
Tom Ralph was going for his London Classics medal, which he could obtain by completing the Swim Serpentine Two Mile race
Off the back of a once a week ‘leisurely’ swim training program, Tom Ralph prepared to take to the water in the Swim Serpentine Two Mile race. The event takes place in London‘s Hyde Park and the Two Mile race consists of two laps of the Serpentine lake.
This came a couple of weeks after he achieved his best ever result in a race of any description at the New Forest Middle Distance Triathlon, where he finished in 5th place. In that event he had to complete a 1.9km swim, a 90km cycle and a 21km run. The swim was in Ellingham Waterski Lake and that took Tom 41 minutes and 21 seconds. Now he was really upping the anti though with the Serpentine swim.
Although the training he’d been doing hadn’t been high volume, the varied nature nature of it seemed to have done him good and got him to a pretty good level of fitness.
When the day of the race came round, the sun was shining and the Serpentine looking stunning and very inviting. Tom felt it was a real privilege to be able to swim in there. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it though. In fact, he actually trained in the Serpentine back in 2010 ahead of his first ever triathlon in a bid to acclimatise to the cold temperature of the water. For that reason, it was a rather nostalgic and sentimental day for Tom.
Completing the two mile distance in a time of 57 minutes 40 seconds, Tom had done extremely well to finish 167th out of 3,109 competitors and he was 125th male out of 1,723. In the 35-39 age category, he placed 16th out of 349. That was a terrific result for Tom and one he could certainly take immense pride and satisfaction from, especially as it wasn’t as if he’d been swimming intensively in the build up.
The winner of the Two Mile distance race was Alex Casey who completed it in 40 minutes and 11 seconds. That gave him a resounding victory and put him over four and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rival. That was James Green who got through it in 44:43, five seconds ahead of Simon Scully who was 3rd.
Hannah Angell was first female, completing the race in 45:05 which put her 4th overall. Her closest rival was Fiona Carroll who got through it in 46:15 which put her 8th overall.
Since he’d previously completed the London Marathon, in October 2022, and the RideLondon 100, the Swim Serpentine Two Mile race was the final piece of the jigsaw for Tom. The last one of the London Classics which would see him be awarded his London Classics medal. Those three events are classed as the toughest challenges of the London Marathon Events so to have successfully completed them all was quite an achievement from Tom.
Now that’s done, it’s back to trainers on and hitting the tarmac and the trail for Tom as he prepares for the Maverick Jurassic Coast Ultra, which is 56km. That race takes place next weekend and is going to be another huge challenge for Tom. He’ll certainly throw himself into it though and give it his all.