Committee Report 2009

Honorary Chairman's Report

It has been my pleasure this year to serve the club's members as Chair of the Management Committee. I have been privileged to work on the committee alongside a group of wonderfully enthusiastic and committed people who have so generously given of their time and talents. On your behalf, I would like to thank each of our committee members for their contribution, which has ensured that the club has had another successful year.

I would like to extend particular thanks to those committee members who are not seeking re-election, Jo Currie, Nadya Labib, Malcolm Hinsley and Mariana Ivantsoff. It has been a pleasure to work with you all.

It is easy to forget that the club truly is a cooperative venture where all of our many activities are put on by the members themselves, with each person being an unpaid volunteer. We are tremendously fortunate that so many club members are willing to get involved with the organisation of club activities. To each of you, whatever your contribution, I would like to send my thanks. Were it not for your willingness to get involved, we would still be meeting in once a week in a car park in Hyde Park, rather than being able to offer a wide range of activities throughout the week, all year round.

The AGM is a time to reflect on the achievements of the past twelve months and my colleagues will be reporting separately on these. It is also a time to look forward and consider the challenges ahead. One of the tasks for the new committee will be to draw up a medium-term Club Development Plan. I know that the committee you will be electing at the AGM will face some interesting challenges in putting this together, but one of the club's strengths is that the committee will continue to reflect the age and gender mix of the membership, as well as the interests of the various sections within the club.

I look forward with optimism and confidence to the coming year.

Malcolm French

Honorary Secretary's report

This has been a hard year for me as Secretary and, I believe, for the whole of the committee. I am very proud of the professional way in which our many volunteers, on and off the committee, apply their energies to create the excellent club we all enjoy. Sometimes, however, it is easy to forget that they are giving up their free time and we can sometimes expect more than is reasonable from them. This is worth remembering as we appoint the new committee for the coming year.

The Committee met nine times since the last AGM on the following occasions: 8 July, 21 August, 29 September, 8 December, 22 December, 22 January, 19 March, 30 April, and 18 June. The minutes can be found on the website.

Membership continues to be high although there has been a slight drop since last year. The committee will continue to monitor this. The vast majority of members remain inactive which would otherwise make the management of the club very difficult.

We continue to work with England Athletics to endeavour to meet their affiliation and registration requirements. These were discussed at the last AGM and have been reported in minutes over the year. I am grateful to the work of Ian Hodge and Malcolm French in instigating online direct payments of their registration fee and am pleased that registration cards are now being delivered. I am hopeful that this issue will be resolved over the next year.

Other areas falling within my remit such as affiliation to our other governing bodies, race licences, CRB checks, insurance, welfare etc. continue to be dealt with efficiently I hope and I'm grateful to all who have helped me with them.

I have experienced an unexpected return to fitness and hope this has disproved the link with injury and being Honorary Secretary. It is for that reason I feel able to continue.

Charles A Lescott

Honorary Treasurer's Report

The Serpentine Running Club made a surplus of £24,188 for the year (2008: £23,510). Membership fell slightly during the year from 2,476 on 1 April 2008 to 2,429 on 31 March 2009. Membership has now remained fairly stable at around 2,400 for the past four years. The churn rate has remained consistent with 2008, at 44.6% in the year to 27 June 2009, compared to 44.1% in the previous year. The membership has fallen after the year end to 2,309 (at 27 June 2009), however historically membership numbers tend to fall during the summer months.

Highlights in the results

The income and expenditure account shows increased income and costs of £8,000, resulting in a similar overall profit to last year. The most significant increases in income are in the race and event profits and the uncashed kit vouchers during the year. The NYD 10k made a profit of nearly £1,000, compared to breaking even in 2008. This was partly due to receiving increased entry fees, which were up by £780 compared to 2008. The LFOTM 5k made £2,000 extra profit in 2009, mainly due to the UKA fee reducing from £2 per unattached runner (usually around £200 per race) to £75 per race, which saves the club up to £1,500 per year.

