Captains Corner

Welcome to April’s Captain’s Corner. Well, what a difference a month makes! Or even a couple of weeks/days. Our last edition was written in the week of the 9th March. We were basking in the glow of another successful Rodway 10k and advertising our Frenchay 10k brekkie recce on the coming Sunday 15th March.

Little did we know that this would turn out to be the last run we would do together as a club for what could be quite a while. Physically at least. The following day, Monday 16th March, is when it all kicked off. ‘It’ being advice from the government to stop all non-essential travel, work from home if possible, and avoid unnecessary contact, to try to halt the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. Immediately following this announcement, as a club, we suspended all club nights and physical group activities for the foreseeable future.

Little did we know that at the end of the same week, Friday 20th March, things would escalate further, resulting in the shutting down of all pubs and restaurants and schools for most pupils, with instructions to stay at home as much as possible.

Little did we know that a few days later, Monday 23rd March, a full lockdown would come into place. All other non-essential businesses were closed, and instructions issued to stay at home at all times with 4 exceptions - to get food/basic essentials, a medical need, travel to work if essential and for one form of exercise per day - alone or with a member of your household.

Wow. You really couldn’t have made it up could you!? It reads like a dystopian sci-fi drama! Thankfully EGRC, your Captains are here to tell you that - you are not alone! Whenever you lace up your trainers and venture out for your daily run - you are never alone. You have an army of EGRC running with you. For here at EGRC, we run together! If not in the physical sense, then in the metaphorical sense. That’s why when we and the rest of the EGRC committee discussed whether we should put the newsletter on hold for the foreseeable, or keep it going, it wasn’t a very long discussion. We all thought that now, more so than ever before, is the time when we need our newsletter the most. Indeed - it’s when we need our club the most! In these weird and unprecedented times when we can’t meet up physically as a club, it can make keeping up our running a real challenge. But worry ye not fellow EGRC! For we are here to help! As Captains, we’re here for you. As a Committee we’re here for you. As a Club, we’re here for each other.

So, faced with a global pandemic, do we at EGRC decide to hang up our trainers, have a rest, and sack it all off for the next month or 6? No way Jose! What we commit to do as a club is to do exactly what we’ve done since our inception. To find ways to support each other, to inspire each other, to motivate each other - to run - and generally have a bit of a laugh along the way! What you’ll be seeing from us as a club over the next few weeks or months are various ingenious ways to keep us all running and socialising together as a club, together in spirit if not in body. Plus through the medium of this weird mystical magic called ‘tech’, we may actually still be able to see each other rather a lot anyway!

One such fabulous example so far has been the EGRC Alphabet Challenge! (See the #TeamEGRC Facebook page if you’ve missed this so far). This sees EGRC members getting out for a run and finding something that starts with a certain letter of the alphabet. Boys V Girls of course with the winners of the day getting one point. This has certainly been capturing the imagination so far. As we type we’re currently up to letter J, which currently stands for - Jaw-dropping 10-0 lead to the Girls! But we can caveat that with - it‘s a marathon not a sprint Girls so be wary of the Boys coming from behind in true long-distance running stylee! I.e. keep up your great work everyone. It has been fantastic to see so many of us getting out to take part and posting pics on Facebook. So far numbers have ranged from 51 to 57 of us getting out everyday to find something weird and wonderful starting with the relevant letter. EGRC you have been Amazingly Brilliantly Creative, Downright Entertaining, Flippin’ Great, Hilariously Imaginative, Just - keep up the good work!

Another fabulous example of bringing us together is Danny’s Virtual Quiz of the week! He’s been bringing members together online on Thursday at 7ish to pit their collective wits. They have been very popular so far and long may they continue. See the #TeamEGRC Facebook page if you would like to join in. Or just to see Danny’s lovely smiley face chattering away. Danny - we salute you!

But it’s not just running we do EGRC! We also do singing as well! We use the term very loosely 😀 On Saturday around 20 or so brave or slightly inebriated (or a bit of both) EGRC members got together to virtually murder several classic tunes! Vis-a-vie the EGRC Karaoke night! We came together via this mystical devilry called ‘Zoom’. All we needed were two devices, such as a computer or IPAD or mobile phone etc and we could hook up to see everyone via Zoom and then see the song words via a YouTube-style link. We then took it in turns to sing songs and we sang a few together as well. We certainly had The Time of Our Lives.

Watch this space (or rather the #Team EGRC Facebook page & website) for other such EGRC endeavours coming soon!

Finally just to say that, with the ongoing decimation of our Club Champs races (Weston postponed, Frenchay postponed, Frome Valley cancelled - so far!) we will update you later in the year with regards to the reordering of the Club Champs races, once the dust has settled.

Stay safe fellow EGRC & as ever - Happy Running all!

Graham & Wendy