Arrows Running News - March 2024

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Category: Club Schedule

Published: Friday, 01 March 2024 00:00

March News

Well, what a fabulous night we had at the AGM / social event which took place on Saturday 3rd of February at Aldwickbury Golf Club. 57 Arrows attended (some were still there at the end to see out Mr Brightside) and I’m sure they will all tell you it was a brilliant night – great food, music and company as well as making new friends and spending time with old ones. If you’ve not seen the photos then please take a look on FB or Instagram.

It was also an opportunity to acknowledge all of our 2023 winners with our special awards. Congratulations to the following:

• Club League – Jo Davies / Brian Yates
• Top Trail Runners – Janice Nisbet / Tarus Huzar (based on top scores within the Sunday League XC)
• Distance Awards
  500 – Djerk Geurts / Claire Watts
  1000 – Phil Dean / Nick Herbert / Tarus Huzar / Nick Screen / Peter Thornton
  2000 – Lyndon Hearn
  2500 – Terry Atkinson
• Full House – Louise Crosby / Graham Harper / Aisling Patterson / David Green / Mark Pattison
• Ultra – Ammon Piepgrass
• Rocket – Tracy Carr / Janice Nisbet / David Green
• Club Award – Brian Yates
• Club Bronze – Phil Dean / Julie Horrocks / Djerk Geurts
• Club Silver – Graham Harper / Audrey Zilliox / Nick Herbert / Nick Screen / Janice Nisbet / Andrew Bracey / Claire Watts / Mark Pattison / Jo Davies
• Club Gold – Terry Atkinson / Louise Crosby / Taras Huzar / Peter Thornton / Aisling Paterson / Lyndon Hearn
• Club Platinum – David Green
• Outstanding Achievement – awarded by Scott Clarke to Mark Pattison for his endeavours on the parkrun reporting and running in 2023.
• Committee Award – Ammon Piepgrass in recognition of his overall sporting achievements but also for the extensive guide running he does.
• Members Award – Julie Horrocks for her parkrun tourism efforts.

On other matters, we decided to change the format of the Club 5k and on Tuesday 27th of February we ran a trial of the first “Tempo Tuesday and Social”. Feedback from those who attended was positive, saying it was nice to run as a group, so we will run again in March.

If anyone has any ideas as to how we could enhance this event, then please let Simon know – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The MWRRL League dates have now been published. Arrows are in Division 3 so please make a note of the dates:

• Race 1 – 15th May – host Hitchin Hares and others
• Race 2 – 6th June – host Royston Runners
• Race 3 – 19th June – host Harlow R&TC
• Race 4 – 27th June – host BDAC
• Mob Match – 10th July – host GCR

There was little need for an Arrows event this year as many other clubs stepped forward. We might see if we can do an XC event instead next season.

Look forward to seeing more of you in 2024 at one of the events we run as a Club.

All the best, Sharon & Speirsy.

For now, this issue contains:

1. What's been going on?
2. What's coming up?
3. This Month's Club Timetable
4. Dates for the Diary
5. General Notices and Reminders

As ever, please do join the Facebook group as we may have missed something and post updates about any proposed Parkrun tourism or other festive events.

1. What's been going on

Highlights for February were:

• The Arrows Club League 2024 has now been finalised. A couple of races have been added to keep the competition going throughout the year. A full list is available here, so ensure you plan your A races.
  
  
• We organised the first “Tempo Tuesday and Social”. If you are interested in joining for March then the format we used was a 1 mile run from St Georges and back followed by 20 minutes of effort as hard or easy as you want. There are lots of options available and we look forward to your ideas. This is a more sociable event than the Club 5k and people seemed to enjoy running as a group.
  
  
• The Watford Half took place on the 4th of February – well done to those Arrows who ran post the AGM event. Lyndon Hearn led the charge and he was joined by Steve Grant, Cathy Jeremiah and Laura Adams. Well done to you all.
  
  
• Two of our members – Claire Price and Aisling Patterson – celebrated their “special birthdays” this month and a group of Arrows joined them to celebrate at the Oddfellows Arms. Thanks to Brian Yates for the wonderful cake he made.
  
  
• parkrun tourism took place on the 17th of February at Stevenage with 9 Arrows in attendance, 8 of whom were first timers so PB’s for all. A nice two-lap course.  Special mention to Beatrice Merrick on her first parkrun, as well as the local celebrity “Daniel the Fridge” (he’s in training for the London Marathon).
  
  
• As always there has been great representation at parkrun. Some of the courses have been very challenging this month due to the extremely wet conditions.
  
  
• Congratulations to Sophie Weaver and David Salmon for reaching 100 parkruns.
  
  
• Regretfully the last Sunday League Cross County Race, which should have taken place on Sunday 18th of February at Royston Heath, was cancelled. Thanks to Issy Green and Lyndon who organised consolation runs - both seemed to have their unique challenges from a mud-bath to a requirement to wade through very deep water on occasion.

2. What's coming up

Several things to take note of for the coming months!

1. Track nights – First Tuesday of the month so we are back at Stockwood Park on Tuesday 5th of March.
   
   Please aim to arrive for 6.45 pm for a prompt start at 7 pm.

