There are loads of opportunities for members to take part in races and competitions, as part of their membership with the Club. These include monthly timed Club Handicap races (off-road in the summer and on-road in the winter), Hampshire and Southern Cross Country League competitions during the winter months, and for athletes over 35 we also take part in the Southern Counties Veterans AC Track and Field League. Thereafter, we also have less formal races and competitions throughout the year, including challenges against the Juniors, and the occasional beer mile!

There are two leagues that seniors may wish to participate in: The Hampshire XC League, which holds races on Saturdays and the Southern XC League, which holds races on Sundays. Both are free of charge to club members as we pay an affiliation fee to be a part of each League. Please note, however, that there may be some parking costs. Organised by a small committee formed from the participating clubs, the Southern XC League offers the opportunity to run on some beautiful courses within Hampshire. Although some of the courses can be challenging, the atmosphere is fantastic and the host club provides food/drink afterwards for a small charge. The men and ladies run together over a course of 5-5.5 miles. The scoring team is the first 5 men and 3 women form each club but all runners are key to pushing other club’s runners further down the field – so we all score! See www.southerncrosscountryleague.co.uk (http://www.southerncrosscountryleague.co.uk/)for details of the league rules and fixtures.

No, absolutely not. Although some of the competitions we take part in are more competitive than others, we all run for ourselves and to represent the Club. Whatever your pace or experience, running and racing for Fleet and Crookham AC is fun and friendly. You'll be running with the full support of your club mates, and every race usually finishes with some kind of cake!

We hold six winter handicap road races and five summer handicap trail races. These are an ideal way of checking out your running performance throughout the year. The 5-mile route of the winter handicap starts and finishes alongside the Church Crookham Community Centre car park on Crookham Park. The summer handicap starts and finishes outside the old club hut on the Peter Driver Field and follows a 5.8-mile circular undulating route along established tracks across the army ground, which pass close to Caesar’s Camp at its highest point. There are annual awards to the male and female club members who score the highest combined score for winter and summer races. Runners are set off at handicap times based on their previous time for the course or if they are doing the race for the first time it will be based on their time for a recent 10k race. Each race has a ‘scratch time’, which is time that the slowest runner is expected to take. So for each runner, the handicap time (i.e. the elapsed time from starting the race to setting the individual runner off) is the scratch time minus the previous time for the race. E.g. for the summer handicap the scratch time is 62 minutes so a runner completing the previous race in 52 minutes would have a handicap of 10 minutes. The winter handicap has a scratch time of 50 minutes.

Hampshire is one of seven divisions of the Southern Counties Veterans AC Track & Field League. It was known as the Hants & Surrey Division until 2016, but was renamed as all member clubs were then based in Hampshire. Each division stages a series of matches, usually on Monday evenings in April, May, June and July, at various venues within its geographic area. The men’s and women’s champions, plus the runners-up in the Kent Division, then compete against each other in the League Finals which take place in early September. F&C AC take part in this league – athletes need to be aged 35 and over. It is a low-key league and gives an opportunity for our athletes to have a go at some track and field – there are always some giggles! For more information visit the website www.scvac.org.uk(http://www.scvac.org.uk/)