give up their time in helping the coaches. Thanks also to those who are in the background doing all the administration, especially Kathy Wray who writes all the letters and the newspaper reports which keep the Olympians in the minds of the public. All this work is done voluntarily.
   Thank you to all those who have raked the sandpit, stuck in spikes or helped in any way to officiate at meetings.
   Thanks to Sandy Ogden our Junior Membership Secretary for all her hard work during the year and thank you to Sandy for organizing the Five Star awards that the young athletes will be receiving tonight. Your efforts are much appreciated.
   Thanks to Keith Weetman for all his work on compiling and updating all the young athletes PBs during the season and also for setting up and maintaining the superb Junior Olympians website. Current information, past history and tips about training can all be found there, so if you want to know anything about the club just log on to www.oswestryolympians.co.uk
 
 
      If any parents feel that they can help in any way, please come and speak to us and let us know what you feel you could offer to the club. We still need more help in all sorts of areas otherwise the club cannot continue to function successfully. At present we are especially short of qualified coaches, track officials and timekeepers; could you help with this?
    Oswestry Olympians is a happy club and has enjoyed continuing success for many years. It has built up a good reputation in Shropshire and beyond. There are growing numbers of young Olympian athletes who have represented not only their county, but also their country. If we are to continue to be a successful club it is vital that we continue to attract more coaches, helpers and athletes. All these roles in the club are performed on a voluntary basis for the benefit of local youngsters but the successes of the past do not automatically lead to successes in the future. Circumstances change, helpers move on, athletes move on and we need new volunteers to replace them. Almost all our volunteers are current or past athletes or parents.

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