Serpie Planner - event reports

London Championship 10k (men) (23 Nov 1996)

Team results 5 to score
A team - 8th
B team - 27th
C team - 43rd

Vets team – 4 to score
A team - 3rd

Robin first vet

London Championship 10k (men) (22 Nov 2008)

The men's A team finished third.

Race distance c.10km.

London Championship 10k (men) (20 Nov 2010)

Team results.
Pos Points Team Name Placings
1 40 HIGHGATE HARRIERS - A ( 5 8 12 15 )
2 42 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - A ( 4 9 11 18 )
3 45 HERNE HILL HARRIERS - A ( 6 10 13 16 )
4 95 HIGHGATE HARRIERS - B ( 17 20 24 34 )
5 115 HERNE HILL HARRIERS - B ( 21 26 31 37 )
6 165 HIGHGATE HARRIERS - C ( 36 39 40 50 )
7 168 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - B ( 32 43 45 48 )
8 171 HILLINGDON AC - A ( 19 30 33 89 )
9 173 LONDON HEATHSIDE - A ( 25 29 44 75 )
10 187 HERCULES WIMBLEDON AC ( 28 35 57 67 )
11 214 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - C ( 52 53 54 55 )
12 236 CAMBRIDGE HARRIERS ( 2 51 90 93 )
13 245 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - D ( 58 59 60 68 )
14 257 METROPOLITAN POLICE AC ( 42 47 77 91 )
15 267 HERNE HILL HARRIERS - C ( 38 46 78 105 )
16 301 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - E ( 69 73 79 80 )
17 302 HIGHGATE HARRIERS - D ( 56 62 72 112 )
18 309 MORNINGTON CHASERS ( 22 76 96 115 )
19 355 THAMES VALLEY HARRIERS ( 1 107 109 138 )
20 359 BARNET & DISTRICT AC - A ( 49 82 103 125 )
21 369 WEST 4 HARRIERS ( 63 70 99 137 )
22 381 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - F ( 87 88 100 106 )
23 389 EALING SOUTHALL & MIDDX. AC ( 66 95 102 126 )
24 391 LONDON HEATHSIDE - B ( 81 85 104 121 )
25 402 SOUTH LONDON HARRIERS ( 84 94 101 123 )
26 413 QUEENS PARK HARRIERS - A ( 65 71 132 145 )
27 415 ILFORD AC ( 23 86 97 209 )
28 471 SHAFTESBURY BARNET HARRIERS ( 7 61 190 213 )
29 477 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - G ( 114 117 122 124 )
30 535 HERNE HILL HARRIERS - D ( 120 133 134 148 )
31 548 HIGHGATE HARRIERS - E ( 118 127 140 163 )
32 548 DULWICH RUNNERS ( 92 110 168 178 )
33 566 LONDON HEATHSIDE - C ( 128 139 143 156 )
34 574 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - H ( 130 146 147 151 )
35 610 STRIDERS OF CROYDON ( 135 136 150 189 )
36 639 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - I ( 155 158 162 164 )
37 644 QUEENS PARK HARRIERS - B ( 153 157 161 173 )
38 678 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - J ( 167 169 170 172 )
39 691 LONDON HEATHSIDE - D ( 160 175 177 179 )
40 704 HILLINGDON AC - B ( 98 181 205 220 )
41 735 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - K ( 174 180 186 195 )
42 740 BARNET & DISTRICT AC - B ( 159 171 202 208 )
43 747 LONDON HEATHSIDE - E ( 183 185 187 192 )
44 793 QUEENS PARK HARRIERS - C ( 193 197 199 204 )
45 843 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB - L ( 200 210 215 218 )

Full results on www.seaa.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=6


On Saturday 13 November, Serpentine cross country team ended up on Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath for the London Championships with 10km of unrelenting mud and hills. The Metropolitan League has been the real focus so far this season and we knew a lot of clubs don't take the London Championships very seriously, so we viewed this as a sort of chill-out race. All the same, after winning bronze in 2008 and silver in 2009 we still half hoped that we might end up on the top step of the podium.

