Become a Member
Welcome to our membership page. Here we’ll take you through how to try-out Chorlton Runners and join the club as a new member. Existing members can also find useful details on renewals and amending their membership.
Who are Chorlton Runners?
We are a club based in south Manchester that encourages mass participation in all forms of running.
From racing to social running, road and track to trail and fell, couch to 5k to ultra-marathon, the streets of Chorlton to its surrounding countryside, we offer groups and sessions that offer a pace, distance, location and surface that suits you.
We pride ourselves on our friendly atmosphere that welcomes new and experienced runners alike. Our qualified coaches can help you progress your running, should you wish to do so, while our wide-ranging programme of running, volunteering and social events offers numerous new experiences and can introduce you to lots of new people.
We are an England Athletics affiliated club and through them we compete in road, fell and cross country competitions, and members can use their discounts, benefits and resources.
Can I try-out before joining?
You can! Our weekly Sunday morning runs are always open to non-members, while we allow three try-outs across our other sessions.
We recommend Sundays and our Tuesday night social runs as an excellent introduction to joining a running club. We offer a variety of distances and paces so there will always be a run to suit you.
You don’t have to book, just show up and enjoy some good running and excellent company - we’re always happy to welcome new runners and answer any questions you might have about membership.
Try-outs of other sessions - track and hill training, and our Black Sheep fell and trail group - can be arranged through the membership secretary.
Membership Options
We offer two primary types of membership:
Ordinary club membership (“social”)
Membership with England Athletics affiliation (“first claim”)
We recommend the England Athletics (EA) option as this tier of membership offers the following benefits on top of those that come with ordinary membership:
Can compete in cross-country, plus northern, national and other team events the club enters
Discounts for many races plus items on the EA store
Entry in the club’s London Marathon place ballot (after a year of membership)
The third type of of membership we offer is second claim membership, which is for people who already have a first claim membership with another club and also wish to join Chorlton Runners. If you have a first claim elsewhere, please discuss with us about what first claim benefits you can access. The price of 2nd claim is the same as social and as a minimum receives the same benefits as social.
A full summary of membership fees and benefits is presented below, followed by our sign-up form - please fill it out to submit your application for membership.
Beneath the form there are further details and FAQs on membership which you may find useful.
All non-members participating in club sessions and socials are expected to abide by our code of conduct. Failure to do so may impact future membership applications.
Membership Year
The club membership year runs from 1st April to 31st March every year. Renewal is required each April regardless of join date, unless you signed up between January and March.
April-September: Full membership fees applied.
October-December: 50% discount applied to ordinary and second claim membership. 50% discount applied to the club’s portion of the first claim membership.
January-March: Full membership fees applied, first membership term extended until the end of March the following year (no renewal required in April of the current year).
If you are joining as a first claim member between October and March there are some further details you may wish to consider. We recommend reading the detailed guidance below the membership form.
| Membership Fees (Oct-Dec) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Claim Membership | £31 | First Claim Concession | £26.50 |
| Ordinary Membership | £8 | Ordinary Membership Concession | £3.50 |
| Second Claim Membership | £8 | Second Claim Concession | £3.50 |
| Membership Comparison | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-Member | Ordinary Membership | Second Claim Membership |
First Claim Membership (incl EA Registration) |
|
| England Athletics registration (£23) included | Yes | |||
| Northern Athletics registration (£2) included | Yes | |||
| Voting at AGM and EGM | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Join our private Facebook groups | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Receive club emails | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Access to Mental Health Champions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Run and Talk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can become a committee member | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Access to coaching | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Access to race training plans | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Can become a Run Leader | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Eligible for LiRF and coaching qualifications | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Covered by UKA insurance for clubs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can attend social events | Depending | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can attend educational talks | Depending | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can attend Sunday Morning Run | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can attend Tuesday Evening Club Run | (up to three times to try) |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can attend Tuesday Reps | (up to three times to try) |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can attend Wednesday Hill Reps | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Can attend Black Sheep Hills and Fells | (up to three times to try, experience desirable) |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can attend Friday Track | (up to three times to try) |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can wear club vest in races | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Can participate in Club Championships | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Can participate in Cross Country | Depending | Yes | ||
| Can participate in Fell Relays | Depending | Yes | ||
| Can participate in Welsh Castles Relay | Yes | |||
| Can participate in Road Relays | Depending | Yes | ||
| Can apply for club London Marathon places | Yes | |||
| Has Unique EA Registration Number | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Access to EA MyAthletics Portal | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Discount on UKA Races | Yes | Yes | ||
| More benefits including exclusive offers and discounts from EA partners. |
Yes | |||
Membership APPLICATION
Please fill out this form. It will be sent to our membership secretary.
If you have any questions see the FAQ below or email: membership@chorltonrunners.co.uk.
Any personal information you submit will be used by Chorlton Runners for communications and membership administration according to our Privacy Policy. You must also agree to follow the Club Rules and Constitution.
All our memberships (both EA affiliated and ordinary) are managed through the England Athletics portal and involve creation of a MyAthletics account. Your information will be used to create the account and used for communications according to England Athletics Privacy Policy.
Payment requests for membership fees will also be sent via the EA portal.
