President’s Report

01/06/14

Hello Members

June is here already and the winter weather awaits us on our runs.  We certainly can’t complain as autumn has been really good.  The new calendar is now available and remember the Wednesday runs will commence at 4.45 p.m. sharp for the winter months.

Now that we are half way through the year it is time for you all to take notice of who is doing what and achieving great results – why you may ask?  Well, you might cringe when I say this but Christmas is 6 months away and when we have our Christmas party the major awards – Runner of the Year and Junior of the Year – are announced.  I am asking you all to start and take notice of what senior and junior members are achieving with their runs here locally in Orange and also at other venues.  The person does not have to be running Olympic times, just  “achieving individual goals” by competing in different events and generally doing well.  Later in the year we will be calling for people to be nominated, if you consider the person you have “had an eye on” is worthy of nomination, put forward their name.  Anyhow, it is early days so more of this later but as I said please keep your eyes and ears open for juniors and seniors doing well.

The new running chips have arrived and cost $9.00 to all new members.  They are more sensitive than our old chips so will record whenever the tag is near the timing mats.  If you feel you would like to update your old chip for a new one please see Bill, however the exchange will cost you $9.00.

Graham, Sharon, Bill and myself attended an information night on Wednesday 28 May at the Orange Ex-Services Club regarding “Good Sports”.  Although we did not find all the information on the evening relevant to our club it did give us a couple of points of interest.  I expect to receive a follow-up from Good Sports within the next couple of months.

The new committee for the Running Festival are up and running and we are very lucky to have such a great band of people.   The new committee voted in on 1 May is as follows:- Head Co-Ordinators – Erin and David Gibson, Assistant Co-Ordinators – John Betts and Tim Edmonstone,  Treasurer – Bec Lincoln, Secretary – Fiona Mackin, Registration Officer – Iain McLean, Media/Website Co-Ordinator – Renai McArdle.   I would be grateful if you would offer any assistance whatsoever to these good people to help them make the 2015 festival a big success.  If you have any questions about the festival please see any of the committee.

Unfortunately I must still harp on about people not paying their membership.  If for any reason there is anyone out there who is finding it hard to pay their membership please get in touch with myself, or any of ORC committee to discuss – remember – a problem shared is a problem halved and we can certainly work something out for you.

Handicap prizes have been donated to us by Price Attack, Snap Fitness, Cafe Neon and Pete’s Car Wash.  We have also purchased gift vouchers from Coco’s Cafe and Big W, so that gives us a good range of prizes to offer winners.  If you have won a handicap prize over the last few weeks and have not collected a prize please see me as soon as possible.

How have the juniors been going in the schools cross-country events?  Let us know of any achievements so we can let all the club members know.

I would like to thank Graham and Sharon for taking our mats to our Sunday runs in the month of May.  Jim Rich has kindly offered to take the mats in June and then Julie and Mark Chapman will do the job in July.  Thank you to these people for making life a bit easier for Michael.  Anyone else wishing to help please let me know.

The Committee will be having a meeting in the latter half of this month so in the next newsletter I will let you know what was all discussed.  If you feel there is something that should be addressed at that meeting please let me know so that the matter can be discussed.

September is the month for Sydney’s Blackmores Running Festival and of course that means the ladies weekend away.  Fun, laughter and shopping on offer that weekend for the girls, oh and of course there is a small matter of running a distance of 5kms to 42 kms on the Sunday morning.  You have the option of going for one or two nights and we encourage new members to consider coming along.  If you are interested, please see Sharon Fahy to lodge your interest.

I still have plenty of club running singlets available for sale.  They only cost $16.00 which is a bargain price.  The childrens’ sizes are low in stock so if you want a singlet for your child please see me sooner rather than later as the size you are after may be gone.  Once all the singlets are sold we will not be doing any more bulk buying and the only way you will be able to purchase singlets will be via our on-line store.  Have you checked out the on-line store?  There are a lot of nice winter tops and jackets to pick from. To access the site click on ‘shop’ under the members tab on our website www.orangerunners.com.au.

Mudgee Fun Run is in August.  This is a major outing for ORC and in the past we have had up to 80 people attend for the weekend.  We usually all have our dinner together on the Saturday night, so, if you would like to attend the dinner please let me know.  Our Mudgee friend and club life member Robyn Cotten will be booking the Oriental Hotel so I will need to let her know how many will be attending.

If you have anything you need to discuss, or any news to share with everyone,  please contact myself or any of the Committee – Graham, Mike or Bill.

Until next time, happy running.

Jane Fairgrieve – President