Leader’s Blog – Sept ’24 – Michael Godsall

Each month, we’ll be sharing the stories and insights of our group leaders. If you are interested in giving leading a go, talk to your group leader at club, or email hello@hydeparkharriers.co.uk we have tonnes of resources to help you, a route library, training sessions and support.  

This month, we’re chatting to Michael Godsall, who is relatively new to leading group 4 on a Tuesday evening.

How did you get in to leading?

I went to the leaders introductory evening after club, a few months ago, in which there was an intro and Q&A with current leaders – it really inspired me to give leading a go with confidence.

What do you love about leading?

Leading is totally different experience to a normal club run. It’s really fun to take charge of a group and coming up with the route plan. Often in winter, it can get really repetitive doing the same routes and having the chance to mix it up a bit is great. I like instigating conversations in the group and the sense of achievement when people feedback that they enjoyed it.

Do you have any interesting or creative ways of leading?

Nothing particularly creative but my go-to is asking what people are having for dinner!

What would your advice be to anyone thinking about starting to lead?

It’s honestly nothing to be worried about, the HPH leaders are all really friendly, happy to support you along the way and offer advice. My main concern when starting to lead was about pacing, I’m usually pretty honest with my group about this and encourage them to tell me what they think of the pace.

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Michael’s final thought on leading are that “leading is a great way of getting more involved in the club, you end up chatting to new people that you wouldn’t otherwise speak to!”

Thanks Michael for your thoughts on leading and for regularly volunteering to lead group sessions!