DPR March Newsletter
Spring has sprung and so has our brand spanking new DPR committee voted in at the AGM last week. Many thanks to all who came along – without further ado, here are your new Co-Chairs, James and David.
Hello from your new Co-Chairs!
Thank you to everyone who came along and participated in the AGM last week – it was great to see so many of you. We also want to say a big thank you to last year’s committee – particularly to David M for his contribution over 5 years as chair. We’re very grateful to those of you who are continuing on or joining the committee or another leadership position this year.
We are very keen to build on the club’s progress over the past few years of increasing membership and participation, and helping all our members to get the most out of running – be that through socialising, building fitness or competitive racing.
We’re sure that we won’t get everything right, so feedback is always appreciated – you can reach us at chair@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk .
Hope to see you at a DPR run or event soon!
James and David W
Other committee members voted in at the AGM are Andrea Bauer – Treasurer, Lucy Ross – Club Captain, Emma Pond – Secretary, Lynne Stockbridge and Lizzie Jenn – Co-Social Secretary, Mark Schofield – Stock Secretary, Jessica Hodgson – Comms Secretary, Rachel Wylie – Welfare Officer, Paul Conway – Membership Secretary. And we also selected our charity for the year, the Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers. We have a number of brilliant helpers in non-committee posts Dash Co-ordinator – Lucy White, Summer League Co-ordinators – Angus Norton and Nat Lowis, Cross country captains – Alan Brown and Alison May, Beginners’ course co-ordinators – Susan Smith and Di Suter, Parkrun Ladder Co-ordinator – Chris Ince, IT and Website Manager – Andy Birchall, Social Media Officer – Lizzie Jenn, Sunday run coordinator – Darren Cheek, Marathon marshalling coordinator – Oghene Aaron. The club couldn’t function without our fantastic volunteers, do think about how you might be able to help out in the future!
You’ll get to meet lots of the new committee, as well as celebrate racing success with medals and cups galore, including the Attendance Shield, the Dash Trophy and the Winter parkrun Ladder Shield, at the Annual Dinner on 15th March – you’ve only got a few more days to get your tickets here!
Racing News
Congratulations to all those who’ve completed races this last month. We started the month with quite the mudfest with our final XC of the season at Lloyd Park followed the next day with several members taking part in a spectacularly muddy Dash for the Splash on Wimbledon Common. Congratulations also to Nat Lowis and Chris Ince who ran in a possibly more muddy Nationals at Parliament Hill later in the month, though it doesn’t look like it from their pic below!
Well done to James Hewlett who broke the Club Record for the monthly Dash in February, Ronnie Patel and Adam Williams who both ran the Wokingham Half Marathon and Pamela Mucci, Thomas Keens, Nino Harvey-Jones, Caroline George, Jill Gauntlett and Emily Williams who all ran the 10k London Winter Run on Sunday 23 February. This last Sunday Shannan James and David Bevis ran an impromptu Dartford Half and Alex Barclay completed the Tokyo Marathon. Congratulations to all!
Club Championships for 2025
Sunday 9th March at 10am – Paddock Wood Half Marathon
This next Sunday is our Half Marathon Club Championship for 2025 – the Paddock Wood Half. We have a WhatsApp group for all those taking part (nearing 50 at the last count). Do please join for last minute arrangements particularly in regard to travel on the day. Wishing you all a fabulous race!
Tuesday 20th May – 1 Mile – Dulwich Park (in place of normal Tuesday evening social runs)
Sunday 10th August – 10k – Summer League event – Battersea Park
Sunday 19th October – 10 Mile – Cabbage Patch 10 (entries not yet available but we will keep you posted)
A reminder that, new for this year, we also have a Marathon Club Championship category open to anyone who is running a certified marathon length course in this calendar year. Please let Lucy Ross (lucy.ross@gmail.com or via whatsapp) know which marathon(s) you are running. Some of the marathons already entered by our members include Newport – Wales, Edinburgh, Paris, Boston – USA and Boston – Lincolnshire. Brighton and London.
Do join the Marathon training Whatsapp group to stay in touch with others. We have several people taking part in the Thames Riverside 20 on Sunday 23rd March which is a great training run if it fits with your marathon plan.
We also have the Summer League dates through – the most important one being our own Dulwich Park event on 13th July! We will need lots of helpers on the day and bakers beforehand to make it once again the best picnic of the year! Other dates are June 15th at Headstone, June 29th at Perivale, July 27th at Regent’s Park and August 10th at Battersea (and our 10k championships).
