School News

Fountains 10K - POSTPONED

Following the meeting last week where we discussed the risks and rewards of holding the race on 26th May versus postponing it until later in the year, the consensus decision was that we should persevere with plans to hold the event on 16^th May.

We came to this decision because:

1. RaceBest had limited availability to provide us with timing services after social distancing regulations are lifted on 21^st June, and we had (wrongly) thought that the only dates available were in the school holidays, which would pose significant problems for sourcing marshals, and may limit the number of runners who are able to attend due to holiday plans etc.
2. After canvassing the opinion of runners, there was an overwhelming feeling that runners just want events to go ahead as planned, even with COVID-security restrictions in place, and even if it significantly affects the atmosphere and overall race experience. Those who did not want to run a race under covid-secure restrictions have purposefully not entered any races yet, as they are waiting for “things to go back to normal” before they do, and these runners therefore are unlikely to be part of the 500 entrants that we already have for the race.
3. In terms of the difference in profit between holding the race in May or July, I had estimated that there would only be a £1500 difference between the two dates, and therefore we didn’t feel that it was enough to significantly affect our decision.

However, after hearing back from the village Hall committee on Friday, they have informed me that they will not be able to grant us permission to use the community park or village hall for the event in May due to concerns that the reputation of the village hall may be negatively impacted if there is any outbreak of Covid-19 as a result of the event. Since we can find no other suitable venue for starting the race which has a similar amount of space to the community park (we have also investigated using a local field), this unfortunately means that we are unable to ensure there is adequate social distancing at the race start, and we therefore are unable to comply with full COVID-security measures, and we have therefore been forced to postpone the event until later in the year when the social distancing regulations will have been lifted (i.e. after 21st June).

We have therefore made the decision to postpone the event until 18th July (which is actually the week BEFORE we break up for the school holidays!).

The benefits of this is that we can hold a much bigger and better event, with spectators, Ripon band (hopefully), catering facilities, other vendors/stalls, the fun run, and a prize giving ceremony! So hopefully much more fun for everyone involved!

That’s all for now folks!

Hannah