Month: July 2017

 

Fairlands Valley Spartans’ Relays in the Park are becoming hugely popular and on Thursday evening 66 women’s and 62 men’s teams took part.  That’s more than 500 runners each racing three kilometres round Fairlands Valley Park on a beautiful summer’s evening.

The fastest woman on the night was Rosie Keane from Luton who stormed round in a sub ten 9 minutes 51 seconds, even faster than her 9:55 in 2016.  She set up her club to win in a total of 32 minutes 29 seconds.  Luton also had the fastest man.  Ian Kimpton went round the undulating course in 8 minutes 29 seconds but Bedford and County won the men’s race in 45 minutes 35 seconds.  There were three runners in women’s teams and five in men’s.

Fairlands Valley Spartans won double BRONZE in the Hertfordshire County Championships which were incorporated in the event.  GRANT RAMSAY (9:39); RICHARD SPRINGALL (10:27); STEFFAN FORD (10:24); SIMON JACKSON (9:50); and ANDREW PATTERSON (9:47) had a total time of 50 minutes 7 seconds in the seniors (18 to 39) race while BRIAN WHITE (11:03); RICHARD BRUCE (10:28); TIM SABAN (11:41); DAVID RIDDELL (11:14) and DANNY HUKIN (11:00) won their medals in the veteran category with a total of 55 minutes 26 seconds.

The Spartan women were JO BOWDERY (13:05); NICOLA KENNEDY (13:07); JULIET FULLWOOD (13:40); KAREN ELLIS (13:50); ALICE BURLEIGH (13:56); SARAH PIKE (14:36); KELLY McHALE (14:46); VICTORIA BRETT (14:55); JULIE SHADBOLT (15:06); SUE HARMER (15:07); PENNY SCHENKEL (15:20); ALEX WHITEHOUSE (16:15) and EMMA MARTIN (21:42).

The club led by race director ANDY JAY provided dozens of marshals and other volunteer helpers for the event.

 

3K Relay Times for the 45 Spartans:

 

Position	Name	M/F	FVS Team	Time	Comments
19	GRANT RAMSAY	M	A	9:39
27	ANDREW PATTERSON	M	A	9:47
31	SIMON JACKSON	M	A	9:50	8 sec imp. on 2016
54	JOHNNY PENNELL	M	B	10:11
66	STEFFAN FORD	M	A	10:24
70	RICHARD SPRINGALL	M	A	10:27
71	RICHARD BRUCE	M	G	10:28
105	CHRIS TILLBROOK	M	B	10:51
116	TODD GRAY	M	B	10:57	30 sec 2016
123	DANNY HUKIN	M	G	11:00
128	BRIAN WHITE	M	G	11:03
129	MARK COLLINS	M	B	11:05
141	DAVID RIDDELL	M	G	11:14
165	RICHARD KENNEDY	M	D	11:36
168	NICK GILL	M	D	11:37
173	TIM SABAN	M	G	11:41
230	PETE SMITH	M	C	12:24
240	DARREN EMMERSON	M	C	12:31
248	MARK GOODWIN	M	C	12:40	8 sec 2016
254	MARK BEASLEY	M	E	12:43
275	JO BOWDERY	F	A	13:05	39W
279	NICOLA KENNEDY	F	B	13:07	42W
286	MARTIN DUDLEY	M	E	13:14	2 sec 2016
313	KEN JUDE	M	C	13:35
324	JULIET FULLWOOD	F	A	13:40	66W
333	CALLUM BEASLEY	M	E	13:44
336	TIM ROBINSON	M	C	13:46
339	VISHAL SHAH	M	F	13:48
341	KAREN ELLIS	F	C	13:50	76W
347	CLIVE CANNON	M	F	13:55
348	ALICE BURLEIGH	F	A	13:56	79W
354	ANDY SMITH	M	D	14:02
367	LEE PICKERGILL	M	D	14:14
395	SARAH PIKE	F	D	14:36	104W
401	JIM BROWN	M	D	14:42
406	KELLY MCHALE	F	B	14:46	112W
415	VICTORIA BRETT	F	B	14:55	120W
422	JULIE SHADBOLT	F	C	15:06	127W
425	SUE HARMER	F	E	15:07	130W
434	PENNY SCHENKEL	F	C	15:20	138W
453	PAUL HOLGATE	M	F	15:42	37 sec 2016
462	ALEX WHITEHOUSE	F	D	16:15	158W
469	WAYNE MCMILLAN	M	F	16:35
489	PETER CARPENTER	M	F	17:30
514	EMMA MARTIN	F	E	21:42	203W

The course, in the top half of the park was ideal for spectators and the event start at 7.30p.m. meant plenty were able to go along.

 

Eastern Masters Track & Field League – Match 4 – Weds 26th August 2017

A superb last league match of the season in Stevenage returned plenty of team and individual successes for Spartans’ Masters Track and Field teams.  With home advantage, the ladies won their match by three points to secure the Central Division league title and confirm a place in September’s final.  The men’s team enjoyed their best match this season with a fourth place finish lifting them to fourth overall in the division.

The club excelled in the mile event, winning all five of the races they contested.  YUKO GORDON won the W60 in 6:37.2, setting a new league record and with a 94.2% age grading was awarded the ladies “Athlete of the Match”.  In the W50 race, ALISON WOOD maintained her superb form over middle distance events, setting a new ladies club record in a time of 5:50.6.  The men’s club record also fell, with an outstanding run from newcomer RICHARD BRUCE, who was the fastest athlete on the night, winning the M35 category in 4:53.1.  JOHN HARRIS set a new M55 club age best of 5:49.3 with his M50 win and CHRISTINE LATHWELL held on to secure maximum points in a close W35 race in 6:10.9.  Running as a non-scorer, BRIAN BRACKSTONE clocked 5:03.2.

MONICA BROWN top scored for the ladies team, earning 31 points from her four individual events including wins in the W50 100m, W50 Triple Jump and W50 High Jump.  Her clearance of 1.27cm was the highest age graded performance in the ladies field events.  There were also wins for ladies captain TESSA STEPHENSON in the W50 400m, JULIE SIMMONS in the W60 400m and IRIS HORNSEY in the W60 Triple Jump.  SHARON CROWLEY set a new PB of 13:26.8 for the 2km walk and ANDREA WESTCOTT improved her PBs in the W35 Javelin and High Jump.  CATHY CRAIG, STEPH MAYFIELD and debutant SUZY HAWKINS completed the team.

With the men’s team just six strong, it meant a busy night for most of the athletes as they attempted to cover as many events as possible to maximise their points tally.  STEVE MAYFIELD secured 2nd places in the M50 100m and 400m sprints and set M50 club age bests in both the Javelin and Discus, the latter with a PB of 28.15.  DAVE STEPHENSON also took on four events and team captain MARK FREEMAN three, contributing 32 valuable points between them.  Continuing his improvement as a track and field athlete, ANTON McCALLA set new PBs in the M35 100m (13.9) and Triple Jump (9.09m).

