Helsby Sports & Social
Chester Road
Helsby
Cheshire WA6 0DL
(01928-722267)

Last Updated :
19th January 2003

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The reasons for joining a running club are as many and as varied as the club members themselves, everybody has their own reasons for deciding to run. A club can halp you achieve whatever objectives and aspirations you may have, and maybe introduce you to some new ones...

 

Company

Running on your own can often be dispiriting, especially on long cold wet winter nights. Having others to run with and a regular club 'session' can make all the difference between putting on your running shoes and getting out of the door instead of curling up in front of the telly and feeling guilty about it. You'll get to meet some new people, make some new friends and have a bit of fun (and get fitter) in the process.

Train at your own natural pace

Even if you train with a regular running partner, how well matched are you ? If one of you is having it easy and the other is always struggling to keep up you could both benefit from mixing with the broad range of abilities found in any running club, you'll both find folk to run with who are better matched to your own individual pace.

Improve your ability

Running with other runners will always push you that bit harder than if you are on your own. It is psychologically harder to cop out when you are training with others. Additionally a club will often arrange additional 'quality' sessions to improve speed, strength and endurance. These are not restricted to the top athletes and it is often the club runners of more modest ability who benefit the most from these.

More and varied training

As well as 'quality' sessions, getting to know and train with other runners in your area will introduce you to new training routes as folk meet up for communal runs. These can often be quite social occassions and it is not unknown for these to finish at pubs, where the hard work and calorie loss just undertaken can get swiftly undone. Club outings to races will give you runs in different places and maybe introduce you to corners of this green and pleasant land that you hadn't discovered before.

"My spouse / partner etc. doesn't understand me..."

When it comes to your need to go running, whatever the weather, they may not but we do. Joining a club will introduce you to a group of like minded people. Here you can go on about how terrible your last run was, or how you just shaved so many seconds off your PB for such and such a distance and get an enthusiastic response instead of the usual glazed look and sad shake of the head.

Safety

It is sadly the case, but personal safety whilst out running alone is a serious issue, particularly for lady runners and especially in the dark of winter evenings. Running with others in a club environment gives you safety of numbers and a pool of people you can train with on other days of the week as well.

Competition

Not everybodys cup of tea. But it certainly exists in the club environment from the serious medal winning to fun rivalry between mates. Clubs will host internal championships and provide a gateway to more serious competition at local, regional and national levels. It is one of the great levellers of running that many events at national or international level are open to competitors of all abilities (just think of the London Marathon for an example) and it doesn't matter where you come in a race, you will have been stretched and tested yourself against your own personal benchmarks. Competition is not compulsory and there are plenty of club members who are not particularly motivated by it, but it certainly exists and can present you with a new challenge.

and finally....Save Money !!

Joing a properly register club will allow you to save the BAF levy on your race entries.

 

So what are you waiting for ? Come on down and give your local club a try. It might be more fun than you thought.