Havering athletes get set to restart training

Havering Athletic Club have got the go-ahead to restart training at Hornchurch Stadium from Monday (June 22).

Group sizes will be restricted to six, in line with government guidance, and numbers at each session will be limited, initially with only older athletes aged 15 and above starting back during the first phase.

If this is successful younger athletes will be able to start back from early July.

At present all athletics competition remains suspended and all planned events have been cancelled, but UK Athletics is hoping some local competitions can be held from July onwards.

This will depend on changes to existing National guidance on groups and social distancing, but Havering club chairman Tony Benton said; “We’re very grateful to Havering Council for agreeing to our plans for a safe return to training.

“Like other sports, and communities everywhere, it has been a very difficult three months for our athletes and coaches, at a time when they would usually be in the middle of the main summer track and field competition season.

“Athletes have been doing what they can to stay active during lockdown, so being able to get back on track is a welcome step back towards some normality, although the arrangements we’ve put in place are very different to pre-Covid 19 training sessions.

“Hopefully, our athletes will get the chance to compete after all, which seemed unlikely not long ago.”