You've already met our
Membership Secretary Darin Geary and now that you have joined we wanted to give you some background to the club and introduce ourselves and all the key members that you will come into contact with as a member of Stowmarket Striders.
The club was formed in June 1986 after a few people, who had run the London Marathon, got together and placed a notice in the window of one of the local sports shops. As a response to that 10-12 people met at the Stowmarket Leisure Centre and the club was born.
In those early days the club sessions were held on Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings. Then as the membership grew the two weekly sessions were introduced.
We are now an established England Athletics Affiliated Running Club; offering 250+ Senior and Junior members a social, fun and competitive mix of running events, training sessions and social gatherings - both on a local and national level.
Junior members will receive a welcome email via parents or guardians from the Junior coaching team.
Almost every week of the year, there is an event to take part in. You will never be pushed or pressured into doing anything and you are free to run and get involved at your own pace. Our members and coaches have decades of experience and we are a friendly lot too!
I just want to run - how can I get started?
Tuesday night training
Tuesday training is at 7.00pm and lasts for about an hour. (Meet at 6:45 pm for club announcements training starts at 7:00 pm).
As well as Chilton Fields & the sports field at the High School, we use a variety of locations around Stowmarket for our training, as each one lends itself to a particular type of session e.g., long reps or hills.
We’ve found that, generally, people benefit most from the training when they train with others of a similar ability. Some people also feel more comfortable training with people of a similar ability to them. Therefore, we have three training groups which are split, based on an individual’s ability or aspirational 5K time:
- The sub 22s (for runners who can or want to run under 22 minutes for a 5K)*
- The sub 25s (for runners who can or want to run under 25 minutes for a 5K)
- The over 25s (anyone who runs 5k in over 25 minutes)
*due to current availability of coaching resources, the sub 22 and sub 25 group train together and we are therefore running just the two groups, sub 25 and over 25.
The general format of the session is the same across all groups. It begins with a warm-up jog and drills, followed by a structured training session and ending with a cool down jog and some stretching to aid recovery. Whichever group you choose you’ll only be expected to do what you can comfortably manage.
Currently, once a month, there is also a whole group session, where both pace groups train together.
Stowmarket Striders Club Championship Handicap Races
The handicap race is held as part of the Tuesday evening training schedule (see TEAM APP), starting in April during the British Summer Time, at 7:20pm from Stowmarket High School. This means that there are 6 handicap races a year. The course is a 2 lap urban 5k route, starting and finishing at the Stowmarket High School car park. We meet at Chilton Fields Sports and Social Club before the session in the usual way, and head down to the school; the clock usually starts at 7.20pm, so plenty of time to get down to the School from Chilton Fields after club announcements.
The format of the race is not the conventional start together and finish staggered. Instead the start is staggered with the slower runners starting earlier and faster runners later so that all runners should finish about the same time. If all goes well, there are usually a few challenging races to the line.
The winner of the Club Championships will be based upon their handicap race performance. Chris Starmer is kindly running the handicap races, with the winners being announced by him and awarded at our annual Christmas Party.
Thursday night training
Training starts at 7.30pm and lasts for about an hour. It is another chance to train outdoors with a Coach-led interval session. These are “whole-club” sessions for members of all abilities so, not only is it a great way to improve your fitness, strength, and stamina, you also meet people from other groups.
How to Book Training
Before attending a training session you must book a place using Team App; look for the "Book Training Session" icon in thge app. If you are unable to attend, please cancel your booking. This allows us to manage numbers attending and gives coaches access to emergency information.
Where do we meet?
Tuesdays
We meet at Chilton Fields Sports and Social Club (Rugby Club) (IP14 1SZ). We have exclusive use of the parking at the Kingsfield Centre just up the road (IP14 1SZ – same postcode as club but parking is 100 yards or so further up the road) so please park there, as often the Rugby Club car park is busy due to many events taking place on a Tuesday evening, particularly in the winter months. Please ensure that you leave promptly at the end of the coached session as the gates to the Kingsfield Centre are locked by the coaches and we do not want you to get locked in!
Thursdays
We meet at the Stowmarket High School go through the main gate into the car park from Onehouse Road. After parking, go through the green pedestrian gate towards the school building, keeping the school building on your left. At the end of the building turn left and go diagonally across the field to the right. The session takes place on what is usually marked out as a school running track (during the summer months). We usually have someone on the green gate and newcomers can be directed from there. Please note the entry and exit to the car park at the High School is one way, so come in via Onehouse Road and go out the other end via Gainsborough Road.
Sunday Cross-Country training
From October to February each year we run Cross- Country training sessions at Haughley Park. We meet on Sundays at 9.00am as long as there is not a cross country race or club event taking place. More information can be found here.
To read more about our training sessions and the coaches that run them, please click
here.
Coaching for club members
Stowmarket Striders has invested heavily in developing qualified coaches to meet the demands of an ever-growing club. The club has a number of UK Athletics Qualified Coaches and Coaching Assistants. Details of our club coaches can be found
here.
Our Coaches work on a rota basis with the same groups so you will have regular contact with the same coaches Their UKA qualifications combined with their experience of road running and the additional developmental work that they have done, enable them to provide structured and quality training for all club members.
If you have any questions regarding your training, fitness, nutrition or any other areas of running, then please feel free to contact them.
If you are attending a training session for the first time, please see a coach (usually in a jacket with 'Coach' written on it!) and they'll be able to help you.
Chris Gladwell is the Coach co-ordinator.
Triathlon training
Stowmarket Striders are members of the British Triathlon Federation (BTF). The Club have two BTF qualified coaches,
Jo Stephenson & David Field and there are some members that enjoy taking part in multi-sport events, (Triathlon, Duathlon, Aquathlon as three examples). Multi-sport training is offered occasionally, but not regularly. If you are interested in Triathlon or any other multi-sports, please feel free to contact the Triathlon Coaches.
Races
As an affiliated member, all seniors can benefit from a discounted entry fee for many races. There are lots of races taking place around the country and we list some of the more local or best-known ones on our website here.
This diary allows you to keep track of what's going on and when. We regularly compete in races: anything from a local 5km to marathons and these are almost certainly advertised in our newsletters, email bulletins and via our Facebook groups, so you can always keep updated with the latest race info.