As in 2008, it appears that less than a third of new joiners are cashing their kit vouchers, which means the club is effectively receiving higher membership subscription fees from those who do not cash their vouchers. 270 vouchers were cashed in the year to 31 March 2009, with approximately 900 people joining the club during the year.

Kit sales for the year to 31 March 2009 were approximately £14,500, compared to £17,500 during 2008, and this year we have made a surplus of £1,258. Part of the reason for the reduction in the surplus is that we gave approx. £520 of kit to the Golden Girls for the Race Across America. Stock levels are now down to £10,839, compared to £16,580 year, and we are much better able to manage our stock levels as a result of the stock spreadsheets which were introduced in 2007.

In the balance sheet we have capitalised within fixed assets 50% of the cost of the race clock, which we share with Sudbury Court Running Club. This amounted to £900. We have also capitalised £1,175 relating to the cost of further enhancing our website with a new content management system during the year.

During the year we registered the club as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC), which took effect from the date the changes to our rules were agreed on at last years AGM. This means that the club will be exempt from corporation tax on profits up to £10,000. Taxable profits are those which the club makes on external events, for example on the NYD10k, the duathlon and on interest receivable, and our profits on these kinds of activities now fall within this limit.

Forward look

We have significant cash reserves which are split between HSBC bank and Scottish Widows. Whilst I do not have any immediate concerns about our cash deposits, our funds are now above that covered by the government in the event of a collapse of either institution, and in the light of the current economic situation we are looking to move some of this money into a different account with a better interest rate.

I am standing down at the AGM this year and I would like to wish the next treasurer all the best with the role.

Jo Currie

Competition and Events Report

I'd like to start my report with some statistics to give a summary of what Serpentine members have been competing at over the last year (data from the results DB):

over 1200 members competed at least once, although only about 400 did so regularly.
993 members raced in at least one road race, with one person competing in 38 (mostly marathons so you can probably guess who!)
219 members raced in at least one cross country race, with one person competing in 15.
149 members raced in at least one trail race, with one person competing in 10.
52 members raced in at least one fell race, with quite a few competing in 4 (although the SEAA fell racing championships skew this figure).
372 members raced in at least one triathlon, duathlon or other multi-sport race, with 9 being the maximum.
152 members competed in at least one event at a track & field meeting, with one member competing in 60 events over the season.

Compared to the previous year, all these numbers, except road running, are higher, and there seems to be a trend towards more off-road running. It's worth noting that even though 1200 members competed at some point, of the 400 who do so regularly, a significant proportion of them are competing in road, cross-country and track & field so whilst absolute numbers for the latter two are relatively small they are a key part of the club's activities for the most active members. Very few of our triathletes regularly take part in road, cross-country or track & field, and vice versa.

However, it's not all about volume, in many ways, the club has also had one of its most successful years in competition, particularly for the men on the road and the women in track & field:

Our best ever performance by our men's team at the southern and national 6 stage relays
Our best ever performance by our men's team at the national 12 stage relays.
The most teams we've ever sent to the southern relays in both autumn 2008 and spring 2009.
Men's club records broken in the 1k, 5miles and half-marathon.
V50 men's record broken for the javelin.
Women's records broken for the 100m, 200m, 1mile, 100m hurdles, high jump, ~~discus and hammer~~ [note: not true - incorrect results had been entered into results database just prior to this report].
Women's ironman triathlon record broken.
Victory for both men's and women's teams in the Welsh Castles Relay.
The men's team finished second (their highest placing yet) in the Metropolitan League (cross-country).
Southern fell racing champions: 1st, 2nd and 3rd men's teams, 1st and 2nd women's teams.

There were also many excellent individual performances. On the other hand, since last year a few key people in our div 1 track & field team are no longer available to compete and the team is currently struggling to be competitive in some of the events. With the women's team also being weak in the same areas, there's clearly much scope for improvement if we can find or attract members who are interested in competing or - especially - coaching sprints, jumps and throws. Indeed lack of coaches is becoming a limiting factor across many areas we compete in and will be a challenge for the club over the next 12 months. I'd like to thank all the hard working coaches for their contribution to our successes this year.

