If you can't run, do please come along and share the experience of an early morning in Hyde Park by being a marshal/timekeeper/writerdowner or cheerer – please email us at handicapper@serpentine.org.uk.

We meet as normal at the bandstand (half way between Hyde Park Corner and the Dell cafe). The race is open to club members only and is 6,975 metres of pure joy (or two laps of the Serpentine, in old money). If you are a member of one of the club beginners groups, you will be especially welcome. Just make yourself known to the Handicap Team at registration and we will talk you through how the race works.

Registration opens at 8.15am and closes promptly at 8.55am or earlier if the race limit of 100 is reached. You can only register on the day, and it costs £1. First time runners need to pay an extra £1 for their race number which is then used for all subsequent races. It will help speed up registration if you have your number to hand.  If you forget your number you will need to buy another.

If you have never run the handicap before, or have only run it once in your lifetime, or you haven't run for more than a year, then you will be a "scratch" runner on Saturday. This means that you are running to establish your legitimate start time instead of using a temporary time we estimate for your first races. It will be very helpful if you have ready a recent race time.  Scratch runners run the same course, but they cannot win medals or score points. (Once you have done your two scratch runs, you compete on the same level as other competitors and can win medals and points and acclaim).

You do need to wear your club colours to score points, or win medals – make sure you have your red top with yellow stripes if you're going to compete (tri tops, red/gold serpie t-shirts, and running tops are all valid). This is NOT essential if you are running your first or second ever race when you will be running for a scratch time.

Victoria, Anne, Nyla and Ann, The Handicap Team
http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/race_handicap.html