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News

BARRY 1st in Category at HATFIELD FIVE

 

Hatfield 5 Mile County Championships

Twelve Spartans made the short trip to Hatfield for the 5 Mile race incorporating the Senior County Championship. STEVE GREEN ran a new Personal Best of 31:36 in finishing 14th in the M40 category, while BARRY OSBORNE took the prize for the first male over 60, finishing in 32:24. STEVE SMITHSON finished in 37:19 and JIM BROWN in 38:08 (6th in the M60 category).

For the women, JOANNE BOWDERY was the first Spartan finisher in 41:23, followed by STEPHANIE MAYFIELD with a huge new PB of 42:37 in her best age-graded result for four years.  CAROLE SHELDRICK finished in 45:07, CAROLINE CROFT in 44:23), SHARON CROWLEY notched a season’s best in 47:42 and IRIS HORNEY was 3rd in the W70 category in 49:46. KELLY CHAPMAN and CAREN THAIN completed the race together in 62:33.

 

Pos Name Gun Time Chip Time Category Cat Pos Gender Notes
56 STEVE GREEN 00:31:44 00:31:36 M40 14 Male  New personal best
74 BARRY OSBORNE 00:32:32 00:32:24 M60 1 Male  1st Over 60
149 STEVE SMITHSON 00:37:30 00:37:19 M40 40 Male
172 JIM BROWN 00:38:29 00:38:08 M60 6 Male
238 JOANNE BOWDERY 00:42:19 00:41:23 Lady 26 Female
265 STEPHANIE MAYFIELD 00:43:33 00:42:37 W40 22 Female  PB by 2:13
290 CAROLE SHELDRICK 00:45:07 00:44:08 W40 27 Female
299 CAROLINE CROFT 00:45:22 00:44:23 W40 28 Female
379 SHARON CROWLEY 00:48:59 00:47:42 W50 22 Female  Season’s Best
398 IRIS HORNSEY 00:50:43 00:49:46 W70 3 Female
466 KELLY CHAPMAN 01:03:50 01:02:33 Lady 87 Female
467 CAREN THAIN 01:03:50 01:02:33 Lady 88 Female

 

Bass Belle 10 miler

Nine Spartans headed into Cambridgeshire for the Bass Belle 10 Miler, run in aid of  Brainstrust, and on a fantastic day for the club ANDREW PATTERSON ran a massive new PB of 56:11 to take the trophy for third place in the open male category. Meanwhile GRANT RAMSEY was 4th overall and 1st Veteran in 56:45. BRIAN WHITE completed a trio of Spartan trophies as he finished in 01:07:06 for 1st in the M60 category. TIM ROBINSON (01:25:35) and KEN JUDE (01:30:23) also ran for the men.

For the ladies, KAREN ELLIS ran a terrific race to finish in 01:25:42 and a top 20 finish in her category. JULIE SHADBOLT continued her recent form with a new PB at the 10 mile distance, finishing in 01:31:35 and the Spartan contingent was completed by JENNY GARRETT  and HAZEL CLARK both running well in 01:33:43 and 01:33:46 respectively.

 

Pos Name Gun Time Chip Time Category Cat Pos Gender Notes
3 Andrew Patterson 00:56:12 00:56:11 Senior 3 Male New personal best
4 Grant Ramsay 00:56:45 00:56:45 M40 1 Male 1st in M40
31 Brian White 01:07:06 01:07:06 M60 1 Male 1st in M60
201 Tim Robinson 01:26:04 01:25:35 M40 52 Male
202 Karen Ellis 01:26:08 01:25:42 W45 16 Female
244 Ken  Jude 01:30:51 01:30:23 M50 26 Male
250 Julie Shadbolt 01:32:02 01:31:35 W45 24 Female PB
272 Jenny Garrett 01:34:11 01:33:43 W45 26 Female
274 Hazel Clark 01:34:12 01:33:46 W35 49 Female

 

Bright and Breezy 5K

Two Spartans enjoyed a bright and breezy 5K race in Hyde Park on Friday.  DAVE BOWKER finished the Serpentine Last Friday event in the top 100, he was 98th in 20 minutes 32 seconds, while JIM BROWN improved his 5K time by three seconds when he came 182nd in 23:43.