Nick Torry, having woken up just moments before the gun went off, was beaten into fourth place behind Chris Smith (Thames Valley), Dean Lacey (Cambridge Harriers) and Dan Agustus (Woodford Green) all of whom he regularly beats. Richard Phillips (9th), Hugh Torry (11th) and Will Green (18th) completed our A-team of four scorers: the first ever time that the both the Torrys have been on the start-line at the right time on Parliament Hill. Sadly Highgate Harriers, the perennial winners of this race, got the better of us once again, although each year we seem to get closer.

Eric Phillips (sober on the start-line for once) in 32nd, together with the fast-starting Ebrima Noble (43rd) and Jol Attwooll (45th) who destroyed the "movembered" Andy Taylor (48th) in a sprint, made up the B-team and were the seventh team to finish. Our strength in depth showed further down the field with Pau Herrero (52nd), who said the cross-country running in Spain doesn't involve mud, Andrew Reeves (53rd), Wesley Harrison (54th, another one with seasonal facial hair), Neil Donovan (55th) who has recently returned from injury, Richard Fanning (58th), Duncan Hancox (59th, still finding his feet over cross-country), new recruits Andrew Sims and Jamie Smalley (60th and 68th, we hope you run the Metropolitan League for us!) Nick Smeeton (70th), Greg Stevens (73rd), Andy Robbins (79th, hopefully on the road to recovery after a lengthy injury), Charles Lescott (80th, gearing up for Florence marathon), Brian Stramer (87th) and Andrew Hibbert (89th).

It was good to see many other Serpies running, including Gavin Edmonds (100th), Stephen Brown (106th), Nicola Barberis-Negra (114th), James Edgar (117th), Brent Plump (122nd and in charge of the pub), Alex Elferink (124th), Richard Taylor (130th), Justin Lock (146th), Michael Stainton (148th), Claudio Bellotti (151st), Ben Gilmore (155th), Darren Over (158th), Mark Wadley (163rd), Mark Palmer (164th), Andrew Harrison (167th) Stephane Schneider (169th), Alex Malzer (171st), Chris Abele (172nd), Paul Fromme (174th), Guy Regis (180th and running, thankfully, with spikes this time), Jean-Luc Hoez (187th), Lars Olsen (196th), Ian Hodge (200th), David Hinds (210th), Theo Chen (215th) and Richard Smith (218th).

Conditions were muddy, but we've seen worse and are likely to see worse again on Parliament Hill. It was cold but not bitter and nothing that a few pints in the Roebuck didn't put right. Many thanks as usual to all the various people who supported us and marshalled us and officalled us and so on and so forth although no thanks to the South of England Athletics Association who didn't manage to make the results available online during the weekend leaving me to write this report at work (ggggggggrrrrrrr).

And if you're not sure what's next on the agenda for cross-country, but want to ensure you don't miss a piece of the action? Sign-up now for the South of England Cross Country Championships, taking place on Parliament Hill on 29 January by e-mailing Malcolm French (or Steph Vaatz if you're a lady) by 4th December. And gear up for the next Metropolitan League race in Stevenage on 18 December. And train hard!

Eric P

London Championship 10k (men) (19 Nov 2011)

On Saturday 19 November, Serpentine men’s cross country team took part in the London Cross Country Championships, a 10km race which takes place in November each year on Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath. Normally for cross country we have to travel a bit further than Zone 2 so we therefore welcomed the shorter journey and a race away from the pressure of the Metropolitan League. Both in 2009 and 2010 we were team silver medallists behind Highgate Harriers in this four-to-score race and even with a depleted team we expected to medal again.

