Running the Show

There's not many people who can say they have one of only twelve in the world of anything. Athletics NI are lucky to be in that position, holding an IAAF 2011 World Permit for the Antrim International Cross Country.

This event is happening once again at CAFRE's Greenmount campus this Saturday, and I'm going to give you a bit of a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes in putting on the show...

The preparation starts many months in advance with the decision on a fixture date, application for an IAAF permit, confirmation of inclusion in the McCain UK Cross Challenge, securing sponsors, booking the venue & facilities and blocking off accommodation. When the event is set in stone there is the small matter of a 6 page checklist to work through, all before the hard work starts in the final countdown after Christmas. So this week has been somewhat frantic!

Everything is put together at Athletics House, including an Air Traffic Control-spec transport plan for our two drivers, accommodation logistics that change on a daily basis right up until the day before the event, 700 athlete chips & numbers, workplans for the course builders, the staff, the marshals, the ANI Volunteer Squad (email me if you want to get in on that), checking deliveries, trying not to leave anything back at the office. And there's the Marketing & Communications plan... but that's Clare's problem!

There are some common side effects in prescribing to our particular brand of mania, including temporary forgetfulness, episodes of hilarity, technology rage, over-caffeination, talking to yourself, but if you can keep on top of that it's all worth it. With only one more day in the office, and one day to set up at Greenmount, there is a real buzz in the place as everyone pitches in to get it done.

Hopefully at the end of today there will be a neat snake of boxes in the function room ordered by where they've to go at the course. Then all we'll need is the weather to hold out, for all the flights to get in ok, and for some great international standard competition to make it a great day out for all.

To find out more about the event visit www.niathletics.org and click on to the event page. If you can't get there don't be left out of the action - follow the goings on with Twitter throughout the day, and see the athletes' reactions on YouTube. Full results lists will be posted on the Athletics NI website.

Jenni Robinson

Admin & Events Manager

info@niathletics.org  

Sally Brown: It was just like Christmas when my kit arrived

I can't believe I'm in New Zealand! This time last year I was competing in Northern Ireland for my school and for Springwell Running Club in non-disability events and I had no idea there were such amazing opportunities in Paralympic sport.

I'm a T46 100 metre and 200m sprinter and the only Northern Irish athlete on the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team out here for the IPC Athletics World Championships. This is my second time away with the team but my first in a senior competition and I'm really excited to be part of it.

Overall I've had a brilliant year – I competed at events at home and in England and my highlight was definitely going to the Czech Republic for the IWAS World Junior Championships where I won two silver medals for the 100m and 200m sprints.

I feel really lucky to have been given a break in disability athletics. I was invited to Leeds by UKA to be assessed by some of the team there including the UKA Paralympic head coach Peter Eriksson and former Olympic sprinter Paula Dunn. We went through all sorts of drills and it made me realise what I could really be capable of. The fact that Paula was excited made me excited too.

I went on to compete in Cardiff at the Aviva Parallel Success event and to be officially classified for the first time. I'm a T46 which means "single above or below elbow amputee or physical impairment".

My whole summer was then mapped out and I went on to compete in Gateshead in UKA's Disability Athletics Challenge. I must have done something right because a couple of weeks later I was called with the great news that I'd been selected for the IWAS Juniors.

It was just like Christmas when my kit arrived – I had no idea how I'd find time to wear it all but I was so proud to know I'd be representing my country for the first time and wearing the red, white and blue.

I don't think even I believed I'd go on to be selected for the IPC Athletics World Championships but now I'm here in New Zealand it's really starting to hit home. I flew from Belfast to Heathrow on January 4 and ended up using my sprinting skills to good effect when we were delayed and had to race from one terminal to another to catch our flight to Auckland via Los Angeles. It was quite strange meeting up with everyone for the first time but it also made me really proud to wear my team kit.

There are 40 athletes on the team but I'm one of the youngest along with Jade Jones. I think it must be weird for some of the older and more experienced athletes like David Weir, Shelly Woods and Stephen Miller who have been competing at this level for a while – they must be wondering who we all are. We know who they are though and it's great to know we can speak to guys like that and ask them to help us out or give us advice as they are always full of wisdom for the situations we find ourselves in.

