Evesham Vale RC are making an attempt on the World Record time for the fastest continuous 100 x 10kms relay run at Stratford Athletics Track starting on Friday September 23rd and finishing on Sunday 25th/Monday 26th. The track at Stratford can run floodlights through the night which is vital of course, and there will be a small entry fee to cover costs, but this is expected to be no more than a typical 10km race entry fee.

The current World Record is 77 hours, 17 mins, 25 secs set by Florida Striders Track Club in December 2009, and Evesham have set a target time of 75 hours. This will require 100 runners averaging 45 minutes per leg, and they have asked AMAZING FEET RC and other local clubs for support. To achieve the average 10km leg time, anyone taking part should be capable of running 10km in 48 minutes or less, and Evesham Vale have indicated that supporting clubs may be given "blocks" of time, so that, for instance, all AMAZING FEET runners who take part would follow each other.

Evesham Vale RC will be sending us entry forms in due course when we will be able to confirm all the provisional details mentioned above, and arrange hopefully our preferred time slots and anticipated times.

If anyone is interested in having a go at this unique event which should be great fun as well, please at this stage just register your interest with SIMON GREGG or RICHARD BAKER and as soon as we have further information we will pass it on to you.

A final call please for any club members who wish to take part in the Midland Counties 12 Stage Road Relay Championship at Sutton Park on Saturday March 19th. Those who have indicated their interest in taking part are : NEV WATSON/MARTIN DAVIES/WULSTON ALDERMAN/STEVE HAWKES/STUART HAWKES/SIMON GREGG/MARK BRADBURY/DEAN GREGORY/ADRIAN WILLS/NICK RICHARDS/RICHARD DILWORTH & CRAIG BONE : However, a couple of these are dependant on injury recovery & work commitments, so we probably need at least two or three extra volunteers. The relays consist of 8 legs x 2.995 miles and 4 legs x 5.38 miles. Closing date is Monday March 7th 2011 so names to NEV WATSON as soon as possible please.  There is also the Women's 6 Stage Road Relay Championship held at the same venue on the same day.

CAN ALL CLUB MEMBERS PLEASE RESPOND TO MY E-MAIL OF 20th DECEMBER 2010 REQUESTING THEIR VOTES FOR THE RUNNER OF THE YEAR, MOST IMPROVED RUNNER, CLUB PERSON and BEST NEWCOMER. A miserable 14 votes have so far been received out of a membership of 65 ~ these are our prestigious annual awards, and those winning trophies in three weeks deserve to have won their titles out of a much larger membership vote.  A quick e-mail back will take you only a couple of minutes. VOTES ARE REQUIRED THIS WEEK PLEASE - we have to order individual trophies and arrange to have the annual trophies engraved.

Of the initial e-mail sent out, failure notices were received from half a dozen e-mail addresses that were undeliverable. Can PAUL HAYWARD, HELEN HAWKES, JEAN MAFFEI, HEIDRUN HAEGE, NICK RICHARDS and RACHEAL MOSS please let me have their e-mail addresses by return so I can re-send the e-mail.

With final preparations being made for the 2010 Presentation Evening on Friday 21st January, can all members please ensure that they have advised JANE PYE that they are coming, and how many guests they are bringing. It is imperative that we know numbers so that we can ensure sufficient food is available.

We also need further volunteers for the Mastermind Quiz on the night - CRAIG LEWIS has volunteered to take part, but we need at least another three people, and up to five, to make it work. Your own choice of specialist subject - anything you like - come on now, roll up, don't be shy.

Can those people who won trophies last year PLEASE ENSURE THEY ARE RETURNED TO CRAIG LEWIS within the next week, as we need to have them engraved in time for the awards evening. GERRY SANDERS (2 trophies), RACHEAL MOSS, DEAN GREGORY, RICHARD BAKER and SUZANNE DUNN

We are still looking for club members (or their guests) to take part in a Mastermind Quiz at the Presentation Evening in January. Anyone who would like to have a go should let RICHARD BAKER know as soon as possible, together with the subject matter for their specialist subject round. This can be on ANY subject that is close to your heart : a favourite singer or band; favourite album; hobby or interest, football club, sport, etc etc. We need time to find 25 questions or so on the Internet, so really do need your details as quickly as possible.

DECEMBER 18 > MIDLAND COUNTIES 12-STAGE RELAYS 19.03.11 >>

Following the successful day we had at the Midland Counties 6-stage relays at Sutton Park earlier this year, we are now looking to enter a team (or two ?) in the Midlands 12-stage Relays which will take place in Sutton park on Saturday 19th March 2011.  Teams consist of 12 runners, half of whom run a 3 mile leg, and half run a 5.4 mile leg.  Anybody interested in continuing these historic times for the club (first appearance in the 6-Stage Relay, Top of the Cross Country League) should simply confirm their interest to NEV WATSON as soon as possible, or if you don't have Nev's contact details, let RICHARD BAKER know and he will pass it on.