The evening ended with the 400m/200m/200m/400m medley relays.  The W50 ladies foursome of Alison Wood, Sharon Crowley, Monica Brown and Tessa Stephenson won comfortably in 3:45.2, setting their third league record this season.  The W35 team earned second place in their race with 4:04.9.  Unable to muster two teams, the men fielded a mixed age group quartet and though a brilliant anchor leg from Richard Bruce couldn’t quite snatch an unlikely victory, their time of 3:01.8 was fast enough to break the club M40 record.

A thoroughly successful evening hosted by FVS but facilitated through considerable support from Stevenage and North Herts AC aided by volunteers from FVS and NHRR.

 

Great Run in Great Grimsby

EMMA POULTER did the Great Grimsby 10K in 1 hour 10 minutes 50 seconds.  A personal best of almost four minutes.

 

Great City

STEFFAN FORD AND SIMON JACKSON were racing the Standard Chartered Great City 5k Race around the twisty, turny and very busy streets of London on Monday night.

In a race with 6000 entrants both finished in the top 100, with SIMON the first Spartan home in 25th position in a new PB of 16:40, despite him being in the middle of an intense Ironman training program and no rest or tapering pre race.  Whilst STEFFAN after only doing Ironman UK a week before finished in a very credible 17:46 in his first run since the Ironman.

 

Grim Reaper

Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire was the scene for the Grim Reaper ultra marathon at the weekend.  It consisted of 10 mile loops of the stunning grounds of the estate, past lakes, through forests and along stately tree lined drives.

Starting at 9.30am the event runs through for 26 hours with participants able to chose 40,70 or 100 miles as their target distance.

John Nelms completed 40 miles (4 laps) in 7 hours 25.  Then he had to get home to work a night shift!

Tricia Hopper, Barry King and Karen Liddle ran 40 miles in 10 hours 36 minutes.

Conditions were generally good with rain setting in for their final lap.

 

Twilight Marathon

IAN ALEXANDER completed the Twilight Marathon in Ilford yesterday in a time of 6:32:22.  The galling thing for him was that he was one second outside his PB from the London Marathon.

The route started off going downhill and was flat until the last half mile when we encountered a hill, the first half was as bad as the Chingford hill and the rest was a slight incline.

They had all sorts of refreshments there and whilst you were running, if you needed anything, you asked and it was given to you at the start of the next lap.

Ian said it was well organised and the only thing wrong was by the time you had been round 4 times you were bored with the course.  It was 21 laps.

 

Parkrun Reports

GRANT RAMSAY made it back-to-back first place finishes at Stevenage parkrun when finishing in 17 mins 30 to increase his margin over the same second-placed finisher as last week.  BRIAN WHITE was 8^th in 19:33, recording a new course PB, and NICK GILL also notched a new course PB as he broke the 21 minute barrier for the first time, finishing 17^th in 20:33.  MARTIN DUDLEY (22:31) and MARK BEASLEY (22:37) also made the top 50.

There were also course PBs for CLIVE CANNON (23:31, MICHAEL ANDREWS (24:46), STEVE ELDER (27:15) and PAUL HOLGATE (27:27).  The other Spartan men in action were DARREN EMMERSON (24:08), NEIL ROBINSON (24:20), LEE PICKERSGILL (25:02), KARTIK SHARMA (26:08), JAMES SOUTH (29:29) and SELVAN NAICKER (40:00).

TRACY PEZ was the first Spartan woman to finish, in 12^th place in 25:22.  CAROL PAUL (26:56) was 18^th and KAREN PALMER (28:26) was 31^st.  SHARON CROWLEY ran a new course PB and also made the top 50 in 28:51. ALEXANDRA WHITEHOUSE finished in 30:53, EMMA MARTIN in 38:42 and CLAIRE EMMERSON completed as a visual impaired guide in 40:35.

In other local parkruns DANIEL SUTTON (24:21), CHRIS HOLLAND (25:15, new course PB) and TIM ROBINSON (27:51) all made the top 50 at Westmill.  VERITY FISHER was the sole Spartan woman running there and was eighth in 26:04. At St Albans, BARRY OSBORNE was 17^th male in 19:43 while MADELEINE PRITCHARD was sixth woman in 22:18. PAUL MAGUIRE was the only Spartan to venture to Ellenbrook Fields, finishing 14^th in 21:14 on his first visit. TRACY STILES took on the inaugural running of the new parkrun at Heartwood Forest near St Albans and finished 39^th in 33:25.

Elsewhere, ANDY JAY was in the west country and ran 23:53 at Exeter Riverside, a new course PB.  DARRYL STEVENS was at Salisbury and completed in 39:30.

JIM BROWN was sweep runner in the Serpentine 5K and finished in 35:13.

 

USA Quad

Roger Biggs was in the States, to run in four marathons over two weekends in Montana and Alaska.  However, things don’t always work out.

Marathon 1 – Madison Marathon in Montana:  This was in the Gravelly Mountains of Montana. It was unusually warm for a marathon where the elevation didn’t slip below 8500ft.  At 25 miles disaster struck as Roger took a tumble, that took him to hospital for forehead stitches, a broken finger and no finishers medal.  Marathon 2: – Big Sky Marathon finishing in Ennis, Montana:  Unable to run following marathon 1 problems.  Marathon 3 – Juneau Marathon in the Alaska Capital:  Unable to run as couldn’t meet time limit.  Marathon 4 – Bearfest Marathon:  Roger had to win 1 out of 4.  This was on an out and back course along the coastline of Wrangell Island in Alaska.  It was hard work for him, but Roger kept going to finish in 6:40:47

 

Coming Events

 

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including:

 

• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 3^rd August.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 30^th August.
• Herts Veteran 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 13^th September.
• Herts 10K Track Championships at Sandy on Saturday 23^rd September.
• Herts Senior 10K Championships at Standalone on Sunday 1^st October.
• Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 22^nd October.
• Cross Country at Trent Park on Sunday 12^th November.
• St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19^th November.  Enter fast.
• Hertfordshire Five Mile Championship for Veterans at Hatfield on Sunday 26^th Nov.
• Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26^th November.

Final results for the Fairlands Valley Relays (incorporating the Herts County Championship relays) can be found on the below link. These have now been updated to include individual performances and team by team summary of individual times and team position at the end of each leg of the relay.

Fairlands Valley Relays

Congratulations to all the winners on the night, and thanks to everyone that ran or helped on a massively successful evening with a record number of teams taking part.

 

There were more records for Spartan ALISON WOOD on Saturday.  The Track and Field Championships of the Eastern Masters Athletics Club were held at Garon Park in Southend on Saturday. Starting in bright sunshine, the clouds rolled in during the day, but luckily most events were completed before the downpour. With the very strong and gusty winds giving a headwind in the home straight, many of the race times and jump run ups were badly affected.

