DPR November Newsletter
Urgent – 9th November Cross Country and Quiz!
Your weekend plans are sorted this Saturday with cross-country in Oxted in the afternoon – get in touch with Alan or Alice via the What’s App groups if you want to take part in what is also our Club Championships – and the annual quiz in the evening! Tickets here.
As well as the excitement of the quiz itself there will also be medals galore plus our annual draw for Marathon Places – we have three places available, one reserved for those who volunteered with us as a marshal earlier this year and is a paid-up member. For the other two places the requirements are:
- you have two 2024 “attendance points” by the time the ballot is drawn on 9th November. Rules here.
2. you entered the main ballot for the 2025 London Marathon and were unsuccessful (and can provide evidence of this, e.g the rejection email entitled “Your 2025 TCS London Marathon Ballot result”);
3. you were a DPR senior member (i.e. not junior, intermediate or social) at the time of entering the main marathon ballot (and, in the case of a renewing member, you have paid your renewal fee for 24-25 when you enter for the DPR ballot, or, in the case of a new member, you had paid your membership fee for 24-25 by 26th April 2024); and
4. you did not run in the 2024 London Marathon (except if you ran under a registered charity entry).
If you would like to be entered into either or both ballot(s), please email Emma P. by 5pm on Friday 8th November
Please only enter if you are committed! The number of club places available has reduced over recent years because of “no shows”.
Race News
It’s been a busy month for Club Championships with the 5 Mile Anniversary event at the beginning of the month and subsequently the 10 Mile at the Cabbage Patch and the 5k at Dulwich parkrun this last weekend – pics below. We’ve had fantastic turnouts, some superb results and it’s been great to see members taking on new distances and making great personal achievements. Zach has set new Club Records for both distances and it’s lovely to see Susan back to form. Results from all Club Championships can be found on the website here.
Congratulations also to Susie Cooper who ran a fabulous marathon at York on Sunday 20th October and Nadika Juoy who ran the 10 mile distance at the same event.
Looking to 2025, entries are open here for Paddock Wood Half Marathon which will be our Half Marathon Club Championship on Sunday 9th March at 10.00am. It’s a lovely undulating course on country lanes that has been a favourite with the Club for many years. Early bird discount entries are available until 31st December so do get entering.
News of our other 2025 Club Champs will follow soon.
2024 Attendance Award
There are still points to be won for attending next Saturday’s XC and for the Dash events for this year so still time for things to change. Currently we have Oghene in 3rd place, Di in 2nd and Susan in 1st. Rules for the awarding of points can be found here.
New Forest Away Weekend: Friday 29th November – Sunday 1st December
We have a couple of places available for our away weekend including the shorter 10 mile trail race entries which can be transferred. There are 25 of us going. We are staying at the Youth Hostel in Burley and running a scenic trail race on the Saturday. If you would like to join us for what will be a great weekend please message or email Lucy Ross.
DPR 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 with different themes / different landmarks to the August guided run on November 24th A guided run to the posh playground of London.
*_A potpourri of pomp and promiscuity. Of peace and prejudice. Of the picturesque and poetic._*
A loop starting and finishing at Victoria station. A relaxed run between 5-6 miles, with a good few stops along the way – all paces welcome.
We will meet at Victoria Station at 10.15am underneath the meeting point, near platform 13. And after the run there will be an invitation to gather for coffee or brunch somewhere near the station.
We are inviting donations for this tour, as we are raising some money for the Friends of Dulwich Park, to contribute towards an upgrade of the children’s playground area. Click here to donate – no amount is too large or too small – but please donate something!
Beginners
The Autumn Beginners courses are ended. Thanks to all those members who supported our new runners. We couldn’t do it without you! We hope that some of them will join DPR, so please look out for new faces, and support them again.
Thursday Improvers
We are off the track and onto the hills for November and December! Katia will be leading the first two sessions, so please contact her k.hadaschik@gmail.com if you’d like to be take part. After that please email coach@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk. Improvers is for anyone running over 10 miles a week for the last 6 months who wants to improve their speed and technique, whatever their current pace. And it’s free to DPR members!
Club coaches
DPR has a Club Coach, Susan, and two Run Leaders, Zach and Katia. We will be adding their resumes to the club website soon. They are all available to help you with your general running and training plans.
There will be an opportunity to meet them at a Coaches Surgery in the Crown and Greyhound on Tuesday 2nd December after the Dash when you will have the chance to discuss, one-to-one, your personal running related issues. We would also like to hear your ideas about how we can make more use of their skills and knowledge within the Club. Look out for the appointment diary link on the general DPR What’s App a couple of weeks beforehand.
Committee News
The whole committee want to put on record a massive thank you to Shannan for putting on an incredible 40th Birthday Party for the club pretty much single-handedly. We were all having so much fun, there are hardly any pics! Also we want to thank Courtney for doing a brilliant job as Treasurer, but who has now decided to stand down. Ib has very kindly offered to take the reins until our next AGM in April – nearly time to start thinking if you want to join us!
And finally….
Your regular reminder to check our calendar of events here and our merch shop here – nearly time for Christmas pressies!!