Now that my PC is up and running again, there are a number of items that need to be attended to in the immediate future.  Our 8 mile race promotion will take place on Sunday February 13th 2011 in the Wyre Forest, and as always we need a high proportion of our membership to come along on the day with their families and friends to help with a million and one jobs - car park attendants (sorry, no uniform), goody bag stuffers, marshals, time and number recorders, goody bag handers-out, recording sheet runners, finish results data entry, water stations, clearing up etc. As we have reverted to our traditional second Sunday in the month date, this falls a week before half-term, so no excuses this year ?  Please confirm your availability to SIMON GREGG asap.

There is still plenty of room at Thursday's annual quiz night (October 28th) which again promises to be an excellent evening. We currently have less than a third of the club membership committing to taking part ~ this is always a fun evening, not too serious, with a promise that you will get quiz rounds unlike anywhere else !  The food is excellent as well, so come on, names please to JANE PYE and let's fill the place up.

A reminder to all club members who have been rejected from the 2011 Virgin London Marathon on April 17th next year, that to have any chance of receiving one of the clubs' guaranteed places THEY MUST NOTIFY CLUB SECRETARY RICHARD BAKER THAT THEY HAVE ENTERED AND BEEN REJECTED, WITH PROOF OF THEIR REJECTION, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The draw for club places is usually made at the AGM in November : so far only ONE club member has informed us of their rejection. It's up to you !!!

On the 13th of October Geoff James, who is Richard Warder’s coach/mentor, is going to be at the track with him to watch Richard take the session, and be on hand to give any advice that you may care to get from him. Geoff is the West Midland endurance coach mentor and leads a group of some 10 other coaches (including Richard) who are considered to be worth developing further. He is wondering if there would be enough interest from us for Geoff to talk to us as a group about methods, ideas, training practises etc at another time. To make this happen Richard will need at least 7 or 8 of us there on the 13th October. This seems like a wonderful opportunity, so let's make it happen : OCTOBER 13th, Stourport track, 7.00pm.

We will be holding a Mastermind style quiz at our Presentation Evening in January 2011 and need up to six club members who have hobbies or interests to take part as contestants. names and specialist subjects please to RICHARD BAKER as soon as possible.

If any of you have any items that you want to raise at the AGM on Thursday November 18th, we need these to go onto the agenda for the evening. Please let Club Secretary RICHARD BAKER know as soon as possible, and by October 15th at the latest.

From this coming Sunday (October 3rd) CRAIG LEWIS will be organising a weekly run from the Wyre Forest Visitor Centre at Callow Hill, starting at 10.00am. Distance will be between7 & 10 miles depending on the weather and who turns up. All abilities are welcome and hot chocolate is promised for afters. If you are not racing somewhere and fancy a run, why not head for the Wyre Forest and join the fun ?

The club's annual Quiz & Curry night will take place on Thursday October 28th - for full details see the SOCIAL EVENTS PAGE.  Please let JANE PYE know that you are coming, and how many of your friends and family you will be bringing along. Prizes for the first three teams, something for the losers too. TEAMS OF FOUR PLEASE WHEREVER POSSIBLE.

If you have any contacts in other local clubs, feel free to invite them to come along and enter a team - they will be most welcome.

MARTIN DAVIES is now sending our race results/reports up to the Shuttle, and generally gets this information from our website. Can all members who race on a Sunday morning (or midweek evenings) PLEASE e-mail their results to RICHARD BAKER (richardabaker@btinternet.com) as soon as possible, preferably with a copy to Martin. Your results are likely to be missed if you only put them on Facebook or message boards !

Simon Gregg has advised that the Wednesday evening track sessions at Stourport will re-commence on Wednesday September 22nd with UKA coach Richard Warder. All abilities are welcome as before - meet at 7.00pm for a 78.15 start - cost is believed to still be £3. Any queries to Simon or Martin Davies.

For the first time since AMAZING FEET RC was reformed in 1994, we have sufficient interest in taking part in the Midlands Road relays in Sutton Park on Saturday September 25th. Not only have we entered a team this year, but we have twelve keen and hardy athletes so have entered TWO teams !  This long established event is a great club day out, as all the Midland clubs are there in numbers, so any of you who are doing nothing on the day would be very welcome to come along and support the club. The race starts at 1.30pm and consists of six legs of 5.847kms (that'll be PB's all round then).

