Mote Runners continued to thrive in 2022 with membership steadily increasing and many of our runners making great progress in reaching their individual goals. Below are a few of the highlights.
Club Championship – January – November 2022
We completed our first Club Championship, which consisted of 10 races with a scoring mechanism aimed at awarding those runners who have shown improvement through the year.
This proved to be a big success with many members competing. One of the first races was the Maidstone River Run, which was dominated by Mote Runners with many trophies being won.
The final race of the club championship was the Marden 10k in November 2022 and this provided the championship decider.
Leaders in Runners and Fitness (LiRF’s)
We had four members qualifying as LiRF’s in 2022. With a growing club, it is always useful to have a good spread of LiRF’s and we are always looking for new ones.
AGM – 26th April 2022
The AGM was held in the Clubhouse in April 2022 with all committee positions remaining unchanged. This was in fact the first AGM to have been held in person since the club was formed, the previous ones being held online.
5k Handicap Runs – Spring/Summer 2022
These continued throughout the year and always provided a lot of interest. These handicap runs were based on previously recorded times so the slowest runners go off first with the fastest last. The intention is that everyone finishes together which is normally within two minutes.
0-5 Beginners Course – June – August 2022
We commenced the 0-5k week course on 21st June 2022, which consisted of 12 sessions although due to the extreme heat, we had to cancel one of these. This was well attended and it was great to see so many of the 0-5ers graduating to our main club runs.
Back-markers
To provide ongoing support to our runners and especially those who are new to the club, we have introduced back-markers on all of our sessions, just to make sure “no one gets left behind”.
Jubilee Run – 7th June 2022
We held a Jubilee Run on 7th June 2022 in place of the normal club run. There were plenty of Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses on display together, of course with the obligatory Union Jack.
Running Track at Sutton Valance – Summer Holidays
We were lucky to be able to use the running track at Sutton Valance School during the summer and held a number of sessions that were well attended and a big success.
Daytime Runs – Autumn/Winter Months Only
Daytime runs on a Wednesday were introduced in 2022 as some members simply cannot attend evening runs for many reasons, including not wanting to run in the dark. These are 5k’s and aimed at all levels, particularly those who want to make some improvements in their running. We meet at the clubhouse for these on a Wednesday lunchtime.
During the summer months, we pause these lunchtime runs.
Mote Park Parkrun Takeover – 3rd September 2022
With Mote Park now hosting its own Parkrun, it was only right that Mote Runners should get involved and provide support for this.
On 3rd September 2022, we did the Mote Runners “Takeover” and had over 20 marshals carrying out various duties including timing, scanning, funnel patrol and back markers. In addition, we had pacers for various distances, with virtually all of them coming within a few seconds of their allocated times.
London Marathon – 2nd October 2022
We had several runners at the London Marathon (including the virtual LM), with many members travelling to London (despite the rail strikes) to give their support.
As an England Athletics affiliated club, we get one allocated space to run the marathon. We hold a ballot of those members who qualify and want to enter our winner was selected in a draw held in the clubhouse in May 2022.
Cross Country – January – December 2022
We compete in the Kent Cross Country League which consists of 5 races. We also competed in the Kent XC championships at Brands Hatch in January 2022 and the Kent XC Veterans Championships at Dartford in December.