To all of our Members
Firstly, we hope you and those close to you are fit and well and are getting through things as best you can. It will be good to see us back at the track as normal in the future, however, this is likely to be some time off and in a phased manner.
The first phase is likely to be taken in the next few weeks. The club committee has been monitoring and discussing Government regulations, as well as stipulations from England Athletics and SERCO who manage our track and the wheels, are in motion to return to training in some form. We had expected an announcement last week, but it looks as though it will be a few more weeks yet. Rest assured, the health and safety of all of our members is our highest priority.
Currently, track times are being agreed with SERCO and risk assessments are being compiled to ensure we fully comply with all bodies. As I am sure you will all appreciate, this is a complicated and difficult time for the club and with 3 bodies to answer to, things are far from simple.
So, what does this mean? Initially, the return to training will be managed by the committee and certain coaches will be invited to return with a small number of selected athletes on specific dates and at specific times. Nobody can just turn up and train. Coaches will notify athletes of any training slot allocated to them. Again, we appear to be a few weeks away from this currently. Please note that there will be no Jumps or throws in this phase in line with Stadium requirements.
Any group that does return to training must be overseen by a fully qualified coach and we will be limited, initially, to 5 athletes per coach. We will also be strictly limited to the numbers of coaches and groups at the track during sessions. As restrictions are lifted gradually, then we can begin to phase in more athletes to training
The coaches and small groups returning in the first phase will allow us to introduce small numbers of athletes from our specialist Sprint, Endurance, Jumps & Throws groups (for strength & conditioning training) as well as our u13/u15 Development group back to the track on a weekly basis. Kestrels will not be returning in the first phase and may well be some months away from any return to the track, but we remain committed to getting our u11 athletes back as soon as it is safe and practicable to do so.
In light of the severe disruption to training & competition which may well continue for some time due to the ongoing health crisis, the Executive Committee has taken the decision to offer membership only to those athletes registered with us last membership year. The charge for this year’s membership will be £16 to cover each athletes registration with England Athletics only to allow athletes to compete should competitions return. The club will absorb all costs including track hire for this membership year. Currently, no new members will be considered. Those u11s waiting to join Development (Current School Year 6 athletes) will need to rejoin if they wish to compete in this membership year.
If you have any questions then please reply to this email and a member of the committee will get back to you. Further updates will follow once we are in a position to give any. Otherwise, thank you all for your patience, stay safe and we look forward to Athletics returning to our track in the near future.
Kind Regards
Vale of Aylesbury Athletic Club Executive Committee