click here for our diary, including Tuesday club night schedules
Tuesday runs - we meet on the car park of the Stick & Wicket from 7pm. Please make sure you sign in with Sue (or whoever has the clip board) on arrival.
Efforts groups have two options. Les Reeves is running coached efforts sessions fortnightly and there are also weekly Race Training sessions. If you wish to join in the race training sessions please contact Toby Oury, Adam Smith or Daniel Day to be added to the messaging group for updates.
Thursday social runs are also available, starting at 6.30pm from the gate and there is usually a 9 mile group leaving from the gate at 9am on Sundays. A separate group often runs in Cannock Chase on Sunday mornings - see Steve Blakemore or Kevin Adams for details.
Efforts groups have two options. Les Reeves is running coached efforts sessions fortnightly and there are also weekly Race Training sessions. If you wish to join in the race training sessions please contact Toby Oury, Adam Smith or Daniel Day to be added to the messaging group for updates.
Thursday social runs are also available, starting at 6.30pm from the gate and there is usually a 9 mile group leaving from the gate at 9am on Sundays. A separate group often runs in Cannock Chase on Sunday mornings - see Steve Blakemore or Kevin Adams for details.
Happy New Year to all our members - Subscriptions due!
Subscriptions for 2022 are now due:
Payment can be by bank transfer, cheque or cash. Please give cheques/cash to Terry Hastings or to Sue Benzie on a Tuesday night. Email us for bank details for transfer.
There is a reduced rate for those who claim state pension
- Annual full single membership: £53
- Annual full couples membership: £87
Payment can be by bank transfer, cheque or cash. Please give cheques/cash to Terry Hastings or to Sue Benzie on a Tuesday night. Email us for bank details for transfer.
There is a reduced rate for those who claim state pension
- single: £42
- couples (where at least one claims state pension): £72
- Single Membership - £37, (£26 pensioners)
- Couple membership - £55, (£40 where at least one member is a pensioner).
This week's Club News:
ARC had 39 parkrunners on Saturday January 15, with 22 at Walsall Arboretum and 5 at Sutton Park. Chasewater parkrun is due to resume on January 22.
Congratulations to our top-10 finishers: Mandeep Chatha (1st), Lisa Wakeman (1st lady), Michael Morley (3rd), Brett Antill (4th), Simon Rhodes (8th), James Whitehouse (8th), Mandip Thandi (10th) and Anne Kelsall (10th lady), also to those who finished in the top 10 of the age-graded table for their event: Mandeep Chatha (1st), Michael Morley (1st), Anne Kelsall (2nd) Brett Antill (4th), Lisa Wakeman (5th), Henry Simpson (7th) and Helen Hirst (9th)
Congratulations also to Tony Dutton, who achieved the club's only parkrun PB this week, in distinctly non-PB conditions.
Our runners:
Many thanks, as always, to those club members who volunteered in any capacity.
Well done also to those club members who completed other events over the weekend:
Congratulations to our top-10 finishers: Mandeep Chatha (1st), Lisa Wakeman (1st lady), Michael Morley (3rd), Brett Antill (4th), Simon Rhodes (8th), James Whitehouse (8th), Mandip Thandi (10th) and Anne Kelsall (10th lady), also to those who finished in the top 10 of the age-graded table for their event: Mandeep Chatha (1st), Michael Morley (1st), Anne Kelsall (2nd) Brett Antill (4th), Lisa Wakeman (5th), Henry Simpson (7th) and Helen Hirst (9th)
Congratulations also to Tony Dutton, who achieved the club's only parkrun PB this week, in distinctly non-PB conditions.
Our runners:
- Walsall Arboretum: Mandeep Chatha, Brett Antill, Simon Rhodes, Lisa Wakeman, Gordon Walker, Martin Wall, Harshad Patel, Tom Neal, Anne Kelsall, Lisa Dimbleby, Michael Davis, Jason Vigrass, Roxy Babla, Simon Brown, Mark Chapman, Helen Hirst, Ian Boneham, Anita Passmore, Helen Phillips, Terry Hastings, Liam Bradley and Gill Hastings.
- Sutton Park: Kevin Attwood, Geoff Card, Tony Baker, John Quinn and Nicola James.
- Cannock Chase: Mandy Brassington-Harris.
- Beacon: Henry Simpson.
- Sandwell Valley: Paul Haworth, Rebecca Steele and Sarah-Anne Fitzsimmons.
- Isabel Trail: Tony Dutton and Marcus Nye.
- Worcester Pitchcroft: James Whitehouse.
- Wyre Forest: Mandip Thandi.
- Blackpool: Michael Morley.
- York: Rob Foster and Lynda Elmore.
Many thanks, as always, to those club members who volunteered in any capacity.
Well done also to those club members who completed other events over the weekend:
- Birmingham & District Invitation Cross Country League (men), (Burton Dassett, Stratford), Race 3: Liam Harrold (17th, 35:53), Bruce Fanshawe (30th, 36:51), Toby Oury (39th, 37:15), Luke White (95th, 39:52), Stephen Marshall (110th, 41:05), Lee Harris (120th, 41:38), Joseph Schembri (126th, 41:46, 1st outing for the club), Pete Dimbleby (149th, 43:03), Aaron Neath (183rd, 45:26), Harshad Patel (189th, 46:08), Duncan Gould (194th, 46:25) and Lawrence Hewitt (226th, 63:30). Overall the first team (first 6) came 12th and the B team (next 6) came 12th also.
