News Archive

Cycling UK is 142 years old on Wednesday 5th August and the Stevenage group are celebrating.

The Cyclists’ Touring Club, which became Cycling UK, held its first club rides in 1878.
While current health guidelines do not allow us to cycle in groups of more than six the Stevenage group had two “real” rides on 2nd August; will have two more rides on 5th August; a “real” small group off road ride this Saturday 8th August and will be out again on Sunday. Many other outings are being organised over the coming days.

Welcome back to Striders training
Head Coach, Chris Leigh has prepared a structured programme for August that allows groups of six (including run leader) to train in a ‘COVID Compliant’ manner. Details of the session groups can be found at
https://stevenagestridersrc.org.uk./diary The web site allows members to see session availability. Full booking instructions have been emailed to club members and bookings can be completed using the following link
https://stevenagestridersrc.org.uk/book-training

The Fairlands Valley Challenge Is Open
The Fairlands Valley Spartans off road challenge is up and running. It is a virtual event this year and you can still run on a route you choose any day between now and Sunday 6th September 2020.

Cycling UK in Stevenage say small group rides are now possible.

While groups are restricted to six people they are organising a variety of rides on different days and at different times.

To comply with health advice those want to ride need to book in advance. Have a look at www.stevenagectc.org.uk or visit the Cycling UK Stevenage Facebook page to see the choices and find out how to book these free rides.

On Sunday there were rides to the Lavender Farm at Hitchin and to Saffron Walden and Great Chishill windmill.

Cycling UK Stevenage are looking forward to the Stevenage Cycling Festival at the end of August.
 

The Fairlands Valley Challenge Is Open
On Sunday Jenny Garrett, Vicky Archer and Claire Emmerson did the marathon in the FVS Fairlands Valley off road challenge. It was Vicky’s first marathon. They all had great fun on their own route out to Wheathampstead via the Ayots and back through Codicote and Knebworth Park. We completed it in 5:48:20 with at least 75% being off road.

Small group training in the parks has become the new normal for many athletes from Stevenage and North Herts Athletic Club.

The Club Coaches can now take five athletes at a time and have set up sessions across parks in Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth and Shefford.

The big, big news is that Fairlands Valley Spartans have a world record holder. SIMON JACKSON broke the world indoor Ironman triathlon record in Stevenage town centre on Saturday. (For more on that see a separate release).

Fairlands Valley Spartans are well on the way to Kadoma on their virtual quest to visit all of Stevenage’s four twin towns.
They covered 481 miles on Sunday with 62 members posting a distance. This week there were 236 bonus weekly miles from members not on Facebook.

Coronavirus hits all club events
As the whole wide world knows that there is the Coronavirus going on at the moment and that the British Government has told all runners that all events are cancelled and that all runners shouldn’t run in groups, hence all training has been cancelled with the club until further notice. However, the British Government are still allowing people to run by ‘themselves’. A lot of the club members were due to run in the Stevenage Striders Handicap 5km last week but got cancelled. So instead of rearranging the event, the club has asked runners to still do the 5km but to record it with Strava or other means. Here is how some of the club members got on with their challenge to which some have gained unofficial personal best times and season best times (they won’t be counted officially but this is still a great effort and good positive motivation for when races do restart hopefully later in the year).

Clubs and organisations all over the country are experiencing lots of challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic. Club Matters is here to help by giving you some tips, tools and ideas to help keep your club functioning and working with your members and customers!

As some measures are being relaxed and the country is getting back to activity we have prepared a new suite of resources to give you tips and guidance on how to do this safely!