Saturday Racing - General running

neyo

08/10/2002 at 20:32

I am a keen runner who happened to be a Christian, therefore finding it hard to attend most races as they are held on Sundays. Why aren't the organisers doing many races on Saturday? A significant number of us are being deprived of the chance to take part in organised event in a sport we love. Help!!

By the way, are there any Christians around Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire keen to get some races together. Or otherwise, are there any races being organised in these areas on Saturday?

JohnF

08/10/2002 at 20:49

There's a 10K in Ealing (London) on Saturday 19th October at 11am. For details go to http://www.strand-uk.com/rer/

Otherwise try cross-country, all the races are on Saturday!

Good luck

John

Velociraptor

08/10/2002 at 21:08

There's the Cheddar Half on 9th September, Neyo. That's a Saturday. Lots of us will be there.

08/10/2002 at 23:04

I quite agree! My daughter and I have recently taken up running, but it's difficult to find runs on a Saturday, and although I'm happy to miss church occasionally for a special event like Race for Life, I don't want to do it all that often. Having said that, we have been wondering about the Brighton 10K on 17th November - it's only about an hour's ride from Croydon.

N1654

08/10/2002 at 23:16

Rather at a loss to understand why being a "christian" prevents you running on sundays if you want to. What's the problem?

Plodding Hippo

08/10/2002 at 23:17

I guess church and the social bit afterwards
Havent done that for 20 years but I seem to remember it occupying a lot of Sunday

N1654

08/10/2002 at 23:57

If you run on Sundays I can't imagine Jesus God or whoever would mind very much.

Velociraptor

09/10/2002 at 00:19

I think it does matter. Going to church on Sundays is kind of fundamental for Christians!

Which makes my own position rather hypocritical, since racing on Sundays prevents my husband from going to church with our two younger children (Kevin goes along but sets up the Traidcraft stall and helps with tea rather than going to Sunday school, and Ivor won't go and isn't welcome anyway because the vicar's wife gets twitchy when he mooches around the graveyard on his own, so I stay at home with him anyway). On the other hand, he goes to church every Wednesday and could go to the early service on Sundays if he would get out of his pit in time.

For some, there's the whole Eric Liddle type issue of whether or not it's OK to compete on a Sunday at all.

I think people like Neyo who adhere firmly to their beliefs in the face of the massive temptation provided by races are to be respected. Taking my more practical approach is easier, but the path of true discipleship is a narrow one.

And what about people like Sassie, who are priests and therefore can't opt out of Sunday obligations?

N1654

09/10/2002 at 08:04

None of that is a sufficient argument to abandon sunday races.

This isn't really a Christian country any longer, and the Good Lord said you can do what you want on the "sabbath" anyway, so it's up to the individual what s/he chooses to prioritise as between running and worshipping.

Many Catholic churches (if that's your group) have saturday evening services anyway so that rather diminishes the argument that you are irrevocably tied up on Sundays. Other sects tend not to make attendance on Sundays compulsory so you are given a right to opt out of attending if running is your thing. Most sunday races tend to be morning starts and there's often evening services available for the religiously keen so many people are in a position to do both pursuits if they want to.

I have yet to see race rules which ban "services on the run" so if you feel a race on sunday really compromises you, there's presumably nothing stopping the god squad having a "service on the run" and doing both simultaneously. They can adopt as their text of the day, that the race is not always won by the swiftest.

WildWill..... pirate

pirate

09/10/2002 at 08:19

I don’t think we are arguing about abandoning Sunday races here what we are saying is that the beliefs of other need to be respected.

I personally do not believe in a lot, apart in the belief that others should be allowed to believe in what they want.

If you do not want to miss church on a Sunday Morning there are a few races dotted around that kick off on an afternoon, if it is a whole ‘not compete on a Sunday thing’ there are two options that I can see:

1) Join a club and get involved in the local cross-country league – these are normal on a Saturday
2) In the summer – evening races are becoming more popular so keep an eye out for them and move your racing to during the week.

Contact the local division of the AAA and they should be able to provide you with a fixture list

Will

neyo

09/10/2002 at 12:32

Thank you all for your response to my thread. I never realise that it will generate such a response regarding racing on Sundays.

WildWill, thanks for your advice about joining the local runnng club. I am going to find out more this week

I am still keen to hear from others who feel the need for more Saturday racing.

By the way, any idea where I can get an October's copy of the RW?. I can only find November in my local shop (which I have bought and ravenously read. Mom-in-law's christmas gift is sorted, I think! - subscription to RW)

Velociraptor

09/10/2002 at 12:50

If you contact RW (you can e-mail them from the homepage, I think), they'll let you know about buying back numbers. Alternatively, I have the October issue and don't normally keep them, so could send it off to you today in return for a small donation to charity - e-mail me with a forwarding address if you'd like it. It's intact apart from the fact that I've cut out the universal race entry form.

Hope to see you at some Saturday races!

Cheers, V-rap.

Running Wasp

09/10/2002 at 13:28

You could always run on the Sunday to raise money for your church. That way, even though you are not there in person, you are still contributing.

N ick

09/10/2002 at 14:24

neyo

I live close to where H,B&B join and like you wonder whether there could be a better spread of races across Saturdays & Sundays (there are already several other family things that get in the way of going to church on Sundays that running always seems like an extra one).

Like you I wouldn't advocate stopping races on Sundays (as an earlier writer implied you said) but it would be nice to have more choice. (I guess one of the issues is that it's traditionally been easier to close roads on Sundays, although that logic is getting more dubious these days.)

neyo

09/10/2002 at 14:29

Nick, thanks for your response. As you have correctly pointed out, my "beef" is for th organisers to consider putting some of the races on Saturday, and not cram everything on Sunday to the disadvantage of others who might feel the same way as I do.

Paulie

09/10/2002 at 14:33

I am from the 3 counties mentioned working in St Albans and living in Eaton Bray near Dunstable. I agrea that there should be more of a choice as far as races go.I am a christian but I am sure others would also benifit from having more of an option on when to run.

Coco-Cat

09/10/2002 at 14:39

Hi neyo

My Dad, husband and I are all Christians and runners and whilst we don't have any moral problems ourselves with racing on sundays, we would like more races on saturdays because we miss the main church service of the week otherwise.

I think there is a general feeling on this thread that we are not suggesting that races on sundays should be stopped, but it would be nice as Christians to be able to do both racing and worshipping at the weekend.

Scar Runner

09/10/2002 at 14:41

There's also the issue of public transport being even more non-existent and unreliable on Sundays than on Saturdays.

N ick

09/10/2002 at 14:53

Paulie
Although we've never sorted ourselves out well enough there are at least 2 forumites in Pitstone, I'm in Cheddington and there are a few more scattered round Dunstable - Aston Clinton - Berko.

What sort of pace do you like to run at?

A Chimp Writes

09/10/2002 at 15:00

I would also like to see more Saturday racing. Apart from Laura's excellent point about local transport on a sunday, I find that Saturday is the night I tend to go out. Being at the mercy of a 17 year daughter/babysitter means we have to go out when it suits her rather than us. I'm sure I'm not the only one whos not at their best on a sunday morning. Dont get me wrong, despite my nickname, I'm not talking about getting rip-snorting drunk but I'm not going to drink soft drinks when I go out on a saturday just because I've got a race the day after. I'm not sure that I'm the sort of ally Neyo is after but I imagine the joint forces of God and Stella drinkers could be one worth reckoning with.