The annual awards recognise the amazing contributions of our volunteers to the club and to the world of running and triathlon.

At almost every race, event or session that requires expertise from a judging or technical point for view, one person is to be found and indeed has been found for many years, and that person is Malcolm French. Also one of the most naturally modest people ever to grace the judging sidelines of an athletics track or field, he did look genuinely astonished to be awarded the Secretary’s Shield by Catkin Shelley at the club AGM in London last week.

The Secretary’s Shield was donated in 1986 by James Godber, the then secretary, and is awarded annually to the club member or members who, in the personal judgement of the secretary, have greatly contributed to the club, above and beyond what might be expected from an ordinary member. 

Catkin told the meeting, ‘This year I am awarding the shield to Malcolm French for everything he has done for the club over the years, including, but not limited to, running our club races, organising Last Friday of the Month, officiating track and field and cross country races which Serpies compete in and doing all the back end administration for members’ England Athletics Register.  Malcolm was also on the committee for many years.‘

Under the Club’s constitution, all the trustees and committee members have to stand down at each AGM, however they can stand for re-election. Catherine Wilding was elected the new club chair, and is pictured below, on the left, with outgoing chair Veronique Leroy. Details of all the committee members and trustees can be found here and an interview with Catherine will be coming later in August so watch out for that. But read on for details on the rest of the awards.

Outgoing membership lead Catharine Sowerby presented three further awards.

The John Stonham Farewell Cup went to Mairi McInnes, who has done and is still doing truly remarkable work with new members maybe trying club running for the first time, or returning after a long break. It is really extraordinary to witness people starting out with a few kilometres a week, and going on to gain confidence, engage with the club and then, in some cases, find they want to start competitive running or triathlon. Mairi’s approach as a coach is based on collaboration. She strongly believes in engaging the agency and enthusiasm of her charges, and the way they respond is testament to her great gifts as a coach.

Catharine, pictured below as she prepares to present the awards, told the AGM: ‘John Stonham was before my time, he left the club in 1993, so very few of us here have any memories of him.  By all accounts he was someone who loved being part of the club, embraced the social as much as the running side of the club and was well loved by members.  As he left, an anonymous donor gave this cup which is awarded annually to the runner who, in the judgement of the committee, inspires others by being a new runner who shows significant ‘improvement, but not necessarily victories’, an experienced runner returning from injury or illness or a member showing enthusiasm in the sport even without victory.

‘This year we award the cup to someone who joined the club, on a beginners course in 2018.  She then started trail running to combine her love of the great outdoors with her running.  Never the fastest, nor is she someone who would be first on the dance floor at a party, but she inspires others through through her enthusiasm, consideration of the abilities and aspiration of others through her leadership. She coaches the beginners course and leads shorter, slower trail runs make this accessible to a broader community.’

Among the testimonies by people who nominated Mairi, she was praised ‘for inspiring new and improving runners with her work with beginners and improvers courses and leading the shorter and slower trail run’, ‘for growing as a runner within the club from her start as a beginner to now being a confident trail runner and recently qualified coach’, ‘for picking up the organisation and coaching of the beginners courses and taking the initiative to introduce shorter options on the trail runs and leading some beginner urban trail runs’.

The David Simpson Memorial Trophy was awarded to Lynne and Simon Maughan. 

Catharine said, ‘David Simpson, who was a long-standing Serpentine member, passed away in 2011 after a long battle with cancer. He was kind enough to leave the club a legacy, a part of which was used to inaugurate the David Simpson Memorial Trophy, which is awarded on an annual basis for achievement in hill and off-road running, both of which were close to David’s heart.

‘Unusually, this year we are awarding this trophy to two people who inspire us with their endurance events.  I’m sure I’m not unusual, but every time I hear of one of the competitions they’ve entered I go, “You what?”  They both joined the club in 2001, met each other, got married, had children, after a period in Australia returned to the UK in about 2017.  They specialise in very long-distance running events, on road, off-road and even on track.’ 

She cited some examples of the ‘frankly mad’ events they’ve completed in the last couple of years.

Simon did 468 laps of Battersea track and also ran from John O’Groats to Lands End, the JOGLE ultra, when he was the only finisher out of nine starters this year, 850 miles over 17 days.

Lynne did the Canal Slam, which consists of three canal races, all to be run in the year: the Grand Union Canal race (145miles) in 36 hours, the Kennet and Avon Canal (145 mile) and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (130 miles).

Veronique Leroy presented the Innovation award to Michael Ngo, pictured below, for initiating and leading the long Saturday run group and organising the Mind run this year and last year as well as setting up the popular Thursday threshold sessions.

Veronique explained, ‘The innovation cup was very generously donated by an anonymous donor to celebrate the most innovative, inclusive event organised by the club, and is determined by the club secretary, Catkin, and the chair.’

It is quite recent, dating from 2017. Last year it was awarded to Ham Huxham for organising the virtual winter triathlon league.

Veronique said, ‘This year, we wanted to celebrate someone, who has organised not one but weekly events, who is bringing fun in runs that could feel very long, adjust the speed and map runs so that everyone can join and leave if the distance are too long.’

Michael Ngo started the marathon group, organising the Saturday long runs which have become very popular. He has brought Strava art to the club, running routes which create shapes, such as a Christmas tree or kangaroo, and also created a Monopoly run, with stops based on the game board. long runs. One of his runs was in the shape of a heart, to support two charities, Mind and Place2be, during the mental health awareness week.