On Sunday 6 October 2024 I attended the England Athletics East Regional Volunteer Awards Ceremony at the Athenium, Bury St Edmunds. Werrington Joggers had been shortlisted for the Club of the Year Award, and as chairman I was representing the club, along with my guests for the event, Heather Revell, Katherine Turner, and Shona Elkin, who have all made a significant contribution to the club over the past twelve months, and deserved their place at the event.

My nomination for club of the year was made back in June 2024. I had attended a previous awards event and observed that the club that won Club of the Year that year was delivering the same kind of service / volunteering approach that our club had been doing for years – an inclusive club that supports its members to reach their running goals, a thriving junior’s section.  raising funds for charity, supporting local initiatives like Food Banks and training shoes for the homeless - that was the trigger for me to put forward a nomination for Werrington Joggers for the 2024 award.

To my surprise my nomination was subsequently shortlisted at the end of July 2024 along with St Edmund Pacers (from Bury St Edmunds) and Cambridge &Coleridge AC, the major club in Cambridgeshire with a membership of over 800.

England Athletics advised that the winner of the Club of the Year award would be decided by a ‘’Free Vote’’ – the club with the most votes would triumph.

I believe we are a humble club with no pretentions of being any more than we are - we quietly got on with garnering as many votes as we could, with no real expectations of winning: something our more illustrious competitors may, in retrospect, wish to reflect on, rather than anticipating victory on their website, which may have had an adverse effect on the number of votes cast for their club.

So, to the awards ceremony and as the names of the clubs were read out for the Club of the Year Award, with St Edmund Striders in 3^rd place, then Cambridge & Coleridge in 2^nd, I realised that we had won - what a proud moment!

I accepted the award on behalf of the club – and I would like to thank all club members who have contributed to this success and supported me as chairman over the past year - committee members, junior and senior coaches, organisers and helpers at our presentation and charity events, marshals at our running events, the members who helped me put our promotional video together, website and MemberMojo administrators - as well as all of you who turn out in all weathers at club night, volunteers for the new runners rota, and those who represent the club at races throughout the year   - we wouldn't be the fantastic club without you – this award is for all of you.