The Easter weekend is the date of the first event in this year’s Triathlon London League. Serpentine finished 3rd in both the league and the mob match last season and it would be great to improve on these placings this year. The league’s opening event is the Thames Turbo Triathlon on 1 April (Easter Monday).

Track and field training and events get properly underway in April. On Tuesday 2 April there’s the first throws technique training session at Battersea Millenium Arena. On Tuesday 2 April we’ll also be holding the Serpentine Juniors Section Opening Event at Paddington Recreation Ground. The T&F team captains will be at the Seymour Centre on Wednesday 3 April, after the club runs, for a track & field Q&A, when they will be happy to answer any questions about participating or helping at track & field meetings with Serpentine.

The April club handicap is on Saturday 6 April. All Serpies are welcome, whether a handicap regular or a newbie – there’s no need to sign up in advance. If you haven’t run the handicap before and want to find out more, see the details on the website. Also on 6 April is the first of a series of sprints taster sessions for beginners, run by coach Chris Husbands, at Battersea. The session will focus on short sprints 60/100m plus race strategy, how to run an effective race, a short sprints training session.

There will be a sizeable group of Serpies running the Paris marathon on Sunday 7 April and for those who prefer barriers and water jumps to 26.2 miles on the road, there’s an introductory steeplechase session on Monday 8 April.

On Saturday 13 April it’s the ERRA national 6 and 12 stage relays in Sutton Coldfield, where Serpentine will have two men’s teams and three women’s teams. The Dragon Slayer duathlon is on Sunday 14 April – the 2nd event in the Triathlon London League, and on the same Sunday there are also marathons in Brighton, Bungay and Vienna.

On Tuesday 16 April there’s the next throws technique training session at Battersea Millenium Arena and the following day, Wednesday 17 April, is the next introductory steeplechase session. Then Thursday 18 April is the date for the first of this year’s Assembly League races. This first event is a Beckenham in the evening. It would be great to get a good crowd of Serpies out to start the league off well.

On Saturday 20 April there will be a group of Serpies travelling to South Wales to run the South Wales Three peaks (Blorenge, Sugar Loaf and Skirrid) as an unsupported trail run. Contact trail@serpentine.org.uk if you would like more information. Sunday 21 April is the date of the third Triathlon London League event, the Kingfisher Aquathlon in Morden. It’s also the day of the London marathon, which will probably have the largest Serpie turnout at any marathon over the course of 2013. Those planning to cheer on their fellow Serpies should keep an eye on the club news, emails and Facebook for details of plans for supporting as a group and post marathon pub plans.

The first chance for many to put newly acquired throwing, sprinting and steeplechase techniques into practice will be at the Southern Athletics League meeting on Saturday 27 April at Woodside Stadium, Watford. Contact team captains Nicola Barberis-Negra or Lisa Pettit if you want more details. The fourth event in the Triathlon London League is the Ful On Duathlon on Sunday 28 April, which is also the Serpentine 2013 club championship duathlon.

More details about lots of these events are on the Serpie events planner.

Sally Hodge
communications@serpentine.org.uk