How the Serpentine handicap works
The first Serpentine handicap was first run in August, 1982, over a course comprising two laps of the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park. The original course was measured at 4.12 miles and, following a minor realignment of the paths in 1998, it was re-measured at 4.080 miles (6,565 metres) which is how it stayed until September 2004. In October 2004 the Park Authorities asked us to start and finish the race at the bandstand which resulted in the course being extended to 4.335 miles (6.975 km).
To support some older runners who still wanted to run the handicap but who could no longer safely run two laps of the lake, the Emeritus lap was introduced, to much success. Several runners came back to the handicap, gleeful they could get back to their beloved race and be included once more.
Building on the success of the Emeritus lap, at the end of 2025, a trial of extending the successful one lap to anyone who wasn’t up to the 6,565 metres was enabled. A runner could be injured, returning after a long break, new to running, or have run for a long time and their body is saying 3.546k is enough – if one lap of the lake, slightly over half the distance, was an appropriate challenging distance, that would not be barrier to joining the race.
After all, the handicap is a most marvelous race of effort: if you’re slower, you get a head start; so why not, if your running distance is around 3km, the length of the course be adjusted. The one lap still requires effort – it’s not for if you just have a hangover! Participants are required to find the single lap a challenge, run the best they can on the day, and have an appropriate (late) start time reflecting the fact they do a single lap.
At the end of 2025 it was decided to proceed with the one lap option being a full part of the race: everyone is equal and effort duly rewarded – with adjusted start times for pace and distance, anyone can be on the podium. In January 2026, this single lap option was christened: The Golden Loop – just like the stripe on our Serpies tops.
Here’s what having a 1 lap option meant for 1 runner:
Since January 1984 the race had only been cancelled once… until the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The race was then suspended from April 2020 until July 2021, restarting in August 2021. There has been one more cancellation due to Royal parks closing Hyde Park due to adverse weather in December 2024.
The basic idea is for all runners to finish at the same time (48 minutes after the watch has been started!) and, after the first (scratch) run, start times are adjusted accordingly.
Awards are given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in each race, but the main trophies and awards are for the annual Tom Hogshead series. Here, total points scored (position plus bonus) from the best eight out of a possible 12 races are aggregated, and the highest scoring first claim member wins.
The race is open only to club members. If you are not a member, you will need to join the club before you can take part.
So, how does it work?
The basic handicap start time is a runner’s best time from his or her last six runs, and subtracted from 48 minutes and rounded up or down to the nearest 15 second start interval.
The bells and whistles are:
New runner loading
After a single scratch run, a new runner’s handicap is weighted for the following 2 runs, as follows:
2nd run – 60 seconds, and
3rd run – 30 seconds.
The reasoning is that a new runner improves significantly in the first few months of running, without undue effort. These loadings are designed to prevent someone who is going through this natural process from coming too high in the finishing order too often, disproportionately ahead of those who run the handicap regularly. It doesn’t always work: Jacky Booth won her second race in September, 1998, having improved from 44.49 to 40.21!
Place loading
Anyone who places 1st, 2nd, or 3rd receives a loading in accordance with the following table:
| Place | No. of seconds |
| 1st | 30 |
| 2nd | 20 |
| 3rd | 10 |
The reasoning for podium loading is to make it harder for these runners to keep placing, and to spread the opportunities for placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd around a bit. Again, it doesn’t always work: witness the performance of Keith Morris during 1998. By the end of the year, Keith’s loading had increased and he was still scoring well, and thoroughly deserved his trophy win.
Handicap data and start time calculation
Members can see their handicap start time and how it is calculated in their membership profile. (You need to log in to the website to see it.)
Points scoring
Points are awarded in two categories: position and bonus.
Position points start at 20 for a win, 19 for second, down to the minimum which everyone scores for completing a race.
Bonus points depend on how close a runner gets to his or her pb: 100% (ie, equalling or improving a pb, OR an age-graded pb) scores 12: over 99% scores 11, and so on, down to 90%, which scores 2.
When Ros Young took over from James Godber in January 1998 she made one change to the system he had operated, which was to discontinue the discount which rewarded the number of races run, effectively a negative percentage loading on the handicap. The table for this had evolved over the years, and to an extent, compensated for the ageing profile of the race participants. The variation in number of races run was substantial: Alan Woodward, at 65+ had done almost 160, whereas Eamonn Richardson and Phill Harris, still (then) under 40, were approaching 100 races.
Age-graded tables had by then become available, and she used the 5 K road factors to age-grade pbs instead, to allow older runners, those over 40, to score more bonus points, and to compensate for a natural reduction over time in position points.
In January 1999 she introduced one further change, which was to treat those returning after a very long absence from the race (more than 7 years) as new runners: previously, after their first run, they were handicapped on the best of their last six runs.
Come the end of 2025, as the handicap evolves, the length of time before you become scratch again (due to not running the handicap) was changed to 3 years to make it less daunting to return (this used to be 12 months, to keep start lists manageable, before race-day registration went fully online in 2025); and the length of time the algorithm looks back at to calculate the target PB has has been limited to 7 years.
And that’s all there is to it at the moment.
We don’t think there is a right or wrong way of calculating handicaps: there will always be lively debate, and this is healthy. There is scope to change things at the start of each year but the effects of any changes have to be carefully considered first. The handicap is a Serpentine tradition, and all participants do have to perceive the results as fair. By encouraging newer, faster runners, you may discourage long-standing or slower runners. The larger the number of particpants, the smaller the percentage of runners scoring position points…. and so on. The objective is the fairest balance between (apparently) opposing ends.
The website has all the results since August 1982.