Our wheelchair racers who have all done remarkably well throughout the recent lockdown are eagerly anticipating the return to training on the track on Sunday 4th April.  We have now received one set of rollers and two more are being delivered this coming week.  This will enable all racers to have a set of purpose built rollers for their own use and will save having to use bricks and the like to prop up their chairs for indoor training.

Some other good news this week.  Varun Bandi was nominated several months ago for an Award in an initiative promoted by the Bedford Independent newspaper.  We are delighted to announce that Varun won the Young Achiever of the Year award - he has a habit of winning as he won the Disabled Sporting Star at the 2018 Sport Bedford awards and was also shortlisted in 2019.

Following England Athletics’ recent statement about the return of athletics, which you can find here, the committee have been actively planning the club’s reopening.  We are excited and optimistic about the prospects for the 2021 summer season, and would like to offer members the following update:

• We believe there will be considerable opportunity for competition this summer, including open meetings, leagues, championships, road races, and Park Runs.  We think that competitions will operate with some restrictions in place at first, but expect these to ease, and then lift as the year progresses.
• Public Space Covid Secure Training (off track training) will return from Tuesday 30th March – the public space booking system will reopen from 23rd March.
• The club are working with Fusion to reopen the stadium for training as soon as possible.  Many Fusion staff are furloughed, and they are currently working out their own plan for a return.
• Our reasonable best case scenario is that we may be able to return to training at the stadium on 30th March, initially administering access to the stadium ourselves, with Fusion staff returning at some point during April.  However, whilst we are reasonably optimistic, we do not control the timeframe.

Howard Darbon provides an update about the club's growing Wheelchair Racing Section:
It has been difficult for members of the Wheelchair Racing section to train in recent weeks because of the cold weather and the absence of proper training rollers.  However, all that has changed recently with the good news that we have qualified to receive over £2500 from a Sport England grant which will enable us to purchase 3 sets of purpose built training rollers which will enable all members to train at home.

Are you interested in volunteering for Bedford and County?  The club is looking for people to fill some key roles.

This is just to let everybody know that the Bedford and County committee is actively discussing plans for 2021, including league competition, and how to get the club up and running again once the current restrictions have been eased.  We would love to be in a position to give more information about the timescales for a return to training and competition.  However, we are, like everybody, waiting for a government announcement.  If the pattern of previous lockdowns apply, this will be followed by an England Athletics announcement, and at that point the club will be in a better position to know what it is possible for us to do, and when.  In the meantime, we hope everybody is managing to stay fit and healthy, and is doing their best to prepare for competition, whenever that may be.

Are you interested in volunteering for Bedford and County?  Michael Headley, who has been our membership secretary for some time, is stepping down, and so we are looking for somebody new to look after this side of the club.

Membership secretary is an admin, backoffice role, but it is essential for the club.  It will be particularly imporant as the club tries to encourage new members (particularly youngsters) when the current restrictions are eased.  It is a role that you can do in your own time.  It involves maintaining a database of members, updating the England Athletics portal with our members' information, keeping stakeholders such as coaches and Team Managers up-to-date about membership changes, and also complying with Data Protection legislation.  Michael also maintains the Mailchimp emailing system.  There tends to be a lot of work to do in April, when annual memberships renew, and it is a little quieter at other times.

If you would like to take the role on, please contact club chairman, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

"In response to Bedfordshire being placed in Tier 4, and the rapid rise in cases locally, we have decided to suspend all training activity both at the stadium and in public spaces. Please adhere to Government  guidance when training on your own in public spaces.  We will keep this decision under review as the situation develops."

Public Space Covid Secure training returns from 30th March (the booking system is now open)

You can find the latest England Athletics guidance here: https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/news/guidance-update-2021/

In addition to training at Bedford International Athletics Stadium, and in line with England Athletics guidance, Bedford and County offers Covid secure training in a number of selected public spaces.

Bedford & County Athletics Club - Wheelchair Racing have been putting on twice weekly virtual sessions for our athletes during lockdown. Normally training would take place at Bedford International track and at Biggleswade AC track in Sandy in the absence of this the coaches have helped organise rollers for our athletes so they’re able to train indoors statically and for those that don’t have a roller the chair is set up on bricks in the garden and tethered. The sessions are held via Zoom and consist of a weekly shorter sprint session consisting of short burst and fast pushes and a longer hour and a half session designed to increase endurance.

This is Rebecca Dean - the Wheelchair section's newest recruit.  Howard Darbon's group is now up to five, and doubtless will continue to grow.

Bedford has now been removed from the government's Covid 19 watch list, and so training resumes from Tuesday club 25th August.  Please see the Small Group Training article for information about how to book training sessions.

Sadly, in light of the Bedford being added to to the government's Covid 19 watch list as an area of concern, the club has decided to suspend all training until 25th August.  The situation will then be reviewed - please keep an eye on the website for announcements.

The committee understands - and indeed shares - the disappointment that the many club members who were enjoying the return to training will feel.  However, action now, together with increased vigilance,  may help to forstall the town being subjected to a local lockdown, and the difficult decision to suspend training was taken in this context.  The current positivity rate in Bedford stands at 2.3%, and is rising, and cannot be attributed to any single cause.  Bedford Borough Council has asked the town to avoid gatherings, as early action now may help to prevent a worse problem later.  We hope club members will understand why it was necessary to suspend training, and can be assured that we will do everything we can to resume training when the situation allows.  For more information about the context in which this decision was taken, see this news article from Bedford Borough Council, and Bedford Borough Council's most recent Covid 19 update.  Also see, Public Health England's latest Covid 19 Surveillance Report, in which Bedford is listed as an area of concern.