 

La Rochelle Marathon

ROGER BIGGS and PAUL HOLGATE were in France this weekend to run the country’s 3rd largest marathon in LA Rochelle, a two-lap event twisting through the sea-town’s quant streets and quays. Roger ran his second best marathon of the year to finish in 4:32:46 while Paul ran his best marathon time for over 3 years finishing in 5:27:21 (season’s best).

 

Saxon Shore Marathon

On Saturday CAROL PAUL ran the Saxon Shore marathon from Walmer in Kent. The marathon was a 5-lap course starting in Walmer, running along the coast through Deal and then returning to Walmer. It was a cold day with the wind picking up at times but Carol completed the marathon in 4:20:31.

 

 

Spartans Third In Cross Country, Next Race 18th December

After two races Fairlands Valley Spartans are in BRONZE position in the cross country league series but it is close and they could easily slip back to fourth or move up to SILVER.

Their combined male and female scores after the Grovelands Park fixture were 1,025 compared with 985 for second placed Harpenden and 1050 for St Albans in fourth.  In that fixture the FVS men were second on 254 compared with Trent Park’s 202 and St Albans 288.  A better turnout by the club’s women at the third race, which will be in Willian on 18th December, could hugely boost the Spartan performance as they were ninth out of the nineteen teams on 254 with Trent Park eighth on 202 and St Albans tenth 288.  A lower score is better as it is made up of lower finishing positions.

 

Parkrun Report (26 November)

At Stevenage parkrun SUZY HAWKINS was second woman, finishing in a new course personal best time of 21 mins 22 secs. VERITY FISHER was fourth in 24:03 and CLAIRE COX 5th in 24:18. PAULINE FARNHAM finished in 32:56, CAREN THAIN notched a new course PB of in 35:40 and CHLOE EMMERSON took on the tail-runner volunteering role crossing the line in 57:24.

For the men, DARREN EMMERSON was 18th in 21:51. THOMAS SAUKA was 43rd in 24:04 and CHRIS HOLLAND 48th in 24:29. DANIEL SUTTON finished in 24:43.

At Panshanger, ANDY JAY was 67th, crossing the line in 25:25, while at Lymington SAM PRETTY was 1st woman in 20:42.

 

Now Thirty At St Neots

ROBERT WRIGHT completed the recent St Neots Half Marathon in exactly two hours.

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including cross country league.  The opportunities include:

  • Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
  • Third Cross Country League Race at Willian on Sunday 18th December.
  • Boxing Day Five in Witham on Monday 26th December.
  • Serpentine New Year 10K in Hyde Park on 1st January 2017.
  • Herts Cross Country Championships at Haileybury on Sunday 8th January.
  • Fourth Cross Country League Race at Watford on Sunday 15th January.
  • Fred Hughes 10 at St Albans on Sunday 22nd January.
  • Southern Seniors Cross Country at Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday 28th January.
  • Watford Half Marathon inc. County Senior Champs on Sunday 5th February.
  • Fifth and Final Cross Country League Race at Royston on Sunday 12th February.
  • Veterans County Cross Country Championships on Sunday 19th February.
  • Finchley 20 on Sunday 11th March.
  • County 1500 Championships in Stevenage on Monday 1st May (TBA).
  • Stirling Marathon on Sunday 21st May.

 

Join The Spartans

Live in or near Stevenage?  Like running?  Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up!  The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010.  It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all.  The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m.  Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9a.m. sharp.  Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m.  There are events to enter every Sunday.  Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining.  Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation.  Concessions are available.  Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk  Please ask if you would like a paper copy.  You can also join online.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

Categories
News

SPEEDY SPARTANS AT ST NEOTS

st-neots-half-runner-simon-jackson_cropped

Spartan SIMON JACKSON took a fantastic top ten position out of the 1127 runners and the prize for third veteran in Sunday’s St Neots Half Marathon.  He was ninth in 1 hour 18 minutes 26 seconds.

It was windy and damp underfoot but 29 Fairlands Valley Spartans completed the race, with many great performances.

