COVID-19 advice

PLEASE NOTE: following the government’s latest advice, all club runs and coached sessions are suspended as of 20th December 2020.

COVID-19– Royston Runners’ plans for returning to group training

Great news!  Our club run will be back on Tuesday 8th December. The club run risk assessment, coached session risk assessment and COVID action plan are in place. Having said that there will need to be a few changes to comply with all the government and EA guidelines.

We need your help and support for this to go ahead and be successful. At the moment we are looking at club runs that are off road. Running in town is going to present different challenges and will need a new risk assessment.

We are all looking forward to running again as a club. Many people have really missed the Tuesday and Thursday night group runs – please help us with the first phase of returning to some kind of normal.

So what does this mean for club members?

Health Assessment Form
Group meeting places (map)
  • Very important is the Health Assessment form. This needs to be completed and returned before you can join a club run. You need to provide your contact details on the form to ensure that we have up to date contact information (you might also want to check your details on membermojo whilst you are at it). You only need to fill out and return this form once but you must inform us immediately if any details change. This declaration form is intended to be used during the COVID 19 epidemic and whilst England Athletics require restrictions to training; and will be destroyed once required restrictions are lifted and normal training is able to resume.  However, you should make the club/group leader aware of any medical condition.  It is your responsibility to ensure you carry inhalers or other medication with you at all times when running with the club.
  • Every group leader is going to need support. We will need at least another 2 people from each group who are willing to lead.  If group numbers exceed 6 then a group will need to split and form two groups. If you can help in a support lead role please get in touch with Liam on menscaptain(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)roystonrunners.co.uk or talk to your current group leader. We are very happy to offer guidance and talk you through the role. Detailed information will be sent to all group leaders outlining what is required. 
  • We will be meeting at different times as agreed in groups of no more than 6 to avoid congregating. Each group will be given a specific place to meet, please contact the group leader to discuss meet-up times. Groups 1 – 3 & 10 at the Heath, group 4 at Morrisons, groups 5 & 6 at the Warren car park and groups 7 – 9 at King James Way car park.
  • We would ask people to run or cycle to the Heath if possible, please do not car share unless you are from one family/bubble and please park considerately giving other Heath users space. 
  • We would ask members to arrive ready to run and try to avoid using the facilities at the Heath. If you do need to use them please enter the building via the back door into the area outside the changing rooms. This is currently the entrance  being used by gym members. Do not walk through the gym.
  • If possible we would ask people to submit their names to the group leader before the run so that leaders have an idea of numbers. Quite a few groups already use Facebook messenger or WhatsApp group to communicate. This might be something that other group leaders want to consider setting up. However we understand that not everyone wants to use them and  we don’t want to exclude anyone who chooses not to join a message group.

Extra information post-lockdown #2 (from December 2020):

  • Can you help? 
    • We are hoping to resume the Wednesday coached sessions. These sessions are specifically aimed at members who are new to ‘interval training’ and perhaps would like to learn more about what they can achieve and how they may benefit. We have had great feedback from the people who attended the sessions and we are keen for them to continue. We would like to form a small team of people to lead that session on a rota basis. A training plan would be provided. Please get in touch if you would like to be involved.

  • Weekend Club Runs
    • If you are planning to run off-road or in an area away from town then groups of up to 12 are permitted. All club guidelines need to be followed to ensure a Covid-secure environment. Leaders need to take a register and send it to covid19(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)roystonrunners.co.uk all runners in the group need to have completed and submitted the health assessment and social distancing must be observed. If these conditions cannot be met then only groups of 6 can run together. Please refer to the Tier 2 Restrictions on the table below.