Finally, I'd like to thank all my team captains and other helpers:

SEAA & National Road Relays - Andrew Reeves and Jane Fanning.
Track & field - Andrew Reeves, Charles Lescott, Rachel Whittaker, Monika Kiraly, Alessandro Brandimarti, Simon Baird and Jan Farmer.
Cross-Country - Malcolm French and Angie Palin.
Assembly League - Malcolm French.
Summer League - Ian Hall, Sarah Newton (2008) and Siobhan Reddy (2009).
National Triathlon Relays - Neil Melville and Julie Payne.
Green Belt Relay - Paul Fromme and Louisa Ruderman.
Welsh Castles Relay - Paul Fromme, Jane Fanning, Rebecca Glover, Andrew Davies and Lisa Pettit.
SEAA fell racing championships - Richard Phillips.
Drivers and navigators - far too numerous to mention!

Website results and events administrators - David Lipscomb, Lars Olsen, Claire Imrie, Sioned Morgan, Tony Murphy, Shu Pillinger and Oliver Sinclair.

Ian Hodge

Race Organisation and Promotion Report

As race organiser most people probably know me from my "help emails" as without volunteers from the club my job would be impossible. I owe a huge debt of thanks to the club members who have given up their time and the opportunity to race themselves to marshal, be a time keeper, record numbers, give out water, look after transition, set up courses, stuff envelopes, look after bags etc etc. - THANK YOU.

I have also been pleased to see new faces amongst the regular band of helpers over the year and would urge EVERYONE to help with races or events the club organises. If every member just volunteered once per year we would always have enough helpers, and it is a great way of meeting other Serpies.

New Year's Day 10K

Once again we had the challenge of finding a new route as the Winter Wonderland expanded its size yet again. However this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the Royal Parks allowed us to use Kensington Gardens for the first time for the race. Ian Hodge came up with a cracking route which incorporated parts of the old race plus 2 laps of the Round Pond and we had our new 10K route. Once again the race was a sell-out before the official closing date and runners' reaction to both the race itself and the new route was extremely positive. A meeting with the Royal Parks in April indicated that the Winter Wonderland would be the same as last year and we can stay with the 2009 route. Another new innovation, courtesy of Val Metcalf was the introduction of the marshals run which we ran on the morning of New Year's Eve. This was social run that gave anyone helping the chance to run the route and I would like to repeat it for 2010's race. A big thanks to the 100+ Serpies who gave up with their New Year's Day lie in (and some of you needed it!) with special thanks to Ros Young, Hilary Walker, Malcolm French, Val Metcalf, Alistair Gear, Bev Thomas and Ian Hodge.

Handicap

Mark Braley and Jon Knox have continued to do a fantastic job of organising the Handicap and this year (2009) we've seen regular turnouts of 70+ runners each month, with March having a record breaking 29 scratch runners!

In addition to thanking the official handicappers, thanks goes also to the helpers who come out to start, marshal and shout encouragement in the final straight. At the time of writing this report Simon Coles was leading the Tom Hogshead Table but as there was a race today that could have all changed.

Brooks Last Friday of the Month 5k

I am pleased to have Brooks came on board as a sponsor of our race. Malcolm French continues to manage the 5K brilliantly and deal with the challenges of having to change the route far more times than we would want, due to events and digging up the paths in Hyde Park. The race is a hugely respected race with runners coming from all over the UK to run including Olympic rowers! and always sells out in advance. Thanks go to Malcolm and everyone who helps out in their Friday lunchtime to make the race happen. If you do work near Hyde Park or have a day free on the last Friday of a month I would encourage you to go and help, it's always a great race to support.

Grand Prix Series

Last year's Grand Prix races took place in Battersea Park, Willesden track, and Hyde Park and we had hot sunny weather at all races. 2009's Grand Prix will take place on the following dates in July:

Tues 14th - 1 mile - Willesden Track

Sat 18th - 1K - Hyde Park

Thurs 23rd - 3K Battersea Park

Thurs 30th - 5K Battersea Park

The races are 4 key races in the Club Championships and are a great racing opportunity for all runners in the Club. If you can't run then please get involved by helping at the races.