Given the conditions, Alison Wood produced an outstanding performance in the 800 metres race for women over 50 to not only win the race but also to reduce the Championship Record by over 5 seconds to 2 minutes 33.0 seconds. She followed this up later in the afternoon by also breaking the record in the 400 metres with a time of 69.3 seconds.

The other Spartans present all ended up with medals.  Tessa Stephenson took Gold in the 400m for women over 55 in a time of 80.6 seconds, Silver in the 100m in 16.4 seconds and Silver in the Shot Putt with 7.53 metres.  Sharon Crowley took Gold in the 2000 metre Walk for women over 55 in 14 minutes 24.5 seconds.  Dave Stephenson took Silver in the 100m for men over 50 in 14.2seconds, Bronze in the Long Jump with 4.10 metres and also competed in the Shott Putt finishing with a distance of 7.98 metres.

There is an EMAC track and field fixture in Stevenage this Wednesday evening.

 

Panshanger

JOHN HARRIS ran the Panshanger 5 five mile race in 35 minutes 1 second.  He was second man 50 plus.  ERICA GRAYSON commented it was very hilly but ran a new personal best of 45 minutes 45 seconds.  It was hot and hilly for JENNY PAUL who finished in 50:49.

 

PB for Tim

There was a new personal best for TIM SABAN who ran the Bedford AAA 10K on Friday night in 41:33.

 

Relays in the Park

Come and watch the relays in Fairlands Valley Park this Thursday evening.  Dozens of teams have entered the 3K relays organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.  The course, in the top half of the park is ideal for spectators and the event starts at 7.30p.m.

 

Parkrun Reports

GRANT RAMSAY returned to Stevenage parkrun for the first time since New Year’s Eve and duly romped home as first finisher, crossing the line in 17mins 41secs.  Second Spartan finisher was NICK GILL who rushed round in 21:12, with Darren EMMERSON (23^rd, 22:24) and MARTIN DUDLEY (25^th, 22:31) also finishing in the top 30 men. LEE PICKERSGILL (26:08), ROBERT EVANS (26:34), CLIVE CANNON (26:37), STEVE ELDER (28:44) and JOHN WALSH (31:58) were the other Spartan men running.

KAREN ELLIS was the first Spartan woman home, finishing 19^th in 26:58, a new course personal best (PB). J O BOWDERY finished in 30:35, with SHANI HUNT (37:05), CAREN THAIN (37:06) and KELLY CHAPMAN (37:41) also completing the 5k course.

Hertfordshire has gained a new parkrun this weekend, at Westmill near Ware, and eight Spartans turned up to try out the challenging, hilly, offroad layout.  TIM SABAN, who is in fine form, was 19^th in 22:21, with JOHN ROXBOROUGH the next Spartan, 29^th in 23:21. TIM ROBINSON (26:05) and CHRIS HOLLAND (26:43) were the other males.  KAREN PALMER was the first Spartan woman, finishing 15^th in 29:21.  MONICA SMITHSON was next in 32:04 with TRACY STILES (37:35) and EMMA MARTIN (39:23) completing the Spartan octet.

Elsewhere RUTH REILLY was the sole Spartan at Panshanger, finishing 21^st in 27:05. Regular tourists VERITY FISHER and DANIEL SUTTON were at Torbay Velopark with Verity finishing as 3^rd woman in a new course PB of 23:02.  Daniel was 35^th man in 23:14. DARYL STEVENS was at Weymouth and finished in 40:05.  Also in the west country MADELEINE PRITCHARD finished as second woman at Chippenham in a time of 23:34.

Finally PAUL MAGUIRE was 10^th at Dolgellau parkrun in North West Wales in a time of 22:09.

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including:

• EMAC Track and Field at Stevenage on Wednesday 26^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Relays in the Park, Stevenage on Thursday 27^th July.
• Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 28^th July.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 3^rd August.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 30^th August.
• Herts Veteran 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 13^th September.
• Herts Senior 10K Championships at Standalone on Sunday 1^st October.
• Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 22^nd October.
• Cross Country at Trent Park on Sunday 12^th November.
• St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19^th November.  Enter fast.
• Hertfordshire Five Mile Championship for Veterans at Hatfield on Sunday 26^th Nov.
• Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26^th November.

 

Forty-three from Fairlands Valley Spartans ran in the friendly mob match with runners from all three divisions racing 10K around Welwyn Garden City on Thursday evening.  With more than 500 runners from eighteen clubs the course had many twists and turns and was tight with some pinch points, particularly in the first couple of kilometres, but many Spartans put in excellent performances.

SIMON JACKSON led in the Spartan men’s “A” team at sixth overall in 34 minutes 57 seconds.  He was fourth veteran (40 plus).  The others in the twelve man “A” team were GRANT RAMSAY, 14^th in 36:05; BRIAN WHITE winning the veteran (60 plus) category in 40:23; MARK COLLINS 15th in 42:32; DEAN CARPENTER, 127^th also in 42:32; NICK GILL, 146^th and improving his personal best by 49 seconds to 43:34; ADRIAN BUSOLINI taking a huge 3:45 chunk of his PB to be 147^th in 43:01; MARK GOODWIN, 209^th in 45:54; DARREN EMMERSON, 232^nd in 47:22; JAMES KILROY 262^nd in 48:40; MARTIN DUDLEY 279^th in 48:43; and JIM BROWN 293^rd in 49 minutes 49 seconds.

With nineteen women finishing Fairlands females had three complete teams.  RUTH REILLY was quickest with an excellent 46 minutes 40 minutes for 220^th overall; then came HANNAH NEALE, 267^th in 48:54 and JULIET FULLWOOD, 282^nd in 49:19.  JULIE SIMMONS was fourth women veteran (55 plus) at 302^nd in 50:51; KAREN ELLIS 310^th in 51:15 and HAYLEY BIRONNEAU was sixth counter in the “A” team at 311^th in 51:17.

LISA GRAY 51:34; JENNY GARRETT and WENDY THARANI both in 53:32; CLAIRE EMMERSON and CALLIE CHAPMAN both in 55:42 and CAROL PAUL 56:04 were the women’s “B” team and beat the “A” teams from eight other clubs.

The results did not count towards the league and the run was a prelude to the presentation of awards for the four race series but it was interested to see that the Spartans were eleventh out of 23 teams in the men’s race and tenth out of 32 in the women’s.  An indication of the challenges ahead now that Fairlands Valley Spartans have been promoted to the premier division.