- Midland Women's Cross Country League, Race 3 (Droitwich): Amy Johnson (26th, 00:31:11), Helen Beecham (32nd, 00:31:30), Karen Kiteley (47th, 00:32:58), Louise Booker (55th, 00:33:28), Lorraine Beesley (73rd, 00:34:28), Claire Crook (94th, 00:36:07), Lucy Farrington (112th, 00:37:19, 1st cross country), Sarah Baggott (117th, 00:37:39), Rachael Jones (130th, 00:38:58, 1st cross country), Rebecca Beale (155th, 00:41:47), Jo Stevens (157th, 00:41:52), Wendy Sargeant (161st, 00:42:08), Claire O'Brien (175th, 00:44:05), Lucy Baker (177th, 00:44:28, 1st cross country), Jane Quinn (180th, 00:45:03) and Abby Wright (188th, 00:46:45). Overall the first team (first 4) came 7th and the Masters team of Helen, Karen and Louise came 5th.
2022 in (some) pictures will be built up over the year below: Hover over the main photo and press 'play' to scroll through photos of events so far this year, or click on the thumbnails.
We like to think of ARC as a friendly, supportive club and we are gaining a reputation for the enthusiasm of our support. The video clip below, taken from Cannon Hill Park, on the route of the Birmingham Marathon and Half on October 15 2017 shows us at our best. Some of the supporters had entered one of the races but had to pull out due to injury but instead of moping about it they came and cheered on all those who were running, despite the logistical difficulties of getting there with all the road closures. Well done Sarah Hinkley and crew!
Information for members:
Help us give credit to all who take part in races by letting us know your achievements. Email using this link by Monday lunchtime please.
See the Diary section for races that we know about, either local or that our members have enjoyed in the past. Social events now have their own page here although social events are currently on hold due to the pandemic.
Our annual handicap races will resume in April. Please register your interest with Steve Blakemore (or email us). The results from the 2020/21 virtual handicaps can be found here and here, with thanks to Mark O'Rourke for organising.
We also have a regular walking group. More details are on our About ARC page. All welcome.
See the Diary section for races that we know about, either local or that our members have enjoyed in the past. Social events now have their own page here although social events are currently on hold due to the pandemic.
Our annual handicap races will resume in April. Please register your interest with Steve Blakemore (or email us). The results from the 2020/21 virtual handicaps can be found here and here, with thanks to Mark O'Rourke for organising.
We also have a regular walking group. More details are on our About ARC page. All welcome.
New Members
If you are new to running or looking to improve we can help & support you all the way. To find out more, check out the About ARC page and the New Members section. We will be announcting new dates for our next Couch to 5k course after current restrictions due to COVID-19 are lifted - click here for details.
Club Training Plans
Members of the Race Training Group generally work through programmes designed by club members, targeted at specific races/distances. These are aimed at those who have already completed the target distance and want to improve their time. They are full training plans but it outlines two 'effort' sessions a week, which can be done with others.
When reading the plans, "off" shows the recovery between efforts, so "1k, 800m, 600m, 400m off 2mins, 3 mins
between sets" means "1k effort, 2 min recovery, 800m effort, 2 min recovery, 600m effort, 2 min recover,400m effort, 2 min recovery, 3 min rest then repeat." Recovery can be jog or walk, or a mixture, depending on individual fitness and preference. The length of recovery can also be adjusted if necessary. 'Tempo is generally defined as a pace you can comfortably keep up for about an hour.
Obviously these plans can be started at any time and/or adapted to meet individual needs. In particular, slower runners can benefit from the plans but would need to reduce the number of repetitions (sets) or the individual distances in most of the sessions. If you just want to try out some efforts sessions to make your training a bit more interesting and productive there are a good number included here that you can try.
Previous training programmes from this group are still available. Two Half-Marathon plans are here and here, whilst a 10k plan is here
When reading the plans, "off" shows the recovery between efforts, so "1k, 800m, 600m, 400m off 2mins, 3 mins
between sets" means "1k effort, 2 min recovery, 800m effort, 2 min recovery, 600m effort, 2 min recover,400m effort, 2 min recovery, 3 min rest then repeat." Recovery can be jog or walk, or a mixture, depending on individual fitness and preference. The length of recovery can also be adjusted if necessary. 'Tempo is generally defined as a pace you can comfortably keep up for about an hour.
Obviously these plans can be started at any time and/or adapted to meet individual needs. In particular, slower runners can benefit from the plans but would need to reduce the number of repetitions (sets) or the individual distances in most of the sessions. If you just want to try out some efforts sessions to make your training a bit more interesting and productive there are a good number included here that you can try.
Previous training programmes from this group are still available. Two Half-Marathon plans are here and here, whilst a 10k plan is here