The twelve are members ; NEV WATSON, SHAW PYE, STEVE HAWKES, STUART HAWKES, MARTIN DAVIES, STEVE CLARK, ADRIAN WILLS, DEAN GREGORY, DAVID WHYMANT, ROGER CANAVAN, WULSTON ALDERMAN and RICHARD BAKER.

Our tenth anniversary Wyre Forest Half Marathon is now just nine days away, and we are still in desperate need of marshals. At present we have 35 confirmed names, but this covers all the jobs at the start and finish, as well as marshalling points around the 13.1 mile route. Will any members who haven't yet done so, PLEASE E-MAIL OR PHONE SIMON GREGG IMMEDIATELY to confirm your availability or otherwise on the day. Remember that our club is viewed by the rest of athletics by our performance on these occasions !

There will be food afterwards for all club helpers and their families at the pub, but again, can you please let JANE PYE know as soon as possible if you are planning to join us, so that we can ensure there is sufficient food. Jane needs to confirm numbers with the pub by this Sunday evening at the latest.

CRAIG LEWIS advises that the following training runs have been arranged :

WEDNESDAY JUNE 9th : Long run from the Glades at 19.00 ~ approx. 10 miles

FRIDAY JUNE 11th : Meet at the Dog Lane car park, Bewdley at 19.00 for a 6-7 mile run along the river to Arley, then back through Eyemore Wood, Trimpley Reservoir and back to Bewdley

SUNDAY JUNE 20th : Meet at Blakedown station to run the route of the Blakedown Bolt race. meet at 10.00.

FRIDAY JULY 9th : Meet at Wyre Forest Visitor Centre for a 19.00 start to run the club's half marathon race course. Park at the Duke William pub to avoid being locked in the forest car park !

The club's TENTH anniversary half marathon will be held on SUNDAY JULY 11th and now is that time when we need to put together a list of those club members who are going to be available to help on the day. The event is regarded as one of the best races in the Midlands, and this reputation has been built over the years by our club members who have given up their free time to marshal, record times & numbers, and hand out mementoes to finishers. PLEASE ADVISE SIMON GREGG AS SOON AS POSSIBLE if you are able to help on the day, and how many family members or friends you can bring along to swell the numbers. Remember, a 13.1 mile event requires a lot of marshals, so the more we have the better. There will be a light buffet at the Duke William (across the road) afterwards as a thank you : again please let Simon know if you want to join us so we can ensure there is enough food.

SIMON GREGG has advised that there will be another TRACK SESSION for members at Stourport this Wednesday evening (March 17th) at 7.15 pm. All club members are welcome, whatever their ability, as you will be running within your own capabilities. Cost is £3 - no need to book in advance, just turn up and meet Simon in the car park at 7.00 for the 7.15 start. There will still be a normal training session from the Glades for anyone who doesn't want to run on the track ~ usual time.

SIMON GREGG has advised that there will be another TRACK SESSION for members at Stourport this Wednesday evening (March 10th) at 7.15 pm. All club members are welcome, whatever their ability, as you will be running within your own capabilities. Simon is expecting a coach to come along as well. Cost is £3 - no need to book in advance, just turn up and meet Simon in the car park at 7.00 for the 7.15 start. There will still be a normal training session from the Glades for anyone who doesn't want to run on the track ~ usual time.

The latest committee meeting was held tonight at the Railway Bell pub, upstairs in the function room no less ! MARTIN DAVIES was approved as our latest new member, bringing our official paid-up membership now to 53.

SIMON GREGG has advised that there will be a TRACK SESSION for members at Stourport this Wednesday evening (March 3rd) at 7.15 pm. All club members are welcome, whatever their ability, as you will be running within your own capabilities. Simon is expecting a coach to come along as well. Cost is £3 - no need to book in advance, just turn up and meet Simon in the car park at 7.00 for the 7.15 start. There will still be a normal training session from the Glades for anyone who doesn't want to run on the track ~ usual time.

FEBRUARY 22 > RUNAROUND WYRE FOREST 8 MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN >>

SIMON GREGG has asked us to include the following message on the website :

"Firstly thank you to all the runners who braved the snow for what was possibly the most scenic Wyre Forest 8 run ever? Certainly since I have been a member of the club. It was a tough battle at the front with first and second separated by only 30 odd seconds, and a good mix of abilities throughout the field.

Thank you to everybody who came and helped with marshalling, car park, goody bags, and the finish, sorry I didn't get round to thank you all individually, but I'm sure you are aware how grateful the club is for your continued support and help.

Thank you also to the Red Cross for turning out in force to once again provide two points of contact on the course for anybody requiring any attention, I believe they only had a couple of people at the finish to deal with.

The half marathon will be taking place on Sunday 11th July, so if I could ask you to pencil that in your diaries as we require even more help than the 8.5 mile race, plus it is warmer to run! (but not less muddy).