The 2026 Jan Farmer Shield

In 1983 mass participation multi-discipline events were very much in their infancy.  Being a two discipline event, "biathlon" seemed the most appropriate title at the time.  Nowadays we may have chosen the term "Duathlon", or perhaps "Aquathon".  There is no curent proposal to formally change to our quirky title right now.

So biathlon it is, for the meantime.

The event was introduced to the club fixture list in 1983 to develop relations between the swimming club and the recently established running club.  A number of our swimmers were involved with the new running club, notably Alan Woodward and John Sextone, and a joint fixture was proposed at the club's AGM of 1983 by the then club captain Norman Saxby (himself a keen runner).  The event was an approximate 2.2 mile (3.2k) run and a 440 yard (400m) swim.  In 2007 the swim distance was increased to 880 yards (800m) to even-up the competition between the best of the runners and the best of the swimmers.

Originally held during June, in 1989 the fixture was moved to September as the event clashed with many of the runners’ summer race schedules.  In 2023 we moved back to a summer event at the request of the runnners, again to fit with their competition schedules.

Jan has a long history with the Serpentine Running Club, having been a member during four separate decades. Her speciality was long distance endurance events, participating in many activities across the globe.  One such was the iconic "Comrades" race from Durban to Pietermarietzberg, South Africa. Jan captained the Serpentine RC Veterans Track and Field Team for 30 years. She was selected for the Great Britain Age Group triathlon team and in 2006 won a bronze medal at the duathlon Americas' championships held in Newfoundland, Canada.  She followed this up with a sliver medal at the World Duathlon Championships in 2011.

In 2015 Jan was part of a "Ladies of the Lake" English Channel relay attempt.  Jan was joined on the team by fellow Serpies Eliza Kaczynska-Nay, Nicola Sanderson, Mary Gilbert, Jaana Tarma, Kirsty Neilson and Lu Ward.

Unfortunately the relay attempt had to be curtailed when a rope wound itself around the propeller shaft.

Aside from running, swimming and cycling, Jan has always had a passion for birding.  According to her great friend Ros Young, when driving Jan keeps up a running commentary on species of birds overhead.  "This may initially be disconcerting for passengers until they realise that she doesn’t need to retain focus on the birds - flight behaviour is enough for her to identify them!"