Dear Club Members and other interested Runners and Walkers,

With the Season due to commence in a couple of weeks there are a number of important pieces of information that need to be shared.

Through out the summer a small, hardworking and very committed band of workers has provided 5km events for a huge number of people. I wish to express sincere gratitude on your behalf to Eileen, Katrina and their team. Thanks a heap.

Opening Day

This has been set for Wednesday 17 March at 6pm (6:15pm start for runners) with a Green Theme (St Patricks Day) at Washbourne Gardens. After match function will be held at El Taverna. It would be great to encourage as many as possible to this event.

First Race

Our first race is set for 20 March at Rabbit Island. A BBQ and social time is planned to follow the race which will be about 6-8km. Everyone is welcome and if we have some young runners we will include a run, of about 1-2km for them.

Race Start Times

We have altered our start time for the season to 2:30 for all club events. There will be some variations to this for Nelson organised events and some longer races, however these variations will always be notified.

Reorganisation of Athletics New Zealand (ANZ)

A letter has been written to Scott Newman asking for an update of progress towards the national restructuring of ANZ. To date no reply has been received from Scott, but a few responses have received from individuals in other parts of the country. One made suggestions about how to improve our revenue gathering systems, whilst a couple of others expressed support for our frustration at a lack of progress.

Hopefully a response from Scott will be forthcoming and some progress will be made towards relieving clubs of the financial burden under which they currently labour.

Half Marathon

The date has been set for our Half Marathon - 30 October, the weekend after Labour Weekend. Make a note on your calendar and another 12 weeks earlier (9 August) to remind you to start training towards the Half.

We would also like to circulate posters to make sure we have the maximum exposure possible. if every club member found places to put up 2 posters that would give us about 140 posters around the community.

Membership Fees

These have been set again at $70 for adults and $20 for juniors. the committee is committed to making our sport as affordable as possible.

These are due for payment by 30^th of April.

Congratulations

Congratulations to all who completed the Buller Half or Full Marathon. Special Congratulations to Paula Canning in winning the Women‚s Marathon, as well as Norm Carrington (1^st Mens 60+ half) and Murray Hart (1st Mens 50+ half) for their wins on their categories. I understand that the weather created some interesting conditions.

Please check our web site at http://waimeaharriers.nelson.<;wbr>org.nz/ for current updates.

Maren Harford

Club‚s secretary