Have you renewed your membership for 2008?
If you have lost the one Simon sent you, download a membership form and send it in now. Please note that we have reviewed subscriptions for 2008 and they are now Seniors £15, Juniors £5 and Family £20.

Waveney & Norwich events both open

• Waveney 11th May - see http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php?raceID=100063

• Norwich Standard 6th July - see http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php?raceID=100057

(Note that there is also a Norwich Junior event on 5th July, and a Sprint event on 6th July)

Please make sure that when you are asked for your club that you enter as "Ipswich Triathlon Club", not just as "Ipswich" otherwise it gets difficult to find people in the results amongst other Ipswich clubs such as Jaffa, Ipswich Bike Club etc.

The club committee won't be formally discussing the clubs championships (& league) until Thursday this week but I'm guessing that we'll be sticking with Norwich Standard as the club championships, and will keep Waveney in the league seeing as how it has been so popular.

Do you know an inspirational young volunteer? They can be nominated for a Young Achievers Award (by 20^th December) - see www.youngachievers.co.uk  or contact fiona.jamieson@youthnet.org for more information

Ipswich Triathlon Club Christmas dinner - Friday 14th December 2007 – 7.30pm

"Thai 1", 39 Upper Orwell Street, Ipswich, Tel. 01473 286371

Please email Laura on Laura.Williams@imperial.nhs.uk to book your place – no advance ££ or orders required.

Deadline for bookings Friday 7th December – capacity is 20 but I’m sure this will be flexibile if necessary.

Nice and central so plan will be food followed by drinks in town afterwards for all those keen. Have a look on the website www.thai-1.co.uk - click on IPSWICH to link to restaurant details. If you don’t know it, Laura promises it’s nicer than it looks!!!
Remember - please e-mail Laura.Williams@imperial.nhs.uk to confirm your seat!

What, no race reports? - After a BUMPER OKTOBERFEST issue, you’ve clearly all gone home to rest of something! Apart from a few pointers at cold packs, dangerous places, etc I do not appear to have received a single race report or similar contribution for November’s ITCH. So I’ll hold off publishing to give you a chance to send in any of those items you’d been meaning to write!
Meanwhile:

We have a new Chairman, and a race committee…
The AGM voted in Nick Collinson as Chairman and me (Charlie Stannett) as regional rep (John Gabriel is leaving the area and has resigned from the club) but otherwise the committee remains Steve dB & Kate Stannett as captains, Simon Palmer secretary, Nik Bestow treasurer, and Adrian Green junior/development. I will continue with communications.  You will recall that Nick was Chairman in 2006.
We have also formed a core “race committee” to share the load of organising events – more in ITCH when it comes out but if you’re interested in committing time to this, contact Simon Palmer. (Note – the committee won’t be doing everything! You will still need to nominate an event where you will help.)

I am trying to work out which events to include in the ITCH league for 2008.

·       It appears the Ironman UK and Vitruvian are now on the same weekend. The Vitruvian is on Saturday 6^th September, which makes it an ideal warm-up for Ironman UK which is on Sunday 7^th September.  Entries are already open for Ironman – see www.ironmanuk.com – and open for the Vitruvian on December 1^st.
I already know of three people going for IMUK, and there is also already a lot of e-mail flying around encouraging people to enter the Vitruvian.

·       But there is also a possibility that Clacton will be plumping for the same weekend in September so – what to do, what to do?

·       However, for those of you – Steve, Dave – who do like trying two events in one weekend, Harwich will be holding a triathlon weekend on June 21^st & 22^nd 2008, featuring a standard (“Olympic”) distance open-water event as well as their popular pool-based sprint event – I am minded to feature both of these.  Entries already open - http://www.harwichrunners.co.uk/triathlon/index.php

·       The ever popular shortie Waveney is listed as 11-May-08 on www.ebta.co.uk – this filled up quickly this year
·       Grays has moved to 29-Jun-08, which is the same date as Norwich Olympic – so, if we repeat our use of Norwich as our club championship, I will NOT feature Grays.

·       I know of three people already entered for the Ironman 70.3 UK at Wimbleball.  If you are thinking of doing this and are seriously committed to the idea of sharing transport, Nick is willing to look into organising a minibus or something – so let us know.

·       We really do not want to feature Culford in the league if it means people enter rather than help run it.  On the other hand it is a superb event for people just joining the sport, so I might see if there is a way of including it but only for recently joined members.

·       What say you?

3. Foolish things

·       Although three club members have already entered it, the league will NOT include the Thames Meander – it isn’t a triathlon! (but if there any other Meander-fools interested in a 54 mile training jog in February, Sue, see www.thamesmeander.com … )

·       Word on the streets is that all male places in the Norseman have already been taken. One Mr Copland is planning to be there again!

pre-AGM run - There will be a run session immediately before the AGM. We'll be leaving Greshams at 6:15 *prompt*, which will allow time for a 45 minute run and a shower before the AGM starts at 7:30. The route is open to negotiation but in the absence of any other suggestions it will be a repeat of last week's 'Shell Garage' run.

