News

With the coming lifiting of restrictions on July 19th it may be worth an update on the club’s plans for Tuesday and Thursday training nights. Tuesday 20th’s training will follow the current format. We then have a committee meeting on the 20th and so we expect to be able to annouce any changes after that.

Information in the April update remains correct, with coached sessions happeing on Tuesday nights. New members welcome to join!

Also added a new page to our website about the HRC Wombles litter pickers.

Club in-person activities have resumed in a limited form, in compliance with England Athletics guidelines (see Covid-19 framework).

• Adults: Tuesday night training sessions. We are currently offering three separate coached sessions for members only, at different locations, every tuesday night 6:30. Each group is 12 people and are mixed ability sessions. These must be signed up to in advance via the club Facebook group (new members are welcome to join). The Thursday night sessions are not currently offered.
• Juniors: Juniors training has resumed, for full details please contact the juniors coaches or see the Juniors Facebook group.
• All Sorts/Beginners: There are no dedicated beginners sessions at this time however non-members are welcome to join as members to take part in the Tuesday coached sessions.

HRC presentaiton night is tonight on Zoom!

Here is the accompanying booklet. Thanks to Chris Langham for putting the booklet together once again.

Hinckley Running Club’s annual awards night will take place on Saturday, 23rd Jan at 7pm on Zoom.

There is a maximum of 100 participants in the Zoom event. To reserve your place you will need to register in advance with the following link (members only please): https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0ofuqvqTsvGdGTsdO-gMX9OnFW9BivJoOp

After registering, you will receive in email with information about joining the event. Afterwards, we hope to be able to share a video of the highlights for anyone who could not be on the Zoom.

Applications are now open for this year’s Standard Times awards.

Application Form (.xlsx)

To apply, download and fill in the form, and email it to standardtimes@hinckleyrunningclub.com

Please include in the form a few words about your running year — highlights, lowlights or stories — and also attach to the email your favourite running related photo of yourself from this year. This is for the yearbook (see the past yearbooks on the Award Winners page).

The deadline for applications is Midnight on Sunday, 3rd January 2021. Early entries encouraged.

For full information, times, and rules see the Standard Times page.

Looking forward to receiving your applications. If you don’t get a reply to your email within 7 days, please contact Nick Moore in case it was not received.

Update 28 March 2021: We have updated the Covid statement. Look out for a further announcement about return to training in the coming days.

Update Jan 2021: All sessions are suspended during national lockdown

Adults tuesday sessions have resumed in a modified form for existing members. 3 coached sessions a week of up to 12 are being coordinated within the club’s private Facebook group in line with our Covid guidelines. Please note: Our tuesday training sessions are currently offered for paid up members only. However new members are welcome to join – see Join the Club.

• We are not currenly running the thursday night sessions.

• Juniors sessions – please contact juniors coaches for info.

• All Sorts beginners sessions are still cancelled for the time being.

If in doubt please contact us for the latest information – see Beginners / Juniors / Contact Us pages for contact details.

🙌🙌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….🤞🤞

For 2020 the club is introducing a new set of target times for the Standard Times awards scheme, along with some other changes.

The basic principles of the awards remain the same, but scheme has been revised to meet the following goals:

• A more consistent set of targets across all ages, sexes and distances. The new times are derived from the widely recognised age grading system (as used by parkrun and world masters athletics). It is also age specific and not by category, meaning you get a new set of targets every year instead of every 5 years.
• To ensure the next standard is always within reach. There are new “plus” levels of award between the old levels (Merit+, Bronze+, Silver+ etc.) meaning the next standard should no longer seem so insurmountable.

Other things to note:

• The scheme will now be based on your age on the 1st of January of the year. So you will have the same targets for the whole year. (Unfortunately you won’t get the benefit of your birthday until the following year!)
• There are two new distances added — 9 mile and 15km — which gives more flexibility of finding races to enter. (It is still 5 distances for an award and 9 distances, including 10mi, half, 20mi and full marathon, for a distinction.)

So without further ado, to see your time targets for 2020 awards, look here:
Standard Times – New Edition (PDF)
(remember, your age on 1st January applies for the whole year)

These times are effective for your races in the whole of 2020 and will be used for the awards to be given out next year. All other rules such as race eligibility are unchanged.

