45 Fairlands Valley Spartans answered the club’s call to compete in the first Cross Country League race of the season. On a bright sunny morning the 17 women and 28 men raced round a parkland style course in Cheshunt.
The leading performance was by CALLUM STEWART second overall in just 27 minutes 50 seconds. YUKO GORDON was first in for the Spartan women in 39:08 with ISABEL GREEN twelve seconds behind in 39:20.
Three other Spartans achieved top thirty positions out of the five hundred runners. They were GRANT RAMSAY, 14th in 29:30; CHRIS WESTCOTT, 20th in 29:50 and SIMON JACKSON, 22nd in 30:03.
Women’s Team At Cheshunt
| Overall Position | Name | Time |
| 255 | YUKO GORDON | 39:08 |
| 259 | ISABEL GREEN | 39:20 |
| 325 | JULIE SIMMONS | 41:45* |
| 332 | CLAIRE COX | 42:12 |
| 370 | JANE McFARLANE | 43:50 |
| 388 | WENDY THARANI | 45:00 |
| 390 | KAREN ELLIS | 45:15 |
| 412 | SOPHIE COWAN | 46:48 |
| 416 | JENNY GARRETT | 47:30 |
| 417 | KERSTIN WEINER | 47:32 |
| 430 | CLAIRE WHITCHURCH | 48:40* |
| 446 | OLWEN BATTY | 49:56 |
| 452 | STEPH MAYFIELD | 49:57 |
| 456 | MONICA SMITHSON | 50:46 |
| 461 | LIZ GUEMACHE | 51:20* |
| 480 | IRIS HORNSEY | 54:23 |
| 487 | HANNAH SYPULA | 56:09 |
Men’s Team
| Overall Position | Name | Time |
| 2 | CALLUM STEWART | 27:50 |
| 14 | GRANT RAMSAY | 29:30 |
| 20 | CHRIS WESTCOTT | 29:50* |
| 22 | SIMON JACKSON | 30:03 |
| 52 | PAUL HEWETT | 31:34 |
| 75 | DAN HUKIN | 32:30 |
| 97 | MIKE GREEN | 33:18 |
| 103 | STEVE GREEN | 33:34 |
| 113 | MARK COLLINS | 34:01 |
| 114 | BRIAN WHITE | 33:58 |
| 135 | TODD GRAY | 34:54 |
| 150 | TOM SAUKA | 35:19 |
| 155 | TIM SABAN | 35:41 |
| 174 | BARRY OSBORNE | 36:25 |
| 223 | PETE SMITH | 36:21* |
| 237 | STEVE MAYFIELD | 36:31 |
| 239 | MARK GOODWIN | 38:00 |
| 271 | CLIVE CANNON | 39:53 |
| 279 | PAUL WHYTE | 39:58 |
| 351 | ANDY PRIOR | 43:08 |
| 354 | DAVE SMITH | 43:12* |
| 356 | JAMES KILROY | 43:17 |
| 357 | SIMON SYPULA | 43:23 |
| 397 | VISH SHAH | 45:40 |
| 401 | ANDY JAY | 45:23 |
| 418 | JON SYPULA | 47:11 |
| 436 | ROB SHAW | 48:19 |
| 488 | STEVE GOUGH | 57:18 |
Magnificent Seven Spartans in Snowdonia
A magnificent seven Spartans tackled the challenging Snowdonia Marathon at the weekend.
Poor visibility made scenery at a premium on this Snowdon marathon, but mild temperatures and a damp day made for excellent running conditions. ROB EVANS ran an impressive 4 hours 31 minutes 18 seconds despite the treacherous final couple of miles which saw many runners fall.
Sharon Crowley took 27 minutes off her season’s best from Snowdon last year to finish in 5:12:31, while Paul Holgate beat his 2016 time by 43 minutes with 5:26:00 to record his fastest marathon since 2014.
Barry King, Karen Liddle, Tricia Hopper & Trudie Molloy ran round together in 5:35:48.
| Name | Time |
| ROBERT EVANS | 4:31:18 |
| SHARON CROWLEY | 5:12:31 |
| PAUL HOLGATE | 5:26:00 |
| TRICIA HOPPER | 5:35:48 |
| KAREN LIDDLE | 5:35:48 |
| TRUDIE MOLLOY | 5:35:49 |
| BARRY KING | 5:35:50 |
Serpentine 25th Anniversary
MADDIE PRITCHARD and JIM BROWN were in London for the 25th Anniversary of the popular Serpentine 5K Last Friday of the Month race around 5K. Conditions were excellent for late October – warm and sunny with a light breeze. Maddie was 165th in 22:03 and Jim, after many months of trying, beat 24 minutes with a year’s best 23:55. He was 214th.