Ironman UK - The official Ironman UK TV show will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 8.25am on Sunday 4th November.  To tie in with that, entries have just opened for pre-registered people for next year's Ironman UK on 7th September 2008. See http://www.ironmanuk.com/ but do not hang around if you want to enter - I gather they had more people pre-registered than they had places.

Cross-country on Sunday - Nik Bestow has spotted that Ipswich are playing Norwich in Norwich on Sunday so you might need to allow a bit more time to get to Fritton Lake.

Swimming training - there was no swimming this morning (we don't usually get the use of the pool during half-terms). Steve did tell everybody he saw but if you went and were disappointed, then apologies.  Reminder that there is no swimming on 3rd November.

Ipswich Triathlon Club AGM - the minutes from the 2006 AGM can be downloaded in PDF format, as can the constitution as it stood going into that meeting.
Click here for 2006 minutes
Click here for constitution as at October 2006.

Ipswich Triathlon Club AGM - will be held on Thursday evening 8th November at Greshams.  Please try to arrive at 7:30 for a 7:45 start.
The agenda will include: election of committee members; a resolution to change the subscriptions structure.
Nominations for committee posts should be sent to Simon Palmer by Thursday 1st November and include the name of the (willing) nominee, a proposer and at least one seconder. Some - but not all - existing committee members have said that they will be willing to stand if no alternative nominations are made, but will still need proposing and seconding.
Please note that the AGM cannot be used by members to vote in changes to club rules. That is the role of the committee. However, members can propose changes to the constitution as well as voting in a new committee. If you wish to propose a change to the club's constitution you must submit your proposed resolution to Simon Palmer, again by Thursday 1st November.
The formal business is likely to last no more than two hours maximum. A "third hour" will be made available for open discussion to allow members to make their views known to the members of the incoming committee.
A buffet will be provided.

Thursday night training
25/10.   Dales Road run (5-6 mile road run).
01/11.   Shell garage run (4-5 mile road run).
08/11.   AGM.
15/11.   Sprint session with Derrick.
22/11.   Valley Road hill session.
29/11.   Night Navigation run (Fynn valley in the dark) head torches required.
06/12.   Dales Road run.
13/12.   New route (sorted by John Wankowski).
20/12.   Valley road hill session.

Abject apologies. For reasons which one or two people know about I have totally timed out with getting September's ITCH completed so, given how close we are to October, I shall carry everything over to a bumper October issue.

Thursday sessions at Greshams: Sep 27th - Speed session (Derrick to take); Oct 4th - Dales road run; Oct 11 - Valley road hill session; Oct 18 - 4/5 mile road run (with optional extra bit at the end)

Saturday swim sessions – Steve dB tells me: Sep 29th is now confirmed as ON. October 6th is OFF; 13th & 20th ON; 27th OFF. November 3rd OFF (but there might be another excuse to get wet near Ipswich), 10th, 17th & 24th ON. December 1st, 8th and 15th ON.

Social events on/being planned:
Fri 28th Sep “Fat Hen” playing “Keep on running” & other stuff at the Black Horse, Stratford St Mary. (blatant ad)
Sat 20th October “anything that dazzles” pub night at the Woolpack.
Provisional date for Christmas munchies Friday 14th December.

Facebook – Adrian Green is kicking off a “facebook” area. If you want to be invited to join, e-mail Adrian at juniors@ipswich-tri.org giving your e-mail address.  Once it gets off the ground we’ll add a link from the formal website.

My e-mail address: some people have been using my work e-mail address to contact me. Subject to some local confirmation, that address will fail soon so please use my club addresses.

Attachment filters - some members seem to be having problem receiving ITCH in the HTML format I send out as e-mail, with it being converted to a "WINMAIL.DAT" file. If anybody else knows why this is happening please let me know! But rest assured I always try to make sure that ITCH is published on the site before I send out the e-mail.

ITCH for September - work commitments mean that I might not now be able to compile September's ITCH until AFTER the Vitruvian, so there is still time for you to send in further race reports.

Good luck to people competing at Clacton - I know "Boggy" Copland & Steve dB are both attempting the double - and also to everybody competing in the Vitruvian, which incorporates the national middle-distance championships.

Cyclo-cross training - anybody reading this month's 220 magazine will understand the usefulness of cyclo-cross to certain triathlon events.  John Gabriel informs me that if anyone is interested in competing in cyclo-cross this winter, IBC training sessions start on Saturday 1 September at Foxhall Stadium, meet at 9.45 for 10.00am start, finish 12 noon, cost £2.  Anyone interested in the East Anglian Cyclo-Cross League, visit the website at http://easterncross.users.btopenworld.com/ for details of races, costs etc.

