Stopsley Striders Newsletter – January 2022

The newsletter will be made up of recent/key content we post on Facebook and any other messages we need to share.

Club Membership Fees 2022/23

The committee were looking to keep the annual fee the same and continue club night charges as has always worked well for the club, but a number of factors have meant that this is not possible. We have included more information on the reasons why below.

For the 2022/2023 year renewal fees are:
– England Athletics Affiliated Members – £46
– Non-England Athletic Affiliated Members – £30
– England Athletics Affiliated Members Students/65 & Over – £36
– Non-England Athletics Affiliated Members Students/65 & over – £20

 For the 2022/2023 year new member fees (includes club vest) are:
New Membership Until AGM
– England Athletics Affiliated – £61
– Non-England Athletics Affiliated – £45
– England Athletics Affiliated Students/65 & Over £51
– Non-England Athletics Affiliated Students/65 & Over £35


Post AGM Membership will be reduced up to 50%

(England Athletics Affiliated Fee of £16 TBC)

Track will be an additional £3 per session (subject to potential price reduction in March 2022)  

We are working hard to ensure that being a member of Stopsley Striders has physical and mental benefits to our members wellbeing as well as other benefits.  

Benefits of Club Membership  

  • Insured Running at Club Running Events  
  • Free Club Nights at Inspire in a private room with Coached Sessions and Social Running  
  • Regular Club Social Nights Per Month  
  • Other running events organised on Spond  
  • Entry to 3 Counties Cross Country League  
  • £2 discounted Affiliated Entry to all ARC organised events  
  • 10% Discount to all ATW organised events  
  • 10% from SportsShoes  
  • 15% from Proviz  
  • 5% Discount from Beds Osteopathy  
  • Other discounts to be announced

     

Benefits of England Athletics Affiliation  

All of the above plus

  • £2 discounted affiliated entry to all England Athletics organised events  
  • Paid entry to County, Southerns and National Cross Country Events  
  • Entry to Club ballot for London Marathon Places (Subject to additional rules)  
  • Further insurance from England Athletics  
  • Ongoing Running discounts included in monthly newsletter – these have included New Balance, Runderwear, Kukri plus many more  
  • Ability to be a club coach at Stopsley Striders (subject to training)  


The Committee have discussed the fees for next year at length. The factors that have led to a price increase in the annual fee are:  

  • Spond having a minimum price charge of £2
  • The recommendation by governing bodies that clubs should not be collecting cash
  • No suitable alternatives to using an online platform for collecting money on club nights  

Costs for the club nights at Inspire have reduced  

  • The £2 per night is was seen as too high, especially as our room costs have reduced now we only have a room for 30mins.  
  • Charging on just one night seemed unfair as many members do not attend both Monday and Thursday evenings.  

Due to this is made it better value to members to increase the fees.  

The committee believe that membership to the club still offers good value. Under the previous pricing structure club this would have been the annual cost:

One club night per week : £90 per year
Two Club nights per week: £165 per year

Therefore the average club member will be saving a potential £45-£120 per year in comparison to the previous pricing structure.  

We know an initial higher outlay will not be ideal for all members, so we wanted to ensure we let you know as early as possible. Fees will start to be collected from April 1st.

Club Championships 2022

These races have age category 1st, 2nd and 3rd Certificates for all age categories.

5K – Marston 10th June – Entry not yet open (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members)

5 mile – Hatfield 5 November (Date TBC) (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

10K – Flitwick – 10th April (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members) or Love Luton 30th October (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

10 mile – Sandy – 11th September

Half Marathon – St Albans – 12th June (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount) or Love Luton 30th October (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

20 Mile – Any race (not virtual)

Marathon – Any race (not virtual)

Beds AAA County Championships

These races have age category prizes and team prizes for runners living in and born in Beds!

Lets get Striders ruling the County!

5k – Doug Anderson (Bedford Park) – 20th July (£2 discount entry for ALL members at it is an ARC race)

10k – Beds AAA – 15th July – (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members)

5 mile – John O’Callaghan (Luton) – June (Date TBC) (£2 discount entry for all EA affiliated members -TBC)

10 mile – Sandy – 11th September

Half Marathon – Love Luton 30th October (TBC as County Champs – Maria suggested it to them!!) (ATW Race 10% Striders Discount)

20 mile – Oakley 4th September  (£2 discount entry for ALL members at it is an ARC race)

Thank you to Maria for attending the reported exhilarating Bedfordshire AAA meeting on Friday 21st Jan.

At this meeting it was also confirmed that the Beds AAA Cross Country Champs in Dec will be in Bedfordshire (not Milton Keynes, not Wycombe!)

Cross Country 2022/23

Thank you to Charles for attending the 3 Counties Cross Country League meeting on 17th January.

The good news is that CROSS COUNTRY WILL BE BACK IN THE AUTUMN!

Wellingborough, Wootton (Northants), Letchworth and Stopsley will be the venues with it looking like Ampthill being the 5th venue.

Race Suggestions – Races suggested by members

Don’t forget to record your race results: https://www.stopsleystriders.org.uk/record-your-race/

2022 Club Awards Night

The Awards Night will be on Sat 5th March at Stopsley Working Men’s Club. There will be at least 80 tickets available charged at £5 each and every ticket bought enters you for a raffle where you have the chance to win free entry to all ATW events for a year! News on tickets to follow – but will be for sale on Spond!

If members wish to be considered for a age/distance award please visit Award Scheme – Stopsley Striders for details and then email Charles our men’s club captain on menscaptain@stopsleystriders.org.uk by the end of January.

ATW Events Club Discount

The Club have negotiated the benefit for all club members to receive a 10% discount to all ATW events.

Please use the discount code sent in email newsletters and available on Striders Facebook page when entering their races.

Please visit Active Training World Events – Active Training World for a list of their upcoming events.

Charity & Social

  • 20/2/2021 (Sunday) (TBC)  Introduction of Sunday Long Runday
    • Following the success of the Boxing Day run we encourage Striders to run down the cycle path for their long run.
    • Organise your run on Spond
    • Aim that everyone finishes their run at 11am and meets at Starbucks (Luton Retail Park, Gipsy Lane) for a coffee and cake
  • Once a month (February’s date TBC) – Post run drinks at The Barrells after our 8km and 5km led runs!
    • Meeting from 20:00. There will be a Spond event for numbers, or message one of the committee the week before.
    • For the earlier club run on this evening we will be offering a 5K and 8K run in a similar format to the Christmas Lights Run with a run leader and tail runner

This year’s charity is Hospice at Home Home | Hospice at Home Volunteers and the Club Rep for the charity is Hilary Blessing.

So far the events held for the charity have been a 12 days of Christmas Challenge and the December Club Social which saw an auction for Gill McLaren’s Christmas Cake, a Gin Sling plus some other fundraising. £302 raised so far so thank you to all that have contributed to the charity.

The committee are currently hard at work in organising a Club 40th Anniversary Bash for June 2022. Look out for more information regarding this event soon!

Cross Country

Thank you to all members who have competed in the intra-club champs so far. Thank you to Kate Neale for organising.

Remember to submit your run times to your club captain.

Remember the Friendly Run at Dunstable on 6th Feb – meeting in the Glider Car Park on Lowther Road at 9:45. Cake and Tea after too, plus baggage storage supplied!

That’s all folks…

We would like to wish you all a happy new year and look forward to seeing you at a club event in the near future.

If you have any questions or comments please contact a member of the committee.