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Weekly Serpie round-up

Green Belt Relay

In the early hours of Saturday morning as London slept (even the most committed parkrun aficionados were still under Morpheus’s spell dreaming of PBs and cake) Serpies from as far away as Tottenham and Toronto assembled in four expertly organised groups (your correspondent’s mind is still boggling at the scope of the logistical challenge pulled off with such style and aplomb by our team captains Sarah and Luke, to whom we all owe a huge debt of gratitude and cake) and travelled to Hampton Court for the commencement of the 23rd edition of the hotly contested (given the prevailing weather conditions this is something of an understatement) Green Belt Relay. To the uninitiated, this involves teams of eleven brave Serpies (we fielded Men’s, Women’s, Vet’s, and Mixed teams) racing a 22-stage running relay race around 220 miles of the Green Belt around the outside of London over a single weekend. Each entrant ran one leg a day of varying length and difficulty, often over rough, undulating terrain guided by little more than instinct and rapidly disintegrating maps. And some brave souls even took up the mantle of their fallen comrades and ran three legs, with two legs often run close to back to back. The sun shone, records fell, and many a Serpie picked up a much coveted Stage Winner t-shirt, who you may wish to congratulate when you next see them wearing theirs at the track, Seymour Centre, or receiving an award from the freshly minted Duke and Duchess of Sussex for feats of outstanding athleticism.

By the time we were reunited to make our repast within the hallowed halls of Holiday Inn, Basildon victory for the Men’s and Women’s teams was all but secured, with the Vets and Mixed teams putting in some solid performances too. Restored and light-footed we trod (all competitors managed to resist the siren call of Liquid Envy night club) in to the second day to enjoy more tough competition through wonderful scenery whilst spending down time in our minibuses supporting and marshalling others, and enjoying good humour and congenial vignettes of a quaint and merrie England all but forgotten to those who run mainly within zones one and two. Serpentine compounded their advantage throughout the day and as the sun began to set in the bucolic surrounds of the YMCA Kingston, the Men’s and Women’s teams stepped up to receive their hard fought and much deserved prizes, as well as the coveted Green Belt for the fastest overall team round the course. A more in-depth analysis of individual and team performances can be found elsewhere, suffice to say that Serpentine’s dominance over this contest can be elucidated in the simple fact that we have now won a total of 231 GBR stages - 103 men, and 128 women. Next is Ranelagh with 97, Dulwich with 68, Chasers with 63 and Stragglers with 62. (Report: Jamie Giles)

The final standings for the 4 Serpentine teams were: Men 1st category and overall, Women 1st category and 14th overall, Mixed 12th category and 20th overall, Vets 5th category and 29th overall. There were many stage wins, with Natasha Sheel, Sarah Pemberton and Max Harrison-Tosatto standing out for winning all of their legs (3 (!) in Tash's case). Well done all! Full results can be found on the Green Belt Relay website.

On behalf of everyone who took part in this year's GBR and the wider club, we would like to thank Sarah Maisey and Luke Parker for all their hard work organising our teams this year and Ian Hodge for all he has done over many years and for working with Sarah and Luke to ensure a smooth transition. A big thank you also to all drivers, navigators and everyone else who helped out. It couldn't have happened without you! (Photos: Hugh Torry)

Hackney Half Marathon

Many congratulations to Isabel Clark, who returned to racing at the Hackney Half after a series of injuries. And she did in style, finishing in 2nd place in 76:43, taking over a minute off her own club record in the process. Good to have you back Izzy! A shout-out also to Kim Boursnell who ran her first half marathon ever and had a blast in the process. Good work Kim!

Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs

Those who weren't busy circling London or competing at the SAL and headed to Highgate instead were rewarded with a set of fine performances at the Night of the 10,000m PBs, including 30:17:24 (PB) for Jonathan Poole who was the fastest Serpie on the night, followed by Andy Greenleaf in 31:00:03 (PB) to go second and third on the all-time Serpie 10,000m rankings. Further PBs came from Chris Oddy in 31:28.92, Chris Wright in 32:12:53 and Xavier Gruot in 32:13.69. Serpie results. (Photo: Chris Oddy)

Track & Field Leagues

With the T&F season in full swing now, we have a bit of catching up to do on the latest league matches. Battersea track played host to the first Rosenheim match on 9 May and the first Southern Counties Veterans' AC League match on 14 May, while Lee Valley saw the second Southern Athletics League match of the season last Saturday. Click through for full race reports.

