‘Tis the season of cross-country, autumn leaves, and most importantly our 40th celebrations! After an amazing inaugural 5 mile race at the weekend to celebrate – more later – our next event is the PARTY! It’s on 26th October at the Griffin Sports Club and there will be live music, dancing, hot food, and we will all be glammed up! Get your tickets quick here!
There were some outstanding performances in our 5 mile race at the weekend with nearly 300 runners taking part. More than that though was the huge organisational effort that so many club members were a part of – it was a thoroughly professional event and we all did DPR proud!
It was also our 5 mile championships and we will know full results soon, but definitely worth a preview of some great races – Rosemary Harris achieved a new Club record in the FV70 category and Andrea Bauer (FV55) and Susan Smith (FV65) will be receiving medals for their age categories. Congrats to Carlisle King and Susie Cooper who were our first man and woman home.
And a reminder that our next Club Championship is the Cabbage Patch 10 Miler on Sunday 20th October. There are a few people with places who can no longer run. If you would like a place please post on the General Chat WhatsApp group initially to get in touch and arrange a transfer. The 5k Club Championship is Dulwich parkrun on Saturday 2nd November. Please make sure that you have registered with parkrun before the event so that you have a barcode to scan at the end of the run and subsequently a result. And a reminder that our Half Marathon this year will be at Paddock Wood on 9th March. Medals of championships so far will be given out at the QUIZ on 9th November – get the date in your diary!
Cross Country
Wither darker evenings, comes cross-country season! Our first race in the Surrey League is this Saturday in Reigate with the men kicking off at 1pm and the women at 2pm. We compete with other running clubs from across the region and the atmosphere is pretty chilled – all levels are welcome for a great day out to beautiful parks and woodland! Races are around 8k for men, 6k for women. After next weekend, there are fixtures on 9th November at Oxted, 11 January at Oxshott and 8 February at Lloyd Park. We will also take part in the London cross country partnerships in Parliament Hill on 16 November, and the SE cross country championships in Beckenham on 25 January. If you want to get involved join the whats app groups for men here and for women here.
And below is a good reminder to think about your clothing for darker runs – loving Rachel’s lights here, and dig out your bright colours!
Sunday Social Runs
Our informal and relaxed DPR Sunday Social runs continue during the autumn and winter months. We meet at Dulwich Park Café each Sunday at 9.30am, with an invitation for coffee after. We have a rota of route suggestions around 8k to 10k – and often people suggest different routes / ideas. Whatever route we choose each week – shorter / longer versions are also always available – and ALL speeds and levels of fitness catered for and equally welcome – nobody runs on their own! And in other Sunday news David will be leading another of his ‘guided tour’ runs on November 24…more details to follow soon – so do ensure you are on the DPR Sunday Social Runs WhatsApp group
Beginners
There are still a few more weeks of our Saturday Autumn Beginners courses that kick off from 8am in Dulwich Park, meeting at Queen Mary Gate. Thanks to all those members who supported new runners at the Dulwich Park Run on Saturday. We couldn’t do it without you! If you haven’t helped before and would like to know more, or would just like to confirm your help as a ‘buddy’, please email beginners@dulwichparkrunners.com. At the end of every course we offer a free cooked breakfast at a local cafe as a thank you to all helpers. This will be after the week 8 run on 28th October.
Thursday Improvers
We are still on the track in October, working on those 5k times! Anyone running over 10 miles a week for the last 6 months who is interested in joining the group please email coach@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk
New Forest Weekend Away: Friday 29th November – Sunday 1st December
We have a couple of places available on our weekend away staying at the Youth Hostel in Burley with a trail race on the Saturday. If you are interested please message Lucy or email her at lucy.ross@gmail.com
Final Dash Races
There’s two months of the Dash left and apparently the current leader isn’t able to come to them! So all to play for on November 5th and December 3rd. Latest results are here
And finally a few last reminders to our newest members – there’s loads of lovely new merch available here for sale – Christmas pressies anyone?! And if any new members haven’t received your free vest or t shirt yet, talk to Mark – we like you to wear club kit for all cross country and club championship events. The link to the main whats group is here. And our regular calendar of events is here