My own coach Phillip Tweedy isn't out here but the coaches with us have been brilliant and it's great for me to work so closely with Paula Dunn who was one of the first people to get me involved. Paula really knows all about competing at the highest level - she went to the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 in the 100m, 200m and the relay and she won five Commonwealth Games medals in the 100m and the relay from 1986 to 1994.

She's taught me a lot and I'm already starting to see a difference in my training and the way I can interpret and know the difference between a good session and a poor session. I know when I'm running correctly and when I'm not and I've been practising my relaxation techniques and my breathing.

We couldn't really ask for a better place to prepare for the championships. We're staying at the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health in Auckland and it really does have everything we could ask for. All of the athletes and most of the staff are staying on site so we can get up in the morning and be sitting eating breakfast within five minutes while looking out of the window on to the track. I've also got wise to the fact that I can literally jump out of my window and on to the track if I'm running late.

As well as the main outdoor track there's an indoor track, a 50m pool, a CV gym and a weights gym. Everything is so accessible. I think it's been quite hard for some of the wheelchair athletes who have been trying to get some miles in on the roads because it's so hilly, but it'll definitely be helping to get them into peak shape for the competition.

In my spare time I have been shopping with Hollie Arnold and Hannah Cockroft in the mall which is just ten minutes away. There are also some shops close by so when we're walking to them we get to see some of the beautiful area and also soak up some sunshine.

I'm competing on the very first day (January 22) in the 200m and hopefully I'll make it through to the final the next day. My 100m heats and final – all being well – are on January 24 and 25. My personal best times at the moment are: 13.33/13.32 for the 100m and 27.37/27.04 for the 200m. My main aim is go even quicker and to make the final, but of course I want to win a medal, as does everybody on the team.

This is a huge stepping stone for me in my aim to represent Great Britain in the Paralympic Games. I'd absolutely love to compete in front of a home crowd in London next year, but I have to remind people I'm only 15. If I do make it to London it would be a dream come true, but my real chance of a Paralympic title might be four years later in 2016 – Rio watch out!

Sprinter Sally Brown is one of the youngest members of the Aviva GB & NI team competing at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the only member from Northern Ireland.

The South African Adventure

Hi to all back home in Northern Ireland, I hope you all survived the early part of winter! I heard there was alot of snow, not to mention freezin!That made me feel so much better,(sorry), that I had made the right decision to get out of there before the white stuff arrived.

I am at the end of my fourth week in Potchefstroom, South Africa, at 1400m altitude, with blue skies and average temperature of 30+ degrees. Awesome.

I arrived here after a bit of a problem, as I was due to go to Florida with Jason (Smyth), but it all fell through and I knew I had to get away. So I contacted James Nolan three-time olympian and also my new Paralympics Ireland team manager and he put me in contact with Jean Verster, the Mr. Fixit for world class athletes who want to train in South Africa.

So I had a flight to Heathrow on Saturday 13th November, and then an 11 hour journey to Johannesbourg. After being picked up at the airport by ATP rep Jenny, I made the final 90 minute transfer to my new "home in the sun", Huys Ten Bosch, right on the edge of the Potchefstroom High Performance Centre.

I spent the first day getting to know my surroundings and the next day I met with a group of local athletes that I have since trained with on occasions, that includes Samuel Seppeng, brother of former Olympic 800m champion Ezekiel.

The first few days I found it very difficult to adapt to my new situation, I was away from home, in a strange country, knowing absolutely no-one and staying in a B&B that can accommodate 26, but I was the only person there! To make things worse, the owners didn't live there and when they locked up I felt like a bit of a prisoner in isolation. Add to that the fact that it was dark by 7 o'clock and you start to get the picture. I was more than a little homesick! I spoke to my dad on facebook on the third night of solitude and said I didn't know if I could hack it or not; he then told me some home truths and talked me round and my little sister's comment was "Man up!" From there I took her advice and moved on with the adventure.

