Fiona's athlete of the month is Louie McTaggart. Louie and his mum Laurie joined Birtley earlier in the year, and both seem to be going from strength to strength with their running! Well done Louie :)

...to please pay your membership fees and subs!

​This is a request for those members who have still to renew their memberships, which were due at the beginning of August, to please visit our website and use the links at the top of the home page for membership renewal (still available at a substantially reduced rate) and weekly subs payment. We realise that there is not much opportunity yet for competition, and you may feel that if your training sessions don't take place at the club then you don't need to pay subs. However, your fees pay not only for EA membership but also for our club's insurance, as well as each individual coach's insurance cover through their coaching licence.

We are facing increasing costs for venue hire, and without each member paying their weekly subs and renewing their memberships, this will eventually put the club in a difficult financial position as we still have to meet ongoing obligations. I'd like to thank those of you who make the effort to pay their weekly fees online, and to those who have renewed their memberships (or joined for the first time), it's much appreciated!

I should also add that we are aware that some of our members may be in difficult financial circumstances due to lockdown etc. Any member who is struggling with finances can contact myself, or any member of the committee in confidence, and we will consider your situation sympathetically and try to come to some mutual arrangement, for example, paying membership in instalments - we also have a hardship fund if appropriate.

​A great morning for a run as 13 Birtley adult runners headed to Beamish Hall for the socially distanced start of the Beamish trail 10k. Great to see some familiar faces. It seems ages since we all trained and ran cross countries together.

Before the 10k was the kids 2k race, where Birtley were represented by 3 young runners. 3 of the Birtley youngsters finishing in the top 4. Noah Williamson winning, followed in 3rd by Ben Storey 3 seconds ahead of his sister Lexi. Well done all of you, the future is bright.

After a little bit of catching up, us adults headed to the pens for our socially distanced starts. The course began with a lap of the grounds, through the high ropes, through Beamish Wild and for some through the parked cars!!!! Once into the woods we ploughed through plenty of mud, puddles and began to tackle the hills of a lovely scenic course. Not too dissimilar to a cross country venue. A few large undulating loops of the woods and we headed back to the finish line in the grounds of Beamish Hall. A woolly hat, bacon sandwich and hot cuppa waited for us on the other side of the finish line.

Special mention to Lisa Short winning her age category and second female overall. Nigel Simpson also getting an 8th place finish. Well done both.

Also, a mention needs to go to 4 runners who came through the C25K group. 3 of the 4 running their first ever 10k. None of them stopped either!! Really pleased for you all, well done.
​
The overall victory however was seeing our club runners all back together, in their vests on the start line. It was also nice to see the other club runners from various North East clubs who we have battled with through various fields of mud. Hopefully we will get back to those days soon.

Athletes of the month for October
~
Fiona’s athlete of the month is Louie Grieves
Emily's athlete of the month is Poppy Graham.
Emily says:-

Louie is a relative newcomer to the club, having come along while his mam was taking part in our Couch to 5k group, but seems to have taken to running like a duck to water (he must take after his mother!), and I'm sure once competitions start again he'll be in there with the best of them - well done Louie!