CHRIS HOLLAND ran a new personal best of 1:42:25, an improvement of 2 minutes 43 seconds.  He gained most of that in the last three miles and means his total PB improvement in two weeks of 5 minutes 57 seconds!

There were other personal best for MIKE GREEN 1:26:25; KERSTIN WEINER 1:56:49 and SUE HAMER 2:00:36.

Spartan JAMES KILROY completed number ten of his half marathon challenge this year.

This, in 1:55:25, was his third one back after four months out injured and his times have steadily been going back in the right direction.

This was TIM ROBINSON’s third half in November for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.  He finished in 1:56:08.  You can find him on JustGiving with Tim-robinson11.

Four Spartans achieved a standard of 70% or more.  They were Simon Jackson (76.5% for his top ten 1:18:26); JIM BROWN (70.6% for his season’s best 1:44:57); PHILIP GALE (70.6% for 1:35:36) and KAREN LIDDLE (70.2% for her 1:56:39).  The standards are related to age and gender.

JAN FRY was third female veteran (65 plus) in 2 hours 24 minutes 56 seconds.  NICOLA TOUT was fastest Fairlands female in 1:54:30 with TRICIA HOPPER not far behind in 1:55:02.

There was also a season’s best for ROGER BIGGS of 1:59:45 and ANDY JAY ran a year’s best 1:49:02.

All the Spartan times:

 

Position Name Cat. Pos. Cat. Time Rate Standard Comments
9. Simon Jackson 3. MV40 1:18:26.0 05:58min/mile 76.5% Third veteran
59. Mike Green 32. SM 1:26:25.3 06:36min/mile 67.7% PB
131. Liam Herbert 56. SM 1:32:33.6 07:04min/mile 63.0%
188. John Nelms 63. MV40 1:35:33.4 07:18min/mile 66.4%
192. Philip Gale 31. MV50 1:35:36.2 07:18min/mile 70.6%
262. Dave Smith 84. MV40 1:39:30.6 7:37min/mile 60.7%
275. Richard Hazledene 90. MV40 1:39:55.1 07:39min/mile 61.4%
326. Chris Holland 106. SM 1:42:25.0 07:50min/mile 57.6% PB (2:43)
381. Mark Goodwin 66. MV50 1:44:16.6 07:59min/mile 67.7%
416. Jim Brown 12. MV60 1:44:57.5 08:05min/mile 70.6% SB
496. Andy Jay 81. MV50 1:49:02.7 08:20min/mile 60.8% YB
611. Jon Sypula 177. MV40 1:54:09.0 08:48min/mile 52.5%
614. Nicola Tout 37. FV45 1:54:30.9 08:48min/mile 61.2%
629. Trisha Hopper 39. FV45 1:55:02.3 08:50min/mile 63.6%
635. James Kilroy 160. SM 1:55:25.2 08:52min/mile 51.6%
654. Tim Robinson 186. MV40 1:56:08.5 08:55min/mile 54.6%
666. Andy Prior 187. MV40 1:56:28.5 08:57min/mile 54.9%
667. Kerstin Weiner 44. FV45 1:56:49.5 08:57min/mile 60.6% PB
671. Karen Liddle 8. FV55 1:56:39.2 08:57min/mile 70.2%
776. Robert Wright 193. SM 2:00:07.7 09:15min/mile 48.7%
782. Roger Biggs 29. MV60 1:59:45.1 09:16min/mile 64.4% SB
783. Claire Cox 63. FV45 2:00:36.3 09:16min/mile 58.1%
784. Sophie Cowan 99. FV35 2:00:36.0 09:16min/mile 55.0%
785. Sue Hamer 64. FV45 2:00:36.4 09:16min/mile 58.7% PB
852. Stephanie Mayfield 119. FV35 2:05:28.6 09:41min/mile 54.5%
870. Caroline Croft 79. FV45 2:06:10.9 09:45min/mile 55.6%
951. Victoria Brett 151. FV35 2:11:34.6 10:09min/mile 51.2%
958. Paul Holgate 139. MV50 2:13:09.6 10:10min/mile 53.0%
1068. Jan Fry 3. FV65+ 2:24:56.6 11:07min/mile 62.3% Third FV65 plus
1071. Tracy Stiles 125. FV45 2:25:17.4 11:08min/mile 49.8%

 

Steppingley Step

It was with some relief that storm Angus did not come too far north and was over by Sunday morning, for Liz, Mike and Sharon Crowley.  Sticking together they completed the 26.2 mile Steppingley Step from Barton Le Clay in 7 hours 59 minutes 23 seconds.  They were pleased to get in under eight hours and in daylight!

