History of BERC

Four Years on?

   After four years the group was still not growing, yes we now had some of the tri club members but we were still lucky to get ten runners.  In general, it was four to six, it was also around this time Anna had an opportunity to change her job.  She decided she was going to leave the group and our loss was going to be their gain.  She asked Steve if he would mind taking the group on as his own.  This was not going to be a problem and although it was hard to see Anna leave, it was a great opportunity and unfortunately things change and circumstances change too, so lets do this!

   Straight away, Steven realised how much he enjoyed putting on sessions and wanted to take his coaching further, so he booked on to the Coach in Running Fitness course (CIRF) which he started later that year.  It was on the last session of the year (2014), when local runner Helen asked Steve if it was all worth the effort when only four people had turned up to the session, 'Is it worth your time?' she asked, yes was the answer, stick with it, we'll get there.  Possibly more optimistically than positively, but we were not going to give up, that was for sure.

Wait? Its Growing.
 

   In 2015, Steven passed his CIRF course and more people started to hear about the group and in some psychotic way, they were enjoying it.  The next Christmas, there were ten people for the last session and we were hitting double figures throughout the year more consistently.  It was also on 2015 where Steven was joined by the brilliant and enthusiastic Christopher Birley.  Chris was a Level 1 Triathlon Coach and had his LIRF too, this helped massively.  Firstly, with safety, more eyes to spot potential dangers and also the coaches had the opportunity to share ideas and opinions, which is always good.

2016 - 2020

   The next few years saw a consistent rise in the number of runners coming along, it was also a great time for the group to be able to expand.  Sometime during this period, both Steve and Chris also started to expand, Chris started taking sessions on a Wednesday morning at 6.00am at Bramcote Park, this gave Chris more experience of taking sessions and was useful to people who found it difficult to train late on due to work commitments. Chris had a consistent number of runners attending each week.

   Meanwhile, Steven also tried to do more, he started doing sessions on a Saturday morning for around 3 to 4 months during the winter period.  They could do a good training block of sessions following on from each other to see how people had improved over the period they were training.  He also worked on warm ups and drills too, which people seem to enjoy, giving him another idea.

   Once every 6 weeks or so Steven, assisted by good friend Colin Ward, started taking a technical session, where they focussed on running technique, drills and S&C which started getting a steady stream of runners.  He also took a technical bike session at the American Adventure car park every 6 weeks or so, on Sunday mornings, here he was assisted by good friend Jason Grainger, again focussing on technique.  All these were unfortunately brought to a abrupt halt as with biking, they lost their training ground as they started to build houses and the runs stopped as the pandemic hit, which was a shame as all three sessions were going well, yes the numbers were not the same as Mondays, but they were busy enough.

   It was also at some point during this time where our meeting base changed in the Summer, we decided to move to Eastwood, why?  Well, unfortunately, travellers had moved on to the park in Brinsley which forced us initially to change base, so Steven moved to Eastwood.  It went well and we started to meet there in the summer, sometimes using the grass track at Hall Park.  It also encouraged us to try and get on the running track at Ilkeston during the darker months as it made health and safety much easier with not having to worry about traffic and the runners seemed to enjoy it.  We were not always guaranteed to get the track but it was a great option to have and again, was easier to put progressive sessions on every other week.

   Over time we have moved more to meeting in Eastwood, as so many groups have now opened in Brinsley, such as Weight Watchers, Zumba, which made it more difficult for runners to find a parking space, the bigger numbers of runners also made it difficult to meet in Brinsley.  At times there were too many runners for the size of the paths so quite often we would split into two groups. 

  In March of 2020 the world was hit by the COVID-19 virus. Shops and bars were closed. Businesses shut. Almost everyone was told to stop working. You were only allowed out of your house once per day, to shop, walk, run or cycle. The world had come to a standstill and obviously the run group had to stop!