Since then, I spent 6-7 days getting used to the altitude and the heat with daily visits to the grass track and the trails that surround it,just running easy miles and trying to keep my heart rate below 200!!, interspersed with trips to the gym and ice bath, where initially my tolerance lasted about 30 seconds!Lol Unfortunately the South African group of athletes took off to a high altitude training camp at 2400m above sea level, which didn't help. But hey!

Did my first workout on Tues 23rd 6x800m + 2x400m on the grass track(beautiful surface) and then 10 x 300m on thursday.

At the weekend, I was taken to a private farm where Jean has an agreement with the land owner, so that athletes can use the roads that run through his land.Contained within was a perfectly smooth road surface that I was to use for my sat hill session. Oh joy! The hill goes on forever! But perfect for what I need with no through traffic.

With my own weekly routine established with tues, thurs,sat session interspersed with wed and fri gym sessions I was firmly in the groove and enjoying the routine of a full-time athlete, with the realisation that being out of my comfort zone was actually good for me and was so I can be the best I can be in January, in the IPC World Paralympic Championships in New Zealand.

In the last ten days a group of Slovenian athletes have arrived and I have made good friends with them and do some of my easy runs in company, as well as having company at dinner each night, and watching plenty of Premier league and Champions league football together.

I have just over a week to go here, before I head back home for christmas, but before that I have 2 more sessions and a time trial to go. Just hoping the weather is kind when I get home and allows me to continue my build up to the championships.

This has been a real journey for me in many different ways, a real learning curve, about athletics and about myself and what I want from life. Very worthwhile and hopefully building the foundations for a great season ahead and hopefully contributing to among other things, St. Malachy's A.C. retaining their Senior Cross Country title!

Best Wishes

Michael McKillop
St. Malachy's A.C.

Lee Valley Experience Blog 3

Thursday was the group’s recovery day following the heavy lactic session on Wednesday. This consisted of a slightly reduced warm up routine, multiple jumps unit, general strength, multiple throws (Medball), hurdle mobility and finally body building (gym session). Dan feels that this type of recovery acts to reboot the parasympathetic nervous system.

It was a fairly quiet morning for Lee Valley as many had struggled to get there through the snow. The group were adamant that I join in the session as it was an “Easy” day and it was the best way to learn. Secretly I had been dying to get involved although a bit apprehensive of training beside these guys.


Marlon Devonish proceeded to take me through the full warm up grid, giving me great feedback. It was definitely more of a learning curve than just watching the drills from the side. I learned more about the correct body positioning and execution than I ever could from observing. The drills looked easy when you were watching but doing them correctly was a whole other ball game. When it came to the build up runs over 30m the thought of running beside Marlon made me feel sick. However I tried to relax and think about my own acceleration mechanics. Maybe it was the nerves but I went for it and was a stride ahead at 30m. Obviously he was going easy but I think he was slightly shocked. Go me! HeHe


Next up was two Multiple Jumps Circuits, “Everest” and “Kilimanjaro.” As the names suggest they are not exactly easy. The jumps were plyometric and multi-directional as Dan believes in working the body in all planes (sagittal, frontal and transverse). This was followed then by a multiple throws session and lastly into the gym for some ancillary lifts. It was not a shock to me to find some rotational type lifts in the programme, which are quite indicative of Dan’s programme. The variety in the programme helped to keep the mind fresh throughout the session whilst stimulating the body in a holistic manner, reawakening areas that had “Shut down” due to the hard work inflicted on them the previous day thus encouraging active recovery.


