Happy New Year to all our Members, let’s hope for a better 2021!

As I’m sure you all know South Gloucestershire remains in Tier 3 and the next review will be in two weeks on Wednesday 13th January.

Sport and physical activity in Tier 2 or 3
In line with guidance from sporting national governing bodies, you can take part in organised sport and physical activity outdoors with any number of people. However, you should avoid contact in training and, for some sports, avoid contact in all activities. Read the guidance on what this means for your sport.
Gyms and sports facilities will be open for individual exercise and exercise in single households or support bubbles only. Indoor group activities and exercise classes should not take place.
You can continue to do unlimited exercise alone, or in an outdoor public place in groups up to 6.
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A few weeks ago, your Committee unanimously agreed that whilst we could legally recommence the Group runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays we should hold off whilst we are in Tier3.

Note that there will be no arranged run on Thursday 7th January. If we are down in Tier 2 after 13th January the next organised runs will be on Tuesday 19th Jan and Thursday 21st Jan.

Captain Kevin Wood is not intending to post any routes on Facebook during this period. However depending on requests he may start again if Members find it helpful. Either message Kevin on Facebook or e-mail him direct if you want routes to restart.

Some good news from over the Christmas period…. Carol Mosses was first FV60 in the virtual Chippenham Shortest Day 10k in 74.53 – 6 mins in front of the 2nd FV60. In the process she knocked nearly three minutes off her 10k PB time, and also improved her recorded times for 5k, 1mile and 1k. Not only that but her virtual route went from town all the way up Grovesend Road, up the A38 to Milbury Heath, down Cuttsheath Road and New Road into Tytherington and then up Stowel Hill Road / Tytherington Road back into Thornbury, which is a pretty demanding and hilly route for a 10k. Amazing running and great support from Simon Groves, Julia Jolley and Kevin Arnold who also ran with her.
In the same event Jon Welsh was 2nd MV50 in 58.36

1. England Athletics Run & Talk Programme
At the last committee we approved a proposal by Emma Pritchard to apply for the club to join EA’s #RunandTalk programme. #RunandTalk aims to improve mental health through running. The idea is to remove the stigma around mental health, raise awareness and provide support to anyone who needs it. Full aims can be found here: https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/our-programmes/runandtalk/

Emma has now recruited three other TRC’s #RunandTalk Champions:
Laura Orna
Carol Mosses
Hugh McPherson
Emma Pritchard
In January we will be working together to submit an application to join England Athletics #RunandTalk programme.
If you want to know more about this, either email: e.pritchard91@yahoo.com or via Fb Messenger

2. Virtual Riverbank Rollick – January 2021 (TRC Members are encouraged to enter)
Entries for the Virtual Rollick is live on Race Nation with full details via the Facebook Page.

https://race-nation.co.uk/register/thornbury-running-club/virtual-rollick-2021

This event is open to all TRC Members. To make sure that the spirit of the infamous ‘Rollick’ is not lost, we expect at least half of your run to be off-road and to involve an acceptable level of mud wind and water.

To this end we would encourage all participants to upload photographic evidence of rivers, dirty trainers, muddy faces or any other inspired pictures from their chosen routes on to our Facebook event page (https://fb.me/e/1Mtu7LIaX) to assure us that you have suffered appropriate and traditional levels of discomfort. All participants will receive a medal for their efforts and whilst we will NOT be providing prizes for the speediest runners, we will judge the photos received via Facebook and reward the muddiest and grubbiest accordingly.

• Run your own socially distanced 9.6 mile route
• Run any time between 1st and 31st January 2021 – go on you know you want to do it on New Years Day!
• Follow the instructions and the link emailed to you to in order to submit your elapsed time (not moving time) accompanied by a screenshot of your run from your running application of choice
• Medals will be posted during February as we collate the results and assess the photos
• Places can be transferred using the Race Nation web portal
• Entries are limited to 400 and will close when this limit is reached or at 13:00 on January 31st, whichever comes soonest
• Runs must be completed and evidence submitted before 23:59 on January 31st

This year’s event will be held in support of our two current club charities, to which we will be donating at least 50% of the proceeds. If you would like to make an additional donation, please pay their respective websites a visit: –
• ‘Made a Mark’ https://madeamarkcharity.com foundation which exists to ‘make memories for bereaved children’ (This is the main TRC Charity for 2021) and
• ‘CALM’ https://www.thecalmzone.net in memory of Thornbury Running Club member Liam Jones

3. TRC CoVid Running Code
As you will be running on your own or with small groups whilst we remain in Tier3 our CoVid Officer has developed a code to remind all TRC Members of best practise when out running.

Purpose:
As the CoVID pandemic continues unabated there is increased nervousness from other footpath users vying for the same space as ourselves. This code applies to running on your own as well as groups. It’s designed to hopefully help mitigate any possible negative reaction towards runners from other users of the limited footpaths we share around Thornbury.
EA guidelines currently allow running in groups of six (which was previously not allowed) but it should be assumed there is no general knowledge of this fact!

Guidelines:
1. Always run – and be seen to be running – with physical distance between runners and other members of the Group.
2. Try to avoid areas which we know will be busy with people walking. Where possible avoid single track passing places and if you find that you cannot pass with sufficient physical distance, stop and turn around, going back to a ‘safe passing place’
3. When running towards people approaching from the front
• If in a group revert to single file running (and stop talking):
• Be the first to move, creating as much physical distance as you can (i.e. not just 2m)
• Move early & move in an exaggerated way
• Smile at people/wave as you pass (no need to talk) and thank them loudly afterwards if they have moved over too, or stopped
4. If you are approaching people from behind:
• Announce your presence and announce it in good time – don’t want until the last minute to give other footpath users the time to move if they wish.
• Again, move early and create sufficient physical distance
• Find a way which you are comfortable with to let them know you are coming (runners generally don’t carry bells!) so that we don’t startle them.
• Acknowledge them with a wave of the hand
5. If running in a Group and you stop for a break, don’t clog up the pavement to allow other users to get past.

Conclusion:
Although these guidelines are pretty obviously good practice they are sometimes easy to forget. But hopefully if followed the running club will avoid any negative press aimed at runners.

That’s all for this week and we will keep you advised mid January if anything changes. Let’s hope we go down to Tier 2 in January then we can restart running in Groups of 6 from the Leisure Centre Car Park again.

If you have any events to add to the Diary or if you have anything to add or any suggestions or announcements please send by e-mail to trc@rensh.idps.co.uk

AR 01/01/21