Special Achievement Award
We need your nominations for the Special Achievement Award which will also be presented at the Annual Dinner. You can nominate any other club member apart from members of the committee, who are excluded. The reason for nomination could be anything which you think deserves recognition – perhaps someone who has made great progress with their running over the past year, has contributed significantly to the Club or our community, has completed a particularly impressive challenge, or has inspired or supported other members’ running. Please send your nominations, together with a maximum 150 word supporting statement, to Emma at secretary@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk. Nominations must be submitted by this Friday 7th March. The committee will then select the winner of the award from those nominations ahead of presentation at the dinner.
Marathon Marshals
Jealous of other club members’ Marathon Merch? Well, the 2025 London Marathon is fast approaching and, as in previous years, we have been asked to field a team of DPR volunteers to marshal a section of the course on Sunday 27 April. Our job will be to keep everyone safe by keeping spectators off the course, to help any runners who are struggling and generally to be helpful to everyone. It’s a long day but those of you who have done it before know that it’s fun and it requires much less effort than actually running a marathon!
It’s a great chance to be involved in one of the world’s great sporting events and to cheer our DPR runners (and the other 50 thousand too) at a point in the race, just beyond half way, when they will really appreciate a boost.
What’s more, you’ll be provided with lots of free London Marathon gear and could win a place in the 2026 event. In return for providing a team of marshals, we are guaranteed one place in the 2026 marathon, which we will allocate by ballot amongst those in the marshalling team.
We need about 30 marshals to cover our section of the course so, if you would like to be in the team or want to know more about what is involved, please email Oghene at oghene_aaron@yahoo.co.uk, Whatsapp or Facebook.
Thursday Improvers Sessions
We are still on the track for Thursdays in March and April, but mixing it up a bit with endurance speedwork, before some of us move onto shorter and sharper in April (thinking 1 mile champs in May!), and others stick with the longer stuff in the run up to May marathons. Useful sessions for anyone looking to put a bit of zip into their pace. You need to have been running at least 10 miles a week over the last few months, and be willing to commit to the training in order to get the most of the sessions. But it’s free to club members! If you are interested and would like more information, or have specific questions, please email coach@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk By the way, the Improvers WhattsApp is used just for last minute communication between current members, so if that’s not you, please don’t request to join!
Spring 2025 Beginners Courses
Applications are open with courses beginning this coming Saturday for both Beginners (8 weeks) and 5k-5miles (5 weeks) Courses. Start times are 8am, 9am, and 10am on consecutive Saturdays in Dulwich Park. We couldn’t run these courses that get such great feedback from participants without you so please think about helping out. You don’t need to run at every session, or every Saturday. If you’d like to let us know, or would like more info on helping please email beginners@dulwichparkrunners.com and mark your message ‘helper’. If added incentive is required, there’s the occasional post-run cake, and a free breakfast at a local caff in week 8, for anyone who has helped. Full information is on our website https://www.dulwichparkrunners.co.uk/beginners-course/ Please spread the work to family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues!
Our brilliant coaches can also help you with your training plans. Coaches Surgery will be back on Tuesday 1st April after the Dash, but in the meantime if you have any questions on training, or if you would like advice on your marathon or half marathon training plans, please get in touch with our coaches Susan and Tom, and run leaders Katia and Zach. Email any of them via coach@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk, they can also give you the info on nutrition supplements from Ronnie’s talk last month.
Our informal and relaxed DPR Sunday Social runs are a great chilled way to get some miles in, and are suitable for runners of all speeds, fitness and abilities. We meet at Dulwich Park Café each Sunday at 9.30am, with an invitation for coffee after. We have a rota of 8k – 10k route suggestions, and whatever route we choose each week, shorter or longer versions are also always available – nobody runs on their own. You could also be in amazing selfies like the below!
DPR Sunday Field Trip
On Sunday 23 March – DPR members are invited to join us as we head out to Knole Park (Sevenoaks) and its beautiful surrounding areas – for an 8km or 13km route.
We will meet at the Brewhouse Café in Knole Park for a prompt departure at 10.45am. The plan is for a lovely run followed by a picnic or refreshments in the café.
There are several train options to the nearest station: Sevenoaks. Knole Park cafe is a 20-minute run up the hill from the station, or a 12-minute bike ride. Car parking in the park needs to be booked, but there is a public car park very nearby, in Suffolk Way, TN13 1YL.
If you are planning to join us (and we hope you are!) RSVP on the DPR Sunday Social Runs WhatsApp group.