All coaches are required to attend an annual refresher course to continue their coach education, learn new skills and most importantly to give them the chance to connect with other coaches The previous year’s refresher had been held in central London so it was a nice contrast to be in the open countryside of this beautiful part of England situated between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.
The weekend kicked off with a chatty run, a good chance for everyone to catch up and stretch their legs after their journeys. Then the coaches were joined by Edith, the CEO of 261 Fearless thanks to a great Skype connection! She gave a round-up of the global news, congratulated the UK coaches on their amazing work as each club gave her an update of what they were up to.
Then it was straight into a busy agenda looking specifically into how clubs could reach out to new women and thinking of ways to find new members from amongst those who might find the very idea of a running club intimidating.
There was lots of brain storming over the weekend. Ideas shared and plans made for an exciting year ahead. As always, it was clear that when women work together on something as a team, amazing things happen!
Qualified trainers visited to give a basic life support session where the coaches were able to learn and update resuscitation skills. The take home message was that you need to be fearless because having a go and doing what you can, is always better than not doing anything. They had a chance to practice scenarios on dummies and everyone agreed it was a brilliant session and felt much more confident by the end.
Coaches enjoyed a fantastic evening meal out at a local pub and a tasty brunch at the local Hornby Tea Rooms who partner with 261 Lune Valley, offering a discount to their members and hosting the club once a month after their meetrun.
Another practical session was learning to make tasty energy balls. The UK healthy eating partners Go Faster Food had sent recipes for the coaches to try and information on how to get hold of their special ingredient, freeze-dried raspberries. They were so simple to make, delicious and fuelled the coaches on their journeys home!
As usual there was lots of laughter and everyone left inspired and motivated. The date for next year was set and it can’t come soon enough!