Serpentine - What’s Happening in December 2020

Hello Serpies,

It was a massive pity that we were not able to operate as intended in November, with a new national lockdown enforced for most of the month. Luckily for us, as you may have heard our Covid coordinator Liz Ayres yesterday, we are able to resume from early December onwards. With group running back on and also Christmas on the horizon, let’s finish 2020 together on a high!

Club Runs are BACK! Now every Wednesday and Saturday from 5th Dec (except Christmas/New Year)

With London in the ‘Tier 2’ restrictions from 2nd December, our club runs are resuming on Saturday 5th December. We will start our runs in open-air locations, just like every run since mid-October. Details are in this link. Advance sign-up is still compulsory in order to arrange groups of six and collect track-and-trace data. Also please come run ready as there is currently no bag drop. If you have any queries, please get in touch with our Club Runs coordinator Sid Wills, who will be more than happy to help you, especially if you’re joining us for the first time.

Currently, we are running our two-parks and three-parks routes. Please follow these links to sign up: 

These links are also available on the front page of our website. Our brilliant club run team (Branwen Jones and George Allan) will then email everyone before the runs to inform you of your groups and start times.  Haven’t run before and don’t know your pace?  Not to worry – choose the friendly pace or Beginner’s Run & Talk to begin with, or get in touch with Sid and he will help you.

 

Group training sessions

Also from 5th Dec, we are resuming all training sessions as before the November lockdown. Sessions are all across London, so you can take advantage of the ones near you, but of course everyone is welcome to attend any session. Please remember all sessions must be pre-booked prior to attending – no book no play!

  • Tuesday Intervals: Evening interval sessions at Bermondsey Spa Gardens.  Details and sign-up please follow this link on the website. Any questions: bermondsey@serpentine.org.uk.
  • Tuesday Track: Evening track sessions at Parliament Hill.  This session is primarily for our faster runners (time guidance: sub 36:30 (men) or sub 38:30 (women) for a 10k). We are expecting to resume training at the track from 8th Dec, therefore we will meet at the 200 metre point on the track.  Any questions please ask the coach: David Chalfen.
  • Thursday Sprints: An evening sprint session led by our sprint coach Rachelle Dinsdale at the Paddington Recreation Ground Track (Maida Vale). All abilities including those new to sprints are welcome. First session after the current lockdown is Thurs 10th Dec. Details and booking via this link on the Serpie website. Enquiries: Either Athletics or Juniors representative.
  • Saturday Hills: Morning hill sessions at Hampstead Heath. Details and booking via this link on the Serpie website. Enquiries: hampstead-hills@serpentine.org.uk.
  • Saturday Hills: Another morning hill session, this one at Greenwich Park. Details and booking via this link on the Serpie website.

 

Zoom training sessions

We are continuing with the following sessions:

  • Our track coach Andy Reeves leads a circuit training session on Wednesday evenings. Everyone is welcome to join. Look out for the Facebook messages by Andy before Wednesdays for the Zoom link and details.
  • Rosh Karunaratne runs the weekly spin classes over Zoom at 7pm every Tuesday. The sessions will have an interval training-based focus and are open to all abilities. Any equipment that allows you to spin is suitable (turbos, exercise bikes, spin bikes etc), plus you’ll need water, a towel, and a computer to run Zoom. Please email Rosh if you’d like to join.

 

Races are also BACK!

Lockdown 2.0 forced most of the November races I listed last time to be cancelled. I hope we have better luck this month! Here are the December races that are scheduled to happen in London and the nearby fellow Tier 2 areas. The hyperlinks will take you to the events’ pages. From my own experience since September, many race organisers have worked out effective social-distancing procedures to ensure the safety of participants and volunteers. However, with the possibility of changes to current restrictions, please remember to check with the organisers to see if the events are going ahead.

Just like last month, we are encouraging everyone to let us know which races they have signed up – the best way is to set up a Facebook event in our ‘Serpies’ group.

 

Serpiesphere Virtual 5k - the Autumn Series

We continue to hold the popular Serpiesphere Virtual 5k Autumn Series in December. A race will run every fortnight until Christmas – that means you have 14 days (from Saturday morning to Friday evening 2 weeks later) to enter a 5k time you run during that period. We will see who comes out on top, both on net time and on a handicap basis (i.e. time improvement compared with your best time in the past 6 runs).  Please follow this link for more information.  The next race periods are:

Please contact our organiser and communications rep Sarah Maisey for more detail.

 

Zwift Weekly Team Time Trial & Zwift Racing League

Just like every week since April this year, we continue to field teams for the Zwift Team Time Trial every Thursday evening. We currently run teams of varying levels including a beginner’s non-drop team, high level mixed teams and ladies-only team. We compete against over 500 teams every week. It is a really good workout, and very social at the same time. So if you have access to Zwift and are free on Thursday evenings, please join us using this link to find out more. Once you have joined, the team can help set you up to race.

Following the success of the Zwift time trials, since earlier in October we have joined the Zwift Racing League every Tuesday night.  At the moment we have one men’s team (with about four to six riders) taking part in Season 1 (now with three races to go), but in future we would like to field more teams and expand to other categories. Please get in touch if you’d like to take part. Email me for any queries.

 

Finally…

  • ‘Tis the season… to do Secret Santa! For those who want to countdown to Christmas together and receive a present from someone in the Club (who you may or may not know), please put your name down in the form here by the evening of 2nd December. Our social rep Monica Mundo will then allocate a person to whom you send the present. The budget is £10. Gift exchange will happen during the week starting 21st Dec. We look forward to seeing who gets what this year! Therefore, please take a photo of yourself with your present and send pictures to Monica.
  • Can we tempt you with some Serpentine running kit this winter?  Our kit room is currently operating by appointment via our club kit rep Marina. We still have supplies of hoodies and soft shell jackets in all sizes so you can keep dry and warm in all weathers. There is also a sale on all triathlon kit. Please contact Marina for more details.
  • Anyone with experience as a guide runner? We are looking for those who can help our visually impaired members train. Please get in touch with me if you would like to help.

 

Merry Running and Happy Christmas!

Hans Ho

Participation Representative (participation@serpentine.org.uk)

Submitted: 1 December 2020

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