What we do

We are a friendly, community based, club providing athletics based opportunities for Retford and the surrounding area. We have in the region of 200 members from the ages of 7 to 80+ and our aim is to enable all our athletes to reach their maximum potential in whatever their chosen athletic events. We are a competitive club and we provide race and competition opportunities for all age groups and all disciplines. We expect all of our athletes to take part in appropriate levels and types of competition and these are described in other parts of this website and on our Facebook pages.

 

Road running

The club has a strong road running section with our athletes competing in races from 5k to marathon throughout the year and membership of Retford AC usually ensures a discounted race entry fee. As a club we compete in the Nottinghamshire Summer League during the months April to August. All races are between 5 and 6 miles.

 

FELL running

This section has developed over the last 10-15 years as more senior athletes have made the move away from running on the road, preferring a more forgiving surface. Our fell running section is affectionately called ‘The Dark Side’ partly because of its love of running in the dark with head torches. The secretary is Bevan Adams.

 

The fell runners are relatively laid back and training runs tend to be a relaxed affair depending upon which races folk have got planned or whether they have run the weekend before. 

 

CROSS COUNTRY

We have been involved in cross country racing since the very beginning and as an event it attracts both our road runners and our fell runners. We have teams entering the North Midlands Cross Country League which takes place from September to January, and the Inter Club League which normally takes place in January and February. One notable event in the cross country calendar each year is the Chris Ryan Memorial Canal Relay, which takes place each summer between Retford AC and our friends at Worksop AC. The race is run entirely on the canal towpath between the 2 towns and is possibly the most competitive race of the year.

 

Our cross country training programme (which ususally combines fell runners and cross country runners would typically include:

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​SENIOR MEMBERS TRAINING

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Senior Members Monthly Training Schedule – 2021-2022

 

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All sessions start and finish at Oaklands (unless by agreement for any specific session).

All runners warm up together, session differentiated after warm up and divides into sub groups each with a group leader.   We ofer 2 main types of training for senior members, on-road and off-road.   The main on-road day is Monday and the main off-road day is Thursday with a different session offered each week on a monthly cycle

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New Starters

Active runners will be allocated to either the on-road or off-road group where differentiation will take place within the group.

 

Couch to 5k

Starters new to running will join a ‘new runners’ group (Group co-ordinator: Mark Fielding: mfielding88@btinternet.com ) which operates on Monday evenings.  They will remain in this group until confident to join either the on-road or off-road group.

 

JUNIORS

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The Junior Section welcomes young people from the age of 7 into our club and we provide the full range of athletic disciplines apart from hammer and pole vault. We offer coaching and competition opportunities for anybody interested in athletics and we expect all our athletes to be interested in athletics and to be motivated and committed to their own athletic development.

 

All our juniors train under the supervision of a qualified coach and are placed into a coaching group according to their age, ability or specialist discipline. Our coaches will make training enjoyable and safe but all the time we are looking to improve performance and athletic discipline so we expect our athletes to work hard too. We are an athletic club, not a fitness class or a playground and we expect our junior athletes to enter competitions and to represent the club when asked.

 

In summer, training concentrates on sprints and endurance running, long jump, high jump, shot, discus and javelin. In winter, training concentrates on sportshall events, cross country, sprint training, general conditioning and plyometrics.

 

Training is outside all year for our older athletes but indoors in winter for our athletes aged 7 and 8, so appropriate clothing is essential, whatever the weather.

 

Over the years many of our juniors have gained county, regional and national recognition and many have progressed, with our good wishes and support, to bigger clubs, where they continue to thrive, competing at a higher level, but proud to have commenced their athletic career with Retford AC.

 

Selection Criteria

We expect:

• all our members to work hard at developing their athletic skills, to behave properly at all times and to enter competitions when the time is right.   

• all new members to have a basic level of fitness and when you first come to us, we will give you a short assessment based on running, throwing and  jumping.    This helps us to work out which training group is best and to decide if our club is right for you.     

• all our parents to  lend a helping hand in managing and organising the junior section and its activities.

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If you are still interested please go to the Membership Zone of this website for information on how to join.

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