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DAFFOLDIL DAWDLE, Spartans at Sandy and London’s Calling

Nine Spartans enjoyed the Daffodil Dawdle at the weekend, while others raced at Sandy and the taper for the VLM has begun!


Spartans At Sandy * London’s Calling

There is no better way of starting Springtime than a beautiful run in the Suffolk countryside. Nine Spartans enjoyed the Daffodil Dawdle trail marathon on a great day, admiring the Daffodils which were in full blossom this year. Eight of them covered the full 26.6 miles with CAROL PAUL first to finish from the club in 5 hours 49 minutes 43 seconds. TRICIA HOPPER, KAREN LIDDLE and BARRY KING finished together in 6:18:35 and PAUL HOLGATE in 6:58:54. ELIZABETH CROWLEY and MATTHEW PALACIO completed their first ever marathon with Elizabeth’s mum SHARON. They ran together and finished in 7:36:30.

MIKE CROWLEY completed the 17.4 miles option in 4 hours 58 minutes.

Spartans At Sandy

Fairlands Valley Spartans’ CLAIRE PULLEN returned to racing after a two year break at Sunday’s Sandy 10. She was very pleased with a strong performance after numerous nagging injuries. Claire was third women veteran (45 plus) in 1 hour 14 minutes 1 second missing out on second place by only 12 seconds. She was 14th woman and 132nd overall out of the 477 runners.

DANIEL BATES ran a new personal best of 1:12:12 beating his previous PB by 17 seconds. He was 106th.

The fastest Spartan was GRAHAM BLACKBURN, 69th in 1:08:07. VISH SHAH was 160th in 1:16:03.

London’s Calling

The London Marathon is coming up fast. It’s on Sunday 13th April. Fairlands Valley Spartans are always well represented. This year their entrants are ROGER BIGGS, JIM BROWN, CLAIRE COKER, JAMIE DRACKFORD, STEVE ELDER, ROBERT EVANS, KATE HANLON, RICHARD HAZLEDENE, KAREN LIDDLE, TRUDIE MOLLOY, CLARE MOORE, CAROL PAUL, DAVE PAUL, JOHN ROXBOROUGH, THOMAS SAUKA, MARJ SHANAHAN, PETE SMITH, HANNAH SYPULA and KERSTIN WEINER.

Steve Elder and Clare Moore are running for the Sainsbury’s Coreys Mill store charity which is the Magic of Play based at the Lister this year.

Fairlands Valley Spartans are organising a coach to the London Marathon on Sunday, 13 April for those running. Spaces are available at £10, departing from Stevenage Old Town at 6.30a.m. Further details given on booking. If you are interested please contact Roger Biggs on roger@thebiggs.net or 07748 326301.

Last Friday In Hyde Park

Friday’s Serpentine 5K was on a slightly different course due to resurfacing works. Despite a couple of awkward turns it may have been slightly quicker than usual. In mild, dry, with a medium breeze conditions SIMON JACKSON was 16th overall and third in his category with 16 minutes 54 seconds.

JIM BROWN was “taken out” by another runner about 1.5 kilometres into the race and then suffered very tight hamstrings but still finished in a reasonable time of 23 minutes 20 seconds. He was fourth in his category and 189th overall. There were 274 finishers in this great lunch time race around Hyde Park.

Wimpole Hall Parkrun

JOHN HARRIS ran Saturday’s Wimpole Hall 5K Parkrun in 20 minutes 43 seconds.

Several other Spartans took part in the Start of Summertime cycle rides from Stevenage on Sunday.

Coming Events

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

• Flitwick 10K on Sunday 6th April
• London Marathon on Sunday 13th April
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 17th April
• Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 25th April
• Herts 1500 and Veterans Track and Field Championships on Monday 5th May
• EVAC Track and Field Fixture in Stevenage on Wednesday 7th May
• First Mid Week Road Race League (10K) race in Stevenage on Tuesday 13th May
• Second Road Race League (5 miles) race in Chingford on Wednesday 4th June
• Third Road Race League (9K) race in Trent Park on Thursday 12th June
• Fourth Road Race League (10K) in St Albans on Tuesday 1st July
• Mid Week Mob Match (10K) in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 17th July
• Off Road Challenge in Stevenage on Sunday 20th July
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 31st July
• Stevenage Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd November

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 9.30a.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 done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £35 per year, £25 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), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

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More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 or Vivienne Honey (Secretary) 07702 846304

www.fvspartans.org.uk

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