Introduction
Sutton Runners are based at the David Weir Leisure Centre in Carshalton. We are a friendly club and cater for runners of all abilities – whether you enjoy road running or cross-country, or want to run for competition or pleasure.
Why Join a Running Club?
Aside from the benefits of joining an England affiliated running club (reduced race entry fees for example), being a club member allows you to make the psychological shift to calling yourself a “runner” rather than just “someone who runs”.
Okay, not everyone can be a winner, and not everyone even wants to compete, but even the least victory-hungry among us can discover a sense of competitiveness brought about by running with others. It’s one of the best ways to gauge your progress and improvement too.
Support and Safety
Solitude can be one of running’s greatest pleasures, but it’s also great to mix it up and run as part of a group. Our club members often meet up outside of club sessions so joining a club can be a great way to find a local running partner – perhaps even someone who is training for the same event as you. The support of other runners can be crucial on longer runs, particularly when the going gets tough or your motivation starts to wane. Running with others also provides the bonus of staying safe, especially on those dark winter evenings.
Multiple Training Oportunities
Tuesday evenings are our technical sessions and they focus on building strength, speed or endurance. Typical training sessions include hill reps, fartlek training, short or long reps. There are always two training sessions to choose between depending on your running goals and preferences. All sessions are supervised by our team of coaches and cater for runners of all standards – not just the elites!
Wednesday evenings are for a track session at the David Weir Leisure Centre and focuses on intervals and speed work.
On Thursday evening it's our weekly social 10k run with different groups running at different paces to cater for everyone. Experienced club members ensure that newcomers are warmly welcomed and are matched to a group of their own ability.
Saturday is parkrun day and many of us head to one our three local venues at Nonsuch Park, Banstead Woods or Roundshaw Downs. We also organise “tourist parkruns” where we travel further afield as a group.
Sunday morning is when we meet for our steady ten mile or 10k run. Meeting points and routes are published in advance.
From May to August, the club organises a series of 5k handicaps in Nonsuch Park. This creates some friendly rivalry among our members with runners banking points for every event they complete. A trophy is presented to the overall winner at the club’s AGM.