The clubs main aim is to get people running in a friendly atmosphere while training for events like the London Marathon or for health and fitness. We promote all local races in our on–line diary and offer training, coaching and guidance to new and old members. Our current membership has just reached 200 runners (about 58% men to 42% women) We take part in Road Races, Trail runs, Cross-Country, Ultra distance Races, Orienteering, Duathlons and Triathlons. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday and welcome any new members. We normally have one session we call quality ie, fartleks, hills, intervals. Etc and the other session is a normal run. BUT DON'T WORRY IF YOU CAN'T MANAGE THE DISTANCES WE NORMALLY HAVE BREAKAWAY GROUPS DOING SHORTER DISTANCES. Showers are available after, if you've worked up a sweat ! The club has many members and so has a wide range of different running paces. There will always be someone willing to go running at your pace. We never leave any runner alone that is new to the club or is unfamiliar with the route. We also organise social runs, walks, weekend trips away and training holidays.
Our thriving Junior Section can now offer your children the chance to train with us on a Tuesday night between 6pm and 7pm (indoors in the winter, and outdoors at Brook Road in the Summer) More details at http://www.BenfleetRunningClub.com/Juniors
Your questions answered!
Where can I find you?
The club meets for training every Tuesday and Thursday (except for Christmas Day and Boxing Day) between 7:00 — 7:20pm for a 7:30pm start. There are changing rooms for men and women as well as showers / toilets. The Pavillion at the end of BROOK ROAD,BENFLEET, ESSEX, SS7 1NA.
What training do you do?
There are many routes that the club takes depending on the time of year, weather conditions and to give a bit of variety to the training. It is usual for Tuesdays to be a ‘quality’ session — this means that the leaders of the groups that day ensure their runners put a bit more effort than usual into the run. Thursdays is more of a general run. If you are unsure of your pace you will be pointed in the direction of a qualified coach who will ascertain what group would be most suitable. It is likely that you will be in a steady group to start off with but once you’ve had a few runs out it could be you’ll end up in a different group. This can mean that you get to run with quite a few different people over the first few weeks so you’ll get to know a lot of different people. We never leave any runner alone that is new to the club or is unfamiliar with the route. Tuesday night is normally a “quality” session of hill work, intervals, or fartlek training runs. Thursday night run is normally a longer paced run, and we have separate groups who meet on a Sunday morning for a longer run, when there isn’t a race on.
Can I turn up or do I have to join first?
Yes. You don’t need to make a booking! We invite potential members to come along and try us for couple of sessions for free to see if we suit your needs. You just need to pay the nightly 50p fee, club membership fees become payable after you have tried us a couple of times. Membership forms can be downloaded from our website.
I am only looking to train for the Virgin London Marathon, how will I find others to train with?
We have an online community forum, and also our coaches post training plans for all levels of marathon pacers. Our notice board has a list of all London Marathon members who have gained a place. The club also organises long runs to accommodate the necessary training. We had 46 runners in the London Marathon 2007, and 43 runners in 2008 whose pace varied from 2h 50 m to over 6 hours. We organise transport on the day to get you to the start and home as easily as possible, and with as much support on the course as we can muster!
