Doncaster Athletic Club reflect on the year that never was

With bookings at a high, road races and club events looking good and membership at an all-time high, a bumper year lay ahead.

And then came lockdown in March, 2020. Club closed.

I slowly received cancellations of bookings throughout the summer and moved the £200 tuck shop stock to worthwhile places.

We monitored the official guidance carefully and resumed in June.

In October our office and shop was open and we were very much at capacity as far as we could be within the numbers allowed.

However, with winter approaching and infection rates on the rise, we had to review on a weekly basis.

As long as members continued to book their training and complete track and trace returns we were able to remain open.

There is optimismin the air with schools and other customers booking for 2021.

But the massive losses in revenue does have an impact on our maintenance plans for coming years.

Our main priority has to be track repairs.

With depleted reserves we do need to rebuild our finances by the end of next year to arrange track re-spraying by spring 2022 and no later.

To this end all track related membership fees have had to rise to help reach our financial goals.

If our road races and other events go ahead they will greatly assist in a possible fee reduction in 2022.

A good number of our members have remained loyal in still paying membership fees and increasing subscriptions to our club lottery.

These funds have helped to pay the bills, even during closure.

Last year ended on the bounce, despite everything, with the club receiving Track-mark accreditation, ensuring all aspects of our facility remain fit for purpose for the next three years.

Doncaster Athletic Club is still strong and we have proved if we continue to work as a team we can face up to anything.

The main aim now is preservation of health, keeping safe and getting through this testing winter successfully.

Our summer programme, road races and school sports days are all ready and primed for the go ahead.