 

Parkrun Report (19 November)

At Stevenage parkrun NATALIE LAWRENCE was first woman finisher, crossing the line in 22 minutes 4 seconds.  CLAIRE PULLEN was third in 22:51 and VERITY FISHER sixth in 24:43. CAROL PAUL finished 11th in 25:58. The other Spartan women running were CALLIE CHAPMAN (26:49), HEATHER MALONEY (30:35) and CAREN THAIN (37:08), a new course PB (personal best) by nearly a minute.

For the men, RICHARD SPRINGALL was fifth in 19:39, knocking an impressive 38 seconds off his course PB, DARREN EMMERSON was 16th in 21:56 and MARTIN DUDLEY 24th in 22:33. DAVE SMITH (23:47) and ROGER BIGGS (28:05) completed the Spartan contingent in Fairlands Valley Park.

At Gunnersbury KELLY McHALE was 12th woman to finish in 24:24, while regular traveller DARRYL STEVENS was at Exeter Riverside and recorded a time of 41:50. Finally LUCY FIELD ran at Oxford, finishing in 27:28.

 

Grand Union

TIM ROBINSON ran the Grand Union Half recently in 1 hour 52 minutes 57 minutes.

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including cross country league.  The opportunities include:

 

  • Wolverton Five on Saturday 26th November.
  • County Five Miles Open Championship in Hatfield on 27th November.
  • Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
  • Third Cross Country League Race at Willian on Sunday 18th December.
  • Boxing Day Five in Witham on Monday 26th December.
  • Serpentine New Year 10K in Hyde Park on 1st January 2017.
  • Herts Cross Country Championships at Haileybury on Sunday 8th January.
  • Fourth Cross Country League Race at Watford on Sunday 15th January.
  • Fred Hughes 10 at St Albans on Sunday 22nd January.
  • Southern Seniors Cross Country at Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday 28th January.
  • Watford Half Marathon inc. County Senior Champs on Sunday 5th February.
  • Fifth and Final Cross Country League Race at Royston on Sunday 12th February.
  • Veterans County Cross Country Championships on Sunday 19th February.
  • Finchley 20 on Sunday 11th March.
  • County 1500 Championships in Stevenage on 2nd May.

 

Join The Spartans

Live in or near Stevenage?  Like running?  Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up!  The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010.  It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all.  The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m.  Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9a.m. sharp.  Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m.  There are events to enter every Sunday.  Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining.  Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation.  Concessions are available.  Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk  Please ask if you would like a paper copy.  You can also join online.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

Categories
Race Results

Sunday Cross Country League: Grovelands Results

 

Forty-two Spartans made the trip to Grovelands last Sunday, and some tremendous performances from all those running and great support from the side resulted in some more great results for the club.

In summary the team results were as follows:

Men’s A team 2nd on the day and now 3rd after two races
Men’s B team 3rd on the day and now 5th after two races
Men’s Masters 1st on the day and 1st after two races
Ladies’ A team 9th on the day and 7th after two races
Ladies’ B team 7th on the day and 7th after two races
Ladies Masters 9th on the day and 8th overall

Some great results and hopefully more runners turning out in the remaining three races will give us a good chance to convert into silverware at the end of the season.

The full results can be found at the following link:

Grovelands Results

The next race is the Spartans/Hitchin Hares co-hosted race at Willian (near Letchworth) on 18th December at 10:00am.

Categories
News

News Roundup for W/E 13th November

 

Forty two Fairlands Valley Spartans enjoyed the easiest running conditions in Grovelands Park for many years as they round the second fixture in this season’s cross country season.

On a course which has frequently been waterlogged and slippery in the past GRANT RAMSAY romped round the just over five miles to come second out of about 450 club runners in 29 minutes 9 seconds just 29 seconds ahead of ANDREW PATTERSON who was fifth in 29:38.  SIMON JACKSON was also in the top ten at tenth in 30:24.

