TVH Retain UK Women’s Athletics League  Title at Southampton

It was an amazing performance from our women’s team in the final round of the UK Women’s Athletics League Premier Division to hold off the challenge of Birchfield Harriers and win the league by the narrowest of margins. This is the 3^rd year out of the last 4 that our women’s track & field team have won the league and as the top ranked club in the country will go forward again to represent the UK in the 2019 European Champion Clubs Championships.

We started the day 1 league point and 36 match points ahead of Birchfield and with our athletes competing at the European Athletics Championships unavailable for selection and many others injured the realistic aim was always to finish 2^nd as close behind Birchfield as possible. With some fantastic performances and athletes covering many events it came down to the relays ; 2^nd place in the 4 x100m and a win in the 4 x 400m was enough for the team to finish equal with Birchfield on 22 league points each and to win the league by 685 to 676 match points! Congratulations to our fantastic team and team manager Manuel da Silva.

Full match report to follow, results at   https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=234763

TVH Athletes at the European Athletics Championships

The European Athletics Championships gets underway in Berlin today (Monday 6^th August) with 5 members of the TVH women’s team competing.

Tuesday 7^th August Amelia Strickler – Shot put.   Amelia won the British Championships / European Trials on 1^st July with 17.22m, having set a pb of 17.26m at the South of England Championships in June.

Tuesday 7^th August Molly Caudery – Pole vault.   18 year old Molly won the pole vault for TVH at the European Clubs Cup Championships with 4.40m at a windy Birmingham in May and went on to set a new UK Junior record of 4.53m in Germany in June.

Fri 10^th August Zoey Clark – 4 x 400m relay. Zoey has found the time in a very busy year to put in her usual great performances for TVH. A silver medal in the 4 x400m relay at the 2017 World Championships was followed by bronze in the relay at the World Indoors and making the final of the 400m. A great pb of 51.36 secs at the Anniversary Games was not quite enough to gain selection for the individual 400m.

Sat 11^th August   Lorraine Ugen – Long jump.   Lorraine has been in fantastic form this year, winning the British Championships / European Trials with a huge jump of 7.05m and is ranked 1^st in the world this year. A great competition could be in store with the top three in the world rankings all Europeans (Malaika Mihambo and Ivana Spanovic have both jumped 6.99m).

Sun 12^th August   Tracy Barlow – marathon. Tracy gained selection for the European Championships with her solid run in difficult conditions at the London Marathon in April and is ranked 2^nd in the UK this year. Tracy broke her half marathon club record with 72:35 at the World Half Marathon championships in March and had a good win at the Swansea Half Marathon in June in the build up to the European Championships.

British Athletics League Premiership – Allianz Park 4^th August

The TVH men’s team competed in the top division of the British Athletics League in 2017 after a 10 year absence. Our second season in the BAL Premiership in 2018 proved more difficult with a host of injuries before and at the competitions. 5^th place in the first fixture at Leigh in May was followed by a disappointing 7^th place at Cardiff in June and 5^th place at Bedford in July. We spent the season trying to close the gap on Cardiff (who had a good start at Leigh) and another 5^th place finish at the final fixture at Barnet left us on 13.5 pts to Cardiff’s 14 pts and 7^th place overall. The management team of Phil Wetton, Nav Childs and Chris McAlister worked tirelessly throughout the season and are confident that we can bounce straight back in 2019. Chris also won our Club Man of the Match award at Allianz Park for his performances in the 400m hurdles, 400m and 4 x400m relay and is getting tantalisingly close to Eddie Betts long standing 400m hurdles club record (50.58 secs so far this season, compared to Eddie’s 50.49 secs in 1997).

Full report to follow, results at https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=234925

Youth Development League U13 / U15 – TVH win final fixture to win division

Our Youth Development League Under 13 and Under 15 team had a great season with a closely fought battle with Cambridge Harriers.   We hosted the fourth and final fixture on 21^st July, with Cambridge Harriers having won two of the first three fixtures and both teams already sure of promotion, we needed a big win to overhaul Cambridge’s 75 pts lead on total match points. It was a fantastic performance on the day by our wonderful young athletes and we won by 145 pts to win the division. Congratulations to the team and team manager Amber Simukonda for a great season and we look forward to a good standard of competition in a higher division next year.

A special thank you to our officials, especially Dave and Marion Huffer, Geoff Hawes, Barrie Saunders and Paul Woodgate, the chief timekeeper at our home fixtures. Their task wasn’t made any easier by one of the clubs due to compete pulling out at 10pm the night before, but as ever they coped admirably.  

Results at https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=234584

Southern Athletics League – Bedford 18^th August

The final league fixture for the club is the Southern Athletics League fixture at Bedford on 18^th August. Our men and women compete together in this league with 5 rounds of fixtures taking place from April to August. After a slow start to the season we won our home fixture in June and the July fixture at Battersea, team managers Phil and Amber are looking to finish the season on a high with 3 wins in a row.

To all TVH members, past members and supporters

Thames Valley Harriers, founded in 1887, is already one of the UK’s top athletics clubs. Our goal is now to be the best athletics club in the UK.

And we need all of you – current members, past members, children, parents, coaches – to help make this a reality.

To explain why we need your active support, I think it’s helpful to give an outline of our current situation and what our plans are for the future.

TVH is a membership club run by and for the club members. It is our club. We elect members to carry out key roles for the club but, as members, we are all responsible for the success and growth of TVH.

It is becoming increasingly expensive for us to run the club and compete in all age groups throughout the year. We raise less than 15% of the amount we need through membership subscriptions.

In recent years, we have relied on a few generous donors to fund the club, and on a small group of volunteers who give up their time and expertise. In common with most sports clubs, we find it very hard to find new volunteers and donors.

Looking ahead, in order for the club to prosper and to help us expand our coaching set-up and meet the demand from the local community and local schools, we now need to raise £40,000 per year.

So, starting with the TVH Open Day on 16 September 2018 (have you saved the date?!), we will hold a number of fundraising events in the years ahead.

We are also inviting TVH members and supporters to support us when taking part in sponsored runs, walks, bike rides and other events. We are encouraging all club members to set a target of raising £100 each for the club – we can claim 25% Gift Aid on donations from UK taxpayers. Already, two of our fantastic young members – Alfie Turner and Charlie Rollo – have donated £2,000 from sponsorship for competing at the mini-marathon in April!

You can either donate or raise funds through our new MyDonate page.

All these fundraising options are an opportunity for all club members to contribute to the future success and growth of Thames Valley Harriers. The funds we raise will be spent on improving the most important area of the club – the coaching.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the formation of our TVH women’s team. What they have achieved since then has been phenomenal. Over the course of our history, TVH has nurtured Olympians and national champions, and we’ve enabled thousands of young people to reach their potential.

Let’s celebrate those achievements on 16 September, and then let’s build on them to make TVH the best athletics club in the UK.

Up the Valley!

Tim Dye

TVH Club Chairman

Email:   chairman@thamesvalleyharriers.com

We are sad to report the death of Graham Dugdale, who died at home on the weekend of the 5th/6th May. TVH members Paul Oppe and John Offley share their memories of Graham.

Continue reading Graham Dugdale →