Links to club and England Athletics Documents
Chorlton Runners Constitution
Chorlton Runners Code of Conduct
Chorlton Runners Privacy Policy
England Athletics Privacy Policy
England Athletics Athletes Code of Conduct
Club membership year, renewal and payment dates
The club membership year runs from 1st April to 31st March every year. Renewal is required each April regardless of join date, unless you have signed up in the final three months of the preceding membership year (January-March - see information further down this section).
If you hold an England Athletics affiliated membership, the renewal of your affiliation takes place whenever you are required to pay your membership fees.
Renewal payments must be made by the end of June. Failure to do so will result in members being resigned from the club and they will have to apply to re-join via the form above.
Advice for October-December first claim joiners:
Members will receive a 50% discount (£8) off the club’s section of the England Athletics affiliated membership fee. The remainder of the fee (£23 of £31 overall) is paid to EA. Members joining in this period of the year will be required to renew their membership, including their EA affiliation, at the start on the new membership year in April.
Depending on how much you think you’ll use EA benefits within your first few months, you may wish to start with ordinary membership and request an upgrade to EA affiliation at a time when it will extend further than the remainder of the current membership year. However, please be aware that cross-country, plus the majority of team-based events the club enters, are held between September and March, and EA affiliation is required to compete in them.
If you are signing up to an EA affiliated membership for the first time an upgrade in January would offer affiliation until the end of March in the following year. You would only need to pay the equivalent cost of an ordinary membership at renewals in April of the current year.
If you have previously held an EA affiliation, either with us or another club, then you will have wait until the new membership year in April for an affiliation that will last 12 months.
Advice for all January-March joiners:
Ordinary members and those who have signed up to an England Athletics affiliated membership for the first time do not have to renew any part of their membership fee until April the following year (i.e. a new member joining Jan-Mar 2027 does not renew until April 2028).
If you have previously held an EA affiliation, either with us or another club, then you will have to renew the section of your membership fee that goes to EA (£23) in the April after you joined. The section of the fee that goes to the club, the equivalent cost of an ordinary membership, does not have to be renewed until the following April.
Depending on how much you think you’ll use EA benefits within your first few months (or need it to enter races), you may wish to start with ordinary membership and request an upgrade to EA affiliation in April once the new membership year begins.
Need more guidance?
To check whether you have previously held an EA affiliated account, or for any other questions about the guidance in this section, please contact the membership secretary via the contact information above.
Second Claim Membership
A second claim membership is where you already hold an England Athletics affiliated membership with another club, but wish to take up a second membership with Chorlton Runners as well. The fee to join as second claim is the same as ordinary club membership, you hold the same rights and are allowed to participate in all of our sessions.
Various races require participants to have an England Athletics affiliation to take part. Your original club will hold the right to claim your result for team-based ranking in any race in which they and Chorlton Runners can conceivably feature (hence why they are your “first claim”). However, if your first claim are not eligible for an event (for instance, if they’re not situated in the area of a local championship in which we compete), and the organisers do not restrict participation to first claim affiliates only, you may compete for Chorlton Runners.
You can check your eligibility for an event by emailing our fixtures secretary: fixtures@chorltonrunners.co.uk.
changing Your first claim club to chorlton runners
If you hold an England Athletics affiliated membership with another club, or have done in the last three years, and wish to join Chorlton Runners as your first claim (see above section for definition), EA require you to fill out a transfer application.
Please submit a change of first claim form with EA through the MyAthletics Portal. More information on doing process can be found here: EA Change of Club. EA currently charge £10 to complete the transfer.
Once you have started the transfer process, please contact the membership secretary via the contact information above. This allows them to monitor the progression of the transfer. Once the membership secretary has been notified by EA that the transfer process has been completed, they will process your Chorlton Runners membership and send you a payment request. You will be charged the cost of ordinary club membership for the remainder of the year and the expiration date of your EA membership will remain unchanged.
If you hold a second claim membership with Chorlton Runners and wish to switch your first claim membership to us, then you will also need to go through the transfer process. Once the process has been completed it is likely you will be removed from the membership list of your previous club - you may need to contact them should you wish to remain with them as a social or second claim member.
Please note that there are no restrictions on joining clubs with ordinary membership (EA calls this social membership). If you hold such a membership with another club, you are welcome to join Chorlton Runners using the ordinary membership option.
Quick Membership FAQs
How old do I need to be to join the club?
You must be 18 years old to join Chorlton Runners.
Unfortunately we are not insured for younger runners, nor are we affiliated with England Athletics to run a youth section.
How do I qualify for the concessionary rate?
Students, people who are receiving a state pension, are unwaged or on benefits, or people with disabilities can qualify for the concessionary rate of £9 off annual membership (January-September) or £4.50 off half-year membership (October-December)
Please contact us if your circumstances change.
Can I change the level of my membership?
Yes, please contact the membership secretary. Upgrading from ordinary to EA affiliated can be done at any time.
Switching from EA to ordinary, or adding/removing a concession, is done during the annual renewal period in April.
How do I pay the membership fee?
New member and renewal requests are sent to your email via the England Athletics portal. You will have 28 days from the date of request to pay the fee.
Payments for membership level upgrades are done via bank transfer to the EA bank account (membership secretary will provide details).
Do you participate in track and field?
We run weekly training sessions on the track at Longford Stadium and our members have competed in various track meetings, although the majority focus on longer distances on different surfaces. We do not enter team-based track events.
We do not have a field events section.
Can I wear CR kit if not EA registered?
Yes, all members are welcome to represent Chorlton Runners and wear the famous Black and Gold!