Northern Traverse 190M

Massive kudos to Serpie ultra machine Hisayo Kawaha (F50) who completed the Northern Traverse in 79:09:06 and came 3rd lady. Hisayo improved her time from the 2016 edition by 9 hours (she was 2nd lady that year with her slower time). The Northern Traverse is a 190-mile self-supported ultra race following Wainwright's coast to coast route from St Bees on the west coast to Robin Hood’s Bay on the east coast, taking in iconic mountains, valleys, moors and over 16,000 feet of ascent. (Photo: Summit Fever Media)

Ultra-Trail Australia

I just ran the Ultra-Trail Australia 50km trail ultra, (surprisingly for me) placing top 100 in the ladies and finishing in under 7 hours. Having been my first ultra, I’d sum up my experience as: the London marathon is not exactly ideal preparation for this but better than nothing.

We got extremely lucky with the weather this year with crisp clear sunshine and seasonally cool temperatures. The course is hilly, as you’d expect from mountains, and includes two major staircases with roughly 1,000 steps each, the second of which makes up the final kilometre of the race. The breathtaking views of the Blue Mountains (so called because of the mist from the 50 billion Eucalyptus trees in the mountains that tint the air blue) made the pain of legs unaccustomed to hills all worth it though. (Report: Anne Eden)

Bideford 10k

Stood awaiting the start of the Bideford junior parkrun, I am struck when someone passing remarks, 'where is the start of the big race'? What then and how would this old boy fare in the Bideford 10k in the beautiful North Devon estuary town sat beside the River Torridge.

This was not meant to happen following the knee collapse at Newport marathon just two weeks prior. However, assisted by some out of character careful management and a test run the evening prior - NO PAIN!

The race started north of the Torridge, taking in the ancient bridge, the fabulously named 'East-The-Water' and the famous Tarka trail. Given the laws of probability for not starting this race, just to finish pain free would have been a victory in itself and so, victory it became. The winner, from the excellent hosts Bideford AAC, finished in 34:59; old boy Lloyd in 43:29. This North Devon excursion delivers! (Report: Lloyd Bevan)

(Some of...) The best of the rest

20 Serpies raced the Crystal Palace Triathlon on Sunday, 13 May, which was also the club sprint champs. Congratulations to Romain Benvenuto and Aga Wicinska who took the club titles on the day. Big up also to Alex Elferink who was 3rd in the Vets category. Great to see a few first-timers too! 

Congratulations to Chris Oddy who finished 2nd at the Leeds Half Marathon on Sunday, 13 May, in a time of 1:09:37. Congratulations are also in order for Milan Misak and Debbie Clarke for taking victory at the Dragon Slayer Duathlon at Lee Valley Velopark on the same day. 

And last not least, big up to Kevin Murray who continues to put his stamp on the club's all-time V55 rankings. This time he finished 5th at the Binfield 10k in 37:17, winning the V50 category.

Parkrun results for 19 May 2018 (55 runners)

Better late than never: parkrun results for 12 May, including a course record for Jonathan Poole at Gunnersbury.

Top 5 by time and age-graded performance

Podium Finishers

1st: Sarah Mackenzie (Beckton) - 23:06
2nd: Richard Taylor (Clapham Common) - 17:38
3rd: Gideon Reid (Wormwood Scrubs) - 19:02

Milestones

Rachel Bedford - 50th different parkrun venue, celebrated at Clapham Common. Alistair Watson - 150th parkrun, celebrated at Linford Wood.

Busiest parkruns (3+ Serpies)

Clapham Common (5), Bushy (3), Hackney Marshes (3), Tooting Common (3)

Full consolidated Serpentine results. Can't see yours? Updating your parkrun profile with Serpentine RC as your club should do the trick. (Results: Alex Jeffreys)

Meet the Club Member

Don't miss our latest 'Meet the Club Member' profile, Karen Hancock. Previous portraits include Elizabeth Ayres, David Evans, Eddie Ware and Coralie Frost. And if you'd like to be featured yourself, send me an email.

Get involved

Would you like to see your or a fellow club member's achievement featured in the next round-up? If so, it'd be great to hear from you. Simply drop me an email by end of Monday with a few words about the event (max. 150 words) and, if you have them, photos (please ask for permission if someone else took the pictures; we will not tag anyone).

If your result is missing from the club website, you can add it yourself or, if the race isn't listed in the dropdown menu, contact the Results Elves at results@serpentine.org.uk. Even better, simply add your name to the Race & Event Planner in advance and name SERPENTINE as your club when you enter races to ensure your results are added to your profile.

With thanks to everyone who contributed to this week's edition!

Eda Korkmaz
communications@serpentine.org.uk

Submitted: 23 May 2018

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