Biathlon/Aquathlon

This annual challenge event is between us and the Serpentine Swimming Club and once again a Serpie was victorious with Andy Davies winning for a sixth time. Will he make it a seventh victory in 2009? There is no date yet for this year's race but it is generally around the second Saturday in September.

T&F, X/C, and Summer League Home Meetings

This year we're very stretched with 5 teams competing in track and field, and responsibility for hosting 4 matches and co-hosting 2 women's matches. While we have seen people step forward to become Level 1 officials (thank you for helping out at matches) we're very short of higher-level qualified officials with a heavy reliance on a few key people and support from other clubs to cover the matches. Hopefully this is something the training rep and I can address over the next year.

We have 2 home matches still to happen; the Vets final match of the league at Millennium Arena, Battersea Park on Monday 13th July and a double men's match for our Division 1 and 3 teams, also at Battersea Park on Saturday 1st August. Please help if you can.

Last year we hosted a muddy cross country at Grovelands Park in Southgate in December and I was very impressed with the number of Serpies who made it out there, especially considering the Club Christmas Party was the night before. Thanks to Malcolm and everyone who came to help. In 2009 we will be co-hosting the Wormwood Scrubs Metropolitan League race with Thames Valley Harriers in November, instead of a Sunday League race.

The Summer League proved to be ever popular with long standing and new Club members and we had a great turn out of over 150 runners for our home match in Battersea Park last August. After many years of managing and running the Summer League for us, Ian Hall and Sarah Newton stepped down as our Serpie co-ordinators at the end of last season - huge thanks for myself and all previous Race Organisers for their time and help over the years. Our new co-ordinators Siobhan Reddy, Trish Moody and Richard Smith are already inspiring great turnouts - put Sunday 16th August in your diaries for our home race ( 5 miles) at Battersea Park.

Jekyll and Hyde Park Halloween Duathlon

In spite of the wet weather last year's Duathlon was a great race and its continued popularity (it sells out within days of opening registration) has lead to its selection as part of the Triathlon London League 2009 so we should see a high standard of athletes competing in October. Due to the large number of marshals and helpers required for the race, entry for members of the Serpentine Running Club will be restricted again this year.

Big thanks from myself and Nadya Labib the Race Director to everyone who helps with the duathlon.

Lisa Pettit

Membership Liaison Report

The brief I have is a very flexible one, it includes club runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A number of things that I do complement each other in supporting and integrating new members with existing members. More on this later.

The last year has been a very difficult year, particularly for the Wednesday night club runs. The first big change was the final closure of the Marble Arch underpass, replaced by a series of Green Man crossings (I have continually to raise the issue with runners to obey these on club runs). The assembly point at Speaker's Corner shrank, although things are looking as if normality is returning very soon. We then had an evening of snow when we had to cancel club led runs. The next problem was the demonstrations at the Israeli Embassy. This led to the closure of Kensington Palace Gardens. An alternative 2 and 3 parks route had to be devised and implemented at short notice. The membership responded in a sensible and supportive manner. We then had further disruption to the Tower/Millennium and Three Parks due to the G20 summit. All these changes meant the production of information/posters at short notice, consultation with the Police and other committee members.

Saturday mornings

Most Saturdays the clubroom is opened by Traicey Dwyer, organising the tea urn and getting everyone off on time. Eammon holds things together at Speaker's Corner, delivering his dynamic warm-up and briefings with great aplomb.

Returning from the run, the clubroom is usually opened by Brian Pickles. Graham Carson is on standby for opening up. At the end of the day Keith Evans usually makes sure the room is locked and left in good order. The state of the clubroom, due to the inability of Seymour staff has had to be cleaned at times by informal means.

Beginners' Courses

These courses take place on Saturday mornings, I co-ordinate these. The principal people are George, Traicey and Kemi although numbers of others have done the odd session, including ex course members. We will run 3 courses this year of 8 weeks each. I think for anyone involved in helping it is a real treat to see people start to become in love with running.

