It’s coming back! – Training at Wilberforce Road from 3rd August

I know I’ve missed it. Training on grass is all very well but you can’t beat the track for certain types of training.

I hope, by now, you will have seen the club email giving the good news that the University is opening up the Wilberforce Road site from Monday 3rd August. Of course, this comes with a number of restrictions still but it’s very good news.

It’s been a long journey. The University Sports team have had to double somersault through hoops to get the site signed off as Covid-safe by the Estates department. We have to thank Lee De Grammont, the Head Groundsman, and his team for a lot of that work.

Various members of the C&C team have been working closely with them to explain our position and our desire to get back on track at the earliest possible time too.

Part of the work we had to do was create a club plan for the return which will be adjusted as needed through the coming weeks and months. We have created a club risk assessment that has driven our plan, a set of club rules, and are asking all athletes to sign a declaration to show they’ve read and understood the rules for a safe return.

As we are restricted to 6 per training group at the moment and the need to maintain safe distances between groups we will be limited on how many can attend each session. So we have agreed to put on 2 consecutive sessions on each of Tuesday and Thursday evenings (similar to how we have run the junior academy on Mondays for some time). We have extended our times: 6pm to 9pm allowing the two sessions.

Separately, we will issue details of which coaches are available at which sessions and how to request a place at the track for a particular session. It is vital that we only turn up to the track for a session when a confirmation email is received. Your discipline on this will be appreciated.

There’ll be further communication about this system soon this week.

Thank you for bearing with us and your membership has now been extended by 4 months to accommodate the time we haven’t been able to train together. Although there are some challenges with the membership system which means you may receive a request to renew earlier than needed.

All the best, and hope to see some of you at Wilberforce Road soon.

Keith Clarke

Chair, C&C AC