Friday came too soon and all of a sudden it was my last day with the team. The morning started with some of the athletes having their skin folds taken. Steve Lewis very kindly let me practice on him. My data was slightly lower than that of Stuart’s initial assessment, however it was consistently lower and so Steve was convinced I was more accurate giving him a better result. Sorry Steve but I think Stuart was right! Once the warm up was complete it was onto Acceleration Development, the session I had been waiting on all week! I decided to do some video analysis, mainly to assist my own learning but the guys were happy with the trackside feedback the recordings could give them. It was during this session that it was drilled home to me that if I have a “Coaching Eye” at all, Dan has “Coaching Binoculars.” Where I observe things almost in one dimension as this is all my “Coaching Eye” can cope with at present and I need time to analyse what I see before I can make a judgement. Dan’s “Coaching Binoculars” observe movement in three dimensions and he can instantly assess what the problem is using his Knowledge of functional anatomy and instantly cue the athletes to correct or intervene with therapy to make the necessary change. Dan has developed these skills over many years coaching and I feel that this is the key to his success. Boy, have I a long way to go to develop my “Coaching Eye.” I think I have cataracts!


The highlight of the week for me (and it was very hard to choose one) had to be during this session when Rhys Williams (400mh) and Gianni Frankis (110mh) actually asked me for feedback on their acceleration mechanics. Using my “Coaching Catarats” I gave it my best shot and they seemed to take it on board. The highpoint in my Coaching Career to date!


My experience at Lee Valley working closely with Dan Pfaff, Stuart McMillan and their group has been the biggest learning curve for me and really has identified how much I have to learn and develop to get to where I want to be with my coaching. Not only that, but it has given me direction as to where I need to go with my learning. Coaching is a vocation, were you must have a balance between the art and the science and sometimes it is hard to know where to start. This past week has made that decision a little bit easier for me and for that I would like to thank Dan and Stuart for inviting me to shadow them and for their time and patience over the week. I would also like to thank Athletics Northern Ireland for their support and encouragement to take advantage of the opportunity. Time to get my head down!


Elaine McCaffrey

Elaine McCaffrey Lee Valley Experience- Blog 2

Tuesday was a very fun day at Lee Valley with many top training groups present and working hard.  For a novice like me in this environment it was very hard to decide who to focus my attention on.  The choice was too tantalising with Tony Lester working with Nicola Sanders in one corner, Ayo Falola putting Marilyn Okoro through her paces in another and of course Dan’s group.  In my initial attempts to take it all in I noticed that the coaches were working very hard on drills and skill of running technique and again the focus was on correct execution.  I feel this may become the theme of the week!

Later in the session I got the chance to work with Pole Vaulter Steve Lewis, Videoing his vaults and then working with him on some Medball Multiple Throws Exercises.  Unfortunately as it was just the two of us and most of the exercises required a partner I had to join in.  It was great to experience the exercises first hand and so fully understand what effort was required. 

Wednesday was a big day for Dan’s Group with lactate profiling planned during the running session.  The warm up was extremely important and each drill is used as a screening tool to assess if the athletes have any mechanical issue cause by soft tissue dysfunction.  These issues are then worked on immediately at the track side using therapy techniques, most notably active release.  Active release enables the issue to be resolved whilst keeping the athletes fired up so not to interrupt the warm up. 

15 minutes after the warm up the lactate profiling started.  It was then repeated during and after the session at specific times.  The lactate profiling will be done over a number of weeks and the team hope the data will give an indicator of where the athletes are at and alter training to try and develop any issues uncovered.  This was a very exciting task for me and I was in my element testing Marlon Devonish, Ryan Moseley and Steve Lewis throughout the session.  The results were instantaneous but further analysis of the trends will produce some areas for the guys to work on. 

After this gruelling workout the guys then went on to some multiple jumps.  The aim of this is to teach the body to work with the lactate in the system.  This was then followed by weight training in the gym.  This really is a full time job for these athletes.  From witnessing and being involved with this heavy training day and questioning Dan as to how this would work for part time athletes I learned that the similar training protocols can be utilised by part-time athletes however the work should be spread over a longer period of time with adequate rest and recovery factored in, taking into consideration their other commitments.  If you do not have the luxury of time on your side you must stick to the correct training philosophies but be smart about how your training is structured.

This was probably the best day of my career so far, learning from the best athletes and coaches and being right there in the middle of everything.  I’m not sure if it can get any better but here’s hoping for tomorrow!

Lee Valley Experience Day 1

Athletics Northern Ireland's Elaine McCaffrey has had the opportunity to work with some of the top coaches in the UK this week!

