Chairmans Report 2024/25
I want to start my report this year by honouring Harry Evans, who has decided to step down as Club President. Harry was one of the founding members of the club 32 years ago and in the subsequent years has performed pretty much every role available including Chairman, Coach and Coaching Co-ordinator as well as President. The time, wisdom and effort he has devoted during this time are major factors in the club being in the strong position it now is. His retirement is well deserved although I’m hopeful that he will still continue to play some part in the club.
This strong position can be evidenced across the club in a number of areas
1) Membership:
Thanks to our membership secretary, Helen Taylor, we continue to have an excellent understanding of our membership base including their key details.
The majority of our training groups are at or near the capacity our facilities and volume of coaches are able to cope with in order to ensure all members receive optimum levels of attention and support. In the U11 section, which has invariably had a long waiting list during my tenure as Chairman the U11 and U13 Coaches have agreed an approach which enables those athletes who wish to focus on Endurance to train with the U13’s thus freeing up places.
We also have a great balance of young and old and male and female members however it must be acknowledged that whilst the endurance section is thriving the other athletic disciplines are not in such rude health. Whilst this is understandable given the facilities we have access to we are very open to looking at ways to re-invigorate the sprints, jumps and multi-events sections.
2) Financials
Thanks to our Treasurer, Ann Collier, we have a good understanding and control of our costs and income. This enables us to understand our breakeven figure which is our target position as we do not strive to generate significant profits.In order to maintain this balance in the face of rising costs we were forced to increase our membership fees slightly with effect from April 2025. This was the first increase for a number of years and we still believe the fee delivers exceptional value – for £60 per annum members get access to several coached training sessions a week, including indoors and at Knights Grange/ Hartford, plus free entry to a significant number of championships and relays (up to 22 separate events per annum). It also includes the England Athletics and Northern Athletics fees which are paid on members behalf.
3) Suppliers
We continue to have a strong relationship with Rosebank Running and Fitness and greatly appreciate their continued support of the Pie and Peas (see below). We are also now working closely with Run North West in relation to other items of club kit.We have positive working relationships with CWAC in relation to Knights Grange, with Hartford High School in relation to Hartford Track and with Delamere Forest which are our 3 primary training locations
4) Races and Events.
The clubs own annual race, the Pie and Peas, fills up well ahead of the closing date every year, feedback is excellent and it is an essential source of funds for the club. We are extremely grateful for the continued sponsorship of this event by Poole Alcock solicitors, Advanced Medical Solutions (AMS) and Rosebank Sports and Fitness. However additional assistance from club members and their families is needed to ensure the smooth running of the event in future years.
Members of the club are integral to the organisation of the Cheshire Clubs XC Championships and the Cheshire Schools XC Champs
5) Competition
Our younger athletes continue to produce excellent results with a countless volume of outstanding performances at County, Regional and National level. In 2025 we had a record number of youngsters qualify for the English Schools Track and Field Championships, the highest level of competition available in this country, who between them achieved a medal and 2 further top 6 finishes.
Meanwhile the Senior section has benefitted enormously from the previous changes made to the structure. Integrating with the main Endurance group has generated a “one-club” mentality allowing runners across the entire spectrum of abilities to train with others of a similar level regardless of age. This is a hallmark of VRAC and does not exist in many other sporting/ athletic clubs. It also allows for a more seamless transition of juniors into the senior ranks as athletes are already familiar to each other.
We have seen some startling results from teams consisting of a mix of young and “old” and means we are now seen as one of the leading endurance running clubs in the country. Successes include:
1) The U20 ladies finishing a very narrow 2nd in the National XC relays in November 2024.
2) The senior ladies finishing 2nd in the North West Senior Road Relays having won the title for the previous 3 years whilst the men finished 6th having been 3rd in 2024
3) The senior men have achieved 8 consecutive top 10 Northern Road Relay finishes.
4) We also once again qualified the maximum 2 senior men’s teams for the National Road relays and VRAC were the only club in the country to have the maximum number of 5 complete teams (2 men and 3 ladies) at this event.
5) We have also started very strongly in the 1st Manchester Area Cross Country League of the winter.
However the most significant competitive achievement of the last year came within the last month with the senior ladies team winning the National 4 stage Road Relay Title. This was the first time in the 35 years that online results exist for that any Cheshire Team has won a Senior National Road Relay Title and follows on from our 2nd place in the same event in 2024.
All performances are documented in the weekly “Results Roundup” which is published on social media and has proved an extremely popular way of communicating our successes to our membership and beyond. Thanks to Rob Brown for his efforts and literary talents!
6) Coaches
The conveyor belt of talent which has generated the results above shows no sign of abating. The fact that we produce, and retain, so many successful athletes year after year from a small catchment area and with relatively basic facilities is testament to the quality, knowledge and commitment of our coaching team. It is notable that we now also have a number of younger, equally talented coaches who I have no doubt will help us continue to thrive.
Notwithstanding the above we still have a shortage of coaches and officials in specific areas and will carry on attempting to recruit into those areas.
7) Committee
The current committee works well together and possesses a complementary range of skills, knowledge and personalities.In my opinion there is common agreement across the committee on the clubs strategic direction and key principles and policies. I also feel that we have a culture where issues can be debated constructively, all members are comfortable raising concerns and challenging where they disagree, and meetings are conducted in an atmosphere that is friendly rather than hostile.
Following the AGM there will be 2 changes to the construct of the committee:
Ken Dunn and Shaun McGrath have decided to step down. Shaun in particular will continue to remain an absolute mainstay of the club and will carry on performing the 10+ other roles that he does. I’d like to put on record my thanks for the great job they have done during their tenure on the committee
Dave Haines and Anna Begbie have both been elected with immediate effect. We are delighted to have them on board as they will bring additional expertise and skills to the committee.
8) Developments
We are always looking to move the club forward and have recently introduced a RunTogether section which aims to help anyone interested in running to get started. Thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of fully qualified Run Leaders, Lou Walker and Eleanor Riches, this has proved exceptionally popular and means we are now in a position to accommodate athletes of every level.
However if any members have suggestions regarding further improvements they’d like to see please contact any member of the committee including myself and we will definitely consider them.
Looking forward to another successful year!
Stu Doyle
VRAC Chairman
