Serpentine RC - What’s Happening in July 2022

July is the month of races, it promises us lots of PBs, lots of opportunities to see everyone, and many chances to make you feel good! The highlight of July is our annual Summer Grand Prix Club Championships. The inter-club Summer League races continue with 3 races every other Sunday. Assembly League and various Athletics leagues will also have meetings this month, so will our regular races (Handicap and Last Friday 5k). And of course, we still have our club runs and training sessions as usual. On the final Sunday of July, we will also do our next trail run in the Chilterns. And don’t forget we are celebrating our 40th anniversary with a party – we are down to the last few tickets now so don’t miss out!

Summer Grand Prix – Club Championships

As usual in July, we host the Grand Prix series which consists of a few races, with trophies for the overall male, female and age-graded winners. All members are welcome to join – the more the merrier. For the 1 mile, 3k, and 1k races, runners will be divided into several heats and grouped with those running at a similar pace. Therefore, these races are not just for fast runners, and everyone will have someone to run with and can race each other!

The races will be on the following dates:

  • 1 mile – Monday 4th July 2022, Battersea Park Track (first race at 19:30)
  • 3k – Monday 11th July 2022, Battersea Park Track (first race at 19:30)
  • 1k – Saturday 16th July 2022, Hyde Park Rotten Row (first race at 09:00)
  • 5k – Tuesday 19th July 2022, Battersea Park Bandstand (start time 19:30)

You don’t need to enter in advance, and the races are free to enter. All you need to do is to come about 30-45 minutes before the race starts – remember to wear your Serpie top. However, please fill in this form so we have an expectation of how many are coming, and this will make race admin easier (including distributing race numbers and grouping runners into different heats).

We also need volunteers to make the races work, especially the 1k and 5k races. If you want to help, please fill in the same form.  Any questions, please email Malcolm who organises and will be present at the races.

Summer League – Three races this month!

The Summer League is a popular inter-club competition of five races in the summer months. The races are either 5-mile or 10km across different parks of London, making them very fast races and pleasant to run as well.

After the first fixture in Harrow in mid-June, the 2022 series will have a busy month with three races lined up, two (Dulwich and Regent’s) are usual Summer League favourites, another one (Perivale) is returning for the first time since the pandemic.

  • Sunday 3rd July – Perivale, 5 miles (8k), organised by Ealing Eagles
  • Sunday 17th July – Dulwich Park, 5 miles (8k), organised by Dulwich Park Runners
  • Sunday 31st July – Regent’s Park, 10k, organised by Mornington Chasers

The race does not require advance entry, you just need to show up with your Serpie shirt/vest to run. However, we’d like to collect the entry information in advance, so that we can submit results a lot more easily, and also we can have an idea of numbers and communicate with everyone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you could fill in this form before the race to indicate interest.

Track and Field – Season Continues

After the opening fixtures in May, the Athletic Season continues this month with all the leagues having fixtures. There are all kinds of track and field events (from 100m to middle-long distances, also jumps and throws) on offer. We are encouraged that quite a few members competed for us in May and June, so we hope see more of you in July! Even if you’ve not done track and field before,  you’re more than welcome to give the events a go.

  • Southern Vets Athletics League – The next fixture is at Perivale Track on Wednesday evening 13th July, starting at 18:30. All events start at 18:30. We are keen on having more competitors for the Serpentine team - please contact Andrew Maynard (men's team) or Catkin Shelley (ladies' team).
  • Southern Athletics League (SAL): The next match is at Lee Valley (postcode: N9 0AR) on Saturday 16th July. We welcome volunteers and officials. Please get in touch with Nic Barberis if you can help – many roles do not require any qualifications, we would appreciate you sparing just your time! There are two more fixtures after this – please see the rest of the season’s fixtures here. Also, I know one of men’s team would like to be captain! If that’s you, please get in touch also with Nic. 
  • Rosenheim League – On Wednesday 27th July, this season’s second fixture will be in Tooting Bec Track if finished but more likely at Battersea – please look out for further info when we are able to confirm venue. Please contact Dave Robinson or Sophie Flanagan for queries. Whilst the Ladies Team are virtually certain to qualify, the Men’s Team will need a significantly better result in this match to get through so please let us know if you can compete.

 

Well done to our Rosenheim team in June! (Photo credit: Rhi)

  • Finally, for our junior runners, the Middlesex Youth Athletics League will have the next fixture on Saturday 30th July at StoneX Stadium in Mill Hill, North London. The timetable of the events is via this link. We need a few volunteers to help with judging the field events – no previous experience is needed. If you can help, please contact our Juniors Rep Ewan Maynard.

Assembly League – Next race 7th July, Victoria Park

Join us for these popular fast-and-furious summer Thursday 5k’s or 3-milers in the Assembly League. The July fixture will be a repeat of the one a few weeks before - Thursday 7th July in Victoria Park. Starting at 19:30, the race will take a 3.5 mile course. If you want to take part, you don’t need to pre-register or pay for your entry, but please come to race HQ at the Victoria Park Harriers Club House (St Augustine's Hall, Cadogan Terrace, London E9 5EG) by about 19:00 to get your race number. Any questions, please email Philip Whitehouse who is our rep for this race and will be there to hand out race numbers.

Serpentine RC 40th Anniversary Party – Last chance to get your ticket!

You wouldn’t fail to notice that we are celebrating our Club’s 40th anniversary in 2022. The details of our party are:

  • Date: Saturday 16th July
  • Time: From 18:00 until late.

Party tickets are now on sale via this link. We now only have the last few tickets available, so if you haven’t got one yet please buy now! Tickets are £35 each, which will include food and welcome drink. Please make sure you complete this Google form here when buying your ticket, so we have details regarding food etc. Ticket sale will close on Tuesday 5th July. 

