Chair’s Report – AGM 22nd November 2023

Harborough AC is a club that serves members from the age of 8 through to 78+. It supports the athletes whether they are just starting their running/athletics journey to those competing at county, national and international level. Almost 50% of our memberships are junior members and Mel will report separately on initiatives and progress within this section of our club.

For our club to operate, and provide for all its members we rely entirely on the good will of volunteers to take up roles on the committee and our coaching and officials teams. At times we need additional volunteers to support us in staging and marshalling mass participation events, such as the Harborough 5 road race and the primary schools cross country. I would like to extend a huge thank you on behalf of the club to all those who have volunteered their time this year and who continue to work tirelessly to support the club and the local community.

Membership

Our membership numbers in Junior and Senior has continued to rise throughout the year.  At the end of August, we had a 1st claim membership that totalled 244 (128 senior/Masters and 116 juniors). (279 if we add in 2nd claim and other membership types).

What have we offered and what impact did it have?

3 x couch 2 5km courses (thanks you to Louise and Amanda for facilitating this). Almost all participants in this programme graduated by completing the 5km park run and the vast majority have joined the club and some are now confident enough to represent the club in events and races.

We have run two targeted running groups:  (10km improvers and 10/half marathon group) again the vast majority of the people starting these sessions completed their challenge events and have gone on to take part in further 10km/half marathons. Thanks to Steve King, Louise Harvey and Sam Batten for the programme planning and the delivery of the sessions

Thursday night sessions have shown an increased numbers attending both during recent 10/half marathon training and beyond. (Steve, Louise and Sam)

We have continued to offer Saturday morning sessions at East Carlton Park for off road training in winter and Corby track in spring/summer months.  We have been able to offer sprint and field event training alongside the middle distance/longer distance run training (sessions facilitated by Dave, Mel, John T & myself).  We have seen increased numbers of senior and juniors attending these sessions. More ladies and junior athletes have taken to the track and field both in club and open meetings

We hired Welland Park all-weather track for 8 sessions to give the opportunity for all to experience some track running as it is not always possible for members to get to Corby on a Saturday morning.  Fully utilised, enabled us to combine both senior and older juniors and organise a timed 1 km run for those members who wanted to try this.

Re-organised groups and reinstated the Red group as numbers have risen and we currently have enough coaches to accommodate this. Members are showing more confidence about running in different groups and where, on occasions, we have mixed group training the feedback has been very positive. We continue to monitor our waiting lists and group turn out on a regular basis.

We ran two summer school programmes for junior athletes, over 6 mornings (Mel, John, Jill, Jacquie, Beth Wallis, Howard and Dave Ward).

Organised and hosted Harborough 5. This well supported by Harborough Athletes. Dave Ward was instrumental in the organisation and set up supported by John Thompson, Martin Hughes and thanks should also go to Martin Nichols and his co-opted band of Canal and River Trust maintenance volunteers who ably supported the set up. There was a huge turn out of members volunteering to help on the night.

A Memorial run was organised to honour the life of Simon Poynton who tragically passed away this summer. Feedback was positive and the run supported by a large number of club runners, many who have not participated in this type of event before. Hopefully this will give runners confidence to have a go at future club events.

We have continued to support the Primary School cross country races, which always generates interest in the junior section of the club and results in more juniors joining

I have talked about coaches but Officials: Congratulations go to Mel Brocklebank and Judy Rowley in completing their level 1 field officials’ courses. This ensured that HAC could compete in the Masters track and field league. Thank you also to Dave Ward, Martin Hughes, John Thompson, Rosemary Ferrie, Graham Hillier and Ian Anholm for supporting both junior and senior track and field teams both during the week and at weekends. Some of our officials have also supported the Corby open events which ensures our athletes have local open track meets in which they can compete.

We held our Awards evening again and this was supported by approximately 80 members and hosted at the rugby club.

Results: Quick overview, as individuals are mentioned throughout the year.

Track and Field

  • Ladies Masters’ team finished 3rd in the league & 3rd at the cup final.
  • Harborough Men’s team finished 6th in league & 6th at cup final.
  • Athletes medalled at county, national and international competitions track and field and duathlon.

Road Races

LRRL outstanding performances with many of our athletes meeting bronze, silver, gold, and platinum standard competitions. Acquiring places at the LRRL is fierce and participation in this event is sometimes hampered by not being able to get a place.

Harborough athlete won senior men’s title. (Steve King keeping track) More good news will be revealed towards the end of this year.

Cross Country  

More of our Younger juniors are taking part, as ae Senior men and women and we are attracting ‘Newbies’ to cross who have never experienced the joys of this before.

After the first qualifying meet that took place at Markeaton we had one first claim and one second claim athlete selected to representing GB at the recent International Meet in Glasgow

Mass participation races.

Increase in numbers of members taking  part in road races/runs at, 5k, 10k & 1/2 marathons,  marathons, ultra-marathons, fell runs and one brave/ ad enough (depending on your point of view ) to take part in ‘the Dragons back.’  PB’s broken on a regular basis.

With so many club records being broken in all these events it’s been difficult to keep up. (Thanks Steve for keeping these records in order)

I would conclude that participation in running events over a variety of disciplines is increasing and interest in taking part in different aspects of running is also rising.

Coaching

Harborough AC is very lucky to have a great team of coaches who bring different perspectives and running experiences to the group. They give so much of themselves, and their time, to ensuring that all members of this club (Junior/Seniors and Masters) are coached and supported in their running.

