Author: smoggypaul

Wednesday Club Run

During the lockdowns of 2020 many people discovered the joy of running, and even more of us discovered the joys of eating. Whichever camp you found yourself in we are delighted to announce that we will be opening up membership to Henfield Joggers for free in the coming year of 2021! We’ve already made it FREE to existing members for 2021, so now we’re extending our arms to everyone!

There is no doubt that Covid-19 has made an impact not only on our mental health, which exercise is proven to help with, but also an impact financially, which is why we’d like to offer membership for free for one year only.

Members of Henfield Joggers not only benefit from expertise of experienced runners, social runs (COVID-19- regulations allowing) but also many discounts on local running related businesses.

All you need to do is complete our membership form, which you can do online here, and we will confirm your membership and allow access to our closed Facebook group if you are a social media user.

New Year, New Challenge, New Club – we’re optimistic about 2021!

Sadly this year we have lost two active Henfield Joggers in Rob Thornton and Brian Turrell. Both are much missed and live on in our memories. Brian had a huge affinity for what is officially known as Eaton’s Bridge, partly because he lived in Ashurst so this was his route to Henfield but also because of his endless conspiracy theories when the old bridge was closed (it was just a precursor to removing the bridge completely and closing the footpath…) which entertained us no end, and to all of us this is, and will always be “Turrell Bridge” (or just Brian’s Bridge). We all felt this needed to be marked for posterity, and with the permission of WSCC we obtained a plaque, with words agreed by Brian’s family. This morning Mark Skilton has put this in place, in the centre of the bridge, looking downstream towards the sea.In times other than they are right now we would have done this as a mass event, but we are where we are and sadly having a mass of people grouped together right now is just impossible.

What we CAN do though is pay our respects in our own way. I’m planning an article for BN5 and as we can’t have a group photo right now, it would be great to have a montage of as many people as we can with the plaque in view, adhering to social distancing regulation of course. Just share your pictures by emailing them to: enquiries@henfieldjoggers.co.uk and I’ll do the rest.

I’m sure that at some future point we’ll have a suitable gathering down there, but in the meantime, the plaque is there for all to see.

Following all England Athletics guidelines the club have appointed a COVID19 Coordinator for Henfield Joggers, someone experienced in Health and Safety, who has completed the required risk assessments, and created a framework that enables us to return to Club runs.

Below is a summary of the main control measures and guidelines he recommended we put in place that members need to be aware of:

1. Running groups should be no larger than 6 individuals. And those individuals must maintain adequate social distancing at all times (before, during AND after the run). More than 1 group of 6 may meet for an organised run but they must set off at least 5 minutes apart and thought should be given to setting the faster group off first so groups do not meet on the route. While England Athletics guidelines actually allow us to have larger groups we are acutely aware of not just safety but also the reputational impact on Henfield Joggers as an organisation if people see large groups running around the local area.

2. Names will be taken of all members turning up to a Club Run in order to comply with necessary Trace & Trace regulations.

3. Routes will be planned in advance and will be designed to avoid pinch points and gates/styles. Obviously this is not 100% avoidable given the rural nature of most routes locally and members should be aware of these pinch points in advance and not let the group ‘bunch up’. Social distancing must be maintained at all times during the run both for the safety of members and also for the local perception of Henfield Joggers. Routes will be sent out prior to the run by the organising committee.

4. Runs should start and finish at a known and familiar outdoor location, in our case it will always be Henfield Leisure centre car park.

5. Face coverings should be worn when socialising or conversing with other runners before and/or after the activity. Face coverings do not need to be worn whilst running.

6. It is advised that members bring a small bottle of anti-bacterial gel (or similar) with them for use before and after touching any gates or styles that may be on route. Additionally a first aid kit will be brought by at least one member of the group. A first aid kit will be provided by Henfield Joggers.

7. While our normal routine is to wait for the final group, because that’s what we always do, we need to avoid being in a large group. Therefore we should disperse as each group returns (obviously unless waiting for someone in another group). We need to be aware of how being in a large group would appear to others.

8. We will keep the route to the same one each week, at least for the moment.

Risk Assessments and other documentation can be found here: https://www.henfieldjoggers.co.uk/club-documents/

Thanks to everyone who had a crack at the Henfield Half in August – here are the results, and thanks also to everyone who contributed to the Just Giving page – I thought it would be ‘loose change’ but everyone was very generous!

August is here therefore its the Virtual Henfield Half Marathon – as a solo or team relay (2 to 4 people) if you are going to share – how you do that and who you do it with is up to you!

Share your result by emailing to enquiries@henfieldjoggers.co.uk, or set of results if you’re sharing with friends as a virtual relay, provided the course is covered, (Elapsed time please to make it a level playing field) before midnight on MONDAY 31st August – so there’s plenty of time to make arrangements, do recce’s etc – and I’ll compile them into Solo and Team results and publish here on Tuesday 1st September.

The Route – this is NOT the usual Henfield Half route – interestingly we don’t normally run the regular annual route as we’re too busy marshalling and I wanted to make it more interesting therefore I’ve arrived at a new route – the map is below and I can share a .gpx too on request….sadly the website won’t store .gpx files. Notably the route is CLOCKWISE, starting and finishing at HLC, and has a stretch on the West bank of the River around Laurence Oliviers old house – its well worth looking at this bit closely as I was surprised to find out how different everything looked to our familiar ‘usual’ territory – I think everyone will like it! I’ve added some arrows to the route….note there is one loop, which will be towards the end of the route, where you go along the river to Betley Bridge, rejoin the Downslink and head towards Henfield, then turn right at the stones and take the track up past the barn, turning right to go past Chates to rejoin the river back up to Betley, down the Downslink back to HLC!

NON HJ members are actively encouraged to join in the fun, and we have opened a JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/virtualhenfieldhalf
for completely voluntary contributions to St Barnabas House in memory of Brian Turrell, such an important and loved HJ member who passed away so sadly in June. Let’s see if we can raise something for a great cause which we know was close to his heart, and that of other people.

I think that covers everything but if I missed anything please let me know – I think this should be a lot of fun and the Relay option means that literally EVERYONE can have a crack at it! So – what are we waiting for?

Following the government update England Athletics updated their guidance this week, which you can see by following the link here. There is, as of now, nothing to stop 6 people running together, ensuring 2 Metre separation and anyone interested is free to do so. However for the CLUB to arrange any such runs is more complex, CLUB runs have obligations attached (for example we have to have a Covid-19 co-ordinator identified in each club to take responsibility for club plan and undertake the relevant risk assessments. These risk assessments and club plans must be in place before any activity can take place in order for insurance to be valid).

After considering this at a Committee meeting the unanimous decision was to NOT change anything at Club level and NOT organise any Club runs using these new rules. We believe that the restrictions mean that the benefits are so small, the complications so great, and the responsibilities so onerous that it just isn’t worth it. Nor was anyone comfortable in accepting the responsibility that taking on such a role required.

But what people do OUTSIDE ANY CLUB ORGANISATION is down to them. Just please be sure to stay within the rules. Hope that makes it clear

Sadly (but not surprisingly) we have had to cancel the 2020 Seven Stiles due to Covid-19. See you in 2021 – stay safe everyone!