Serpentine RC - What’s Happening in December 2021

Hello Serpies – 2021 has gone quickly, hasn’t it? In December we have some great events to round off this great year. All sessions are on apart from the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, there are a number of Cross Country races this month, and we have a Santa Trail Run on Sunday 19th! For social events, we have a few drinks and then some panettone to share. We are also looking forward to the New Year’s Day 10k which we hope you can come to volunteer. 

New Year’s Day 10k – Volunteering

We start with something not actually in December, but nonetheless important to us this month. Since the autumn, we have been organising the 2022 New Year’s Day 10k. We have been accepting entries from many runners outside of Serpentine RC (Sorry - this is a race that Serpentine RC organises and our members do not enter the race. However, please spread the word to your non-Serpie friends and family!). All we want is YOU to help put on a good show for the London running community. We are currently about 20-30 volunteers short, so if you want to start the new year by doing something positive while having fun with other members, please register your interest to volunteer via this link on our website. Any questions? Please email our race organiser Carlos Arrebola.

Serpie volunteers in NYD10k 2018 (Photo credit: Eda)

 

Cross Country – Continues in December

It has been a great cross country season for us so far, with so many of us running the league championship races, and already a few memorable post-race pub gatherings! The 2021-22 cross country season continues in December with these races:

  • Saturday 4th December 2021 – Met league (Location: Uxbridge; Hosted by Hillingdon AC). No pre-entry is required. However, to support with number distribution, if this fixture is your first Met League of the season please contact our Met League rep Darren Over. We as a participating club also need to provide a volunteer to help Hillingdon AC to host the event, if you’re available to help please email me.
  • Saturday 11th December 2021 - Southern Cross Country Masters Championships (Location: Lloyd Park, Croydon, CR0 5RA). Unfortunately entry for this event has been closed. If you have signed up for the race – good luck and hope you enjoy it! Unless injured, please make every effort to run, as the club has already paid for your entry. 
  • Sunday 12th December 2021 – Sunday League (Location: Trent Park, Cockfosters). Race info can be found here. No need to sign up in advance and you can simply turn up to race, however to help us do the entries please let us know you’re coming by using this form. 
  • Sunday 19th December 2021 – Sunday League (Location: Stevenage). Race 3 in this season’s Sunday League and the second race in as many weeks; details same as above. 

 

If you have any questions about any of the above events, please email our Cross Country Reps Sophie Flanagan or Glenn Hughes. Please note that for the above races (apart from the Sunday League), you are required to be registered with England Athletics. Please check Serpiebase to see if you have bought or renewed your licence for 2021-22.

 

The Serpie Santa Trail Run in Surrey Hills

If you fancy leaving London, Christmas shopping and the bright lights behind you for just a Sunday to get some fresh air and friendly chat, the Serpie Santa trail run is for you. On Sunday morning 19th December, we will run a point-to-point route through a very scenic section of the North Downs Way for around 24 km (15 miles), starting at Guildford and ending in Dorking.

We will start from Guildford Train Station in Surrey. To make it easier for those coming from London, we will meet at London Waterloo Station to travel together to Guildford (time to be confirmed – but it will be in the morning). The journey time is around 45 minutes. This run will be at a social pace. The idea is to run together and have fun. If you can run a 10k in about 60 minutes and have covered this sort of distance before, you should be fine to run at a social pace. After the run we will all gather for a few drinks in a pub in Dorking.

If you are interested please fill in your details here. You need to be a Serpentine RC member to participate. If anyone is interested in guiding a group either at the front or as a tail runner then please indicate in the form too. After signing up you will be contacted nearer the time to let you know the meeting time and exact location. You will also be sent more details of the route.

Any questions? Please contact Lindsey Chiswick who is our trail run organiser.

 

The Serpentine Handicap – Every First Saturday of the Month

The next Handicap race will be held on Saturday 4th December, as usual near the Hyde Park Boat House. For those who haven’t run this before, the race is over two laps of the Serpentine lake (almost 7km) in Hyde Park, with slower runners starting earlier than faster runners, so everyone has a chance to win. It is a lot of fun chasing one another, and everyone ends up in the Serpentine café for the rest of the morning.

No advance registration is required – registrations are taken on the day, starting from 8:30am until 8:55am, with the first runner starting soon after. See this link for more details if you want to come and run. Taking a morning off running but still want to come to be part of the magic? Please let the handicappers know that you can volunteers as well.

 

Club Runs – every Wednesday and Saturday

Our Club Runs continue every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning, come snow or shine! For more details please follow this link. We continue to run our two-parks and three-parks routes, with the two-and-half parks route recently re-introduced again on Wednesday nights. All members are welcome; non-members can also join for a couple of runs to try out the club before joining.

Sign up to run

For the time being, we will continue with the current sign-up system, so you can be placed in groups running the same route and similar pace. Please follow these links to: 

  • Sign up for Saturday morning before noon on Friday. Run starts from Hyde Park Bandstand (except 4th December – you’re encouraged to run the handicap instead! Also no group runs are organised on Christmas Day);
  • Sign up for Wednesday evening before 9pm on Tuesday. Run starts from the Seymour Centre or join us at Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner (Note: No group runs are organised on 29th December).