The whole Spartans “A” men’s team of eight runners were in the first 75.  BRIAN BRACKSTONE was 20th in 31:02; STEFFAN FORD 37th in 31:45; PAUL NEWETT 53rd in 32:28; MIKE GREEN 56th in 32:29 and DANNY HUKIN 72nd in 33:07.

Next came Fairlands fastest female SAM PRETTY at 101st overall in 34 minutes 10 seconds.  The women’s “A” team of five was completed by SUZY HAWKINS, 205th in 37:51; ISABEL GREEN, 293rd in 41:40; HAZEL CLARK, 310th in 42:18 and KELLY McHALE, 332nd in 42:52.

 

Position Name Time M/F FVS Team
2 GRANT RAMSAY 29:09 M Men’s “A”
5 ANDREW PATTERSON 29:38 M Men’s “A”
10 SIMON JACKSON 30:24 M Men’s “A”
20 BRIAN BRACKSTONE 31:02 M Men’s “A”
37 STEFFAN FORD 31:45 M Men’s “A”
53 PAUL NEWETT 32:28 M Men’s “A”
56 MIKE GREEN 32:29 M Men’s “A”
72 DANNY HUKIN 33:07 M Men’s “A”
101 SAM PRETTY 34:10 F Women’s “A”
103 KARL CLARK 34:20 M Men’s “B”
104 STEVE GREEN 34:31 M Men’s “B”
123 RICHARD SPRINGALL 35:12 M Men’s “B”
131 BARRY OSBORNE 35:24 M Men’s “B”
143 TODD GRAY 36:17 M Men’s “B”
168 THOMAS SAUKA 36:36 M Men’s “B”
183 PETE SMITH 37:09 M Men’s “B”
190 TIM SABAN 37:21 M Men’s “B”
205 SUZY HAWKINS 37:51 F Women’s “A”
209 DAVE SMITH 38:04 M Men’s “C”
216 RICHARD HAZLEDENE 38:34 M Men’s “C”
246 DARREN EMMERSON 39:55 M Men’s “C”
256 NICK CROWLEY 40:05 M Men’s “C”
258 MARK GOODWIN 40:08 M Men’s “C”
293 ISABEL GREEN 41:40 F Women’s “A”
310 HAZEL CLARK 42:18 F Women’s “A”
316 ANDY JAY 42:21 M Men’s “C”
322 NEIL ROBINSON 42:38 M Men’s “C”
325 JIM BROWN 42:39 M Men’s “C”
332 KELLY McHALE 42:52 F Women’s “A”
334 LAUREN ING 43:05 F Women’s “B”
343 JAMES KILROY 43:36 M
356 SOPHIE COWAN 44:05 F Women’s “B”
359 NICOLA TOUT 44:31 F Women’s “B”
363 HAZEL SMITH 44:40 F Women’s “B”
379 ROB SHAW 44:35 M
381 JON SYPULA 45:32 M
403 WENDY THARANI 47:34 F Women’s “B”
436 CATHY CRAIG 53:00 F
440 SHARON CROWLEY 53:24 F
444 CLARE COX 55:07 F
446 STEVE GOUGH 55:17 M
447 HANNAH SYPULA 55:20 F

 

The 28 men and 14 women were in third place out of nineteen clubs going into this race.  League positions had not been announced at the time of going to press but Fairlands Valley Spartans are keen to do even better at the next fixture which will be at Willian, between Stevenage and Letchworth at 10a.m. on Sunday 18th December.

 

Poppy Half Marathon

CLAIRE COX ran Bexhill on Sea’s Poppy half marathon, the course was 2x 8k laps and one 5k lap nearly all along the sea front.  Runners were continuously buffeted by the wind and rain coming off the sea.  Her time was 1:48:36, overall position 131 and 18th female to finish.  She was really pleased with that.

 

Ballbuster Duathlon 12th November

On Saturday BRIAN WHITE endured absolutely horrendous weather with inches of water flowing across the roads in the Ballbuster Duathlon.  Set in the picturesque national trust north downs and including Box Hill.  5×8 mile laps with each lap finishing at top of Box Hill. So 8 mile run, 24 mile bike then finishing with 8 mile run.

