The Clubhouse in Victoria Park is the Club’s headquarters and base for Road & Cross Country activities. In addition to the regular training sessions available to members, the club hosts regular events at the venue. VPH&THAC also participate in key leagues throughout the year.
Events hosted at the clubhouse in Victoria Park
Monthly club handicap
This event is hosted on the last Thursday of every month, meeting at the clubhouse, ready to set off for 7pm. And will be hosted in place of the regular weekly social group runs on these dates. This is open to all members and guests (both junior and senior athletes). On arrival, individuals are asked to register their names with a target finishing time in minutes for the given course. The timekeepers will then set off the runners in sequential order. The idea is for all runners to complete the course at the same time. Runners can keep track of progress and improvement over time with the individual results recorded and distributed shortly after each event.
Summer course – 3 laps of Well Street common (2.9 miles)
Winter course – 2 laps of the figure of 8 route within Victoria Park (5 miles)
Link to the latest and historic results are here.
Middlesex 10k Championships
Held in September each year, a fast and flat road race held within the grounds of Victoria Park, incorporating the annual County Championships.
Mike Penman Open 5 Miles
Held in March each year, the Mike Penman Memorial Mob Match is a flat and fast route around Victoria Park, with our local friends and rivals Eton Manor, Loughton and Orion. (Also an open event to guest runners).
Mike was a great friend and dedicated runner for the club – a lovely modest mad with loads of talent and time for everyone who was sadly taken from us and is remembered on this day. His friends and ‘adopted’ family – Doug and Phyllis Roche, Jim & Kath, Jane & Mike organise this event which is a great club & family occasion AND with some marvellous post race refreshments.
Pride Run 10k
Held in September each year, the Pride Run 10k is a not-for-profit run, with the route marked out within the grounds of Victoria Park. It is organised every year by a group of volunteers from London Frontrunners, an inclusive running club for LBGT+ and gay-friendly people.
The club championships and main external leagues
The Club Championships & Boswall League
Each September, we begin with the Club Flowers Mile Championships. This league is all about race participation – you don’t have to be the fastest to win and you could end up with your name on a cup or earn yourself an engraved medal!
For anyone new to the club or unaware, this VPH&THAC internal league is named after former club member Eddie Boswall who started it to encourage racing over the winter season.
Any club member who participates in one of our road and cross-country league or champs races from September through to March each year, will automatically get points if they finish in the top 20-30 places by gender and age category.
The Chingford League
Another popular series of races, scheduled between September to February, ending with a season finale at Wanstead Flats with the team relays. All club members are welcome to participate, and does not have any qualifying time requirements. The organisers describe it very eloquently… “A mix of cross country and tarmac surfaces, over 5 miles or 5k.”
The league offers serious competition for fast athletes combined with an inclusive ethos to encourage newer runners to “give it a go”. The mix of challenges is also perfect for park runners who are improving, but want to vary distances and terrain to boost their performance and progress towards goals like 10k, half marathons and beyond.”
The Metropolitan Cross Country League
One of the most prominent competitions if not the main highlight of our club fixture list each season, which has seen a steady and hard-fought rise in the rankings across all our teams in recent years, and we cannot wait to do it all over again!
We encourage any XC newcomers to chat with fellow members to find out what the fuss is all about, provide practical information, and share first-hand experiences to answer any questions you may have before the first set of fixtures. The support from the sidelines on the day are second to none, and the beauty is that every race will be a new course PB!
The Assembly League
This popular and long standing series of short team based races against 12 or so other London clubs. These are generally from 3 to 3.5 miles in length and take place on weekday evenings from May to August.
Events are suitable for all abilities and each team collects points depending on the placing of their runners, with the more runners that take part the better a team is likely to do as it affects the placing of other teams’ runners.
The Southern Athletics League (“SAL”)
Each summer, the club competes in an outdoor Athletics league, made up of 5 fixtures in Division 2 North & East as part of the South East region. The club has a great longstanding pedigree of success and strong results. With both Junior and Senior teams registered to compete each season.
We welcome track and field specialists, but prior experience is not necessarily required. If you are interested in finding out more about participating in one of the SAL events, please contact one of the named coaches listed on the website.
Track venue locations have previously included: Mile End, Finsbury Park, St. Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Dartford, Thurrock and Woodford. All track and field events are scheduled throughout the day from 12:00 – 4:30pm (including throws and jumps).