The Thoughts of Chairman Paul.

Matt Burdus-Cook on his way to a comfortable victory by almost 3 minutes in the latest Tempo Winter Series race. Oh dear, here we go again. Just as we though things were gradually getting back to normal we have Lockdown 2. There are messages below from both Paul Bearman and Paul Hawkins on how this is likely to affect us all at the club in the foreseeable future. There is a fabulous Q&A session with our Chairman. Many thanks Paul. We also have not one but two reports on the recent Tempo Winter Series Race together with a note from Tempo Events on how the latest lockdown is likely to affect future races. Not to be denied the dubious pleasures of winter cross country races, two of our talented endurance runners, Sam Plumb and Joel Ledgard, braved the wind and the rain to compete at Prestwold Hall at the weekend. At the other end of the age spectrum, a mere 65 years older than our two juniors, John Butler was picking up another age category prize in a 10k race at Newbury race course. Finally we have the first of a regular feature on Stratford AC clothing items that are for sale via the club's website. Go on, treat yourself. You deserve it. Take care. Best Wishes David Jones. Lockdown News. Below are statements from both Paul Bearman and Paul Hawkins regarding the current lockdown situation and how it will affect both Junior and Senior sections of the club In these unprecedented times, you will be aware that the Government announced over the weekend imposing a lockdown from this Thursday, 5 November. This was followed by Stratford School stopping all out of school activity on their campus, therefore, all activity at the track will cease from Thursday. With no clear guidance available for athletics we had been waiting for guidance from England Athletics to try and get a feel for when we might be able to return. However, in a question to the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden yesterday; can children play grassroots sport, his answer was “this will be permitted in school settings. Unfortunately we need to pause grassroots sport outside school to reduce the transmission risk from households mixing. As soon as we can resume this, we will”. We are all reliant on the government and scientists for guidance and the priority is obviously to slow the infections down and to preserve the NHS from being overwhelmed. However, with the ambiguous answer from the Culture Secretary “as soon as we can resume this, we will” it means EA cannot give an answer when we can or will be able to return to training at the track. I am aware of the frustration of many of our members, especially as it has been fantastic getting back to training since July, with both the physical and mental benefits for everyone. There has also been a lot of media coverage and sports bodies lobbying the government to think again regarding youth sport,…