Brian finished in 104th place with 3.32.57, 1st in the 60-64 age group

 

Walt’s Wine and Dine

LIAM HERBERT recently enjoyed a sunny trip over to Florida, where he ran three consecutive races over three days as part of Walt Disney World’s Wine and Dine Race Weekend. Each race took in a different route through the Disney theme parks and resorts that included plenty of on-course entertainment and gave the opportunity to have photos taken with Disney characters. The fun and excitement of running these races was only dampened somewhat by the early start times (between 5:30-6:30am) and the incredibly humid temperatures at those early hours! Liam started his weekend with a 5K fun run on the Friday morning, which was untimed, so he used the opportunity to loosen up his legs after his flight and jogged around in approximately 30 minutes.

Liam then ran the inaugural Disney Wine and Dine 10K, and had a good competitive run to finish 38th out of 9260 participants in a time of 42 minutes and 24 seconds. This placed Liam 7th in his age category, and also meant that he was the first British participant over the finish line.

Liam rounded off his weekend by completing Sunday’s Wine and Dine Half Marathon in a time of 1 hour 34 minutes and 10 seconds, finishing 56th out of 12,651 participants. This result placed Liam 10th in his age category, and once again, confirmed him as the fastest British runner on the day.

Liam was delighted to finish in the top 0.5% in the results for both the 10K and half marathon. In addition to collecting a commemorative medal for each of his three races, Liam also earned two inaugural challenge medals: the Lumiere’s Two Course Challenge medal for finishing the 10K and the half marathon during the race weekend, together with the more elusive Castle to Chateau medal for completing a Disney half marathon in both France and the US within the same calendar year.

 

Roger Biggs

ROGER BIGGS was in Southern France for the popular Des Alps Maritimes Marathon.  The route from Nice to Cannes mostly hugged the Mediterranean coast.  Following a few bad runs Roger was pleased to finish in 4 hours 43 minutes 29 seconds.

 

PB at MK

There was a new personal best (PB) of 3 hours 45 minutes 2 seconds for JOHN NELMS in the “shaken not stirred” Enigma Marathon in Milton Keynes on Monday.

 

Parkrun Report (12 November)

Stevenage parkrun joined in the Stevenage 70 celebrations on Saturday as the Mayor was on hand to award medals to all those who braved the foul conditions.

First Spartan finisher was JOHN NELMS who was third across the line in 20:55. THOMAS SAUKA was 13th in 22:38 and DAVE SMITH 26th in 23:57, followed closely by CHRIS HOLLAND in 27th for a time of 23:59.

First Spartan lady was HANNAH NEALE running 24:58 for 5th place in her first ever parkrun. CAROL PAUL was 12th in 26:17, LAUREN HARNETT was 21st in 29:24 and ALEXANDRA WHITEHOUSE finished 30th in 30:40, a new course personal best. There was also a new course PB for EMMA POULTER who knocked over a minute off her previous run at the venue to finish in 35:58.

 

Other Spartans running at Stevenage were PETER CARPENTER (29:15), KAREN BROOM (33:58), TIM SABAN (33:59), and IAN ALEXANDER (35:31).

In other parkruns, JOHN ROXBOROUGH ran at St Albans, finishing 41st in 21:20, a new course PB while ROGER HARDMAN was at Newcastle, finishing in a time of 27:52. Finally, DANIEL SUTTON (31:04) and VERITFY FISHER (31:05) ran for the first time at Ashton Court in Bristol

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including cross country league.  The opportunities include:

  • St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 20th November.
  • Wolverton Five on Saturday 26th November.
  • County Five Miles Open Championship in Hatfield on 27th November.
  • Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
  • Third Cross Country League Race at Willian on Sunday 18th December.
  • Boxing Day Five in Witham on Monday 26th December.
  • Serpentine New Year 10K in Hyde Park on 1st January.
  • Herts Cross Country Championships at Haileybury on Sunday 8th January.
  • Fourth Cross Country League Race at Watford on Sunday 15th January.
  • Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 5th February.
  • Fifth and Final Cross Country League Race at Royston on Sunday 12th February.
  • Veterans County Cross Country Championships on Sunday 19th February.
  • Finchley 20 on Sunday 11th March.

