Tuesday 22 December 2015

Issue 87: Dreamy December Dispatch

Greetings of the season, ye members of this great club.  Plenty of events coming up in the New Year, and a few more races to sign up for, so fetch a small glass of sherry, your reading specs and get your diaries ready.

New Year's Day - Serpentine 10km - Hyde Park- 11am
Quite a few club members are already entered to run in this race, and it looks like there are still places. Check the Serpentine Website for details and entry if you fancy joining the fun and need a good reason for an early night on New Year's Eve.

Saturday 9th Jan 2016 - Middlesex Cross Country Champs - Wormwood Scrubs 1pm/1:45pm
SIGN-UP REQUIRED!  Sign-up form: http://tinyurl.com/MiddlesexChamps2016 - or see the noticeboard for more details.

Tuesday 12th Jan 2016 - Mob Match with Eton Manor AC - Well St Common - 7:45pm
As is tradition, one of the first sessions of the year is the Mob Match against Eton Manor.  It's our turn to host once again so you won't even need to travel, and we'll need plenty of helpers to make the night go smoothly.  So I expect to see a huge turnout from the club. All the details are on the noticeboard

Saturday 16th Jan 2016 - Metropolitan League - Horsenden Hill - 1:55pm/2:35pm
Race #4 of 5.  The prestigious Met League remains a priority for the club.  We need strong teams out to maintain our Men's and Women's team position in division A. Race 4 at Wormwood Scrubs went well for our women, coming 5th team on the day and holding position 5 in Division, punching above our weight with much larger clubs. Meanwhile the Women's B team is riding high in the top of division 3, with promotion a genuine possibility.  For the men, there is much work to do, our A team are in 7th with Barnet nipping at our heels in 8th position! Men, you know what is needed!

As usual, more details will be on the Met League website a little nearer the time.

Friday 29th January - Marathon Workshop with Mara Yamauchi - 6:30pm - Tooley Street
Details about this event have been sent to me, hosted by London Athletics. Get some advice from one of Britain's best ever female marathon runners. It looks like places are still available, and for £10 looks like money well spent. More details here, and booking website here.

Saturday 30th Jan 2016 - South of England XC Champs - Parliament Hill
Entries are now closed, with 39 club members signed up to run on the day.  Even if you're not running, come out to beautiful Hampstead Heath to watch this great event. Both juniors and senior men & women will be running on the day.  Afterwards there will hopefully be a trip to a local hostelry to review the day's racing in more detail.

Saturday 27th February - English National XC Champs - Donnington Park, Leicestershire
SIGN-UP REQUIRED! If you'd like to run in the Nationals, please get in touch with me or Laura.  More details about the event on the English Cross Country website.  I need to know by 9th January if you want to run.

And finally...

MSF - I foolishly neglected to mention this in the last newsletter, but following another successful club Bake Off event back in October, a total of £200was raised for Medecins Sans Frontieres, a fantastic global charity doing valuable work in some of the poorest parts of the world.  Well done to all who took part, and particularly to Charlie Maile and Rob Pitkethly, who got the event together.
 
New Future Member? - Club member Anthony Withstandley and his wife recently welcomed their second child in to the world. Welcome to the world Poppy, a sister for young Hugo. The club wishes you all the best. 

Lastly - I was inspired recently by a nice piece of writing by club member Dan Mutlow. I hope you enjoy it too:
Close your eyes for a minute. Imagine a world in which we send our kids to a school where cross country wasn't running round the playing field in football boots while the teacher had a sneaky fag behind the changing rooms and an extra lap wasn't seen as a devastating punishment. Imagine there were weight rooms, specific running coaches, sponsors, amazing kit, to make the team was an honour and the school champs made national news with tv cameras, fans, global coverage and heroic adulation from your school mates. It sounds like a John Lennon lyric but it EXISTS! God bless America!  See the video.

That's it. I wish you all a peaceful and relaxing Christmas break, and a healthy start to the new year.

Simeon
Men's Road and Cross Country Captain

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