Actually, no. It sounds harsh but in this PARTICULAR instance, REMF should not be filling marathon places by offering them to NSC members and only later put the net out wider.
I don't want a binfest nor do I want to take away the achievement of getting REMF registered for charity places in the 2011 Brighton Marathon. It's marvellous news.
But.......and it is important to repeat this.....if you are a charity who has been allocated marathon places, then you don't start filling those places by asking your friends whether they fancy a 26 mile run. No matter how good those friends or how dedicated they are to your cause.
Instead, you plan a strategy aimed at delivering the maximum return for those gold bond places. You do this by setting a minimum amount of sponsorship for each place and you advertise these spaces amongst the running community. There is no reason to exclude people from, say, NSC (in fact you welcome anyone prepared to run on their own behalf but in support of REMF) but you don't give them priority.
It would be very sensible to promote REMF's involvement in the 2011 Marathon on the REMF website, right now - not least because the forthcoming Memorial Match brings more visitors to the site. But until a sensible strategy has been worked out, you ask for emailed expressions of interest only.
I'll bet there are people on NSC who know about gold bond places and charity status for marathons. We should talk to them. But not right here, right now.
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