Race	Name	M/F	Time	Comments
6	SIMON JACKSON	M	34:57	4MV40.  SB (0:24).  “A” team
14	GRANT RAMSAY	M	36:05	6MV40.  “A” team.
88	BRIAN WHITE	M	40:23	First MV60.  “A” team.
125	MARK COLLINS	M	42:32	“A” team.
127	DEAN CARPENTER	M	42:32	“A” team.
146	NICK GILL	M	43:34	“A” team.  PB (0:49)
147	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	M	43:01	“A” team.  PB (3:45)
209	MARK GOODWIN	M	45:54	“A” team
220	RUTH REILLY	F	46:40	Women’s “A” team
232	DARREN EMMERSON	M	47:22	“A” team.
262	JAMES KILROY	M	48:40	“A” team.
267	HANNAH NEALE	F	48:54	Women’s “A” team.
279	MARTIN DUDLEY	M	48:43	“A” team.
282	JULIET FULLWOOD	F	49:19	Women’s “A” team.
293	JIM BROWN	M	49:49	“A” team
297	RYAN DUNNING	M	50:02	SB.
302	JULIE SIMMONS	F	50:51	4FV55.  Women’s “A” team.  YB (1:24)
307	ANDY JAY	M	50:51	YB (0:31)
310	KAREN ELLIS	F	51:15	Women’s “A” team.  YB (0:56)
311	HAYLEY BIRONNEAU	F	51:17	Women’s “A” team.  YB (0:48).
319	LISA GRAY	F	51:34	Women’s “B” team
344	TIM ROBINSON	M	53:02
346	KEN JUDE	M	52:53
347	DAVE SMITH	M	52:54
352	JENNY GARRETT	F	53:32	Women’s “B” team.
359	WENDY THARANI	F	53:32	Women’s “B” team.  PB (0:07)
384	ROB KING	M	54:10	SB
387	CLAIRE EMMERSON	F	55:42	Women’s “B” team.
388	CALLIE CHAPMAN	F	55:42	Women’s “B” team.
391	CAROL PAUL	F	56:04	Women’s “B” team
407	VICTORIA BRETT	F	55:38	Women’s “C” team
410	ERICA GRAYSON	F	56:44	Women’s “C” team.  PB=
414	ROB SHAW	M	56:48	7MV70
415	KARL SHREEVE	M	56:54
430	CLAIRE HYDE	F	57:49	Women’s “C” team.
433	PAUL HOLGATE	M	57:16
441	SIMON SYPULA	M	57:32
446	MONICA SMITHSON	F	58:47	Women’s “C” team.
466	JULIE SHADBOLY	F	1:02:28	Women’s “C” team.
502	MARIA THORNE	F	1:15:21	Women’s “C” team.  YB
504	TREVOR BROOM	M	1:17:38	1st 10K
505	SHARON CROWLEY	F	1:17:38

(PB = personal best; SB = season’s best {2016/2017}; YB = year’s best).

 

Fairlands Valley Challenge

255 runners beat the tough off road Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday.  55 completed the half marathon, 30 the 18 miles option, 98 the marathon and 42 the 50 kilometre ultra event.  The cross country event was organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans and thirty two of the finishers were Spartans.

In the half marathon BARRY OSBORNE was third and first in category with 1 hour 54 minutes.  JENNY PAUL was second in her category with 2:37.  ISABEL GREEN won the 18 mile event with 3:07.  CAROL PAUL was second in her category in the marathon with 5 hours 16 minutes.  Also over 26.2 miles ROBERT HARDY won the 70 plus race in 6 hours 8 minutes with ROB SHAW second four minutes behind and MIKE NEWBIT third in 6:30.  PAULINE HARDY won women over 65 event.

There were two Spartans in the 50 kilometres ultra.  CIARAN McANENY was sixth in 5 hours 8 minutes and KARK CLARK 13^th in 5 hours 53 minutes.

 

FVS in Challenge Half Marathon

Pos	M/F	Cat	Name	Sex	Category	Time
3	3	1	Barry Osborne	M	MV60	1:54
17	5	2	Jenny Paul	F	WV45	2:37
22	13	4	Sophocles Georgiou	M	MV50	2:42
32	15	6	Caroline Croft	F	WV45	3:11
33	16	4	Maria Swift	F	WV35	3:11
34	18	5	Clive Cannon	M	MV50	3:11
35	19	11	Andy Prior	M	MV40	3:11
36	17	7	Erica Grayson	F	WV45	3:11
37	18	5	Vicky Cottom	F	WV35	3:11
38	19	8	Kirsten Weiner	F	WV45	3:11
39	20	9	Claire Emmerson	F	WV45	3:18
40	21	10	Sue Hamer	F	WV45	3:18
43	24	1	Pauline Hardy	F	WV65	3:31

 

FVS in Challenge 18 Miles

Pos	M/F	Cat	Name	Sex	Category	Time
1	1	1	Isabel Green	F	WV35	03:07
9	7	4	Wendy Tharani	F	WV45	03:55
14	5		Kartik Sharma	M	S	04:18
23	15	5	Karen Ellis	F	WV35	04:45
24	16	10	Lisa Gray	F	WV45	04:45
25	17	11	Julie Shadbolt	F	WV45	04:45

 

FVS in Challenge Marathon

Pos	M/F	Cat	Name	Sex	Category	Time
20	4	2	Carol Paul	F	WV55	05:16
44	34	1	Robert Hardy	M	MV70	06:08
47	37	2	Rob Shaw	M	MV70	06:12
53	41	6	Paul Holgate	M	MV60	06:23
57	45	3	Mike Newbit	M	MV70	06:30
58	46	12	Barry King	M	MV50	06:33
59	13	5	Karen Liddle	F	WV55	06:33
60	14	6	Claire Pullen	F	WV45	06:33
61	15	7	Tricia Hopper	F	WV45	06:33
73	23	7	Sharon Crowley	F	WV55	06:57
80	56	9	Roger Biggs	M	MV60	07:23

 

Parkrun Reports

 

A bumper field of 24 Spartans lined up for Stevenage parkrun with MARK COLLINS being first Spartan home in a new course PB of 19 mins 47 secs. BARRY OSBORNE was next in, also a course PB to finish 8^th in  20:06, while THOMAS SAUKA finished 21^st in 21:47. MARK BEASLEY in 22:10 also made it into the top 30 men.  Also running for the men were STEPHEN SMITHSON (23:07), JOHN NELMS (23:08), RYAN DUNNING (23:13, new course PB), DARREN EMMERSON (23:21), ANDY JAY (23:32, new course PB), TIM ROBINSON (24:20), CLIVE CANNON (24:34), JIM BROWN (27:22), JAMES SOUTH (29:47) and JOHN WALSH (32:23).

TRACY PEZ showed her return form injury is continuing to progress well, being first Spartan lady to finish, 5^th woman overall, in 23:08. KERSTIN WEINER was 7^th in a new course PB of 24:47 and JACKIE DOWNES 15^th in 26:47, also a new course best. Also making the top 30 were PENNY SCHENKEL (21^st in 27:24), CLAIRE EMMERSON (24^th in 28:14), JENNY GARRETT (25^th in 28:15) and CALLIE CHAPMAN (26^th in 28:16). EMMA MARTIN (37:11, RUTH REILLY (38:19) and KELLY CHAPMAN (38:29) were other Spartan ladies running.