Nick Torry, after just missing out on an individual medal last year had an incredible sprint finish to overtake Thames Valley Harriers’ Mo Aadan and finish 2nd behind Cambridge Harriers’ Dean Lacy. Nick will be racing the European Cross Country Championships selection race in Liverpool next Saturday, the highest standard of competition he will have ever faced, and his fourth race in successive weekends. Hugh Torry finished 9th, again going off hard and fading slightly, while Eric Phillips in 24th was also passed by several people in the last half mile. Ebrima Noble in 28th, who is having his finest season for several years, was second veteran in the entire race and completed our A-team of four scorers who beat Highgate Harriers but were beaten unfortunately by a very good Herne Hill Harriers team to leave us silver medallists once again, out of 21 complete teams.

Dave Morgan in 39th said afterwards that the hills and the longer distance were something of a reality check for him, Joll Attwooll in 50th was pleased to have started harder than he did in Stevenage. Andy Reeves was another with a fine sprint finish in 61st, while Barney Southin in 69th didn’t appreciate the changes of pace that hilly courses entail and is therefore going to adjust his training accordingly. The London Championships didn’t this year count the scores for B-teams, but by my reckoning our theoretical B-team would have been third best B-team and ahead of all but the first nine A-teams.

Andrew Davies came 77th, Serdar Cetin was 86th, just in front of Kevin Darcy in 87th and in his first race of the season and only just starting to get into consistent training again. Club honorary chairman Charles Lescott was 93rd, while Roger Reid and Richard Fanning who both also opened their seasons came 97th and 100th. Alessandro Poggi in 103rd has now hopefully put injuries behind him and we welcomed back to the team endurance coach, Andy Robbins in 106th. James Quinn in 114th was happy to run his first cross country race of his adult life and finish in the top half of the field, just in front of Josh Paparo in 116th, while Alex Andel and Alastair Maher were 130th and 131st.

It was good to see many other Serpies running, including Dan Lewington (141st), Claudio Bellotti (150th), Justin Lock (154th and delighted that we chose a pub which didn’t serve full pints for once), Rob Westaway (162nd), Stephane Schneider (174th), new recruit Kieran Murray (175th), Shawn Duffy (180th), Paul Fromme (186th) and well ahead of rivals Alex Pearson (195th and more secret training needed) and Lars Menken (197th and catching), Mark Kell (196th), Chris Abel (199th), Robert Crangle (201st), Ian Hodge (213th), Gy Harness (220th), Richard Hardiman (223rd), David Hinds (227th), Neil Bradshaw (231st) and finally but not least Ian Hall (240th). Surely we had the largest turn-out of any London club?

The November afternoon was clear, crisp and sunny; running conditions were perfect and there was, unusually for Parliament Hill, almost no mud underfoot at all. Many thanks to all the race marshals and officials, including Malcolm French who helped with the organisation, Sally Hodge and Bev Thomas who helped manage the team on the day, Urban Bettag who has posted some pictures on facebook and everyone else who supported and cheered. Congratulations to the Serpentine ladies who also got a team silver medal. Given that we now have made enemies of most of the publicans round Hampstead we were forced to go to The Magdala for the first time for the post race celebrations and we may end up going there again in future.

E Phillips

London Championship 10k (men) (17 Nov 2012)

The men's team won silver.

London Championship 10k (men) (15 Nov 2014)

1 HIGHGATE HARRIERS 61
10 172 0:34:44 R McKinlay
12 169 0:34:47 J Laybourne
13 176 0:34:52 F Smithwick
26 179 0:36:19 R Walker

2 HERNE HILL HARRIERS 85
17 145 0:35:18 A Barnes
19 151 0:35:40 R MacDonald
20 148 0:35:46 J Cunningham
29 157 0:36:37 J Tayleur

3 SERPENTINE RUNNING CLUB 89
2 310 0:32:37 G Hughes
7 299 0:34:26 J Franklin
35 326 0:36:56 A Orr
45 295 0:37:38 D De Palol

London Championship 10k (men) (18 Nov 2023)

Serpentine Mens results: https://results.sporthive.com/events/7130565736693329152/races/10/team/7131663529963859712