Chairman's Chat

Hello everyone. When you go out for your daily exercise allowance, do you see far more runners than you used to see before lockdown? I think that because gyms and judo clubs and football and tennis etc are all off-limits, more people are putting on a pair of trainers and heading out for a trot. We might find that a few make their way to Changing Room 4 when we take up residence again, the more the merrier I say (provided we gather outside....)

I hope that you are adapting to lockdown life. It is tough changing routines and getting used to being socially distant from others but at EGRC we are adapting too and there have been and will be a few things happening to keep the club camaraderie going. Firstly, I would like to say a big thanks to Danny Smith for replacing Thursday's Club Night with a Thursday Quiz Night. My wife Jen and I have attended all three so far and we even won the last one - let me know when I can expect that prize Danny 😉. I believe that Danny's quizzes will be a regular thing until our formal running get-togethers are back so please make the effort to get involved. The #TeamEGRC Facebook Page (Members Only, please seek it out if you are not already in this group) is where you'll find the next quiz Event.

Steven Burge will also be hosting a Bingo night. I know that this is happening because I've seen his balls! And he has just informed me the date for this will be Monday 20th April.  Again, please support Steven in his endeavours by getting involved when he posts more details.

I hosted a Virtual Karaoke Night last Saturday. About 20 members joined in (everyone sang, well "participated" I should say) and Jules and Vic's "Barbie Girl" rendition will live long in the memory. I might be tempted to try this again now that lockdown has been extended - there's not much else going on on Saturday nights and it's always good to see friends from the club even if it is via computer screen.

You will hopefully be aware of, and participating in, the EGRC Alphabet Challenge; all you need to do is go for a run, take a selfie and include something beginning with the letter of the day in the image and post it on the TeamEGRC Facebook Page. At the time of writing, the girls lead 13-0 and the clever amongst you will have worked out that there are 26 letters in the alphabet so the girls cannot be beaten - but the boys can still draw! Chaps, pull your fingers and your phones out and get running! And watch out for the rule variation on X day...

The EGRC Alphabet Challenge ends at the end of April and there are two challenges in May to keep you motivated and engaged with others in the club:

The Team Time Trial. 

If you wish to participate, drop me an email entitled "Time Trial" (info@emersonsgreenrunningclub.co.uk) by the 26th April. Once entries are in, I'll randomly allocate entrants into teams (how many teams depend on how many entrants). All you then need to do at any time between 1st May and 15th May is run the One Mile Time Trial route, time yourself and submit your time onto the TeamEGRC FB page. The One Mile Time Trial route is on the Emersons Cycle Path from the circle on the floor by the underpass and time capsule to the start of Mangotsfield Station. Times will be added together to form a team time and the team with the fastest overall time will win. Repeat submissions are not permitted (but well done anyway if you manage to improve your time). It doesn't matter how fast you run or whether it is faster or slower than your previous time trials, it's the team's overall time that counts. 

The Virtual Relay; Pomphrey Hill parkrun - Boys vs Girls

I assume that everyone in the club is familiar with the Pomphrey Hill parkrun 5k route. If you're not, where have you been hiding?! For the Virtual Relay, all you will need to do is run/walk/crawl the parkrun 5k route.....but only when it is your turn to do so! Enter as per the Team Time Trial by dropping an email to captains@emersonsgreenrunningclub.co.uk entitled "Virtual Relay" by the 26th April; we might need to jiggle a little to balance team numbers but leave that to me and Club Captains Wendy and Graham (who might need to run extra legs!!). The Captains will draft a running order and on 1st May, the lead legs will run the parkrun at a time which is convenient to them. When they have finished, they'll post a photo on the TeamEGRC FB page and then handover to the next person in the team who will run the parkrun when it is convenient for them to do so. Handover can be by facebook tagging, a phone call, an email, a Messenger message, WhatsApp, via mates or your mate's mums or whatever works. The dates are the same as for the Time Trial, 1st May to 15th (maybe it will go on that long, maybe it won't...). There are two rules (over and above what I have already said):

1: Running before 7.00am or after 8.00pm is not allowed. This is for safety purposes and to stop people risking running in the middle of the night just to get their leg complete.

2: You must take a soft toy with you as your relay baton when you run and the soft toy will appear your photo. 

The team who all complete the parkrun in the least overall lapsed time (not cumulative parkrun times) will be the winners. There might be minutes between successive runners on a team, there might be days - it doesn't matter, its just a bit of fun and an opportunity for a bit of gentle sledging!!

Whatever you do and however you find your running fix, be safe and look after your families and friends as best you can.

Hope to see you soon, even if this is on Facebook, via Zoom or trotting around town.

Regards

Neil - Club Chairman