Richard Smith

It is with great sadness that we have to report the loss of one of Serpentine's longest-standing members. Richard Smith, who joined Serpentine in August 1983 as the 19th member of the club, died two weeks ago, aged 63.

To call Richard a keen runner would be an enormous understatement. He was an exceptionally active member of the club across track, road and cross country, having raced pretty much everything from 100m to marathon over the years. He ran an incredible 172 Serpentine Handicaps, making him a member of the exclusive 100 Handicap Club.

Richard’s cousin, Edward Alexander, remembers "Richard was so proud to have been a part of the Serpentine RC and still had one of the original tee shirts which he proudly wore in events, even though it had seen better days. In the year 2000, Richard visited me and my family in California and the morning after a 10 hour flight, decided to compete in a 5000 meter charity race that was being held locally. Of course he wore the Serpentine top! He would run every morning and I was in awe of his fitness and stamina. I never imagined this would have happened to him at such a young age.”

Someone else who knew Richard very well was fellow long-standing member Malcolm French. Malcolm says of Richard "I will remember him most for the huge amount of volunteering he did for the club. It wasn't just the more visible volunteering like marshaling at many club races or judging at track and field competitions - plus the occasional swimming gala! I recall that he redecorated the club rooms at Seymour. The rooms had been unused for many years before we were offered them as our base and were in a very poor condition. Richard was soon at work repairing the plaster, repainting the walls and smartening up the whole area. I know he was amused to be an extra in the film Run Fatboy Run, where he can be seen running along the South Bank with Simon Pegg and proudly wearing his Serpie top."

I remember Richard from cross country in particular, where he always seemed to me to be a great embodiment of the true spirit of our sport. Others have remembered very fondly Richard's grin and the wry sense of humour that always greeted us. It was an honour to know and run with Richard and his death comes as a terrible shock.

We will honour Richard’s memory with a minute’s silence at the start of the next Handicap on 5th November. Richard’s funeral is expected to take place in the week commencing 7th November in Dorset, where Richard lived most recently. Anyone planning to attend can obtain details from the Funeral Director, Mr Derek Trotter of James Smith Funeral Directors on 01929 422445.

Fraser Johnson
hon.chairman@serpentine.org.uk

Submitted: 30 October 2016

Back