Here’s another of my infrequent 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.
In this email
- English National Cross Country
- West Yorkshire Primary Schools Cross Country
- Peco Relays
- Peco Junior Presentations
- GSAL Training
- Competitions During Spring & Summer
- Membership
- General Information
ENGLISH NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY
Well done to two junior members and one young adult member who went to Chester for the English National Cross Country at the end of February
- Simeon Tedd finished 122 out of 287 finishers in the U13 boys race
- Oliver Lubiecki finished 252 out of 289 finishers in the U15 boys race
- Jamie Walker finished 68 out of 247 finishers in the U17 mens race.
Oliver said that he felt he went off too slow as he felt a bit intimidated and then missed a good pack to run with. He wasn’t too happy with his performance but still thought it was a great experience and he would do it again definitely! He also said he liked the course in Mansfield much better and also he liked running with the other boys!
This event should have been at Harewood House but they had decided to “re-wild” the huge field that we used in 2019, and the nearest suitable venue in the North of England was nearly in Wales!
WEST YORKSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY
Sadly this event was cancelled due to the weather so it was decided that the first 3 finishers in each race in the Leeds final would go forward to represent West Yorkshire in the National FInal in Leicestershire on Saturday 25 March. V S members representing West Yorkshire will be Year 4 girls Emmy Deverill, Year 4 boys Josh Salmon & Stan Mulley, Year 5 girls Imogen Burton, Year 5 boys George Henderson, Year 6 boys Ewan Reid & Sammy Whitehouse.
PECO RELAYS
Although there isn’t anything yet for 2023 on the Peco XC website www.pecoxc.co.uk , it does have the 2022 information.
- The event is definitely at Bramley Falls Woods and the junior route is a 1 mile lap
- The date is definitely Sunday 26 March and the junior race starts at 10:00
- The event is for teams of 3. Leg 1 runners all start together at 10:00 and each carries a baton which is handed on to leg 2 … and then to leg 3.
- Teams enter into one of the 8 prize categories
- There are 4 age categories – years 2-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-11. Individual runners in a team may be in different age categories but the age category of the team is defined by the oldest runner e.g. if two year 4’s ran with a year 5 their team would be 5-6
- There are 2 gender categories – girls and “open”. An open team can be all boys or a mixture of boys and girls.
- Runners must have made an entry to the Peco 2022-23 series and will need their race number (but if this has been lost they can purchase a replacement on the day)
This event is suitable for all Valley Striders junior members (year 2 and older). If you’ve done one of the Peco races you won’t have a problem, just to note that this route is mainly through woods rather than round fields so more interesting.
It will save me a lot if time if you organise your own teams of 3. Don’t worry about trying to get your team to be all in the same school year, better just to have a team of friends.
I’ll put a post on Facebook in the next few days and you can let me know the teams that you’ve organised (and their running order). If someone wants to run but isn’t in a team, put a message in the Facebook post and I’ll organise a team for you.
The club will pay all entry fees.
The club is helping organise these races and if parents are available to marshal that would be great and it will also raise some money for V S Juniors club funds (I’ll mention marshalling in the FB post)
PECO JUNIOR PRESENTATIONS
These will take place immediately after the Peco Junior Relays so please stay to watch awards to
- Year 2-4 Girls 1st Emmy Deverill
- Year 2-4 Boys 2nd Levi Woodger
- Year 5-6 Boys 3rd Ewan Reid
Some categories may have more awards than just 1st/2nd/3rd so there may be more V S junior members stepping forward.
GSAL TRAINING
We plan to be training at the athletics track at GSAL for 13 of the weeks between April and September, learning and practising sprinting, middle distance running (400m), long jumping and shot putting.
We will have two timeslots each of these 13 weeks
- 6:00-7:00 and 7:00-8:00 during GSAL term time
- 5:30-6:30 and 6:30-7:30 when GSAL are on holiday
The first two weeks will be 4 April and 11 April, both being “GSAL holiday” weeks. After that, in general we will alternate between Leos and GSAL but there may be some exceptions.
Booking for April will be via the normal survey form which I’ll publish towards the end of March.
We have a capacity of 48 at each timeslot and I expect early timeslots to be oversubscribed. If a timeslot is oversubscribed, priority will be given to (a) those who complete their survey on time (b) those who joined prior to January 2023 (c) those who have competed in events.
COMPETITIONS DURING SPRING & SUMMER
There are a number of track & field athletics meetings through till end September for school years 4 and above. If you’re new to track & field we suggest that you get in at least 3 practice sessions at GSAL before considering entering any meetings.
Although it is the track and field season there are also some road and off-road races during the spring and summer, for example at Pudsey, Adel, IIkley and others. There will be a relay at Golden Acre Park in July with a similar format to the Peco Relay. And there will also be a 1 mile track race at Beckett Park in September.
You’ll find more details of all these events at https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/events-for-juniors-spring-summer-2023/
MEMBERSHIP
If you’ve already paid in 2023 and don’t like statistics, then you can skip this section
Of 147 junior members at 31 December 2022
- 3 have resigned
- 96 have renewed
- 5 haven’t yet renewed but have been to 1 or more training sessions in 2023 so I’ll be sending them a reminder to pay
- 43 are still to decide – I’ll be emailing them in April to ask them to pay £5 as a social member which will enable them still to get emails and stay on Facebook and will not necessitate them going onto a waiting list if subsequently they want to re-join
Of 106 juniors who have come to at least one session in 2023
- 79 have renewed from 2022
- 5 are members from 2022 who are still to renew – I’ll be sending a reminder to them
- 7 are new members joined in 2023, mostly younger siblings of current members
- 15 are prospective members – I’ll be sending an offer to join to most of them
GENERAL INFORMATION
If you think you may have missed something about the junior club, or you want to recommend the club to someone else, please take a look at
https://www.valleystriders.org.uk/general-information-for-juniors-2022/
This page is still current but I will be issuing a version for 2023 in March.
NB you need not save any of these links. You can find these pages by going to www.valleystriders.org.uk and selecting “News” in the top bar menu.
Thanks
Bob