Next >
ARC Half
Marathon Championships - Sunday 9th September 2007
The first ever ARC Championships were hosted
by the 17th Grunty Fen Half Marathon near Ely, Cambs on
Sunday 9th September 2007.
In these early days of our organisation we considered it
important to show our members that we had a commitment to
providing the kind of activities they expect from an
affiliating body.
Given our start-up situation and hence comparatively low
level of publicity, we always expected that the entry would
be largely confined to East Anglian clubs yet were delighted
that 103 runners entered these first ARC
Championships. Those ARC club members who ran seemed pleased
to be involved with something new. The winners and category
placed runners were rewarded with the elegant new ARC
shields and gold, silver and bronze style
Championship medals.
Mayor
of Ely, Cllr Ron Bradley, started the 633 entry race. The
runners follower a relatively level course of two different
loops around the levels of Grunty Fen and twice through the
village of Witchford where there was enthusiastic support.
Conditions were hotter than expected, slightly humid but
with little wind.
The 1st ARC (senior) man was Mark Dickinson of Garden City
Runners in 1:16:15 and the 1st ARC (senior) woman was Martha
Hal of Garden City Runners in 1:27:33. Werrington Joggers
won the men's team race (4 score) by 1 point from Ely
Runners and also the women's team race (3 score) by 2 points
from Garden City Runners. For the full results go to
www.gruntyfen.co.uk
and click
here for details of ARC awards.
The ARC 1st man and 1st woman shields and
individual medals were announced by ARC Chairman Richard
Meredith and presented by the Mayor of Ely, Cllr Ron
Bradley.
Our thanks go to
Race Director John Turner and his team for incorporating the
ARC Half Marathon Championships into this popular and well
organised event.
For 2008,
we plan to have 4 or 5 championship events, in different
parts of the country, covering the popular road running
distances and probably one cross-country. We hope that
these will become well supported features of the road
running calendar.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Ready at
the Start
|
They're
off!
|
Mark Dickinson (GCR) 1st
ARC Senior Man soon after the start
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
David Child (Kent AC)
1st ARC MV40
|
Paul Needham (Ely Runners)
1st ARC MV50
|
Bob Wells (Bedford H)
1st ARC MV60
|
Martha Hal (GCR) No 462 (right) 1st
ARC Senior Woman
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Katherine Rennie (Ramsey
RR) No 159 (right) 1st ARC FV35
|
Tracey Curl (Norwich RR)
1st ARC FV45
|
Gertrud Porter (Metros)
1st ARC FV55
|
1st ARC Senior Man
Mark Dickinson (GCR)
at the finish
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
1st ARC Senior Woman
Martha Hal (GCR) at the finish
|
Mark Dickinson receives
the 1st ARC Man shield
from the Mayor of Ely,
Cllr Rod Bradley and announced by ARC Chairman Richard
Meredith
|
Martha Hal receives the
1st ARC Woman shield
from the Mayor of Ely, Cllr Rod Bradley with Race
Director John Turner and announcer ARC Chairman
Richard Meredith
|
First ever ARC Champions
Martha Hall & Mark Dickinson (both
Garden City Runners) with
the Mayor of Ely, Cllr Rod Bradley
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
1st ARC Men's Team (4
Werrington Joggers) receive their medals from the
Mayor of Ely,
Cllr Ron Bradley
|
1st ARC Women's Team
(2 of 3 Werrington Joggers) receive their medals
from the Mayor of Ely, Cllr Ron Bradley
|
Race
Referee Adrian Graham with ARC Chairman Richard Meredith
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Athletics
Weekly article - 13th June 07
13th June.
Today’s issue of Athletics Weekly carried an article by
Charles Gains, former Chairman of England Athletics NW Region
who, last March, along with three colleagues, resigned because
of dissatisfaction with the way that organisation was being
run. The main purpose of his article is to warn potential
candidates for election to regional positions that, despite
the fine words in the job description, their autonomy is in
reality constrained by the dictats of Sport England. In
addition he also poses the much asked question – who pays for
the EA set up when the current lottery funding runs out? Well
worth a read.
(We don’t mention this article for the sake of “knocking copy”
about EA but rather to underpin ARC’s contention that EA is a
costly option for clubs, especially long term, and has no
effective democratic basis. It’s useful to have this supported
by someone who has seen it from the inside.)
The complete article has been
published on the ABAC web site with the permission of
AW.
Please
click here to see the entire article
ARC's first
permitted race - 13th May 07
 |
The Marlow 5,
organised by ARC member Handy Cross Runners, was held
today in torrential rain! See photo left. For more
photos, information and results see
http://www.handycrossrunners.co.uk/
|
ARC is Operational
A letter from Dick Meredith, Chairman of
the Steering Committee.
Click here to view
ARC Launches
officially - 1st April 07
In a few months ARC has already received
paid-up membership applications from over 100 clubs and
organisations - a total exceeding 10,000 individual members.
Many more clubs have advised ARC that they will be affiliating
but have not yet submitted the paperwork. See
Membership list.
ABAC advice on
registering with England Athletics -
Click here
|
The Round
Norfolk Relay joins ARC 07 |
|
 |
The
prestigious RNR, now in its 21st year, has affiliated to
ARC. Unique as the only continuous, long distance, multi
terrain relay in the British athletics calendar, the RNR
attracts entries from all over the country. This year a
team from Holland has entered. After starting (and
finishing) in King’s Lynn, the 193 mile course follows the
boundary of Norfolk. |
|
The course is divided into 17 unequal stages, the
shortest being around 5 ½ miles and the longest, run at
night, just under 20. Unlike other long-distance events,
the RNR is a true relay with a standard baton passed from
one runner to another.
The event is a real challenge which will test a clubs
ability to organise a major undertaking, but the rewards
and memories of a great weekend are quite simply
unforgettable. For further information see
www.roundnorfolkrelay.com.
|
ARC Half Marathon
Championships
For details click here
ARC will be integrating its
championships into open events, the first of which to be
announced is the ARC Half Marathon Championships incorporated
into the popular Grunty Fen Half Marathon (awarded a Gold graded
rating by BARR), held annually in September. This year's event
is taking place on Sunday 9th September at Witchford. near Ely,
Cambs. (see
www.gruntyfen.co.uk ) .
Athletics Weekly - 1st
March 07
The 1st March edition of Athletic's Weekly (Page
12) carried two items about ARC. One was a succinct
explanation from Michael White of why ARC had been founded.
The other was an interview with Dave Bedford by Jason
Henderson, Editor of AW, in which DB stated that he shares
similar frustrations to ARC but felt that they had jumped the
gun. He claimed that his requests to meet up and talk with ARC
had been ignored. That claim requires some elaboration. It is
correct that we had two emails from him asking us to delay the
launch of ARC pending some discussion with the RRLG. That
request came just two days before our launch date (the
mail out envelopes were already stuffed). Since that launch
had been carefully timed to ensure that running clubs received
an affiliation option in plenty of time to consider it in
advance of the England Athletics start date of 1st April, any
delay at that point was quite impractical.
__________________________________________________________________________
|
|
