Serpentine RC - What’s Happening in February 2022

Hello Serpies!

Hope you have all had a great January and a very warm welcome to the new members who have just joined us since New Year’s Day! With restrictions easing, we are looking to expand our ever-busy activity programme. We will continue to enjoy our Wednesday and Saturday Club Runs with no advance sign-up needed, all training sessions carry on as normal, the Cross Country season will reach its climax, and another trail run is taking place later in February! Excitingly, we are also planning our 40th anniversary celebrations this year and would love YOU to be involved!

Club Runs – every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday

Our Club Runs continue every Wednesday evening and weekend mornings, come snow or shine! There continues to be no need to sign-up for these runs beforehand.

All members are welcome; non-members can also join for a couple of runs to try out the club before joining.

Wednesday evenings

Just turn up and run! Our two-parks, three-parks, and two-and-half park routes continue, and a additional route was added mid-January; a mid-long run of around 9-11 miles (14-17km), ideal for those training for spring marathons. For meeting locations, you have a choice of starts points:

  • Seymour Leisure Centre – for those who want to leave your belongings in our secure club room. Please remember to bring your membership card. There will be volunteers in each of these groups to lead everyone down to Speaker’s Corner where our runs will officially begin.
    • Those who plan to run 8:30 min/mile (5:18 min/km) or faster please be ready at Seymour Centre by 18:35;
    • Everyone else will leave Seymour by 18:45.
  • Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner – for those who arrive run-ready.
    • Faster pace groups up to 8:30 min/mile (5:18 min/km) – start from 18:45;
    • Everyone else will leave Speaker’s Corner from 18:55.

Haven’t run before, or don’t know your pace? Not to worry – some of us run 10-12 min/mile (6-7:30 min/km) pace or with the “Run & Talk (Beginners)” group as well. Any questions, please get in touch with our club run rep Catharine and she will help you.

It is worth noting that we continue to rely on volunteers to make this work! Please email Catharine if you’re interested in helping out, once every few weeks, or as often as you’d like.

 

Saturday mornings

Our Saturday morning runs will resume on 12th February (we pause a week for the February handicap on the 5th Feb) starting from the Hyde Park Bandstand. Route choices will be two-parks and three-parks. Note that unfortunately we do not operate the bag room on Saturdays (although you may use the Seymour Centre changing room if you bring your membership card and a padlock), so please come to the Bandstand ready to run before 09:45 when run groups will be formed. 

Our Saturday morning run in January in Hyde Park (Photo Credit: Sid Wills)

Sunday mornings – Richmond Park

Serpentine’s weekly Sunday morning run continues in February. We set off from Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park at 09:00 sharp – please come on time, ready to run. Most people do 1-lap (7.2 miles / 11.5km), some will be doing multiple laps. Another great route for spring marathon training! For more details please see this link. If you’re coming for the first time, or if you have any questions, please email our organiser Kevin.

 

Cross Country – Season’s Finale!

Our cross country season concludes in February with the following races:

  • Saturday 19th February 2022 – Trent Park (Hosted by Barnet & District). 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. As a participating club, we also need to provide a volunteer to help the race organisers (Thames Valley Harriers) to host the event, if you’re available to help please email me.

Women’s Met League Race in Dec 2021 in Uxbridge

 

  • Sunday 13th February 2022 – Sunday League (Location: Royston). Race info can be found here.  Again, no need to sign-up in advance, you can simply turn up to run.

 

  • The English National Championships will take place on Saturday 26th February in Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath. Unfortunately entries for this event has now closed. If you are one of the 60 or so Serpies who have signed up for the races – good luck and hope you enjoy them! Unless injured/ill, please make every effort to run, as the club has already paid for your entry.

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 your info on Serpiebase to see if you have purchased/renewed your licence for 2021-22.

 

Trail Run – Chilterns in February

We are glad that so many of you had fun in our run in Kent in January. This month, our trail run will be held on Sunday 27th February in the Chilterns.

The route will be roughly 13 miles / 21km, so similar to a half marathon. To make it easier for those coming from London, we will meet at London Euston Station to travel together (time to be confirmed – but it will be in the morning). The journey time is just 30 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, enjoy hills 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 and rest in a local establishment.

Please click here for the sign up sheet. You need to be a Serpentine RC member to participate. Any questions? Please contact Lindsey Chiswick who is our trail run organiser.

 

The Serpentine Handicap – Every First Saturday of the Month

The February Handicap race will be held on Saturday 5th February. The race will be held near the Hyde Park Boat House as usual. For those who haven’t run this before, the race covers 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’s 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 9am. 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 volunteer as well.

 

Running Training

We have the following run training sessions across several London locations, so you can take advantage of the ones near you, but of course everyone is welcome to attend any session. Please remember to register your place at these sessions 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 coaches this session at Paddington Recreation Ground Track in Maida Vale. It is suitable for anyone who is able to run 30 miles / 50km 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 offering our 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 25th February. The race starts at 12:30pm 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 fancy volunteering to marshal, please contact the race organiser.

 

The 40 Years of Serpentine Running Club – Help us celebrate!

Did you know that we are celebrating our 40th anniversary this year? We are planning to host a series of activities – including special anniversary runs and cycle rides, training sessions, and of course, a huge party in June – stay tuned for further announcements!

On top of that, we are looking for creative input into limited edition memorabilia (e.g. T-shirt, running kit) to celebrate this milestone. Please contact Marina if you have any ideas or suggestions.

 

And finally…

  • New Members’ Evening: If you have just joined us since December, this is for you – I would like to invite you to come to our next New Members’ Evening on Wednesday 23rd February, after the Club Runs. New members are welcome to come along to learn more about club activities and also get to know existing or longstanding members. And all newbies get to enjoy a free drink! More details to come.

 

  • Relays: We are aiming to launch the registrations for both the Green Belt Relay (14-15 May) and the Welsh Castles Relay (11-12 June) in February. Both are awesome relay races so put those weekends in your diary now! We are also exploring the possibility of running in the Essex Way Relay (4th September) as well. We are currently looking for organisers to get the project going – please get in touch with me if you want to be involved!

 

  • Club kit: We are looking for new sources of our kit in general, so please get in touch with Marina as well if you know of any suppliers or can help in this regard.

 

Happy February, and Happy Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger) everyone!

Hans Ho

Participation Representative

 

Submitted: 16 February 2022

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