connectMyBlog
Running Club Life
8th March 2024
A little story about training - Update news

At our club's training session on Wednesday, we had various groups all meeting in one location where the mobile Internet connection was sketchy at best. Some networks just about got a signal some others, not a chance. Training leaders from two groups fell into the latter category so they could not mark people as having arrived using their "Who's attending" list. Luckily, there were a couple of people from the club there who had connectMyClub training admin rights. Their phones were in the "just about picked up Internet connection" category. The 'training register' was able to be completed so the club's records are correct.


The little story above highlights another use for giving some people club admin rights for training or having leader supports designated for training groups.  


What else has been happening?


We've just released app version 2.7.4/5 (.4 on Android .5 on iOS and web) In this update we've had some people test from around the country as there have been some background modifications to the code as well as some new features added.


New & update features


  • Account registration now in-app. This will soon be removed from the connectMyClub website
  • Password reset now in-app. This will soon be removed from the connectMyClub website
  • Club calendar/Team events can now be linked to a shop item. This could be a useful addition if, for instance, your club is hosting an awards evening for which your members need to purchase a ticket. They will see the event on the club calendar and there will be a link directly to the item in the shop, in this case, the ticket for the awards evening.
  • Viewing Training wallet payments now in-app. This will soon be removed from the connectMyClub website
  • Club Code of Conduct agreement added. Your club can use the UKA and/or British Triathlon Code of Conduct then add your club's own section to the top. Club members can then be asked to confirm the Code of Conduct. Your club will then have a record of the members who have and haven't confirmed that they will abide by the club Code of Conduct.
  • PAR Questionnaire added.  Also useful for club members to answer a few questions about their general health and fitness before doing a bit of training. With this new feature, the club will have a record of people's general health.
  • User events, PBs/Season's Bests feature completely rewritten. One really for the app user but the club has access to their members' race finish times, athletics events results, & PBs 

One thing has been tightened up when setting up training. If your club has ICE Required enabled for members to join training groups, then, if a training leader does not have their ICE details saved they will not be able to be added as a group leader until they have added their own ICE details.


As always we hope these updates prove useful.


An update on UKA incident reporting.


Our request for direct uploading of incident reports via the club portal is currently with RoSPA and UKA. We will let you know more as soon as we do.


26th February 2024
NEW FEATURE : Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PARQ)

In readiness for the next app update, we have added a new feature to Organise > Training > Accidents, Incidents, & PARQ on the club's connectMyClub portal.


There is a list of six questions that can be activated to create a PARQ questionnaire in the connectMyClub app. You can then ask your members to complete a simple checkbox questionnaire within their app. Responses will be available on each member's profile on the club members list.


If you would like any additional questions please let us know. All questions will be available to all clubs to activate.


We hope this proves to be a useful new feature to help with the ever-increasing amount of Health & Safety hoops that we all seemingly need to jump through these days.

21st February 2024
A BIG update is on the way

Over the past week we have begun the update of the race and athletics meetings features in the connectMyClub app and club portal to bring them together as one.


Some clubs add race e.g. London Marathon to their club calendar / team events. This is not the correct place for races. There is a race listing feature available in the connectMyClub app where users (your club members) can create a list of races that they are participating in. After the race they can then add a finish time and position. This then calculates whether the time over the race distance is a PB or Season's best time. The data in this feature populates the club newsletter. The post race data is available for clubs to use, maybe to calculate handicap times for a summer handicap series, or to see which members have performed best over the year to help work out most improved for awards night.


We are working on an app update to better help the user to keep their race records. Coming soon !!


How do we add races ?


An app user can add the details of a race, if they don't find the race after a search in their connectMyClub app. Here at connectMyClub we then add any missing and correct any incorrect details entered by the user. The race is then approved and available to any connectMyClub user to add to their upcoming races. Clubs can now add race details, if the race is not yet in the race database in Organise > Races on your club portal. There are a few housekeeping rules to follow.

  • Check that the race isn't already in the race database (there a list available to scroll through when adding a race)
  • If an event has multiple race distance each distance needs to be added as a separate race
  • Don't add the year tot the race title. e.g. London Marathon 2024 is incorrect, just London Marathon will do.

If you club puts on it own race e.g. a race open to the public or a summer handicap series for the club, these are added using the same feature but using a different option.


What about athletics ? 


This is a part of the big update. A couple of days ago we restructured the athletics meets and races database tables. For some reason, when we created them six years ago, the structures were different, obviously we had reasons !!!!! They are now structured the same so we can now offer the same features to athletics clubs as we do to running and triathlon clubs. Watch this space.

3rd February 2024
NEW FEATURE ALERT !!! Training locations update

We've just made updating meeting locations for training sessions/groups even easier !!! 


If your club meets at various locations for training you can now compile a Training Locations list Organise > Training > Groups & Locations


Your club's location list will be available when creating training sessions, adding groups to a session, or when creating a training session template. From app update 2.6.5 your club's training leaders will be able to select from the club's predetermined training locations list when they manage their group's details within the connectMyClub app/web app. Your training leaders will still be able to use the interactive map to pinpoint their group's meeting location if the place where they wish to meet up isn't in the club's training location list.


We hope this update will make it even easier to manage club training sessions.

7th December 2023
Life Members and how to handle membership renewals.

We've recently had a query about how to handle life members and their membership renewals.


You can now create a membership category Organise > Membership > Form Setup specifically for life members. If you then select life members as such in their member profile Organise > Members  open a member's profile then open Club Roles & Age Categories you will see a switch for Life Member


Now, when a Life Member opens their membership form in their connectMyClub app or web app they will see any Life Member-specific membership categories. No other club members will see these life member-specific membership categories.


Life Members is also now a default communication category.

13th November 2023
Ready, steady ???

We've just updated the web app and PWA. We've also uploaded app update 2.4.0 to the App Store and to Google Play.


There's one new feature which we've not yet told you about. Your club can now rename the home screen title of Ready, steady... to something that is more pertinent to your club. Be creative, you have a maximum of 15 characters.


To change the home screen title head over to your club portal. Go to Club Details & Setup > App setup At the top of the app mock up you will see Ready, Steady... Change this to your new home screen title then save your layout.


We can't wait to see what you come up with.