Serpie Planner - event reports
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (22 Jan 2011)
Race was organised by South London Orienteers and Wayfarers for the 30th year. The race is one of the few fell competitions in the South of England and attracts many fell runners: maximum number of participants is normally set to 250 and the race is generally sold out a couple of months in advance.
The course is 7.5miles long with 1700ft ascendent and all off-road, a part from a couple of marshalled crossings of main roads. The route goes across woods, trails and up and down some serious ondulations (as expected). It is also very well marked, which makes it very difficult to get lost!
Weather and ground conditions were perfect for running and a new course record was set in the men race after 14 years. First Serpies home were Wes Harrison (27th) and Natalie Kolodziej (2nd lady). There wasn't any women team prize, but with four Serpettes in the first nine positions, it should probably have had red&yellow ribbons on. Congratulations to all 14 Serpies who took part and completed the race.
On a personal note, I really enjoy the race and the course and will definitely put it in my calendar again for next year.
Report by Nicola Barberis Negra
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (21 Jan 2012)
1700ft of ascent over 7.5M
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (19 Jan 2013)
One of the few races on this weekend in spite of the adverse weather conditions (?), the 32nd Box Hill Fell Race saw about 200 runners lined up for the 11am start, most of them wrapped up in warm clothes and slightly worry about the snow who falled on the course in the previous 24 hours. And the organiser briefing before the race didn't really helped to relax, especially when it was mentioned that "if the first downhill doesn't scare the **** out of you, then carry on, you'll be fine and see you at the finish". However, soon after the start, we all realised the conditions were fantastic and that it would have been a great day: everything was covered in white, soft snow and the feeling-like-Christmas sceneries were stunning all along. Downhills were particularly fun, including negotiating the way with kids on sledges and the many countless and (mostly) pain-free tumbles. It was magic, running hardly gets any better than this
It was also great to see about 25 Serpies taking part to the race and helping to successfully make a clean sweep: first man home was Harold, first woman was Victoria and we also won the team prize (four to score). Congratulations to all who came along, I'm already looking forward to next year race.
Nick
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (18 Jan 2014)
The 33rd Box Hill Fell race was well organised by Slowed Orienteering on 18th January with over 250 runners lined up for the 11 o'clock start. Unfortunately no snow this year, but the course was surprisingly drier than anybody expected, with only few patches of ankle deep mud. No rain either, which made it probably as nearly perfect racing conditions as possible and another great day running up and down Surrey's hills.
Great to see the largest Serpies turnout ever (28 finishers) in this race, with Rich Phillips third overall, Sarah Pemberton and Deanna Laforet first and third woman respectively, and team prize for the first four men (Rich, Hugh Torry, Pau Herrero and Andy Reeves).
Full results and photos of runners down the last downhill stretch are available at http://sloweb.org.uk/racereports/boxhill2014results/
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (17 Jan 2015)
Sarah P was 1st and Helen P 2nd woman.
Andy G was 1st and Richard P 3rd man.
The women were 1st team; Sarah P, Helen P and Natasha S
The men were 1st team; Andy G, Rich P, Hugh T and Andrew O
Serpentine men were also 4th and 5th team
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (23 Jan 2016)
Nicholas Torry was 1st male and Richard Phillips 2nd male.
Sarah Pemberton was 1st female and Natasha Sheel 2nd female.
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (20 Jan 2018)
2nd Lady - Sarah Pemberton
3rd Lady - Natasha Sheel
Three runners accidentally ran a slightly shorter route; they are shown by an asterisk (*). They are in the full results but are excluded from team results, which have changed as a consequence.
These were: Nicola Barberis Negra and Andrew Orr - whoops!
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (22 Jan 2022)
Hugh Torry - 1st V40
Serpie Men's team (4 to score) placed 3rd
Box Hill Fell Race 7.5M (21 Jan 2023)
Serpentine RC placed 2nd in the men's team results, with Fred Smithers placing 4th overall.