 

Join The Spartans

Live in or near Stevenage?  Like running?  Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up!  The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010.  It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all.  The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m.  Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9a.m. sharp.  Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m.  There are events to enter every Sunday.  Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining.  Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation.  Concessions are available.  Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk  Please ask if you would like a paper copy.  You can also join online.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

Categories
Race Results

Stevenage Half Marathon 2016

The full, searchable, results from the Stevenage Half Marathon can be found linked from the Active Training World site at the following link:

Stevenage Half Marathon

Team and Herts County Senior Individual and Team results can now be found in the file below:

Stevenage Half Marathon 2016 Results

 

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News

BRASS MONKEYS RUN HALF MARATHON

 

Three times Olympian and British Record Holder for the women’s javelin GOLDIE SAYERS presented the awards at the Stevenage Half Marathon which was organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans on Sunday.  More than five hundred runners, including 32 Spartans, overcame cold and breezy conditions, with rain for the later finishers.  Dozens more Spartans volunteered to marshal and help in other ways to make sure the event was a success.

Spartan GRANT RAMSAY won a BRONZE medal in the Hertfordshire County Championships having sped round the undulating two lap course in 1 hour 17 minutes 35 seconds.  He was also fifth overall out of 514 and third veteran (40 plus).

The second Spartan to finish ran a new PB (personal best).  He was MIKE GREEN, 30th overall in 1:27:45.

MARK COLLINS, third Spartan, was running his first ever half marathon.  He finished 59th overall in a brilliant 1 hour 33 minutes 45 seconds.  He says it was a killer but very happy with his time and will build on it for the 2017 London Marathon.

Fourth Spartan RICHARD SPRINGALL was also a half marathon first timer and was very pleased with his time of 1 hour 33 minutes 45 seconds.  He was 66th.  Grant, Mike, Richard and TIM SABAN; 1:36:36 won the BRONZE medals in the County championship team competition.

The fastest female from Fairlands was ISABEL GREEN with 1:44:42. She was sixth in her category.  She led in the SILVER medal winning team in the county championships which included CAROL PAUL who beat two hours with 1:57:49 and JULIE SHADBOLT on 2:01:43.  Women’s teams consisted of three runners.

CHRIS HOLLAND beat his previous personal best (PB) by 3 minutes 14 seconds which was set in the same event four years ago when he finished in 1:45:08.  MARTIN DUDLEY slashed 5:28 of his PB with 1:45:22 adding to his 5K and 10K PBs this year.

JIM BROWN was delighted to be wearing number 70 as the New Town celebrated its 70th birthday and finished in 1 hour 48 minutes 1 seconds – 10 minutes 31 seconds faster than 2015.  He was seventh in his category.

Improving by a massive 30 minutes and achieving a top half placing KARL SHREEVE ran a new personal best of 1:52:28.

CAROLINE CROFT set a new personal best of 2 hours 5 minutes 48 seconds.  THERESA KEAST was seventh in the veteran women (55 plus) category with 2:26:43.

SHELLEY DUNNE, CAREN THAIN and new member KELLY CHAPMAN all overcame horrible conditions towards the end of their races to complete their first half in 2:41:22; 3:03:45 and 3 hours 3 minutes 48 seconds respectively.

The race was won by TOM WATKINS from Newbury in 1:13:16 while the winning woman was CHRISTABEL CLAPPISON, unattached, in 1:34:26.

 

All the Spartan times.

