Contents
- Booking Training for April
- Training at GSAL
- Events from March onwards
- Track & Field Competition
- Membership Payments
- England Athletics Affiliation
- Vacancies
- Website Changes
Booking Training for April
If you’ve not already booked, please use this link.
Locations
- 7 April at Bodington/Brownlee Centre for 1 mile race (for ages 17 and younger) at 7pm and 5km handicap race (for ages 11 and older) at 7:30pm
- 14 April at Leos 4:40-5:25, 5:25-6:10 and 6:10-6:55 but Richard & Alex’s “C” group will be at Beckett Park at 7:15.
- 21 April at GSAL 5:50-7:00 and 7:00-8:00 but Richard & Alex’s “C” group will be at Bodington / Brownlee Centre at 6pm
- 28 April at GSAL 5:50-7:00 and 7:00-8:00 but Richard & Alex’s “C” group and Nicola’s girls A group will be at Bodington / Brownlee Centre at 6pm
Information about the races at Bodington has been sent by separate email and there is a post in the Valley Striders Juniors Facebook Group for discussions and/or to ask questions.
Training at GSAL
We requested to start on 31 March but, unsurprisingly due to the winter weather, GSAL have a lot of maintenance to do on the track and they’ll be doing it in the Easter holidays. Good news is that we’ll still be on the track much earlier than last year!
The first training session at GSAL will be Tuesday 21 April. There will be 2 timeslots – 5:50pm-7pm and 7pm-8pm.
We usually have 4 activities – 80m sprint, 400m run, long jump and shot put – as these are the events most commonly appearing in junior competitions and these are also the safest for participants and volunteers. If we need to more juniors into a timeslot we will have a 5th activity – probably relays.
Please see https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/juniors-training-at-gsal-2026/ for more information
Events from March onwards
The page for spring and summer events is now on the website
There are over 40 events listed!
And of course there is parkrun and junior parkrun every week. How are you getting on with the parkrun challenges for 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026
- Run all 11 adult parkruns in Leeds at least once
- Run all 6 junior parkruns in Leeds at least twice
Track & Field Competition
Track & field outdoor competition starts in early April and there are a number of local events in April. Most meetings will have a 80m and 600m for years 5&6 and a 100m and 800m for years 7&8, so are worth going to even if you haven’t had any practice at a field event.
Please see the events for spring/summer page.
Our “local” league, the West Yorkshire Track & Field League has 7 meetings, 3 on Sundays and 4 on Wednesday evenings. It’s £37.25 for the full series and even if you can’t get to any of the evening meetings (they are at Wakefield and Cleckheaton) then an average of just over £12 for three Sundays is cheaper than most other meetings. The first meeting is on 19 April and entries for this close on 12 April. (Entries will re-open on 21 April if the series hasn’t reached maximum entries).
There is also a single meeting at Beckett Park (only for ages 7 to 11 inclusive) Sunday 26 April and an open meeting (school years 5 and older) at York on Monday 5 May
Please email [email protected] for advice!
Membership Payments
Of 143 juniors who have been to at least 1 junior training session in 2026
- 123 have renewed – thank you
- 15 have had trial sessions – I’ll send out membership offers in the next few days
- 2 have resigned
- 3 are still to pay – I’ve sent reminders
For those that haven’t been to a session in 2026, I’ve sent offers to renew as a Social Member and several have renewed.
England Athletics Affiliation
E A affiliation at £25 is now required for all school year 5 and older if they take part in competitive events which include
- West Yorkshire Track & Field League and Cross Country League (year 5 and older)
- Yorkshire T & F and XC Championships (year 7 and older)
- Northern T & F and XC (year 7 and older)
- Leeds 5k at Bodington Cycle track (age 11 and older)
- Leeds 10k (Run for All) (age 15 and older)
- Abbey Dash 10k (age 15 and older)
Those that are in Richard and Alex’s “Competitive” group have England Athletics affiliation included in their membership – they should have received an email from E A on 3 April.
There were a further 8 juniors who were affiliated last year but I didn’t ask for payment this year. I will email them in the next few days.
If anyone else knows that they need, or thinks that they may need, E A affiliation then please email [email protected]
Vacancies
In the annual report I mentioned that we had some specific vacancies – we need more parents with DBS certificates (so far 2 have applied and received theirs last month), we would like a few parents to go on Run Leader courses, also a few to go on safeguarding courses, and we need one or two Junior Welfare Officers (many thanks to Carol Reid for taking on this role – she has now got DBS and is now booking EA welfare officer courses).
Please email [email protected] for more information.
Website Changes
I’m in the process of amending the Juniors page on the website so that everything relating to the juniors can be found from this page rather than having to look at the News page too.
This can be found by going to the website www.valleystriders.org.uk and clicking on Juniors at the top. Here’s the direct link. https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/juniors/
I’ve also updated several pages including
- https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/general-information-for-juniors-2026/
- https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/juniors-training-at-gsal-2026/
- https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/events-for-juniors-spring-summer-2026/
Please email [email protected] with comments and contributions.
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I hope you are all having a good holiday and will see you in 2 or 9 or 16 days time!