Wiltshire Athletic Association

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Wiltshire Athletics Updates

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As everyone will be aware the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect all our lives. England Athletics are providing regular updates and guidance for athletes at this time.

As of January 2021 we are seeing a significant number of events cancelled through to mid 2021. Whilst the situation is still uncertain and many events are still being cancelled we are unable to proceed with an events calendar for any of our sports at this time.

We still hope to provide Road and Off-Road races later in the year and will try to keep everyone informed as the situation improves.

Please use the England Athletics website for advice and tips during this time for COVID safe training and fitness guidance.

Thank you for your patience. We wish all our athletes and families the best of health.

Wilts and SW Counties XC Championships Cancelled

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Latest email from SW Council

It is with much regret that we have to inform you that the 2021 SW Cross Country Championships which was rescheduled for 21st February has had to be cancelled.

As you aware we are currently in a lockdown and there is no prospect of this situation changing in enough time to put on the event. We are extremely sorry but hopefully everyone will understand.

We  will automatically hold your entry over to the event in January 2022 but if you would like to be refunded this can be arranged.

If there is a price increase for 2022 you would not be charged any additional fee.

If you do require a refund then you will need to complete this online form link below and we will process the refund. https://form.jotformeu.com/203542675327356 Please be patient with us however as it could take a few weeks.

On behalf of the SW Regional Council can I thank you for the support given to our event.
We hope to see some of you in 2021 at our Track and Field Championships in July.

**IMPORTANT: Wiltshire Road Race League 2020 Announcement**

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Following previous updates regarding the rescheduling, postponement and cancellation of various fixtures within the 2020 WRRL, Wiltshire Athletic Association is today in the position to sadly announce the cancellation of the 2020 league.

We know this will come as a disappointment to many, but we feel this is now the best course of action to take. Some of the considerations have been outlined below.

• There are no longer enough fixtures left to constitute a league, whilst rescheduled, postponed or alternative races fall later in the year clashing with WORL fixtures (following the decision to ensure the WRRL and WORL are separate without overlap, extending the league is not a viable option)

• Given the uncertainty, financial outlay and risk of preparing for an event later in the year, I feel it is not responsible to place any pressure on event organisers to press ahead to satisfy WRRL inclusion when subsequent postponement is possible

It must also be considered that there remains a real risk at mass participation events and we are currently unsure what shape events may take later in the year. Some athletes may be unable to compete for a variety of reasons and events may have restricted numbers meaning athletes will struggle to get a place.

County Championships

Just for now, we are not able to announce what will happen to the county championship events scheduled for 2020. We will need more certainty about the form, capacity and ability for open competition on a level playing field at any events that may be able to proceed. WAA will now focus on monitoring the situation in an attempt to hold county championship races in 2020 while also focusing on preparing a 2021 WRRL. The priority here will be to support those events/organisers that were due to form part of the 2020 league.

I hope this message finds all the athletes in the county safe and well. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me (Simon Nott, WAA Road Running Secretary). I hope you all agree that the above decision is in everybody’s best interests.

WAA OFF-ROAD LEAGUE FINAL RESULTS

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Due to the COVID-19 rules our Race #6 was cancelled, though LPS Events & the Calne Rotary Club kindly allowed entrants to run 10k whereever they chose, to earn their medal and provided an unofficial table of results.

For reasons of fairness these results cannot be included in the Race League. Applying the rules of the league, the season was ended one race early and the sum of all the other races were totalled to give the final scores.

The Off Road League Club Winners for 2019/2020 are …..

🎉 Chippenham Harriers 🎉

Promotions/Demotions:

Subject to confirmation of the affiliated clubs for 2020, we expect Calne and Frome Running clubs to join the top division, whilst St Mary’s Tri and Royal Wootton Bassett – B will drop to the second tier.

The individual league winners are:

Ladies:🏆 Juliette Hatt – Chippenham Harriers 🏆

Men:🏆 Stuart Temple – Slinn Allstars 🏆

Top scoring in the Male Age Groups are:

  • MSEN: Stuart Temple – Slinn Allstars
  • MV40: Peter Blake – Chippenham Harriers
  • MV50: Simon Rawlins – RWB Hounds
  • MV60+: Frank Lamerton – Avon Valley Runners

Top scoring in the Female Age Groups are:

  • MSEN: Rebekah Carrivick – Avon Valley Runners
  • MV40: Juliette Hatt – Chippenham Harriers
  • MV50: Adele Cooper – Avon Valley Runners
  • MV60+: Julia Cook – Chippenham Harriers

Huge Congratulations to all the winners! Massive Well Dones to everyone who took part!

English Schools AA Track & Field Championships 2020 are CANCELLED

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From Chris Cohen CBE,English Schools AA (March 28th 2020):

Dear friends,

I am sure you have been anticipating this email for some days now, but I am writing to let you know that ESAA has taken the very difficult decision to cancel the Track & Field Championships this year. We had looked at a variety of possible contingency plans, but, in the end, the fact that this virus doesn’t look as though it will allow schools to open in the near future, that many of our officials may not be able to support us on a third day, and, in fact, some would not be able to take part as they have been told to stay at home for three months, we have been forced to accept defeat and look forward with even more enthusiasm to next year in Manchester.

Thanks to the hard work of Paul Ponton, our treasurer, who has worked with our travel agent, to ensure none of the hotels would charge us an early cancellation fee, we now know that our costs will be minimised, though, sadly, not completely removed.

This also means that the Home International will not take place, but I have offered the SIAB that we would wish to host it next year instead at Derby, assuming we can get the agreement of the local authority, which we would expect would be no problem.

We still hope to stage the Combined Events and Race Walk on the original date in September, but I have asked Iain Presnell and Dick Bowden to look at how we can operate this with no preliminaries or regional rounds. This will, of necessity, require some form of pre-selection, but, if we are still able to stage it, if the crisis is past, then we will keep you updated as to how this would be done within the size of the normally held event.

I’m sorry to be the bearer of such disappointing news, but I’m sure you appreciate that we have done everything we could to try to stage the event, and will look to the future and better times.
Please stay safe and well.

I will update you with our other plans later.

This may free up dates for the county to use for the County Track & Field Championships in July or September as it is important to get athletics up & running when we come out the other side! Stay safe all.