Jolly Jaguars 10k – 2nd August 2015
Earlier this year I had applied and obtained a permit for our Jolly Jaguar 10k on the 30th August which at the time was free but Conac were having trouble with their new proposed city 10k which they had wanted to be on the spring bank holiday but could not get sorted in time so they decided that they would have and use `our` date which was also a bank holiday weekend.
So I rather reluctantly had no option but to concede and to find another date. The only spare date was the 2nd August which was a bit close for comfort after the Mike Groves.
A new permit was obtained, the entry forms were revised and circulated to the other clubs . Because the date was changed Nicework who had previously done the chiptiming could not help as they were booked for the 2nd August . So we made contact with ChiptimingUK , a local business based down in Norwich that have a good reputation and seem to do most local races. On the face of it, they would be a lot cheaper if we had a good number of entrants.
However we did not, and Paul and I were most concerned at how few entries seemed to be coming in on line, indeed before the day there were only 125 entered! Happily the day was fine and 27 entered on the day to make a total of just 152 entered so though we actually made a loss on the race it was not the disaster as I had feared!!!
Those that ran enjoyed the event and there were many thanks and congratulations after, the `caff `did well and took £204.15 which was quite remarkable considering the low entry!
This race attracted our first ever wheel chair competitor, a Peter Downing who was set off about 10 minutes or so before the pack with Mel riding `shotgun` and stormed round on his trike in 49.04!!
This was also the first race ever that we actually lost money and I am not too happy about that. This was mainly due to the inability to get our races on the dates we wanted, to get the Chip timing people sorted and listing the race . And most important of all for every club member to publicize and promote the race in whatever way they can i.e when speaking to a member of another club to remind them of our next race and ask them point blank if they have entered! It could also be a great help in the future if members had a few entry forms printed and hand them out to possible entrants.
I should also mention too that it is essential to help with the car parking regardless of any marshalling job that you might be down to do later.
Regardless of the problems , the competitors enjoyed the event and I gather that there were many good things said at the Parkrun at Gorleston and that there was a good mention in the Yarmouth Mercury of the race.
Sorry, nearly forgot that we had 4 Jaguars running ;-
Josh Neale at 45.48 , Paul Gerber at 52.32 , Adele Bushell at 54.11 and Jackie Gooch at 56.29.
Alan