Hi,
A Happy New Year to everyone.
The weather has been very inclement, but I suppose it is January.
Quite a lot to report this month.
AGM and Social
The club AGM took place on 18th January followed by a meal which was enjoyed by all who attended, even Catherine who had her pudding stolen by someone who shall remain nameless (ok, it was me!).
The club committee was re-elected en bloc, so the club officials for 2025 are as follows:
Chair and Membership Secretary – Mark Lister
Treasurer – Sally Smart
Secretary – Dave Elks
Social Secretary – Jayne Cresswell
Magnificent Eastnor Castle 7 Race Director – Chris Law
Magnificent Eastnor Castle 7 Race Secretary – Helen Keegan
Cross Country Coordinator and Kit Coordinator – Neil Grinnell
Webmaster – Dave Bannister
This will be my third year as Chair and the club constitution requires that I stand down at the end of the year. Please give some thought about who can takeover that role and possibly other roles in the club as the present committee have all been involved for some time and may want a break.
There is a committee meeting on 27th February and all members are welcome to come along and see what we do and bring some new ideas.
Magnificent Eastnor Castle 7 – 6th April
The canicross race is sold out and has a waiting list. We already have more than 80 entries for the main race which is well ahead of where we were this time last year. Please look out for postings on Facebook and Instagram and share them.
Chris will be looking for volunteers to help over the weekend of the race so please save the date and let him know if you can help.
As the race is slightly later than last year we will be able to do a recce run on the Tuesday before the race (1st April) as the clocks will have gone back by then.
Winter Cross Country League
The league has suffered badly because of the weather and so far only one race has taken place. What was supposed to be the last race of the season takes place at Forest Fields next Sunday (2nd February).
The Rotherwas race has been rescheduled for 23rd February. No date for the Croft race has yet been fixed.
If you fancy having a go at any of the races please let Neil know.
Couch to 5K
The course is nearly halfway through already. Everyone who signed up seems to be enjoying it and several people have joined us on Tuesday club runs already. A huge thanks to Sally for organising it and to the leaders who are helping on Sunday mornings.
The parkrun graduation run will be on 8th March, probably at Newent. It would be good to have some support from other club members at that run so please put the date in your diaries and come along if you can.
Pub Run – 4th March
There will be a pub run on 4th March, meeting at The Market House at the usual time and retiring to The Talbot for chips and a drink afterwards. We are working on a different sort of run for the evening so keep your eyes open for details.
Membership of England Athletics
The committee is considering whether the club should remain affiliated to England Athletics when the membership year begins in April.
There do not appear to be many advantages for the club in continuing the affiliation. It will cost the club £205. Individual affiliation will cost an additional £20 if we remain affiliated. England Athletics have recently introduced individual membership (for those not members of an affiliated club) which currently costs £30.
Only about 35 members of the club are affiliated to EA this year.
EA are insisting upon more and more paperwork from affiliated clubs which puts a strain on those who are expected to complete it.
All of the training courses for run leaders are online (rather than in person). We think we can probably organise some external in person training for those who want to do it for less than EA charge.
EA membership for the club does include public liability insurance for run leaders and club activities but we also have adequate insurance form our membership of the Association or Running Clubs (ARC) who also provide the licence for the Mag7 Race.
Finally, EA membership used to include a guaranteed London Marathon place. For the last two years, because we do not have a sufficient number of individuals affiliated to EA, instead of a guaranteed place we have been in a ballot with other clubs in the same position for a limited number of places. We have not been successful through that system.
We will be discussing this issue at the committee meeting on 27th February. If you have any views please either let a member of the committee meeting know them or come along to the meeting.
Other News
The Pendock Spring Chicken Run (10K or 5K) takes place on 30th March. This has always sold out very quickly in past years but entries are very slow this year. I am planning to run it and it would be good if some other members joined me.
Finally, a word of congratulation to Nick Tyler who completed his 400th parkrun on Saturday (25th January).
I hope to see most of you on Tuesdays for our regular club run.
Best wishes
Mark