Today I flew to London to start my week shadowing Dan Pfaff, UK Athletics Director of Lee Valley High Performance Centre and his assistant coach Stuart McMillan.  Dan has a rich coaching pedigree which includes coaching 33 Olympians to seven Olympic medals and 45 athletes to the IAAF World Championships, where they have won 10 medals.

Among the athletes he has coached is former Olympic and World 100m champion and world record holder Donovan Bailey.  As you can imagine I, along with thousands of other budding coaches’ wish I could have one ounce of his experience and so I travelled excitedly to Lee Valley for the first of five days with the team to try and learn a thing or two. 

The first thing I learned on my arrival was that good news has obviously travelled fast (as fast as I did when I got the invite to Lee Valley) and Dan’s group consists of a very large number of talented athletes from all event groups.  The majority are fully funded athletes but unsurprisingly there are a few self funded athletes hoping that Dan’s magic might give them the chance to actualise their true potential.  To name a few of those I had the pleasure of observing and interacting with today included Marlon Devonish, Martyn Bernard and affectionately known as the “Queen” of the group, Goldie Sayers.  Witnessing the goings on, I was like a child in a candy store!

Unfortunately due to snow in Belfast in November my flight arrived slightly later than planned and I missed the first 2 hours of the session but luckily enough there was about another four hours worth to witness.  Being a full time athletes is definitely not all fun and games and the athletes had to maintain focus and technique throughout a long session of track work, multi throws unit and then into the weight room for lifts and specific strengthening work.  However the large group of individuals seemed to keep one and other focused and motivated.

The biggest surprise for me came in the weight room, where I expected these guys to be lifting everything in sight but in contrast the loads were manageable with “Perfect” technique controlling all loading and the team watching every athlete like a hawk.  This seems indicative of all Dan’s Coaching Philosophies and although all coaches look to observe technique it was the attention to detail that was a contrast to the norm and could possibly be a big insight into where many coaches and athletes are going wrong. 

The gist of his thinking from questioning him on his views are that... loading poor technique in the weight room will ultimately lead to issues on the track.  I feel that tomorrow’s session on running technique will uncover more of Dan’s Philosophies and I look forward to learning some new skills from both Dan and Stuart.

More to follow later in week! UKA have a great coaching resource- UCoach- click here to visit.

Elaine McCaffrey

Talent Development Coach

Athletics NI President wins 'Frank Horwill Trophy for Services to BMC’

What a weekend! On Saturday afternoon I watched the cream of British and Irish Masters battle it out over the fields of Santry Desmene, where I ran in my first All Ireland Championships well over 40 years ago.

On Saturday night I was the guest of Athletics Ireland at their Annual Awards Dinner and had the pleasure of seeing Eamonn Christie and Ciara Mageean pick up two well deserved awards. I also got the opportunity to speak to and receive an autograph from the great Ronnie Delaney, the Olympic Champion from Melbourne in 1956 and hero of all aspiring young middle distance runners in Ireland of my vintage.

On Sunday morning I was up before the larks and on my way to Dublin Airport for what I hoped would be a reunion with another legend.

 I first met Frank Horwill in October 1973 when he was invited by Sean and Maeve Kyle to lead a training weekend based on the North Coast around the dunes of Portstewart. By the end of the three days Frank had approved my qualification as a BAAB Club Coach and left me a quivering wreck.


I had finished the 1973 season fairly satisfied with a 1:52.4 800m and a conviction that I knew what hard work was all about. Mr. Horwill knocked that idea on the head. On the Friday night after Registration we did a 35 min run. The following morning the session was an 8 mile run including 2 miles fartlex. After lunch we returned to the dunes for 10 mins hard sand running including a ‘sprint’ up a giant sand dune. This was followed by 4 x 5 x 100 metres with 20/15/10 and 5 seconds recovery and 2 minutes between sets. Sunday being the ‘day of rest’ we began with a mile warm up and some exercises on the sand. Then it was into 3 x 800m fast with 4 minutes recovery and a mile and half jog back for lunch. All that remained was an afternoon stroll of 10 miles!