Beginners' speed session

This course is run by Audrey and Malcolm and has the aim of preparing newish runners to compete in the club Grand Prix.

Wednesday Nights

I open up, however in the event of my being late or sick, Brian Pickles or Mattie Bragg are available. Most of the year the gate/bag rota has been run by Nadya Labib, I am doing it for the next few weeks, probably until after the AGM. So many of you have stepped up to the plate to help, many thanks to you all. Wednesday and Saturdays only happen because of volunteers!

I usually lead the two parks, mainly because this is the area where you find the newish runner. The 3 parks is usually set off by Paul. Long runs are led by Stephen/Hampstead, Raoul/Tower/Millennium (mainly in the winter) and Lars/Hampstead.

I answer about 30 emails a week regarding running on Wednesdays and Saturdays some from beginners and some modest runners who think they are beginners, guests from overseas.

The system of contacting people before they come to the club is paramount in my system of integration.

I have Knowledge of many newcomers before they come, through email contact. On arrival on a Wednesday or Saturday I may have the chance of a brief one to one. This is then followed by the newcomers' briefings (where they introduce themselves to each other) they have a whistle-stop view of the club and what happens on the two parks run. Health and Safety is always covered. At larger group briefings I push and push the talk, talk to each other on the runs. During the run itself I try and cover as many runners as is physically possible.

The issue of Health and Safety is always something to be concerned about, from runners wearing iPods, to having crazy shoes and struggling with the distance. I give great thought to the changeover from summer to winter routes, walking over the route, taking photos of any obstacles etc and getting bike marshals the first week.

The Last Wednesday of the Month

I think is a really valuable evening, in the club month. New people mix with regular members.

A final word, integration is my main aim, followed by support for whatever comes up. I follow a simple plan of stages, crude but we all have practical limits.

At times we hear the cry, "I was left behind on a run", that really guts me, yet longer term members often chip in: just offer to lead a pace group at your level and others appear by your side to run with you.

It has been a pleasure to serve a delightful group of people of all ages, from everywhere on the planet.

I look forward to another year. Running is truly magic.

Sid Wills

Sponsorship and External Liaison Report

This year has shown a marked increase in media attention. Not only do our coaches get frequent approaches to contribute to various magazines but we also have had film directors, commercial directors and other media types looking for Serpentine talent.

As usual we have many charities who want to promote themselves and their fundraising to our membership. The new newsletter service has proven very useful as I've been able to consolidate these requests instead of sending each on to the egroup.

We continue to be appreciated by businesses with connections to sport and we have an increased number of discounts for members listed on our website. Many thanks to Sally Hodge who helped to update the list of discounts.

I have enjoyed my four and a half years and various roles on the committee and I wish the new external liaison every success.

Nadya Labib

Training and Fitness Report

Over the last year, I have arranged courses for several coaches and officials (both running and triathlon), four seminars for endurance runners, triathletes and ultra runners, organised the Last Half training run and assisted in arranging the coaching programme for Lanzarote, in addition to other committee responsibilities.

A major issue for the future is that we have a lack of coaches to achieve the aims of the club. A recruitment drive is necessary, and without more volunteers to coach, we will have difficulty in enabling members of all levels to reach their potential. More track and field officials (and timekeepers for our road running events wouldn't go amiss).

John Cullinane

Social Report

The main two social events of 2008 were the Summer Party and Christmas Party. Last year's summer event was held in July as ‘picnic and games' type atmosphere at Richmond Lido. For the fourth year running the Christmas Party was held at the Hilton Hotel Kensington, with 240 members enjoying a three course sit down meal, dancing and the presentation of various awards. Thank you to Brent Plump for booking the venue and largely helping to organise the rest of the evening.

The highly sociable wine and cheese nights continue to be enjoyed by members on the last Wednesday of every month. New members are especially encouraged to go a long. Many thanks go to Sid Wills, who is dedicated to running this successful event.

