January 2024 Club News

Here is a summary of what is going on and where you might want to contribute as the year unfolds.

1 ClubPal

From this week you will notice that when booking a session in ClubPal you will be able to see who else has booked in for that session. We thought it would be useful for everyone to see this information and more importantly for those who could travel together it will support car sharing (reducing our carbon footprint) or encourage buddying up with others to run to the club regardless of which group you are in.

2 Coaching (and Officials)

The club now runs sessions on 4 days out of 7 each week and is expanding the range of sessions we put on. We are also running very successful C25K programmes that are getting more and more people into running as well as “targeted” training programmes for specific events.

We can only continue to develop and grow in this way if we have sufficient coaches, leaders and coaching assistants to support the club.

If you are interested in any of these roles contact Amanda King as Coach Coordinator (coaching@harboroughac.co.uk) she will be delighted to tell you more. Becoming a coach or leader does not mean sacrificing completely your own training, the more we have the more we can cover the rota giving coaches breaks or making arrangements that meet individual work/family commitments. We support you on the necessary course and whilst coaching regularly you are exempt from membership and session fees. All we ask in return is that:

1 You commit to coaching an average of 2 sessions a month per year

2 Let us know of any other coaching you are planning to do

3 Follow the England Athletics Coaching Code of Conduct at all times

Its very rewarding (and a privilege!) to coach club members and can actually benefit your own training with the extra knowledge and skills you acquire.

Similarly we would welcome members interested in becoming track and field officials. These are key roles to ensure we can make our contribution to the athletics meetings and leagues we take part in during the summer. Contact Jill about this (jill@harboroughac.co.uk)

 

3 Harborough 5

The annual race out in Foxton is a long standing  key fixture in the East Midlands Grand Prix series each summer regularly attracting 300+ athletes across the region.

Over the past few years we have been able to host it due to the help of a lot of club volunteers. Notable amongst these are David Ward (Race Director) and Martin Hughes (Lead Marshal). Martin has indicated he wants to step down after this years race. There is the opportunity to “shadow” him this year with a view to taking over in 2025. Anyone interested please contact Howard (howard@harboroughac.co.uk).

In time we will also need a successor to David. For more information on what is involved in organising the event David can be contacted here

We really want to keep this fantastic race going in future years as a flagship for HAC, so succession planning is vital.

4 Club Welfare Officers

We now have a new Lead Welfare Officer – Catherine Poynton. The club also has a second Welfare Officer in Martin Hughes who would like to stand down at some point in 2024 after many years in the job.

If you are interested in this role, which helps the club look after members and their wellbeing as well as being a first point of contact for any safeguarding concerns, please contact Howard or Amanda (membership@harboroughac.co.uk) in the first instance.

Training is given in the form of a short (and interesting!) online course from England Athletics which the club pays for. We are looking for someone with an interest in this area (and experience would be a bonus). Initially we are looking for a member who comes to Tuesday sessions and, on the recommendation of EA, who is male to give balance. But don’t let those requirements stop you if you are really interested in coming forward.

Safeguarding can sound a challenging subject but the Welfare Officer’s role is very much as the first point of contact in the club for a concern which they pass on to the UKA/EA safeguarding team who are responsible for next steps having gathered the relevant information. You are not isolated or asked to resolve difficult matters yourself.

5 Committee

There are still some places we could fill on the club committee. Alternatively, if anyone is interested in helping out from time to time on club projects but does not want the commitment of committee membership we would also like to hear from you. At the January committee we started to look at ideas for our 40th anniversary in more detail and there is plenty of scope to help with those. Contact Howard or Amanda.

6 Kit

There are a few items of old club kit Yvonne is selling off at rock bottom prices! The next step will be to donate the small remaining stock for charity so they can be used by somebody. So snap them up fast by contacting Yvonne. New kit is available from the ClubPal store and if you have any kit questions please ask Yvonne (yvonne@harboroughac.co.uk).

That’s all to start with! Watch out for more information about races, training and other events coming up.