After years of trying we finally fielded 4 men’s teams at the 6-Stage SEAA Relays, held annually at Aldershot Arena and as a bonus we also managed to field a V40 team for the first time since 2008.

But not only did we field the largest contingent of the day (only the home club, AFD, also had 4 teams out), we also had great success across all the teams:

• The Senior “A” team consisting of Mischa Balan, Oliver Browne, Dave Morgan, Will Green, Richard Phillips and Jonathan Poole came 8th out of 96 teams in a time of 1:56:04, to easily qualify for the National competition on the 12th October. This was both the best position and fastest time for a Serpie team in this competition (previous best 1:57:23 and 13th).
• The V40 team consisting of Hendrik Zietsman, James Quinn, Andy Robbins and Andrew Reeves came 6th out of 30 teams in a time of 1:25:00, beating the previous best Serpie V40 time by over 3 minutes. The previous best position was 14th in 2006.
• The Senior “B” team, of Daniel de Palol, Nicola Barberis, Pau Herrero, Tiago Branco, Miguel Branco and Simon Barrett, came a creditable 37th out of 96 teams. We were all dissapointed for the team not to see them qualify for the Nationals, but it was a tough ask on a day where only 2 “B” teams managed this feat, AFD and Tonbridge, and only 4 “B” teams in total beat our guys. To put their performance into further perspective, their time was faster than 9 previous Serpie “A” team times.
• The Senior “C” team of Andrea Fraquelli, Damien Petitjean, Peter Holmes, David Evans, Kunal Madub and Nick Jellema came 63rd out of the 96 teams, in the fastest Serpie “C” team ever of 2:11:01, beating the previous record by almost 2mins. They also managed to beat Kent’s “C” team in the process – no mean feat.
• The Senior “D” team of Robert Peacock, Richard Taylor, Jarek Olszowka, William McAvock, Justin Lee and Andrew Taylor came 76th in 2:19:02, becoming the fastest “D” team of the day.

So arguably our best ever Southerns performance and it was great to see so many newcomers representing the club at this great event, with around half the squad never having run at Aldershot Arena before.

The success and improvement from last year, when our top team was only 33rd, reflects the dedication put in by the club, coaches and especially the athletes themselves over the past year.

Thanks to the team captains, Richard Phillips, Nicola Barberis, Damien Petitjean and Andy Taylor for their help on the day and to the supporters Jane Harris, Sam Ludlow-Taylor, Helen and Benjy Branco and the Jellema family.

Full Results can be found here:http://www.afd.org.uk/2013-2/

Congrats again to everyone!

Cheers

Andrew Reeves