In other local parkruns JOHN ROXBOROUGH went to Rickmansworth and finished 35^th in 22:43, while ELLA GOWER was at Panshanger and completed in 33:32.

Further afield, EMMA POULTER ran 35:43 at Kettering parkrun while finally DARRY STEVENS was back at Brockenhurst where he completed in 39:04 as volunteer tail runner.

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including:

• EMAC Track and Field at Stevenage on Wednesday 26^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Relays in the Park, Stevenage on Thursday 27^th July.
• Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 28^th July.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 3^rd August.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 30^th August.
• Herts Veteran 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 13^th September.
• Herts Senior 10K Championships at Standalone on Sunday 1^st October.
• Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 22^nd October.
• Cross Country at Trent Park on Sunday 12^th November.
• St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19^th November.  Enter fast.
• Hertfordshire Five Mile Championship for Veterans at Hatfield on Sunday 26^th Nov.
• Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26^th November.

 

The 23rd Fairlands Valley Challenge took place on Sunday 16th July, with routes reversed from the previous years and including a full half marathon distance.

Ian Munro from Garden City Runners was first home in the new half marathon, with Davina Gutteridge from Barnet & District AC first woman. 55 took part in the half.

Thirty runners finished the 18 miler and Isabel Green from hosts Fairlands Valley Spartans was first to finish, with David Broughton from Bishops Stortford RC the first male.

There were 96 finishers in the Marathon. Greg Spellman from Wellingborough & District AC was first man to finish and Janet Cobby from the 100 Marathon Club first woman.

Finally 42 completed the 50k Ultra. First man was Jack Chennell from Ketting Town Harriers and first woman was Jo Summers from North Herts Road Runners.

Full provisional results can be found on the link below (version 2 with some name and category changes).

Congratulations to everyone who took on and completed the challenge.

FVC Provisional Results – V2

 

The FVS Track and Field team travelled to Milton Keynes on Wednesday and enjoyed perfect conditions for the penultimate league meeting in the Eastern Masters competition.  Despite missing some key team members, the ladies finished in second place, just four points behind the league leaders Marshall Milton Keynes.  The women 50 plus 4×400 metres relay team of Tessa Stephenson, Sharon Crowley, Alison Wood and Monica Brown easily saw off the opposition and beat their own league record by nearly 10 seconds.  There were also individual wins for Monica Brown, Tessa Stephenson, and Alison Wood on a busy evening that saw Iris Hornsey cover the W60 200m, 800m, hammer throw and long jump events!  Iris treated herself to a well earned bag of crisps at the end.

Christine Lathwell (1M walk), Andrea Westcott (400mH and 800m), and Peta Wilson (200m) completed the line-up for the ladies.

The men finished in fifth place as the six man team struggled to fill places in some of the events.  After an arduous 2.5 hour journey to the stadium, Steve Mayfield competed in the long jump, pole vault and ran a leg of the 4x400m relay.  Anton MCalla went straight from finishing the 200m to the long jump, having already competed in the shot put and finished off the evening with a leg of the 4x400m relay!  Mark Freeman (800m and shot put), John Harris (800m, 1M walk and relay), James Kilroy (800m and relay), and Dave Stephenson (200m, hammer throw and shot put) completed the line-up for the men.

The final league meeting will be at Ridlins Stadium on Wednesday 28th July.  Events start at 7pm.  Supporters will be very welcome.

Iris Hornsey and Alison Wood represented the Eastern Masters Athletic Club at the Inter Area Challenge at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on 2nd July.  Iris competed in the W70 category at shot put, 100m and won the long jump.  Alison Wood won the W50 800m race in a record time of 2:32.1

 

Joanne and Tim Win 5K

Winner on the night in a new PB time of 25:50 was Joanne Bowdery, with Tim Robinson first man to finish, in a year best (YB) time of 23:23. Adrian Busolini was second man in a YB time of 21:27 and the returning Rob King 3rd man in a season best (SB) time of 26:20, narrowly ahead of Karl Shreeve’s 25:52 PB. 2nd lady on the night was Victoria Brett in 26:53, just pipping Abigail Pez on the line as improved her PB by 55 seconds to 26:57.

Fastest runner on the evening was Richard Springall with 18:58, ahead of newcomer Johny Penell 2nd quickest with 19:26 and Mark Collins 3rd fastest in a new PB of 19:44. Fastest female was Hannah Neale in 23:04, with Julie Simmons 2nd quickest in 25:04 and Joanne Bowdery’s winning time was third quickest.

There was also PB’s for newcomer Joe Malloy, last month’s winner Linda Nolan and new member Michael Andrews; a SB for the returning Adrian Donnelly; YB’s for Peter Smith, Rob Shaw and Theresa Keast, while Ryan Dunning beat last month’s time by 8 seconds.

In handicap races runners are set off, slowest first, at times based on recent performances.  If everyone runs to form they would, in theory, all finish together.  In this race 79% of finishers were within one minute of their handicap time.

Pos’n	Name	Time	PB
1	JOANNE BOWDERY	25:50	Winner and third fastest woman.  PB (1:35)
2	TIM ROBINSON	23:23	YB
3	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	21:27	YB
4	ROB KING	26:20	SB
5	KARL SHREEVE	25:52	PB (0:34)
6	VICTORIA BRETT	26:53
7	ABIGAIL PEZ	26:57	PB (0:55)
8	RICHARD SPRINGALL	18:58	Fastest runner
9	TRACEY PEZ	27:00
10	MARK COLLINS	19:44	Third fastest runner.  PB (0:31).
11	JOE MALLOY	21:58	1st 5K
12	NICK GILL	21:14
13	LINDA NOLAN	27:09	PB (0:20)
14	CALLUM BEASLEY	24:53
15	JOHN NELMS	21:42
16	PETER SMITH	21:04	YB
17	JULIE SIMMONS	25:04	Second fastest woman.  YB
18	RYAN DUNNING	23:42
19	JOHNY PENELL	19:26	Second fastest runner.  1st 5K
20	ROBERT SHAW	27:57	YB
21	STEVE SMITHSON	23:47
22	ANDY SMITH	26:01
23	JIM BROWN	25:23
24	ADRIAN DONNELLY	21:20	SB
25	SIMON SYPULA	26:39
26	MARK GOODWIN	22:12
27	HANNAH NEALE	23:04	Fastest woman.
28	MICHAEL ANDREWS	28:01	PB (0:45)
29	MARTIN DUDLEY	23:19
30	CLAIRE HYDE	28:20
31	SALLY PHILLIPS	31:24
32	ROGER BIGGS	30:29
33	THERESA KEAST	31:36	YB

 

The August Handicap 5k is scheduled for Thursday 3rd August.

