Brief History
For a number of years a group of experienced and enthusiastic runners had been meeting under the banner of BJT Group in the Cuddington area of Cheshire. Initially it was a small group of runners with experienced Welsh Masters International Bernie Jones setting the sessions, but other runners quickly heard about the benefit of the sessions and asked to join the sessions. Before long there were up to forty people meeting to do the twice weekly sessions that included a variety of grass, road, trail and track sessions utilising the fantastic local facilities. Due to the success of runners attending the session, people began travelling from further afield to attend the session and now athletes come from across North Wales and Cheshire to the sessions.
During the period of BJT Group many athletes gained won regional and national titles and gained representatives honours for the first time including county, regional and international vests.
Creation of a new club
On a number of occasions when athletes were competing against each other for their different clubs they commented on what a great team we would have if we all competed for the same club but at the time there was no desire or need to develop a new club. However the onset of the pandemic and the lockdown changed all that! As with everyone the first pandemic lockdown brought all group training to an end but following the re-start when clubs were allowed to meet in groups of six, informal groups such as BJT Group wasn’t, it became clear that the only way to get back to training as quickly as possible was to form a club. Hence Cheshire Dragons coming into existence.
The Logo
Prior to the Covid pandemic the group were already in the process of developing a Facebook page (previously all communication had been done by Messenger) and a logo had been developed for the BJT Group. Then the pandemic came along and the development of the club so the logo was amended to Cheshire Dragons.
The Club Ethos
“Train hard, compete hard, play hard”
Whilst the club has athletes of all standards, they all have one aim when they come training and that is to work hard to improve their running. They are a very supportive group who encourage each other to work hard whatever their level and respect the achievements of their club mates. When they compete, the athletes want to perform to the best of their ability and do themselves justice. Equally the athletes like to have good fun whilst training and competing and there is always good banter and good craic during training sessions.
Sponsors
Cheshire Dragons have been supported throughout its development by the sponsorship of Run Cheshire & Gogledd Cymru, who like Cheshire Dragons covers North Wales and Cheshire. Many of our athletes are involved in supporting Run Cheshire in the organisation of their events
We are grateful for their support and expertise.