Competition opportunity for young athletes in Devon

Erme Valley Harriers are a community club who provide fun and inclusive sessions for people of all ages - from young children taking part in funetics Multi-Challenge right through to senior road running nights. Making a huge difference in Ivybridge, Devon, the club are passionate about ongoing development and ensuring they continue to support their members to enjoy taking part and representing the club.

Introducing children to athletics and running is crucial in setting them up for a lifelong love of the sport and Erme Valley Harriers has welcomed the funetics Multi Challenge (fMC) competition format to make track and field fun and exciting for their younger members. Aware of the importance of giving competition opportunities to their under 12 athletes, the club delivered their first funetics Multi Challenge event at one of their club nights in early May - and what a success!

The fMC informal competition format is set up to include four events: a sprint, jump, throw and endurance run, and on this occasion Erme Valley offered: a 600m run, vortex howler throw, long jump and 50m sprint. Training within a rugby club and community college, the club don't currently have access to a traditional 400m track - but this didn't stop the fun! They used a 200m loop for the 600m run and managed to still deliver the full competition for 34 athletes within a spectacular 90 minutes.

The feedback from parents and coaches alike has been super positive, with the club looking to host another competition in the summer for athletes to try and improve their scores from their first attempt. Club Secretary, Keith Reed, has been with the club for many years and is also a previous Services to Athletics and Running winner at the South West Regional Volunteer Awards! He recognised the need to implement fMC for their members:

"Erme Valley Harriers wanted to take a proactive approach to providing fun and positive initial competition experiences for young athletes. We are aware that it is a big step for young athletes to transition over to track and field competitions and by providing fMC events on a training night and on their doorstep we hope we are helping improve athletes readiness for competition.  Athletes feeling supported and taking part in a safe environment is really important

“On the evening we enjoyed seeing the children having fun, smiling, challenging themselves and enjoying their athletics. The fMC competition has a really family feel around it and with parents/guardians getting involved as volunteers, it is helping the club move forward with a new team of volunteers who can help out and also enjoy cheering their children on”

The future of fMC in the region

It is fantastic to hear of such a successful funetics Multi Challenge event being implemented within Erme Valley Harriers, but the introduction of this new format doesn't stop there. This summer alone there are even more plans for fMC competitions across Devon with four already plotted in for children alongside club open meetings. This is wonderful to see, and shows how you can introduce fMC seamlessly into both a regular club night, and a traditional track and field competition format.

The best thing about fMC is it is truly flexible no matter what facilities or time you have to hand. The competition framework is set up as a quadrathlon (four events) or triathlon (three events) meaning you can adapt and flex to fit what works for you as a club or competition provider. It can also be a great way to generate a little income and support waiting lists enabling more children to flexibly give athletics a go. You do not need to have licenced officials to deliver, therefore you can work alongside your current volunteers, parents and guardians to ensure the competition runs smoothly - putting the children at ease to just have fun.