April highlights
A few of the things to look out for in April
The first April event is the end of season cross country social on Wednesday 2 April in the upstairs room at the Temperance. Everyone who ran for the club or helped at any of the season's races is invited. On Thursday 3 April, the first race of the 2014 Assembly League will be at Beckenham. There's no need to sign up in advance for Assembly League events and we hope to see a big Serpie turnout this year for these Thursday evening races. Also on Thursday evening there's Going for Gold at the Commonwealth Games at the Seymour Centre, in which 1986 Commonwealth Games 10,000 metre champion Jonathan Solly will be in conversation with coach David Chalfen, discussing his running career and move into coaching.
The Marathon de Sables starts on Friday 4 April and 6 Serpies are signed up on My Events as running. On Saturday 5 April it's the April club handicap in Hyde Park and on the same day Serpentine will have 2 men's teams and 3 women's teams competing at the ERRA National 12 and 6-stage road relays in Sutton Coldfield. The following day there will be Serpies running the Paris marathon, Brighton marathon and Greater Manchester marathon.
140+ Serpies ran the 2013 London marathon and on Sunday 13 April there's bound to be an equally large number running this year's London marathon. On the same day it's the London mini marathon, which is the official British Athletics three-mile road championships for young athletes aged between 11 and 17. For those not running the marathon, Sid Wills will be leading the contingent heading to the Highway in Shadwell to watch the race and for runners and spectators alike the Buckingham Arms will be open specially for the club from midday to approximately 9pm.
On Saturday 19 April, the first Southern Athletics League (SAL) meeting of the season will be in Uxbridge. Last year our joint men's & women's team came 5th in our division, missing promotion by a few points and we very much hope to improve our result this year. See more details of how to take part. The club sprint distance triathlon championship takes place on Monday 21 April (Easter Monday) as part of the Thames Turbo Sprint Triathlon.
The Last Friday of the Month 5k will be on Friday 25 April. The Ful-On duathlon on Sunday 27 April is the club's 2014 duathlon championship. On the same day are the Willesden Aquathlon and the Thames Towpath 10.
Looking ahead into early May, Thursday 1 May is the date for the second of this year's Assembly League races in Victoria Park.
There's more information about lots of these events on the Serpie events planner.
Sally Hodge
communications@serpentine.org.uk
Submitted: 30 March 2014