Here’s another of my occasional emails to everyone; there are too many subject items for a Facebook Post (and I know a few of you aren’t on Facebook, a few more have disabled their accounts and a few more don’t look at Facebook posts unless tagged)
NB if replying by email, please reply to [email protected], not to the gmail account which is only used to send to multiple recipients.
This email has been sent to all current members and to all prospective members who have come to at least 1 training session this year.
In this email
- Booking training for June
- Thanks to parents
- Overbooked training sessions
- Results from recent events
- Events for June and July
- “Free” events
- Awards
BOOKING TRAINING FOR JUNE
The survey to book training for June is now available at
https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/booking-junior-training-sessions/
I thought I should make this available early as many of you are on holiday next week and probably won’t be thinking about Valley Striders training sessions.
Bookings required by Thursday 1 June at 10pm please.
I know I have said to some prospective members that there is no chance of a session at GSAL during June. But you may try! And you may get a place if you select 7pm.
THANKS TO PARENTS
I was nervous about putting on the fifth group containing all the year 2 and younger runners, not that it wouldn’t work, but that it would take a lot of parents to support, most of whom would have children in other groups, therefore reducing the number able to support those groups.
But it all went very smoothly last Tuesday, so a big thank you to group leaders, group assistant leaders, activity leaders and activity assistants, in fact I think that was all of you and that I was the only person unemployed.
OVERBOOKED TRAINING SESSIONS
The imbalance at Leos caused previously by over half the juniors requesting the 5:30pm timeslot has now eased; we seem to get about equal numbers for each of 4:45, 5:30 and 6:15.
However last Tuesday at GSAL we had 96 in total requesting to come of whom 71 requested 6pm and only 25 requested 7pm. After cancellations we “only” had 56 at 6pm, but one of the boys groups had 13 and we agreed that in future that 12 should be the maximum size of any group.
This “problem” will only affect the GSAL sessions on 13 and 27 June. After that, we will be moving to 5:30 and 6:30 start times which should give a more even balance … and numbers will reduce for the summer holidays anyway.
I do have rules for determining who get places and who are reserves if we are overbooked on 13 and 27 June.
https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/juniors-training-at-gsal-2023/
What I do ask for 13 and 27 June is that if you get a place but then aren’t able to come, please let me know as early as possible because I’m likely to have someone wanting that place.
RESULTS FROM RECENT EVENTS
A special mention to Levi Woodger who, at the age of 8, ran 21:21 at last Saturday’s Woodhouse Moor parkrun for an age-grading of 79.70%.
Representing the club in track & field have been Indi Banerjee, Abigail Bottomley, Athena Cooper, Erin Davies, Emmy Deverill, Harry Ndawula, Tilly O’Brien, Henry Rollings, Jess Rollings, Jamie (not James) Walker, Sammy Whitehouse. A special mention to Tilly who, in her 5 events in the West Yorkshire League, had one 1st place, two 2nd, one 3rd and one 4th (there were at least 20 competitors in every event)
Running on the roads and trails have been Niamh Archbold (winner of the Meanwood PTA run), Conor Butterworth, Chloe Deak, Emmy Forster, Sebby Forster, Ruth Friend (winner of the Cookridge Run), Oliver Lubiecki, Eadon Lyons, Søren Pailor, Edward Sharp, Isabelle Watt, Joseph Whitehouse, Sammy Whitehouse.
All results except parkruns can all be found in https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/events-for-juniors-spring-summer-2023/ , please email me if I’ve missed anyone.
EVENTS FOR JUNE AND JULY
Please refer to https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/events-for-juniors-spring-summer-2023/ for more information about all the events listed below.
June is very quiet other than a West Yorks T & F league meeting.
The Pudsey 10k and its associated junior race has been cancelled. This was a “free” race for V S juniors, but see further down this email for its replacement.
There are 3 track and field meetings in July all available to school years 4 and above.
- Sunday 2 July at Cudworth organised by Pontefract AC
- Saturday 8 July at Wakefield – this is jumps and throws only
- Sunday 16 July at York
- There are more meetings in August and September listed on the “events” page.
It would be great to see Junior Striders at these meetings, you should be ready now as you’ve had 6 sessions of practice.
There are two local running events in July that are available to school years 2 and above
- Sunday 9 July – “Eccup” junior races held at Bedquilts Playing Fields in Adel, this is a “free” event in that juniors who run will get their entry fees refunded in their 2024 membership fee
- Tuesday 18 July – Golden Acre Park Relays – teams of 3 – school years 2 to 7 run 1 mile each, school years 8 to 11 run 2.7 miles each . I will organise teams for this and the club will pay all entry fees (so don’t do an entry yourselves). There will be no training that evening.
FREE EVENTS
(see the section “Free Events” in https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/events-for-juniors-spring-summer-2023/ )
Pudsey junior races have been cancelled so instead we’ve added Wetherby Junior Races on 18 September to the list of “free” races. For this event we’ll refund £2.50 in the 2024 membership fee (NB the entry fee is £5)
AWARDS
We presented some awards at GSAL in May. Performance awards are trophies for the best age-graded percentage at parkrun or junior parkrun. Participation awards are for attending training sessions and taking part in races (which may include parkruns)
- Performance awards March 2022 to August 2022 – Samuel Keene 79.0%, Isla Butterworth 75.1%
- Performance awards September 2022 to February 2023 – Sam Redmond 83.3%, Imogen Burton 74.4%
- Participation awards September 2022 to February 2023 – boys Conor Butterworth, girls Alice & Harriet Hirst-Sewell (shared)
There are photos on Facebook. For more information and a list of previous winners, see https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/juniors/awards/