Ayr Seaforth Athletic Club is an

athletics club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

located in

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

, Scotland. The club trains at Dam Park track, situated outside

Ayr College Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

. The club hosts a club championship every year that allows up-and-coming athletes to compete against their teammates to see who has progressed the most through the year. Ayr Seaforth is Ayr's only athletics club offering athletes both young and old the opportunity to take part in many aspects of athletics. Seaforth has a very strong road running club but is also a strong track and field event club. Dam park track is made up of

tartan track Tartan Track is a trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing made of polyurethane used for track and field competitions, manufactured by 3M. It lets athletes compete in bad weather without serious performance loss and improves their resu ...

; the track has a signature red color it. This track runs for 400 m with eight lanes around the full length, along with this Dam park also hosts a high jump area, a triple jump pit, a long jump pit, a shot put area, a javelin area, a hammer throw area and a football pitch.

Notable athletes

Brian Whittle Brian Ian Whittle (born 26 April 1964) is a Scottish politician and former athlete, who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region), South Scotland region since 2016 Scottish P ...

is a British athlete who competed in both the

1986 European Championships in Athletics The 14th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 to 31 August 1986 at the Neckarstadion, now known as Mercedes-Benz Arena, in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. ...

and the

1994 European Championships in Athletics The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland. Men's results Complete results were published. Track 1986 , 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , Field 1986 , 1990 , 199 ...

; in both of these races he won gold. During his youth, he ran at Ayr Seaforth and Enfield Athletics club, where he began to train for the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

; he since has moved to

Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club is an athletics club based in North London. The club has tracks in two locations; Lee Valley Athletics Centre and New River Stadium. History Enfield and Haringey AC was formed in 1999 with the merger of Borough ...

. Many other athletes have competed at national and international level.

Training provided

Ayr seaforth has a number of very skilled and talented coaches that will give up their own time to help train the athletes to get them at their peak condition. The coaching has been split up into various classes; coaches will provide support in their chosen fields. The sprint team has a sprint coach and so on. The training that the coaches provide allows new athletes to improve the way in which they train and run.

Track and field

For track and field athletes, the training regime is for two hours every Tuesday and Thursday, during the winter training period athletes are asked to take part in specialist winter training. The winter training helps boost an athlete's endurance and stamina by getting athletes to go hill running (this usually takes place on Sundays). The track and field training usually have sessions of light speed training and heavy sets of endurance training this will allow the athlete to gain valuable skills to allow them to compete at a club or national level.

Road running

Participants in road running for Ayr Seaforth meet up twice a week to train on the track at ''Dam Park Stadium'' and then usually once a week participate physically in

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...

. Road running is considered to be long-distance running and Ayr Seaforth usually consider road running distance to me around 6–10 miles. When training, many road runners will run large distances around the town of Ayr. The athletes usually keep to pavements when training.

Cross country

The club does not offer any specific training for cross country. However, during summer, Ayr Seaforth run off-road around the

River Ayr The River Ayr (pronounced like ''air'', ''Uisge Àir'' in Gaelic) is a river in Ayrshire, Scotland. At it is the longest river in the county. The river was held as sacred by pre-Christian cultures. The remains of several prehistoric sacrificial ...

and Auchincruive area. There are also many cross country competitions and relays during the winter season. Many younger runners are encouraged to begin training for cross country before specializing in a specific track and field event. Much of the cross country takes place in local outdoor areas.

Training grounds

Ayr Seaforth train at Dam Park Stadium, which is an athletics facility operated by South Ayrshire Council and located less than a mile from Ayr town centre. It consists of an eight-lane trace with polymeric surface which was resurfaced in July 2002, and holds a provision for field events, such as

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

and

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

. The Stadium's field area is often used to hold football matches. Dam park Grandstand

The Pavilion in Dam Park has five changing rooms, two toilet and shower blocks, two storerooms for equipment and a general purpose area. There is a seating capacity of 478 spectators in the pavilion and also a press box. The stadium is mainly used for athletics coaching and football events, nevertheless a wide range of outdoor activities can be accommodated. Music festivals, such as ''Jam At The Dam'', fire safety events and dog trials have previously taken place at Dam Park.South Ayrshire Council
/ref> (Jam at The Dam)

Events

''Club Championship'' - the yearly club race meeting which consists of

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

events. Mainly Sprint(running),

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

, Steeplechase(athletics),

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. ''Turkey trot'' - a 10 km road race held just after Christmas to give road racing athletes a bit of a challenge. Organised b
Ayrodynamic Triathlon Club
''Scottish Juniors'' - an event that allows younger runners (Under-18s) compete against athletes of their own age as well as similar talents or skills. ''UK School Games'' - an event that allows school children to compete in possibly their first large-scale event. ''5 KM series'' - an event usually taking place along Ayr shore front, (usually for road running athletes) as the name implies the length of the course is 5 km however there is also a 3 km run available as well. There are many cross country events that allow athletes compete across Scotland; some of these are: * National Cross Country Relay * Ayrshire Cross Country Championships . West District Cross Country Relays . Club Cross Country Championship . Scottish Road Relay Championships . Scottish Junior Road Relay Championships . Scottish Schools Cross Country Championships . National Cross Country Championships

History

''Ayr Seaforth'' has had many successes through its history. Little is known about the origins of the club but it appears that the club was established around the 1950s. Since that time the training grounds have had many improvements made to them, allowing the club to train at Dam Park. Last year, South Ayrshire council began to resurface the track as it was badly in need of repair; this work was completed shortly after it began and allowed the club to begin training at Dam Park once again.

Presentation Night

This is an event where the athletes are honored for their hard work and many receive awards for dedication and success in track and field events, cross country events and road races. This event is usually held at a local hotel where the athletes can enjoy a night relaxing instead of training. Many of the club trophies are also distributed on this night, such as best male athlete, best female athlete and best in club.

Membership

When an athlete becomes a member at Ayr seaforth they are then able to compete for the club at either club level or national level. This also means the athlete can wear club colors when competing, Ayr seaforth colors consist of a white vest with a red cross. These colors also resemble the club logo. Membership usually consists of a once a year fee, this fee is used to help cover club costs such as upkeep and insurance for the athletes using the facilities. All coaches are volunteers and give up their time to help develop young athletes.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Ayr Seaforth Official WebsiteAyr Seaforth's power of 10 rankingsSouth Ayrshire's official websiteUnited Kingdom Athletics official website
Sport in Ayr Athletics clubs in Scotland