2. “Tempo Tuesday & Social”– will take place on Tuesday 28th of March. Social (location TBC) will either be cake and tea/coffee at the school or perhaps at the pub.  Depends on how people feel and their support for either option.

3. parkrun tourism will take place on Saturday 9th March. The venue will be Wycombe Rye. It's about a 45-minute drive from Harpenden so please join Julie and the team, especially those of you who need a W for their parkrun alphabet.

4. Arrows Marathon weekend – Will take place in 2024 in Salzburg. Dates are 10th – 13th of May. See FB page (Salzburg marathon weekend) for more information if you are interested. This is a fun weekend, please speak to anyone who has been before if you’d like more information.

5. The Stevenage Marathon only comes around once every 10 years. There is also a Half Marathon for those who prefer that distance. The date is 20th of October 2024, and you can register now so don’t miss out and register ASAP if you are interested.

Please feel free to suggest impromptu socials post-event or even attempt a pub visit post-run - which has proven successful in these past months.

3. Club timetable for March

As ever, a combination and variety of running is available. We're trying to offer 4m, 5m, hills and/or speed sessions. Is there any interest in a shorter 5km run? Please let us know. All combinations rely on RunLeaders taking care of existing, new and potential joiners to Arrows. If you don't feel you have the confidence or skills to do this... we'll help. Please let us know.

REMEMBER

1. As the nights are now dark remember to wear high viz and head torches (don’t forget to charge them up).

2. Any new members - please pre-register on RunTogether, this will help the admin to register you just at the start of each run.

Start times:

St G's club runs: 7:15 arrival for 7:30 departure.
Track: start at 7:00

Track Nights at Stockwood

Please aim to arrive by 6:45 pm for a prompt start at 7 pm.

2. Dates for the Diary

Look out for special announcements on email or Facebook for the XC and other events.

Upcoming Races

• parkrun tourism - Saturday 9th of March - Venue will be Wycombe Rye
• Tempo Tuesday (Club 5k + Cake Night) – Tuesday 26th of March
• Arrows away marathon weekend - 10th - 13th of May

3. General Notices

Free t-shirt for RunLeaders

We've distributed a few and got a few more on order - but we're always on the lookout for more run leaders to share the load of helping people out with their runs.

If you're good with a route or two and would like to lead runs for Arrows, please let us know! We are always looking for more people to join our core team, either as occasional helpers or as regular run-leaders. All you need is confidence and we'll give you more of that and some of the knowledge to keep everyone safe - it's not onerous and a lot of it is common sense.

If you're interested in leading please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and ask for more info.

Kit Shop: The club shop can be found here:

https://www.iprosports.co.uk/club-zone/harpenden-arrows/

The range of available kit includes club vests and t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, caps, beanies, and a new line of colourful hi-viz t-shirts bearing the club logo.

All kit can be personalised with names or messages on the front, back or both – so no more melting your t-shirt trying to iron on wonky letters (or was that just me)?

If you would like to see or try on any of the kit samples, please come along to our monthly 5km, Kit and Cake night, and speak to our kit secretary, Rowland Hughes. (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

10% OFF SPORTSSHOES.COM - March code

If you haven't found what you want from the Arrows online kit shop, we have secured a 10% discount code specifically for Arrows, plus there's free shipping for orders of £30 or more from www.sportsshoes.com.

This is redeemed via a unique discount code, which is changed monthly.

Please do not share the code with non-members. Any Arrows in receipt of the code must not share it on social media or any public websites.

This month's code valid for July 2023 has been sent by email to paid-up members. 

Active Training World 10% off race entry with the code ....

(Sent by email to all paid-up Arrows Members)

We have some exciting news for you - Arrows have obtained a 10% discount for members on all ATW races. Why not use it for entering the Hatfield 5-mile event this November? Fast, flat and local race with PB potential. (Webmaster - and Arrows League points too!)

Just enter the code at the checkout to obtain your 10% Arrows discount. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS FOR ATW ORGANISED EVENTS (there will be a big banner on the site when an ATW event. Please do try to avoid confusion as occasionally ATW provide the booking system/support and the 10% fee is not available on these occasions).

Please do not share the code with non-members. Any Arrows in receipt of the code must not share it on social media or any public websites.

Can you marshal for an ATW event?

Earn £20 and free race entry, or £10 per hour, in exchange for marshalling at ATW events. 

If you're interested in marshalling, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

#JustTurnUp - St George's runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays

If you want to attend any of our regular run groups at St George's, please #JustTurnUp on the night. No pre-booking is required for our regular runs from St George's. 

We will also always adapt any run groups to those that turn up on the night, or if possible form additional groups to suit varied paces. Nobody will be left behind and we operate a *looping policy if we happen to have a wide pace range in the group.

*That means that faster runners are asked to loop back to keep the group together.

Safety reminder for Arrows Club 5km events

Please note, for the safety of all members when participating in the Club 5km event, the following advice applies:

No headphones. For your own safety and to ensure you can hear instructions from marshals and cars on the road, headphones are not permitted whilst taking part in any club activity. If you are seen wearing headphones during the Club 5km event, you may be disqualified!

Wear high visibility clothing and/or your Arrows vest - this makes it easy to see you running on the dark roads.

Stay safe everyone, and stay well!

Thank you for supporting your club. If you have concerns or suggestions please get in touch.

Harpenden Arrows Running Club

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.