Blackpool Wyre and Fylde Athletics Club steps up training but pauses to say farewell to true stalwart

The impact of coronavirus on the younger generation of athletes cannot be over-estimated but juniors at Blackpool Wyre and Fylde Athletics Club have been staying connected with their coaches via social media.
Athletes from across the Fylde coast celebrated the life of David Wood this weekAthletes from across the Fylde coast celebrated the life of David Wood this week
Athletes from across the Fylde coast celebrated the life of David Wood this week
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Athletics community saddened by death of popular stalwart

The weekly online meetings have included circuit training, yoga and back-to-basics with sprint drills.

Weekly training sessions have been set but in lockdown this has been tough. Thinking of household items to use in circuit training has definitely challenged the coaches!

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Following new guidelines from the Government and England Athletics, face-to-face sessions with coaches have recommenced for groups of six in open areas.

These have varied but one of most fun (and wettest thanks to all the rain) has been on the beach.

For all in Sarah Parson’s group, the beach session was a first. They all worked so hard.

Stan Taylor has been setting weekly training schedules for his juniors and is now back taking small group sessions with the help of Sarah Scott, while Sam Rogers organised grass and sand-dune sessions for her athletes. It was much harder for Kevin Davies with his pole vaulters!

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Sarah Parson has also kept busy doing online learning and webinars with England Athletics. BWFAC also has some new junior sports leaders in Chloé Parsons & Zach Terras completed their Leadership in Athletics whilst in lockdown. This course was completed online over 2 x 1.5 hour courses and is an introductory course into coaching. Chloé has since (with Sarah’s supervision) set up and carried out a couple of training sessions with the younger members of my sprinters. This is all good news for the future of BWF AC.

Using online tools, Jenny Meadows and England Athletics have set weekly challenges to add variety and help keep athletes motivated.

Everyone is eager to get back on the track and is missing the buzz of competitions, and the opportunities they provide to meet people from all around the country.

The funeral of David Wood, the Fylde coast athletics stalwart and The Gazette’s long-serving BWFAC correspondent, took place on Wednesday, when many from the athletics community lined up to pay their last respects.

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Runners from various local clubs formed a guard of honour outside Carleton Crematorium and six junior girls from BWFAC helped to push the coffin.

The Rev Steve Dunn, a runner himself, helped to conduct the service and paid moving tribute to David.

It is intended to hold a further memorial service when guidelines permit.

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