Club news - 06/08/20
It’s the first week in August and the 2020 London Marathon as we know it has finally been cancelled. Nevermind. There’s lots more going on in SHAEF HQ to keep us busy.
Most of our existing members have renewed for 2020/2021, and several new members have also signed up. We considered reducing the membership cost from the existing £10 but agreed to keep it unchanged, not least given the virtual events which have been a great feature through Spring and now Summer. It’s been great to see so many sign-up for the next year, but if you haven’t yet please reach out to Louise Atkinson who leads club membership.
Virtual event #4 is this weekend. Anyone interested who has not yet registered should do so ASAP with Ol Edwards. We currently have 6 teams of 4 ready to do battle over 5.3k each for a half marathon relay. Don’t miss out as these are great fun and somewhat competitive in a world with no physical events. They are also worth it for the post event videos alone :-)
The club committee met (virtually) a couple of weeks back. This was the first time we have got together since lockdown and we recognised the great work by Ol and Kit in particular for leading the virtual events. We agreed that given the current government and in particular EA guidance we cannot yet formally restart group club training sessions. Anyone informally meeting up with others independently can continue to do so but obviously respecting the necessary guidance, in particular on numbers. We hope to restart proper club nights as soon as possible and will meet again as soon as there is more clarity from EA.
Louise shared the insightful feedback from the recent club survey that many of you completed. There were several positive themes, notably around the feeling of community and team spirit within the club. We also acknowledged the feedback on the lack of training sessions as well as a lack of support and recognition for the less speedy runners and a lack of diversity. Once we can formally re-start club sessions we will look to address this, recognising also other opportunities such as parkrun have not been available for the past few months. Hopefully the set-up of the virtual league have begun to address some of these concerns and this will also be better reflected in the annual club awards going forward. We will also be offering a buddy system for new members and looking to further expand the female membership in the coming year.
We also agreed to open up a new kit window shortly for anyone looking to squeeze some more stuff into their running drawer, which should be open in August. Look out for more news on timing, range etc for that shortly.
If you would like to know more or refresh your knowledge about the club, have a browse around the website for previous run reports, committee member roles and profiles, history of the club and SHAEF and plenty more. Also check out our various social media accounts on Strava, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (plus WhatsApp and Slack). If you have any input, ideas, or would like to get more involved in the club, please just holler.
That’s enough for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and staying safe and healthy.
Ian.