For those new members unfamiliar with the scheme, you can read the full information about it here.

Thanks to Dave Masser for devising the new scheme. There are some interesting technical details as to how the times are all worked out and I am sure he be pleased will to explain more for those interested.

We have new Hinckley All Sorts sessions starting on Wednesday 15 January.

The sessions are perfect for those looking to get into running or looking to get back into running all while having fun (honestly), making new friends and getting fitter and stronger.💪

Just come along on the 15th – we meet outside Hinckley Leisure Centre. Beginners session starts at 6.30pm and intermediates at 7.30pm. £2 per session.

There will now be no regular club training, juniors or all sorts until after new year.

But Toucan Run is on Saturday 28th and all are invited.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Hinckley Running Club!

Last night was the club’s Annual General Meeting which was attended by about 40 members old and new. It is the important occasion when members agree how the club will be run for the next year.The first news to report is the changes to the committee which are as follows:

President

At the meeting Geoff Oliver announced that he would step down as Club President after 15 years on the committee. He explained this was mainly due to difficulties driving at night and being unable to attend meetings, and made it clear that this was a retirement from the committee only and not from the club! We will still have his final president’s speech to look forward to at the presentation night, and that will also be an occasion to give him a proper thanks.

The role of club president is appointed, rather than voted on. On behalf of the committee, the chairman invited Dave Masser to be the new club president and he kindly accepted.

Chairman

Andy Lauder is stepping down as chairman after 3 years in the role. Charlotte Sinclair volunteered to take on the role and is our new chairman.

Men’s Captains

Derek Gordon agreed to become the new men’s captain alongside Simon Wiggins who is staying on, and Greg Pollard is stepping down from the committee.

LRRL Rep

Sanjay Chamund is the new LRRL rep, taking over from Chris Langham who is stepping down.

Publicity

Ruth Mansfield has taken on the publicity role, taking over from Charlotte.

Assistant Secretary

The club has created a new role of assistant secretary to assist Liz with her duties (mainly the techie duties!), and that will be done by me.
All of the other committee members have agreed to continue their roles, and therefore therefore the full committee is now as follows:

PRESIDENT – Dave Masser
CHAIRMAN – Charlotte Sinclair
SECRETARY – Elizabeth Aspden-Mansfield
TREASURER – Odette Foxall
SECRETARY – Richard Pearson
VICE CHAIRMAN – Andrea Earley
CLUB DEVELOPMENT – Leanne Byard
MENS CAPTAINS – Simon Wiggins and Derek Gordon
LADIES CAPTAINS – Céline Guéry and Jenny Green
COACHING COORDINATOR – Jenny Green
LRRL REP – Sanjay Chamund
XC REP – Kate Perkins
PUBLICITY – Ruth Mansfield
ASSISTANT SECRETARY – Nick Moore
In the equally important non-committee roles:

• Penny Masser has agreed to carry on as kit rep
• I will carry on doing the website
• Andy Lauder, Emma Thompson and Diane Wildbur will be welfare officers, both for the main club and juniors. I expect we will hear more about this at some point.

A big thank you to all new members volunteering and to all those ongoing and stepping down for their service.

London Marathon Club Place

For 2020 the club has been allocated one club place for the London Marathon and this has been awarded to Jessica Daly.

Membership fee

Membership fees will remain the same as last year. EA affiliation cost has increased from £15 to £16, but the club will subsidise the extra £1 to keep the price of affiliated membership at £40.

Code of conduct

The club has agreed to adopt a code of conduct setting out what behaviour is expected of members. You can read it here: https://hinckleyrunningclub.com/membership/code-of-conduct

Social Events

• Liz will be kindly hosting the Mince Pie night again, details to be announced.
• Also be on the look out for an announcement from Leanne about a Christmas social night.
• The presentation night will be on Saturday 18th January, once again at the rugby club. Details to be announced in due course.

I have probably forgotten something as this is all from memory. Other things may be announced in due course, and any errors or omissions are all mine! Thank you to everyone who attended last night and here’s to another successful year of the club.