• News
  • News Archive
  • RSS Feeds
• Mailing List Digest

Weekly Serpie round-up, 18 October 2018

Bournemouth Festival, 6/7 October

Bournemouth held a festival of running over the Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th October, kicking off with 10K and 5K races as well as a plethora of kids races that began with some rather inclement weather which began to dissipate through the late afternoon, and saw times recorded by Caroline Morgan (49:15) and Beate Vogt (61:20) in the 10K.

After Saturday's drenching, Sunday couldn't have been more different, albeit with a very chilly start for those involved in the half marathon starting at 8am that saw Oisin O'Malley Daly (1:28:18), Harry Keen (1:28:31) and Liz Ady (1:57:09) record great times to kick off the day.

By the time the marathon kicked off at 10am, the temperature had begun to pick up and continued to do so throughout the day, making it perfect conditions for running on the fairly flat course put together by the organisers. Support was fantastic all around the course, and highlights included running along the two piers at Boscombe and Bournemouth, and a long stretch along the promenade towards the end which in the midday sun made for a great English seaside experience. Of the four Serpies competing, Jon Lewis (3:06:29), Henry Kemp (3:07:35), and Aaron Kazab (3:14:40) all achieved PBs, but the honour of fastest Serpie was reserved for James Hartop who finished in 2:41:00. The festival was well organised and well supported, and with it being a reasonable distance from London, comes highly recommended from me for a local autumn marathon for anyone looking for early ideas for next year! (Jon Lewis)

Chicago Marathon, 7 October

Chicago Marathon starts and finishes in the centre of town which, due to an early start, was welcome. Organisation was good, although there was nowhere to shelter from the rather wet morning. The route is pretty flat and a mix of lakeside park running north and some of the wonderful diverse buildings on the return to the centre. Care was needed crossing the bridges with metal mesh underfooot, some with a bit of soggy matting! The crowd support was great, apart from the southern part of the route which was rather barren before the 2 mile straight stretch to the finish. Not a PB, but it was my best marathon in keeping a fairly constant pace with a mini-sprint at the end - thanks to the pacers who were my focus for most of the miles. My fourth of six marathons for a World Marathon Majors medal! I didn't see any other Serpies there, but I hope they also had a good race and enjoyed the city. (Avril Riddell)

Cardiff Half Marathon, 7 October

The Cardiff Half Marathon appears to be fertile ground for Serpie club records. Isabel Clark ran 76:29 to finish in 19th and bag herself a new PB and club record. Chris Wright meanwhile clocked 66:29 in 21st, also a new PB and placing him second on the all-time Serpie list, just behind Nick Torry (achieved in 2013 at... the Cardiff Half!). Congrats also to David Martin, James Gillanders, Jonathan Moscrop and Clare Meraz (2nd claim) who all ran excellent races. (Serpie results; Eda Korkmaz)

Chester Marathon, 7 October

Congratulations to V65 England Athletics masters champion Jacqueline Millett who ran 4:06 at the Chester Marathon. Jacquie started running 7 years ago and has now run 181 marathons. Further shout-outs to Andy Reeves, Sam Ludlow-Taylor and John Fassnidge who all ran for the England Athletics Age Group Team, beating the Celtic Nations. And not to forget Sophie Anne Flanagan who ran a big PB. Well done all! (Serpie results; Eda Korkmaz)

Cabbage Patch, 14 October

41 Serpies braved the rain on Sunday morning to take part in the ever popular Cabbage Patch 10-mile race, with start and finish in Twickenham. Past winners of the race include Mo Farah, Scott Overall, Mara Yamauchi, Jess Petersson and Richard Nerukar. Having run the Chicago Marathon the previous weekend, I decided to volunteer as a marshal this year. I was strategically positioned at mile 9.5 with former Serpie Keith Haworth, close to a pub which kindly offered us free coffee to warm up. It was great to be able to cheer on all my friends and club mates on their final push to the finish line. Well done all! Congrats to Joost Vogel (8th), David Evans (16th) and Alexandre Bernigaud (36th) who won the men's team prize - beer and cabbage. Kudos if you guess who David's body double is! (Eda Korkmaz)

Haute Route Ventoux, 5-7 October

With three ascents of legendary Mont Ventoux (1,909m high), some beautiful cols in its foothills and the incomparable landscapes of French Provence, the Haute Route Ventoux offered three days of memorable cycling from October 5th to 7th. Haute Route races are the ultimate test of road stage racing in mountainous terrain and their 3-day format is well organised: Stage 1 featured 119k through the Luberon and the cols des Trois Termes, de Lagarde, and the easiest ascent of the Ventoux from Sault (3,000M+). Stage 2 included the stunning Gorges de la Nesque, the col de l'Homme Mort and the gruelling 21k ascent of the Ventoux from Malaucene for a total of 3,300M+ over 133k. Finally, the race concluded with an uphill time trial on the most famous side of the Ventoux (from Bedoin, 21k, 1550M+, 7.4% average). Within a busy schedule of running road races, I tested my cycling legs and improved every day to finish 24th overall. Didn't see any other Serpies though. There is a strong field on these races, and it is a great challenge for endurance athletes to quench their ambitions. Cycling legs now ready for the Ballbuster duathlon in November on Box Hill. (Nicolas Besson)

Bedford Autodrome Standard Distance Duathlon, 14 October

I had initially targeted the ETU qualifier held at Oulton Park just two weeks earlier. That was my first real attempt at a Team GB Age Group qualifying event; having done a few duathlons in the past. I quickly discovered how tough the competition can be, when trying to qualify! Needless to say, I failed to qualify at that event, but left with obvious areas for improvement, and a stronger determination to give it all at the last qualifier duathlon of the year at Bedford two weeks later.

Conditions were horrific – rain, rain, wind and zero coverage on the very exposed ex-airport circuit. But it was the same for everyone, right? Managed my best bike leg ever, and still had enough left in the tank for the second run. Managed to bring it home in 6th (in age) and 32nd (of 99) overall. Still waiting for British Triathlon to confirm the qualifying results, but it looks positive for a qualifying place for the Worlds in 2019 in Pontevedra, Spain! A big thank you to Beate Vogt for her coaching skills that drastically improved my performance. (Brett Osler)

Parkrun results for 13 October 2018 (53 runners)

Top 5 by time and age-graded performance

Podium Finishers

1st: Victoria Basquill (Greenwich) - 20:01
2nd: Siobhan Reddy (Andover) - 22:33
3rd: Courtney Bowen (Peckham Rye) - 22:55

Busiest parkruns (3+ Serpies)

Fulham Palace (8), Hampstead Heath (4), Hackney Marshes (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)

Thank you and goodbye

I have made the difficult decision to discontinue the weekly round-up as it is too much work for me to handle, with everything else the communications role entails. My efforts at putting a team place didn't quite come off, but I am hoping that it may be resurrected in the future in a different format by a fresh team of volunteers... 
I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who contributed to the round-up in the last 12 months, especially the many Serpies who sent me their reports voluntarily or allowed themselves to be railroaded into writing one and of course Alex Jeffreys whose weekly parkrun report probably saved my sanity. It has been a huge privilege and fun to share your stories, thank you.

Eda Korkmaz
communications@serpentine.org.uk

Submitted: 18 October 2018

Back