Simon Reach
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Registered: 11-2004
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Wednesday Night Runs - Let's get organised
Hi All
OK, RFRC has been “official” for just over a year now and that has been a period of transition for us. We have grown rapidly and the dynamic of the club is now very different to what it was 2 ½ years ago; we have a wide range of abilities (which we want) and we continually add to that mix with both experienced and novice runners (again, which we want). This, along with what is sometimes an ad-hoc approach to the organisation of Wednesday night runs on our part, has meant that these club runs have often been chaotic of late, and this is far from ideal. We plan to address this with a variety of measures:
1) Wednesday Night Run Organiser Rota – Club members (not just committee members) can volunteer to take charge of a Wednesday night run and oversee the overall organisation of the whole club run. This will involve ensuring that the individual groups are organised, with a specified group leader/running councillor who is responsible for that group for the night, including route planning and the management of looping. The Wednesday Night Run Organiser doesn’t even have to run on the night or be responsible for a specific group; they just have to ensure that everybody knows what they are doing on the night, that any newbies are allocated to an appropriate group, that all groups leave in a timely fashion (i.e. 6:30pm on the dot), and that each group has allocated a Running Councillor for the following week.
2) Individual Group Organisation – The membership of the individual groups within the club tends to be fairly static, with some movement at the edges. Many groups already have runners in them that take charge (thank you!) and ensure that their group is organised. We want to formalise this a little bit more by providing “Running Councillor” vests or bibs that can be worn by those in charge for the night and identify them to other runners/group members. We would also ask that after each run these vests/bibs are then handed on to the club member that will be organising the group the following week. We would hope that these Running Councillors would prepare a route for the next run, and if they were unable to attend could make provision for that. RFRC has now got a pretty vast database of routes which Running Councillors could tap into and resources such as www.mapmyrun.com are invaluable.
3) We have had some feedback about post-run stretching, or rather the lack of it. Current thinking is that pre-run stretching is potentially harmful without a decent warm up (at least 10 minutes of easy jogging) but that post-run stretching is beneficial. Since the various groups tend to arrive back at “base” at different times it wouldn’t be feasible to have a single stretching session. We decided therefore that the best way to facilitate stretching was to devolve it down to the individual groups and the Running Councillors that are in charge for the night. We are currently seeking expert advice from physios and fitness instructors on a selection of good stretches but until we get feedback we suggest that you follow a stretching routine that you are comfortable with and encourage others to participate.
4) We are going to re-institute The Kings Arms as our post-run drinking establishment of choice. In the early days of the club we used to prop up the bar there after every run and get a good mix of members coming over. Since The Coal Orchard has been favoured we have noticed that this social activity dropped off significantly, probably because it’s that little bit further away. So from now on, after every Wednesday run it’s drinks in The Kings Arms. Mine’s a Stella! (or Diet Coke)
So in summary:
We will organise, publish and keep up to date a rota that allocates overall responsibility for Wednesday club runs. Any club member can volunteer for this role and if you would like to be involved please email me at simon.reach@runningforever.com.
We ask that runners within the different groups organise themselves in terms of taking responsibility for ensuring that there is an allocated team leader/Running Councillor each week, and that routes are planned, looping is performed, and stretching is carried out after each run. We will provide vests/bibs so that these individuals are easily identifiable and to provide something tangible to “rotate” around the group along with Running Councillor responsibility.
Drinks after every run in The Kings Arms. Be there or be square!
Cheers
Simon Reach
President (Hon.) RFRC.
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If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck what the hell is wrong with my cat?
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5/14/2007, 12:58 pm
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thevoicesonlytalktome
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Registered: 04-2005
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Re: Wednesday Night Runs - Let's get organised
Here's the current up to date wednesday night rota - the name refers to that evenings ringmaster or MC if you prefer
Name Date
Mike Nicholls 7th May
Keith 14th May
Hannah/ Andy 21st May
Malcolm Boon 28th May
Rich/ Elena 4th June
Val Lambert 11th June
Phil Wilson 18th June
George/ Steve 25th June
Mike Nicholls 2nd July
Keith 9th July
Hannah/ Andy 16th July
Malcolm Boon 23th July
Rich/ Elena 30th July
Val Lambert 6th Aug
Phil Wilson 13th Aug
George/ Steve 20th Aug
George/ Steve Hudson by the way
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5/1/2008, 2:52 pm
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