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Once upon a time, Poole Runners junior section did not exist.  It was created in July 1995 after one of the club’s youngest members, at the age of 23 and back from 4 years at university, realised that the club was getting older.  He was one of the few people under the age of forty and if things carried on like this, there would soon be no club left.

So he started taking a few of these forty year olds’ children for a run – games, relays, sprints, longer runs and so on while the mums and dads were doing their session.  These sessions were on a public recreation ground on a Tuesday evening and hurdling dogs and dodging stray footballs were the norm.  On the very first week 6 children turned up. Among them were John, Martin and Elaine.

Things remained the same for about a year.  Sessions were moved to a Saturday morning to help those who worked on Tuesdays and sometimes there were a dozen and sometimes there were none but those who turned up were getting fitter, faster and were having fun.  Back at school, they were telling their friends what fun they were having. They were running in fun runs, and sometimes they were even winning prizes and sometimes they weren’t.

One day in 1996, Elaine’s mum, who we could call Mrs Lewis, put an announcement in her daughter’s school newsletter about the club and suddenly the next Saturday there were dozens of kids there.  Among them were Denise and Joe.  Suddenly the club was bigger.  Parents came along to watch and help and kids started to race amongst themselves.

The children still took part in fun runs, but sometimes they took part in the cross country leagues, and they even entered a few track meetings in the summer and sportshall matches in the winter.

The only problem was that the children were still running on the Recreation ground and when it rained, they got wet.

In fact, they usually got wet.  So, a mum, who we may call Mrs Lewis again, went to her son’s school and asked if they could use their facilities, like their gym. The school, which was run by a very nice man who we are going to call Mr Argles, said yes and even said it wouldn’t cost very much.  Suddenly, the weather would be no handicap and all year training could take place.  Not surprisingly, the numbers who attended in the winter shot up and the club soon started to do well.  It entered the local sportshall league in the winter and in the first year there were only 5 under 13 boys in the squad and 7 under 13 girls in the squad but they did OK and they enjoyed it.  The club’s youngsters started doing the local cross country league and started doing quite well.  In 1998 they even entered the local South West Athletics League and in the first summer came eighth in Division Two, which wasn’t bad out of fourteen.

By now, the club was quite well known in its area and all the boys and girls flocked to it for miles around.  Even the best runners and athletes who previously had gone to other nice clubs, decided they would rather go to Poole Runners than the other places.  Schools started noticing and told their best athletes to go there and try it.  Maybe they might like it, although of course maybe they might not.  In fact, even children who had been going to the other clubs in the area started trying going to Poole Runners and the numbers kept growing and growing and growing.

In 1999 the under 13 boys were second in the local sportshall league, the girls were third, while the under 15s were improving as well.  The track team came sixth in their second year, and in the cross country league one of its boys won the under 13 boys title.  By the year 2000, the club was huge and the nice young man who had started the club, (now himself starting to get older and greyer and fatter and slightly balder) needed some help.

So a sub-committee was formed.  A nice mum, who we shall call Mrs Cheney, agreed to do all the memberships and money and things.  Another nice mum, Mrs Turner, would talk to the schools about the club and would talk to the children who liked running about Poole Runners.  She became the Schools Liaison Officer, and she was very nice, although she often pretended to be a teacher. Many of the parents who had previously helped agreed to all sit around a table once every two months and talk about things.  Of course, the nice parents who had helped teach everyone to run and throw and jump and run continued to teach everyone to do these nice things. They too would sit around a table every now and then and talk. These meetings have produced future plans, Child Care Policies, Codes of Conduct and all sorts of nights out and social "dos".

And so we come to the end of this happy story. The club has now 94 members under the age of 16 and most are doing fine in fact some are doing very well indeed.

Poole Runners had 5 athletes in the UK rankings on the track in the summer of 2000.  The under 13 boys won the STEP Dorset Sportshall league in both 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.  The cross country team are doing very well.  in 2000 the under 15 boys won the Wessex League and the under 13 boys were second and this year they had to swap round, the under 13 boys won and the under 15 boys were second.  In the past the track team has come sixth in 1999, third in 2000 and in 2001 finally came first.  Long may continue, especially as our teams get promoted.  Martin and John are running very well as part of the seniors section but we still like to keep an eye out for them and wish them well.  John’s at university now and ran his first marathon in London and Martin completed his A-Levels this summer.  Both won the Dorset Road Racing League in 2000 in their age groups, John in the under 20s and Martin in the under 17s.  Both are in the under 20s this year so they will be competing against each other again, just like those long lost Saturdays on Corfe Mullen Recreation ground.

Despite what it may seem from the above we also have several girls as members. In fact there are slightly more girls than boys.  All are very good but unfortunately always seem to miss out on the team trophies.  In the Dorset Sportshall League only the winning team gets a prize and the girls came second in both 2000 and 2001.  In the Wessex Cross Country League the first three teams get trophies and the girls came fourth both last season and this.  In the South West Athletics League the under 13 girls came second in fact if there was a prize for coming second, Poole Runners girls would probably get it!  However, they are very good and many of them will get even better, so watch out for names like Becky Wiltshire, Hayley Crawford, Elaine Lewis, Denise Cracknell and Lauren Webb.  They may become the next Paula Radcliffe or Katherine Merry.

In the summer of 2001 our track and field teams, which includes our juniors, won the South West Athletics League Division Two.  The under 15 boys, under 17 men and under 17 women won their age category group competitions and the under 13 boys and girls together with the under 15 girls came second in their age category groups.

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