 

Spartans Roast in the Heat at Ware Ten + Ten

Eight Spartans made the short trip to Ware for the Ware 10 miles and 10K events, hosted by Ware Joggers.

In the ten miles, in very tough warm conditions, Steve Green was first Spartan home in a super impressive personal best (PB) time of 68:40.

Kerstin Weiner continued her very consistent 2017 form with a 93:38 time, to be first FVS woman home.  She ran at marathon pace as part of preparation for the Berlin marathon in September.

The 10 mile course was two laps between Ware and Hertford over a mixture of road, trails and a canal path, including two challenging hills before winding down a path onto Hartham Common.

The Spartan finishers (chip times) in the two lap 10 mile race were:-

20^th Steve Green 01:08:40 (PB); 44^th John Nelms 01:16:59; 67^th Mark Goodwin 01:20:50; 145^th Kerstin Weiner 01:33:38; 153^rd Andy Jay01:35:00; 155^th Jo Bowdery 01:35:09; and 156^th Andy Prior 01:35:02

Nick Witcombe was the FVS solo entrant in the Ware 10K.  He ran in the same conditions over a one lap version of the course.  He finished in 01:06:39.

 

350 Up

Saturday Carol Paul completed her 350th marathon/ultra at the Ranscombe Challenge near Rochester in Kent.  On an off road hilly course Carol completed 30.8 miles in 5 hours 55 hours 50 seconds.

 

Spartans Win On Turnout

Now we can see one of the ways Fairlands Valley Spartans won promotion to the premier division of the Mid Week League – numbers.  120 different Spartans, 51 women and 69 men ran in at least one of the four races.  None of the other five clubs had even 100 participants.

 

Grant Wins Steeplechase

In the Southern Track and Field League, Grant Ramsay won the 3000 metres steeplechase in Luton.  Ramsay was only going to use the race as a training run, following a ten day injury lay off, but after feeling good earlier on, he kicked on to win it in 11 minutes 12 seconds.

 

North Downs Way Half

THOMAS SAUKA tackled the North Downs Way Half Marathon.  He was twelfth overall in 1:58:38 overcoming an elevation gain of 544 metres on what was very tough trail for the most part and a bit overgrown

 

Parkrun Reports

In a large field of 288, THOMAS SAUKA was the first Spartan home at Steveange parkrun, finishing 20^th in 21 mins 31 secs. MARK BEASLEY was next in 22:50 with MARTIN DUDLEY third Spartan in 22:53. RYAN DUNNING continues to be in consistent form, completing in 23:40 with TIM ROBINSON next in 24:11. The remaining men running were DANIEL SUTTON (25:11), JON SYPULA (25:55), MICHAEL ANDREWS (26:13, a new course PB), SIMON SYPULA (26:27), KEN JUDE (27:50), JAMES SOUTH (30:25), STEVE GREEN (30:34) and ANTHONY OSBORNE (38:22).

VERITY FISHER was second woman to finish, crossing the line in 23:19.  TRACY PEZ was next, finishing 6^th in 24:09 as if to shout “I’m back!” and RUTH REILLY just squeezed in to the top thirty in 27:46.  BEVERLEY HARLOW (30:56), SALLY PHILLIPS (31:01) and KELLY CHAPMAN (37:24) were the other Spartan women.

Elsewhere, DARRYL STEVENS left his south-coast parkruns behind to run at Panshanger, finishing in 41:59, while at Ellenbrook Filelds BARRY OSBORNE was 33^rd male in 23:11 and KAREN PALMER was 15^th woman in 27:14. While Darryl was in land for a change, other Spartans WERE on the south coast. NEIL ROBINSON completed Bognor Regis parkrun in 25:22 and EMMA MARTIN ran at Hastings in 37:22.

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including:

• Mob Match at Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 13^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge from Stevenage on 15^th and 16^th July
• EMAC Track and Field at Stevenage on Wednesday 26^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Relays in Stevenage on Thursday 27^th July.
• Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 28^th July.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 3^rd August.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 30^th August.
• Herts Veteran 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 13^th September.
• Herts Senior 10K Championships at Standalone on Sunday 1^st October.
• Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 22^nd October.
• Cross Country at Trent Park on Sunday 12^th November.
• St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19^th November.  Enter fast.
• Hertfordshire Five Mile Championship for Veterans at Hatfield on Sunday 26^th Nov.
• Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26^th November.

 

The Mob Match, the final race of the Midweek League season in Welwyn Garden City on 13th July, hosted jointly by Garden City runners and Herts Phoenix AC, will feature the end of season presentations to teams and individual runners.

The full list of team and runner rankings can be found in the Excel sheet linked below:

MWL Presentation

Divisional team winners/promoted teams were as follows:

Division 1 Champions: St Albans Striders
Division 1 Runners Up: Orion Harriers

Division 2 Champions : North Herts Road Runners
Division 2 Runners Up: Fairlands Valley Spartans

Division 3 Champions: Harpenden Arrows
Division 3 Runners Up: Stevenage Striders

Congratulations to all clubs and runners who have achieved awards or promotions  over the four race series, and to all runners who competed during the season and contributed to the league’s success.

Huge thanks to Scotts Travel for again sponsoring the League this year, to Jake Amos and the organising committee, to all the clubs hosting races and to everybody who has helped in any capacity at the races this year and without whom they could not happen. Special thanks to Paul Holgate from FVS who works long into the night to produce the results of the races so quickly.

Very well done to the 33 runners who took part in this month’s Handicap 5k. Thank you to Mark Beasley and Sharon Crowley for their assistance with the start and finish and also to Elizabeth Crowley, Tim Saban, Callum Beasley’s girlfriend and the starter group for their support to the runners.

Winner on the night in a new PB time of 25:50 was Joanne Bowdery, with Tim Robinson first man to finish, in a year best (YB) time of 23:23. Adrian Busolinii was 2nd man in a YB time of 21:27 and the returning Rob King 3rd man in a season best (SB) time of 26:20, narrowly ahead of Karl Shreeve’s 25:52 PB. 2nd lady on the night was Victoria Brett in 26:53, just pipping Abigail Pez on the line as improved her PB by 55 seconds to 26:57.

Fastest runner on the evening was Richard Springall with 18:58, ahead of newcomer Johny Penell 2nd quickest with 19:26 and Mark Collins 3rd fastest in a new PB of 19:44. Fastest female was Hannah Neale in 23:04, with Julie Simmons 2nd quickest in 25:04 and Joanne Bowdery’s winning time was 3rd quickest.

There were also PB’s for newcomer Joe Malloy, last month’s winner Linda Nolan and new member Michael Andrews; a SB for the returning Adrian Donnelly; YB’s for Peter Smith, Rob Shaw and Theresa Keast, while Ryan Dunning beat last month’s time by 8 seconds.

