Dear  Athlete,

                         We enter another cross country / road  season in a state of flux, our British League team has just been relegated to Division 4 of the BAL, when if we had finished in the first 3 places in  the first match, as we should have done, we would still be in Division 3.  Unfortunately our endurance input into the fixtures was one of the factors why the club ended up going down to Division 4.  We need to address this for next season, otherwise we may go out of the BAL for ever, and as one of the longest serving clubs in the League that would be a tragedy  !!

                         We have the athletes but due to injuries and loss of form we have not been able to get our strongest team out, as and when needed.  Alistair O’Connor has been plagued by injuries and has been a great loss to the team, hopefully he is making some progress and hopefully will be able to get back this season.  Gary Ellis has also been injured and with work commitments has not been able to run as much as he would like to.  Lee Cadwallader has also been injured and not able to run on the track as he wanted to, again he is hopeful of easing himself back into the fray.  The bulk of the effort has been completed by the ever reliable Simon McKevitt and  Arthur Deane with Rob Cushion playing his part and team captain Richard Burney trying to get over an injury, but chipping in when he was available.  The faster men including Peter Walsh, Ian Lawton, Andrew Thomas, Ian Tinsley and Jon Ferguson have done a fine job in the 800m / 1500m events and hopefully will be  playing their part in the relays and some of the cross country events.   James  Horman has also been injured and will be making progress to return to the squad. 

                         There are a large group of supporting athletes who all have a major part to play in  the coming season.  Glen Groves has been out of action competing for his country at Dragon Boat racing, where he competed in Philadelphia, USA in the recent World championships, hopefully with his feet on firm ground, he can once again contribute to the team.  Mark Keeley has been trying to adapt after university and hopefully can get back into shape, rather quickly.     We have a number of promising youngsters who can more than play their part, led by Phil McGlory who has already   made his mark on the local road scene.  Steve Evans, Phil Hennessey, Neil Siner, Tony Stafford and Mark Williams can all hopefully step up to strengthen the senior squad.      John McCole is currently out on a foreign trek and should appear at some time around Christmas to compete in the championships.

                         There are also athletes of the calibre of Mark Booker, John Howell, Peter Green, Shaun Martin, Neil Chester, Tony Clarke, Paul Harrison, Paul Quine, Mark Hargreaves and Terry Macklin, all of whom can contribute to the team successes.  Recently, Lee Siemensko has been cleared to join us and will strengthen  our ranks.  The veteran’s group including Frank Davies, Steve Rigby,  Bernie Riley, Pat Henley, Graham Howell, Peter Simpson, Tom Vallance and Peter Morgan don’t like to be left out.  Thus out of the  40 odd athletes mentioned above it would be good if we could get off to a good showing in the county relays, which take place in Blackpool in mid September.   Please keep in touch and make an effort to turn out to play your part in what promises to be an interesting season.  The main events are set out below. 

                        Hopefully there are other athletes who will come to light, as the season progresses.

                                                Regards       

                                                Mike Dooling

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SAT    22^nd September                      North West Relays at Stanley Park, Blackpool

                                                                        [ Hopefully 3 or 4 Teams of 6 runners ]

SAT     6^th October                              Northern Road Relay at Sunderland

                                                                                [ Two teams of  6 !! ]

Sat      20^th October                            REEBOK L & D  League 1   at Sefton Park

Sat     27^th   October                           National Road Relay  at Sutton Coldfield

SAT    10^th November                        National XC Relays at Mansfield

SUN   11^th November @ 11am       L & D League 2  @ Halewood Triangle

SAT    24^th November @ 3pm        L & D League 3  @ Beacon Park, Skem 

SUN     6^th ?? Jan                              Merseyside XC  at Sherdley Park, St Helens ??

SAT     12^th     Jan                              L & D XC Champs   at Clarke Gardens

SAT     26^th     Jan                              Northern Cross Country at DERBY

SAT       9^th      Feb                             Inter County  Cross Country at  Nottingham

SAT      23^rd    Feb                             National Cross County at  BRISTOL

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