London Marathon - club places

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larkim Oct 2017 10:30am, 4 Oct 2017 2,926 posts	0 larkim Our club hasn't bothered with even claiming the place for the last few years, so I'm getting them to put that right this year. We've adopted a three stage approach, as we are primarily a junior club with a few adults:- - 1st priority - if you applied for VLM, got rejected, and are a fully paid up club member at a specified date - 2nd priority - just a fully paid up club member - 3rd priority - parents or siblings of club members who want to be considered VLM confirmed that the places don't have to go to EA athletes, and as there are only I think 3 club members capable of running a marathon, there is the potential that the 3rd priority bucket might get used. We'll adopt some sort of no-repeat policy in future years I think. In terms of the admin, as the club hasn't done it before, can anyone tell me when the formal registration of the place has to take place? When is the last date that the club place can be formally filled with VLM?
The_Saint Oct 2017 10:35am, 4 Oct 2017 6,068 posts	0 The_Saint My club's only criteria is that you have a rejection slip, I have tried in vain to have some kind of criteria such as volunteering at club races or participation in club team events such as relays, cross country or club handicap races.
Joopsy Oct 2017 10:44am, 4 Oct 2017 8,225 posts	0 Joopsy We generally have the same as most on here but also that you must have been a member for at least a year.
larkim Oct 2017 10:52am, 4 Oct 2017 2,928 posts	0 larkim I can see why the rejection slip bit is commonplace - if you're that keen on it, why didn't you apply via the ballot? If the club places scheme's purpose is to help out club members who didn't get in through other means, then why not prioritise those who applied via the ballot - after all, I think entering the ballot is "free" so there's nothing wasted? Originally I was going to propose rules which didn't make allowances for rejection slips, but I thought on it some more and it seemed sensible to me, even in the context of our very small numbers (and for the record, I'm not applying and didn't apply in the national ballot, so I'm not trying to engineer rules to help me out!)
LazyDaisy Oct 2017 2:21pm, 4 Oct 2017 19,909 posts	0 LazyDaisy We stipulate that anyone entering the ballot for a club place must provide evidence of rejection from the public ballot, and have been a member for at least 12 months. We also say that anyone who got a club place last year is ineligible to enter the club ballot the following year, and we split our allocation between people who've done London before and London 'virgins'. We get 4 places as we're a big club. Here's the VLM link for anyone interested: virginmoneylondonmarathon.com You need to watch that the people who win the places only confirm their places once they are sure they want to commit to the training and actually doing the marathon. These places are not transferable so you can find yourself in the annoying position we've had several times, where people suffering long term injuries enter the ballot, win the place and immediately confirm only to defer or even give up running altogether, and the club place goes to waste. We ask people who are in doubt to decide by 31st December whether they will take up the place in good faith and if they decide not to, the place is re-balloted. The new winner has until 15th January (usually) to confirm and pay for the place with VLM. Any place not registered and paid for by 15th Jan is forfeited. Obviously some people do confirm and pay but then get injured, in which case they can defer to the following year, and this does not affect the number of club places for the following year. The moment the club place winner registers with and pays VLM the place is theirs, not the club's.
LazyDaisy Oct 2017 3:31pm, 4 Oct 2017 19,911 posts	0 LazyDaisy Sorry for such a long post but you wouldn't believe the amount of mild aggro this wretched ballot has caused in the past I should also add that because of the non-transferability of places we gave up having reserves last year.
The_Saint Oct 2017 3:35pm, 4 Oct 2017 6,069 posts	0 The_Saint Someone who has been in my club since before the London Marathon existed (gasp! running was not invented by the first London Marathon - who knew?) said that in the early days the recommendation was that London club places should be allocated within a club for meritorious service. I wouldn't go that far but it does leave a bad taste when someone appears like the shopkeeper in Mr Benn once a year for the London place draw or wins the place and is never seen again.
LazyDaisy Oct 2017 3:38pm, 4 Oct 2017 19,913 posts	0 LazyDaisy Tell me about it, T_S
larkim Oct 2017 3:39pm, 4 Oct 2017 2,932 posts	0 larkim In the end the clubs can do whatever they like with the places - they don't even have to give them to EA affiliated athletes or club connections (I checked this with VLM a few weeks ago). Easiest thing is for the club to come up with a set of rules that won't make the club unhappy when the outcome is the least deserving potential applicant. Hence the ideas about limiting to ballot rejects, limiting to club members, limiting to those who turn out etc etc. For the club I'm associated with, its just a relief to be getting them to utilise the place as it has not been claimed in the last few years and there have been ballot rejects in the adult club membership - not all of whom knew about the clubs entitlement to a place!
HappyG(rrr) Oct 2017 3:48pm, 4 Oct 2017 27,570 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) Ooh, I wrote the criteria for ours! Competition was hot and we wanted to be transparent, so: 1. Entered and rejected (i.e. you can't just not have thought about it in April and on a whim try and get a club place in October!) 2. Number of years since you had a club place or never had (to prioritise those who haven't got a place in recent years) 3. Number of years since you've done VLM or never done (to prioritise those who have never done VLM before) 4. Number of times tried through club ballot unsuccessfully (to give a greater chance to someone who has never done AND been unlucky in our club places previously!) 5. If that left more than 3 people and they were tied, then contribution to club (volunteering, marshalling etc.) at discretion of committee (usually ok that one) Has worked ok for last 3 or 4 years. G