DPR April Newsletter
Happy April 1st! In breaking news we have just found that all DPR members have been awarded places for this month’s London Marathon, we will be issuing a training schedule shortly…
Remember it’s the Dash tonight and your last chance to run on the South Circular before we move to our Summer Route from May. Immediately afterwards we have our brilliant coaches running a surgery at the Crown and Greyhound – you can sign up using this form or direct messaging James.
The Beginners are already enjoying the summery delights of Dulwich, pic of them below with some of our brilliant volunteers – a big thank to those who have already turned out on a Saturday morning to help. The 5k-5miles course ends 5th April but Beginners continues to the end of the month. We couldn’t run these courses – that get such great feedback from participants – without you so please think about helping out during April. 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 here
Race News
Congratulations to all those who’ve run races this last month. It’s been lovely to get out running in the sun at last. On a lovely sunny Sunday 9th March we had our Half Marathon Club Championship at Paddock Wood with almost 40 DPR runners. Of those we had at least 11 PBs which is fantastic. Our first finishers were Amanda and Tim with some super impressive times and age gradings and Susan achieved a fabulous 84% age grading. Special mention to Emma P, Lyn D and Zsuzsanna who were all running their first half marathons.
Also on the same day, Nat Lowis smashed his PB at the Lisbon Half Marathon. On the 16th Shannan James and David Bevis both did the Merthyr Half Marathon and Steve Richards ran a fabulous time at the Barcelona Marathon. On the 23rd James Hewlett ran the Forest of Dean Spring Trails Half while Ib, James Hickson, Alison May, Amanda and Alan all took part in the Riverside 20. This last weekend Ellen Gleeson completed her first half marathon at Gloucester which coincidentally David W also ran (and met the Mayor) and Will Blackmore ran the Kew Half. Congratulations to all of them!
Club Championships for 2025
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 5th October – 5 Mile – DPR 5 Mile Open Run – Dulwich Park
Sunday 19th October – 10 Mile – Cabbage Patch 10 (entries not yet available but we will keep you posted)
The 5k will be a Saturday in November at Dulwich parkrun.
The Marathon Club Championship category is 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.
Summer League Dates – get these in your diary now! June 15th Headstone, June 29th Perivale, July 13th Dulwich, July 27th Regents Park, August 10th Battersea. And a new feature this year alongside the relays, will be a 400m egg and spoon race. We will be organising try outs for keen members shortly.
April heralds the beginning of Marathon season and we can’t wait to celebrate our runners who’ve been training so hard. We have members in Brighton on Sunday 6th, Newport (Wales), Boston (Lincs) and Paris on Sunday 13th, Boston (USA) on Monday 21st and London on Sunday 27th. Look out for updates during the month on who to look out for.
Good luck to anyone else taking part in races this month whatever the distance!
Annual Dinner awards
We celebrated 2024 success at the Annual Dinner on 15th March. The winners of our main awards were:
Winter parkrun Ladder: Joint 3rd Surya Bala and Mark Schofield, Joint 2nd Nino Harvey-Jones and Will Blackmore, Joint Winners Clare Dunne and Lucy Ross
The Dash: 3rd David Mullany, 2nd Oghene Aaron, 1st David Whitehead
Overall Attendance: 3rd Oghene Aaron, 2nd Di Suter, 1st Susan Smith
Special Achievement: Zach Bredemear for his running achievements in the year including several Club Records and the fastest Marathon time by any Club member in a long time and his commitment to supporting the Club at Beginners and with coaching.
Sunday Running
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.
Sunday April 13th sees our next monthly DPR Sunday Social member-led slot, where a member of DPR designs and leads their choice of run. This time Catherine McLaughlin will lead her route that takes in the glories of Crystal Palace Park, and more, along the way! Details will be posted in advance on the Sunday Social WhatsApp group – do be sure to add yourself to keep up to date.
Our recent DPR Sunday Social outing saw us taking in a brilliantly designed trail route around the very scenic Knole Park. Big thanks to Laura Griffin and David Mullany for organising such a beautiful route!
Your Club Needs You!
We still need volunteers for our Marathon marshalling team on 27th April – which is available to both club members AND friends and family. You get:
– A feel-good experience and front-row view of every runner, from elites to walkers
– Free lunch and marathon merch
– All the information and support you need to play your part
– Chance of a place in next year’s marathon (members only)
Please contact Oghene to volunteer – 07910821661 / oghene_aaron@yahoo.co.uk
We also need a new Membership Secretary as Paul C is leaving the area shortly! If you’re interested in joining the uber-fun committee give Paul a message on membership@dulwichparkrunners.com to find out more!
For our younger runners
We are having a DPR Fun Run on May 11th in Dulwich Park as part of the Dulwich Festival. It will be at 12 noon at the American Garden, not far from the Rosebery Gate and there will be medals and refreshments for all! Please bring your kids and tell your friends – available to those between 4-14 years old, and if you want to volunteer let David M know! You can sign up here
And then on Saturday 17 May and Saturday 7 June, the club coaches will be running junior coaching sessions. These will be available for junior DPR members accompanied by their parents, and will start at approx. 11am in Dulwich Park. More details – including how to sign-up – to follow.
Thursday Improvers Sessions
We are still on the track for Thursdays in April, moving onto shorter and sharper speedwork (thinking 1 mile champs in May!), with the option of sticking with the longer speedwork for anyone with 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!
Lots of us went to see Lucy being brilliant in The Pain and the Itch last month – the Wednesday Crew above. This month you have another chance to see Darren/Damn Cheek Productions who are returning to Canvas and Cream Forest Hill with Time After Time on Sunday 20 April at 6.30pm. More info and booking here
GALA Festival and Volunteering
Our chosen charity Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers is looking for volunteers to fundraise at GALA festival on Peckham Rye this year on any of the days 23-25 May. Anyone who volunteers gets free entry; it consists of helping ask festival goers to donate to SDCAS from around 12-6 and then you’re free to enjoy the festival! You can sign up with friends of yours if you would like as well! If you are interested then please get in touch with Paul on membership@dulwichparkrunners.com
Membership Renewals
We hope everyone has had a great 2024-2025 running with the club.
Membership renewals are now due. You should receive an email over the next couple of days from England Athletics with some simple steps on how to renew – it takes around 30 seconds.
The recent club AGM agreed to leave renewing standard adult membership fees unchanged at £45, which includes DPR absorbing increased England Athletics fees. There are also concession membership rates available.
We hope you agree that the club offers fantastic value for members, and look forward to seeing lots of renewals by the end of April!
If you haven’t received anything by the end of the week or would like to talk to us about your renewal then please email membership@dulwichparkrunners.com and we will get back to you asap.
And Finally
You might be forgiven for thinking this is the third April Fools’ in the newsletter given her speed and vigour but it’s true – Susan is really celebrating a BIG birthday over the next few days. Happy Birthday Susan and thanks so much for everything you do for the Club!