With recent lockdown restrictions being eased slightly allowing groups of up to 6 to meet in open spaces the club has been working behind the scenes to facilitate a limited return to training within guidelines set by England Athletics.

With this in mind Beccles sessions will restart this Wednesday 10th June on a basis of 5 runners to 1 LiRF across 3 Base Camp sessions and 1 Altitude session, this is following a soft launch of an Altitude session last week.

Lowestoft will soft launch a week later on Tuesday 16th June with one session in each group held at Normanston Park on a 5 runner to 1 LiRF basis, runners taking part will be first come first served. After the 1st session there will be a review and possible changes if needed which will then lead into more sessions the following week. On week starting 22nd June sessions hopefully will be held on both Tuesday and Thursday depending on guidance at that time.

For this to work it’s essential that everyone abides by the 2m social distancing rules, as if any of us are seen to be disregarding this rule by members of the public it could lead to a backlash against the club – you are all ambassadors for WVAC.

For anyone that doesn’t feel confident with coming back to limited group sessions, your group coaches will be able to advise on a suitable session plan you can carry out yourself so you don’t miss out.

It’s anticipated that lockdown will be relaxed further from July, with this in mind anyone wanting to take part in sessions from 1st July will be required to have renewed their club membership.

For those who have already renewed their memberships, we are very thankful.

Membership remains at £32 for the year. This includes the UKA affiliation fee, although UKA had previously intended to raise this to £16, they have retained the previous years £15 fee. Although we’ve lost a couple of months of the race season already, it’s important to note that the same fee is incurred whether a member joins or renews in April or in October, the half-yearly membership the club usually offers new members only still incurs the same affiliation fee which results in the club receiving less for our own club funds, funds that allow us to offer paid entry to the XC Winter League (£5 per race). 2nd claim membership remains at £20 for the year.

It would be greatly appreciated where possible for forms to be sent electronically and membership payments made via BACS so the group coaches do not have to handle paper forms and cash etc.

Important note: Due to the extraordinary circumstances that led to the delay in renewals we will not be applying a penalty fee to any late renewals.

Details on renewing membership can be found here: waveneyvalley.org/seniormembership/

WVAC

On 31st May we will be joining Norfolk Gazelles and 25 other running/triathlon clubs in Norfolk and Suffolk for the ‘Don’t Pass It On!’ Lockdown Relay!!! Get involved if you can, it just requires being able to go for a walk/jog/run for 1 hour between 6am–11pm..

Oh and carrying a ‘baton’ of your choosing while you do it!

So far we have 38 members taking part, if you can spare an hour, then please join in. This relay is not about how fast you are, it is about taking part! You can run or walk the 1 hour slot, we just need the distance covered in that time to go to an aggregated total.

If you’re interested please

https://www.norfolkgazelles.co.uk/virtual-relay.php

This is a charity event raising funds for the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity and Nelson’s Journey, donations are not mandatory to take part.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/Norfolkrunningclubs

On 16–17 May, Led by Matt Jeffries, runners from Waveney Valley AC and 6 other running and triathlon clubs will be taking part in Le-Jog, to run the total length of Britain in a 24 hour period, Lands End to John o’Groats, an accumulated distance of 874 miles between the team of 50 participants!

Adhering to government guidance all runners shall run a solo effort, covering a minimum distance of 17.48 miles each over the 24 hour period (12:00 16th – 12:00 17th May).

Fundraising for Raise a Rainbow

The Raise a Rainbow appeal will support a range of hospital projects, the first of which is a new bereavement suite and a children’s play area. Charity funding is used for the important equipment, projects and the vital extras that fall outside the remit of National Health Service funding.

The Raise a Rainbow Appeal will directly help people who need it most. The rainbow was chosen because it symbolises hope – the message is that together, we can make the James Paget even better for everyone.

https://www.jpaget-charity.org.uk/Fundraisers/lejog-running-challenge

Well done all of you who took part in the rearranged SWL XC Pakenham fixture, along with the Woodton fixture the week after.

Waveney Valley AC fielded two senior men’s and two senior women’s teams, plus one junior athlete, for the Suffolk Cross Country Championships at Culford School, near Bury St Edmunds, on Sunday. The course, consisting of grass and trails, was fast and firm with one energy-sapping gradient which the seniors had to deal with on each of the three laps. The distance for the seniors was 10k with 1 x 2k and 2 x 4k laps.

There was a closely contested field in the ladies race and Samantha Lines kickstarted the new year in fine style by finishing second in a time of 38:51, less than half a minute behind an international athlete from Aldershot & Farnham  AC. Completing Waveney’s two strong ladies teams were Zoe Chase 17th in 45:43, Jess Hall 21st in 47:01, Sarah Norman 34th in 48:10, Susannah Close 41st in 51:31, Stephanie Pimlott 45th in 51:56, Kerry Saunders 46th in 51:57 and Rebecca Harris 55th in 54:09. Zoe Chase won the trophy for 2nd in the V40 age category.  88 runners completed the course with Waveney’s teams performing well to finish third (bronze) and 11th out of 16 teams

In the men’s race, Matt Jeffries finished fourth out of 165 runners, in a time of 34:14 with Dean Bain 23rd in 37:44, Jim Burgess 36th in 38:54, Chris Meadows 42nd in 39:46, Chris Pimlott 47th in 40:11, Leon Bernasconi 57th in 40:49,  Chris Bradford 63rd in 41:20, Tim Earl 100th in 44:21 and Steve Carruthers, affected by an injury, 102nd in 44:28. Waveney’s ‘A’ team finished a very respectable 5th from 11 teams and Jim Burgess was the award winner for 3rd in the V45 category.

In the boy’s under-13 3k event,  Waveney’s James Burgess finished 19th in a time of 14:39.

Sam Lines and Matt Jeffries have been selected to run for Suffolk in the Inter-Counties Championships at Loughborough on March 9.

At the Norfolk Cross Country Championships held at Thetford,  Antony Croucher finished 32nd.