Whilst we have recruited more run leaders and assistant coach the reality is that this has not led to the increase in availability of the coaching pool. Retirement from the coaching role, increased work commitments, holidays, illness/injury and, particularly in Spring /Summer months, increased participation in competitions both on the road sometimes leave us stretched. So we will continue to invest in the development of our current coaching team and recruit to increase our run leaders and coaching pool, not only to sustain the groups we currently have but to be able to continue to offer targeted sessions and other aspects of training in order to meet the needs of a growing membership.

(If anyone is thinking about doing some coaching/leading, either at Junior or Senior level then do not hesitate to contact me so we can talk about it).

Facilities

The Rugby Club have continued to support us in providing a 100m, 8 lane track for the spring/summer season. The ground staff team have ensured the marking out and the care of the surface throughout the spring and summer months. It was great to see some of the senior groups also using this and other areas of the rugby fields during the Club’s summer sessions.  The Rugby Club allowed us to run 2 summer camps for the youngsters during the holidays, free of any additional charge, to the benefit of our clubs finances and a considerable number of junior members.

 As reported before, we hired Welland Park Academy’s track. Whilst doing this, and as part of value for money, we investigated costs of getting a similar offer as the rugby club and rates far exceeded what we currently pay.

Once again we are currently using two sports halls a Robert Smyth Academy to accommodate our junior winter training and are currently capping available spaces to 50 juniors.

Following on from last year we have continued to talk to the council about the provision of safe running spaces within Harborough. We have attended meetings, along with other local clubs, regarding what the leisure centre refurbishment might offer or should offer. All the time advocating athletics/running as a sport and raising awareness of what the club offers the community.

 The track sessions at Corby and Welland Park have proved popular with both junior members and seniors members. The grass track and throwing area at the rugby club have been invaluable in meeting the needs of the juniors. It has long been an ambition of the club to have an all weather area (ideally a track) to support the training for all it’s members throughout the year and provide safe running spaces for our members but also allowing us to be more inclusive to members of the local community.

In previous discussions with England Athletics it was very apparent that 400m tracks are very much a thing of the past but Compact Track facilities are growing in popularity.

As they:

  • fit in smaller areas of land
  • are less expensive to build and maintain
  • suit areas where access to a full size 400m track is more than half an hour away by car

This year England Athletics have confirmed that from a recent study of facilities in England, Harborough district is a priority area for a Compact Track facility. In areas where they would support the building of such a facility they look for the existence of a well organised and well supported club that could lead the community use of such a facility and they have said we are such a club.

During the course of 2023 serious discussions have taken place locally with England Athletics, the local council, ourselves and a very credible (but at this stage confidential) partner, who wants to provide such a facility.

These discussions have been positive and are continuing. Detailed plans are currently being developed by the partner following a joint meeting with councillors and council officers.

There is still a very long way to go but this is perhaps a once in a generation opportunity for a track to be built in the town with our Club at the heart of it. The design being looked at is all weather 6 lane 200m track with 8 lane home straight with facilities for throws and jumps and the potential for a shared club house.

World Athletics now recognise world records set on mini tracks so these designs will grow in popularity.

We think we will know in the next 6-9 months whether this project could go forward. There are certainly some barriers to overcome but “watch this space.”

Be reassured that this is not something that will replace our road and off road training that we currently offer, but add to and enhance what we already offer.

Members’ views

We have recently carried out a survey of our new members, a big thank you to Josie Harrison who helped to set up the survey and provided the analysis of responses which she presented to the committee. Several actions have taken place from this survey and those that could not be immediately actioned, as they required more information, will be further explored when we put a survey out to our members.  Currently the preparation of junior members’ survey is underway and this will be followed by the full membership survey.

Marketing the club.

 Our publicity officer (Geshom) has worked hard to ensure that we have had media coverage on a very regular basis, if it doesn’t just go in the Harborough Mail; it makes it onto Harborough FM and the Leicester Mercury. So thank you Geshom for the work you have put in. We are getting noticed, and by a wider audience.

Website: over the year Dan has continually updated the website and made amendments as and when required.

Members of Harborough regularly support the junior and senior Parkruns, as run directors, pacers V I guides and marshals or by just running in their Harborough tops. This all contributes to getting our club noticed.

Sponsorship.

After last year it was recognised that we needed to be more proactive in raising funds for the club if we didn’t want to increase the ‘basic cost’ of membership. We are delighted to say, through the hard work of Howard, we have 4 sponsors.  Everest Lounge, Three Swans, Davies Optometrists and Barker and Flemming. Thanks should also go to Harborough Rugby club who have allowed us space to put up the advertising boards for these sponsors.

 The Summer school and C25km also added some income.

These are not huge sums of money as you will see, but will be reinvested into the club (coaches & equipment allows us to look at other initiatives without the need to increase membership fees.)

Governance

The committee.

The committee meets once a month (11 meetings in total and an AGM).

Not all positions on the committee were filled last year and several members of our committee hold more than one post alongside coaching commitments. This is not good governance and is concerning as it leads to us having to prioritise on what we consider to be equally important aspects of our development plan and, as a consequence, it takes longer to put into place things that we want to achieve. It can also lead to a narrowing of perspective.

We currently have 6/7 Club standards completed. We have reviewed out safeguarding and inclusion policies and the health and safety policy is next on the list.

Katy Kenyon will be retiring from the role of Welfare Officer and I would like to thank her for the years of service she has given to this role. We will be appointing a new welfare officer to work alongside Martin Hughes shortly.

Have we, as a committee achieved all we planned to do this year? NO, would be my answer but it wouldn’t have been for the want of trying.

Do we need more members to get involved in the committee, coaching, officiating or within a general volunteering pool?  YES would be my answer and facilitating this is a priority. Is there more expertise within our membership that remains hidden? YES.  Identifying and utilising the skills of our members is also a priority.

Once again, a very busy year, at times frustrating – but in so many ways a successful year.

Jill Roginski

Chair