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td43 - do you attend any of your club's training sessions, if so ask other members if they are doing XC, see if anyone has had an email.
Do not rely on just one method of communication.
Contact the person organising XC by phone and politely state that you have not received any emails and ask for the dates, places and times.
If very new to the club they may expect you to turn up at at least a couple of training sessions before taking you seriously.
there have been newer people then me who have got dates etc, and i have had people saying they will be sending me a message, so i really think someone has intervened, so im thinking its an ability thing,
i have been attending sessions for 3 months now
I just have to add something to this debate. What the hell do some of you think you're doing being so mean to td43. I don't know this individual and haven't read any of their previous postings, but why take this attitude?
This person may or may not have mental health issues, but taking the pee out of them is the lowest thing that you can do. This is the 21st century in case you hadn't noticed.
Shame on you all!
You can only try to help for so long
IMHO you're thinking about going about this all the wrong way. Don't set out with a confrontation in mind. If you do, and it HAS all been a simple oversight on someone's part, they'll just pigeonhole you as a neurotic pain in the arse. My advice would be to go about it in a jokey manner.
I joined my club about a year ago. Well, I started running with them then. The coaches said I should come along to a few sessions before I decided if I wanted to join, so I did. And then a few more. And then a few more. And I kept on asking about joining officially but nobody ever gave me a form to fill out. And yes, I did wonder a bit if they were just putting me off and quietly hoping I might just go away in the end. They're a very serious bunch and some of them compete internationally and I'm a bit of a slow chubster so I do think it was a reasonable assumption. But rather than engage in pissed off confrontation I started gently winding some of the senior members up about it. I'd make jokes about wondering how much better I'd have to get before I could expect to have a hallowed membership form bestowed on me, stuff like that. Eventually I did join but nobody asked if I wanted a club vest - I actually still don't have one despite having ordered it about 3 months ago - and I still make jokes about them not wanting me wearing it at races cause I come in so much to the rear of the field and make them look bad. I don't actually think that, but I do still like to joke about it.
That would be my advice anyway. By all means ask them openly if you're too slow for them, but in a jokey manner not an angry one. And in the extremely unlikely but very remotely possible event of them actually thinking you ARE too slow, don't get all pissy about it. Laugh it off good naturedly and ask them to point you in the direction of some slower XC events.
thnx i have added a person to the ignore list....
yeh i think thats good advice....maybe they think it would be tooo competitive for me, as for my brother he is a load better then me, a 2 hr 37 mins marathon......which is amazing......
For all you know they might even think they're doing you a favour, saving you turning up and being totally embarrassed when you realise just HOW good they all are... I doubt it, but what I mean is, even if they ARE deliberately not asking you along, it might be cause they're looking out for your feelings, not trying to ditch you cause they think you're crap!
But maybe you just need to be a bit more forward. Next time there's a race, email the club secretary yourself. If they don't get back to you, phone them. If you still don't have any luck, just turn up on the day and offer to help marshal the course or write down times. That should let them know you're serious about taking part...
I am not so sure...having a website saying that everyone is welcome to race, but then not letting someone race makes me feel why am i in the running club, i rather not be part of the club...i rather take part with something and turn out to be last, but i think i rather my brother asks what happened, when he has a chance as he has been there for a few years.....