Anita White - Social Secretary

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Category: Committee Profiles

Anita White - Social Secretary

Co-opted onto the committee in 2021 and ratified at the AGM Feb 2022

Elected as Social Secretary at the AGM Feb 2023

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My membership with the Arrows began in 2014, and I am pleased to say I’m just about learning some of the 4/5 mile routes!

My running history is that I began my running career, like many others did, when I donned a charity charity running vest for the Royal London Hospital, after losing someone dear to me in 2004.  I can clearly remember running with my sister in a ‘race for life 5K’ on Hampstead Heath and I can remember really struggling to get to the end. The following year, along with a few other lifelong friends, we crossed the line at the finish of the London Marathon with disbelief, and a newfound love of all things running related!

Fast forward to 2023 and I am happy to say that running is “my happy place”. I have recently joined the committee and hope to build the fun factor into the running club. Our plans for social events include: social runs, special celebrations, Q&A sessions, beer runs, a summer BBQ and anything else that our members can come up with….they usually involve rehydration, sometimes involve cake and always involve lots of fun times!

Michael Hessey - Committee Member

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Category: Committee Profiles

Michael Hessey - Committee Member

Looking back I think that I have always ran - but only for about a maximum of one lap around an athletics track. I then presumed that my legs would fall off or my heart explode. I couldn’t get my head around running two or three, let alone four laps which my 1970s and 1980s heroes - Ovett, Coe, Cram etc - were doing, at world record pace, every week.  

Those people I used to watch on telly early on a Sunday morning every April running 26.2 miles around the streets of London, were, I considered, totally bonkers. 

I am now one of those people.

I now know about running shoes, injuries, training, diet, sore bits, race etiquette, road racing and performance enhancing drugs (or, as we runners prefer to call them: gels or jelly babies). I now know that I can run 26.2 miles without my legs snapping, heart exploding or even hitting any type of wall. I don’t now require two weeks to recover from a 10K race (even though a curry as a post-race treat continues to goes down well).

What I have found if that joining a running club is the best way to develop as a runner, whatever your standard. You will inevitably come across issues with your running, such as injuries, but you will be surrounded by like-minded people with similar issues and then it becomes a problem shared, problem halved.

The Club’s evening runs, races and social events are all about good company and friendliness - but with competition available, if that’s what you’re looking for. Start off with 400 metres. Before you know it, you’ll be entering a Park Run 5K, the Herts 10K, St Albans half-marathon or jetting off with thirty-odd members of the Club to do a foreign marathon!   

(Webmaster: After many years in the role Michael stood down as Club Secretary in Jan 2021 but continues as a committee member)

Djerk Geurts - Welfare Officer & Committee Member

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Category: Committee Profiles

Djerk Geurts - Welfare Officer & Committee Member

Co-opted onto the committee in 2021 and ratified at the AGM Feb 2022

For Welfare or Wellbeing queries please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., talk to me at the club, reach me on Facebook Messenger or contact me at 07535-674620.

I joined Arrows in 2014, and have been running on and off since my teens finding it a great way of getting fit for a week frolicking in alpine snow. Only to find that I'd get too hot in the summer if I tried to keep running all year. So my early years of running were mostly winter flings. But then, as I approached my forties, I came to the painful realisation that my ability to just bounce back to where I'd left off only six months earlier had unceremoniously left me. How rude life can be. Struggling to self-motivate I sought friendship and encouragement, hoping this would maybe result in some accountability for my non-existent self-discipline.

Searching for a local running group I came across the Arrows, and I tried out a 4-mile loop involving Crabtree Lane, which is where I found my lungs on fire and my legs vowing to kill me. Yet a friendly Arrow stayed by my side, distracting me by explaining they were actually injured etc. Part of me felt like it was adding insult to injury as he didn't break a sweat at all! But, that friendly approach, the smile and the great company have proven to be a central feature of the club, and I'm so grateful for it.

Since those early days, I've been lied to: That race is pretty flat (aka somewhat undulating), this other race is undulating (read: uphill all the way). And I've been coaxed into races, XC, parkrun, a Club League and all sorts of painful exercises like hills and speed work. Yet I've loved every bit of it and can only recommend running (with the Arrows of course) to all willing to hear me out. The Arrows have stretched my physical ability, and resilience and given me a great group of friends. All this brought me to the point where in 2019 I ran my first ultra, Country to Capital.

Since then I've battled various injuries, but after lots of prayer, skilled health specialists and hard work I'm now (2023) booking races again in the hope of at some point returning to ultras. Thank you Arrows for all your support, love and care through all these years. I look forward to all that the future may bring you and me.

Outside of running, I enjoy my work, tinkering with things and long holidays in the mountains. I'm married (vehemently not a runner, please forgive her!) and have two boys, one is trying to work out what to do now he's done with his A-levels and the other has just started college.