HOW TO JOIN ORION HARRIERS

and run in Epping Forest
We regularly receive emails asking
how "can I join Orion Harriers..."
or
how do I "join in a training run..."
or
"what standard do I need to be"
or...
"DOES MY BUM LOOK BIG IN THIS...?
or...
...and so on.
Fair questions.
As there's seldom much info offered by the person enquiring,
a catch-all response email gradually developed.
It has helped other people find their way into running
with Orion Harriers in our wonderful Epping Forest, so
SCROLL DOWN
to find ALL the info about running/joining Orion
you could ever need.

It's for YOU...maybe?

There's about 300+ members in our club -
maybe 80 are women and 60 juniors -
the rest are men aged from 18-96!) - dunno the split, exactly.


(Different people organise our excellent Juniors Section.
Click HERE! for Juniors info.)

And
- when you need it -
you can download (for printing off) an
Orion Membership Application Form HERE!
To go about joining Orion Harriers is easy,
if not wholly painless... I think.
Just turn up for a couple of training runs
- or even guest in a race.
See if you like it, before comitting...

So when's BEST for training?

Depends if you're male or female...

MEN'S SECTION:
Every Tuesday and Thursday evening in Winter
a few senior men go training in the local-ish streets.
In summer, we take to the Forest. Same nights.
We leave Orion Harriers Clubhouse
(BEHIND Royal Forest Hotel, Rangers Road, Chingford
3 or 4 mins walk from Chingford rail and bus station)
at 7.30pm sharp.
So get there before then - about 7.15, say?
There's ALL standards of runners.
You won't get left/lost in the Forest
or stranded in darkest Chingford.
Well... probably not...
THE WOMEN'S SECTION:
 Our flourishing women's section also runs from the club HQ
on a Wednesday evening, leaving the club @ 7.00pm.
There are different women, running different speeds,
someone will be able to help you find if you fit in and where...

Many other groups (see below)
go out EVERY other day at varying times
but Wednesday's probably best starting point for a woman,
Tue or Thu for a man.
Just wander into the Orion Harriers Clubhouse
(behind the Royal Forest Hotel)
and follow the voices...
Tell the owners of those voices
(who are mostly harmless!)
that you want to run.

They'll gladly help.

If there's any further questions you may have,
give me a call sometime during the day...
Roddy: 0208 529 5938
or email me:

orionxc@aol.com

BACKGROUND INFO
There's excellent changing rooms and showers -
so bring a towel...
oh... and shampoo etc if, unlike me,
you still have a good head of hair... sigh.

No need to join immediately.
Have a few runs and see if you like it.

Senior Annual membership is £35.00
(Second Claim is only £15.00!) -
and to help cover running costs
(no pun intended...)
you're expected to pay 50p each + every time
you use the club for a run and
£1.00 at non-league races.

During summer, training runs are in the Forest
but on dark winter nights it's all road work...
OTHER RUNNING TIMES
Some women run with men's groups from the clubhouse
on tue and thu at 7.30pm.
(I'm slowest of that lot:
they sometimes wait for me...sigh, again)

Some men also join the women's 7.00pm Wednesday runs
and the Juniors also train on a Wed.
So it's a wide range of standards: Wednesdays are busy.

So busy that there's NO PARKING at the clubhouse
on Wednesday evenings or on on race days
but there's plenty nearby local parking
and good public transport!

Women's and men's groups also go out -
in the Forest) on Sunday mornings.

Every Saturday, all year round,
if there's no race on,
there's always training runs in the Forest -
leaving the clubhouse at 3.00pm


RACING
There's loads of racing, too - if you fancy that!
Like Orion, other clubs we compete with
have some great running talent -
and occasional lack of it.
But even 'slow' runners take their place...
mostly in front of me...

Have a look at our summer
and winter fixture lists.

SEASONS
We're now in the Summer season!

In Winter,
we have all sorts of races or training runs,
from 5k to 15 miles,
on trail, road, cross country and
horse rides in the Forest.

In Summer,
there's a similar mix of Forest runs
plus races on trails/quiet roads
in a Summer road race league...
which is nice.


WE LOOK FORWARD TO RUNNING WITH YOU
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