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23/06/2020 00:00, In Blog / Club Notice Board /

As ever there has been a host of activity happening across the sport in Wales. The First Ministers announcement last Friday did provide a boost for both individuals and clubs. Following the announcement, Welsh Athletics launched a series of ‘guidance’ documents which aim to provide a framework for clubs, groups, individuals, coaches and facilities to start planning a safe return to activity. These guidance documents can be found here.

This week #SupportYourClub focuses on Cornelly Striders.

The South Wales club have certainly been busy throughout this period and since lockdown.

Although not being able to meet physically meet as a club they have managed to undertake a number of virtual events including; the club ‘steps’ challenge that lasted for the first 6 weeks of lockdown which saw members placed into teams, walking and running various distances providing both a contest and bragging rights via the leader board system! 

The club have also recently embarked on a new virtual challenge, again in teams, with points being rewarded for a run, walk, cycle or other exercise/activities. Once more the weekly leader board positions are ensuring the competitive elements of club are not being lost. Bonus points are also up for grabs for those that can find the chosen object of the week. This week the club were highlighting the locations of the community defibrillators in the Bridgend and Cornelly, an excellent initiative which only serves to highlight further the cause for the local community.

Club member Anna Hurley has organised both of these events and has displayed excellent organizational skills and her developing talents in using Microsoft Excel! In addition, Cornelly’s Vince Lawlor has been collating results of a virtual parkrun each week, and most importantly has established a virtual coffee shop where people can share their pics of a coffee and cake. As a very social club, it is great to see that traditions and a relative sense of normality can be achieved even in a virtual world. In addition, many members have also been taking part in virtual events.

We know that the club are looking forward to a return to group running and getting social when Welsh Government restrictions are eased and also send best wishes to rest of the fellow athletics community in Wales.

Further details of the clubs activity and additional inspiration can be found via the Facebook page or the clubs Twitter account.

Things that you can do to #SupportYourClub in the coming weeks…

1. Book onto a webinar, forthcoming events can be found here. These include the coaching sessions; Throws Workshop: Introduction to Discus (Wednesday 24^th) and the Coaching a Junior Endurance Athlete (Monday 29^th) applicable for any aspiring club coaches looking to improve their knowledge as well as the open Ask Us Series – Return to Athletics taking place on Thursday 25^th. 
2. Start a virtual event / challenge. Welsh Athletics has developed a virtual racing partnership with Opentrack. Through the partnership all Welsh Athletics affiliated clubs and RunWales groups and their runners are now able to use the Opentrack platform, free of charge, to create virtual running competitions and challenges.

#Supportyourclub

Club not yet featured? Want to share your club engagement ideas and success stories? Why not message us on social media @WelshAthletics or via email at: media@welshathletics.org