Tour de Serpiesphere – Stage 1 (8k) Results and Stage 2 (10k) Entry

What a start to the Tour de Serpiesphere!  Stage 1 had everything – a large virtual peloton, great running scenery, very cold temperatures (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), and some amazingly fast times! Here’s a round-up of Stage 1.

The Virtual Peloton

Stage 1 saw 84 Serpies taking part and running 8km wherever they were based. Just to show that there is no boundary in Serpiesphere, as well as many of us running in London and elsewhere in the UK, we also had runners based in Switzerland (Charles Pridgeon), Hungary (Ian Johnson), the Netherlands (Elvira Gonzalo & Willem Gerritsen), and Spain (Ana Penalvar & Daniel De Palol), among other places I must have missed.  It was a cold week in many places, so well done to you all who braved the snowy and icy streets whilst posting fantastic times – 4 of us ran over 80% age-graded times. The person running in the coldest weather was probably Mariah McConnaughey, who ran in Northwestern United States where the temperature dropped to -7C.  Elsewhere, although only in Stage 1, Charles-Everard de T’serclaes had already been close to the Champs-Elysees. Here was a frozen lake in Bois de Boulogne, Paris where he did his laps.

Finally I want to mention a few runners along different coastlines. Serpiesphere stretched to the Southern Hemisphere this time thanks to Steph Vaatz, who enjoyed some warm running weather along the Atlantic Coast in Cape Town, South Africa. Back in the UK, the Jones family were out in force in North Wales – well done to Sara, Pip and Sam Jones who stayed together towards the 8k finish line in Llandrillo-yn-Rhos. Lovely also to have Claire Law who rekindled the February cross country spirit along the undulating but beautiful coastline near Plymouth.

We had entries from teenagers to silver-fit veterans in their 70s, plus everyone in between – this really is a race for everyone. We hope Stage 2 will have just as great a peloton as Stage 1.  Please upload your pictures together with your time screenshots – we’d love to see where you run!

 

Stage Winners

Congratulations to the winners of Stage 1:

  • Kit Grierson didn’t let a bad night’s sleep slow him down and was the fastest man in Stage 1 with a blistering time of 27:08 around Regent’s Park.
  • Isabel Clark recorded the fastest 8k for a female by a Serpentine runner with an amazing time of 28:07.

Full results here: https://www.serpentine.org.uk/rdb/showrace.php?race=13545.

Congratulations also to Mohammad Ismail who not only ran a decent time of 32:00 but is also the lucky recipient of the Stage 1 spot prize, which is either a Serpentine hoodie or a £20 Serpie kit voucher – and he gets to choose!  We will be in contact regarding how to collect your prize.

 

The GC and the jerseys

The Stage 1 winners top the GC (General Classification) so both Kit Grierson and Izzy Clark are currently wearing the Virtual Yellow Jerseys. But just like the other famous Tour, the GC is not the only game in town. As the distances of all stages will add up to a marathon, we have found everyone’s marathon Personal Best on Serpiebase and Power of 10 to make a comparison. We have therefore calculated how much time everyone has got left to run the remaining stages. Please see the GC table via this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/64uvfnpj17ouyot/Tour%20de%20Serpiesphere%202021%20-%20Results%20After%20Stage%201.pdf?dl=0

It is likely that we haven’t got everyone’s marathon PB correctly (for example if it is not on Power of 10 or Serpiebase, we wouldn’t know), or in some cases it is missing.  For any addition or amendment on your marathon PB, please let Malcolm know.

 

Stage 2 – 10km (from now until 28th Feb)

Well done to more than a dozen of us who have already entered Stage 2.  Race cut off is on Sunday 28th February at 22:00 (UK time).  In a similar way as Stage 1:

Once again, one lucky participant of Stage 2 will be drawn after the race and will win a Start Fitness voucher worth £20.

Email Hans if you have any queries.

 

And finally…

Missed Stage 1 and thought it would be fun to enter?  I’m afraid you are not able to enter time for Stage 1 properly on the website, and you won’t be in the running for any overall prizes.  However, the good news is you are more than welcome to enter your time for Stage 2 (and any subsequent stages) just by following the instructions above. Also, you can run an 8k at your leisure and let us know your time, so your overall marathon time will be on record (provided you enter all other stages), although you’ll be placed in a separate category and you won’t win the overall marathon comparison prize.  To let us know any missing 8k times, please email Frank.

 

Good luck in Stage 2!

The Tour de Serpiesphere Team (Frank, Hans, Lee & Malcolm)

 

Submitted: 20 February 2021

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