Welcome

From Race Director Steve Gaines:
Thank you for your entry into the 2023 Rotherham 10K!
This email has been sent to the 285 email addresses of those entrants who have entered to date, to provide you with further information regarding number collection, and arrangments on Race day.

Number Collection

The numbers to be carried in the race are 'chipped bib' type, worn typically as you can see in the images of this newsletter.
They will be available from 8th May and we urge all those who can, to collect their number before the race day. The numbers will be available for collection in the reception area of the Garden House in Clifton Park. The building is located close to the museum building and adjacent to the bowling greens and car park which is accessed via Clifton Lane.
Be aware that the car park is Pay and Display.

Numbers can be collected between 10am and 6pm on Monday the 8th Maythen from 6pm to 8pm Tuesday the 9th May up to Friday the 12th.
The numbers are also available for collection between 9:30 and 4 pm on Saturday the 13th.
We will have multiple collection points - based upon the first letter of the runners’ surname - in operation from 8:30 to 9:40 on race day, but again we would urge all runners to collect their numbers in advance, as the race will start at 10am prompt.

Once you have collected your number there is no need to register on the day simply be there in good time to warm up and start at 10.

Pins will also be available at the number collection point, should you need them. The race numbers contain a transponder which will start timing when you cross the start line mat and stop when you cross the finish line mat. (Not used in the Fun Run).

Fun Run Matters

Starting at 12.00, the Fun Run combines runners who have entered privately with a large number of youngsters from local primary schools. They are responding to a challenge to run a mile and there will be some promising budding athletes! But also there will be a lot who are simply enjoying the experience.

Details here

Very young runners are welcomed by the organisers, but parents (or guardians) must be present (for under-18s) and actually sharing the run (if under-8s). Obviously quite a few parents will be in the ten-k run and will hopefully have completed the course before 12.00.

Parents who do run with their children are welcome so to join in (and need not pay) but please ensure you do not stay with them as they run though the finish, as the finish recorders need line of sight of finishers and additional runners would cause big problems for the finish listing. The Fun Run numbers will not be ‘chipped’- ie. They will be standard bibs to be worn on the chest please, not obscured or hidden or on the legs or on a backpack etc but pinned at the corners so that the recorders can see them. The finish will be packed and hectic if previous expernece is repeated. And the ‘Run a Mile Challenge’ is reported to be bigger than on the last occasion.

If you are accompanying a young runner in the Fun Run you may wish to check whether his/her school is taking part as a school- whether they are or not you can have your youngster’s school listed in the results if you let us know.

On Race Day

Please remember that the event road closures will start to be in place from 09:00 and you should plan to be parked prior to that time. Details of the available parking locations are shown on the Rotherham 10K website Race Information pages.

Age UK Rotherham are operating a bag storage facility (for a £1 charge) in the Garden House so remember to bring your £1 if you want to use that. You will need to show your race number to collect your bag.

There will be an organised warm up prior to the event start (the course section on the race information page shows the site layout of the start / finish area) runners will gather on the patk to the North of the start line and run south, under the gantry to follow the park paths and exit via the main gates into Wharncliffe Street before descending Drummond Street towards the Town centre and following the route as shown on the course map, and described on the Course page.

Kilometre markers will be in place as shown on the course map, and there will be a drinks station in the Town Centre close to the 5K point on the course. The course has some uphill sections between 5K and about 6.5K, but if then falls from that point until a small rise in the park paths to the finish gantry.

Forty four course marshals will be in position around the course. If you have any problem and need to summon help or first aid, please see one the marshals and they will call for assistance We hope you all enjoy the event, whether you are running as an individual, with family or friends, or as a member of a team from work or an organisation you are part of. Award presentations will take place around 11:30.

Toilet Facilities

There will be some portable toilets adjacent to the finish / warm up area, and there are further toilets in the Museum and Garden House.

Corporate Challenge

If you are reading this already having entered the race, you might still be interested in being part of a Corporate Team with some of your friends or workmates. It could be a team of four, or any bigger number.

Running in a team like this adds a bit more interest to your performance, and it doesn’t cost you any extra. There actually is an award for the best team to finish- but it might be keenly contested.

Look here for details

...and Also

Running and Racing in Spring!
With numbers now around 300 , and with three or four weeks left for entry, we are likely to see a field of four hundred or more for the fourth edition of the Rotherham 10k race. Also timely, winter weather has not finished but it’s getting rarer and locally in areas of Rotherham the woodland flowers are out: eg a brilliant annual display of wild daffodils in Black Carr Wood, by the time of the race, they will have been replaced by bluebells in Wickersley Gorse (pictured).

The good warm sunny weather we have experienced in past years would be welcome as well- though not all runners by any means are happy to race in it. Take care if it's hot!

We hope your preparations for racing with us are proceeding well, and this is a convenient time for a ‘thank you’ from the organisers to the first 200 or so who have led the way. Most, or even all of you will have realised that entry lists for the race (and the fun run) are shown and regularly updated on the event website.

Photographs

Do You Have News for us to share? You might well be a social-media user, but even so we would be happy to expand our web pages to learn your successes or problems- in training for the race, or subsequently during the race. Are you a first-timer? We all were at one time! Or a seasoned experienced race runner? Do you have a personal achievement goal in the race, or perhaps a more engaging purpose coming from things that have happened or things that you seriously value? Even better if you can send any photograph(s), we would certainly consider displaying them in website or in galleries.

Mailshots/IT