Beachy Head Marathon
Tim Robinson reports a tough day at the Beachy Head Marathon on Saturday.  There was a cold wind and he thinks he picked up some sunstroke.  The last four miles were monstrous with dizziness and strange visual disturbances. Tim finished in 5 hours 47 minutes 46 seconds.
Fair City
PAUL MAGUIRE completed the Dublin Marathon in 4 hours 26 minutes 23 seconds.
parkrun reports
ERICA GRAYSON took advantage of a half term break up north to run the Barrow Parkrun. She was happy to beat her Stevenage parkrun times on a hilly two and a half ran course with 26 minutes 49 seconds and second in her category.
Fastest Spartan at a parkrun at the weekend was RICHARD BRUCE who was 5th at Bedford in 18 mins 23 secs. NICOLA KENNEDY ran at Nobles on the Isle of Man for the first time and was 1st woman to finish in 24:59.
This week there were course personal bests (PBs) at Stevenage for SALLY PHILLIPS (29:29) and SELVAN NAICKER (30:06).
RUTH REILLY was the fastest Spartan woman this week with 21 minutes 37 seconds at Ellenbrook Fields.
The full list of parkrun times for the week by course was as follows:
| Bedford | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 5 | 5 | Richard BRUCE | 00:18:23 | |
| Â | ||||
| Bath Skyline | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 288 | 86 | Alexandra WHITEHOUSE | 00:32:27 | |
| Nobles | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 15 | 1 | Nicola KENNEDY | 00:24:59 | First woman |
| Stevenage | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 11 | 11 | Nick GILL | 00:20:41 | |
| 33 | 31 | Martin DUDLEY | 00:22:27 | |
| 39 | 37 | Clive CANNON | 00:23:12 | |
| 48 | 44 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 00:24:04 | |
| 51 | 47 | Barry OSBORNE | 00:24:07 | |
| 68 | 62 | David SCOTT | 00:25:09 | |
| 83 | 74 | Dave SMITH | 00:26:04 | |
| 104 | 16 | Tracy PEZ | 00:27:13 | |
| 122 | 99 | James SOUTH | 00:28:23 | |
| 142 | 30 | Sally PHILLIPS | 00:29:29 | Course PB |
| 164 | 126 | Selvan NAICKER | 00:30:06 | Course PB |
| 188 | 139 | Peter CARPENTER | 00:33:03 | |
| Barrow | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 55 | 11 | Erica GRAYSON | 00:26:49 | |
| Panshanger | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 58 | 55 | Paul WHYTE | 00:24:07 | |
| Rutland Water | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 95 | 67 | Daniel SUTTON | 00:27:28 | |
| 100 | 32 | Verity FISHER | 00:27:59 | |
| Leicester Victoria | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 133 | 36 | Karen PALMER | 00:27:34 | |
| Ellenbrook Fields | ||||
| Pos | Gender Pos | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| 18 | 3 | Ruth REILLY | 00:21:37 |
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 at Trent Park on Sunday 12th November.
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19th November.
- Wolverton Five at Milton Keynes on Saturday 25th November.
- Hertfordshire Five Mile Championship for Veterans at Hatfield on Sunday 26th Nov.
- Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26th November.
- Bedford Harriers Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd December.
- Spartans Christmas Party on Friday 8th December.
- Festive Five at Welwyn Garden City on Sunday 10th December.
- Cross Country League at Willian on Sunday 17th December.
- Witham Five on Tuesday 26th December.
- Buntingford Year End 10 on Sunday 31st December.
- New Year 10K in Hyde Park on Monday 1st January 2018.
- County Cross Country Championships at Cassiobury Park on Sunday 7th January.
- Cross Country League at Watford on Sunday 14th January.
- Fred Hughes 10 miles including senior county championships at St. Albans on Sunday 21st January.
- Southern Cross Country Championships on Saturday 27th January.
- Watford Half Marathon inc. veteran championships on Sunday 4th February.
- Bramley 20/10 (20 miles or 10 miles) on Sunday 11th February.
- St Valentine’s 30K at Stamford on Sunday 11th February.
- Cross Country League at Royston on Sunday 18th February.
- Welwyn Half Marathon on Sunday 4th March.
- Finchley 20 miles (including Herts County) on Sunday 18th March.
- Oakley 20 miles on Sunday 18th March.
- Orion 15 at Chingford (Epping Forest) on Saturday 24th March.
- London Marathon on Sunday 22nd April.
- Stirling Marathon on Sunday 29th April.