May Day 5 – you all rock!

3 May 2016 - By Marc Underdown

And then it happened….roughly a year of planning and then it is over in just a few hours! I said to many that the planning for the race felt a bit like planning for a wedding – there’s loads to do at the start, then it goes quite in the middle, and then it goes a bit mad in the weeks before the actual day. If the analogy continues then I’m now on honeymoon, slightly true as the vice chairman is taking over duties at the club tonight!

From my take on the event, and from what others have said, I think we can say that May Day 5 was an undoubted success. As you probably already know, this was the first time that Witham Running Club has hosted an Essex Championship race, and I hope that we’ve shown that we are capable of putting on a well organised race, and making the runners feel very welcome. Hopefully this will stand us in good stead to be given this honour again in the future.

The success is down to everyone who played a role in helping out, around 70 of you. It is your willingness to give up your time for the benefit of the club and the enthusiasm you have showed in fulfilling your duties that have made everything work. Yes it took some planning, but you have delivered and you have all done yourselves and the club proud, so give yourself a huge pat on the back.

As I mentioned in my speech for those who heard it, I have to give some specific thank you’s. To my organising committee (DJ, Martyn, Brigid and Tony) – as a first time race director, I have appreciated your wisdom, your experience, your ideas, your time, and most importantly your willingness to accept delegation! I really couldn’t have tackled this without you. I have to also thank James Crisp, who has done an awful amount of work for the race over the full planning period, so another big thank you.

Despite it all going well, nothing is ever perfect. Therefore I’m more than happy to get feedback from anyone on any lessons we can learn or things you think could have been improved.