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A Tale Of Three Halves

There was a double A win as a miserable, cold, wet & windy evening did not dampen the spirits of the 19 Spartans taking part in the February Handicap 5K on Thursday. Also news from halves and park runs.

ANDY AND ANDREA WIN HANDICAP 5K

There was a double A win as a miserable, cold, wet & windy evening did not dampen the spirits of the 19 Spartans taking part in the February Handicap 5K on Thursday.

ANDY JAY was first to finish, winning his 2nd handicap 5k in 3 months. He won in December and improved that time by 1 minute 50 seconds to 24 minutes 13 seconds – a whole 3 minutes ahead of handicap.

Andy was closely followed by ANDREW GARDINER, returning from injury to beat his handicap by 2:50, in a new season best time of 18:08. NICK EMMETT was third in a new personal best time of 23:37, 24 seconds quicker than before.

New member DAVID HODBOD finished fourth, 2:24 ahead of handicap, in 19:51, while DANIEL THORBY and SIMON TANG also beat 20 minutes as Simon improved his PB to 18:32, as did JASON ANDERSON with a new PB of his own of 18:16, and DANIEL BATES just missed beating 20 minutes by 2 seconds as he recorded his fastest 5k of the year in his 10th 5k in 9 weeks, with 20:02.

ANDREA WESTCOTT was first woman in 26 minutes 41 seconds, 1:34 better than handicap. MICHELLE REEVES was second female in 22:10 and SUE HAMER third in 27:33.

ANDREW GARDINER was the fastest runner on the night with his 18:08, with JASON ANDERSON’s 18:16 second quickest and DANIEL THORBY & SIMON TANG’s 18:32 third quickest.

MICHELLE REEVES 22:10 was the fastest ladies time, with ANDREA WESTCOTT’s 26:41 second and SUE HAMER’s 27:33 third.

New members TIM ROBINSON and IAN ANDERSON ran their first 5K races in 23:57 and 36:45 respectively. STEVE ELDER recorded a time of 21:11; with BERNADETTE MILLWOOD finishing in 32:15; PETER CARPENTER in 30:34; DAVID PEACH in 28:52: VICKY MEREDITH in 33:42 and HAYLEY PEACH in 37:02.

Event Pos’n

Name

Time

Comments

Speed Pos.

1

ANDY JAY

24:13

1:50 improvement 

11

2

ANDREW GARDINER

18:08

Fastest man. SB

1

3

NICK EMMETT

23:37

PB (by 0:24)

9

4

DAVID HODBOD

19:51

1st 5K race

5

5

DANIEL THORBY

18:32

Third fastest man. 

3

6

SIMON TANG

18:32

PB (by 0:28)

4

7

JASON ANDERSON

18:16

2nd fastest man. PB (0:09)

2

8

DANIEL BATES

20:02

Year’s best (by 0:06)

6

9

ANDREA WESTCOTT

26:41

Second fastest woman 

12

10

TIM ROBINSON

23:57

1st 5K race

10

11

MICHELLE REEVES

22:10

Fastest woman.

8

12

SUE HAMER

27:33

Third fastest woman 

13

13

STEVE ELDER

21:11

 

7

14

BERNADETTE MILLWOOD

32:15

4th fastest woman 

16

15

IAN ANDERSON

36:45

1st 5K race

18

16

PETER CARPENTER

30:34

 

15

17

DAVID PEACH

28:52

 

14

18

VICKY MEREDITH

33:42

5th fastest woman 

17

19

HAYLEY PEACH

37:02

6th fastest woman 

19

Next month’s handicap will be on Thursday 19th March 2015.

Hampton Halves

Spartans TESSA and DAVE STEPHENSON took part in their first of two races in Hampton Court over the next few weeks. “Henry VIII” gave high fives as they passed the Palace with Tessa finishing the Half Marathon in 2 hours 5 minutes and 52 seconds despite falling on the muddy trail towards the end. Due to confusion over the route, Dave did an extra small lap near the start but still finished in 1 hour 54 minutes 50 seconds.

Madeira Halves

NICOLA HABERLAND and RICHARD KENNEDY ran the Funchal half marathon in Madeira on Sunday as part of their training for their four Spring marathons. Richard ran a good 1:41:48 and Nicola a big personal best (PB) of over 3 minutes for a 1:44:41.

Malta Half

BEV HARLOW ran the Malta half marathon in 1:59:35 on Sunday. She was very pleased as she had been suffering with a bad back for the last two weeks and up until Thursday was doubtful whether she would be able to start.

The course started on top of a hill in the small medieval village of Mdina and ran down to the coast. The weather provided runners with all seasons in one day – strong wind, rain and warm sun.

