Hi everyone! Welcome to the club March newsletter. Hope to see lots of you at the Annual Dinner later – remember, dress code is posh, with a dash of green, white or purple if possible. The dinner is a 7.15pm start at the Lordship pub in Dulwich.
News this month:
AGM and Committee Posts
The club’s AGM is on 26 March and you are invited to consider volunteering for one of the posts.
We hope the club makes a significant contribution in one way or another to your physical and mental well-being and also provides you with entertaining and enjoyable events and activities. None of this happens by chance or automatically. The club relies on members to give up their time and contribute their skills.
If the club is important to you please consider how you can contribute to its success and, in particular, please consider taking on one of the formal roles.
The current committee proposes a new committee structure, comprising nine committee posts, complemented by other non-committee roles. Details of the posts are here. Please have a careful look.
In most cases it would be practical for the lead to delegate some of the role to other volunteers so if you feel the role might be a little too large please think about how you could make it work by delegating some of the tasks.
To stand for any of the nine committee posts please arrange for two people to nominate you by writing to the secretary@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk
To stand for a non committee post simply send an email to the secretary.
These should ideally reach the Secretary by 16 March.
If you would like to submit an agenda item for discussion at the AGM, you should also email the Secretary by 16 March.
Beginners
Our Spring Beginners and 5k-5 mile courses start on Saturday at 8am, 9am and 10am in Dulwich Park, meeting at Queen Mary Gate.
As usual we’ll be asking for volunteers to help out as running buddies. There’s no need to do a whole morning, or any more Saturdays than suit you, but we couldn’t do it without you! We’ve got a couple of potential 9.5 minute milers on the 10am course, if anyone fancies a slightly faster than usual post parkrun run. If you’re new to this and would like to know more, or would just like to confirm your help as a a ‘buddy’, please email beginners@
Kew Half Marathon
Our first club championship of 2024 is the half marathon at Kew on 31 March. Race entries have unfortunately now sold out, but do consider popping along to support your clubmates and perhaps have a little jog along the Thames.
For those who have entered, we’ll publicise travel and meetup plans closer to the time.
Fit After 40 Session – 19 March
This is the rearranged ‘Fit after 40’ session led by the impressive Rowan Foggitt. It will take place on Tuesday 19 March at 8pm at the Crown and Greyhound, preceded by a club run at 6.45pm. It promises to be a great session, so do come along – even if you’re not (yet) in the target age range!
Thursday sessions
Our Thursday track sessions for March and April are on the newly laid Dulwich College track, with a series of sessions continuing the emphasis on improving your endurance and speed.
The sessions are free. We don’t know of any other clubs who offer free sessions of this nature, so it is a fantastic opportunity to improve your running. You need to be running at least 10 miles per week to take part.
If you are not already in Susan’s list for Thursdays, please email her at coach@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk for more info. Or if you would like help with race schedules, or coaching tips for general running please drop Susan an email.
London Marathon Marshals
We now have a full complement of volunteers for DPR’s marshalling team at the London Marathon. A big thank you to everyone who has volunteered! Just in case anyone has to drop out before the day, it would be nice to have a few people in reserve too. If you’d be willing to be a reserve, please let Derek Hodgson ( boswedden@btinternet.com) know.
Forward Look
Advance notice of a couple of summer events to put into your diary:
- This year’s 1 mile club championship will be taking place on Tuesday 21 May in Dulwich Park in lieu of the usual club run.
- Our club relays and outdoor BBQ will take place on Tuesday 25 June at the club.
- And lastly, we’re also looking to do a club outing to the London Diamond League fixture to see how the best in the world do it on Saturday 20 July at the Olympic Stadium. Tickets are currently on sale for £35 – let James know at comms@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk if you are interested in going.
Recent Running Results
February and early March saw a huge number of us out and racing – well done to everyone who took part in a race, and sorry if I missed you!
We started the month with our final cross country fixture at Lloyd Park in Croydon. The course lived up to its fearsome billing, with conditions particularly muddy and difficult for the women’s race as the last race of the day. Well done to everyone who tackled the hills and the mud. We had 16 women and 11 men finishers, and secured great results with the women’s teams 11th and 21st on the day, and the men’s team 5th on the day. Special mention goes to Rosemary Harris, who came second in her age category and earned herself a brief mention in the Athletics Weekly write-up!
This was our final cross-country of the year, and secured good progress for both squads. The women’s A team finished 14th and the B team 21st in the new division 2, while the men’s team improved to 7th position in division 4. Full details on the cross country season are on the Surrey League website here.
After all that mud, it was a relief to get back on solid ground the following weekend at our postponed 2023 10k club championships in Hyde Park. Medals for this will be revealed at the Annual Dinner.
We also had a bumper race presence the following weekend. There were strong DPR presences at the Winter Run in central London and the Wokingham Half Marathon, with some very good results and PBs. But the most impressive racing achievement that weekend belonged to Gareth, who successfully completed the North Downs 50k trail race – very impressive in the wet and cold of February!
Results for the Lloyd Park cross country, Winter Run and Wokingham are all on the website here.
And there were further DPR members out and about last weekend. Shannan James and David Bevis completed the Cambridge half marathon in strong times – well done both! And Natalie Fitz-Costa completed the Tokyo Marathon – a great run, and possibly the furthest marathon from Dulwich ever done by a DPR member?
Joke
And lastly, the newsletter joke:
Q. What’s the difference between a poorly dressed man on a tricycle and a well-dressed man on a bicycle?
A: Attire.
I’ve given funny jokes up for Lent, sorry.
