Bournemouth Athletic Club
Presentation Evening, Dean Court (Fitness First) Stadium, Saturday 14 November 2009

The club was privileged to welcome Liz and Martin Yelling to the Presentation Evening on 14 November, and, during the evening, the award winners were proud to receive their awards from Liz.

Simon Armstrong, our distinguished Master of Ceremonies, introduced Liz with some information about her amazing achievements in her athletic career (and in other ways - Liz is a proud new Mum to baby Ruby!).

He told us that Liz has twice represented her country in the marathon in the Olympic Games, in Beijing in 2008, and Athens in 2004, when she was the first Briton to cross the line.  In 2006 Liz won Bronze in the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, but her greatest medal haul has been in Cross Country, in which she has won team Gold, Silver and Bronze at the European Cross Country Championships and has finished in the top 6 three times, and has four times been National Cross Country Champion.  On the world stage, at the World Cross Country Championships, where she has represented her country on no fewer than nine occasions, Liz won team Bronze in 1998 and 2004, and in 2008 was the highest placed European in 15th place.  In all, Liz has represented Great Britain over 25 times on the roads, track and cross country.

Simon also made it clear that Martin is no slouch either!  Martin has twice won the elite British Duathlon (run-bike-run) championships and was ranked world number 13 in 2004.  He has represented Great Britain at eight elite World Championships, and has competed in numerous duathlon, triathlon (including ironman) and running events - as a runner Martin has competed for England and won medals at National level.

Before presenting the awards, Liz provided us with a brief account of the challenges she has faced through her athletic career.  She explained how, despite the fact that there often seemed to be someone (Paula Radcliffe!) blocking first place, she never gave up the hard work required to achieve maximum potential.  It was very interesting to hear of Liz's experiences and progress, and everyone took on board her message that even those who have not won awards should not be deterred from training and working hard - the more we put in, the more we get out.

Our president, Dave Parsons, then gave an account of the activities of the club during the year.  Some of the items he mentioned were:

The British Athletics League Division 3 men's' team, who have retained their place in this Division, a considerable achievement considering its promotion into this Division (by-passing Division 4) this season from Southern League Division 1

The Southern Women's League Division 1 team, which has also been able to retain its place in this Division, to which it is newly promoted

The National Young Athletes League (composite with Poole Runners) which won every single match, resulting in promotion from Division 1 to the Premier Division

The National Junior Athletes League (also composite with Poole Runners) which struggled to produce full teams but nevertheless its valiant efforts must be acknowledged

The Wessex League and Quadkids, both of which achieved their objectives of providing entertaining and challenging athletics for our youngsters

The Dorset Road Race League, which our senior men's' team won this year with four races still to go, in which a number of club members will achieve individual awards

The Hampshire Cross Country League, in which our senior men's' team gained promotion to Division 1, and at the moment lie 2nd in that Division

Special Olympics, run by Tony Jones-Pert, which is an example of the club's major contribution to the local community

The many exceptional individual performances, which will be recognised in the awards to be presented by Liz. 

The presentations then followed.  This list of award winners identifies the awards only by their codes, but it does show how many awards each of the athletes received. 

The full list of award winners

There are three awards which merit a specific mention.

Firstly, at a ceremony recently in Birmingham, Ron Little, from England Athletics, received a third place award in recognition of his 30 years service as an Official.  Ron, who is BAC's Officials Secretary, has been a familiar figure for many, many years at all kinds of athletic event - track and field, road, cross country - carrying out a variety of 'official' duties, not infrequently as the event referee, and, of course, without the commitment shown by Ron, and others like him, these athletic events, which we all enjoy, simply would not happen.  Ron's award was richly deserved, and, although this wasn't a BAC trophy, the opportunity was taken to represent it at the Presentation Evening.  In an email to the club, received after the Presentation evening, Liz and Martin Yelling specifically mentioned Ron, saying "a particular well done to Ron for his lifetime efforts".  Our congratulations, and thanks, go to Ron.

Secondly, the President's Award went to James Lelliott.  James is a highly talented young athlete, who received a number of other awards during the evening for his achievements.  The President's Award is to a club member chosen personally by the President as a recipient, and Dave's decision was based on James' outstanding performances throughout the year, including setting new Long Jump and Octathlon club records for his age group, and competing internationally on two occasions.  James' efforts were specifically acknowledged in the email, referred to above, from Liz and Martin, who said "well done to James as one to watch".  No-one can argue with Dave's decision to present James with this award!

Thirdly, a new trophy, the Ronald Keay Trophy, for the outstanding Junior Cross Country Runner of the Year, went to Fergus O'Reilly.  Ronald Keay was himself a talented cross country runner, competing, before the Second World War, for a number of clubs in the North West, including Salford Harriers.  In 1938, he was tenth in the National Cross Country, earning him a place in the English Team, but only a few hours before the international race he was taken out of the team to be replaced by a reserve.  Ronald admitted that he could have done better, but he enjoyed the social life, so whether this had something to do with what happened isn't known! During the war, he served with the Royal Navy, and in 1948, the year he retired from competitive running, he was moved by his employer, District Bank, to Bournemouth, and, of course he joined Bournemouth Athletic Club.  For many years, Ronald was our club secretary, and in due course he was elected as a Life Member.  He passed away on 28 October 2007.  His stepson, Ronald Oliver (himself a member of Ranelagh Harriers for over fifty years), this year kindly donated the Ronald Keay Trophy in memory of his stepfather.  Fergus O'Reilly is a worthy first recipient of this trophy having achieved championship status in his age group in the Hampshire Cross Country League last season (so far as we know this is the first individual award this club has achieved in this league), and, having moved up an age group, often a very challenging time for a young athlete, Fergus has finished in the top six in both Hampshire League fixtures so far this season.

A photograph gallery of the Presentation Evening.   

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