Following England Athletics’ recent statement about the return of athletics, which you can find here, the committee have been actively planning the club’s reopening.  We are excited and optimistic about the prospects for the 2021 summer season, and would like to offer members the following update:

• We believe there will be considerable opportunity for competition this summer, including open meetings, leagues, championships, road races, and Park Runs.  We think that competitions will operate with some restrictions in place at first, but expect these to ease, and then lift as the year progresses.
• Public Space Covid Secure Training (off track training) will return from Tuesday 30th March – the public space booking system will reopen from 23rd March.
• The club are working with Fusion to reopen the stadium for training as soon as possible.  Many Fusion staff are furloughed, and they are currently working out their own plan for a return.
• Our reasonable best case scenario is that we may be able to return to training at the stadium on 30th March, initially administering access to the stadium ourselves, with Fusion staff returning at some point during April.  However, whilst we are reasonably optimistic, we do not control the timeframe.
• We have requested access to jumping and pole vaulting apparatus.
• When stadium training returns, subject to Fusion’s agreement, we aim to add one extra training slot (Saturday morning), to last summer’s quota (Tuesday evening, Thursday evening, and Sunday morning).
• We see a need to rebuild the pipeline of youngsters into the club, and so are planning to restart Beagles during the school summer term.
• When we initially return to training, we envisage that we will need to follow similar restrictions to the end of last summer. However, in line with the government’s general plans for reopening, and England Athletics’ roadmap, our expectation is that restrictions will be eased in stages, and we are hopeful that we will operate in a normal or near normal environment from the middle of the summer onwards.
• The club needs volunteers more than ever: there are a number of things you can do if you’d like to get involved.
• Some open positions, such as Vice Chair, are elected at the club’s Annual General Meeting, which we plan to hold via Zoom in April (date to be confirmed).