I'm afraid the forum is going to be offline for a while. It looks as though plusnet's server suffered an attack from hackers that corrupted the server and they have taken it offline. The plusnet server I use is a service offered by plusnet to their ISP customers, and not a professional hosting site. Therefore it doesn't have the same level of protection that you would expect from a professional site.

Plusnet were going to upgrade the server to a new version - and it looks as though this incident means they will recover the server by actually installing the new one. This in itself may give further problems since the forum software is fairly old and may have issues running on the new server. Ideally I'd like to migrate the forum to another hosting site, but that's not too high on my to do list...

John

Apart from a very strong wind, conditions were very good on Sunday for the Stafford_20  .

Hi all, Just a quick note, a personal plea to help us be quorate (we from memory need at least 20 members in attendance to comply with the rules of the club's constitution ) can I appeal to you to try to attend the AGM at the Clubhouse at Macc Track starting at 8.15pm prompt this coming Thursday (11th March).
Hopefully there will be nothing TOO controversial to vote on, and it will all be over in a few minutes, but it would be nice for you all to potentially have your say on what your club does for you.
 
Hope to see you on Thursday. Craig Harwood. Club Chairman, Macclesfield Harriers & AC. 

(One issue which might be discussed is maintenance of the track, which is urgently required in some areas, but unfortunately the owners Cheshire East Council have only very limited funds to carry this out. A point for debate is whether the club should allocate some of its money to address this. Further info can be obtained from any member of the committee.

If you have any views on this - or anything else - please come along to the AGM !) 

Double congratulations to Macclesfield Harrier Seonaid Murray who had an excellent run at the Kelvin Hall Arena in Glasgow recently to become the Scottish indoor 800 metre champion. 

As a result of this performance, Seonaid was selected to represent Scotland in the Celtic International in Cardiff last weekend. Seonaid had a good battle with the Irish athlete and in an exciting finish secured victory and maximum points for Scotland in the event, in a new personal best time of 2mins 10.5 secs.

There's more info here.

Seonaid currently runs for Liverpool Harriers, but has been a first or second claim member of Macclesfield Harriers since the age of nine.

*Updated as below *

Sometimes it’s not all good news.

I’m sorry to have to report that club member, and Macc Half marathon organiser, Phil Janaway died last Thursday, 11th February, aged 44.

One is Gemma Venables, who is running for the Rossendale_Trust, a local worthy charity. Good Luck Gemma !

If you'd like to sponsor Gemma, you can do so here .

Another is Harry Newton - who after taking a year off last year will be running his 10th marathon this year, and is hoping to raise a good sum of money for the_Multiple_Sclerosis_Society.  

Anyone wishing to sponsor him can do so here

And also Andrea Frost. 'As quite a few of you know already, it's going to be my 4th marathon, 3rd at London.  I'm doing something a little bit different this year and going for the fancy dress option!  I'm daring to go as Wonder Woman (an ambition of mine for a few years now!) to raise money for Shelter.
 
If you'd like to make a donation to support this great charity my Just Giving page is here, any amount would be very gratefully received !
Many thanks Andrea (and will we see you out on training nights in full costume ??)

And Kristy Readman, who is running her first ever marathon this year for The_Alzheimers_Society.

If you'd like to make a donation to support Kristy's run you can do so here.

And Jenny Lee - 'Hiya All, I'm Jenny and I run with the Harrier road 'B' group during the week. I have definitely caught the running bug - and I'm running the Edinburgh Marathon May 2010 and Sheffield Half Marathon April 2010 to raise funds for the British_Heart_Foundation in memory of my Dad who died of a heart attack at 46.

Here's a link to my fundraising page if you would like to donate. Thank you, Jenny Lee.'

All these are worthy causes I'm sure you'll agree, so all support you can give for our marathoners will I'm sure be very welcome.

And if anyone else is running for charity, please let me know and I'll add you to this message.

Good luck Gemma, Harry, Andrea Kristy and Jenny - and everyone else - with the training: stick at it, keep those long runs going, stay injury-free, and enjoy the day !

Here are the results from today's Alsager 5 mile road race, the second race of the Club's Road Championship for 2010.

We need your help! The Macclesfield Half Marathon Committee needs a volunteer who could work with some local companies to try to gain some sponsorship for the race so that we can offset some of the expenses and maximise our donations to charity. If you would like to join me and the committee then please contact me via the forum or via the Macc Half Contact button.
Cheers
Mandy