England Athletics Affiliation – Do I or don’t I?
It’s that time of year when club membership renewal notices land in our mailboxes.
Our membership fees are amongst the lowest in Kent. With individual membership held at £15 this year (that’s less then 30p per week), we remain amazing value for money! When you consider the cost of coaching courses, insurance, track hire and floodlight use, club awards and subsidised events such as the Christmas party and Halloween run, it literally pays to be a member!
Less clear cut is the question about England Athletics affiliation.
Apart from supporting our national governing body, who sponsor dozens of up and coming able bodied and Paralympic athletes, you receive a range of other benefits.
Every main stream race you enter provides a discount of at least £2 for EA members.
With the exception of Parkrun, races results show your club only if you are affiliated to that club, through EA membership. This makes it easier for the club running captains to identify and rank club runners for the club championships. This year, we are introducing a rule that non-EA registered members will have to email the captains with each of their results if they are not EA registered, as the captains have been finding it impossible to identify club members amongst the sea of names.
EA also host an excellent rankings portal called ‘Power of 10’ which documents race results for EA registered athletes. You can take a sneaky look at how Sir Mo is doing or if you want to stay closer to home look up David Winch from Thanet Roadrunners. We’re proud to have the No 1 v70 marathon runner in the England as part of the club. Rather good, isn’t he?
You also receive an informative monthly newsletter with updates and special offers. This month EA are offering three free days DW gym membership, 10% off at DW shops, 20% off Aftershokz bone conducting headphones and 30% off IGH Hotel (Hilton brand) hotels. They also offer early booking opportunities for tickets to national athletics championships. Click here for more details.
One additional benefit for the club is that we receive London Marathon guaranteed places relative to the number of EA registered runners we have. We hold an annual ballot and I’m delighted to say I won the place this year. It’s not surprising that on a personal basis, I therefore think EA gives value for money, provided you intend to run a few races, but as a club we believe in letting you make your own decision.
Jon Holl
Chairman