Serpentine Last Friday of the Month

Posted on behalf of Katie Baker….

I was first introduced to the last Friday of the month serpentine run about a year ago when Gareth had messaged me saying “I’m sure I’ve seen some people in deckchairs at work”. After a bit of Strava detective work we eventually worked out that LFOTM stood for Last Friday of the Month. Taking part right outside Gareth’s office he had no excuse but to be the guinea pig and try it out in September. I then planned to debut for the October race (on the basis that the sun was out!). Friday came round and it was a beautiful day.

We all got the train up together and enjoyed a very scenic walk to the park down The Mall before grabbing a coffee and getting our deckchairs on.

The run itself was beautiful running along the Serpentine lake and around various bits of Hyde Park. Admittedly, it did feel a bit odd sweating away & seeing Winter Wonderland being set up nearby! It made a lovely change to have a flat course compared to the hills of Tunbridge Wells - so much so I managed to get a PB thanks to Gareth sticking by my side and pushing me on despite some interesting noises coming out of me.

For those working (aka The Bakers), we enjoyed some lunch in the sun before Gareth had a gruelling Halloween late shift and I got the train home. The rest of the Harriers enjoyed an afternoon of ‘rehydration’ around various London pubs!

For anyone who is either in London and can sneak out for a lunchtime run, or happens to be free on the last Friday of a month, I highly recommend joining for this race (you may even get a very well organised pub crawl thrown in afterwards too!)

Results:

Male winner: Lewis Laylee 15:23

Female winner: Deborah Bruce 17:42

TWH

Katie Baker 19:49

Gareth Baker 19:50

Ali Farrall 19:52

Elliott Hughes 20:25

Colin Timmins: 20:26

Andrew Deighton: 22:59

Geoff Turner: 22:59

Colin Ricketts: 23:18

Andrew Joad: 23:45

Geoff Hurrell: 23:56

Nick Pierce: 26:39

Peter Tullett: 26:47

Paul Kromm: 28:13