to affilliate or not

Hi,

my running buds have decided that they like the idea of forming a running club,

after having a look,it looks difficult,which assoc,how much and so on.

so can you offer any advice,

we use local sports centres as a base(scotland)

we dont take anything too seriously

we dont want tied down in paperwork

and how would we get started ?

Can you not join another wee run club in your area or are you out in the middle of nowhere?

Most run clubs cater for all sorts who have various reasons for enjoying the benefits that running brings,not everyone wants to race or try & run marathons, some just want to get fitter or also enjoy the social side of club running.

Whatever you do, keep on a runnin'

The benefit to being a club is that you get the discount opportunities for entering races etc. You could affiliate to a bigger club to boost their numbers, wear there vest but basically have little to do with them - or just give yourselves a wacky little name and be unofficial and do what the hell you want.

Being in a club is great and provides motivation - but you end up with a committee, and a team of coaches and then start to lose site of what it means to enjoy running, entering a race and going for a pint.

Keep it simple and keep it small - people interested in joining you will gradually be drawn to you but you will have the added benefit of not having to deal with absolute beginners so your running can progress. Start your own little website so you can keep track of what you are doing.

But if you do set up a club - make yourself chair for life and take no crap from no one, democracies are over-rated as sometimes the best way is to just tell people what they need to do!

As you live in Scotland you could start a JogScotland group.  All you need to do that is for one of you to train as a JogLeader then you start up, with your members joining JogScotland under whatever name you choose for your group.  Bronze membership of JogScotland is free (Silver and Gold membership costs but Gold does give you a SAL discount on races).  The only paperwork involved is returning new membership forms to JogScotland.  That's it.  My group charges 50p per training session;  this goes into club funds and is used for the benefit of the the club (ie it's bought reflective vests for weekly use by members, club kit which we sell on to members, this year we subsidised the entry for two teams into the Edinburgh Hairy Haggis Relay Marathon).  Run4It - and (I think) Run & Become plus Snowlines in Edinburgh - give club discount to JogScotland members.  SAL affiliation is really for clubs with lots of members and costs the club quite a lot (I am a member of a SAL affiliated club too).  Might be worthwhile checking out the JogScotland website ?   Good luck !