Junior triathlon & duathlon both full - waiting list in operation.

Thursday evening training sessions

Aug 16^th        Fynn Valley run
Aug 23^rd        Hill running session, Christchurch Park
Aug 30^th        Four-five mile road run (use as sharpener for Clacton)
Sep 6^th         Turbo/run session (use as sharpener for Waveney)
Sep 13^th        Hill-running session, Valley Road
Sep 20^th        Four-five mile road run

Swimming - the session originally planned for Saturday 25th August has had to be cancelled.

We have the special bike-training session.

Correction - there is NO swimming on 14th July - reminder that swimming goes from 9:00 to 10:00.

Club championships - the winners of the club championships were: Male – Dave Copland, Male vet – Mark Bowditch,  Male super vet – Derrick Smith; Female – Sam Fulcher, Female vet – Julia Yelloly, Female super vet – Maria Reynolds.

Saturday morning swimming sessions back on – July 14th & 21st (see below for complementary bike session later that same morning); August 11th & 25th. There will also be dates in September & later, which will be in ITCH.

Bike training special – July 21st at Foxhall Road (IBC members will be familiar with this).  It will cost you £2 and you need to be there for 11.30 am prompt, there being Foxhall Stadium, entrance off Foxhall Road. You will need your bike, kit and helmet (no helmet, no ride). Activities will be general track cycling, riding in groups, speed, sprints etc all on slightly banked concrete circuit, road bikes essential.

Thursday evening sessions: 12/07   Bike ride, 19/07   Fynn Valley run, 26/07   Turbo run session, 02/08   4 mile road run, 09/08   Drill session on playing field

Volunteers – we are still desperately short of volunteers, especially for the Ipswich duathlon which may yet have to be cancelled if not enough people come forward to help.  There will be more about this in ITCH but if you have not yet put your hand up – or if you are willing to help at more than one event – please get in touch with John Gabriel (for duathlon), Dave Copland (for Culford) and/or Simon Palmer (for junior).

Reminder of club championships - I intend sending a fuller reminder before my broadband goes but do not forget that our championships will be decided on 1st July at Norwich. The committee is looking into awarding the trophies at Greshams shortly afterwards, probably 5th July.

Visitors to titch may have found a broken link to the distances table. This should have been fixed now as well.

ITCH for May now on-line - contributors include Nik Bestow, Steve dB, John Gabriel, Adrian Green, Sarah Miller, Simon Palmer, Susannah Rosenberg & Laura Williams (social event May 18th - urgent reply needed by Friday 11th).

Forthcoming swimming sessions at Woolverstone - school holidays are upon us which means the current pool availability is:

• March 31st & April 7th - NO swimming
• April 14th - swimming likely BUT you are advised to check with Steve dB before cycling a long distance
• April 21st & 28th - swimming as usual (be there for a 9:00am start)
• May 5th, 12th & 19th - swimming as usual

If you want to be on a ring round list for notification of changes at short notice then let Steve have your number.
Steve is on 07795 564322

Junior training events - the formal session at Framlingham on April 15th is filling fast, but about to be opened to non-members. So sign up now if you don't want to be disappointed.  Further information will start to appear on the "titch" pages shortly.
With the less formal events you must still let Ady know if you intend coming - he will cancel events rather than waste club resource if not enough people have committed to coming.
Contact Ady by e-mailing juniors@ipswich-tri.org or ringing 01379-388855.

Club kit - please remember that club kit is ordered through Heather Collinson by e-mailing kit@ipswich-tri.org or by ringing 01473-620651 - not by e-mailing ITCH.
Heather is having some trouble putting together a sufficiently large spring order to meet the minimum order requirements we have with our supplier. So, if you are still only thinking about ordering kit - maybe you've spotted that your winter jacket has worn a bit thin in places and might need replacing before the autumn, or maybe you realise that you would have done more winter mileage if only you'd got around to ordering those fantastic club thermal bib tights - please give Heather a call sooner rather than later.

Have you renewed your membership? If you've lost your form, click here to download another copy.
(If you're a senior member you need only print & complete the front of the form.)

Ipswich tri - BSE XC at Nowton, training, plus ITCH - any more?
I’ve held back compiling ITCH for a couple of days – Steve has hit a slight delay on getting the cross-country league updates.  Meanwhile:

• please note that Sunday’s cross-country at Bury St Edmunds is back at the Nowton venue, and not at Culford
• there is still no immediate sign of the swimming pool re-opening, but do let Steve dB know your phone number if you want to be on his ring-round list for late updates
• this Thursday’s evening session at Greshams is likely to be a 5.5 mile run through the Dales area of Ipswich
• do not forget to renew your membership – I’ll prune my mailing list after the February mailing.
  PLEASE – if you are reading this, you clearly have e-mail, so don’t ask for a paper copy!
• do not forget to get your entry in for the club championships – the Norwich triathlon
• vis-à-vis the ITCH league, the early Waveney sprint event is full but they are putting on a second event in September.  How many people are likely to be doing that?