It took me two days to recover but I left Portrush inspired by this man and in possession of a signed copy of what was to become my ‘bible’ , The Complete Middle Distance Runner by Horwill, Denis Watts and Harry Wilson (coach to Steve Ovett). Frank had inscribed the book with the words “Coaching an athlete from nothing to something is a noble cause”.


Frank was not everyone’s cup of tea but he was full of qualities that I admired. He did not treat fools gladly and British Athletics had more than its fair share of fools. He was the scourge of the English Womens’ AAAs because he had the audacity to believe that girls should be training as hard as the men and running long distance races like 3000 metres! He spoke his mind and cared not a jot about what others thought. He was generous to a fault and he lived and breathed running.


He was also a fighter, a quality which has stood him in good stead in the last number of years as he has fought illness time and again. I have known his qualities as a fighter since 1974 when having shattered my personal bests for every event from 100 metres to 2 miles Frank invited me to run in a British Milers event at Crystal Palace. The invitation included being hosted by Frank in his one roomed flat in London. In the evening he took me for a meal to his favourite Greek Restaurant in Golder’s Green.

As the meal progressed we noticed that another of the customers in the restaurant was one of Britain’s greatest runners and I was totally star struck. Unfortunately the athlete in question was, in modern parlance, ‘blocked’. He was also somewhat belligerent and called Frank some very nasty names and questioned his parenthood. Frank accepted the first onslaught but issued a warning of retribution if the insult was repeated.

The insult was duly repeated and retribution followed in the form of a punch to the nose which sent this very famous athlete flying over the dinner tables. Frank compensated the owner and we left. In the early hours of the morning we were awakened by the phone as a sobering famous athlete issued an apology!


The significance of all this to my weekend was that I was travelling to Manchester to meet Frank again for the first time in nearly forty years. During that time Frank’s training methods produced the best ever performance by a British athlete at the World Cross Country when Tim Hutchings took the Silver Medal and Peter Coe acknowledged Franks’ influence in his coaching of Seb to Olympic Gold. His ideas are heralded throughout the world and countless athletes owe their success to his methods and in particular his ‘five pace’ system all of which can be read in ‘Obsession for Running’ of which Frank is the author.


Arguably Frank’s greatest contribution to middle distance running was his formation of the British Milers Club. Formed in 1963 the aim of the club was, and remains, to improve the standards of British Middle Distance running. This is to be achieved by coach education, providing competition opportunities where the main aim is to improve times and to encourage the top British athletes to compete against each other.


As a further consequence of that initial meeting with Frank I found myself in 1975 succeeding Neil Morton as the Northern Ireland Regional Secretary for the British Milers Club. I would be the first to admit that my contribution to the above mentioned aims has been somewhat minimal. But in the last few years I have shown a greater commitment and have promoted several middle distance meets under the BMC banner as well as a couple of high profile races at Ravenhill with Ulster Rugby. I also came into contact with the BMC Treasurer and Chairman Pat Fitzgerald and Tim Brennan and when the idea of a Grand Prix BMC meet in Belfast was muted I jumped at the chance.


Thanks to the efforts of Pat and Tim and a lot of hard work by the staff of Athletics Northern Ireland the event was considered by all to have been a great success. Frank was unfortunately too ill to get across to Belfast but he too was convinced that the meeting was a success and so it was that I found myself on my way to Manchester to receive the ‘Frank Horwill Trophy for Services to BMC’ from the man himself. Despite being hospitalised again during the week I was delighted when I saw Frank entering the room and I was therefore given the opportunity to publically pay tribute to the man who has had an immense influence of my running and coaching career.

Despite the fact that the criteria for the award required the ‘Services to BMC’ to be for at least 10 years I am acutely aware that it was the success of the Belfast Grand Prix which was the main contributing factor in the award and I would like to thank all those who worked a lot harder than me in making it a great success.

However it is my name on the trophy and I am keeping it!

Visit John Glover's NI Stats website at: http://www.track-ni.org/