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A Brief History of the Huddersfield Road Runners Athletics Club

Huddersfield Road Runners Athletics Club (HRRAC) is a subsection of the Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club (HRUFC) which came about after a succession of events that date back to 1982 when the rugby club staged a half marathon.

The reasons for this half marathon are unclear, however, in the autumn of the same year the committee had fund raising high on the agenda, and John Sawyer, then a member of the club, and an experienced marathon runner, was asked to organise a full marathon. He agreed, on the condition that the rugby club formed a recognised running section.

John Sawyer and Alan Sykes so became the founder members of HRRAC and their first training run took place on the 15th December 1982 with their first competitive entry being the Ferriby 10 Mile Road Race in 1983.

The rugby club was situated on Wakefield Road at Waterloo in those days, and the running club set up the ‘Waterloo 10k’ road race in 1990 to replace the previous Club Handicap and was staged successfully in February each year for 7 years.

The club continued to operate from Waterloo until 1997 when the rugby club acquired a new venue and premises at Lockwood Park, Lockwood, on the site on an old brewery. In order to take advantage of the newly refurbished clubhouse with its changing, shower and bar facilities, the running club followed suit.

The annual 10K road race had to be relocated too and the first running of the ‘Huddersfield 10K’ took place in February 1997. It has run successfully ever since and currently attracts a field of 500 runners bringing important revenue to the club.

Membership

Membership is due in September each year. Subscriptions for 2009/10 have been set at £32. New members have 4 free weeks and then pay pro-rata for the remainder of the year.

Club Championship

This is an ongoing competition between club members and is assessed annually. Winners’ awards are presented at the Annual Dinner which is normally held in June of each year.

Past Results

Male Club Champion – Terry Hyland
Female Club Champion - Julie Field

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING RULES

  1. Competition commences 1st May and runs for a maximum of the calendar year, ends 30th April.
  2. Members must run a minimum of nine races of their own choice. Of these at least two must be half marathons. Also one race of a distance greater than a 10K. (Marathons accepted)
  3. Of the nine races a minimum distance of seventy miles must be completed.
  4. Members must retain clear records of their races detailing race title, distance and time taken to complete.
  5. Members must hand over their complete results on completion of the nine races to the club secretary no later than 31st May following the end of the race calendar year.
  6. Overall results will be decided by total time taken in minutes divided by miles covered. For example 443 minutes / 72 miles = 6.15 minutes per mile.
    7. It is expected that all members deal with their race records in a true and fitting manner as befits HRRAC.

Prizes will be awarded to Open and Veteran categories. Entries to be submitted against the age range applicable to the entrants age on January 1st falling between the race calendar start of 1st May and end 30th April.