And, seeing as how I’m waiting for Steve to get his update on the cross-country, I’ll hold the cut-off for ITCH until midnight Friday 2nd Feb – so it’s not too late for you to submit any further stories for the February issue.

Boxing day runs - option 2 - Ipswich rugby club - Michelle Constable reports "theres a 2 miler on boxing Day at Ipswich Rugby Club if anyone feels the need.." http://www.ipswichjaffa.org.uk/diary/06/plumb_pudding.pdf

New Year's Day - option 1 - 53-12 Charity Cross-country in Colchester
Entry forms only available from the 53-12 shop but you can enter on the day - race starts at 2:00pm but be at shop from 1:00 to enter on the day.
Affiliated runners £10, unattached runners £12m, any cheques payable to St Helena Hospice.
The course is based on last year's but may need a slight tweak to avoid some water-logging - but I'm assured it won't be more than 5 miles.

New Year's Day - option 2 - Wymondham 10km
If you prefer tarmac and fancy a drive "up north", there's the Wymondham New Years Day 10km - see http://www.wymondhamac.org.uk

Membership for 2007 - watch out for a membership renewal form popping through your letter box in January.  Additional information will be needed for any junior members.  Membership subscriptions continue, in effect, to be subsidised by the events we hold which is why you must undertake to help crew at least one of our events as part of your membership subscription.

Ipswich duathlon 2007 - entries have also now opened for our own duathlon. Again, visit www.entrycentral.net to enter on-line. Further details will be published shortly.

Swimming cancelled until further notice - we shall try and get more details to put on to the website but essentially Steve de Boltz has been told that the Wolverstone pool has had to be closed and will remain out of action certainly until 2007, so no more sessions for this year.
Please - if you know anybody who comes to the sessions, could you mention this to them. Not everybody has internet access.
Steve is our point of contact with the pool - Steve's mobile is 07795 564 322.

Christmas Dinner 15th December - Laura has so far received well over twenty names for this but still has a few places left. If you would like to come please email Laura to let her know, as soon as possible.

Woodbridge cross-country 11:00 Sunday 10th December - we've been warned by Woodbridge Shufflers that car parking space will be limited at Woodbridge Rugby Club (Hatchley Barn) as we can no longer park on the rugby pitch surrounds.  Please car-share or cycle.

November 2006 ITCH - click here for PDF - or just click here to read on line
If you think you have renewed for 2006 and have given Simon an e-mail address, but have NOT received November ITCH by e-mail, please let me know - e-mail charlie@ipswich-tri.org

Christmas Dinner 15th December - Laura Williams has made a reservation at The Greyhound Pub (corner of Anglesea and Henley Road) on Friday 15th December for an Ipswich Triathlon Club Christmas dinner.  If you would like to come please email Laura to let her know. There is a maximum of around 30 people so it's first come first serve.  The meal is 7pm - 9pm but anyone who is unable to make the meal (or if it becomes over-subscribed) will of course be very welcome to come down for a drink.

BTA AGM - if you are a member of the BTA, remember that your AGM is at Loughborough on 5th November.

Flora London Marathon 2007 - if you intend applying for a club place please read the criteria we use for awarding them (assuming we get some this year!).

Club championships table - this has been updated, probably for the penultimate time before the awards are given out. It is looking good for Graham and Kate at the moment...

Suffolk cross-country series - read October's ITCH for further details but please remember that the first event is at FRAMLINGHAM CASTLE on Sunday 29^th OCTOBER.
Enter on the day in good time for the start time of 11.00am - the RACE HQ IS THE SPORTS GROUND NEXT TO THE POLICE STATION ON THE B1120 BADINGHAM RD.
We need 10 for a team, 7 men and 3 ladies.
There is also a junior race - you have to be 11years old on the day on the race--distance about 2miles and 5 for the senior race. It is £3.00 for seniors, juniors are free!

Ironman UK on Channel 4 - if you are thinking of entering IMUK next year, then try and catch Channel 4's "Adrenalin Rush" at 7:55am on Sunday morning before you go to the cross-country at Framlingham. The programme features the 2006 IMUK at Sherborne.

Ipswich bicycle club address amended on Links page.

October 2006 ITCH - click here for PDF - or just click here to read on line
If you think you have renewed for 2006 and have given Simon an e-mail address, but have NOT received October ITCH by e-mail, please let me know - e-mail charlie@ipswich-tri.org