AND THERE'S MORE AWARD WINNERS:
Sandy Ogden was named Club Volunteer of the Year at the West Midlands Regional England Athletics Awards, for her contribution to Oswestry Olympians.
 
JUNIOR CROSS COUNTRY REPORT 2007-2008.
  The club enjoyed another successful cross-country season with both    individual and team successes to celebrate.
In the Shropshire Young Athletes X-C League Olympians finished in second place overall behind Telford. The club retained the Under 11 Girls team trophy and five young athletes received individual awards: Joe Morris - 1^st Under 13 Boys,Josh Ogden - 1^st  Under 17 Men, Matthew Jones - 2^nd U13 Boys, Ryan Stokes - 2^nd Under 15 Boys and Steph Butler - 3^rd Under 15 Girls.
   Several young Olympians won medals at the Shropshire AA X-C      Championships. Joe Morris won the Under 13 Boys title, Josh Ogden won the Under 17 Mens race, Oli Blake came 1^st in the Junior Men and Alison Lavender won the Junior Women's title. Ryan Stokes was second in the Under 15 Boys race.  Eleven young Olympians were selected to represent Shropshire in the  Inter Counties X-C Championships at Nottingham where Alison Lavender was the highest Olympian finisher in 70^th position in the Senior Womens race, with Joe Morris coming an excellent 110^th in the Under 13 Boys race.
  Four Olympians took part in the Midlands X-C Championships at Stafford Common with Joe Morris finishing 18th in the Under 13 Boys race and Josh Ogden 18^th in the Under 17 Mens race.
 There was success for Olympians athletes in the Shropshire Schools X-C Championships with Joe Morris (Year 8/9 Boys), finishing 2^nd and Steph Butler (Year 10/11 Girls) 3^rd. They were selected to represent Shropshire in the English Schools X-C Championships at Liverpool with Ella Walker and Ryan Stokes.
  The Shropshire AA Under 10 and Under 11 X-C Championships were held at Shrewsbury where Emma Tilley won the Under 10 Girls race and Joe Baker finished 10^th in the Under 10 Boys competition. In the Under 11 Boys race James Morris came 9^th, Edward Ellis-Cooper 11^th and Joel Lyttle 22^nd.
 
SPORTSHALL:
  In the Shropshire Sportshall League Olympians regained the overall trophy that was lent to Telford for a year, with the Under 13 Girls finishing 2^nd and all of the other age groups coming 1^st.
  Seven Under 11 athletes represented Shropshire at the Fun in Athletics West Midlands event at Cannock with the boys team finishing 2^nd overall and the girls in 3^rd place. Adele Nicoll won the chest push and came 3^rd in the standing long jump, Peter Stringer won the standing long jump, Edward Ellis-Cooper finished 2nd in the target throw, Georgia Dixon came 3^rd in the speed bounce and Bradley Coldwell was 3^rd in the chest push. Other team members included Joe Baker, James Morris, Anna Oloyede, Chloe Mates, Emily Ball, and Grace Garry.
  Fourteen Olympian athletes represented Shropshire at the Under 13 and Under 15 Regional Sportshall Finals at Worcester. Top performance came from Kez Ogden who finished in a splendid 5^th place overall in her first year in the Under 15 Girls All Rounder competition, taking the gold medal in the Standing Long Jump and silver in 2 laps. Steph Butler finished equal 2^nd in the Speed Bounce, Joe Morris claimed a silver medal in the 6 laps and Cameron Dixon won bronze in the 2 laps and standing triple jump. Also selected were Lauren Bathers, Gina Butler, Anya Hughes, Jack Nichols, and Iran Lane.
 There was a good turn out of Olympians at the Shropshire Sportshall Championships held at Wenlock. Kez Ogden won three gold medals and a number of athletes also claimed three medals.

Presentations Evening 2008 Award Winners

JUNIOR TRACK AND FIELD REPORT 2008
   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 Natalie Bathers and Kez Ogden winning three Shropshire titles and several other athletes winning medals.As a result of the Shropshire Championships a number of Olympian athletes were selected to represent Shropshire AA in Inter County meetings at Cosford. In the North Wales Championships, Joe Baker won three silver medals in the Long Jump, 80m and 600m, whilst Adele Nicoll won the Shot and Discus, and finished 4th in the 100m.
  Three Olympian athletes competed in the Midlands Championships at the  Alexander Stadium, Birmingham.Toby Parkes took silver in the Under 15 Boys 80m   Hurdles and finished 6th in the Long Jump, Leila Armstrong-Green also won a silver medal in the Under 20 Women's Long Jump and bronze in the 100m Hurdles, whilst  Alison Lavender finished 5th in the Senior Women's 1500m.
  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 and winning several medals and subsequently 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 Stadium in July. Congratulations to Long Jumpers - Leila Armstrong-Green and Laura Elliott - Senior Girls, Natalie Bathers - Inter Girls, Kez Ogden - Junior Girls, and 80m Hurdlers Toby Parkes and Jake Corfield-Jones - Junior Boys for achieving the high standard required to be selected for this prestigious event.
  In the Shropshire Young Athletes Track and Field League, Olympians finished second overall behind Telford, winning the Under 11 Girls and Boys, Under 15 Boys and Under 15 Girls team trophies. In addition there were league records for Matthew Jones (Under 13B 800m), Adele Nicoll (Under 13G Shot), Natalie Bathers (Under 17W 200m).
  During the season the club also competed in the National Young Athletes League, NW Division Two. The club managed to field strong teams, winning two of the meetings and finishing second in the other two. This meant that Oswestry won the league and will be promoted back to Division 1 next season.
 