   But surely, we could do something? So we came up with a plan. It may not be perfect? It may not work? But we had to try. Now we were told we could still run, as long as we were on our own. So, Steven started posting up sessions, every Monday, to try and keep people training and have something to aim for. He got in touch with Chris and he also started posting sessions throughout the lockdown. They usually did this on a Monday and a Thursday.

   It was at this time that he got another idea. With Steven being such a photogenic person (steady!) he thought, is it worth posting videos up on the run page? The videos were to be of things runners could practice at home. For example, drills, S&C, ladder work, etc. So, with camera and make up in hand, he filmed himself giving examples of the exercises we could still do. He had got these from various courses he had been on over the years and thought it was a great way to keep in touch with people? However, as he had not had the chance to coach some of them before, he wanted a little help, in making sure they were safe and correct. So, Steven got in touch with two friends and colleagues (physiotherapists) who helped check through both the exercises and the drills, to make sure they were being done safely. He then posted them on the site and they seemed to go down well. 

We are back!

  After a few months of not being allowed out and becoming pale, we were able to return. However, we were only allowed to have a maximum of six people per group. So, Steven sent out his war cry, and luckily the coaches came to help. First there was Chris, Rob, Darren D and Cathy, who were all willing to take the sessions. Later they were joined by Kirstie, Darren H and Richard. At first he would meet with them and show them some of the routes he knew. Planning a session for each of them on the first week . He would then send them copies of the routes, so they all had the markings for themselves. This was not easy, but all the coaches approached it with enthusiasm and after the first week, were willing to plan the sessions themselves. This was a huge help. As it would have been to much work, for one person to do that every week. So THANK YOU. In time it became possible to have twelve people per group. But, you needed COVID officers? Whaaaaat?

 COVID operatives

   The government and England athletics had now said we could take a group of twelve. But before we could. We needed COVID operatives! Yes, I know, sounds like some sort of secret agent!! Fortunately, Darren and Kirstie Dodsley were training to do it for their club and offered to help out us BERCs. They did the course and went about putting things in place, so we could continue to our maximum potential. They wrote out the rules for the group and updated the H&S form,  which is essential for each runner to fill out when they first come along to the group (still on Facebook under files. Please, if you have not filled one in, please do so. Just a couple of minutes of your time). This was a fantastic and thoughtful thing for both Daz and Kirstie to do for us and was and still is much appreciated. However, we still had issues! Why? The general public were being told you could only meet in groups of six. So, when they saw a group of more than six, they complained! Which was understandable and as a group we decided to keep the numbers down to six, if this was possible?

Rules change.

  After a while, the rules changed once again and the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing, was becoming all to real. We were now told you could still run in groups of six, but only in your county (Notts, Derby, etc). So once again this made it more difficult. Although coaches were allowed to cross counties! I know, right! Answers on a postcard please. Understandably, at times this made things even more awkward and this is when Liam and Kerstine stepped in to help, which enabled us to continue. This alas was short lived and the dreaded lockdown struck again.
 

How did this all work?

   When they knew they could get back to their training, Steven created a coaches page.  They decided that in order to keep people apart they would need to coach at both 6.00pm and 7.00pm.  Steven would then ask who was available to coach the following Monday and when, once the coaches had let him know their availability, he would post on the runner's page asking who would like to run and at what time.  Once the runners had replied to the post, he would then write their names down to work out who would run in which group, with him already seen  and knowing quite a few of the runners and watching them over time, he could group them up with people of similar abilities.  This worked well for the majority of the time, but there was still the odd occasion where people were in a group that did not match.

   Once he had put the runners into separate groups, he got back to the coaches who let him know the designated meeting point, Steven then put the groups with a coach and posted on the runner's page, informing them of where they were going to meet and with whom.  This way, people were not encountering others that were not in their group, not ideal (we want to be altogether) but the best we could do in the circumstances.

