Weekly Serpie round-up
A clean sweep at the Assembly League, an abundance of PBs, a club record on the track and success in the Welsh mountains - a smashing week all round. Read on for your weekly dose of Serpentine highlights.
Welsh Castles Relay
40 Serpies travelled to Wales over the weekend to take part in the annual 20-stage, 211 mile relay race from Caernarfon to Cardiff. The Welsh Castles Relay is always a brilliant weekend away and this year didn't disappoint, with constant sunshine, great team spirit and excellent running performances.
The Serpie ladies' team demonstrated their ongoing breadth and depth in performance, achieving a podium position, winning 4 individual stages (Helen Ward, Tamsin Simmonds, Ahlem Ben Gueblia and Christine Kennedy) and taking the sought after Queens of the Mountain prize.
The men's team were up against stiff competition in the open race but put in a great performance and secured 5th place. David Evans took a stage win.
Many thanks to Tash Sheel, Anne Eden and James Gillanders for all their hard work organising the logistics and teams this year. A big thanks as well to the drivers, with a special thanks to Chris Eden who wasn't running but spent the weekend supporting and driving the team around. Full (provisional) results. (Report: Sarah Pemberton)
London Schools Championships
Jonah Kramer came 3rd in London Schools 800m race, in a new U17 club record of 2:02.11 (the old record was 2:02.75). Congratulations Jonah!
Assembly League #3
Some 400 runners from various London clubs, including around 50 Serpies, turned out for our home fixture at Battersea Park on Thursday, 7th June. The ensuing fast and furious 5k race saw many great performances across the board, including numerous PBs and SBs.
It was a clean sweep for Serpentine in the men's race, with PBs for Jonathan Poole (14:46), Chris Wright (14:49) and Andy Greenleaf (14:50). Marta Bagnati (17:47, PB), Sarah Pemberton (18:48) and Ahlem Ben Gueblia (18:58, PB) were the fastest Serpettes on the day. Well done all! And a big thank you as ever to Malcolm French and all his helpers for putting on another great event! Full Serpentine results.
Southern Counties Veterans' AC League, Match 2 - Perivale, 4 June
Ladies
The Serpie ladies vets team won their second match of the SCVAC league last Monday at Perivale.
We had 8 individual wins on the track (Rhiannon Needham, Jacqueline O’Connor, Andrea Sanders-Reece and Catkin Shelley) and managed to keep just ahead of Hillingdon in a very close 4 x 100 relay, beating them by 0.3 seconds.
Mary Davies won the shot and there were several PBs in the field events: Hel James (shot), Heidi Rasmussen (triple jump) and Margaret Lang and Rhiannon Needham in the long jump. Margaret Sills (shot) and Avril Riddell and Samantha Day (both in 3km) also earned good points.
Overall a great team result which puts us in a strong position in the division with two matches to go. Match 3 is on Monday 18th June at Battersea; any ladies over 35 who are interested in competing please let me know. Thanks as always to Bev Thomas for managing us on the night. (Report: Catkin Shelley)
Men
The men’s match was very tight between the three teams at the top. Serpentine did very well on the track with wins for David Hinds in the M60 200m. The 800m saw a Serpie clean sweep with wins for Bartosz Porzuczek, Marcin Kaperczyk (in a new PB time), Peter Clarke and Andrew Roberts. Andrew went on to get a win in the 3000m along with Daniel de Palol. In the field events, there were solid performances all round.
In the final analysis Hillingdon narrowly won with Serpentine second just ahead of Herne Hill. This means there is everything to play for going into the third meeting at Battersea: A Serpentine win that evening would really put the cat amongst the pigeons in the race to qualify for the final. (Report: Andrew Maynard)
The best of the rest
Kevin Murray finished 5th overall and first in the V50 category at the Heron Half Marathon in Yeovil. His time was 1:23:30 (WAVA 86.5%). Not a PB this time but still one of the fastest V55 half marathon times on record.
Some 10 Serpies took on the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon, the iconic Comrades Marathon, this year. The race is approx. 55 miles long and is run annually between the South African cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Hendrik Zietsman was fastest Serpie home in 7:36:39 (75.5%). A special shout-out to mother-and-daughter duo Jacquie Millett and Camilla Langlands who completed yet another running challenge, with Jacquie finishing in 10:34:16 (74.7%) and Camilla in 9:06:41. Well done to all Serpie Comrades! Results.
Parkrun results for 9 June 2018 (76 runners)
Top 5 by time and age-graded performance
| Name | Event | Time | Gender # | Name | Event | Time | Gender # | Name | Age-graded | ||
| Samuel Barnes | Forest Rec | 16:59 | 1 | Zoe Birchenough | Bushy | 20:40 | 8 | Sarah Newton | 81.17% | ||
| Hugh Torry | Keswick | 17:25 | 4 | Tatiana McIntosh | Clapham Common | 22:35 | 19 | Karen Hancock | 78.10% | ||
| Gideon Reid | Wormwood Scrubs | 18:06 | 2 | Sophie Vessey | Redcar | 22:38 | 4 | Hugh Torry | 77.80% | ||
| Paul Mathew | Bushy | 18:42 | 25 | Lisa Basi | Hackney Marshes | 23:09 | 8 | Kevin Lally | 77.63% | ||
| Kevin Lally | Woodhouse Moor | 18:51 | 13 | Sandra Ahrensfeld | Gunnersbury | 23:28 | 8 | Samuel Barnes | 76.55% |
Podium Finishers
1st: Samuel Barnes (Forest Rec) - 16:59
2nd: Gideon Reid (Wormwood Scrubs) - 18:06, Coralie Frost (Hazelwood) - 24:18
3rd: Will Salt (Gladstone) - 19:02, Margaret Greatorex (Minehead) - 24:50
Milestones
Lars Menken - 200th parkrun, celebrated at Gunnersbury; Gideon Reid - 100th parkrun, celebrated at Wormwood Scrubs
Busiest parkruns (3+ Serpies)
Bushy (6), Hampstead Heath (6), Wormwood Scrubs (5), Southwark (4), Clapham Common (3), Dulwich (3), Gunnersbury (3), Hackney Marshes (3), North Beach - ZA (3), Umhlanga - ZA (3), Victoria Dock (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)
Serpentine takeover of I Move London Relay
Former Serpie Danny Bent is organising a 4,000 mile continuous relay throughout July in central London and we are organising a Serpie takeover for 12th July, 0:01-23:59. Read on for details and sign-up information.
Help needed at Battersea Track on 23 and 27 June
Our club will host two T&F matches at Battersea Millenium Arena on 23rd and 27th June (full details). We need helpers to make sure the meetings can happen and run as smoothly as possible. You don't need to have had any experience of this type before as qualified officials will be there to explain what to do. The atmosphere at both events is fantastic and this is a great opportunity to meet new people and give back to the club. Your help will also count towards securing a club London marathon spot in 2019 if you are interested in it. Please send an email to athletics@serpentine.org.uk to register or if you have any questions. We won't be able to hold these matches without enough volunteers, so please consider giving some help at least at one of the two matches. Our teams will be grateful forever.
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. 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, 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: 12 June 2018