Park Runs

YLLKA ISTREFI ran a park run personal best of 22 minutes 35 seconds at Finsbury Park on Saturday morning. She was first in her category; fourth woman and 50th overall out of the 183 finishers.

DANIK BATES took on the Beckton Parkrun which located under the flight path of London City airport. The two lap course around Beckton Park which 70% was concrete paths and 30% running across football fields which were turned into a bog. It was an enjoyable but a hard run. Danik finished third out of 36 runners in a time of 20-05.

Further afield down in Somerset, DANIEL SUTTON and VERITY FISHER took on the Yeovil Montacute parkrun. Daniel finished 38th out of 195 runners with a time of 24-05 (a new course PB) whilst Verity finished 79th with a time of 26-41.

Several other Spartans enjoyed the Gade Valley Pre-London 17 mile training run in Hemel Hempstead on Sunday morning.

Champions Night

Celebrate with the champions. Fairlands Valley Spartans’ Presentation Evening, Dinner and Dance will be at Chesfield Downs this Friday 27th February. Tickets are only £20 and they are available now. Go to http://fvspartans.org.uk/calendar-all/races-events/presentation-evening-tickets/

Running London?

With nine weeks to go so far 22 Fairlands Valley Spartans have declared that they are running this April’s London Marathon. Some have qualified on time; some came out of the draw; many are running for charity.

They are GRANT RAMSAY, HELENE MILLER; HILARY DAVIES; JACKIE DOWNES: JAN FRY; JIM BROWN; JACKIE DOWNES; KAREN ELLIS; LISA LIVERSIDGE; MADDIE PRITCHARD; MARIA RUSHTON; MICHELLE REEVES; NICK EMMETT; NICK WITCOMBE; NICOLA HABERLAND; PAUL MAGUIRE; PAUL MARSHALL; RICHARD KENNEDY; ROGER BIGGS; RUTH REILLY, SUZY HAWKINS and YLLKA ISTREFI.

Please support them. Over the next few weeks several stories on the Spartan entries will be released. To get the ball rolling http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JimBrown1

Got a place in the London Marathon?

Got a Place in the London Marathon? Every year Fairlands Valley Spartans successful train thirty or more people, many of them first timers, to run the London Marathon. There are training groups from starters to fast fives to suit everyone. Why not have a look at www.fvspartans.org.uk or contact Jim Brown 0793 968 7509 or Karen Palmer 0773 467 8566? Newcomers very welcome.

Coming Events

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

Serpentine 5K on Friday 27th February.

Presentation Evening, Dinner and Dance at Chesfield Downs on Friday 27th February. Tickets available now.

County Veterans Five Mile Championship, and open road race, at Berkhamsted on Sunday 1st March.

Finchley 20 mile road race on Sunday 8th March.

Silverstone Half Marathon on Sunday 15th March.

Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday evening 19th March.

County Cross Country Championships for Veterans in Trent Park on Sunday 22nd March.

Welwyn Garden City Half Marathon on Sunday 22nd March.

Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 27th March.

Orion 15 classic cross country on Saturday 28th March.

Oakley 20 mile road race on Sunday 29th March.

Maidenhead Easter Ten on Friday 3rd April.

Sandy 10 mile road race on Sunday 12th April.

Flitwick 10K on Sunday 19th April.

London Marathon on Sunday 26th April.

County 1500 metres track championship in Stevenage on Monday 4th May.

County 5 miles senior championships at Pednor on Monday evening 4th May.

Midweek Road Race League race in Stevenage on Tuesday 12th May.

Midweek Road Race League race in Chingford on Wednesday 27th May.

Midweek Road Race League race in Harlow on Wednesday 17th June.

Midweek Road Race League race in Hitchin on Thursday 2nd July.

Bushey 10K including Herts Veterans road championships on Sunday 5th July.

County 10000 metres track championship in Biggleswade on Thursday 9th July.

Midweek Mob Match in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 16th July.

County and Open 3K Relay Championship in Stevenage on Thursday 30th July.

County 5K Senior Championships on 2nd September.

County 5K Veterans Championship on 16th September.

Standalone 10K (inc. country senior champs) in Letchworth on Sunday 4th October.

Great Eastern Run in Peterborough on 11th October.

Stevenage Half Marathon (includes County Veterans) on Sunday 1st November.

St. Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 15th November.

County 10 miles Veterans Championship at Buntingford on 27th December.

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 9.00a.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 ÂŁ35 per year, ÂŁ25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 or Karen Palmer (Secretary) 07734678566

www.fvspartans.org.uk

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