November highlights

A few of the events to look out for in November.

On Sunday 1 November, Serpie entries for the North London cross country championships close. The championships will be held at a new venue this year – Hackney Marshes – on Saturday 21 November. Also on Sunday, a decent sized group of Serpies are running the New York marathon, while closer to home, there's the Regent's Park 10k. The Serpie social trail runs following the route of the Green Belt Relay reach stage 8, from Hertford to Dobbs Weir, plus Serpie Sunday cycles are heading east for a ride in Essex.

The second match in the Start Fitness Metropolitan cross country league is on Saturday 7 November at Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage over a changed course from last year. We had an excellent Serpie turnout at the first match of the season at Claybury and hope we can repeat, or even top those numbers at Stevenage. Also on Saturday, it's the penultimate club handicap of 2015 in Hyde Park, and the tough but popular Ballbuster duathlon at Box Hill. A small group of Serpies have opted for the sunnier climes of the south of France to run the Marathon des Alpes Maritimes on Sunday 8 November.

The new club committee will have their first committee meeting of the year on Wednesday 11 November. On Saturday 14 November, cross country returns to Parliament Hill for the London cross country championships. If you haven't already entered you can't run, but the event is great for spectators and easy to get to, plus course marshals are always needed. If you can help out as a marshal, please email Malcolm French before Monday 9 November. On Sunday 15 November, the PB-friendly course at the St Neots half marathon always attracts a few Serpies. On the same day there's a women-only duathlon at the QEOP velopark, plus the Leeds Abbey Dash, which is the last the last event in the 2015 runbritain Grand Prix. Serpentine currently has 4 men in the top 25 rankings of this Grand Prix, so this could be one to watch. Also on Sunday, the Green Belt recce will move into Essex for stage 9, ending in Epping Forest.

There will be a new members' evening on Wednesday 18 November, where new Serpies are invited to find out what the club can offer them and how to get involved.

On Saturday 21 November the North London cross country championships, for those Serpies who got their entries in by 1 November, are at Hackney Marshes. A few Serpie runners who prefer road to mud are bound to be running the Sri Chinmoy 10k on the same day. The second Sunday League cross country of the season will be on Sunday 22 November at Trent Park. The Sunday League provides less experienced club members with an excellent introduction to cross country running. Also on Sunday is the South London Wimbledon 10k on Wimbledon Common.

The November Brooks Last Friday of the Month 5k will be on Friday 27 November, then on Saturday 28 November there are the Fraternity and Sorority Cross Country Cups in Trent Park. There is no need to pre-enter these cross country events, so we hope lots of Serpies will be out running. There's a group of Serpies heading to Spain for the San Sebastian marathon, half marathon & 10k on Sunday 29 November. Also on Sunday, the Florence marathon often attracts a few Serpies.

Looking forward to early December, the closing date to apply for a club place at the 2016 London marathon is Friday 4 December. You can find details of how to apply here. The third Start Fitness Metropolitan cross country league is on Saturday 5 December at Wormwood Scrubs. For those not running this event, Serpentine are helping out with organisation, so we will be asking people to come along and marshal - more details will be sent out closer to the time. On Sunday 6 December the Regent's Park 10k is a target race for those going to the Foundation track sessions at Paddington on Monday nights.

There's more information about lots of these events on the Serpie events planner.

Submitted: 1 November 2015

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