This year's summer party was held on 27 June 2009 at the Zakudia Bar in Southwark that saw 150 Serpies dancing at a venue by the Thames until 2AM.

Upcoming events include a Sports Picnic Day in Hyde Park on 8 August 2009 that will include cricket, egg and spoon races and the infamous chocolate game. Amy Pitch has offered to organise the occasion and more details of the picnic are to follow on the e-group.

Phil Sloss has also offered to organise the first official triathlon social! The only stipulation for entry to this event will be proof of having completed one triathlon (no matter how big or small- the Nottingham tri relays count!), otherwise wearing a wet suit will be mandatory. This will most likely take place in September or October 2009 and more details will follow shortly.

Amy Balchin and Jessica Thatcher have also kindly stepped up to investigate the workings of a Serpie Camp over a weekend this year or to potentially run an alternative training week to Lanzarote that may just involve running. Options are being currently explored so watch this space!

This year's Christmas Party has been booked for 5 December 2009 at the Hilton Hotel in Kensington. Having contacted many venues regarding their Christmas package deals, I can report that no location can match the value for money provided by the Hilton hotel. However, members have been encouraged to source alternative locations for the Christmas Party and further suggestions are welcome. This is something that the new Social Committee representative will be able to coordinate.

Finally, Brent Plump and I organised the Lanzarote training camp in February 2009 at Club La Santa for a week of exercise, relaxation and fun. Next year's trip will be from 11-18 March 2010 organised by Justin Lock.

In closing, many thanks go out to all members that have helped with social events this year. Members are encouraged to organise further social events and provide input to those already going ahead. It has been a fun and rewarding few years on the Committee and I wish the next Social Representative all the best and offer my full support.

Thanks also to the Committee for their warm support and encouragement who do an outstanding job on making the club as fantastic as it is.

Mariana Ivantsoff

Communications Report

Website

After last year's major project to update the website we have been able to keep the site much more up to date. A few enhancements have been made and the coaches in particular have put a lot of effort into structuring and updating the content of their advice and training sessions pages. Thanks to all of them.

Egroups

At the start of the 08-09 year we rolled out a new mailing list system fully integrated with Serpiebase and the Beekeeper system on our server. Thanks to Ian Hodge for undertaking all of the necessary technical modifications. We put a lot of thought into how the system should be used, created user guidelines, and although we are still encountering occasional issues with how the system should best be used (you can never please everyone!) in general it has been a great success. The Club News list which is the core list we want members to be on has settled at around 80-85% of club membership - far more than we used to reach through the yahoo groups alone. We still keep one yahoo egroup for member to member chat but have merged the tri and general egroups as it is easier to administrate and in the hope it will promote a more inclusive and integrated attitude within the club. Thanks to Neil Melville for moderating the groups.

Serpentimes

We published two issues of Serpentimes this year. Thanks to John Cullinane for his considerable contribution as editor of Serpentimes, and Denise Kelly for taking on the design and layout for Autumn 08, a substantial task as I found out when I took it on for Spring 09. Also a thank-you and good luck to the new team who were recruited for the Spring 09 issue and are already hard at work on Autumn 09 (with the John's and my help as much as our committee roles allow!). Serpentimes is a big outlay but we continue to try and get the best value for the club - Spring 09 saw the layout done on free open-source software which reduces our dependence on professional designers and expensive DTP packages, and we will seek to reduce printing costs in the coming year. We think it is a worthwhile investment and always welcome feedback or offers of help, contact serpentimes@serpentine.org.uk.

Other items

We had a bulk lot of flyers printed to hand out to new members on Wednesday and Saturdays. These encourage new members who are trying out the club to join online and get involved with the club.
We also resurrected the printed Christmas 'thank-you' cards to volunteers, and I hope we didn't miss anyone out! Feedback suggested the gesture was appreciated. Thanks to John Cullinane for providing photo for the front and Chris Saunders for stuffing the envelopes and sticking 250 stamps..
Updates were made to the club membership pack leaflets, calendars and letters when the new print run was undertaken by Lavenham in April. Lavenham continue to provide a very professional and competitively priced service understanding that we are a volunteer-run club.
Last, but not least, as a sign of my commitment to the club I got married to another Serpie during the committee year and continue to encourage him to volunteer for the club.