The time interval between 2nd-32nd position was just 3 minutes and 8 seconds, and 79% of finishers were within 1 minute of their adjusted handicap time.

The August Handicap 5k is scheduled for Thursday 3rd August.

Full results are attached below.

Best regards

Paul

July Handicap 5k Results

 

It was tough, it was tight but Fairlands Valley Spartans came from behind and won promotion to division one in the last race of the Mid Week League series of evening 10K races.

They started the night one point below the promotion zone and finished one point ahead of third placed club Bishops Stortford by 33 to 32.  Crucial to this was the men’s team in second place beating Bishops Stortford by 308 race places to 317, just nine places, and the women’s team in third beating the same club by just 92 to 98, only six places.  Every Spartan runner, man or woman, made a difference.

The whole men’s “A” team of twelve runners finished in the top seventy places.  Ten of them beat the forty minute barrier on the course, from Ridlins to the top of Fairlands Valley Park and back, that was tough for the first five kilometres.

ANDREW PATTERSON led in the Spartan charge for promotion with seventh place and 35 minutes 52 seconds; CRAIG HALSEY was ten seconds behind at eighth and 36:02; next came GRANT RAMSAY at eleventh and third veteran with 36:19.  BRIAN BRACKSTON ran his best 2017 10K at 14^th place with 36:33; SIMON JACKSON was 25^th in 37:53; RICHARD BATE 34^th in a season’s best 38:27; MIKE GREEN 38^th in 38:45; STEVE GREEN 57^th in 39:52; DAVID RIDDELL 59^th in 39:59; STUART HAYCROFT 62^nd in 40:03 and new member CHRIS TILLBROOK 69^th in 40:37.

Fairlands’ top two females sprinted hard for the line with NUALA ROBINSON sixth woman in 43:25 improving her personal best by 27 seconds to 43:25 and ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER seventh with a new PB of 43:18.  SUZY HAWKINS was a top ten finisher in 44:09.  The women’s “A” team of six runners was completed by ISABEL GREEN running her best 2017 time which was 46 minutes, RUTH REILLY taking a 2 minutes 34 minutes chunk off her already good PB to finish in 46:11 and HANNAH NEALE running through the field to 48:30.

But there were a stunning seventy six Spartans in the race, 27 women and 49 men, all of them contributed and many of the other 58 helped to push other clubs down the finish order.  For example the women’s “C” team finished ahead of the “A” teams from two other clubs.

Other great performances included GARETH COWELL running a 45:27 PB, an improvement of 1 minute 1 second; VERITY FISHER was delighted to cut her 10K time by 1:07 to 48:30; ROS INGRAM took 56 seconds off to 48:40; HAZEL SMITH also by 56 seconds this time to 49:21; LAUREN DEIGHTON trimmed two seconds to 49:20; KERSTIN WEINER leapt forwards with a 2:33 cut to 50:10 and JULIE SIMMONS was second in the veteran women (55 plus) race with 52:15; MICK ANDREWS improving by 2:44 to 55:48 and CLAIRE HYDE squeezing off another 3 seconds to 56:46.

 

Race	Name	Time	Comments
7	ANDREW PATTERSON	35:52	“A” team
8	CRAIG HALSEY	36:02	“A” team
11	GRANT RAMSAY	36:19	3MV40.  “A” team
14	BRIAN BRACKSTONE	36:33	4MV40.  YB (0:37).  “A” team
25	SIMON JACKSON	37:53	“A” team
34	RICHARD BATE	38:27	SB (1:40).  “A” team
38	MIKE GREEN	38:45	“A” team
57	STEVE GREEN	39:52	PB (0:38).  “A” team
58	BRIAN WHITE	39:55	2MV60.  “A” team.
59	DAVID RIDDELL	39:59	2MV50 (SB 0:19).  “A” team.
62	STUART HAYCROFT	40:03	PB (1:03).  “A” team.
69	CHRIS TILLBROOK	40:37	YB (0:50).  “A” team.
76	LIAM HERBERT	41:07	SB (0:50).  “B” team.
87	MARK COLLINS	42:03	PB (1:03).  “B” team.
88	TIM SABAN	42:07	“B” team.
91	THOMAS SAUKA	42:25	“B” team.
92	DEAN CARPENTER	42:30	“B” team.
104	BARRY OSBORNE	43:18	3MV60.  YB (0:02).  “B” team.
107	NUALA ROBINSON (F)	43:18	6th woman.  PB (0:27).  “FA” team.
108	ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER (F)	43:18	7th woman.  PB.  “FA” team.
109	TODD GRAY	43:36	“B” team.
110	PETE SMITH	43:40	YB (0:41).  “B” team.
118	SUZY HAWKINS (F)	44:09	7FV35.  10th woman.  “FA” team.
127	NICK GILL	44:57	“B” team.
136	GARETH COWELL	45:27	PB (1:01).  “B” team.
142	JOHN NELMS	45:30	“B” team.
151	PAUL MAGUIRE	45:52	YB (1:11).  “B” team.
152	MARK GOODWIN	45:46	“C” team.
159	ISABEL GREEN (F)	46:00	YB (0:25).  “FA” team.
163	RUTH REILLY (F)	46:11	PB (2:34).  “FA” team.
165	DARREN EMMERSON	46:24	“C” team.
190	GREG KELLY	48:07	YB (1:32).  “C” team.
194	MATT GILL	48:20	SB.  “C” team.
197	HANNAH NEALE (F)	48:26	“FA” team.
198	JAMES KILROY	48:26	YB (0:45).  “C” team.
201	VERITY FISHER (F)	48:30	PB (1:07).  “FB” team.
203	PAUL BATTERBEE	48:30	“C” team.
206	ROS INGRAM (F)	48:40	PB (0:56).  “FB” team.
212	CLAIRE EMMERSON (F)	49:11	7FV45.  “FB” team.
215	HAZEL SMITH (F)	49:21	PB (0:56).  “FB” team.
216	JULIET FULLWOOD (F)	49:21	“FB” team.
220	LAUREN DEIGHTON (F)	49:20	PB (0:02).  “FB” team.
223	KEN JUDE	49:28	“C” team.
231	JIM BROWN	49:51	8MV60.  “C” team.
234	VISHAL SHAH	50:14	YB (2:41).  “C” team.
237	KERSTIN WEINER (F)	50:10	PB (2:33).  “FC” team.
247	ANDY PRIOR	50:57	YB.  “C” team.
254	ANDY JAY	51:22	YB (0:12).  “C” team.
257	DAVE SMITH	52:03	YB.  “C” team.
259	HAYLEY BIRONNEAU (F)	52:03	YB (1:14).  “FC” team.
261	JULIE SIMMONS (F)	52:15	2FV55 (YB 1:34).  “FC” team.
265	CALLUM BEASLEY	52:45
267	KAREN ELLIS (F)	52:49	“FC” team.
269	LISA GRAY (F)	52:47	“FC” team.
270	LEE PICKERSGILL	52:59
271	JENNY GARRETT (F)	52:41	“FC” team.
275	JON SYPULA	53:01	YB (2:20)
276	ANDY SMITH	53:10	PB (1:57)
292	CAROL PAUL (F)	54:51	4FV55
305	KARL SHREEVE	55:59
307	MICK ANDREWS	55:48	PB (2:44)
308	SUE HAMER (F)	55:50	YB (0:58)
313	SARAH PIKE (F)	56:21
314	JULIE SHADBOLT (F)	56:22
318	PAUL HOLGATE	56:19	SB (1:13)
319	SIMON SYPULA	56:30
322	KAREN PALMER (F)	56:48	YB (1:14)
324	VICTORIA BRETT (F)	56:46
325	CLAIRE HYDE (F)	56:46	PB (0:03)
327	ROB SHAW	57:37
330	MONICA SMITHSON (F)	58:45	SB (1:15)
339	ROGER BIGGS	59:45	YB
345	SHARON CROWLEY (F)	1:00:40	6FV55
350	SOPHOCLES GEORGIOU	1:02:36	PB
358	NICK WITCOMBE	1:04:30	YB
362	PETER CARPENTER	1:05:13	4MV70

