Serpie Planner - event reports

Club Championship 1mile (05 Jul 2000)

The one mile championship which is the last of the 3 races that comprise the clubs Grand Prix series was held at Battersea track on Wednesday 5th July. 38 Serpies registered and unlike any of the other club championships where runners go off together, 4 races had to be held which incorporated a ladies race and mens "A","B" and "C" Races.

The mens "B" and "C" races were won by Phill Harris and Martin Garrett respectively. In the ladies race Elinor led virtually from the outset and finished over 30 seconds ahead of Sue-Ellen Horrocks who was second and Annie Kane who was third.These placings being identical to those from the previous weeks 3k championship race.

In the mens "A" race Karim and Demetrius who had essentially turned up to do an interval session agreed to try to run the race at 70 second laps, and it was not until the third lap that Karim gradually pulled away to finish in the end 9 seconds ahead of Demetrius. Christian Morris ran a good controlled race to finish third in a time of 5minutes exactly.

Congratulations to Elinor and Karim on winning both their respective mile championships and also the grand prix where both of them won all of the three qualifying races 1k, 3k and 1mile.

Club Championship 1mile (04 Jun 2003)

An excellent turnout for the mile club championship race.

In the women's race, Siri led from the front, setting a cracking pace that began to stretch the field. Sarah and Sarah both held on with courage but Siri's time - following a 35m run on Saturday - shows that she has speed as well as endurance.

The men's race was an exciting tactical race, with Demetrius, David and Pete swapping the lead throughout the race. Only on the final back straight did Pete move in to the lead, and any of the top three could have come through to win. Pete's determination and burst of finishing speed proved decisive.

Dave McGregor's consolation was taking the age-graded title, confirming his position at the top of the age-graded championship table for 2003. Anthony Stranger Jones is on his shoulder, however, and it is all to play for.

Club Championship 1mile (07 Jul 2004)

The Corporate Chase is cancelled, the ENO's Opera in Trafalgar Square is also cancelled but the Serpentine RC 1 Mile Club Championship goes ahead at Mile End Stadium!!!!!!!!!

21 Intrepid runners make their way to the stadium on time to start the race. One nameless person does not get there in time having spent an hour trying to find the stadium.

Because there were only 21 runners it was decided that we would have only two races Men's B and women and then a Men's A race.

In the Men's B race Ian Hodge led all the way to win the race in 5.53 followed by Lars in 5.57 (grunting his way to a 20 sec or so PB) and Rob Maslen in 6.01.

In the Ladies' race Sarah Newton also led from the start to win in 6.12 from Rachel Brough and El Presidente Hilary Walker.

The Men's race was dominated by the front running of Andy Reeves who took a grip of the race from the gun and finished 17 seconds clear of second in a very creditable time of 4.49 in very windy conditions. Second was Ian Druce in 5.06 followed by a very fast finishing Andy Davies in 5.08.

Club Championship 1mile (02 Aug 2005)

Congratulations to all 54 runners who took part in our last grand prix race and the king of all distances, the 1 mile race.

The amount of runners made it necessary to start in 3 different waves.

The first race of the "nearly really fast men" was won by Mads Harding Sorensen in front of Jason McKenzie and Steven Cook. Theo Wynne-Simmons would have won if it wouldn't have been for the last 3 1/2 laps that let him down.

In the 2 title races we got the expected results.

In the ladies race Emma Calderbank was leading from the beginning to take the 1 mile title in 5:16. Second finisher was Christine Lutsch, 12 seconds behind Emma and 7 seconds in front of Vanessa Hogg. But third scorer was Karen Hancock in 5:49.

In the men's race Ben Paviour won in an "easy" 4:37 in front of Andy Reeves in 4:43 and Urban Bettag and Ian Druce who both ran 4:48.

The age-graded mile champion is once again Anthony Stranger Jones who scored an impressive 84.1%. But also Dave McGregor, Karen, Ben and Andy R. scored over 80% today.

For the overall grand-prix we have to wait for Ian Hodge to confirm the results.

The overall club championship table after 8 races sees Andy Reeves in the lead with an average of 80% in front of Sarah Newton who averaged 78.3% (who did not race today) and Andy Davies with 76.4% points average. Valerie is just behind with 76.3%.

But with 2 races plus some marathons still to come there might be some movement at the top. Dave, Karen, Massimiliano and Emma all averaging over 80% so far and Andrew Maynard and Ian Druce just under. Will one of them still challenge for the top? We have to see.

Club Championship 1mile (20 Jul 2006)

Although not a record field, there were still enough athletes for two women's and three men's race.
In the first of these, John Behets won from those "old stagers" Ian Hall and Richard Smith. The women's B race followed and saw a convincing win for Rachel Whittaker. Sarah Newton was hot on the heals of Sam Robinson throughout the race but Sam just had enough speed to hold on to second.
In the men's B race, saw Adbifatah Dhuhulow took an early lead and it wasn't until the final lap that the action really started. In the end there the was a close finish with only one second separating Chris Notton and Heathcliffe Jones, followed closely by a pack of seven runners.
The women's A race also saw an exciting contest. Christine Lutsch took an early lead, which she was not to relinquish. Karen Hancock held off Penny Thorn until the final bend. Penny kicked with 200m to go but the move was not decisive and the two of them were together down the final straight with Penny getting the nod from the judges.
The men's A race was more clear cut, with Andy Reeves continuing his impressive run of performances in this year's Grand Prix series. Both Andy and Ian Druce in second, significantly improved on their 2005 times.

Club Championship 1mile (22 Jul 2008)

The Serpie Red & Golden Mile may have been set in Willesden instead of Oslo but that did not deter the 54 Serpies plus guests from Queens Park Harriers who lined up for the penultimate race in our Grand Prix - the 1 mile.

The perfect race conditions and a very good track surface saw five extremely hard fought heats.

Results:
Taking the first place honours for the men was Andy Reeves in 4.31 who was also was the best age graded runner with 85.6%.
While Amy Balchin was the fastest women in 5.41