These links are also available on the front page of our website. Our club run team 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 10-12 min/mile pace or “Run & Talk (Beginners)”, or get in touch with our club run rep Catharine and she will help you.

Bag Room & Kit Room

Since November, we have re-opened the bag room at the Seymour Leisure Centre for the Wednesday runs, so that we can drop our bags and jackets before running. We will continue to rely on volunteers to make this work, so please email Catharine if you’re interested in volunteering (once every few weeks, or as often as you’d like).

Please note that unfortunately we do not operate the bag room on Saturdays, the kit room is open most Saturdays except handicap day, by prior appointment for those interested in getting kit. Wednesday kit room opening is subject to request and volunteer availability. Please email this address for details.

Chat to others!          

We have created two Whatsapp groups – please click the links here to join the groups for Wednesday runs, and/or Saturday runs. These groups are created to give out information about the runs more easily, also make it easier for runners to connect.


Richmond Park – every Sunday morning

Serpentine’s weekly Sunday morning run continues in November. We set off from Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park at 9:00am – please come on time. Most people do 1-lap (7.2 miles), some will be doing multiple laps. We always have a variety of abilities, so you won’t be on your own. We pay particular attention to newcomers and are a friendly bunch. After the run, we grab a coffee together at the Pembroke Lodge café. There is parking in front of the Pembroke Lodge. If you are coming by public transport it is a bit of a walk, mostly uphill, from Richmond Station.

If you’re coming for the first time, or if you have any questions, please let our organiser Kevin Murray know on Sunday@serpentine.org.uk.

 

Running Training

We have the following run training sessions across different London locations, so you can take advantage of the ones near you, but of course everyone is welcome to attend any session. Also please remember to register your place in any session prior to attending.

  • Monday at Maida Vale (Paddington Track): This foundation track session is at the Paddington Recreation Ground Track in Maida Vale and is for those whose 10k time is about 48 minutes or more – a great workout to raise your pace to the next level. Details and booking via this link on the Serpie website.
  • Tuesday Intervals: Evening interval sessions at Bermondsey Spa Gardens. For details and sign-up please follow this link on the website. Any questions: bermondsey@serpentine.org.uk.
  • Tuesday at Maida Vale: Our Endurance coach Gavin Edmonds is coaching this session at Paddington Recreation Ground Track in Maida Vale. It is suitable for everyone who is able to run 30 miles or more (over 3 runs or more) per week. Details and booking via this link on the Serpie website.
  • Thursday at Primrose Hill: Evening hill sessions at Primrose Hill – please see this link. The sessions are suitable for all levels to improve strength, fitness and endurance.  Any questions please find details and contact information via the above link.
  • Saturday Greenwich Hills: Please see session and booking details via this link on the Serpie website.
  • Saturday Hampstead Heath Hills: Please see session and booking details via this link.

 

Swimming Sessions

We continue to have these two Serpie coached swim sessions. To sign up, please email our triathlon rep Anne Bennett indicating which session you would prefer. Please note this operates on a first-come-first-serve basis.

  • Orchard Lisle Pool, Guy’s Hospital, London Bridge - Monday evenings, 8-9pm. Cost: £90 for a block of 10 sessions
  • Pancras Square Leisure Centre, St Pancras - Wednesday evenings, 8-9pm. Cost: £90 for a block of 12 sessions

 

The Last Friday of the Month 5k

The next Last Friday of the Month 5k race will be on Friday 31st December. The race starts at 12:30pm also near the Hyde Park Boat House. For race details, including how to register, please click here. Please note that registration normally closes before race day, and you will NOT be able to run without signing up in advance. If you want to volunteer to marshal please contact the race organiser.

 

’Tis the season…to have drinks and panettone together!

We are celebrating Christmas with a couple of socials in the coming weeks:

  • Serpies’ drinks together – on Saturday 11th December at 6pm, we will host drinks at the New Moon in Leadenhall Market (88 Gracechurch St, London EC3V 0DN).
  • The Serpies’ Christmas Panettone is back! We will gather at the Serpentine Bar and Kitchen in Hyde Park on Saturday 18th December at 11am, perfect for those doing the club run on the day.

If you’d like to attend, please sign up via this link. Sign-up is especially important for the panettone event as we need to buy the right amount of panettone according to how many participants we are expecting. Both events will be a great opportunity to buy the Running Stories book – please see here for details of the book. 

Finally, as you know the club always welcomes new volunteers to help organise social events. Would you like to take part in organising a future event? Please express your interest in the same form and our Social Rep Monica would be happy to contact you.

 

And finally…Any interest in the Summer Relays?

Already fed up with winter? We promise a great summer of relay races in 2022! We are planning to enter teams for both the Green Belt Relay (14-15 May 2022) and the Welsh Castles Relay (11-12 June 2022). We would like to see what level of interest there is among club members for these races, so please indicate your interest via this link. In particular, we are looking for people who are willing to step up to organise our teams – without team organisers we wouldn’t be able to enter teams, so let us know!

Want to know why you should join us for these races? I have written some information about these two great relay races in this link.

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy 2022!

Hans Ho

Participation Representative

Submitted: 1 December 2021

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