Hello from your new Manchester YMCA Harriers Club President

My name is Chris March and I was elected as Club President of the Manchester YMCA Harriers at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday. A large proportion of our club membership were present at that meeting; thank you to everybody who attended and voted.

At the AGM, our members were very clear in expressing their gratitude to Steve Symons for the many years of hard work that he has put in for the benefit of our club and its members during his time on the committee and as Club President. Both personally and on behalf of our club, I would like to reiterate that message: Steve, thanks for everything you have done for our club.

Committee

I stood for the position of Club President for two reasons: I want our club to grow, and I want our club to be run by a committee of our members that is strong, empowered, representative and above all, democratic.

We now have a committee of just four people – Steph Goodchild, Jon Paramor, David Ashton and myself. We need your help in running and growing our club. If you are interested in joining the club’s committee, please let me know!

Membership renewals

It’s membership renewal time! Our membership fee for the 2017/18 season is £24, which includes England Athletics affiliation. Payment can be made in cash or with a cheque made payable to “Manchester YMCA Harriers”. You can get your payment to us in a number of ways:

• Hand it to Emma Rettig or any committee member in person; or
• Leave it at the Y Club reception marked for the attention of Emma Rettig.

Please also inform us if any of your personal or contact details have changed over the past 12 months.

Finally, please ensure that your payment is received by 31st May at the latest!

Club rules

It was noted at the AGM that many members have not seen our current club rules: you can view our club rules here.

These rules will be updated with the amendments passed at the AGM once they have been ratified by the Manchester YMCA Board of Trustees.

Coming up

Our regular Tuesday night track sessions and Thursday night group runs will continue as normal, however our track sessions will no longer be led by Steve Symons.

We also have the following club championship races coming up over the next few months:

• Tuesday 9th May, 7:00pm: 100m and 200m track championships
• Wednesday 10th May, 7:30pm: Haigh Hall 3.75 mile (road championship and Central Lancs Grand Prix)
• Saturday 13th May, 12:00pm: Fairfield Horseshoe (fell championship)
• Sunday 28th May, 10:00am: Buxton Half Marathon (road championship)
• Sunday 11th June, 11:00am: Passing Clouds (fell championship)
• Wednesday 21st June, 7:30pm: Horwich 5 mile (road championship and Central Lancs Grand Prix) **Please note the change of date**
• Tuesday 27th June, 7:00pm: 5000m track championship

You can find out more about these races and our other activities on our events page and our club championships page.

— Chris March