NATIONAL JUNIOR LEAGUE :
  Border Olympians, the composite club with Under 17/Under 20 athletes from  Oswestry Olympians, Bridgnorth AC and Hereford AC, finished 5th in the National Junior League. Injury and illness prevented many of our older athletes taking part this year.
 
COMBINED EVENTS:
  Five Olympians athletes - Leila Armstrong -Green, Kez Ogden, Jake Corfield-Jones, Toby Parkes and Kellie Stanyer represented Shropshire Schools at the NW     Regional Combined Events Finals in Bebington. All the athletes competed superbly and four qualified for the English Schools Combined Events Finals at Birmingham in  September. In the finals Leila finished 17th in the Senior Women's Heptathlon, Jake was 19th in the Junior Boys Pentathlon and Kez came 20th in the Junior Girls Pentathlon. Unfortunately, Toby had to retire after three events due to injury.
 
CLUB RECORDS: 2008
  2008 has been another bumper year with 11 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:
  The following six Olympian athletes are ranked in the Top Twenty-five in the UK in their events- a great achievement for a small club.
  Adele Nicoll (4th Shot Under 13 Girls), Kez Ogden (11th Under 15 Girls Long Jump), Matthew Jones (13th Under 13 Boys 800m), Sean Squibb (Under 13 Boys - 14th 100m, 16th Shot, 18th 200m), Jake Corfield-Jones (16th Under 15 Boys 80m Hurdles), Toby Parkes (23rd Under 15 Boys 80m Hurdles).
  The above athletes plus a number of other Olympians figure highly on the West Midlands age group rankings. For further details look at www.powerof10.co.uk
 
UNDER 23 ATHLETES:
  Gemma Weetman, in her first year at Brunel University in West London, spent early spring warm weather training in California. She has represented GB twice in the year in combined events, once in the UK and also in Paris. Gemma won 2 gold medals at the British University (BUSA) championships (Long Jump & 4x100m relay) and   finished the year ranked 11th in Long Jump with 6m18, 9th in Heptathlon & 3rd in Pentathlon. She is ranked 18th in the UK all time rankings for Pentathlon.
  Oliver Blake and Alison Lavender both at Loughborough University also performed to a high standard over the year. Oli is currently ranked 19th in the UK for 800m and finished 3rd at the England Athletics U23 Championships in June. Alison is ranked 11th in the UK for 2000m steeplechase.
 
ATHLETICS STARS!
  During the summer, Kathy and Arnie Wray were asked to be consultants for a sports book aimed at Primary school age children that demonstrated the many facets of athletics. They kindly asked members of Oswestry Olympians to act as models for photographs that will illustrate the book. Thank you so much to James Morris, Anya Hughes, Maya Hughes, Adele Nicoll, Kate Jones, Joe Baker, Anna Oloyede, Bradley Coldwell, Georgia Dixon and Edward Ellis-Cooper for attending the photoshoots. We hope to see the book in print soon, portraying our very own superstars!
 
CONCLUSION:
  The new training facility at The Marches is now complete and is available for   Olympians to train on. This is a substantial area of synthetic track surface, up to 70m long, with a double long jump pit at one end, which is perfect for coaching hurdles, high jump, long jump and sprints. While it is no substitute for a full track it provides a great  facility for much of our coaching while next to it will be a grass track where longer distance running and throws can be coached. We also hope to obtain funding from England  Athletics again next year towards transporting the athletes over to the Shrewsbury track once a week in the outdoor season.  A very big vote of thanks goes to all those who have been involved in this fund raising effort especially club chairman Jon Hancock, who continues to be involved.
  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. Now, more than ever, we are looking 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.
  A big thank you to all who have helped with Team Managing, providing refreshments at events and helping in training sessions. Thanks to all the coaches Arnie, Kathy, John, Nick, Andy D, Tracy, Andy F, Ellie, Pauline, Josh and Natalie. Thanks also to those who are in the background doing all the administration, especially Tracy who writes all the letters and the newspaper reports which keep the Olympians in the public eye.  All this work is done voluntarily.
  Thank you to all those who have stood in the rain, raked the sandpit, stuck in spikes or helped in any way to officiate at meetings. It is very encouraging that we now have a new group of parents who have got involved in officiating and are in the process of becoming qualified. We would benefit from more adult helpers so that we do not have to ask the same parents to help at each meeting.
  Thanks, once more, to Sandy Ogden for all her hard work during the year and for   organizing the Five Star awards that the young athletes will be receiving tonight, and to Bobby Dixon, our Junior Membership Secretary, 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
 
  Oswestry Olympians is a happy club with a family atmosphere, which 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, coaches, helpers and athletes move on and we need new people coming in to replace them. Almost all our volunteers are current or past athletes or parents.
  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.
 
 

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