Saturday 3rd April
This saturday saw us racing to win 'Maev's Rave' race. There was silverware on release so competition was fierce! Anne McApline won, with Alice Constance coming a close second. It was a beautiful morning, and some of the heroes of the Serps did 2km in the 54oF water.
Saturday 26th April
A glorious morning for Eric Carter's Quarter. Matt Ransom won the race, only just overtaking Emy in the last few metres.
Saturday 19th April
The 4th Scratch race of the year was a 440 yard race. Nick Adams and Pim Kalisvaart were neck and neck most of the way, with Pim giving Nick the odd hug as his steering faltered. A good finish from Pim saw him take the win. The prizes were presented by Sally and Mike Olizar who were on top form.
Saturday 12th April
It was a beautiful morning and Alan Lacy was joined by his daughter Jane and his grand daughter Flora to present the prizes for the dreaded 220yd Breaststroke race for the Clary Reed Cup. John Reed finished about 40 yards ahead of the field and later investigation revealed that when he asked another swimmer at the bulletin board to read what his mark was, he was inadvertently told the mark from the column for last week and had gone in too early. The actual winner was breaststroke specialist Mark Fabik who just pipped Brian Thomas at the finish. They were followed by Ann, Maria, Martin, Deirdre, and Robin (in his suspect suit) and the rest of the field. There were reports that several people appeared to be walking during portions of the race but it may just have been a trick of the sunlight. Bill Phipps did not place, but was awarded a special prize by Alan for being the "most deserving" which was a tribute to the Clary Reed "method" of handicapping. Club President Eric Carter presented a bottle of champagne to Alan Lacy in celebration of his 60 years in the club and everyone joined in singing "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow". We also wished Anthony Cleaver a Happy Birthday and Jenny presented him a splendid lemon cake with strawberry jam which he duly shared with everyone. Additionally, Deirdre's parents came over from Ireland to watch her run the London Marathon tomorrow and her mum was brave enough to go in for a swim after the race!
Sunday 6th April
Simon Studd entertained Guiyan Zhang at the Serps. The both had a nice swim in the snow!
Saturday 5th April
The Bill and Ron Maggs Memorial Race was won by Neil Price. The water had jumped to 50oF, but the wind was bitter. There were loads of competitors in the 220 yard race.
Saturday 29th March
Two heats were held for the Dave Holiday Furlong - a Scratch 220. In the first heat, Robin came through strong on the second hundred to win, just beating Brian Thomas. Sam, who was well out front on the first leg, came in third and Maria was 4th. In the second heat, Pim led from the start and finished 1st with Alice coming in second, Neil third and Norman 4th. We were also entertained by a group of 20-30 lads out on a stag due going in and doing a 100. Dave Holiday presented the prizes.
Saturday 8th March
A lovely morning saw two races, both scratch races. The water was 44oF and there was a healthy turn out. In the first race it was very tight at the front the whole way with Pim from the Neathelands just being beaten by Nick Adams at the end of the 110 yards.
Saturday 1st March
Saturday 23rd February
Bad sportsmanship seems to be catching! After Peter Larrad won his race last week, Bill Deeley thought he'd do the same in his race!!! Luckily he was just beaten on the line. A lovely morning with a balmy 41oF in the Serps.
Saturday 16th February
The water was 38oC and quite nippy. A lovely clear morning for the three scratch races. The first was won by Peter Larrad, which is terribly bad form as he was the sponsor of the races! The second and third were won by Sakura Hingley and Nick Adams respectively. Sakura Hingley was sporting the prototype new Serps Girls swimsuit, please send your orders to her by email.
Monday 11th February
At 7.00 am on a fine and misty Monday morning the Serps was invaded by the Russians (and Latvians) led by our very own Moscow Serps member Antonina Frolenkova. Having participated in the Cold Water swimming championships over the previous weekend the group numbering nearly 30 paid a welcome visit to meet the Serps and see where we swim. They swam, had races with the Serps members, played tourist and presented a commemorative cup to the club plus certificates for everyone present.
A fraternal time was had by all
Sunday 10th February
This weekend a team of a dozen SSC swimmers ventured down to Tooting Lido for the World Winter Swimming championships in rather pleasant conditions, with the temperature some 50 degrees warmer than those faced in Finland last year.
On Saturday the main event was the 25m head-up breaststroke. All the Serpentine swimmers managed to qualify for the A or B finals though only Paul Cooper was able to come away with a medal, while Jeremy put in a wonderful performance to win the battle of the Hunter brothers.
Sunday was more successful with Sophie and Nick coming away with silvers in the 60m freestyle race and one of the relay teams gaining silver in the international relay as the top placed British team. The club also provided a decent number of competitors for the 450m endurance swim.
Saturday 2nd February
The water was incredibly flat, and 39oF. The air was quite nippy, but everyone seemed to find the water tollerable. Rather stupidly, Nick Adams some how managed to win his race.
Sunday 27th January
A number of Serps swimmers headed down to Brighton for a sea swim. The water was 7.6oC and a few swimmers pushed it a little far and got rather bad shivers/shudders!!
Saturday 26th January
A lovely morning at the Serps. Water was 43oF,
Sunday 13th January
A number of the Serps swimmers went on a pond crawl, starting at the Serps then off to the Highgate Mens' Swimming Pond and Kenwood Ladies' Swimming Pond and finally to the Hackney Fields Lido.
Saturday 12th January
The race series of the New Year are well underway.
