Serpiesphere Virtual 5K – Race 8 Results and Race 9 Instructions
Hi Serpies,
Well done to the 47 runners who took part in Serpiesphere Race 8, which was the penultimate race of the Spring series.
Race 8 Virtual Podium
It was great to see some very familiar faces on the podium this week!
Congratulations to the following 3 runners:
1st Place: Kevan Wilkinson has been making incredibly consistent improvements throughout this series, and this week knocked almost 3 minutes off his previous best time, taking a well-deserved gold medal with a handicapped time of 57:01 (net time of 21:46).
2nd Place: Hilary Walker, who has been one of our most reliable regulars across all 3 series of the Serpiesphere, also made an impressive improvement on her previous performances, earning herself the silver medal position with a handicapped time of 57:44 (net time of 39:59).
3rd Place: Baiju McCubbins takes the bronze medal, bouncing back from 2 ankle sprains last year with a handicapped time of 57:50 (net time of 30:35).
Also, the fastest performers of Race 8 are:
Fastest Male: Matthew Vokes retains this title for the third consecutive race, improving last week’s performance by another few seconds, with a net time of 17:25 (handicapped at 59:55).
Fastest Female: Mariah McConnaughey snatches back this title after a fortnight’s break from the competition, also achieving the fourth fastest overall time of the race, with a net time of 19:06 (handicapped at 60:06).
Best age-graded performance: It’s a double win again for Mariah McConnaughey with an amazing age grading of 79.4%.
I’d also like to make a special mention of the following runners:
- Daniele Biagi and Margaret King made their scratch appearances this week – welcome to the Serpiesphere!
- Pip Jones continues to make impressive improvements, reducing his previous best time by more than a minute to achieve a fantastic 22:34. At the beginning of the series he was working hard to keep up with his mum – now he is leaving his family members in his wake!
Photo competition
Thank you to those of you who shared your interesting variety of running photos over the past fortnight.
The winner of the photo competition this time is Karen Hancock, with this selfie of herself and Sarah Maisey set against a pretty floral background.
Serpiesphere Race 9 – End of Lockdown Special – How to enter
The moment has almost arrived for the Serpiesphere Spring series to draw to a close. The deadline to enter the final race of the series is 10pm on Sunday 16th May – just in time to coincide with the return of indoor drinking and dining!
I can now reveal that the winner of Race 9, as well as one randomly selected participant, will win a copy of “Running Stories”, the brilliant new book produced by Jerry Lockspeiser and Andrew Roberts. “Running Stories” showcases 88 extraordinary stories from ordinary runners, each with a photo of the writer. You’re sure to see some familiar faces as many Serpie runners are featured. Jerry and Andrew are donating all their sales revenues to support The Running Charity and their amazing work with homeless young people. Take a peek at this short video to find out more. If you’re not one of the lucky winners this time don’t worry – “Running Stories” is available through Amazon, Waterstones, Hive, Blackwell’s and independent bookshops for around £8.99, and the eBook is also available on Amazon for £5.99.
Just like the other special A-races in the Spring series, all runners will score double points for entering or winning Race 9. So if you think you’ve got a chance at winning the overall series championship, what better time to aim for a new 5K PB?
With real-life races starting up again and life gradually returning to normal, we’re having a think about the future of the Serpiesphere. As race options are still fairly limited compared to pre-Covid times and many Serpies are now based outside London, we think there may still be some demand for virtual races. One idea is to offer a virtual 5K once a month until the end of 2021. If you’re interested in continuing with Serpiesphere races and have any suggestions or comments, please email Sophie.
We’re also looking for some new people to join the organising team. If this is something that interests you, please also email Sophie. We particularly need people with Excel spreadsheet skills, but if this isn’t you, we’d still love to hear from you as we also have other roles available.
Race 9 is open now and will run until 10pm on Sunday 16th May.
Follow the instructions below to enter:
1. Run 5K, anytime before the closing date. You can run on any route you choose, wherever you are in the world! Just don't choose a route with a significant net downhill.
2. Enter your time before 10pm on Sunday 16th May here. Click "self-add result" and then choose "1 May 2021" (which includes all performances from 1st to 16th May).
3. Take a photo or screenshot that shows your time and distance. This can be a screenshot of your Strava / Garmin result page, or a picture of your watch. As long as the distance is a minimum of 5.00km (or 3.11 miles) and it shows a finish time, it will be accepted.
4. Submit the photo or screenshot here - before 10pm on 16th May (this link can also be found in the same page as the “self-add result” page). Click “Add Files” and find the file you want to add. You do not need a Dropbox account. This will just ask for your name (so we can correlate your performance with the time submitted) and email address (so you’ll get a confirmation of upload).
5. If you can, also upload a photo of somewhere along your running route. As we're geographically separated at the moment, this is a nice way to keep in touch with where other people are running. There will be special mentions and possibly even prizes for the most artistic photos.
6. Shortly after the race closing time, the Serpie computer system will magically calculate your handicapped time and award your points. You'll score at least 6 points for entering Race 9 (or at least 2 points if you're a scratch runner), plus extra points depending on your finishing position.
7. You’re welcome to run 5K more than once during the 2-week race period, and then choose your best time to enter. If you’ve already registered a time and then manage to improve on it, just click “edit” after selecting the race date, and change it your new improved time.
More information
Please email Sophie if you have any questions or need help entering your time.
Don't forget to follow social distancing guidelines during your races, and don't run if you have any symptoms of Covid 19.
Good luck everyone!
The Serpiesphere Virtual 5K team (Sophie, Baiju and Pete)
Submitted: 12 May 2021