On Saturday 7th May the Div 4 Men’s track & field team participated in their opening meeting for the season at Tooting Bec. In what was a very tightly contested match between 3 of the 4 teams, Serpentine took second place behind Tunbridge Wells, but ahead of hosts and fellow promotion hopefuls Herne Hill and also Holland Sports. It was a form reversal from last season, when we were able to defeat Tunbridge Wells narrowly, but were soundly beaten by Herne Hill.

It was a good team effort, and with the first meet behind us and marathons disappearing from our legs (plus some training would help too!) we hope to get even stronger over the rest of the season. There were a number of highlights, the best probably being the 4x400m team who staged a spectacular comeback to take a very tight 2nd place (behind Herne Hill who had disappeared into the distance!) in just a fraction of a second over 4 mins. Special mention also to Ian Druce (5K), Simon Barrett (3000m Steeplechase) and David Lipscomb (Discus), who won their events. Ian managed to do this on debut, and Simon not only won on debut, but soundly thrashed all the Division 3 runners there also! In all 11 PB’s were set by the team. Other debuts for us came from Eric Phillips and Clinton Williams, who both gave everything and performed well, showing much promise for the rest of the season. The rest of the team was Ruairi Maciver, Andy Reeves, Andy Davies, Paul Fromme, Lars Menken, Derek Paterson, Tony McGahan and Justin Lock. Serpie results are attached.

At Battersea Park the Div 1 team dominated their meeting, but a couple of moments of early season rustiness cost them the win and they took second place. In their first outing after last year’s promotion from Div 2 this is an outstanding performance.

Due to the Div 1 match which was a home fixture, the Div 4 team was short a few of our regular officials, so extra special thanks go to Rosie Cox, Rachel Brough, Brad Cobb and Barbara (??Williams??) for their valuable help, and also to Lars, Paul and Derek who helped out as well as competing.

The next match is on 21st May at Crawley. Unfortunately this clashes with the Green Belt relay, and a number of our team will be absent (traitors!). We need a few athletes to take their places, if you are interested please let me know. Unfortunately you need to be quite fast (otherwise Lars and I might as well run!), if you are sub 18 mins for 5K or under 60 secs for 400m, or similar, get in touch.

Justin.