   Each coach would also have their own little book (register), to keep a record of who was in their group and at what time they were running, thus enabling coaches to follow government guidance and be able to contact anyone should a case of COVID be confirmed.

   This was going as well as we could have hoped and in all honesty, it was a situation which required the coaches, at times, to think on their feet, but once again, we came to an abrupt halt, by the COVID pandemic.

  This must be the end, at least for the moment?  Surely there is something we can do?  Well, we could go back to posting the sessions for people, once again, Steven and Chris, who were joined by Richard kept on this, hopefully still giving people a desire to run, but not only that, we now have a little more time on our hands, 'What for?' I hear you shout enthusiastically, (no, just me then?) to try and come up with an identity!

Where are we now?

  Since then, not only has the group become larger and more popular, but so has the coaching team.  Joining Steven and Chris, we are now lucky to have Rob Turnbull (CIRF), Darren Dodsley (LIRF), Kirstie Dodsley (LIRF), Cathy Ayton (LIRF), Darren Hayes (LIRF), Liam Johnson (LIRF) and Kerstine Herbert (LIRF).  They have all come along when required and stepped up to the plate, especially during the awful pandemic that hit in 2020 and not only that but Steven's good friend and Mansfield's head coach, Richard Massey, who had been responsible for helping so many runners improve and even go on to represent their national teams.  He himself has GBR experience at coaching level and his knowledge and experience have been invaluable to the group.  He had also taken one-to-one sessions during the pandemic,

   In tough times the group has worked together fantastically and with only being allowed to take five runners each!  They were managing to get 40 to 50 people coming each week, over a two hour period.  A fantastic effort both from the coaches and the runners, to keep the group going in tough and trying times.

   Massive thank you to each one of you, top team!

Why B.E.R.C?

   A few years earlier, around 2015 -2016 mark, Mark Bettison asked Steven if there was anyway he would turn it into an affiliated running club?  This was not something that had been spoken about before and Steven didn't really know how to answer.  But Mark asked if it was, what would you call it?  Well, off the top of his head he turned and said Eastwood and Brinsley Running Club, it was then that Mark laughed and said you should call it Brinsley and Eastwood Running Club! 'Why' asked Steve?  ' Well if you did, we would be called BERC!!!' replied Mark.  Brilliant thought Steven and both chuckled, however with us not be a club, Steven changed 'club; to crew and BERC was born, thank you Mark.

   By now COVID restrictions were being lifted and we could look at getting the rest of the kit made?

   BERC runner Paul Moir took Steven for a meeting with Short Stitch in Hucknall. There they had a chat with the wonderful Pat, who was immensely friendly and helped  put us at ease, made us feel very welcome and was very helpful. This gave us some initial ideas and a few weeks later Steven returned with Claire Croll. Claire was a great help in finalising what we would like to have. Especially with the ladies gear! The orders were put in and Pat developed our own site, where people could go on in there own time and place and order, for the kit, themselves. This was and is a great help and we would like to take the opportunity to thank Pat and everyone at short stitch for there amazing work. Secondly massive thank you to Paul and Claire. Could not have done this without you.

BERC have an identity!!

   Well, we'd come so far in the last few years and sometimes, I had to pinch myself. However, there was still one more thing we needed? WEBSITE!! Now, this was scary.  Steven is about as tech savvy as a neanderthal. So, how could we get it done?
   Step forward BERC runner Kev Copestake. Kev brought the domain name 'wearebercs' and said his wife, Kay, would be happy to put the site together for us. Wow!! So Kay started working on it and Steven met up with the both of them, to show them some of the ideas he had. Kay explained everything that she was doing and going to do and it sounded fantastic. Okay, some things may have flown straight over Stevens head! But, don't panic. Just look like you understand!! Nod your head in agreement! From there, Kay went to work and produced this wonderful website for us.

So, a massive thank you to both Kay and Kev for all the incredible work you've put in to this site. I am eternally grateful.


'WE ARE BERC's'