 

The friendly Mob Match will be in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday evening 13^th July.

 

Spartan Women Win At Bassingbourn

Fairlands Valley Spartans team of nine women impressed at Sunday’s Bassingbourn Half Marathon.  RUTH REILLY, KAREN ELLIS and JENNY GARRETT won the women’s team race with a total of 5 hours 46 minutes 36 seconds with Ruth 53^rd overall in 1:43:26; Karen 160^th in 2 hours 1 minute exactly and Jenny 165^th overall in 2 hours 2 minutes exactly.

It was warm again with a breeze but VICTORIA BRETT ran a new half marathon personal best of 2 hours 2 minutes 42 seconds.

Four more Spartan women paced each other round and came in together – JULIE SHADBOLT 2:10:46; HAZEL SMITH 2:10:47; CALLIE CHAPMAN 2:10:48 and CLAIRE EMMERSON 2:10:49.

New member JULIA WHITE ran her first half marathon in Bassingbourn.  She managed to run it in 2 hours 25 minutes 47 seconds despite tearing a calf muscle less than a month ago.  Julia only entered because her sister in law had a brain haemorrhage last July and so she wanted to raise money for the Brains Trust charity as it has personal meaning.

For the men PAUL MAGUIRE ran a great new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 41 minutes 15 seconds.  Completing an extravagant four races in a week JIM BROWN missed first place in his category by a few seconds but was content to beat his target of 1:50 for the event with 1 hour 49 minutes 25 seconds.  VISH SHAH came in with 2 hours 6 minutes 55 seconds.

 

Spartan Times At Bassingbourn

Position	Name	Time	Comments
53	PAUL MAGUIRE	1:41:15	PB
62	RUTH REILLY	1:43:36	Winning Team
94	JIM BROWN	1:49:25	2nd MV60
160	KAREN ELLIS	2:01:00	Winning Team
165	JENNY GARRETT	2:02:00	Winning Team
167	VICTORIA BRETT	2:02:42	PB
189	VISHAL SHAH	2:06:55
220	JULIE SHADBOLT	2:10:46
221	HAZEL SMITH	2:10:47
223	CLAIRE EMMERSON	2:10:49
224	CALLIE CHAPMAN	2:10:48
271	JULIA WHITE	2:25:47	First Half Marathon

 

There were 303 finishers.

 

Time’s Five Miles

TIM SABAN ran the Ickenham Five in 34 minutes 6 seconds and was 27^th overall.

 

Milton Keynes 10K

In steady rain throughout ROGER BIGGS ran the Milton Keynes 10K in 58 minutes 17 seconds.  The evening event started in the Open University grounds.

 

Inaugural Five

Andy Jay was the solo Spartan at the inaugural 5 mile event held on the Woodhall Estate near Watton At Stone.   In very hot conditions on a challenging but beautiful course,  Andy finished in 44:25.  In the heat the organisers did a great job by holding water stations at every mile.

This was race one in a midsummer race series hosted by Active Training World.   Race two will be in Panshanger Park (near Hertford) on 19th July.

 

Hyde Park Friday

After Wednesday’s effort JIM BROWN ran the Serpentine 5K in 25 minutes 13 seconds on Friday but was still second in his category.  He was 180^th out of the 218 finishers in mild and dry conditions with a light breeze.  The reserve course was used due to a Phil Collins concert.  The lunch-time event often attracts a quality field.  This time the fastest woman finished in 17:43.  Jim’s run means he has already completed a qualifying series for the year.  For the time being he is twelfth out of many hundreds of runners.

 

Sauka on Skiddaw

THOMAS SAUKA ran the Skiddaw fell race.  It was tough but he ran a great time of 1:39:42.

 

Parkrun Reports

On a chilly morning KEITH COUGHLIN was the quickest Spartan at Stevenage parkrun, finishing second in 18mins 15secs. RICHARD SPRINGALL was seventh in 19:10 and NICK GILL finished 20^th in 21:08. DANIEL SUTTON (24:49), JON SYPULA (26:17), ROGER BIGGS (28:21), JAMES SOUTH (31:07 with buggy and dogs), SELVAN NAICKER (31:11), TREVOR BROOM (35:23), ROBERT HARDY (36:21) and IAN ALEXANDER (tail-walking in 58:44) were the other men in action. Selvan and Trevor were both notching new course PBs.

For the women, CAROL PAUL finished ninth in 26:09, with the next two Spartans being HANNAH SYPULA (28:49, new course PB) and JO BOWDERY (30:30). Both Hannah and Jo were running with dogs. SALLY PHILLIPS (30:59) and PAULINE HARDY (41:50) were the other Spartan women running.

Elsewhere BARRY KING opted to take on the tough Wimpole Estate for his first ever parkrun, and crossed the line in 26:17. VERITY FISHER opted for Oxford parkrun and was 13^th lady in 24:46. Finally DARRYL STEVENS opted for a relatively northerly (for him!) Blandford parkrun and completed in 39:32

 

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including:

• EMAC Track and Field at Milton Keynes on Wednesday 5^th July.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday evening 6^th July.
• Mob Match at Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 13^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge from Stevenage on 15^th and 16^th July
• EMAC Track and Field at Stevenage on Wednesday 26^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Relays in Stevenage on Thursday 27^th July.
• Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 28^th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 30^th August.
• Herts Veteran 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 13^th September.
• Herts Senior 10K Championships at Standalone on Sunday 1^st October.
• Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 22^nd October.
• Cross Country at Trent Park on Sunday 12^th November.
• St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19^th November.  Enter fast.
• Hertfordshire Five Mile Championship for Veterans at Hatfield on Sunday 26^th Nov.
• Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26^th November.