Pos Name Chip Time Category Cat Pos Comments
5 GRANT RAMSAY 01:17:35 M40 3 Bronze individual and team.
30 MIKE GREEN 01:27:45 Senior PB.  Bronze team.
59 MARK COLLINS 01:33:45 Senior 33 First Half.
66 RICHARD SPRINGALL 01:34:30 Senior 36 First Half.  Bronze team.
75 TIM SABAN 01:36:36 M40 27
108 ANDREW JORDAN 01:39:32 Senior 54
149 ISABEL GREEN 01:44:42 W35 6 County silver team.
156 CHRIS HOLLAND 01:45:08 Senior 68 PB (3:14)
169 MARTIN DUDLEY 01:45:22 M50 19 PB (5:28)
173 BARRY BAILEY 01:47:03 M50 20
191 JIM BROWN 01:48:01 M60 7 10:31 faster than 2015
219 ROBERT EVANS 01:50:32 M40 63
239 ANDY JAY 01:52:23 M50 37
242 KARL SHREEVE 01:52:28 M40 65 PB (30:00)
243 TIM ROBINSON 01:51:57 M40 66
292 CAROL PAUL 01:57:49 W45 12 County silver team.
299 JAMES KILROY 01:58:23 Senior 113
308 STUART HAYCROFT 01:58:09 Senior 116
309 GREG KELLY 01:58:08 M40 80
331 JULIE SHADBOLT 02:01:43 W45 14 County silver team.
350 ROB SHAW 02:03:36 M60 15
356 CAROLINE CROFT 02:05:48 W45 16 PB (personal best)
357 SUE HAMER 02:05:32 W45 17
375 ROGER BIGGS 02:06:34 M60 17
395 WENDY THARANI 02:10:40 W35 43
447 LUCY WALSH 02:19:20 Lady 37
452 PAUL HOLGATE 02:19:50 M50 56
476 THERESA KEAST 02:26:43 W55 7
497 SHELLEY DUNNE 02:41:22 Lady 44 First Half Marathon
504 IAN ALEXANDER 02:56:28 M50 66
511 KELLY CHAPMAN 03:03:48 W35 75 New member.  First Half.
512 CAREN THAIN 03:03:45 W45 34 First Half Marathon

 

This was the 30th Stevenage Half and was a 70th Anniversary event for Stevenage New Town.

The race started from Ridlins Athletics Track and followed a two lap course up Gresley Way and Six Hills Way into Fairlands Valley Park passing the lakes then down the length of the park past the showground then along Broadhall Way and back onto Gresley Way.  The first lap was slightly shorter than the second which had an extra loop at the north end of the park.  Almost all the race was on cycleways and footpaths.

A big thank you to all the volunteer helpers.

 

Parkrun Report

With the Stevenage half marathon on Sunday this was a quiet week for Spartans at parkruns with the Stevenage event cancelled due to Bonfire Night preparations in Fairlands Valley Park.

DAVE SMITH went to Luton Wardown and was 31st in 24:29, while GRAHAM HILL ran at Milton Keynes and finished in 33:28. DARREN EMMERSON finished 24th in 21:44 at Ellenbrook Fields, while CAROLE SHELDRICK was 29th woman at Panshanger in 28:25.

In London, JOHN ROXBOROUGH was 13th in 21:21 at Gladstone, while finally DARRYL STEVENS ran at Brockenhurst, crossing the line in 38:08.

 

New York, New York

Not all Spartans were in Stevenage.  Two were running the New York Marathon where conditions were very different.  DAVID RIDDELL finished in 3:08:53.  MARK CHEADLE had been hoping for sub 4 hours and still cut his personal best (PB) by 20 minutes with 4:15:20.  He was very pleased as it was very busy, mostly uphill and way too hot and sunny.  Mark says the last seven miles were very tough, deceptively uphill but he managed to run all the way round albeit slowly by the end.  Overall impression was an amazing event and the support so loud you literally couldn’t hear yourself think.  The weather was very warm for marathon running, 15 plus degrees with very strong sun.

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including cross country league.  The opportunities include:

  • Second Cross Country League Race on Sunday 13th November (new date).
  • St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 20th November.
  • County Five Miles Open Championship in Hatfield on 27th November.
  • Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
  • Third Cross Country League Race on Sunday 18th December.
  • Boxing Day Five in Witham on Monday 26th December.
  • Serpentine New Year 10K in Hyde Park on 1st January.
  • Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 5th February.
  • Finchley 20 on Sunday 11th March.

 

Join The Spartans

Live in or near Stevenage?  Like running?  Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up!  The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010.  It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all.  The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m.  Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9a.m. sharp.  Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m.  There are events to enter every Sunday.  Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining.  Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation.  Concessions are available.  Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk  Please ask if you would like a paper copy.  You can also join online.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk