DPR December Newsletter
Ho Ho Ho! Read on for lots of festive action for the club in the weeks ahead!
25 of us are just back from a wonderful weekend in the New Forest with attendees running 17km or 21km, eating a lot of yummy food and getting to know one another’s musical tastes… Shout out to Carlisle and Sara, our first man and woman home in the Half.
Festive Tuesdays
Tomorrow 3rd December is the first of our festive Tuesday celebrations with the Dash and then a social in the Crown and Greyhound where our four coaches will be around to give anyone who wants it tips and thoughts on training plans. Come along! And then on the 10th, we have our annual Turkey Trot…. We run the Dash backwards, you have to guess your time (as slow or fast as you like but no watches allowed), and the winner of the prestigious prize is the person with the closest guess to their time! And on the 17th December we will do our Christmas Lights Run – a regular social run to look at the local lights followed by Drinks and Mince Pies in the clubhouse, where we choose our favourite house who will be presented with our Best Christmas Lights Award!
Club Championship Races
We have now completed all our club championship races for 2024 and you can see the full list of Club Champions here.
We can announce details of the first three Club Championship events for 2025:
Paddock Wood Half Marathon– Sunday 9th March
*Claim your £15 race subsidy!*
The race is a lovely undulating course mostly on country lanes with a 10am start and is accessible by car and public transport. We are subsidising race entry to anyone who signs up and requests their refund before 15th December 2024 to a maximum of 40 members (20 have already signed up). The entry fee is currently £26 with your EA membership but will rise on 1st January. DPR will subsidise £11 of this meaning that you will only be paying £15 entry (plus service fee). It really is worth signing up sooner rather than later! As soon as you’ve entered, email Ib , treasurer@dulwichparkruners.co.uk before 15th December and she will refund you £11.
This offer is made on the basis that you run the race so if you ultimately don’t run you would be expected to refund the £11.
1 Mile Championship:- Tuesday 20th May in Dulwich Park
*New for 2025*
Our Marathon distance club championship
Complete any officially measured marathon distance race in the calendar year. If you wish to be part of this please email Lucy, races@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk to tell her which marathon you are competing in.
Other club championships will follow with dates to be announced.
Race achievements
Huge congratulations to Gareth Lamb who ran the JFK50 (a 50 mile ultra) in Maryland, USA on 23rd November – an amazing achievement in a great time.
Also to Zach Bredemear who achieved yet another club record (for his age category and the one below) on Sunday at the British Masters 5k Championship in Battersea Park with a staggering time of 17 minutes and 15 seconds!
Plan your 2025 Race Calendar!
Sunday 5th January 2025 – Tadworth 10
Originally a 10 mile race but now with a 10k option, this is a great race to kick off the new year. It’s an 11.30am start at Epsom racecourse, quite easy to get to and a good course which is split 50/50 between road and off road.
Saturday 11th January – XC Oxshott
Saturday 25th January – South of England XC Championships at Beckenham Place Park
Sunday 25th January – Canterbury 10 mile Road race
Sunday 2nd February – Mornington Chasers Regent’s park10k(also 5th January and 2nd March)
Sunday 8th February – XC Lloyd Park
Sunday 9th February – Dash for the Splash – a fabulous all terrain race on Wimbledon Common with a sticky toffee pudding for all finishers. £20 if you sign up before 13th January 2025
And one very important social to put in your calendar now!
Our Annual Dinner will be on 15th March at the Lordship, time for us to get our glad rags on again!
Junior Parkrun
Do you have children aged between 4 and 14? Come along to Peckham Rye junior parkrun on Sunday, December 22 9am. Medals for all DPR finishers (children only!). Plus sweets! Turn up on the day or if you have any questions drop David a line in advance.
chair@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk
Improvers
We are still on the hills for December, but with a limited programme due to the timing of Boxing Day! 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!
We’re planning to be back on the track in January so please email Susan for more information if you’re not already on the mailing list!
coach@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk
Our Website
As always a reminder to use our website to check what’s coming up – particularly the Club Events Page for those events, including socials, that we would really like you to support, and our Other Events Page which might give you ideas for additional races that members have done in the past and will help you find a way through the hundreds of events on offer! If you enter one of these do please post on the chat to encourage others to attend and to obtain members’ support. And if you have other ideas to develop the website do please email: chair@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk
Christmas Present Ideas here! Get some merch for yourself or gift a friend.
See you with a bauble on soon!