First Start Fitness Metropolitan League Cross Country, Sat 15 Oct

The first Start Fitness Metropolitan Cross Country League match is on Saturday, 15 October at Claybury, Woodford Green.

Please make sure that you are registered with England Athletics to compete before you come to run. You will need to give your EA competition license number to the Serpentine team manager before your race. If you do not yet have an EA competition license, please buy one now via Serpiebase.

Do not delay – processing these is a manual process for the club so it can be many days before Malcolm gets time to do this.

Course location

Claybury. Roding Lane North, IG8 8NQ

HQ to course walk time: 15 minutes.

Race HQ

Woodford Green with Essex Ladies AC Clubhouse, Ashton Playing Fields, 598 Chigwell Road, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 8AA – more information here.

Changing facilities and showers: Men's and women's changing rooms and toilets at Ashton Playing Fields. There are no toilets at the course.

Course description

Goes narrow soon after the start. Winds through rough fields, then woods including an uphill & downhill, before returning around a field to the start.

There is a mixture of terrain, e.g. field and gravel paths, so both spikes and studs will be fine, but, unless there is a lot of rain in the next couple of weeks, the ground is likely to be hard, therefore trail shoes or good road trainers are also recommended.

Transport

Underground: Woodford Station (Central Line). If coming from the Central London direction, cross under the subway to join Snakes Lane East. After 1km, at t-junction turn left into Chigwell Road. Under the Motorway Bridge and the Ashton Playing Fields clubhouse is on your left. Please check www.tfl.gov.uk for planned engineering works.

Bus: 275 from Walthamstow to Woodford. W14 from Leyton and Leytonstone to Woodford Bridge.

From the clubhouse to the course: cross Chigwell Road at traffic lights and head up Gaynes Hill Road. Then right at t-junction into Roding Lane North. Entrance to the course is on your left

Car: Take the A406 and exit onto the slip road A1400 and then at the Charlie Brown roundabout take the second exit, A1400, Woodford Avenue. After 700m turn left at traffic lights onto Roding Lane North, then proceed for 1.2km to reach the race start/finish area on the right. To get to race HQ, parking and showers, continue on Roding lane North for 500m then turn left onto Green Walk then left again onto Chigwell Road. Ashton Playing Fields is on the right just after the pedestrian crossing. There is parking for approximately 150 cars at Ashton Playing Fields and limited parking on Roding Lane North and nearby residential roads. Please do not park on grass verges, look out for any restrictions and do not block access.
Please note: If you plan to drive to Claybury, please make sure that you leave lots of time, since the approach roads from central London are terribly congested.

Timetable

  • 12.45pm - Under 11s –1500m
  • 12.55pm - Under 13 boys – 3000m
  • 1.000pm – Under 13 girls – 3000m
  • 1.20pm – U15 boys/17 men – 4000m
  • 1.25pm– U15 girls/U17 women – 4000m
  • 1.55pm – Adult women/U20 women– 6000m
  • 2.35pm – Adult men/U20 men – 8000m

Other information

All entries taken on the day. You do not need to enter in advance. Please arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of your race as you will need to register and collect your race number from the Serpentine volunteers, who will be based by the Serpentine flag on the course near the start line area. Please make sure you have your EA licence with you.

You must run in a Serpentine top. If you do not yet have your Serpentine top, you can exchange your voucher for one in the kit room on a Wednesday evening (between 8.15pm and 8.45pm). If you won't be able to get to the kit room before the race, please contact the relevant team captain before 12 October.

Listening devices such as I-Pods are not allowed on safety grounds when competing.

Light refreshments will be available at the WGEL clubhouse/bar at Ashton Playing Fields.

The Serpie post race pub will be the Crown and Crooked Billet, Woodford Green for much need post race refreshment and food.

Note: there are no toilets at the course.

See the league website for more information

For this first race of the season, we need 2-3 Serpie helpers to act as Team Managers and assist with registering the runners and handing out numbers before the start and helping to record the finishers. If you're coming to support, can you help too? After handing out numbers, there will be plenty of time to cheer the runners on before the first finishers come in and you're needed to help at the finish. If you'll be able to help, please contact one of the team captains or Ian Hodge to let them know.

Prizes and discounts

Start Fitness are sponsoring the league for 2016-17, providing prize money, vouchers and bib numbers amongst other things. They are also offering discounts to club members via their websites: www.startfitness.co.uk (10% off) and www.moremile.co.uk (30% off). See our discounts page for further details and the codes to use at checkout.

Soar is a running clothing brand that launched in 2015 - www.soarrunning.com. They are providing personalised Serpentine jackets as prizes for the top six men and top six women from Serpentine at the end of the season (based on the individual ranking table).

Contact

Women's team captain:
Sarah Pemberton
sarahlpemberton@gmail.com
07717 824 992

Men's team captain:
Hugh Torry
hughtorry@gmail.com
07791 115 438

Submitted: 2 October 2016

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