As Covid-19 continues to impact our lives, and thus our sporting activities, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank our Regional Centres and Hubs for the continued support they are providing to our Target Sprint community.
In recent months we have seen different restrictions placed on different areas of the country and on different groups, creating a variety of challenges across the hub network. For some, face to face training has been possible, for others “remote” alternatives have been found to help our community to continue to feel connected to the sport. All of this is fantastic!
Innovation and creativity will continue to be important as we navigate the next couple of months. There are virtual running challenges that athletes may wish to do, as well as our own virtual Schools Pistol Championships for athletes that would like to try something different!
Thinking outside the box of the traditional heats and final format we are used to seeing in Target Sprint is something we have seen from the newly re branded Greater Manchester Hub, which others may like to try.
Doug Pepper, who coordinates Greater Manchester said, “We were unable to run the traditional heats/final format and remain Covid secure, so we looked at other formats, and the one that proved to be Covid secure, fair to athletes and manageable to coordinate is the Time Trial format, which is already used extensively in duathlons and other sports.”
A couple of “traditional” Target Sprint events have taken place. The first, last month on the Isle of Wight, provided a great opportunity for athletes on the island to enjoy a safe fun competition. This was followed up by the Sedgemoor Open held at Yate Outdoor Sports Complex. For both events the safety and enjoyment of the athletes and volunteers was the priority.
Richard Wilson, IOW Organiser said, “It was great to see our athletes turn out safely for the first target sprint event to race since prior to the initial Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
“In order to run a safe event, our organising team put in a number of Covid-precautionary measures and ensured we followed the NSRA and Government guidance.”
John Saint, who is part of the organising team at Sedgemoor said: “We thought outside the box and in the same race had the more experienced athletes competing on the 35mm targets and other more novice athletes on the 49.5mm targets. I wasn’t sure about it to start with, but our team provided me wrong. It was great fun!
Moving forwards, please do continue to check the guidance provided by your home country and organisation you affiliate to. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Keep up to date with guidance on Sport and Activity in England here:
https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/coronavirus#latestgovernmentguidance