This coming Saturday, May 9, we should be gathering in Chorley to race in the Dave Crompton Memorial Seven Miles, still struggling to come to terms with the loss of such a beloved member of the club.

In conversation with John Crahan at the weekend he promised that he would be going out on Saturday to do a 7 miles training spin in memory of Dave – a touching and appropriate gesture. Spurred on I’ll be doing the same, conscious that I had always hoped, given Dave and Louise’s love of Greece, they would have made it to Crete to spend a few nights in our village. Perhaps other members of the club might do something similar this week.

As for the question of postponements we have no option, but to follow the advice of England Athletics with whom we are insured. At the present time it is safe to say that the following fixtures are postponed, if not cancelled.

May 9 Dave Crompton Memorial 7 miles at Chorley

June 8 Dick and Zena Smith 10K/5K at Bury

June 15 Masters 5k at Horwich

July 4 Barnard Trophy 10k  at Sutton 

July 25 Fred Pearce Relay [3x 5k] at Simister 

Aug 8/9 Centurions 100 miles at Colchester

Aug 15 Goodwin Cup 10k at  Chorley

There is a slim chance that the Lambert Trophy One Hour event on September 5 might take place, given it’s on the track at Bury away from public roads. We will await and see.

As noted on several occcasions we are committed to finding, if at all possible, alternative dates for the Dave Crompton and Fred Pearce events.

A CLUB VIRTUAL SERIES?

Facing further moments of frustration, unable to race against and socialise with one another, Dave Evans wonders whether there might be interest and support for our own version of a Virtual Series League. The idea assumes that many of us have the Garmin-type watches, which measure distance and time or indeed that we have a reasonably accurate lap of some kind that we can use.

The proposal might look something like this.

MAY – DISTANCE 3 KILOMETRES – Times to be submitted to Tony by the last day in the month

JUNE – DISTANCE 5 KILOMETRES – Times to be submitted to Tony by the last day in the month

JULY – DISTANCE 8 KILOMETRES – Times to be submitted to Tony by the end of the month

AUGUST- DISTANCE 10 KILOMETRES – Times to be submitted to Tony by the end of the month

Tony would collate the results. As I’m scribbling it may be that Dave could prepare a handicap for each distance so we could have a scratch and handicap competition.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?