Arrows Running News - December 2nd edition

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Category: Club Schedule

Published: Tuesday, 05 December 2023 00:00

December News (second edition)

This is our 2nd Edition of the 'In Flight' for December to try and wish you all a very Merry Running Christmas and New Year, to make sure you have a warning about Club Awards and upcoming events early in January.

Great fun was had at the annual Xmas lights run. So many of you turned out for this and we then decamped back to St Georges for mince pies and singing of carols with keyboard, fiddle, tenor saxophone and accordion accompaniment. Thanks to John, June, Suzie and Rosie.

The lucky recipient of the EA place in the 2024 London Marathon was Dean Murley and Speirsy won the free physio session from Russell Stocker. He's going to raffle this off to the charity 'Sport in Mind' - make a minimum donation of £5.00 by 22nd January, advise Speirsy at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and you'll be entered into the raffle draw at the Club 5k.

There is also the Strength for Running sessions being offered by Will Hague-Blundy. He recently coached a group at Stockwood and is offering 20% off for all members, AVAILABLE UNTIL 31ST JANUARY 2024. Do contact Will if you are interested (details on FB page).

If you’ve not had enough Xmas turkey, then do join us on Friday 29th December for an end-of-year drink/curry. We will meet at the Inn on the Green at 7 pm and 8 pm for the curry (most likely Cinnamon).

IMPORTANT - SUBMIT AWARD CLAIMS NOW

Your claim form for 2023 Arrows Awards must be submitted by the 1st of January 2024. Awards will be presented at the AGM/Social event on the 3rd of February. Make sure your claims are entered ASAP - see here for more details.

If you have achieved anything during the month, please do let a committee member know, or post on our FB page, and it will be included in our monthly publication.

We look forward to seeing more of you in 2024 at the track and the Club 5k, plus all of the other events we run as a Club.

Lastly, this special issue has only been made achievable by the fantastic work and effort put in by Sharon. Many thanks to her for all her efforts in supporting us in the club management team and Speirsy since you joined us. Awesome.

All the best, Sharon & Speirsy.

For now, this issue contains:

1. December highlights
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. December highlights

• The last XC of the year took place on the 17th of December at Fairlands Valley, Stevenage. Another great turnout from the Arrows. Well done to everyone who took part and for some great running times. The last race of the season will take place in February – see below for details.

• The Club 5k race took place on the 12th of December. We had 8 runners running the winter course. Thanks as always to the volunteers who endured the dark cold and inclement weather.

• 8 Arrows took part in the Dawn to Dusk ultra which took place on the 10th of December in East London. 8 hours of running at a very friendly event with a widespread for all abilities. Amazing Arrow results - David White, Louise Crosby and Graham Harper 21 laps, Issy Green 26, Chas Andrews 28, Terry Atkinson 30, Viddy 30 and Lyndon Hearn 32.

• Lyndon Hearn attended the Victoria Park 10k on the 2nd of December. Lyndon said “this is a really good event technically to achieve either a 10k or half marathon. A very flat, good surface, easy to get to and free parking.

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  As always there has been great representation at parkrun. The tourism event took place in Rickmansworth with 11 Arrows braving the rain and puddles. A lovely flat tarmac course but it was very muddy due to the weather conditions.

• Congratulations to Steve Bowran on achieving his 250th parkrun.

2. What's coming up

1. Arrows Club League 2024 – has now been finalised. A couple of races have been added to keep the competition going throughout the year. The full list is now available here, so get out your diary and wallet to organise your 2024 for races.

2. Quiz Night – The date is confirmed for Friday 12th of January 2024. The venue will be the Engineer, Harpenden. It's free and open to all. Just let Anita White or Sharon Stanley know if you want to enter a team of up to 6 people.

3. AGM/Social – Saturday 3rd of February 2024, Aldwickbury Golf Club. The cost will be £30 per person and of course partners/non-members are more than welcome to attend. Watch out on Facebook and for further notices.

4. Track nights – we are back at Stockwood Park on Tuesday 9th of January.
   
   Please aim to arrive for 6.45 pm for a prompt start at 7 pm. We're going to move to a speed session only once a month at Stockwood in 2024 - being the 1st Tuesday of every month. Hills and other speed sessions will still be on offer, but Stockwood will be more of a 'special occasion' event to test yourselves.

5. Club 5k / Social – Will take place on Tuesday 23rd of January. We will be running on the winter course so please arrive at St Georges at 6.45 pm for a 7 pm start. Hoping you can drop by for cake and drinks if you can't make the run.

6. Sunday League Cross County Races – Just one race left so please make a note of the date – SUNDAY 18TH FEBRUARY, ROYSTON HEATH. If this is the event you have never done - it's a MUST! It is very challenging and rewarding in equal measure - proper cross country and hills!
   
   Event details will be posted on the Arrows Facebook event page with all the organisers' details. 
   
   (Cross Country is great fun and the closest team event running can bring to us at Arrows. It should make you faster - so do give it a go. No entry is required, just get there in time, wear your Arrows top / vest, run, pick up a token, note your name, and finish-token-number on the Arrows sheet.)

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 December

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.
Club 5k: 6:45 for a 7:15 start
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

• Buntingford Year-End 10 mile - Saturday 30th of December
• Herts Cross Country Championships - The first race will take place on Sunday 7th of January. It may not be too late, so if you are interested, please let Steve Green know as we would need a full team and there's been limited interest so far.
• FredHughes 10 mile - Sunday 21st of January. As there is no XC in January the Club is considering putting Fred Hughes in the 2024 Arrows club league. This is a popular event so if you are interested you need to book quickly.
• parkrun tourism - Saturday 27th of January - Venue TBC.
• Club 5k + Cake Night - Tuesday 23rd of January.
• Final XC - Venue: Royston - Sunday 18th of February.

Tuesday 23rd of January

Arrows Club 5k Handicap, Winter Course + Cake Night

WINTER COURSE - ROAD RUNNING

Do come along, this is your monthly chance to get together with fellow Arrows, run a FREE timed 5km, and afterwards join us for a great social over a slice of cake! For the run, we do it on a handicap basis so slower runners go off first with the fastest last. Timed to perfection and everyone running at their expected pace - everyone could come over the line at the same time!

Marshal volunteers - if you can help on the night please join our "Arrows Club 5km Organising" WhatsApp group by clicking this link Arrows Club 5km Organising WhatsApp Group.

Please also see our Facebook events page.

PLEASE NOTE SOME RULES ABOUT RUNNING AT THE 5K IN THE GENERAL NOTICES BELOW.

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 - January 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.

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