Regular Monthly Races – Handicap and Last Friday 5k

The next Last Friday of the Month 5k race will be on Friday 29th July. The race starts at 12:30 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. Volunteers are required to be marshals, timekeepers etc. Please contact the race organiser if you can help.

Unfortunately this ‘What’s Happening’ comes a little too late for the July Handicap race, but if you missed this morning the next one will be held on Saturday 6th August. The race will be held near the Hyde Park Boat House as usual. As usual, the race covers two laps of the Serpentine lake (almost 7km) in Hyde Park. Slower runners start earlier than faster runners, so everyone has a chance to win. No advance registration is required – registrations are taken on the day, starting from 08:30 until 08:55, with the first runner starting soon after 09:00. Volunteers are required to be marshals, time keepers, finish areas, bag-watchers etc, so that our race can happen as it does every month. Taking a morning off running but still want to come to be part of the magic? Please let the handicappers know.

Trail Run – The Chilterns, 31st July

The next Serpie trail run will be on Sunday 31st July at the Chilterns.  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. We will travel together in the morning from Marylebone Station.

There will be more information coming out during the month. Any questions? Please contact Lindsey Chiswick.

 

Serpies taking a break behind the trees in Epping Forest in June! (Photo credit: Lindsey)

Club Runs – every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday

Our Club Runs continue every Wednesday evening and weekend mornings. All members are welcome – we would like more members to join our regular meetings. Non-members can let us know by filling in this form to try out the club before. (Members do not need to fill in this form.)

Wednesday evenings – and kit room opening!

On every Wednesday, we meet at Seymour Centre at 18:35, or Speakers’ Corner at 18:45. For run details, please visit our website via this page. For those coming to Seymour Centre, where we operate a bag drop, please bring your membership card. For those starting in Speakers’ Corner, please come run-ready.

We are pleased to announce that our Seymour Centre kit room is open every Wednesday after the club run. New members can bring your joining voucher to redeem a Serpentine vest or T-shirt. All members are welcome to purchase Club kit as well. For further information, please contact me.

We will also be visiting the pub after running for some socialising. Please join us at the Larrik from about 20:15 onwards.

Weekend mornings

On Saturday mornings we meet at the Hyde Park Bandstand at 09:45 – please come a few minutes before so we can form run groups. There is no bag drop on Saturdays, although you may use the Seymour Centre changing room – please bring your membership card and a padlock. Also note that there is no club runs on the first Saturday of the month, when the handicap takes place instead. Please join us for a coffee at the Serpentine café after running. Our Seymour Kit Room will also be open from about 11:00 onwards for those who want to purchase club kit.

On Sunday mornings 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. For more details please see this link. If you’re coming for the first time, or if you have any questions, please email Kevin.

Join the club run volunteering team!

We rely on volunteers to make the club runs work – e.g. check membership cards at the Seymour Centre gate, guard the bag room, and help with the bag room operation so club members have kit to wear for competitions. This is ideal for those who are not running but still want to be involved, although some roles can be carried out before you set off running as well. Please email Catharine if you’re interested in helping out, once every few weeks, or as often as you’d like.

Chat to others!

Just a reminder that we have two Whatsapp groups – please click the links here to join the groups for Wednesday runs, and/or Saturday runs. These group chats allow us to deliver information about our runs more easily, and they also make it easier for runners to connect.

Training – Running, Swimming & Cycling

We have the following run training sessions across several London locations, please click the hyperlinks for details and sign-up process (if applicable):

  • Monday at Maida Vale (Paddington Track): Foundation track session at the Paddington Recreation Ground Track in Maida Vale – for those whose 10k time is about 48 minutes or more.
  • Tuesday Intervals: Evening interval sessions at Bermondsey Spa Gardens.
  • Tuesdays at Maida Vale: Gavin Edmonds leads this session at Paddington Recreation Ground Track in Maida Vale, for anyone who is able to run 30 miles / 50km or more (over 3 runs or more) per week. IMPORTANT: Please sign up in advance of joining the session, as we would like to limit the amount of runners so that it is manageable to the coach.
  • Thursday at Primrose Hill: Evening hill sessions at Primrose Hill, suitable for all levels to improve strength, fitness and endurance.
  • (Unfortunately the Thursday session at Regent’s Park is now discontinued – thanks to all those who have come along in the past few months)
  • Saturday Greenwich Hills: Hill session on Saturday mornings in South-East London.
  • Saturday Hampstead Heath Hills: Another hill session on Saturday mornings.

We have two swimming sessions, both coaches with dedicated lanes. Please email our triathlon rep Anne Bennett indicating which session you would prefer.

  • 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

Also, club members are welcome to join our cycle ride and triathlon groups – please note that these sessions are arranged on an individual basis, and the cycle rides are not officially club events, therefore participants will take part at their own risk. The best thing to do would be the join the relevant Whatsapp groups: please follow these links for the Cycle rides’ group and the Triathlon chat group. We may also post ride details on our Facebook page.

And finally…

  • The Serpie Committee needs you!  We have a few committee positions becoming vacant at the next AGM (September 2022). This is a great way to contribute to our community whilst being able to influence how the club operates. At the moment our Communications, Athletics, and Club Kit roles are vacant, and a few of existing committee members are looking for dedicated individuals who would like to step up to take their places as well. Would that be you? If so, please get in touch with me and we can discuss further. There are no particular qualifications required, apart from the willingness to help and wanting this club to thrive!

Happy running (and racing!) in July,

Hans Ho

Participation Representative

Submitted: 2 July 2022

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