🙌🙌We’re back!!🙌🙌

Yesterday evening saw Hinckley Running Club return to coached sessions – with lots of safety measures in place.

The club put on three speed sessions which were held at safe locations and limited to 11 members each plus a coach.

This came following a number of meetings held by the HRC committee to ensure a safe return for all. A club member has also volunteered to act as our COVID-19 co-ordinator.

All members have also been directed to guidelines and advice to help keep themselves and others safe. This includes following a booking system to attend a session, social distancing at sessions and carrying hand sanitiser. Risk assessments were also carried out in relation to each session.

The club will look to continue holding three speed sessions every Tuesday at this stage.

Some members of the club have chosen to continue with their own training groups instead of returning to sessions which the club also very much supports.

Thank you so much to our committee, our coaches and our COVID-19 co-ordinator for all their efforts to allow last night to happen!

It’s good to be back 😊

Not just running – but keeping the area tidy too!

A big shout out to members of our club who have been carrying out litter picks in the area during recent weeks.

The group, known as the HRC Wombles, decided to take action to help make the town a cleaner place for all to enjoy.

More than 20 members took part in the first event, split into smaller groups, with 25 bags of rubbish being collected. And members have been continuing with the litter picks since.

Club secretary Liz Aspden-Mansfield, who set up the group, said: “We noticed litter in areas of Hinckley and Burbage and wanted to do our bit to help keep the town a cleaner place.

“As a club, we love running the many beautiful routes around Hinckley and Burbage and so thought we could give something back by helping to keep the place tidy for us and the rest of the community to enjoy.

“The effort by the club was brilliant to see and it is great that this is being continued with more litter picks planned.”

Well done HRC Wombles!! 👏👏👏

A bit of news on how Hinckley Running Club has been staying “together” while staying apart during the lockdown.

With a lockdown in place, members of Hinckley Running Club have been finding other ways to keep busy “together” – while staying apart. When training sessions and team runs were cancelled in line with the Government guidelines, the club decided to look at other ways to keep everyone connected, motivated and involved. And from solo running challenges and home workout videos to daily social media posts and quizzes, members have certainly been kept entertained!

Activities, which have been done through the club’s private Facebook page, include:
⭐️ Daily social media posts where members can share their exercise plans for the day. The posts also include a different question each day with examples including asking members to share their worst running picture, their favourite cake and the first three things they will do when lockdown is lifted
⭐️ A weekly speed session workout set by coaches which members can complete solo anywhere at any time
⭐️ A nurkrap challenge – an alternative to parkrun for members to do solo
⭐️ A road sign challenge – where members are asked to spell a word out with street signs while out on their run
⭐️ A scavenger hunt challenge – where members are asked to answer 30 questions relating to specific locations while out on their runs. These can be done in any order at any time and across different runs
⭐️ A President’s Quiz which has been done through Facebook Live. Three have been held so far
⭐️ A kettlebells home workout class through Facebook Live led by club treasurer Odette Foxall. Around three virtual classes have been held each week

The club also has mental health ambassadors who encourage members to talk about their thoughts, feelings and concerns.

Club chairwoman Charlotte Sinclair said: “It has been extremely important for us all to stay home and save lives during the lockdown period meaning our running club sessions and meet ups were immediately cancelled.
“But we were also very conscious that we wanted to keep our club members connected while being separated.
“These activities, which have involved members of all ages in our club, mean we have all been able to feel like we are together while adhering to the Government guidelines.
“The efforts everyone has put into this has been absolutely superb and feedback from club members has been fantastic.
“It truly has shown our Hinckley Running Club family at its best!”

Club chairwoman Charlotte Sinclair completes one of the road sign challenges to spell ‘Rainbows’

Regrettably we have taken the decision to cancel Sunday’s XC at Bosworth Battlefield.

Whilst the course is just about runnable, the field we use to park the majority of the cars in is saturated – with more rain forecast later in the week and the fact that it is on an incline mean that we cannot safely park cars on there.

In addition, both roads to the Battlefield Centre are flooded – just outside Sutton Cheney fully to a depth that smaller cars can only just get through – this has been the case for several days now, and also extensively around the railway bridge near Sutton Cheney Station.

The organisers have discussed extensively and we feel that we have no option but to cancel for safety reasons.

We have looked at potentially rescheduling, however with Bagworth Heath now being held on 22nd March there are no race free weekends before Easter (Kibworth 6 – 8th March, Ashby 20 – 15th March, Bagworth Heath- 22nd March, Desford 5 – 29th March, 5th April – Hose Half Marathon).

We are obviously gutted to have to cancel as not only have the team put in a lot of work in planning/course clearing, we are also aware of how popular the race is. 😢

We will be back next year….🤞🤞