I would like to wish the best of luck to my successor in this role and look forward to continuing to serve the committee in a new capacity.

Rachel Whittaker

Kit and Facilities Report

Kit

During the year there have been no changes to the running kit which is supplied by Ron Hill Specials. I hope to continue dealing with them but this may depend on them improving their turnaround times to an acceptable level.

Overall the stock levels have been reduced to a more manageable level, although the final balances in the accounts are artificially low as they don't reflect the orders for both running kit and triathlon kit that were in the process of being manufactured at the year end.

One of the on-going issues is the number of high value items of triathlon and cycle kit in unpopular sizes. A price reduction generated some interest but has not solved the situation. As the kit is perfectly saleable I have no intention of reducing the prices further. This left me with the situation of having to order some sizes of tri kit that had sold out whilst retaining the older kit in certain sizes. I decided not to continue with Louis Garneau as I understand from my predecessors that they had not been particularly easy to work with and were reluctant to send samples. In the end I went with Kalas Sports, a Scandinavian company with a UK based distributor. The first order was based on a combination of pre-ordering by individual members and filling in the gaps in stock. The order as processed very efficiently and I will look to use Kalas again in the future.

Facilities

Not much to report. We continue to be based at the Seymour Leisure Centre and no obvious alternatives have come to our attention. We continue to monitor the situation but being a large Central London club without unlimited resources there are few options available.

Richard Jones

Coach Liaison Report

My role is to liaise with coaches and committee and recruit and provide support for coaches where needed, and to help develop the coaching infrastructure within the club.

One thing that is apparent after this year is that new coaches are a constant need within the club - no matter how committed and reliable our volunteers are circumstances change and it's not always possible for the same people to carry on year after year. Those that do deserve to have an occasional day off. Last year we expected to have quite a few new people helping out and while there are some we really do need a significant number of qualified new coaches to help the club to continue providing the training sessions that members expect to have. The number of coaches on our web site is approximately the same as last year, but in terms of activity we have less.

Successes over the last year include the beginners' courses which are heavily oversubscribed, and fulfil one of our core aims of promoting running amongst the public at large. Congratulations are also due to those organising cycling sessions for club members - there does seem to be a greater level of organisation, enthusiasm and effort being put in, some of it at the grass roots.

As ever, the lack of suitable courses for new coaches is a problem, we hear of initiatives to help clubs develop, but without getting new coaches through their qualifications it is difficult to do anything; last year we organised a course for Jog Leaders and filled it club members, not everyone on the course has become a regular coach but the ones who have been very good indeed.

We could throw money at the problem of getting new coaches qualified, but I'd suggest that this would not be effective, better to support enthusiastic members who want to organise ad hoc sessions with organisation, publicity and session planning, and in time many of them will progress to gaining qualifications.

A few of the more experienced club coaches have been discussing strategies for raising performance levels of the club's faster runners, and I hope soon we will have a more coordinated approach to targeting competitions, and helping the more dedicated members develop their potential (this is in progress at the moment). Two things that have come out of this already are to have team captains take a more active role in highlighting training needs, and to have coaches be available on an occasional basis (eg in the club room on Wednesdays) for short advice sessions for club members of all abilities.

A theme over the last year has been to try to ensure that all types of club member are catered for, from the top athletes to the social runners and beginners, in road running track & field and triathlon, and that we provide a suitable mixture of sessions to cater for everyone's needs.

This is my final report; due to changes in my own circumstances I no longer have enough free time to devote to this role and I'm standing down to allow someone else to do a better job than I can manage, perhaps I'll have more time to do some coaching. I haven't had enough free time over that last year to do more.

It's been the second year my role has existed and I'd suggest that my successor and the new training rep discuss re-defining their tasks in the light of experience - training rep should be an events oriented role - and I'm happy to discuss these or any other issues with the new committee and ensure a smooth handover.

Malcolm Hinsley