Membership update

We will send everyone an update tomorrow on membership for the season. The Scottish Management Committee met tonight to discuss membership for the 2020-2021 season. Club president Michael Wray will email the results of that discussion and also publish them on Facebook tomorrow.

Results

In the April Weeks 1-2 Social Distance Challenge the winner, Amanda Broughton, on 13 points, just edged out Don Stevens and Walter Somerville, both on 12 points. She did this courtesy of three separate personal best hill climbs. James Turner got a bonus point for not understanding how Strava works and stopping his watch before the end of the hill he was running – ironic after his recent article analysing and praising Strava. Anna Breen got a sympathy bonus point for being in lockdown far from the Wellington hills. And Isabel Ross got a bonus point for taking her bubble-mates to TikTok for some dancing.

The full points tally, results and pictures of the Strava body-part art are on our website

Options for the week 

Part two of the April Social Distance Running Challenge is underway. The full details are here. But here are your four tasks for the coming fortnight:

📅 Weekly Challenge

Heat mapping – run every street around your house, even the dead ends.

🏆Monthly challenge

Climb a hill:

The list of hills including links to Strava Segments is here.

It includes… The Full Makara Climb, Korokoro, Wainuiomata Hill, Aro Valley, Onslow Road, Houghton Valley, Mt Victoria, Miramar climb to prison, Brooklyn to Wind Turbine, The Pylon 4WD in Crofton Downs, Old Wadestown Rd and Ironside Rd.

⏱2 minute mission

Foam roll for two minutes. If you do it consistently you’ll be able to do it without crying about it on Strava after a week.

😜Just for fun

We have a very cool colouring competition drawn by Ultrarunner and illustrator Dawn Tuffery. Download it here. Make sure you share your efforts with us on Instagram or Facebook #Socialdistancerunning or #Activedistancing

⚠️ Please keep all of your runs and walks local, and don’t take any risks.

We’ll be running our points system just for our members that rewards both participation and achievement. Bonus points will be awarded liberally for those who keep the rest of us entertained.

Submit your entry here.

Athletics NZ Virtual Races

Athletics NZ is hosting a series of virtual challenges for runners. The three events coming up over the next two months are listed below – all three include club competitions where Scottish competes against other clubs for national honours. There are points for taking part, so everyone who registers a run helps the club climb the leaderboards:

NOW – National Virtual 5K Champs 13 April-3 May

Details of the National Virtual 5K Champs

National Ekiden Virtual Relay Champs 1-31 May 2020

Details of the National Ekiden Virtual Relay Champs

National Virtual 10K & 1k Champs 1-30 June 2020

Details of the National Virtual 10K & 1k Champs

Obituary: Howard Clements

Older members may have noticed the death of Howard Clements, in Hamilton, aged 84. He was part of the group of boys from Rongotai College that joined Scottish during the 1940-50s under the guidance of their art master Colin Bruce – our Club Captain from 1950. They formed the basis of our champion junior teams of that era. Those boys donated the Scottish Harriers Cup to the College. But our lasting debt to him is the original history produced for the club’s 50th Jubilee in 1966. Whilst Alf Stevens wrote most of the text, it was Howard’s expertise from his employment at an advertising agency that collated and brought to publication the final volume.

After marriage to Adrienne they moved to Wainuiomata and raised their family there. Howard became very much involved in the local community – especially as Scoutmaster and at Brookfield Scout Camp and also the Wainuiomata Golf Club. In retirement they moved to the Kapiti Coast where he again became involved with golf that led to his collaboration with another former member, Jim Wallace, in producing a number of historical publications about that sport. Over the years he followed the fortunes of Scottish, keeping in touch with many of our members. This continued after he and Adrienne moved to Hamilton. He enjoyed attending our Centenary celebrations in 2015 and was delighted with the new history. Condolences have been extended to his family.

~ Alan Stevens

Athletics NZ advice on Alert Level 3

Athletics NZ advises that when we move to Level 3 on Tuesday 28 April it will not be that different to Level 4 from a sport and recreation perspective.

For clarity, we emphasise the following key points:

  • Group training, club events, races and pack runs are not allowed under Level 3 restrictions (unless those you are training with are also those you live with and already in your bubble). Don’t meet up to train with other people.
  • Stay engaged via regular electronic communications and virtual races.
  • When New Zealand moves to Level 3, people will be able to travel to local training venues if they are open, but inter-regional travel is not allowed, and training should still happen within your local area.
  • We urge individuals to remain vigilant about social distancing and to respect the 2-metre distancing rule at all times.

The banner image above

I’m running low on photos for people running and walking at the moment, so the one above is from Sharon’s archives. Five years ago was the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing (and thus it was ANZAC Day), the 100th anniversary of Wellington Scottish, and the 20th time in a row that Scottish won the senior men’s Shaw Baton title. But it was a close-run race – an Evan Cooper-inspired Wellington Harriers team finished only 9 seconds back, chasing Scottish hard the whole way.

Keep in touch with the club: