Race1Div2 (1)

STEVE MAYFIELD went home with four individual GOLD medals and a BRONZE. He won the male (40 plus) 100 metres in 13.66 seconds; pole vault with 2.10 metres; discus with 20.93 metres and javelin with 28.10 metres and came third in the 800 metres in a time of 2 minutes 29.20 seconds.

SHARON CROWLEY was a triple GOLD medal winner in the women’s 45 plus category with the 1500 metres (7 minutes 19.89 seconds); 3000 metres walk (23 minutes 42.15 seconds) and hammer (16.40 metres).

Doubles

Vet 60 JIM BROWN was a double GOLD medal with the 1500 metres (6 minutes 22.56 seconds) and, towards the end of a very hot day, the 5000 metres (23 minutes 22.94 seconds). DAVE STEPHENSON won Vet 50 GOLDS in the long jump (4.50 metres) and shot putt (8.06 metres); and JOHN TYRELL Vet 70s GOLDS in the shot putt (7.59 metres) and discus (19.34 metres).

ANDY NEATHAM won the 40 plus 800 metres GOLD with a new club best of 2 minutes 19.75 seconds and took SILVER in the 1500 metres with 4 minutes 36.69 seconds.

TESSA STEPHENSON shot putt throw of 9.03 metres won her a GOLD medal, personal best and a new club record. It was rated fifth in the “Power of Ten” rankings for the whole country

MONICA BROWN won the women (45 plus) shot putt throwing the heavier 4 kg weight 7.08 metres.

CHRIS WESTCOTT won the male (40 plus) 1500 GOLD in 4 minutes 32.27 seconds and JOHN HARRIS the male (50 plus) 1500 in 4 minutes 59.50 seconds.

SIMON PROCTOR won SILVER in the 40 plus long jump with a new club record 4.84 metres.

While these were mainly events for veterans they also included the senior 1500 metres championship. RHIANNON GRIFFIN took SILVER in the senior women’s 1500 with 5 minutes 23.21 seconds and SIMON JACKSON also SILVER in the senior men’s 1500 with 4:31.27.

The full results for all Spartans follow.

Men
Event Name Age Group Performance Position Notes
100m Steve Mayfield M40 13.66 1st
800m Andy Neatham M40 2.19.75 1st M35, 40, 45, CB (club best)
Steve Mayfield M40 2.29.20 3rd
1500m Simon Jackson Senior 4.31.27 2nd
Chris Westcott M40 4.32.27 1st
Andy Neatham M40 4.36.69 2nd
Liam Herbert Senior 4.46.48 5th
John Harris M50 4.59.50 1st
Jim Brown M60 6.22.56 1st
5000m Jim Brown M60 23.22.94 1st
4x400m Dave Stephenson
Liam Herbert
Steve Mayfield
Andy Neatham Senior 4.16.78 2nd CR (club record)
Long Jump Simon Proctor M40 4.84 2nd CR
Dave Stephenson M50 4.50 1st M50 CB
Steve Mayfield M40 4.19 5th
Triple Jump Simon Proctor M40 10.00 ?
Pole Vault Steve Mayfield M40 2.10 1st
Shot Putt Dave Stephenson M50 8.06 1st
John Tyrrell M70 7.59 1st M70, 75, CB
Discus Steve Mayfield M40 20.93 1st
John Tyrrell M70 19.34 1st M70, 75, CB
Javelin Steve Mayfield M40 28.10 1st

Women
Event Name Age Group Performance Position Notes
1500m Rhiannon Griffin Senior 5.23.21 2nd
Sharon Crowley W35 7.19.89 1st
4x100m Monica Brown
Peta Wilson
Julie Simmons
Anne Tryssesoone W35 66.77 1st
4x400m Sharon Crowley
Peta Wilson
Julie Simmons
Anne Tryssesoone W35 6.10.57 1st
3000m Walk Sharon Crowley W45 23.42.15 1st CR
Shot Putt Monica Brown W45 7.08 1st 4kg
Tessa Stephenson W50 9.03 1st 3kg. PB. CR.
Hammer Sharon Crowley W45 16.40 1st

(CR = Club Record; CB = Club Best (age record); PB = personal best)

Gold In County 10K

Spartan DAVID BOWKER won the GOLD medal in the Hertfordshire 10K Championship for veterans (50 plus) which was incorporated in an open race at St. Albans on Sunday. He was also first in that category in the open race and eleventh overall with a time of 40 minutes and 1 second.

Gold in Combined Events

STEVE MAYFIELD added another county gold by winning the veterans’ category in pentathlon at the county championship for combined events. In cold conditions with a headwind in the home straight and crosswind for throwing events, it was not the weather for outstanding performances. He opened with a Long Jump of 4.21 metres, followed by 26.89 in the Javelin and a time of 27.4 seconds in the 200m was his fastest time without wind assistance. The high point was a Discus throw of 22.27m, both a PB and club 2kg record, albeit this was followed by disappointing 5:26.2 in the 1500m. Total score of 1631, adjusted to 2213 on the MV45 age grading. This ended a spell of 15 events in 3 competitions held over 11 days for Steve.

Spartan Women Take The Lead in EVAC League

Spartans ladies and men’s teams both got their Eastern Veterans (EVAC) track and field campaign off to a good start at the first league fixture which was at Sandy on Wednesday evening. The ladies continued where they left off last year, narrowly beat Milton Keynes by 76 points to 71, with Kettering third on the night with 44 points and Biggleswade fourth on 16 points. In the men’s match Milton Keynes were clear winners on 95 points, with Spartans comfortably second on 75 points, Biggleswade third with 38 ppoints and Kettering fourth on 27 points.

There were positive signs for both Spartan teams, boosted by new Spartan members and a change in rules to allow 35-39 year old men to compete. Nine athletes represented the club in EVAC for the first time; BERNIE BARNABY, MARK CHEADLE, SIMON JACKSON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, LOUISE OLIVER, GRANT RAMSAY, TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS, ANDREA WESTCOTT & CHRIS WESTCOTT.

Amongst a string of fine performances in the ladies match, there were wins for MONICA BROWN clearing 1.30m in the F45 High Jump and running 14.0 seconds in the 100 metres. ROSIE CANHAM won the F35 400 metres in 67.1 and just missed a sprint double, beaten by 0.1s in the 100m with 14.7s. CHRIS FEELY’s 72.0s for 2nd in the F45 was a club F50 age best and an outdoor personal best (PB). CHRISTINE LATHWELL was a comfortable winner in the 1500m for the F35 in 5:20.7 as was JULIE SIMMONS for the F55 in 6:05.8. Julie also won the F55 Long Jump with 2.63m. There were further wins in the field events for TESSA STEPHENSON in the F35 High Jump (1.35m) STEPHANIE MAYFIELD in the F35 Hammer (16.75m) and a club record of 9.82m for LOUISE OLIVER in winning the F35 Shot.

The men also produced some excellent individual performances and broke 10 club age bests. The highlight was Spartans dominance in the 1500m, with GRANT RAMSAY winning for the M40s in 4:32.0, followed home by SIMON JACKSON, first M35 in 4:35.6 and CHRIS WESTCOTT (non scoring) in PB of 4:38.9. All three, plus the fourth placed Milton Keynes athlete, had recently completed the London Marathon. JOHN HARRIS also ran a 1500m PB in 5:06.4, taking second place for the M50s. ANDY NEATHAM held on to win a very close M40 400m in 60.6s and DAVE BOWKER won the 2km walk outright in 11:31.3. A lap behind him there was an almighty battle between three other Spartans, with just 0.3 seconds separating PAUL PICKARD, PAUL HOLGATE and STEPH MAYFIELD!

In the men’s field events there were two Spartan victories in the Long Jump with SIMON PROCTOR winning for the M35s with 4.61m and MICK SHORTLAND for the M60s in 3.08m. Mick also won the M60 Shot in a club age best of 9.58m and by doing the M50 Hammer (2nd) and M60 100m (2nd) was the busiest Spartan on the night. TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS threw a club age best of 27.78m in winning the M40 hammer and his 7.47m in the Shot was a club best by an M50 using the 7.26kg weight.

The evening ended with the medley relays (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m) and with strong teams available it was inevitable club records would tumble. The F35s set the ball rolling with TESSA STEPHENSON, ROSIE CANHAM, LOUISE OLIVER and CHRISTINE LATHWELL taking over 10 seconds off the previous club best, winning with 5:00.4. Despite a terrible mix up in changeover at the end of the 2nd leg, SHARON CROWLEY, MONICA BROWN, CHRIS FEELY and JULIE SIMMONS still shaved 2 seconds off the F45 record posting 5:37.1 for 2nd place. A strong M40 team of STEVE MAYFIELD, SIMON PROCTOR, CHRIS WESTCOTT and GRANT RAMSAY came off second best in a very tight race with Milton Keynes, but their 4:10.7 smashed the club record by 25 seconds. Immediately afterwards the M50 team contested another exciting race, not only against Milton Keynes, but a non scoring team of rival M35-49 Spartans. DAVE STEPHENSON, BERNIE BARNABY and JOHN HARRIS built up a good lead for the M50s over MARK CHEADLE, PAUL PICKARD and SIMON JACKSON, but despite a determined 800m from M50 DAVE BOWKER, he was chased down by ANDY NEATHAM who brought the non scorers home in 4:28.6. The M50s finished in 4:35.7 breaking the previous M50 club best by 29 seconds.

Spartans will be hosting the next match at Ridlins End, Stevenage, 7pm on Wednesday 5th June.

Full Spartan results below.

MEN
EVENT PLACE NAME PERFORMANCE NOTES

100 Metres
M35 3 Simon Proctor 13.6
M40 3 Steve Mayfield 13.7
M50 2 Dave Stephenson 13.1 M50 Club Record
M60 2 Mick Shortland 16.1

400 Metres
M40 1 Andy Neatham 60.6 M45 Club Record
M50 3 Bernie Barnaby 67.7

1500 Metres
M35 1 Simon Jackson 4.35.6
M40 1 Grant Ramsay 4.32.0 PB
M50 2 John Harris 5.06.4 PB
M40 Non Scoring X Chris Westcott 4.38.9 PB

2K Walk
A String 1 Dave Bowker 11.31.3
B String 3 Paul Pickard 14.37.1
M50 Non Scoring X Paul Holgate 14.37.2

Long Jump
M35 1 Simon Proctor 4.61
M40 2 Steve Mayfield 4.21
M50 2 Dave Stephenson 4.14 M50 Club Best
M60 1 Mick Shortland 3.08 M60 Club Best

High Jump
M40 4 Paul Pickard 1.15
M50 2 John Harris 1.25

Shot
M35 3 Mark Cheadle 5.50
M40 3 Tim Saunders-Mullins 7.47 M50 7.26kg Club Best
M50 2 Mark Glading 8.04
M60 1 Mick Shortland 9.58 M60 Club Best

Hammer
M40 1 Tim Saunders-Mullins 25.78 Senior 7.26kg Club Record
M50 2 Mick Shortland 27.76 M50 Club Best

Medley Relay (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m)
M40 2 S Mayfield, S Proctor, C Westcott, G Ramsay 4.10.7 Senior Club Record
M50 2 D Stephenson, B Barnaby, J Harris, D Bowker 4.35.7 M50 Club Best
M35 Non Scoring X M Cheadle, P Pickard, S Jackson, A Neatham 4.28.6

LADIES
EVENT PLACE NAME PERFORMANCE NOTES

100 Metres
W35 2 Rosie Canham 14.7
W45 1 Monica Brown 14.0
W55 2 Carolyn Shortland 21.1

400 Metres
W35 1 Rosie Canham 67.1
W45 2 Chris Feely 72.0 PB & W50 Outdoor Best
W35 Non Scoring Peta Wilson 89.8

1500 Metres
W35 1 Christine Lathwell 5.20.7
W45 3 Monica Brown 7.36.6
W55 1 Julie Simmons 6.05.8 W55 Club Best

2K Walk
W35 A 2 Sharon Crowley 14.01.8
W35 B 2 Stephanie Mayfield 14.37.4

Long Jump
W35 2 Tessa Stephenson 3.29
W45 2 Chris Feely 3.30
W55 1 Julie Simmons 2.63

High Jump
W35 1 Tessa Stephenson 1.10
W45 1 Monica Brown 1.30

Shot
W35 1 Louise Oliver 9.82 Senior Club Best
W45 2 Chris Feely 5.30
W55 3 Carolyn Shortland 5.31 W55 Club Best
W35 Non Scoring X Andrea Westcott 4.22

Hammer
W35 1 Stephanie Mayfield 16.75
W45 3 Sharon Crowley 13.18
W55 2 Carolyn Shortland
hortland 18.34
W35 Non Scoring X Andrea Westcott 11.21

Medley Relay (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m)
W35 1 T Stephenson, R Canham, L Oliver, C Lathwell 5.00.4 W35 Club Best
W45 2 S Crowley, M Brown, C Feely, J Simmons 5.37.1 W45 Club Best

Halstead Marathon

Saturday, 11May13
Orpington Marafun. 2 lap course, with 3 nasty hills on each lap. Good running weather Roger produced his usual consistent run to finish in 4:04:02.

Sunday, 12May13. Halsted Marathon
2 lap course in lanes & roads around this Essex town. With Orpington still in his legs, Roger decided to use a run/walk strategy to finish in 4:30:27.

Today carol Paul ran the halstead marathon her 5th marathon in 5 weeks. On a very undulating course that was exposed and windy at times Carol completed the race in 4:22:38. She was third in the female veterans (50 plus) category.

PB at Park Run

CLAIRE COKER did the St Albans park run on Saturday morning. She finished 63rd out of the 189 finishers in a new personal best of 22 minutes 56 seconds – an improvement of 1 minute 1 second. She was tenth lady and second women veteran (35-39)!

Spartans Beat The Heat

Hundreds of runners wilted in the heat at the Milton Keynes Marathon. More than 800 starters failed to finish. 2,850 started but only 2,041 finished.

GRANT RAMSAY was one of the pacers and led the sub 3 hour group. The race was evenly run, with runners being led to half way in 1hr28:15. He finished 13th out of the survivors in 2 hours 58 minutes 35 seconds.

Despite the conditions JON SYPULA improved his personal best with 3:55:57. His previous best was over four hours. He said it was very hard work and far too hot! Great support though and lovely scenery.

SARAH PRICE was running her first marathon and finished in 3 hours 59 minutes 41 seconds.

The other successful Spartans who beat the heat were PAUL MARSHALL (4:20:40); HADRIAN COOPER (4:30:13); STEPHEN BLOCK (4:34:36); LORRAINE WYATT (5:05:06); and PAUL HOLGATE (5:42:19).

Bowker Bronze in County Five

DAVE BOWKER had to go all the way to Pednor, near Chesham for the recent County Five Mile Championships. He won bronze in the veteran (50 plus) category in 32 minutes 23 seconds.

This was the day after he came 91st out of 1557 runners in the Gear 10K race at Kings Lynn with a sub 40 time. 39 minutes 53 seconds was good enough for sixth in the competitive male veteran (50 plus) category.

Help The Spartans

Fairlands Valley Spartans host the first event in the 2012 Mid Week Road Race League series in Stevenage on Tuesday evening 14th May. Lots of volunteer helpers, including marshals, are needed to ensure the success and safety of the event. Can you help? Please contact BERNIE BARNABY [bernie.barnaby@btopenworld.com]

Coming Events

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

• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14th May.
• Main County Track and Field Championships on 25th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29th May.
• EVAC at Stevenage on Wednesday 5th June.
• Garden House 5K in Fairlands Valley Park on Sunday 9th June.
• St. Albans Half Marathon on Sunday 9th June.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12th June.
• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26th June.
• County 10K track championships at Sandy on Thursday 11th July.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25th July.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 5th September
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8th October.
• County 10 Mile Championships for veterans on Sunday 27th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30th December 2013.

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 about 400 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, Brittain Way, 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 or 01438 354505), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 / 01438 354505 or Vivienne Honey (Secretary) 07702 846304

www.fvspartans.org.uk

Spartans ladies and men’s teams both got their Eastern Veterans (EVAC) track and field campaign off to a good start at the first league fixture which was at Sandy on Wednesday evening. The ladies continued where they left off last year, narrowly beat Milton Keynes by 76 points to 71, with Kettering third on the night with 44 points and Biggleswade fourth on 16 points. In the men’s match Milton Keynes were clear winners on 95 points, with Spartans comfortably second on 75 points, Biggleswade third with 38 ppoints and Kettering fourth on 27 points.

There were positive signs for both Spartan teams, boosted by new Spartan members and a change in rules to allow 35-39 year old men to compete. Nine athletes represented the club in EVAC for the first time; BERNIE BARNABY, MARK CHEADLE, SIMON JACKSON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, LOUISE OLIVER, GRANT RAMSAY, TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS, ANDREA WESTCOTT & CHRIS WESTCOTT.

Amongst a string of fine performances in the ladies match, there were wins for MONICA BROWN clearing 1.30m in the F45 High Jump and running 14.0 seconds in the 100 metres. ROSIE CANHAM won the F35 400 metres in 67.1 and just missed a sprint double, beaten by 0.1s in the 100m with 14.7s. CHRIS FEELY’s 72.0s for 2nd in the F45 was a club F50 age best and an outdoor personal best (PB). CHRISTINE LATHWELL was a comfortable winner in the 1500m for the F35 in 5:20.7 as was JULIE SIMMONS for the F55 in 6:05.8. Julie also won the F55 Long Jump with 2.63m. There were further wins in the field events for TESSA STEPHENSON in the F35 High Jump (1.35m) STEPHANIE MAYFIELD in the F35 Hammer (16.75m) and a club record of 9.82m for LOUISE OLIVER in winning the F35 Shot.

The men also produced some excellent individual performances and broke 10 club age bests. The highlight was Spartans dominance in the 1500m, with GRANT RAMSAY winning for the M40s in 4:32.0, followed home by SIMON JACKSON, first M35 in 4:35.6 and CHRIS WESTCOTT (non scoring) in PB of 4:38.9. All three, plus the fourth placed Milton Keynes athlete, had recently completed the London Marathon. JOHN HARRIS also ran a 1500m PB in 5:06.4, taking second place for the M50s. ANDY NEATHAM held on to win a very close M40 400m in 60.6s and DAVE BOWKER won the 2km walk outright in 11:31.3. A lap behind him there was an almighty battle between three other Spartans, with just 0.3 seconds separating PAUL PICKARD, PAUL HOLGATE and STEPH MAYFIELD!

In the men’s field events there were two Spartan victories in the Long Jump with SIMON PROCTOR winning for the M35s with 4.61m and MICK SHORTLAND for the M60s in 3.08m. Mick also won the M60 Shot in a club age best of 9.58m and by doing the M50 Hammer (2nd) and M60 100m (2nd) was the busiest Spartan on the night. TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS threw a club age best of 27.78m in winning the M40 hammer and his 7.47m in the Shot was a club best by an M50 using the 7.26kg weight.

The evening ended with the medley relays (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m) and with strong teams available it was inevitable club records would tumble. The F35s set the ball rolling with TESSA STEPHENSON, ROSIE CANHAM, LOUISE OLIVER and CHRISTINE LATHWELL taking over 10 seconds off the previous club best, winning with 5:00.4. Despite a terrible mix up in changeover at the end of the 2nd leg, SHARON CROWLEY, MONICA BROWN, CHRIS FEELY and JULIE SIMMONS still shaved 2 seconds off the F45 record posting 5:37.1 for 2nd place. A strong M40 team of STEVE MAYFIELD, SIMON PROCTOR, CHRIS WESTCOTT and GRANT RAMSAY came off second best in a very tight race with Milton Keynes, but their 4:10.7 smashed the club record by 25 seconds. Immediately afterwards the M50 team contested another exciting race, not only against Milton Keynes, but a non scoring team of rival M35-49 Spartans. DAVE STEPHENSON, BERNIE BARNABY and JOHN HARRIS built up a good lead for the M50s over MARK CHEADLE, PAUL PICKARD and SIMON JACKSON, but despite a determined 800m from M50 DAVE BOWKER, he was chased down by ANDY NEATHAM who brought the non scorers home in 4:28.6. The M50s finished in 4:35.7 breaking the previous M50 club best by 29 seconds.

Spartans will be hosting the next match at Ridlins End, Stevenage, 7pm on Wednesday 5th June.

Full Spartan results below.

MEN
EVENT PLACE NAME PERFORMANCE NOTES

100 Metres
M35 3 Simon Proctor 13.6
M40 3 Steve Mayfield 13.7
M50 2 Dave Stephenson 13.1 M50 Club Record
M60 2 Mick Shortland 16.1

400 Metres
M40 1 Andy Neatham 60.6 M45 Club Record
M50 3 Bernie Barnaby 67.7

1500 Metres
M35 1 Simon Jackson 4.35.6
M40 1 Grant Ramsay 4.32.0 PB
M50 2 John Harris 5.06.4 PB
M40 Non Scoring X Chris Westcott 4.38.9 PB

2K Walk
A String 1 Dave Bowker 11.31.3
B String 3 Paul Pickard 14.37.1
M50 Non Scoring X Paul Holgate 14.37.2

Long Jump
M35 1 Simon Proctor 4.61
M40 2 Steve Mayfield 4.21
M50 2 Dave Stephenson 4.14 M50 Club Best
M60 1 Mick Shortland 3.08 M60 Club Best

High Jump
M40 4 Paul Pickard 1.15
M50 2 John Harris 1.25

Shot
M35 3 Mark Cheadle 5.50
M40 3 Tim Saunders-Mullins 7.47 M50 7.26kg Club Best
M50 2 Mark Glading 8.04
M60 1 Mick Shortland 9.58 M60 Club Best

Hammer
M40 1 Tim Saunders-Mullins 25.78 Senior 7.26kg Club Record
M50 2 Mick Shortland 27.76 M50 Club Best

Medley Relay (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m)
M40 2 S Mayfield, S Proctor, C Westcott, G Ramsay 4.10.7 Senior Club Record
M50 2 D Stephenson, B Barnaby, J Harris, D Bowker 4.35.7 M50 Club Best
M35 Non Scoring X M Cheadle, P Pickard, S Jackson, A Neatham 4.28.6

LADIES
EVENT PLACE NAME PERFORMANCE NOTES

100 Metres
W35 2 Rosie Canham 14.7
W45 1 Monica Brown 14.0
W55 2 Carolyn Shortland 21.1

400 Metres
W35 1 Rosie Canham 67.1
W45 2 Chris Feely 72.0 PB & W50 Outdoor Best
W35 Non Scoring Peta Wilson 89.8

1500 Metres
W35 1 Christine Lathwell 5.20.7
W45 3 Monica Brown 7.36.6
W55 1 Julie Simmons 6.05.8 W55 Club Best

2K Walk
W35 A 2 Sharon Crowley 14.01.8
W35 B 2 Stephanie Mayfield 14.37.4

Long Jump
W35 2 Tessa Stephenson 3.29
W45 2 Chris Feely 3.30
W55 1 Julie Simmons 2.63

High Jump
W35 1 Tessa Stephenson 1.10
W45 1 Monica Brown 1.30

Shot
W35 1 Louise Oliver 9.82 Senior Club Best
W45 2 Chris Feely 5.30
W55 3 Carolyn Shortland 5.31 W55 Club Best
W35 Non Scoring X Andrea Westcott 4.22

Hammer
W35 1 Stephanie Mayfield 16.75
W45 3 Sharon Crowley 13.18
W55 2 Carolyn Shortland
hortland 18.34
W35 Non Scoring X Andrea Westcott 11.21

Medley Relay (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m)
W35 1 T Stephenson, R Canham, L Oliver, C Lathwell 5.00.4 W35 Club Best
W45 2 S Crowley, M Brown, C Feely, J Simmons 5.37.1 W45 Club Best

Bowker Bronze in County Five

DAVE BOWKER had to go all the way to Pednor, near Chesham for Monday evening’s County Five Mile Championships. He won bronze in the veteran (50 plus) category in 32 minutes 23 seconds.

This was the day after he came 91st out of 1557 runners in the Gear 10K race at Kings Lynn with a sub 40 time. 39 minutes 53 seconds was good enough for sixth in the competitive male veteran (50 plus) category.

Runners Wilt At Milton Keynes Marathon

Hundreds of runners wilted in the heat at the Milton Keynes Marathon. More than 800 starters failed to finish. 2,850 started but only 2,041 finished.

GRANT RAMSAY was one of the pacers and led the sub 3 hour group. The race was evenly run, with runners being led to half way in 1hr28:15. He finished 13th out of the survivors in 2 hours 58 minutes 35 seconds.

Despite the conditions JON SYPULA improved his personal best with 3:55:57. His previous best was over four hours. He said it was very hard work and far too hot! Great support though and lovely scenery.

PAUL MARSHALL completed the very hot event in 4:20:40

Daughter Wins Tussle In Letchworth Greenway Half

Father and daughter team ROGER HARDMAN and ISABEL GREEN ran the Letchworth Greenway Half Marathon. The course was off road and undulating, circling through the fields and woods just outside the town. Isabel Green beat her father for the first time ever, with a time of 2 hours 3 minutes. Roger came in four minutes later, at 2 hours 7 minutes.

DEAN CARPENTER “dragged” himself round in 1 hour 32 minutes 22 seconds, and finished in eighth position. He was more than happy with a top 10 finish.

Salzburg Marathon

On Sunday CAROL PAUL ran her fourth marathon in four weeks at Salzburg Austria. Running in a temperature of 23 degrees on a very beautiful course Carol completed the race in 4:27:67

Hanover Marathon

As Chairman of the UK 100 Marathon Club, ROGER BIGGS was invited to Central Germany, for the Hanover Marathon. This was to witness a German Runner Christian Hottas becoming the 1st person on the planet to finish 2000 marathons/Ultras. Christine, Roger plus another 80 runners from around the world, duly ran the marathon together to finish in a time of 5:30:31.

The course was virtually flat, but run on a warm almost cloudless day.

Southern Track and Field

DAVE and TESSA STEPHENSON had started their outdoor track & field season by travelling to Portsmouth on Monday (29th) to take part in the Southern Counties Veteran League. It was a cool and breezy evening with the track situated by the waters edge near the harbour. Dave started in the Over 50 category which he has just reached, and took part in his first high jump competition, finishing fifth with a height of 1.35m. Following on immediately, Dave then raced 100m, dropping down to the 35 to 49 year old age group coming fourth in 13.3 seconds, his best for several years. Tessa opened her competition in the 100m for over 50 women, coming third in a time of 16.6 seconds. She then came 2nd in her 400m in 80.5 seconds. Again racing in the younger age group, Dave then won the 2 kilometre race walk outright in a time of 11 minutes 58.8 seconds. Relays traditionally end the evening meetings and this time it was a 4 x 100m event. Tessa & Dave both took part with the women finishing second and the men sixth.

Oodles To Come

Fairlands Valley Spartans won oodles of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Hertfordshire County Track and Field Championships on Bank Holiday Monday. All the details will be in next week’s release.

Help The Spartans

Fairlands Valley Spartans host the first event in the 2012 Mid Week Road Race League series in Stevenage on Tuesday evening 14th May. Lots of volunteer helpers, including marshals, are needed to ensure the success and safety of the event. Can you help? Please contact BERNIE BARNABY [bernie.barnaby@btopenworld.com]

Coming Events

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

• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14th May.
• Main County Track and Field Championships on 25th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29th May.
• EVAC at Stevenage on Wednesday 5th June.
• Garden House 5K in Fairlands Valley Park on Sunday 9th June.
• St. Albans Half Marathon on Sunday 9th June.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12th June.
• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26th June.
• County 10K track championships at Sandy on Thursday 11th July.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25th July.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 5th September
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8th October.
• County 10 Mile Championships for veterans on Sunday 27th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30th December 2013.

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 about 400 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, Brittain Way, 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 or 01438 354505), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

GRANT RAMSAY ran a national championship qualifying time of 2 hours 40 minutes 51 seconds in Sunday’s warm London Marathon. He was 199th out of the 39,942 finishers – within the top 0.5% of the race. Nineteen Fairlands Valley Spartans finished the 26.2 mile race round the capital.

Two other Spartans beat the three hour barrier – SIMON JACKSON, 767th in 2:40:51 and CHRIS WESTCOTT, 856th in 2:55:17. NATALIE BARNARD was the club’s fastest woman with her time of 3 hours 27 minutes 30 seconds. MARK GOODWIN (3:46:52); JENNIFER ROBERTSON (3:47:22); BARRY KING (4:22:56) and JAN FRY (5:08:31) all ran new personals bests.

CAROL PAUL finished her TWENTIETH London Marathon in 4 hours 24 minutes and 57 seconds.

Several Spartans were running their first marathon including LISA LIVERSIDGE (4:25:59); KATE HANLON (4:50:30); KERRY SETTERFIELD (5:16:31) and TRACY STILES (5:51:37).

Other Spartan performances included ANDREW PATTERSON (3:08:50); PETE SMITH (3:23:08); ROGER BIGGS (3:58:48); TRACY BULLOT (4:30:16); PAUL HOLGATE (5:08:31) and SHARON CROWLEY (5:28:37).

Position Name Time Comments
199 GRANT RAMSAY 2:40:51 Champ Time
767 SIMON JACKSON 2:54:05
856 CHRIS WESTCOTT 2:55:17
2086 ANDREW PATTERSON 3:08:50
3650 PETE SMITH 3:23:08
5000 NATALIE BARNARD (F) 3:27:30
7699 MARK GOODWIN 3:46:52 PB
7834 JENNIFER ROBERTSON (F) 3:47:22 PB
10610 ROGER BIGGS 3:58:48
15973 BARRY KING 4:22:56 PB
16474 CAROL PAUL (F) 4:24:57 20th London
16721 LISA LIVERSIDGE (F) 4:25:59 1st Marathon
17830 TRACY BULLOT (F) 4:30:16
22386 KATE HANLON (F) 4:50:30 1st Marathon
25858 PAUL HOLGATE 5:08:31
25877 JAN FRY (F) 5:08:31 PB
27052 KERRY SETTERFIELD 5:16:31 1st Marathon
28680 SHARON CROWLEY (F) 5:28:57
30937 TRACY STILES (F) 5:51:37 1st Marathon

Forty of other Spartans volunteered to ensure the event was a success by working behind the finish line and remembering the casualties at the Boston Marathon just six days earlier.

Open Graded

Over 300 competitors used Watford’s second midweek open graded of 2013 to get an idea of their early season form. In heat 3 of the 200 metres, STEVE MAYFIELD came seventh, running 28.03 seconds despite the windy conditions and lane 8 draw.

Coming Events

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

• Handicap 5K on Thursday 25th April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6th May.
• County Track and Field Veteran Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6th May.
• County 1500 metres championships for seniors and veterans on Monday 6th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14th May.
• Main County Track and Field Championships on 25th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29th May.
• Garden House 5K in Fairlands Valley Park on Sunday 9th June.
• St. Albans Half Marathon on Sunday 9th June.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12th June.
• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26th June.
• County 10K track championships at Sandy on Thursday 11th July.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.

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 about 400 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, Brittain Way, 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 or 01438 354505), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 / 01438 354505 or Vivienne Honey (Secretary) 07702 846304

www.fvspartans.org.uk

10Ks at Flitwick and Cambourne as Simon Shapes Up

14^th April 2013
Sun shining, felt like Spring, a week to go to the London Marathon but several Spartans were running marathons at the weekend.

Brighton Rocks As Marie and Dawn PB

It was a lovely warm day, albeit on the windy side, for Sunday’s Brighton Marathon.

MARIE COLUCCI ran brilliantly to finish in a new personal best (PB) of 3 hours 51 minutes 30 seconds; ROGER BIGGS was also inside four hours with 3 hours 59 minutes 37 seconds.

DAWN EASBY was over the finish line in a new PB 4 hours 4 minutes 33 seconds and CAROL PAUL in 4:15:18.

PAUL HOLGATE was heading for a sub five time but just drifted away towards the end to finish in 5.06.58. He reckons he got the better suntan. CLAIRE YOUNG finished in 5:22:17.

There were 9,067 finishers.

Hazey’s Rotter”Dam Buster

Richard Hazeldene ran the Rotterdam Marathon in 3 hours 29 minutes 40 seconds, a personal best by 3 minutes 3 seconds and 20 minutes quicker than at last year’s London Marathon. In a well organised popular race it took 2-3 miles for him to find enough space to get into his stride. The temperature rose throughout, which made the latter stages tough but to break through the sub 3.30 barrier was the target. Mission accomplished…..just.

Holland in Paris

CHRIS HOLLAND ran in the recent Paris Marathon in 4 hours 11 minutes 19 seconds. This was in improvement of just over 40 minutes on his time in London last year, a month before he joined the Spartans. He was pretty pleased with this given his fairly inconsistent training in 2013 and only getting three hours sleep the night before. The crowds were very enthusiastic, a little too much in places encroaching on to the course. All in all a very enjoyable experience.

Flitwick 10K

NICK WITCOMBE and KAREN PALMER ran Sunday’s Flitwick 10K. No personal bests but great preparation for the Mid Week League on an undulating course. Nick finished in 55:07 and Karen in 55:52.

Simon Shapes Up For London

Spartan SIMON JACKSON won the weekly St Albans 5k Parkrun on Saturday morning.

At 1k Simon was holding on to the lead pack but he slowly ate in to the competition to take the lead at 3.5k before battling with a St Albans Strider to the finish line to win by six seconds.

Simon’s time of 17 minutes 4 seconds was his best on the course & his best 5k for nearly a year, just one week before he races at the London marathon.

Cambridge Festival of Running

BARRY KING ran the Cambourne 10k on Sunday. It was a cross country race ! In very windy conditions, on a hilly hilly course, in ankle deep mud and 20 degrees heat he ran a new 10K personal best (PB) of 48 minutes 23 minutes finishing 176^th from about 1,000 runners ! He ran this in 2011 finished 268^th in 50.23 so is very happy to take two minutes off that today and get a new PB despite being a XC race and the difficult conditions !

Coming Events

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

• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday 25^th April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6^th May.
• County Track and Field Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6^th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12^th June.
• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26^th June.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25^th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6^th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30^th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.

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 about 400 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, Brittain Way, 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.

Success For Lucky 13s At Lee Valley

Three Spartans finished the indoor track and field season by representing Eastern Veterans against five other British regions at Lee Valley indoor stadium.  The Eastern Veteran men’s and women’s teams were both second to Southern Counties veterans.

Monica Brown had a brilliant competition by winning the women’s over 35 years Triple Jump in a personal best of 9 metres 12 centimetres, the first time she has jumped over 9 metres.  Monica then went onto race the 200 metre leg of a 800, 200, 200 and 400 metre medley relay.

Dave Stephenson had a very busy day as he competed in four events for the younger age group of male over 35 years even though he turned 50 just a month ago! Dave kindly stepped in and covered for a couple of people who were unable to compete due to illness. Dave events were 60 metre Hurdles second in 13.76 seconds; Triple Jump fourth in 8 metres 65 centimetres; 2000 metre walk third in 12 minutes 5 seconds and like Monica did a 200 metre leg in the medley relay.

Tessa Stephenson competed in the younger age group of over 35 years with the heavier weight shot of 4 kg instead of the over 50 years shot weight of 3 kg.  Despite the heavier weight she managed 7 metres 42 centimetres to come third.  Tessa also covered  gap in the 2000 metre Walk by coming second in 15 minutes 45.1 seconds, earning valuable points for the team.

Monica Brown

Triple Jump 1st 9 metres 12 (Personal Best, indoor and outdoor)
200 Metres leg in Medley Relay

Dave Stephenson

60 Metre Hurdles  2nd 13.76 seconds
Triple Jump 4th 8 metres 65 centimetres
2K Walk 3rd 12 minutes 05 seconds

200 Metres in Medley Relay

Tessa Stephenson

Shot Putt 3rd 7 metres 12 centimetres
2000 Metre Walk 2nd 15 minutes 45.1 seconds

Sandy Ten

At last Sunday was a beautiful Spring day and great for the Sandy Ten.  DEAN CARPENTER, 80^th in 67 minutes 48 seconds; MARK CHEADLE, 223^rd in 79:13; and BARRY KING, 271^st in 82:42 all ran new personal bests.  JULIE SIMMONS was second female veteran (55 plus) and 219^th overall in 78:53.

GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan in the race, seventh overall and fourth veteran in  57 minutes 35 seconds.

A good turnout of Spartans also included Graham Blackburn 90^th in 68:41; Davie Stafford 101^st in 69:55; Pete Smith 110^th in 70:27; Matt Gill 141^st in 73:25; Vishal Shah 167^th in 75:09; Ann Tryssesoone 293^rd in 84:47; Karen Ellis 296^th in 84:57; Stephen Block 343^rd in 89:45; Karen Palmer 344^th in 89:33; Paul Holgate 91 minutes 58 seconds and Sharon Crowley 106:35.

Bedfordshire Open

This open graded event at Luton was well attended by Bedfordshire clubs and others in the catchment area with athletes enjoying some welcome Spring sunshine after other early season events had been cancelled due to the weather.   STEVE MAYFIELD managed 4.33 metres in the Long Jump and 19.77 metres in the Discus, both a little short of last season’s standards.   He was much happier with his 400m as his time of 1 minute 01.9 seconds was his fastest for nearly two years.

Caythorpe Canter

Tricia Hopper, Karen Liddle and Paul Marshall completed Sunday’s Caythorpe Canter yesterday in 5 hours 33 minutes 17 seconds.  This was Paul’s first off-road marathon which he enjoyed very much.

Personal At Lincoln

ANDY PRIOR raced round the Lincoln 10K in a new personal best time of 47 minutes 10 seconds.  He says it was a nice course, but a busy race.  He would recommend the trip for anyone hunting for a fast time next year.

Victoria for Liam

LIAM HERBERT returned to East London for the second time this year, to compete in the Victoria Park Open 5 mile race for his third consecutive year.  It also gave him his third consecutive personal best time over 5 miles on the same course.

The Victoria Park Open 5 is billed as one of the fastest 5 mile races in the UK, and offers a relatively flat, traffic-free two-lap circuit of the park.  In a extremely competitive race attracting some of the fastest athletes around (the winning time was a devastatingly fast 23 minutes and 36 seconds!), Liam was 86th out of 204 finishers and he reduced his personal best by 22 seconds to 30 minutes and 3 seconds.  He is equally delighted and frustrated to be that close to a sub 30 minute 5 mile time, and believes that his breakthrough run will eventually come!

North Herts First Saturday

JOHN HARRIS was sixth in the North Herts First Saturday of the month 5K with a time of 19mins and 53 seconds.

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 14^th April.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday 25^th April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6^th May.
• County Track and Field Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6^th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12^th June.
• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26^th June.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25^th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24^th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6^th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30^th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.

You can renew online here

No Clouds In Cyprus

Despite the bitterly cold evening on Thursday there were some excellent performances among the 23 Spartans braving the weather in the 69^th running of the club’s Handicap 5K.  They included seven runners completing the tough course in less than 20 minutes and 19 of the 23 finishers recording personal bests (PB), season bests (SB) or year best times (YB).

Winner on the night was STEVE KEENE in a new personal best time of 22 minutes 6 seconds, 2:54 ahead of handicap, with STEVE GOUGH second in a new season’s best time of 27:13, 2:17 better than handicap.  TODD GRAY was third in 18 minutes 27 seconds, 2:03 faster than handicap and a season’s best

LORRAINE WYATT was the winning woman.  She was fifth overall in a new personal best time of 27 minutes 26 seconds, 1:49 quicker than handicap, with LISA LIVERSIDGE second in 24:50, only 5 seconds shy of her own PB time. Young ABI PEZ was third in her debut 5K with an excellent time of 31:12.

Fastest runner was RICHARD BATE in a SB 16:44, only 11 seconds short of the course record, with GRANT RAMSEY second quickest in a YB time of 17:00, and CRAIG HALSEY third quickest in a SB time of 17:43.  TODD GRAY (18:27), LIAM HERBERT (18:35), JOHN HARRIS (19:29) and DEAN CARPENTER (19:35 PB) all also recorded sub-20 minute times.

LISA LIVERSIDGE was quickest female, with LORRAINE WYATT 2^nd quickest and ABI PEZ 3^rd fastest.

The Final Handicap 5k race before the Mid Week League 10K races start will be on Thursday 25^th April.

Maidenhead Easter Ten

Starting over two minutes after the gun, STEVE MAYFIELD overtook more than 700 runners to finish 364^th in the 60^th running of this flat fast 10 miler.  His time of 1 hour 12 minutes 44 seconds was 320^th fastest on the day, quicker than he ran in 2011, though not quite as fast as in 2010!

Broadmeadow Off Road Challenge – Friday, 29^th March 2013

The Broadmeadow Off Road Challenge is a marathon from the Carriage Café (An old Railway Carriage) in the Warwickshire Countryside around Stratford Upon Avon, consisting of two 4 mile loops, one 15 mile loop and a loop around Stratford Race Course to finish.   Despite some sunshine it was a bitterly cold day, with the obligatory stiles, fences and unavoidable mud!  ROGER BIGGS finished in 5:32:45 and MARK SANDERS in 6:13:30.

Easter Around the Reservoir Trail Marathon

The Easter Around The Reservoir Trail Marathon took place on Saturday and Sunday.  On both days it consisted of six laps of the Brackmills Reservoir which is south of Northampton.  The course was 50% hard surface and 50% trail or grass paths on a cold March morning.  On Saturday CAROL PAUL finished in 4 hours 35 minutes 40 seconds;  ROGER BIGGS in 4:40:31 and MIKE NEWBITT in 5:05:30.

The weather eased a bit on Sunday and Roger completed his third marathon in three days in 4:57:41.

No Cloud In Cyprus

After the dreadful conditions of Milton Keynes in 2012 TONY ARGYROU decided to compete somewhere warm and chose the Limassol Marathon in Cyprus on 24^th March.  He finished in a time of 4:39….taking an hour of his time last year at MK, minimal training leading up to the race and arrived in Cyprus late on Saturday night the 2 hour time difference and the weather peaking at 24 degrees with no cloud cover caused regular cramp but all in all a fantastic location by the sea to run a Marathon over 300 runners from all over Europe competed finishing 136^th

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 14^th April.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday 25^th April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6^th May.
• County Track and Field Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6^th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14^th May.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25^th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24^th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6^th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30^th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.

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 about 400 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, Brittain Way, 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. 

Thank you to Malcolm Devis (Tracy’s dad) for his assistance with the finish and also to Sharon Crowley and Tracy Pez for their support of Abi around the course.

Winner on the night was STEVE KEENE in a new PB time of 22:06, 2:54 ahead of handicap, with STEVE GOUGH 2nd in a new SB time of 27:13, 2:17 better than handicap, and TODD GRAY 3rd also in a SB time (18:27) 2:03 faster than handicap.

Winning female was LORRAINE WYATT (5th overall) in a new PB time 27:26, 1:49 quicker than handicap, with LISA LIVERSIDGE 2nd in 24:50, only 5 seconds shy of her own PB time, and young ABI PEZ 3rd in her debut 5k with an excellent time of 31:12.

Fastest runner was RICHARD BATE in a SB 16:44, only 11 seconds short of the course record, with GRANT RAMSEY 2nd quickest in a YB time of 17:00, and CRAIG HALSEY 3rd quickest in a SB time of 17:43, while TODD GRAY (18:27), LIAM HERBERT (18:35), JOHN HARRIS (19:29) and DEAN CARPENTER (19:35 PB) all also recorded sub-20 minute times.

LISA LIVERSIDGE was quickest female, with LORRAINE WYATT 2nd quickest and ABI PEZ 3rd fastest.

Except for Simon Harris the total time between first and last finisher was only 3:58 and just 1:41 between 2nd-21st, while 91% of finishers finished within 55 seconds of their adjusted handicap and the only finishers more than 1 minute outside of their adjusted handicap were the 2 runners whose times were estimated on the night.

Final Handicap 5k before the MWL will be on the 25th April.

Results: Result_28Mar13 (2)

OAKLEY CANCELLED

Where’s Wally?

Our interesting Spring weather caused the cancellation of the popular Oakley 20 road race.  This 20 miles event is usually a last long run for many Spartans running the London Marathon.  However there was some race action over the weekend and several club members got some training miles done in the snow.

Dawdle With No Daffodils

Despite winter returning with a vengeance, five Spartans braved the snow and biting wind in the Daffodil Dawdle off-road marathon, just outside Newmarket in Suffolk.

Knee deep in snow, calf deep in icy water and ankle deep in very slippery mud, the run felt more like a 40 mile event, rather than the 26.7 measured miles, and while there was no sign of any daffodils there was plenty of dawdling – not least because that was the only way you could stay upright on most of the course.

CAROL PAUL finished in 5 hours 48 minutes 18 seconds; CHRIS LEIGH in 6 hours 22 minutes 59 seconds; MIKE NEWBITT in 6:42:08; PAUL HOLGATE in 6:54:54 and SHARON CROWLEY in 7:17:53.

Where’s Wally?

Where’s Wally fun run was great fun and went ahead in Victoria Park, London.  LIAM HERBERT lined up alongside hundreds of fellow Wallys, thanks to ingenious stripy costumes provided by the organizer.

The Fastest Wally

The race was a last minute sign-up for Liam, he was invited to run with a number of librarians from his work just one week ago.  On a cold, windy flat course and despite being dressed in a red and white stripy jumper, hat and glasses he would have earned a personal best time of approximately 38 minutes dead on if it had been an accurate and timed 10K race.  He was the first and fastest Wally over 10K!

In fact, over the course of the two lap circuit, which allowed runners to choose 5K or 10K options, Liam led from the combined start and opened up a big lead over the second and third placed runners that could not be closed.  At the end of lap 1 (5K), he was comfortably in the lead and maintained this with a strong finish home.  Liam’s reward for this was a novel Where’s Wally medal, his costume to take home and the satisfaction of knowing that he had raised £100 (and counting) for the National Literacy Trust in the process.  All in all, a great fun run!

Coming Events

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

• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 28^th March.
• Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 29^th March.
• Flitwick 10K on Sunday 14^th April.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6^th May.
• County Track and Field Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6^th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14^th May.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25^th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24^th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6^th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30^th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.

Hello and welcome to the next in our series of Spartan in the Spotlight. Today we meet Rhiannon Griffin, another award winner from the FVS Presentation night in January. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the lady who has been in the local media many times in the last year.

Name: Rhiannon Griffin.

Occupation: Full-time Mother to my 21month old.

When did you join FVS ? End of May 2012.

Why did you join the FVS ?

Why did you join the FVS ? My main reason for joining was to get myself back to being active again from 
having a baby and to help shift the baby weight. I used to go running with the buggy twice a week at 
a club called "Buggycise". We all used to run round Fairlands lakes with our buggys then stop at stations
to do lunges, press ups, sprints and tummy exercises. During the sprints I was always the fastest and 
one of the ladies, who was a Spartan (ahem Sam Franklin), suggested I give Spartans a try as I had a 
bit of a natural speed and nack for running. I joined in with the Stater group and loved it. I then 
progressed fairly rapidly through the groups and I'm now in group 4 and being coached by Richard Bate to 
help me reach even higher  

As a running club, what does FVS mean to you and provide you with ? 

In my world of running FVS will always represent my Home. It's where I've started and where I've 
grown. Its full of so many friendly faces and already so many good memories.  

Whats been your racing highlight to date, since joining the Spartans and why?
The 5k I did last Septmeber was awesome. Beautifully hot day and i got a a sub 20min time on my second 
ever time running a 5k. Got second lady and ladies team winner in the county race and came away with 
a few little trophies and a medal and then my picture was in the paper a few days later as well:)

Which race has been the best you have taken part in and why ?
Oh wow well... I did the County indoor championships last weekend and that was immense, a real taste 
for how my Summer of track racing will be. I loved the Herts County-Cross country Championships in 
Broxbourne because the course was so ridiculously tough and muddy, I fell over so many times it was 
hilarious and 
great fun. I did the 18mile off road challenge last year too and that was great getting out running 
for hours in the fields and woods. I did the new years eve Ely 10k and that was sooo hard! it was 
basically just running into the strongest head wind for the duration and it just made me laugh. I just 
love racing actually. 

What is your favourite running distance(s) ?
I love Short distance and I love track running. My most enjoyable distance to run is probably 150-300m 
(not that I race that distance), although I'm in training to specialise in 800m. I'm still yet to 
actually run 1500m and who knows what I'll end up liking most. I've done a lot of longer distance stuff 
(ie: 10k, 5k) and cross-county over the winter to build up my strength. And whilst I've enjoyed it, it 
has all been to help me with the track racing. I'm still in my 1st years training and this summer will 
help me determine where my strengths in running lay and clarify which distance is my forte.  

What are your running goals for the future, either short term, medium or long term goals?

Short term: I want to sub 2:30 800m. Middle term: i would love to make the top 200 or even 100 female 
800m runner in England. Long Term: I'm just going to persevere and see where these little legs will take me.

What other Sports and hobbies do you have in your spare time ? 

I do Pilates once a week now to compliment my Running. I Cycle to and from all my training sessions. And 
once a week I push a very heavy buggy full of shopping back from Tesco haha. Not to mention at lease 15 
mins of each day are dedicated to dancing around the room with 2 stones worth of cute blonde girl. 

Then finally (I have started,  so I will finish)  whats the most interesting fact about you, that 
your friends at the running club would not be aware of ? 

Ermm... I was a county gymnast when I was about 18 (but don't ask me to do a back flip because I'd 
probably seriously hurt myself ), and I'm also a 2nd Dan Black Belt in Shotokan Karate (although I 
haven't actually done any karate since I was about 19!!)

Oh yeah, and if it wasn't for getting pregnant with Molly I'd probably just be another girl working in 
Costa right now...

Thanks Rhiannon for answering all of these,   very insightful and interesting stuff.  On behalf of 
FVS then we need to thank your daughter for getting you into running in the first place  !!  
Good luck with your goals.

Tune in again here soon for the next in the series of SITP,  which next time will be featuring 
Mr Andy Prior.

SEVEN TRACK & FIELD MEDALS FOR SPARTANS

Silvers for Dave’s Rapid Walk And Barry’s Half

Four Spartans proved why they won the Central Eastern Veterans League last year, by competing at Lee Valley Sports Centre in the British Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships and winning SEVEN medals.  The two day meeting included athletes from all over England and Ireland plus guest athletes from Spain and the USA.

On Saturday MONICA BROWN carried on her good form from the British Masters Pentathlon Indoor Championships last month by winning a bronze in one of the closest 60 metres of the competition in 8.64 seconds with only tenths of seconds between second and sixth place.  

Monica then went onto win silver with a great dramatic lifetime best of 1 metre 40 centimetres in the women’s 45 to 49 year high jump which was a highlight of the Spartans afternoon.  She also completed a silver jump double by coming second in the long jump.

Tessa Stephenson started off the weekend by competing in the women’s 50 to 54 age group shot putt.  Only taking up shot putt seriously last year after injury, Tessa followed up her good form by doing a indoors personal best of 8 metres 12 centimetres with the bonus of a bronze medal.

With strong competition from other 75 to 79 year olds, John Tyrrell could not match his personal best from last month, but still recorded a great throw of 7 metres 12 metres in his age group to finish in 5th place.

Iris Hornsey had a strong run in the women’s 70 to 74 year age group to win GOLD in the 1500 metres.  Iris recorded a time of 7  minutes 18.36 seconds which is creditable considering she had to do 7 and a half laps of the short 200 metre indoor track.

Sunday 10th March

Despite it being Mothering Sunday, Iris Hornsey decided to miss lunch with her children and grandchildren to compete at the BMAF championships for the second day in a row.  Iris raced the 800 metres in style to collect the gold medal, her second of the weekend in 2 minutes 29.49, her fastest time since 2010.  Iris is a real inspiration to a lot of club members, as she competes for the Spartans on both road and track.

John Tyrrell also competed in the discus outside at the arena winning his first silver national championship medal in 18.42 metres.  A fantastic result considering John has only been with the Spartans just over a year.

A great competition for the team, leaving one more indoor competition which is the inter area match in April at Lee Valley which several Spartans will be involved in representing the Eastern area.

Summary:

Monica Brown W45

2nd High Jump – 1 metre 40 LIFETIME BEST SILVER Medal

2nd Long Jump – 4 metres 29 centimetres SILVER Medal

3rd 60 Metres – 8.64 seconds BRONZE Medal

Iris Hornsey W70

1st 1500 Metres – 7 minutes 18.36 seconds GOLD Medal

1st  800 Metres – 2 minutes 29.49 seconds BEST TIME since 2010 SILVER Medal

John Tyrrell

2nd Discus – 18 metres 42 centimetres (threw outdoors!) SILVER Medal

5th Shot Putt 7 metres 12 centimetres

Tessa Stephenson W50

3rd Shot putt 8 metres 12 centimetres Personal Best (indoors) BRONZE Medal

Milton Keynes Half Marathon

The eleven Spartans at the Milton Keynes Half Marathon contended with temperatures around 2^oC and sleet throughout the race.

In the view of some a change in course from previous years slowed the race a bit due to more undulations, twists and turns but that plus 10k “walkers” to navigate around in the early stages did not stop DAVE SMITH, STEPHEN BLOCK and KAREN PALMER running new personal bests.  Dave finished in 1 hour 38 minutes 29 seconds; Stephen in 1:52:05 and Karen in 1:58:54.

CHRIS WESTCOTT was the fastest Spartan on the day, 104^th out of the 2,734 finishers in 1 hour 25 minutes 40 seconds.  STEVE MAYFIELD was slightly disappointed with his 1:37:36.  The other Spartan finishers were VISHAL SHAH (1:41:39); SUZY HAWKINS (1:48:17); JORDAN MILLER (1:54:02); PAUL HOLGATE (2:04:59); SHARON CROWLEY (2:20:12) and ANDREA BROWN (2:23:57).

The new course takes in parts of the Wolverton 5 route around Willen Lake and the last mile is now even tougher than before, with a short sharp climb to negotiate above the lake just after the 12 mile point.

In the associated Milton Keynes 10K SIMON BELL was second veteran and 15^th overall in 38 minutes 22 seconds.

Dave’s Fast Walk

DAVID BOWKER took part in the National 10 Kilometres Walk Championship in Victoria Park, London at the weekend.  It included the Hertfordshire County Championship.  He was second in the county championship and 16^th overall out of the 52 finishers in 1 hour 46 minutes 20 seconds.

Dean Minus Five And Barry Silver At Lydd Half Marathon

DEAN CARPENTER managed to knock 5 minutes 21 seconds off his personal best as well as finishing in under 1 hour 30 min for the first time at Sunday’s Lydd Half Marathon.  He finished 72^nd in a time of 1 hour 28 minutes and 58 seconds and was raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Care.

Dean thanks the other Spartan in the race who passed him at about the 11 mile mark and gave lots of encouragement when he was flagging.  It was certainly welcomed and at the time very much needed.  Dean says it’s nice to be part of such a fantastic club with such suportive members.

The other Spartan was BARRY OSBORNE on his way to second place in the British Masters’ Athletic Federation Half Marathon Championship for runners aged 60 plus.  He was 67^th in 1 hour 28 minutes 37 seconds.

Sydney Park Run 5km

Roger Biggs completed his tour ‘Down Under’, with a 5km race in the Southern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia on Saturday.  The race took place at St Peters in Sydney Park, on good quality paths within the park, featuring a rather nasty hill around halfway.

After a slow start, Roger pulled through to 68^th place in a time of 25:18.

Club 20

The Club 20 mile training run will be from Marriotts on Sunday 17th March 2013, meet 9.15am for a 9.30 start. The run will consist of 5 separate sections each of 3.5-5.2 miles, so even if you are not in training for a marathon please do come along and join in for the amount of mileage that your training requires. The run is suitable for all abilities. No pre-notification is required, simply turn up and join in. Guests are also very welcome, so if you are looking for a 20 mile training run to help your marathon preparations please do come along and join us, no entry fee is required.

Coming Events:

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

• County Veterans Cross Country Championships at Willian, Letchworth on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Club Training Twenty on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 28^th March.
• Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 29^th March.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park on Thursday 25^th July.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

Next in the very popular series taking an in depth look at our fantastic running club members,  is Ann Tryssesoone who has been a member with us for over 10 years now,  loves the mud and recently celebrated a very well deserved Most Improved female award at FVS Presentation night in January.

So a huge congrats to Anne and thanks for the following interview:

Occupation:

Veterinary Surgeon: qualified in Belgium in 1990 and shipped over here the same year

When did you join the FVS ?

Gosh… many moons ago but if I remember correctly it must be a decade ago

Why did you join the FVS ?

Got a bit tipsy on a New Years party and boosted to a friend that I am getting fit and wouldn’t mind doing a marathon. I had never run in my life!!! She – a regular runner – informed me of the distance involved. I gulped and agreed to run a half together. Got the shoes and started to run: 1min on – 1min off. It turned out to be 15 seconds run and 2 hours recovery as my lungs were burning. I sort of gave up but didn’t tell my friend. She didn’t mention the half for a whole year then she informed me that she had entered us both for the Silverstone half a marathon. I ran it and kept running ever since.

As a running club, what does FVS mean to you and provide you with ?

FVS stood for Friends, Variety in training and being Slow. Now I have changed the s for Speed (sort of – in my mind)  but still enjoy the friendship and running in a group.

What’s been your racing highlight to date, since joining the Spartans and why.

There has been many highlights to date however receiving the “most improved female runner of 2012” award has got to be it. The award was totally unexpected but proves that consistency pays off.

Which race has been the best you have taken part in and why ?

It has to be my 1st half a marathon at Silverstone: I didn’t think I could run the distance.

What is your favourite running distance(s) ?

I enjoy muddy and hilly cross country races and half marathons.

What are your running goals for the future, either short term, medium or long term goals.

My main goal is to remain fit and injury free. I have been plagued by shin splint for a long time therefore very weary of anything over half a marathon. I hope to run a few half’s at the end of the year.

What other Sports and hobbies do you have in your spare time ?

Time permitting I like gardening, photography and love painting (canvas). I also enjoy travelling.

What’s the most interesting fact about you, that your friends at the running club would not be aware of ?

When I was young and beautiful (in my late teens) my brother and I competed in Latin and ballroom dancing. Never made it to Strictly…

Thanks very much Ann for taking the time for this.   If your interested in becoming a future Spartan in the Spotlight,  then please contact Andy Jay at the club or leave a comment here.

Thanks.

217 9th March 2013

CROSS COUNTRY MEDALS FOR SPARTANS

Silver for Iris; Bronze for Julie, Rhiannon and Simon

Fairlands Valley Spartans made a real leap forward in this season’s cross country league series.  This was emphasised by some great news in the individual results.

SIMON JACKSON won BRONZE as third senior man; RHIANNON GRIFFIN won BRONZE as third senior woman in only her first season; JULIE SIMMONS took BRONZE in the women (55 plus) category and IRIS HORNSEY took SILVER in the women (65 plus) competition.

Other top twenty Spartan finishers included TONY OSBORNE 5^th veteran (70 plus); HANNAH DAVISON tenth woman (35 plus); ANN TRYSSESOONE tenth woman (45 plus); NIKKI ANDREWS 12^th senior woman; KAREN LIDDLE 12^th woman (45 plus); JIM BROWN 13^th veteran (60 plus) man; TRICIA HOPPER 13^th woman (45 plus); ADRIAN DONNELLY 15^th senior man; MARK CHEADLE 20^th senior man.

All those taking part had great fun and look forward to encouraging others to join in next time.  The very last fixture of the 2012-2013 season will be the Hertfordshire County Cross Championships for veterans at Willian, near Letchworth, on 17^th March.  Entries should be submitted now.

Silverstone Half Marathon

Ten Spartans joined more than 6,000 other runners for the 13.1 miles around Silverstone Circuit.  Despite a chilly breeze it was otherwise a good day for the half marathon.

PETE SMITH was the first Spartan, 452^nd out of the 6,188 finishers in 1 hour 35 minutes 22 seconds.

Davie Stafford 482 1:35:53; Craig Bacon 853^rd in 1:41:04; Katy Jinks 1,033^rd in 1:43:01; Vishal Shah 1,193^rd in 1:44:21; Paul Forde 2,001^st in 1:52:11; Andy Ingram-Tedd 3,107^th in 2:00:59; Paul Holgate 3,369^th in 2:03:35 (5 mins faster than Watford); Craig Snowden 4,042^nd in  2:11:04 ; and Doug Hall 5,155^th in  2 hours 27 minutes 15 seconds.

Downhill for the Most Distant Race?

Sunday saw ROGER BIGGS running the Mountain to Surf Marathon in New Zealand.  This was based in New Plymouth on the West Coast of North Island.

The course ran from the Edge of Egmont National Park at 460 metres (the gateway to Mount Taranaki at 2518 meters) to sea level at Waitara.  While the course still provided some testing climbs, the net loss of height made this a fast course.

After a week of wall to wall sunshine, the weather relented, and the race actually started in the rain, although 2 hours past the 7:10am start, the weather was back to normal, providing a sticky 2^nd half.

Roger was pleased to finish in 3:48:32, his best marathon since April 2010.

Roger asks if this was the furthest race from Stevenage run by a Spartan?  The total distance from Stevenage to New Plymouth was approx 12,300 miles.

Chiltern Kanter

SHARON CROWLEY, KAREN LIDDLE, TRISH HOPPER, CHRIS LEIGH and BARRY KING all ran together in the off road Chiltern Kanter to finish in 6 hours 45 minutes !  It was very hilly, very muddy and certainly a very tough marathon !

It was Sharon’s 185^th marathon, Trish’s 31^st, Chris’ 30^th, Karen’s 16^th and Barry’s 6^th Marathon!

Grant Doubles Back

GRANT RAMSAY was fifth in the Swavesey Village Half Marathon, near Cambridge on Sunday.  His excellent time of 1 hour 21 minutes 38 seconds included an extra 0.7 miles, as one of the marshals sent the lead runners the wrong way.  This was at 3 miles and Grant had to double back.

Pitsford Trail Marathon

On Sunday CAROL PAUL and MIKE NEWBITT ran the Pitsford Trail Marathon which was 4 laps of the Pitsford Reservoir which is just north of Northampton.  A lovely event and the sun even came out.  Carol completed the course in 4:42:02 and Mike in 5:03:50

Coming Events

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

• County Veterans Cross Country Championships at Willian,  Letchworth on Sunday 17^th March 2013.  Enter now.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 28^th March.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park on Thursday 25^th July.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

216 2nd March 2013

BARRY & RHIANNON WIN HANDICAP 5K

Gold For Monica

BARRY KING was first out of the twenty competitors who braved the bitterly cold temperatures for Fairlands Valley Spartans Handicap 5K race on Thursday evening.

He ran a new personal best of 21 minutes 46 seconds, 1:22 quicker than he has ever run before.

NICK WITCOMBE was close behind in a new PB of his own of 25:06.  GRANT RAMSAY overtook 17 runners to finish third in an excellent 17 minutes 11 seconds.

Grant was also the fastest runner on the night, with DEAN CARPENTER second quickest in 20:01 and GRAHAM BLACKBURN third fastest in 20:23.

The winning and fastest female was RHIANNON GRIFFIN in 21:30, who was the only woman racing – it was the fourth consecutive handicap 5k in which Rhiannon has run the fastest female time.

There were also personal bests (PBs) for DAVE SMITH +0:43 to 21:47, in fourth position overall, VISHAL SHAH +0:22 to 22:11 (6^th), MATTHEW PALACIO +0:14 to 22:46 (7^th).  MATT GILL ran a season’s best 21:18.  JAMES KILROY ran his first 5K in 25 minutes 39 seconds.

Helpers included Karen Liddle, Bev Harlow, Sara O’Callaghan, Suzy Hawkins, Liam Herbert, Simon Harris, Todd Gray and Paul Holgate.

The next Handicap 5k will be on Thursday 28^th March – will hopefully it will be warmer then.

Gold for Monica and Iris

In the same week as the women’s EVAC team collected the Comet award for team of the year, four Spartans took part in the EVAC Indoor Championships held within the wider South of England Champs.

Spartan MONICA BROWN took GOLD in the East of England Veterans (EVAC) Indoor Championships at Lee Valley.

She won the 60 metres sprint for women (45 plus) in 8.67 seconds.

IRIS HORNSEY took two GOLDS in the 70 plus category.  She was first in the 400 metres with her time of 94.20 seconds and first in the 800 metres with 3 minutes 32.67 seconds.  JOHN TYRRELL took SILVER in the 75 plus shot put with a new personal best of 7.91 metres.

STEVE MAYFIELD won BRONZE in a very close finish in the men’s (45 plus) 200m, missing silver by just 4/100ths with 28.41 seconds.   He went one better with SILVER in the M45 long jump.

In the British Masters (BMAF) Pentathlon Monica won SILVER with the following performances:- 60 metres hurdles 12.27 seconds; high jump 1.36 metres (PB); shot 6.39 metres; long jump 4.34 metres; and 800 metres 3.15.54 giving a total points score of 2580.  

Baldock Beast

Eight Spartans tackled the Baldock Beast on Sunday morning.  The half marathon route showcased Hertfordshire’s fine countryside, albeit hilly and cold countryside.  The run went through Wallington, Sandon, Roe Green and Redhill and it was enthusiastically supported by spectators in the villages.  The course was multi terrain and definitely not one for a personal best but it did give runners a great chance of a negative split.  ANDY PATTERSON was eighth in 1 hour 20 minutes 46 seconds; SIMON JACKSON ninth in 1:20:47 and CRAIG HALSEY 12^th in 1:23:36 – solid times for a tough course and making them to first set of three club runners to finish.

MICHAEL GREEN was 34^th in 1:30:55; TOM  AYRES 250^th in 1:54:44; MATTHEW BURGESS 258^th in 1:56:05; MADDIE PRITCHARD 297^th in 1:59:58 and LORRAINE WYATT 385^th in 2:12:08. 

There were 427 finishers

Not So Disgusted With Tunbridge Wells

It was bitterly cold for the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon, but over 1800 runners braved the weather to run in this Tunbridge Wells Harriers 30th Anniversary event.  It was the first time MARK CHEADLE had made it to 13 miles since last March and he was pleased to finish in a new PB of 1:55:52.  The race was highly organised and very picturesque.  Mark says it is a must do event.

Knebworth

ELLA CERAULO continued her comeback by running the British Heart Foundation Knebworth Park Jog on Sunday.  She took 48 minutes 34 seconds for the 5.87 miles.  CLARE MOORE finished in 51 minutes. 

PB on Test Track 10

LIAM HERBERT’s first competitive race in stripes this year resulted in a new personal best (PB) for 10 miles.

He took part in the Test Track 10 mile for a second consecutive year and recorded a new personal best time of 1:01:30, taking over one minute off his previous best set on the same course in 2012.  Liam finished 15th out of 331 finishers.

The race is a hidden gem: based at the Ford Motor Company Technical Test Centre in Dunton, Essex.  The course consists of a relatively flat two lap circuit of the centre and incorporates two full flying laps around the otherwise off-bounds test track.  The perfect race for speedy long distance racers and one Liam would highly recommend.

Kiwi Coastal Challenge

Globe trotting Spartan ROGER BIGGS is in New Zealand.  He described Saturday’s Coastal Challenge as the “Race From Hell.”

It took Roger 3 hours 41 minutes 15 seconds to complete 22 kilometres along the coast, in and out of the sea, scrambling over rocks, and even a bit of running on soft sand.  The race was from Long Bay to Devenport in Northern Auckland. 

Long Run For Laing

JO LAING ran the recent Bramley 20 road race in 2 hours 27 minutes 11 seconds.

COMING EVENTS

• County Veterans Cross Country Championships at Willian, Letchworth on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 28^th March.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park on Thursday 25^th July.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

]]> http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-press-release-4/feed/ 2 http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-whats-on-newsletter-10/ http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-whats-on-newsletter-10/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:33:15 +0000 Coach http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/?p=4105 Here is a copy of this week’s What’s On newsletter, summarising all of the activities within the club in the coming week.  Start planning!!!

215 23rd February 2013

 

CROSS COUNTRY WINNERS

Eight at Bramley Twenty

Increased participation helped Fairlands Valley Spartans achieved their best place so far in the Sunday Cross Country League.

The club won the women’s B team competition.  Over the whole series the Spartan women were seventh out of seventeen clubs and the club’s men were ninth.

The last race of the series was over a tough undulating course at Watford on Sunday.  Eleven Spartan men and eleven Spartan women finished – both the male and female teams were seventh on the day.

There were outstanding performances from GRANT RAMSAY, fourth out of the 298 finishers in just 36 minutes 3 minutes; SIMON JACKSON, 13^th in 37:48; ANDREW PATTERSON, 15^th in 37:56 and RHIANNON GRIFFIN, 18^th woman in 47:18.

But the teams’ improvement would not have been possible without the contribution of MARTIN WOOD, 69^th man in 43 minutes 33 seconds; ADRIAN DONNELLY, 96^th man in 45:19; DAVID BOWKER, 102^nd man in 45:40; VISHAL SHAH, 151^st man in 49:48; JIM BROWN, 169^th man in 52:56; STEVE PIKE, 177^th man in 55:02; NICK WITCOMBE, 189^th in 60:32 and ANDY INGRAM-TEDD, 197^th in 64:40 for the men and….

NIKKI ANDREWS, 27^th in 49 minutes 32 seconds; JULIE SIMMONS, 38^th in 51:46; ROSIE CANHAM, 41^st in 52:17; CLAIRE COKER, 46^th in 53:35; KAREN ELLIS, 49^th in 54:27; KAREN LIDDLE, 61^st in 56:42; TRICIA HOPPER, 65^th in 57:16; MARIA THORNE, 75^th in 58:34; HANNAH DAVIDSON, 77^th in 58:58 and SARAH PIKE, 89^th in 64:44 for the women.

Times on the Day: Women’s Team 

 

There were 98 female finishers.

Men’s Team

There were 200 male finishers.

Eight At Bramley 20

Training for Spring Marathons, including the London Marathon, is well under way and eight Spartans completed Sunday’s Bramley 20 mile road race.

After a cold and foggy start, the race mostly took part in beautiful spring sunshine.  It was a big step up in distance for SHARON CROWLEY following the snow and cold bugs of recent weeks.  She did wonder if she was mad attempting the event but it seems to have worked out!  However she does have a large lump and blister on the back of her heel/Achilles from the ankle chip, so she was glad she stopped to take off the chip but wonders how much time she lost, especially with only 4 minutes between herself and Paul Holgate in the finish after she closed 6 minutes in the second half of the race!  Sharon is now proudly displaying sock and short lines and the top of her chest/neck is red, as is the top of her arms.  A suntan in February!

SIMON BELL was 56^th in 2 hours 9 minutes 47 seconds; TODD GRAY 109^th in 2:15:57; SAM PRETTY 193^rd in 2:26:36; RICHARD HAZELDENE took two minutes off his personal best to finish 221^st in 2:28:55; LEE LAWRENCE was 469^th in 2:50:32; ROGER BIGGS 518^th in 2:54:40; PAUL HOLGATE 746^th in 3:38:37 and Sharon Crowley 752^nd in 3:42:38.

There were 780 finishers

Brass Monkey 10 km road race – Rockingham Speedway Circuit – 1

DON GREGORY recently ran the Brass Monkey 10 kilometres road race on the Rockingham Speedway circuit.  He was 46^th in 45 minutes 46 seconds.

Coming Events

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

• Handicap 5K in Stevenage  on Thursday 21^st February.
• County Veterans Cross Country Championships at Willian,  Letchworth on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Virgin London  Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park on Thursday 25^th July.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

 

]]> http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-press-release-3/feed/ 2 http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/midweek-league-division-2-fixtures-2013/ http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/midweek-league-division-2-fixtures-2013/#comments Mon, 18 Feb 2013 07:32:43 +0000 Coach http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/?p=4089 The dates and venues of the 2013 midweek league fixtures are out!!!  Make sure they are in your diary!

FIXTURE 1 – 14th MAY 2013 – STEVENAGE 10K  (Hosts – Fairlands Valley Spartans)

FIXTURE 2 – 29th MAY 2013 – CHINGFORD 10K

FIXTURE 3 – 12th JUNE 2013 – HARLOW 10K

FIXTURE 4 – 26th JUNE 2013 – WELWYN 5 MILE

MOB MATCH ( NON SCORING) – 17th JULY 2013 – TRENT PARK 9K

REMEMBER – it’s the final XC league fixture and the club are having one of it’s best seasons for many years.  We have a number of runners in contention for league trophies/medals.  Lets get out and put the club in the best possible league position!

See you at training!

214 16th February 2013

 

TODD WINS BRYAN MOORE SHIELD

Lisa Wins Five Mile Race * Genk & Another Enigma

55 Spartans braved Sunday morning’s cold and miserable weather to take part in the Bryan Moore Shield Handicap 10 mile and associated five mile events.

TODD GRAY won the shield by smashing his ten mile personal best (PB) by almost 3 minutes to cross the line in an excellent 64 minutes 49 seconds, almost 10 minutes quicker than handicap!  Newcomer JORDAN MILLER was second in his first 10 miles with the club in 86:43, 8:47 ahead of handicap, and the ever improving VISHAL SHAH third man in a new PB time of 77:36.

DEBBIE WESTMORE was the winning female, also in her first race with the club, in 99:10, 7 minutes 50 seconds better than handicap.  TRACY BULLOT was second, just 16 seconds behind Debbie, in 82:26, 7:34 faster than handicap.  KERRY SETTERFIELD came third just another 7 seconds further back, in a new season’s best time of 1:49:33.

Todd was also the fastest 10 mile runner on the day with LIAM HERBERT second quickest in 65:39, and Graham Blackburn third fastest with 68:10.

The fastest female was NATALIE BARNARD, just 1 week after her half marathon in Malaga, finishing in 69:11.  NIKKI ANDREWS was second quickest in 75:30 and KATY JINKS 3rd fastest in 78:09.

LISA GRAY won the 5 mile handicap in her first 5 mile race in 41 minutes 13 seconds.  SARAH HUKIN was second in a new season’s best 46:39, with CLAIRE COKER third in 37:40, just ahead of the fourth placed finisher JACKIE MORRISON taking 46 seconds off her PB to 51:08.

The winning man was LES BUTLER in a season’s best time of 48:56, with ANTHONY WHITE second, just 24 seconds behind in 40:20, and PAUL PICKARD third man in 39:35.

BERNIE BARNABY was the fastest 5 mile runner of the day in 34:51, with Paul Pickard 2nd quickest man and Anthony White 3rd fastest.  RHIANNON GRIFFIN was fastest woman in 34:57, with LISA BURGESS second by just eight seconds in 35:05.  MADDIE PRITCHARD was third fastest with 37:07.

There were also 10 mile PBs for NICK WITCOMBE +12:58 to 89:34; MARK CHEADLE +8:28 to 83:10; ISABEL GREEN +2:33 to 91:26; ROBERT EVANS +0:49 to 80:41; LEE LAWRENCE +0:37 to 77:00 and TONY BRADFORD +0:05 to 70:55.

SARAH PIKE +1:08 to 41:31 and MARIA RUSHTON +0:27 to 49:00 achieved new five mile personal bests.

In handicap races the slowest runners start first with others following at times based on recent performances until the fastest start last.  If everyone ran exactly according to their handicap everyone would finish together.  Thus the event winners are the best improvers.

Ten Mile Result

 Five Mile Result

Enigma Marathon

ROGER BIGGS and PAUL HOLGATE ran the Enigma Marathon around Caldecote Lake in Milton Keynes on Thursday.  Roger finished in 4 hours 18 minutes 50 seconds and Paul in 5:30:49.

Genk Marathon

Three Spartans ran the Genk Marathon near Maastrich, Belgium on Sunday.  This was a seven lap course on the outskirts of Genk, with a mixture of quiet residential roads and forest trails (hard surface).  Despite the temperature being around zero, the hazy sunshine made it reasonable running conditions. 4:17:13 – Roger Biggs finished in 4 hours 17 minutes 13 seconds; CAROL PAUL in 4:43:02 and MIKE NEWBITT in 5:11:30.

Move Up In Cross Country

Fairlands Valley Spartans go into this Sunday’s Cross Country League race with the club’s women in seventh place out of seventeen and the men ninth equal on points.  Both have opportunities to move up this weekend.

Coming Events

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

 - Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.

- County Veterans Cross Country Championships at Willian, Letchworth      on Sunday 17^th March 2013.

- Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.

- Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.

- Relays in the Park on Thursday 25^th July.

- Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

 

Welcome to the next in our series of Spartans in The Spotlight,  a fascinating insight into the lifes of our fantastic runners.  This month we feature Davie Stafford who has been with FVS since 2010 and doing extremely well with the club,  with many Personal Bests and a first marathon in 2012.    So what can we tell you about Davie…..

213 9th February 2013

Take a look at the ten of the best for February.  There’s loads going on with a particular emphasis in our training for the forthcoming midweek league series starting in May.  The planned speed development and hill training complement a whole range of training objectives so please don’t miss then simply because you are training for a marathon.  They will turn you into quicker runners and they are great fun to do with the rest of the club.

See you on the training ground!

Catch a Coach newsletter February 2013 v0.1

 

WATFORD HALF

Tough Guy

It was a beautiful day for the ten Spartans running Sunday’s Watford Half Marathon.  Despite the undulating course four ran new personal bests (PBs) for the 13.1 miles.  MATTHEW GILL improved by 23 seconds to 1 hour 40 minutes 46 seconds (524^th); VISHAL SHAH by 4 minutes to 1:43:55 (654^th) and BARRY KING by a massive 7 minutes 36 seconds to 1:52:08 (982^nd) and JENNIFER ROBERTSON by an incredible 12 minutes 32 seconds to 1:41:30.  She was first woman for the club and 545^th overall in the popular race which had 1,703 finishers.

DEAN CARPENTER was the fastest for Fairlands Valley.  He was 317^th in 1:34:19.  SUZY HAWKINS finished in 1:44:34 (691^st) and KIM TYLER in 1:58:48 (1,229^th). 

STEPHEN BLOCK was 1,259^th in 1:59:10; PAUL HOLGATE 1,477^th in 2:08:47 and NEIL MAIDENS 1,641^st in 2:23:48.  Paul reckons he overtook 98 runners in the second half of the race. 

Tough Guy Rob

ROB EVANS, along with seven team mates from work, travelled to Perton near Wolverhampton last week to take part in TOUGH GUY 2013.  The challenge began with a grueling 5-6 mile cross-country run including hill slaloms, deep mud and wooden obstacles before taking on the 3-4 mile “Killing Fields” assault course.

The team had to battle water temperatures of minus 10 degrees C, very deep mud obstacles, electric shocks, claustrophobia, barbed wire, 12 metre high cargo nets with dual rope and plank walks.  As a measure of the toughness of the course there was a shortage of medical staff, ambulances and air ambulances to cope with the number of competitors suffering injuries and hypothermia.  Even some of the rescue divers (in dry-suits!) had hypothermia.  Approximately one third of the 5,000 entrants did not complete the course.

All eight members of the team were tremendously proud to have successfully completed the event.

Tracy First Lady

Spartan TRACY PEZ was first lady in the North Herts first Saturday of the month 5K.  She was 23^rd overall in 25 minutes 9 seconds.  KIERAN FEETHAM was 15^th in 23:47 and SARAH FEETHAM 50^th in 28:40.

The course was very muddy and slippery.  Kieran lost his shoe at one point and had to stop to put it on.

Coming Events

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

• Spartans Handicap 5 and 10 mile races on Sunday 10^th February (new date).
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• County Veterans Cross Country Championships at Willian, Letchworth on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

]]> http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-news-release-2/feed/ 0 http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-whats-on-newsletter-8/ http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-whats-on-newsletter-8/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2013 19:25:36 +0000 Coach http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/?p=3976 Here is this week’s Whats On newsletter, giving you details of all of the club’s training activities for the coming week.  Remember there is much more information within the club’s training calendar, easily found on the website.

See you at training!

212 2nd February 2013

CHAMPIONS NIGHT FOR SPARTANS

Spartans In Italy

GRANT RAMSAY is Fairlands Valley Spartans’ overall champion for 2012.  He won the long and short distance championships for men.

Nearly one hundred members of the club enjoyed their Presentation Evening and Disco at Knebworth Barns on Friday.

The award winners were:

IRIS HORNSEY won the women’s short distance age related championship; JULIE SIMMONS was second and club chair BEVERLEY HARLOW third.  All runners in short distance championships had to run three out of 1500 metres, 5 kilometres, 5 miles and 10 kilometres.

BARRY OSBORNE was delighted to win the men’s short distance age related championship; ANDY NEATHAM was second and DAVID BOWKER third.

In the female long distance age graded championship KERRY JAMES won with Beverley Harlow second and Sharon Crowley third.  In all long distance championships runners had to run three out of 10 miles; half marathon; 20 miles and full marathon.

The male age graded championship was won by SIMON BELL with GRAHAM BLACKBURN second and PETE SMITH third.

ANN TRYSSESOONE was surprised and really delighted to win the award for most improved female in 2012.  ANDY PRIOR was the most improved male.

RHIANNON GRIFFIN was the Starter of the Year AND came second in the female open short distance championship.  JO LAING won that championship and KERRY JAMES came third.  In the open championship it’s simply the case that the fastest runners win.

Jo Laing also won the long distance open championship for women.  In this case NIKKI ANDREWS was second and PAULETTE ELDRIDGE third.

Grant Ramsay won the men’s open short distance championship with SIMON JACKSON second and RICHARD BATE third.  Grant also won the long distance championship with ANDREW PATTERSON second and CHRISTOPHER WESTCOTT third.

STEVE SMITHSON won the Chairman’s Award for services to the club.

The contest for the prestigious Spartan of the Year was so close that there were two winners – Steve Smithson and CHRIS LEIGH.

Having won both open categories Jo Laing was the overall female champion.  Grant Ramsay won both male categories with fantastic scores making him the male champion and overall club champion.

Sharon Crowley and Mark Cheadle won the Captains’ Awards which were presented by Tracy Pez and Nick Witcombe.

In addition Simon Harris was congratulated for winning the Paul Pearce Disability Award; as were David Bowker who won gold in the British Masters Athletics Federation Championships; Iris Hornsey who won gold and silver at the British Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships and three golds at the British Masters Athletics Championships; Monica Brown who won silver at the British Masters heptathlon, silver in the pentathlon and bronze in the British Masters Athletics Federation outdoor pentathlon; and Grant Ramsay who represented Team GB in the European Veterans Marathon Championships

Lots of pictures of the presentation evening are available from the gallery on www.fvspartans.org.uk or direct from Jim Brown (0793 968 7509).

Spartans In  Italy

Two Spartans were in Naples, Italy for a marathon & half marathon on Sunday.  It was a lovely sunny day and after a coolish start almost perfect running weather.  The course took in much of Central Naples including its cobbled streets, which were rather wearing.  Roger Biggs completed the marathon in 4:19:44 and Barbara Wilson the half marathon in 2:16:49.

Cheadle in Canterbury

On Sunday the sun came out to thaw the roads of Canterbury which meant the 10 miles road race could go ahead after several local races had been cancelled recently.  The sun was bright, the wind strong and hills steep!  MARK CHEADLE ran the undulating 10 mile course in a new personal best of 1:22:27 taking nearly 10 minutes of his old PB.

Coming Events

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

• Spartans Handicap 5 and  10 mile races on Sunday 10^th February (new date).
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• County Veterans Cross Country Championships on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

 

Garden House Hospice 5K supported by Fairlands Valley Spartans

When: June 9, 2013 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Where: Fairlands Valley Park, Stevenage, Fairlands Valley Park, Stevenage,Hertfordshire, UK Click here for details

When: July 14, 2013 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

When: July 21, 2013 @ 9:00 am – 2:30 pm

When: July 25, 2013 @ 7:30 pm – 8:45 pm

When: September 22, 2013 @ 9:45 pm – 10:45 pm

When: November 3, 2013 @ 10:30 am – 1:00 pm

Sorry that this week’s newsletter is late! Too much partying on Friday night.

Here it is!

211 26th January 2013

PRESENTATION EVENING THIS FRIDAY

No Races In Snow But Spartans Still Run

Fairlands Valley Spartans Annual Presentation Evening and Disco will be on Friday 25th January at Knebworth Barns.  Tickets are £25.00 which includes a hot buffet and disco. The evening starts at 7.30p.m.  The fun will continue until midnight.

Presentations will be made to Club Champions and of course to the Spartan of the Year. Awards will be made for leading positions in, for example, the women and men’s long and short distance championships both the fastest and age related.  Book now to be sure of a place, particularly if you think you might be in the top three in any category and even if you don’t as your company will be welcome.

Spartans and their friends will be warmly welcomed to help make this a great celebration of ‘The UK’s Best Running Club.  More details on www.fvspartans.org.uk

Spartans Move Up In Cross Country League

The huge turnout of 41 Spartans in the recent Cross Country race on Therfield Heath, Royston dramatically improved the club’s position in the league.  The men were hovering around tenth but came third out of the seventeen teams and the women are seventh with their “B” team first in that competition.

The next league cross country league race will be in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.

Snow Go For County Championships

Many Spartans had entered Sunday’s Fred Hughes 10 at St. Albans which was to include the Hertfordshire ten mile road race championships.  Unfortunately the snow and ice meant it was not safe for a competitive event for 800 runners to go ahead.  However several Spartans enjoyed some fun runs in the snow.  Pictures are available.

The championships may be included in another event later in the year.

Coming Events

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

• Spartans Presentation Evening and Dance on Friday 25^th January.
• Spartans Handicap 5 and 10 mile races on Sunday 27^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• County Veterans Cross Country Championships on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

Here is this week’s Whats On newsletter. Please remember to check the club website and/or Forum for details of any changes to training venues/sessions during the bad weather.

210 19th January 2013

 

PRESENTATIONS ON THE 25^th

Great Turnout for Cross Country

Fairlands Valley Spartans Annual Presentation Evening and Disco will be on Friday 25th January at Knebworth Barns.  Tickets are £25.00 which includes a hot buffet and disco.  The evening starts at 7.30a.m. and continues until midnight.

Presentations will be made to Club Champions and of course to the Spartan of the Year.  Book as soon as possible to be sure of a place.

Spartans and their friends will be warmly welcomed to help make this a great celebration of ‘The UK’s Best Running Club.’  More details on www.fvspartans.org.uk

Huge Turnout for Cross Country League

Fairlands Valley Spartans fielded three women’s teams and two men’s teams, a total of 41 runners, in Sunday’s Cross Country league race on Therfield Heath, Royston.

It was cold, hard and hilly but there were many excellent Spartan performances.  Six men finished in the top 50 – SIMON JACKSON was sixth in 34 minutes 16 seconds; ANDREW PATTERSON 17^th in 35:45; CRAIG HALSEY 26^th in 36:38; LEE REYNOLDS 37^th in 37:55; LIAM HERBERT 39^th in 38:09 and TODD GRAY 46^th in 39:02.

For the women the first six were RHIANNON GRIFFIN, 123^rd overall in 43 minutes 4 seconds; KATY JINKS 173^rd in 46:51; NIKKI ANDREWS 179^th in 47:06; TRACY PEZ 192^nd in 48:10; JULIE SIMMONDS 206^th in 49:45 and ROSIE CANHAM 212^th in 49:45.

Results for all 41 Spartans follow.

Men:

 

Women:

The next and final cross country league race will be in Watford on 17^th February.  The County Cross Country Championships for veterans are on 17^th March.

Mystery MK 10K

On Sunday STEPHEN BLOCK ran in the Race Timing Systems ‘Mystery’ 10K around Willen Lake in Milton Keynes.  The mystery was that the course was a secret until the day before the race!   He achieved a new personal best with his first sub-50 minute 10K with a time of 49:45.

Half Marathon Update

This year’s Stevenage Half Marathon will be on Sunday 3^rd November.

Coming Events

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

• Fred Hughes Ten, including County Championships, on Sunday 20^th January.
• Spartans Presentation Evening and Dance on Friday 25^th January.
• Spartans Handicap 5 and 10 mile races on Sunday 27^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• County Veterans Cross Country Championships on Sunday 17^th March 2013.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.

 

The results are summarised here.

We are expecting to hold the next test in March and then approximtely every 8 weeks after that.  Look out for the details in the training programme.

REMEMBER – 25th January sees the club’s presentation evening at Knebworth Barns.  Don’t forget to buy your tickets and also vote for Spartan of the Year.  Go to the club website home page for details.

209 12th January 2013

LADIES SHOW THE WAY IN CROSS COUNTRY

Lisa Wins 5K * Grant Wins Again

Fairlands Valley Spartans ladies showed the men the way in Sunday’s Hertfordshire Cross Country Championships which were held on a hard, hilly and very muddy course at Haileybury College, Hertford.

The women’s race was very competitive and over eight kilometres.

The Spartan team was eighth with RHIANNON GRIFFIN 21^st in 39 minutes 49 seconds; Julie Simmons 38^th in 43.42; Karen Ellis 47^th in 47.47; Karen Liddle 48^th in 48.25; Sharon Crowley 52^nd in 50.07; Tricia Hopper 54^th in 51.19 and Maria Thorne 57^th in 53.25.

In the men’s race over 11 kilometres SIMON JACKSON was 21^st in 44 minutes 55 seconds and GRAHAM BLACKBURN 84^th in 58 minutes 8 seconds.

The next cross country race is on Sunday 13^th January at Royston.

Lisa and Martin Win Handicap

32 Spartans got 2013 off and running at the club’s Handicap 5k on Thursday. The first 5 finishers were all running their first 5K with the club, with the winning time recorded by LISA LIVERSIDGE in 24:45, 3½ minutes ahead of handicap, followed by RUTH REILLY in 26:38 and SARAH HEADLAND 28:28, both 2½ minutes better than handicap.

The winning man was newcomer MARTIN OLIVANT (5^th overall) in 27 minutes exactly, 2:15 ahead of handicap, with DEAN CARPENTER 2^nd man, 4:37 quicker than his previous handicap 5K, to finish in less than 20 minutes for the first time, and MARK CHEADLE 3^rd in a new PB of his own of 23:07, 36 seconds faster than before.

Fastest runner on the night was LIAM HERBERT, 1½ minutes ahead of handicap, in 18:44, with CRAIG HALSEY back from a long lay-off with injury, 2^nd quickest in a new PB time of 18:50, and TODD GRAY third fastest in 19:33, with ADRIAN DONNELLY in a new season’s best (19:44) and CRAIG HALSEY (19:57) also both quicker than 20 minutes.

Fastest female was RHIANNON GRIFFIN who overtook 15 runners to finish 12^th overall in 21 minutes 4 seconds, 12 seconds faster than in November, with newcomer SUZY HAWKINS second quickest in 23:34, 2:18 better than handicap.  JENNIFER ROBERTSON was third fastest, in 24:02, 1:43 ahead of handicap.

VISHAL SHAH 22:33, SELVAN NAICKER 23:21 and LORRAINE WYATT 27:59 also recorded new personal bests.  There were also a season’s  best for PETE SMITH 21:41.

The next Handicap 5K date soon now that the new access arrangements to Marriotts have opened.

Flying Start To New Year

GRANT RAMSAY got 2013 off to a flying start by running the Edinburgh Portobello Promenade 4 mile race in a new personal best of 21 minutes 57 seconds.  He was happy to sneak below 22 minutes, in windy conditions.  Grant was twelfth

NIKKI COLLINS and JIM BROWN both ran in the Serpentine New Year’s Day 10K.  Nikki was happy with her time of 51 minutes 57 seconds.  She was 292^nd out of the 567 runners.  Jim was 151^st in 46 minutes 15 seconds.  It was cool but there was bright sunshine and a light wind.

Eve Ely

Other Spartans got a character building end to 2012 at the extremely windy Ely 10K.

SIMON JACKSON was ninth out of the 539 finishers in 35 minutes 46 seconds; RICHARD BATE 19^th in 37:08; LIAM HERBERT 49^th in 40 minutes exactly; RHIANNON GRIFFIN 115^th, and 15^th female, in 44 minutes 49 seconds; ANDY PRIOR 255^th in a new personal best of 49 minutes 51 seconds and PAUL HOLGATE 444^th in 59:23.

Mountain Ash

Even later in 2012 HELEN and LEE MORRIS completed the Nos Galan race in Mountain Ash, on the evening of New Year’s Eve.  Lee finished in 26 minutes 46 seconds and Helen in 32 minutes 11 seconds.

The race always features a mystery runner to commemorate the local personality in whose memory the race is held.  This year it was the Olympian Dai Green.

Krakow 10K

ANDY NEATHAM ran in the Krakow New Year’s Eve 10K.  There was a 5K and 10K, starting together with the courses separating at 2.5k.  Over 1250 runners toed the start line, many in fancy dress, for which prizes were awarded.  Andy ran the 10k, finishing 29th, and 3^rd veteran (40 plus), out of 754 finishers in 39 minutes 26 seconds.  It was his slowest ever 10k, but as it was Andy’s first race since his worst ever injury back in August, he was reasonably happy.

First Saturday 5K

ANDREW PATTERSON won the North Herts First Saturday 5K on Norton Common on Saturday morning.  The weather was good, the Common, however, was very boggy.

He finished in 19 minutes 5 seconds.  He says that at some points it felt like he was sinking in the mud and in the up hill mud trails thought he was going backwards.  A strong first lap was enough to kill off the opposition and he won by well over one minute.

Although not exactly PB (personal best) friendly, he’d recommend this race as a good alternative to the free local park runs in Bedford and St Albans.

Fastest UK Marathon This Year As Grant Wins Enigma

Spartans’ GRANT RAMSAY won the fastest UK marathon so far this year when he won Saturday’s Enigma Winter Marathon, Bletchley in 2 hours 47 minutes 43 seconds.  This was a course record by three minutes.

The course consisted of 7.5 laps round the outside of Caldecote Lake.

ROGER BIGGS was 30^th in 4 hours 2 minutes 24 seconds.  CAROL PAUL finished in 4 hours 49 minutes 18 seconds.  There were 63 finishers.

Hilly Buntingford

As always Sunday’s Buntingford Ten was hilly but this year it was crisp and sunny rather than dull and icy.  Thirty Spartans competed in the ten miles event.

ADRIAN DONNELLY (65^th in 1 hour 8 minutes 43 seconds); JOHN HARRIS (67^th in 1:08:53); DEAN CARPENTER (70^th in 1:09:07) and GRAHAM BLACKBURN (79^th in 1:10:26) were all in the top 100 finishers.

MARK GOODWIN (131^st in 1:14:44); ANN TRYSSESOONE (233^rd with a 12 minutes 36 seconds improvement to 1:21:49); BARRY KING (298^th in 1:25:59); TRICIA HOPPER (331^st in 1:28:48) and KAREN LIDDLE (332^nd in 1:28:55) all ran new personal bests.

SARAH PRICE (221^st in 1:20:50) was the fastest Spartan woman.  TRACY PEZ was a few seconds behind (224^th in 1:21:08).  Ann Tryssesoone was 233^rd (see above) and KAREN ELLIS 295^th in 1:26:19.

474 finishers.

Portsmouth Coastal

ROGER BIGGS ran one of the most popular trail marathons in England recently.  It was the Portsmouth Coastal Trail Marathon.  The course hugged the coastline from Southsea round Hayling Island and back again on a mixture of tarmac, paths & trails.  On a dull and windy day, rather wet underfoot, but without the expected rain, Roger Biggs completed the 26.2 miles in 4 hours 45 minutes 8 seconds.

Half Marathon Update

Following the successful Stevenage Half Marathon on 4th November, the organisations listed below who helped with marshalling, car parking and water stations, have all been given donations: Stevenage Scout groups, Stevenage Sea Cadets, The Rotary Club of Stevenage and The Rotary Club of Stevenage Grange.

In addition, the following charities have also been given donations towards their work:  Shine; Herts. Society for the Blind; Lister Hospital Children’s Ward; Greenside School; and the Herts Air Ambulance.

Thanks everyone who helped make this a very worthwhile event in spite of the weather!

Fairlands Valley Spartans’ Presentation Evening and Dance will be on Friday 25^th January.  The email address for voting for Spartan of the Year is soty@fvspartans.org.uk

Coming Events

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

• Cross  Country League on Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13^th January.
• Fred Hughes Ten, including County Championships, on Sunday 20^th  January.
• Spartans Presentation Evening and Dance on Friday 25^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• County Cross Country Championships for Veterans on Sunday 17^th March.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April.

208 5th January 2013

Please note the news that we will be coming into the school site from the new entrance on Brittain Way (off of the roundabout on Six Hills Way opposite Ken Brown motors). Attached below is a copy of the location map. Please read the newsletter for the details.

New school entrance 070113

FROM MONDAY 7^th JANUARY WE WILL BE USING THE NEW SCHOOL ENTRANCE.

YOU CAN FIND THIS BY COMING INTO BRITTAIN WAY (off of the roundabout on Six Hills Way near the Ken Brown Motors site, adjacent to Shephall Way).

When you drive into Brittain Way, continue ahead and enter the new school car park.  Walk towards the school main entrance and then turn left through a set of double gates and follow the wide tarmac pathway that goes around the side of the school building.  There will be members of the sports centre team to direct you.  This then leads around to the entrance of the new sports centre extension. There is a large covered walkway in front of the entrance that we will meet under.  The postcode for the new school (and hence the new entrance is SG2 8UT).

Here is a location map for you to view.  New school entrance 070113

FVS Chairman

New Year,  New Chairman.  Welcome to the next in the popular series of Spartans in the Spotlight.  I recently caught up with Beverley for our Spartan in the Spotlight series:

Name:  Beverley Harlow

Occupation: Formerly Deputy Headteacher at a Secondary school teaching music, now retired.

Family: Married to John – no children but one lovely dog called Meg who is a fair weather runner

When did you join the Spartans: I joined the Spartans in 1991.

Why did you join the Spartans: I decided to enter the London Marathon intending to walk as I hated any form of running. When my confirmation of entry arrived through the post it included a training plan. I started running on 1^st January that year and my first run(jog )nearly killed me, but, being of a slightly obsessive nature, I followed the plan to the letter and joined the Spartans after about a month. I haven’t stopped running since!

Tell us all about the role(s) you play within the club: Last year I became a club coach having completed the LiRF course. I also joined the committee and was elected Vice-chair. This year I have taken on the chairmanship – I suspect it will be a steep learning curve, but it is time for me to give something back to the club after 21 years.

What has been your Racing highlight to date, since joining the Spartans and why. This is a difficult one – I decided to try for a marathon pb last year to celebrate 20 years of running and achieved that at Chester. Other highlights over the years have been my first London marathon and last years VLM. Also my Olympic Park run in March was amazing and a lovely precursor to my time in the park as a Gamesmaker in the summer.

Have you ever represented your running club in a race overseas? I love going to a foreign city and running a half marathon or other distance. I have been lucky enough to compete in Prague, Paris, Stockholm,  New York, Reno (USA), Montagu and Port Elizabeth (South Africa) and in Wiarton in Canada. I always look for a race to enter if I am going away.

What are your running goals for the future. I aim to continue running for as long as I am able. I think it is fantastic to see older runner into their 70s and 80s still running and competing. I run because I can. I aim to get as close to my half-marathon pb as possible at Edinburgh in 2013.

What other Sports and hobbies do you have in your spare time when you’re not running? I am the organist and choirmaster at St. Mary the Virgin church in Walkern and that takes up most Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. I also really enjoy walking and cycling (slowly). I love photography and am learning to play bridge.

Whats the most interesting fact about you, that your friends at the running club would not be aware of ?  I am aunt to Olympian Goldie Sayers who has been the UK record holder for the last ten years.

Wow thanks to Chairman Beverley for a fascinating insight,  especially the Aunty news at the end !!   Thanks for taking the time to do this. 

Readers, hope you enjoyed this and please feel free to catch up further with Bev at the many FVS training sessions and of course at our major Annual FVS Presentation Evening on 25th January at Knebworth Barns.  Tickets available online from the main page.

Andy Jay.

As always Sunday’s Buntingford Ten was hilly but this year it was crisp and sunny rather than dull and icy.  Thirty Spartans competed in the ten miles event.

ADRIAN DONNELLY (65^th in 1 hour 8 minutes 43 seconds); JOHN HARRIS (67^th in 1:08:53); DEAN CARPENTER (70^th in 1:09:07) and GRAHAM BLACKBURN (79^th in 1:10:26) were all in the top 100 finishers.

MARK GOODWIN (131^st in 1:14:44); ANN TRYSSESOONE (233^rd with a 12 minutes 36 seconds improvement to 1:21:49); and BARRY KING (298^th in 1:25:59) all ran new personal bests.

SARAH PRICE (221^st in 1:20:50) was the fastest Spartan woman.  TRACY PEZ was a few seconds behind (224^th in 1:21:08).  Ann Tryssesoone was 233^rd (see above) and KAREN ELLIS 295^th in 1:26:19. 

There was 474 finishers.

Boxing Day Win

GRANT RAMSAY ran off Christmas with the very wet and muddy Pirton 2.5 mile Boxing Day race.  He won by a large margin in 14 minutes 42 seconds.  Another victory for Fairlands Valley Spartans, the UK’s best running club.

JOHN HARRIS ran the later 3.2 miles race at Pirton.  He was 12^th overall and third veteran (50 plus) in 22 minutes 20 seconds.

Portsmouth Coastal

ROGER BIGGS ran one of the most popular trail marathons in England recently.  It was the Portsmouth Coastal Trail Marathon.  The course hugged the coastline from Southsea round Hayling Island and back again on a mixture of tarmac, paths & trails.  On a dull and windy day, rather wet underfoot, but without the expected rain, Roger Biggs completed the 26.2 miles in 4 hours 45 minutes 8 seconds.

Glynneath

Helen and Lee Morris ran a very wet and windy Glynneath 5 mile race on Boxing Day.  Lee finished in 43 minutes 17 seconds and Helen in 52 minutes 56 seconds.

Krakow 10K

ANDY NEETHAM ran in the Krakow New Year’s Eve 10K.  There was a 5k and 10k, starting together with the courses separating at 2.5k.  Over 1250 runners toed the start line, many in fancy dress, for which prizes were awarded.  Andy ran the 10k, finishing 29th, and 3^rd veteran (40 plus), out of 754 finishers in 39 minutes 26 seconds.  It was his slowest ever 10k, but as it was Andy’s first race since his worst ever injury back in August, he was reasonably happy.

Half Marathon Update

Following the successful Stevenage Half Marathon on 4th November, the organisations listed below who helped with marshalling, car parking and water stations, have all been given donations: Stevenage Scout groups, Stevenage Sea Cadets, The Rotary Club of Stevenage and The Rotary Club of Stevenage Grange.

In addition, the following charities have also been given donations towards their work:  Shine; Herts. Society for the Blind; Lister Hospital Children’s Ward; Greenside School; and the Herts Air Ambulance.

Thanks everyone who helped make this a very worthwhile event in spite of the weather!

Fairlands Valley Spartans’ Presentation Evening and Dance will be on Friday 25^th January.  The email address for voting for Spartan of the Year is soty@fvspartans.org.uk? 

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

• Handicap 5K on Thursday  evening 3^rd January 2013.
• County Cross  Country Championships at Haileybury  College on Sunday 6^th  January.
• Cross Country League on  Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13^th January.
• Fred Hughes Ten, including County Championships, on Sunday 20^th January.
• Spartans Presentation  Evening and Dance on Friday 25^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April.

• Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 3^rd January 2013.
• County Cross  Country Championships at Haileybury College on Sunday 6^th January.
• Cross Country League on  Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13^th January.
• Fred Hughes Ten, including County Championships, on Sunday 20^th January.
• Spartans Presentation Evening and Dance on Friday 25^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April.

 

As well as the 10 of the best for the coming month, there is a reminder about booking your races, what the forthcoming Cooper Test is all about, coaching resources on marathon and half marathon training and a reminder about groupings for our Tuesday sessions.

Please take a look……..and best wishes for 2013!!

Catch a Coach newsletter January 2013v0.1

Don’t forget the first 5K handicap of 2013 is on Thursday 3rd January!

207 29th December 2012

We have been notified by the Parks division that there are serious drainage and water issues at Ridlins at the moment.  This includes no operating toilets or running water.  With the welfare of our members in mind we cannot use the Ridlins stadium complex tomorrow.  As a result, we will be meeting in the small car park off of Fairlands Way (by the maze) and then using sections of the nearby cycleways.

We expect the sessions from 5^th January to go ahead as planned from Ridlins.

Club training programme -Sunday long runs – Spring Marathon training

Notes

The following information sets out a programme of runs that the club will support during the December 2012 to May 2013 period.

This is not intended to be a personal training schedule.  However, regularly completing these runs alongside the other club’s training sessions is a positive way to prepare for a Spring based marathon.

Selecting certain races (the list below is not meant to be fully comprehensive) is a good way to benchmark your training efforts but please take care not to over race!!

Appropriate training runs will also be organised by the Group C coaches.

Christmas may be only days away but that doesn’t stop the Spartans doing their stuff!!  Please take a look at all of the Xmas happenings in this week’s What’s On Newsletter.

Please also remember that the opening of the new Marriotts school is coming around very quickly.  This will mean that we will start to use the entrance off of Brittain Way (opposite the roundabout by the Ken Brown motors/Shephall Way). The exact date of this change has yet to be announced but is likely to be early in the new year.  As soon as we have had a firm date confirmed we will let you know!!

206 22nd December 2012

Have a great Xmas and best wishes for the New Year!

Coach

 

FIVE AT FESTIVE FIVE

Park Run and an Enigma

Fairlands Valley Spartans were first team at Sunday’s Festive Five.  SIMON JACKSON, ANDREW PATTERSON and DAVIE STAFFORD beat the host club, Garden City Runners, by just one point (17 to 18).

This was the second annual Festive Five in Welwyn Garden City and five Spartans were racing.  Between them they achieved five new personal bests (PBs) and a 1st, 2nd & 3rd place finish in the race for Spartans.

After finishing third in the race in 2011, Simon Jackson returned to the event and won the event in 28 minutes 33 seconds.  However the performance of the race was by Andy Patterson who managed to beat the 5 mile personal best which he has had for five and a half years.  He finished an impressive third in 29.13.  Davie Stafford ran his quickest five miles ever – 33 minutes 12 seconds for 12^th place.

RHIANNON GRIFFIN continued her good year and was second woman in her first race over five miles with 34 minutes 17 seconds.  IRIS HORNSEY was 13^th female in 45 minutes 31 seconds.  Rhiannon and Iris made up the third women’s team.

The race was on a two lap, fast, flat course and the weather was cold and crisp.

St.   Albans Park Run

Spartans VISHAL SHAH and ANDY PRIOR ran last Saturdays St Albans Park Run.

Andy managed a new personal best of 23 minutes 14 seconds and was 48^th out of the 116 finishers.  Vish was 51^st in 23:50.

The course is very flat & potentially fast if you get the start right as it can be congested over the first kilometre.

Andy will be returning on the 21^st for another crack at a sub 23 time.

Enigma Christmas Trail Marathon – Saturday, 15^th December 2012

ROGER BIGGS completed the Enigma Marathon for the seventh time on Saturday.

The Enigma is over a 7.5 lap course around Caldecotte Lake in Bletchley, near Milton Keynes.  In good conditions, although slightly windy, Roger navigated this twisty course in 3:58:33, over 6 minutes quicker than his previous best for this event.

Coming Events

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

• Christmas Social Run on Tuesday 18^th December.
• Misden Chapel Run on Sunday 23^rd December.
• Buntingford Ten on Sunday  30^th December.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday  evening 3^rd January 2013.
• County Cross Country Championships at Haileybury College on Sunday 6^th  January.
• Cross Country League on Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April.

NW: Because their pants are always clean, it is a sign of perfection….
TP: Plus, It’s a fashion statement…!!!

AJ: OK, so you are clearly not really superheros, but if you were, which super power would you like to have?

NW: The power of speed, so I can no longer have to plod!!
TP: The power of invisibility, so I can cause lots of mischief!!!

AJ: Would you rather be able to read people’s minds OR have x-ray vision?

TP & NW: We know what you’re thinking…….!!!!….it has to be X-ray vision!!

AJ: Tell me, what was the most interesting trip you have ever taken?

TP:  Oh no…what did you have to go and ask that for??
NW:  Well it was when I went to Texas and ran the New Braunfels Half Marathon….where I finished in first position….the first Spartan….it was a great trip….

AJ: Anyway, moving swiftly on….What is your favourite pre-run breakfast ?

NW: Porridge. Because I am not allowed a fry up.
TP:  I have porridge too….but not with Nick!!   #awkward

AJ: What is your favourite piece of clothing?

NW: It has to be my famous flat cap…
TP: Obviously mine has to be my stripy vest….closely followed by my underpants…

AJ: What was the funniest thing you have ever experienced while running?

NW: I think it was my Pingu experience….although Sharon running through the farm with a flock of sheep hot on her heels was very funny too!!!
TP: Ummm…I think mine was Andy Jay stamping his feet and throwing his toys out the pram at the Eddy half while Charlie did his rather poor impersonation of a Scots man…..!!

AJ: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what five items would you want to have with you and why?

TP: Jointly stranded?
NW: Together? #awkward…
TP:  Well in that case, I’d need earplugs (to avoid those stories from Texas!).  Umm…and a box of Christmas crackers (to source some new jokes)
NW:  I’d take earplugs (to avoid the bad jokes).  And a mobile device to prevent Facebook withdrawal symptoms….
TP: Yes I can imagine the exciting status updates now….Still stuck on the island….sunny and sandy today…
NW: I’d need my other gadgets too – like my head torch, to see what I am doing when it gets dark
TP:  And I’d have to take my Spartan calendar!
NW. Oh, and my dartboard… (see the Spartan calendar….)

AJ: What are your pet running peeves?

TP: Andy Jay.
NW: Andy Prior.

AJ: What three items are top of your bucket list?

NW: run the Las Vegas half marathon, to go to Australia to see the Ashes, and to visit a desert island (but not with the ladies captain)….
TP: I’d like to travel some more, Rome and South America being top of my wish list at the moment, and I’d like to get a PhD – Dr Pez has such a nice ring to it don’t you think?!….and I’d like to learn to swim really well and really far to escape Nick on that desert island….

AJ: Where would you go in a time machine?

TP: Into the future…just to see if AJ gets any quicker….but that’s unlikely and actually I don’t think I really want to know what the future has in store so I think I’d go back…..maybe to Egyptian times see how they really did build the pyramids..
NW: Umm..I’d pop back to 1986 and leave a note for myself to buy shares in Apple and Google with my first ever pay cheque….

AJ: Do you have any phobias?

TP: Spiders and housework! And Nick’s stories from Texas….
NW: Heights, stripy shorts, and the Ladies Captain…

AJ: Would you rather own a boat or a plane?

NW. A boat….I don’t like heights….
TP: But you work for an airline….??

AJ: Which Spartan do you most look up to?

NW. Ron Cohen – what an inspiration
TP:  Andy Jay – cos he is taller than me…(and paid me to say that!!)

AJ: Do you have any moments of fame?

NW:  Yes, I appeared in 1993 FA cup final.  Unfortunately I didn’t score the winning goal though!!
TP:  I was in the Comet once….There was a great photo of me with blurred feet – my girls were very impressed as the blurring was clearly due to the fact I was running so fast…!!

AJ: What is the best thing about the Spartans….

NW: It has to be the great people..The Fab 4,  Doyles Dollies, and Andy Jay of course…~
TP: What about me…??
NW: Ooppps….#awkward
TP: My best bits are Shed parties, SSRs, CBFs, all the laughs we have and of course the fab training runs on offer – intervals on a Tuesday, long Sunday morning adventures (preferably with Jelly Babies) – and the MWL…oh yes, and listening to tales of Texas…..get off my foot now Nick….
NW:  And the Ladies Captain…TP…can you stop pinching me now…??!

AJ: Would you rather give up chocolate or chips?

TP: Chips obviously – couldn’t be without chocolate!!
NW: I’ll give up the chocolate – there’s a shortage anyway with TP’s addiction…

AJ: Would you rather find true love or £100,000?

TP: That’s easy. £100,000!!….
NW: £100,000!!!

AJ: Would you rather sit on a cloud or walk on water?

NW: Walk on water…
TP: That would be useful if your boat sinks Captain…

AJ: Delicious choice: Swallow a fly or suck a brussel sprout?

TP: The fly….have had a fair few while out running already….
NW: Ummm..protein

AJ: Would you prefer to be super strong or super fast?

TP:  Super strong…I am already super fast….and I have cute muscles!
NW:  Super Fast…I am already super strong..!  (flexes muscles)

AJ: Would you rather be a ninja or a pirate?

TP: A Pirate…of the Caribbean…with Johnny Depp…
NW:  A pirate obviously, I mean I’ve already got me boat, and I can walk on water….and I look like Johnny Depp
TP:  Johnny Vegas more like…

AJ: Would you like it to be always summer or always winter?

NW: Defo Summer…it’s not Christmas and there are no Christmas cracker jokes!!!…..ouch…!!!

AJ: Do you prefer to have your birthday or Christmas?

NW:  Birthday..no Christmas jokes to put up with!!..OUCH!!!!

AJ: What location would you choose: to be on a beach or up a hill?

NW: A beach….you’ve got me thinking back to that desert island….
TP:  I’d rather be up a hill….escaping Nick’s desert island fantasies..!!

AJ: You guys seem to do a lot together as Captains…what famous double act would you compare yourselves too?

TP: I think Wham.  One talented member (me) and one who just follows behind….!!! ….

AJ:  Thanks Captains!!!!

KIT SALE 25% OFF ALL KIT (excluding club vests) STARTS TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Order your kit by posting here please or my mobile 07802 482302

I can open  kit shops next week Tuesday 18th and Thursday 20th December if you want to purchase for Christmas !

The kit shop will re-open on the 8th January 2013 !

OFFER ENDS 31ST JANUARY 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Baz 

(Barry King)

In this week’s WHATS ON NEWSLETTER you will find all of the information you will need to organise your club related training and socialising!!

Remember, you will find all of the details for training activities at http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/calendar-all/old-style-calendar/

Please take a look at the newsletter!

205 15th December 2012

 UPHILL CROSS   COUNTRY AT ST ALBANS

Back to School on Friday

Fairlands Valley Spartans put out two strong women’s teams in Sunday’s cross country league race in Verulamium Park, St. Albans.  Over a tough and hilly 5.7 miles with some liquid mud patches RHIANNON GRIFFIN led the “A” team in 128^th position (overall out of all the men and women) with a time of 41 minutes 57 seconds; TRACY PEZ was 165^th in 44:40; JULIE SIMMONDS 174^th in 45:20; MADDIE PRITCHARD 217^th in 48:05; and KAREN ELLIS 231^st in 48:55.

ANN TRYSSESOONE was first for the “B” team and not far behind, 236^th in 49:18; HANNAH DAVIDSON 252^nd in 50:43; LISA GRAY 255^th in 50:59; TRICIA HOPPER 260^th in 51:26 and KAREN LIDDLE 264^th in 51:40.  The Spartan women even had a bonus of two other runners – SHARON CROWLEY 280^th in 53:45 and LORRAINE THOMAS 290^th in 56:15.

For the men’s team LEE REYNOLDS was a phenomenal third in 34 minutes exactly; ADRIAN DONNELLY was 97^th in 40:22; STEVE MAYFIELD 138^th in 42:28; JIM BROWN 197^th in 46:39; MARK CHEADLE 212^th in 47:36; BARRY KING 218^th in 48:09; ANDY JAY 229^th in 48:50 and PAUL HOLGATE 277^th in 53:06.  In addition TONY OSBORNE was 293^rd in 57:44 and NICK WITCOMBE 298^th in 59:40.

Women’s Results (five per team):

 

 

Men’s Results (eight per team):

 

Off Road Stratford

On Saturday CAROL PAUL ran the Winter Board Meadow Off Road Marathon from Stratford upon Avon.  The marathon consisted of three different loops around Stratford upon Avon.  It was a cold day with the sun hardly making an appearance.   Carol’s time was 5 hours 38 minutes 49 seconds.

Getting Ready For Disney

Husband & wife, PAUL MARSHALL and VIVIENNE HONEY participated in a very windy & undulating Bedford Half marathon on Sunday morning.

With times of 1 hour 53 minutes 7 seconds and 2:17:41 respectively, this race signals the wind down to the Disney Marathon in Florida in January where Paul is doing both the half marathon & the full marathon during the weekend.

Lisbon Marathon

ROGER BIGGS was in Lisbon, the Capital of Portugal, on Sunday for a marathon that took in the city and riverside areas.  Over an undulating course, with a 4 kilometres climb from 36 kilometres (22 miles), Roger ran a steady race to finish in 4:05:22.

Club Christmas Party – We Are Going Back To School! – Friday 14^th December

The Spartans’ Christmas Party is this Friday.  They are going back to school.  Relive the best days of your life with fun and games along with dancing to a variety of popular music.  Fancy dress is encouraged (maybe your old school uniform still fits) but you are free to attend in non-uniform.  The evening will also include the Virgin London Marathon club draw which is due to take place at around 7.30pm.  The event is taking place at Mossbury Primary School , Webb Rise , Stevenage SG1 5PA, doors open at 7pm (Don’t be late for registration).

Tickets are now available (from Tracy Pez, Jayne Pinner, Katrina Doyle or Nick Witcombe) and cost £5.  This includes a buffet but can you please bring your own drinks.  Further details will be posted to the Forum on www.fvspartans.org.uk. 

The Spartans New Committee

At the recent AGM the following people were elected onto the committee:

Chair – Bev Harlow, General Secretary – Viv Honey (07702 846304), Committee Secretary – Jo Cahill, Treasurer – Mark Cheadle, Head Coach – Chris Leigh, Mens Team Captain – Nick Witcombe, Ladies Team Captain – Tracy Pez together with Graham Blackburn, Jim Brown (Press Officer 0793 968 7509), Paul Holgate, James Day, Simon Harris, John Harlow, Lisa Jerrom, Tessa Stephenson, Maria Rushton, Phil Rushton, Barry King, Christine Sharman and Jayne Pinner.

Last year’s Committee, particularly Chair – Graham Blackburn and Secretary – Steph Mayfield, were thanked for all their work during the last year

Baggage for VLM.

The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21^st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall.  The club have helped make the event a success for many years.  Places for the baggage will be allocated after the draw for running place at the Spartans Christmas Party which is on Friday, 14^th December 2012.

Coming Events

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

• Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30^th December.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday  evening 3^rd January 2013.
• County Cross  Country Championships at Haileybury College on Sunday 6^th  January.
• Cross Country League on  Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April.

 

]]> http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/news-uphill-cross-country-at-st-albans/feed/ 0 http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-whats-on-newsletter-2/ http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/this-weeks-whats-on-newsletter-2/#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2012 22:44:50 +0000 Coach http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/?p=3518 Here is this week’s Whats On newsletter, the place to see all of the week’s forthcoming Spartantastic activities!

Get planning!

204 8th December 2012

The December edition of the Catch a Coach newsletter is here!!  This is the newsletter from the coaching team at the club.

This month’s edition contains our festive ’10 of the best’ plus a variety of articvles on strength training, top tips, training your brain and overcoming fatigue and pain!  Please take a look!

Catch a Coach newsletter December 2012v0.1

Remember that this plus much, much more can be found in the coaching section of our website http://www.fvspartans.org.uk/club/coaching/

Enjoy, and have a great Christmas!

Coach

203 1st December 2012

Cross Country 28 * Wet Wolverton

Handicap 5K

There were very tough running conditions for the Spartans final handicap 5K of the year as very strong winds blasted their way into the faces of the 28 runners all the way along Grace Way from the 2K marker for nearly two kilometres.

First to finish, in her first 5k with the club was newcomer CLARE MOORE, supported by Jim Brown, in 25 minutes 36 seconds.  Clare was 4 minutes 24 seconds ahead of her handicap!

The winning man was BARRY KING in a year’s best time of 23:12.  DAVE SMITH was second in a new personal best of 22:30.  Newcomer ENDA MURPHY was third in 23:20.

KAREN PALMER was second woman across the line, in 9^th position overall, in 26:12.  That was just four days after running the St Neots Half Marathon.  SARAH PIKE was third female in 24:48.

Once again GRANT RAMSAY was fastest on the night.  He was showing no side effects from his county championship winning Luton Marathon run just four days earlier as he completed the course in 17:34 to finish in 10^th position overall.  LIAM HERBERT was second quickest man in 19:09 and JAMIE KELLET third fastest in a new personal best of 20:07, 2 seconds quicker than BERNIE BARNABY.

The fastest female was RHIANNON GRIFFIN in 21:16, with SARAH PIKE second quickest and event winner CLARE MOORE third fastest.

Despite the conditions there were still several personal bests (PB) on the night, including for James Marlow +1:09 to 23 minutes 31 seconds; Hannah Davidson +0:39 to 26:01 and Matthew Palacio +0:35 to 23:00.

Time Order:

The next Handicap 5k will be on Thursday 3^rd January 2013.

(PB = personal best; SB = season’s best; YB = year’s best).

Fantastic Turnout for Cross Country

There was a brilliant sunny morning for Sunday morning’s cross country fixture but Grovelands Park, Southgate was pretty waterlogged after Saturday’s heavy rain.  Twenty eight Spartans, more than two complete teams, tackled the 8,000 metres three lap course with the heavy going and undulations slowing some down more than others.

RHIANNON GRIFFIN led in the Spartan women’s “A” team with an excellent time of 40 minutes 4 seconds for the tough course, she was supported by an improving MADDIE PRITCHARD (45:40) together with ANN TRYSSESOONE (45:56); HANNAH DAVIDSON (47:45) and KAREN LIDDLE (49:41).

The “B” team was headed up by TRICIA HOPPER (50:20) and also included JEANNETTE COLLINS (52:29); MARIA THORNE (52:35); LORRAINE THOMAS (53:08) and IRIS HORNSEY (54:08).  ELIZABETH and SHARON CROWLEY finished in 58:21.

Three Spartan men finished in the top twenty.  LEE REYNOLDS was ninth in 31 minutes 45 seconds followed by SIMON JACKSON, tenth, in 31:53 and ANDY PATTERSON, twentieth, in 33:05.  The others in the eight man “A” team were DANNY HUKIN, 43^rd, in 34:44; TODD GRAY, 85^th, in 37:06; ADRIAN DONNELLY, 115^th, in 38:37; GRAHAM BLACKBURN, 127^th, in 39:36 and MATT GILL, 138^th, in 39:52.

STEVE MAYFIELD, 150^th in 40:20 led in the “B” team.  He was supported by JIM BROWN, 206^th in 43:52; BARRY KING, 231^st in 45:17; ANDY PRIOR, 247^th in 46:47; MARK CHEADLE, 248^th in 46:48; NICK WITCOMBE, 299^th in 49 minutes exactly; MATTHEW HOLGATE, 344^th in 65:52 and PAUL HOLGATE, 345^th also in 65:52.

These results are certain to move the Spartans up the league table when the team results are published.

Steve Mayfield, Paul Holgate, Mark Cheadle, Andy Prior, Simon Jackson, Tricia Hopper and Sharon Crowley had run the very wet Wolverton Five road race the previous afternoon.

Spartan Women:

Spartan Men:

The next cross country league match will be in St. Albans on Sunday 9^th December.

Wet Wolverton

Wolverton was wet, wet, continuously wet for Saturday afternoon’s five mile road race.  Despite that seven of the 17 Spartans ran new personal bests.  SIMON JACKSON was 21^st out of the 213 finishers in a new PB of 28 minutes 8 seconds; LIAM HERBERT was 40^th in a new PB of 30:25; STEVE MAYFIELD was 77^th in a new PB of 34:00; ANDY PRIOR 122^nd in 38:54; MARK CHEADLE 127^th in 39:33; NICOLA LORIMER 130^th in 39:30 and TRICIA HOPPER 142^nd in 41 minutes 22 seconds.

RICHARD BATE (28:52); KEVIN SMYTH (34:46); ROGER BIGGS (38:27) and YVONNE JONES (41:50) all ran season’s bests and RYAN DUNNING completed his first five mile race in 37 minutes exactly.  BARRY OSBORNE was second veteran (60 plus) in 32:03 and SIMON BELL third veteran (45 plus) in 30:05.

Position	Name	Chip Time	Comments
21	SIMON JACKSON	28:08	PB (4 seconds)
24	RICHARD BATE	28:52	SB
39	SIMON BELL	30:05	3rd Vet 45 plus
40	LIAM HERBERT	30:25	PB (3 seconds)
61	BARRY OSBORNE	32:03	2nd Vet 60 plus
77	STEVE MAYFIELD	34:00	PB (10 seconds)
84	KEVIN SMYTH	34:46	SB
108	ANNETTE BELL (F)	37:01	YB
109	RYAN DUNNING	37:00	First 5 mile race
120	ROGER BIGGS	38:27	SB
122	ANDY PRIOR	38:54	PB (49 seconds)
127	MARK CHEADLE	39:33	PB (1:15)
130	NICOLA LORIMER (F)	39:30	PB (16 seconds)
137	PAUL HOLGATE	40:40	YB
142	TRICIA HOPPER (F)	41:22	PB (1:37)
145	YVONNE JONES (F)	41:50	SB
155	SHARON CROWLEY (F)	44:02	YB

Sharon’s Silver in Herts Marathon

In the recent Hertfordshire Marathon Championship SHARON CROWLEY took SILVER in the women’s veteran 45 plus category.  ROGER BIGGS won GOLD in the men’s 60 plus category and GRANT RAMSAY took GOLD in the 40 plus category as well as winning the county championship overall.

Baggage for VLM.

The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21^st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall.  The club have helped make the event a success for many years.  Places for the baggage will be allocated after the draw for running place at the Spartans Christmas Party which is on Friday, 14^th December 2012.

Coming Events

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

• Cross Country League in St Albans on Sunday 9^th December.
• Spartans Christmas Party on Friday 14^th December.
• Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30^th December.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 3^rd January 2013.
• County Cross Country Championships at Haileybury College on Sunday 6^th January.
• Cross Country League on Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13^th January.
• Cross Country League in Watford on Sunday 17^th February.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April.

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 over 400 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 drama studio next to the gymnastics centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN) 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 £27 per year.  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 or 01438 354505), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

202 24th November 2012

Jo has an 8 year old son called Jack – who demands that she is fit! She enjoys doing  10kms and half marathons and hopes one day to do the London Marathon again.

Jo works in higher education, but prior to that she worked for 12 years as a ward sister in a cardiothoracic intensive care unit.  On the 23 November 2012 Jo achieved her PhD which involved doing a research study looking at patient participation in surgical nursing care and which after the London Marathon was one of the biggest challenges of her life. If you put your mind to it you can succeed at anything!  Jo’s motto is ‘It helps to be a Spartan’!!!!!

During the AGM on Wednesday 21st November, a new committee was voted in.

Contact the committee to give your thoughts and feedback using email address: committee@fvspartans.org.uk

Success At County Marathon

The St. Neots Half Marathon was a beautiful run on a lovely course in perfect conditions and produced fourteen new personal bests for Fairlands Valley Spartans.

STEVE MAYFIELD improved by 49 seconds to 1:33:01; DAVIE STAFFORD by 2:53 to 1:35:30; NIKKI ANDREWS by 3:32 to 1:39:17; MARK GOODWIN by 1:31 to 1:40:25; JON SYPULA by 1:33 to 1:41:53; CLAIRE COKER by 1:13 to 1:46:45; VISHAL SHAH by a massive 7 minutes 34 seconds to 1:47:05; MADELEINE PRITCHARD by 3:37 to 1:48:05; ANDY PRIOR had the biggest improvement, 8 minutes 40 seconds, to 1:49:32; KAREN ELLIS 1:11 to 1:53:51; RACHEL PAYNE by 3:36 to 1:53:53; NICK WITCOMBE by 3:26 to 2:02:45; VIVIENNE HONEY by 0:38 to 2:14:52 and JO CAHILL by 1:29 to 2:30:31.

CHRIS WESTCOTT was the fastest Spartan.  He was 48^th out of the 921 finishers in 1 hour 23 minutes 59 seconds.

Here are the times for all 25 Spartans (the first number is the position in the club; the second is the position in the race which is followed by the chip time):

1 Chris Westcott 48 1.23.59; 2 Graham Blackburn 112 1.29.40; 3 Steve Mayfield 162 1.33.01 PB 0.49; 4 Davie Stafford 196 1.35.30 PB 2.53; 5 Phil Gale 221 1.37.21; 6 Nikki Andrews 260 1.39.17 PB 3.32; 7 Mark Goodwin 279 1.40.25 PB 1.31; 8 Jon Sypula 307 1.41.53 PB 1.33; 9 Tracy Pez 386 1.46.04 YB 10.23; 10 Claire Coker 400 1.46.45 PB 1.13; 11 Vishal Shah 404 1.47.05 PB 7.34; 12 Madeline Pritchard 424 1.48.05 PB 3.37; 13 Andy Prior 458 1.49.32 PB 8.40; 14 Paul Marshall 510 1.51.58; 15 Karen Ellis 531 1.53.51PB 1.11; 16 Andy Jay 532 1.53.59; 17 Rachel Payne 533 1.53.53 PB 3.36; 18 Paul Holgate 589 1.56.52; 19 Beverly Harlow 592 1.56.27; 20 Karen Palmer 674 2.00.19; 21 Phil Rushton 686 2.01.28; 22 Nick Witcombe 706 2.02.45 PB 3.26; 23 Vivienne Honey 829 2.14.52 PB 0.38; 24 Maria Rushton 881 2.27.56; 25 Jo Cahill 894 2.30.31 PB 1.29

There were 921 finishers.

Luton Marathon (including Hertfordshire Championships)

On a slightly cold, but a glorious sunny November day, with barely a breeze blowing, Spartan GRANT RAMSAY won the Hertfordshire Marathon Championship with his time of 2 hours 45 minutes 37 seconds.  He was fifth overall and first male (40 plus) in the Luton Marathon which incorporated the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Championships.

The event was on an undulating three lap course from the Lea Manor Recreation Centre to the North of Luton, out towards Streetley.

ROGER BIGGS took GOLD in the Vet 60 plus category for the second year running with his time of 3:57:55; ROB SHAW was 444^th in 4:42:30 and SHARON CROWLEY 466^th in 4:53:42.

Spartan Simmonds First Woman In Ashwell Multi-Terrain Half Marathon

Spartan TASHA SIMMONDS was first woman in Sunday’s Ashwell Multi-Terrain Half Marathon.  On the hard course JOHN HARRIS was fifth overall and first male (50 plus) in 1 hour 31 minutes 51 seconds; SARAH PRICE shaved 30 seconds off her personal best with her time of 1:50:15 winning a trophy for second in her age group.  LISA LIVERSIDGE finished in 2:03:28 and LORRAINE WYATT in 2:13:52.

Milton Keynes MoRun 10K

RUSS ANDREWS took part in his first ever competitive race on Sunday.  It was the Milton Keynes MoRun 10K which he finished in 54 minutes exactly.

Leeds Abbey Dash 10K

On a relatively flat course and in the sunshine MATTHEW KIRK had a good run from Leeds city centre up to Kirkstall Abbey and back in the Abbey Dash 10k along with 9000 others. Very pleased (and surprised) to beat my PB by 29 secs in doing 45:48. Cheers.

Baggage for VLM.

The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21^st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall.  The club have helped make the event a success for many years.  Places for the baggage will be allocated after the draw for running place at the Spartans Christmas Party which is on Friday, 14^th December 2012.

Coming Events

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

• Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 22^nd November.
• Wolverton Five on Saturday 24^th November.
• Cross Country League on Sunday 25^th November.
• Cross Country League on Sunday 9^th December.
• Spartans Christmas Party on Friday 14^th December.
• Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30^th December.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April 2013.

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 over 400 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 drama studio next to the gymnastics centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN) 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 £27 per year.  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 or 01438 354505), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS THE AGM THIS WEDNESDAY (21st).  YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU!!!!!!

See you there.

Coach.

201 17th November 2012

And Three In A Row For Grant

ROGER BIGGS has run 1500 races!  On Thursday 1^st November he travelled to Penkridge in Staffordshire for the Enigma Staffs Trail Marathon.  This was a marathon entirely on the towpath of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal.  The course consisted of four out & backs laps of approx 6.6 miles.  Going out south against the locks (climbs at each one), then returning back to ‘The Boat’ Public House before starting the next lap.  Due to heavy rain the night before, the compacted surface had become very muddy & slippery, hence fast times were not in order.  Roger completed the course in 4 hours 25 minutes 39 seconds.

There was another trip north for Roger Biggs, to complete a scenic route totally around the Rutland Water Reservoir for the Rutland Water Trail Marathon on Sunday 4^th November. To make up the marathon distance, runners had to make two trips around Hambleton Peninsula.  While the surface would normally be quite acceptable, the incessant rain made the course very wet, with puddles that took up the whole path, so running shoes were very wet. With temperatures probably topping out at 5C, it was day to get round and no more.  He finished in 4:34:27

The Enigmas Fox at 40 Trail Marathon last Sunday was a race to celebrate the 40^th birthday of Race Director David ‘Foxey’ Bayley, and the amazing consistency of 100 Marathon Club member Steve Edwards, for completing 500 marathons with finishing times of under 3hrs & 30 mins.

The course hugged the waters edge of Caldecotte Lake in Bletchley near Milton Keynes.  It was run in near perfect conditions. a nip in the air, but it was a lovely sunny day to run 7.5 times around a lake.  Roger Biggs finished in 4:05:04; CAROL PAUL in 5:01:59 and PAUL HOLGATE in 5:04:46.

This means that Roger has completed 1500 events at all distances from 400 metres on the track to 80 mile ultras, including over 700 marathons.

Three Out Of Three For Grant

Spartan GRANT RAMSAY beat 200 runners to win the Watford Autumn Challenge Five Miles Off Road Race for the third year in a row.  He finished in 31 minutes 14 seconds.  This was his sixth win in seven years.

Baggage for VLM

The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21^st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall.  The club have helped make the event a success for many years.  Places for the baggage will be allocated after the draw for running place at the Spartans Christmas Party which is on Friday, 14^th December 2012.

Coming Events

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

• St. Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 18^th November.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 22^nd November.
• Wolverton Five on Saturday 24^th November.
• Cross Country League on Sunday 25^th November.
• Cross Country League on Sunday 9^th December.
• Spartans Christmas Party on Friday 14^th December.
• Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30^th December.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April 2013.

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 over 400 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 drama studio next to the gymnastics centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN) 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 £27 per year.  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 or 01438 354505), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

Use it to plan your training and other club activities.

200 10th November 2012

Jen’s Ogle

Heavy rain greeted runners as they lined up for the Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday morning.  The filthy conditions persisted for much of the race but 446 finished with the fastest being PAUL ADAMS from St. Albans Striders in just 1 hour 17 minutes 39 seconds.  SIMON RILEY, also from St. Albans, was second in 1:13:57 with MARTIN BATEMAN, Hillingdon Athletic Club third in 1:15:41.

Fairlands Valley Spartans’ GRANT RAMSAY ran a new season’s best time of 1 hour 17 minutes 39 seconds to come sixth overall and win the County GOLD medal for veteran runners (40 plus).

GIEDRE DRAKE from Garden City Runners was first woman in 1 hour 31 minutes 7 seconds with Spartans’ JO LAING second in 1:35:16.  Jo won the County GOLD medal for women veterans (35 plus).  CATHERINE COLLINS from London Heathside was third women in 1:35:33 and ANDREA MANN from Garden City fourth in 1:36:01.

Spartans’ CHRISTOPHER WESTCOTT won the County SILVER for men aged 40 plus with his time of 1:22:53.

Golden Women

Fairlands Valley Spartans’ women won the county team race with JO LAING (1:35:16); MADDIE PRITCHARD (1:55:33) and TRACY PEZ (1:57:30).  [Teams of three].  The club’s men took SILVER with GRANT RAMSAY (1:17:39); CHRISTOPHER WESTCOTT (1:22:53); TONY BRADFORD (1:33:27) and SAM HARTE (1:40:27).  [Teams of four].

The race included the county veteran championships as well as the seniors so Grant Ramsay, Christopher Westcott, Tony Bradford and PAUL MURRAY (1:45:10) to take the team GOLD medals for men aged 40 plus.

New personal bests were run by JON SYPULA (1:43:26); LEWIS DAVIN (1:48:27); SELVAN NAICKER (1:50:48) and ADAM DAVIN (1:58:36).

Fairlands Valley Spartans organised the race and provided dozens of volunteer marshals and race officials.

Results For All 25 Spartans:

Ogle

Jennifer Robertson ran the Glen Ogle Ultra in Strathyre, Scotland this weekend. 33 miles of stunning scenery, a forest trail route which was hilly in parts. Jen completed it in 6 hours 8 minutes.

Baggage for VLM

The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21^st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall.  The club have helped make the event a success for many years.

Coming Events

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

• St. Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 18^th November.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 22^nd November.
• Wolverton Five on Saturday 24^th November.
• Cross Country League on Sunday 25^th November.
• Cross Country League on Sunday 9^th December.
• Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30^th December.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April 2013.

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 over 400 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 drama studio next to the gymnastics centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN) 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 £27 per year.  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 or 01438 354505), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

Thank you to all of those who supported the event and made it such a great success.

Here are the results for the race:

FinStevenageHM2012v2

And the winners……!

SHM 2012 Winnersv2

And all of those brave Spartans……!

FVS2012

See you all next year!!!

The November edition of Catch a Coach has landed!

Includes our 10 of the best, how to introduce hill training into your programme (and get with the programme!), top tips and information on nutrition on the run.

Take a look!

Catch a Coach newsletter November 2012

Cheers

Coach Leigh

Cross Country Season Starts

MATTHEW HOLGATE and CHRISTINE PROWLE were the winners as 32 runners took part in Fairlands Valley Spartans Handicap 5K on Thursday night.

Matthew was first to finish, four minutes quicker than his previous best 5K this year, and in a new personal best (PB) time of 36 minutes 17 seconds as he continued his improvements shown over recent weeks.

In second position, just 13 seconds behind Matthew and improving her own PB by 3:23 to 38 minutes exactly, the first female to finish was Christine Prowle, with AMANDA VICKERS second female, also in a new PB, of 34:12, 2:46 faster than previous.  GEMMA SMITH was third female in her welcome return to the club with 25 minutes 50 seconds.

Third man (fourth overall) was newcomer ALI VORSTER in his debut 5k, finishing in 25 minutes exactly, 2:30 faster than handicap, with another newcomer, DAVE SMITH third man just a few seconds behind Ali, in 24:30, 2:15 ahead of handicap.

Grant Fastest

Fastest runner on the night was GRANT RAMSAY in 17 minutes 9 seconds.  LIAM HERBERT was second quickest in 18:27 and ROB WILLIS third fastest with 18:33.  BERNIE BARNABY also beat 20 minutes with 19:45 in his first 5k with the club.

Fastest female was the much improved RHIANNON GRIFFIN 20:20, with GEMMA SMITH’s 25:50 2^nd quickest and VIVIENNE HONEY 3^rd fastest in 28:14.

Next month’s Handicap 5k will be in 4 weeks time on Thursday 22^nd November.

Cross Country Season Starts

Sunday’s conditions were perfect for the first cross country league race of the season, a little mud but not a lot and a little cold but not too cold.  Eighteen Spartans made the trip to Cheshunt with the following results.

Women: Alison Wood 84^th overall in 34 minutes 30 seconds; Rhiannon Griffin 111^th in 35.47; Nikki Andrews 159th in 38.33; Julie Simmons 160th (app. 38.36); Tracy Pez 165th (app. 39.15); Anne Tyressone 221st in 41.57; Nikki Lorimer 259th in 44.17; Hannah Davidson 272nd in 45.13 and Iris Hornsey 295th in 50.59

Men: Simon Jackson 13^th in 29 minutes 46 seconds; Martin Wood 75th (app. 33.55); Dave Bowker 76th in 34.01; Todd Gray 82nd in 34.23; Steve Mayfield 146th in 37.42; Andy Jay 223rd in 41.41; Mark Cheadle 228th in 42.16; Marc Green 264th (app. 44.00); Nick Stewart 308th (app. 47.00).

The first five women and eight men will count towards the league results though others may have contributed by getting ahead of runners from other clubs.

Britain’s Toughest Marathon

On a beautiful dry day, albeit with a chilly breeze that was quite strong in places, six Spartans took on Britain’s toughest marathon, in Snowdonia, North Wales.

With three massive climbs, the race is not for the faint hearted, but all six Spartans were delighted with their achievements and with such stunning scenery around the course are already looking forward to returning next year.

Their finishing times were – Matt Gill 4:08:48; Tricia Hopper 4:58:55; Karen Liddle 4:58:55; Barry King 4:58:55; Sharon Crowley 5:00:20 (21st consecutive Snowdon marathon – every year since 1991); and Paul Holgate 5:01:07 (24th consecutive – every year since 1988

Chosen Half

NICK WITCOMBE ran in the Chosen Half Marathon in New Braunfels, Texas, USA on Sunday.  His time was 2 hours 13 minutes and 17 seconds.  It was very cold due to a rare cold snap and the course was quite hilly.  The race took place along the Guadalope river and the race was very picturesque and enjoyable. A fellow runner even recognised the famous FVS stripes.

Fenland 10mile at Wisbech.

The Fenland Ten was on a flat course but it weas open and exposed when windy as it was at the weekend.  PHIL GALE says it was a well organised small race on quiet roads, raining at start but eased off soon afterwards. Lots of puddles on course and a pretty cold wind against runners in second half.  He finished in 68 minutes exactly.

Roger Doubles Up

ROGER BIGGS ran the Woolwich Tunnel Marathon on Friday.  It was organised by the 100 Marathon Club to commemorate the opening of the Woolwich Tunnel exactly 100 years ago. Starting at the Northern end of the tunnel, the marathon commenced by the entire field walking to the southern end, then up the 105 steps to emerge on the southern shore of the Thames. At this point the running started with four out & back sections along the Thames path to the East then West.  After a reasonably good first half, Roger suffered to finish in 4 hours 32 minutes 11 seconds.

Then Roger travelled North to Preston for a marathon billed as ‘once every 20 years’. Organised as part of The Preston Guild, this well organised event went through Preston, then out into the countryside to the North & South.  It wasn’t the undulating course that slowed down runners, it was the strong & cold Northerly wind plus rain from start to finish! Roger struggled early on, but found a strong finish to come home in 4:07:31.

Pompey Payne

RACHEL PAYNE ran the Great South Run in Portsmouth on Sunday in 1:23 which she is pretty pleased with.

20^th Anniversary Serpie

JIM BROWN ran the 20^th Anniversary Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5K.  This popular event goes round the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London.  In cool, windy and damp conditions he was happy to finish in 22 minutes exactly and the first half of the finishers.  He moved up to 22^nd overall in the 2012 series championship.

Baggage for VLM.

The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21^st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall.  The club have helped make the event a success for many years.

Enter Now!

The club host the County Championship Half Marathon on Sunday 4^th November.  The race is in Stevenage and is for seniors and veterans.  The championships are within an open race – everyone can have a go.  Enter now.  There are details on www.fvspartans.org.uk

Coming Events

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

• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 4^th November.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 22^nd November.
• Cross Country League on Sunday 25^th November.
• Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30^th December.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April 2013.

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 over 400 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 drama studio next to the gymnastics centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN) 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 £27 per year.  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 or 01438 354505), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

198 27th october 2012v0.1

Five Spartans made the short trip to RAF Henlow on Wednesday for the annual RAF 10 mile championships from Old Warden to Henlow.  On a windy day and into a headwind for most of the point-to-point run times were not surprisingly a little slower than hoped for but it did not stop Grant Ramsay coming away with the trophy for 1^st vet, in 5^th position overall, in 57:50, while Julie Simmons won the 1^st V55 female trophy in 1:17:31.

SIMON BELL finished in 1 hour 3 minutes 4 seconds, ROGER BIGGS in 1:21:02 and PAUL HOLGATE in 1:21:02.  There were about 150 runners.

Spartans in the Cabbage Patch

Three Spartans completed the Cabbage Patch 10 in Twickenham on Sunday morning.

On  a nice flat-ish course Nikki Andrews was first Spartan home in 1.14.57, RICHARD HAZELDENE finished in 1.15.00 and ANDY PRIOR in 1.22.58 – says he was just thankful to get to the end in 1 piece.

All highly recommended the race as a potential personal best course & will return in 2013.

Abingdon Marathon

There were pretty good running conditions for the Abingdon Marathon on Sunday with the temperature around 10C and the rain generally holding off.  Great marshalling and well organised, just a shame the showers that did fall were freezing.

Christopher Westcott finished in 40^th position overall in a new personal best of 2 hours 57 minutes 48 seconds.

STEVE MAYFIELD’s first marathon for over two years resulted in a new personal best of 3:27:30.  CAROL PAUL finished in 4:25:36 and ALISON SUCKLING 4:44:34.

Great Yarmouth Marathon – Sunday, 21^st October 2012

ROGER BIGGS took part in the inaugural running of the Great Yarmouth Marathon.  The course was on three flats laps to the North, then South of the town, either along the promenade or adjoining roads.  After some recent tough marathons on and off road, Roger returned to form with his second best marathon of 2012.  He won the Vet 60 category with a time of 3 hours 51 minutes 45 seconds.

Tough Bacon

CRAIG BACON ran the Abbots Langley 10 in 47 minutes  52 seconds.

Rotherham Half Century

MIKE NEWBITT took part in the Rotherham 50 which is 50 miles off road with a set of instructions to find your way around the route.  He took 14 hours and 52 minutes

Peterborough Claire

At the Great Eastern Run CLAIRE COKER took a 13 minutes 5 seconds chunk off her personal best (PB) reducing it to 1:48:18 and was absolutely chuffed to bits all her training paid off.

Baggage for VLM.

The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21^st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall.  The club have helped make the event a success for many years.

Enter Now!

The club host the County Championship Half Marathon on Sunday 4^th November.  The race is in Stevenage and is for seniors and veterans.  The championships are within an open race – everyone can have a go.  Enter now.  There are details on www.fvspartans.org.uk

COMING EVENTS

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

• Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 25^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 4^th November.
• Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30^th December.
• Virgin London Marathon on 21^st April 2013.

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 over 400 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 drama studio next to the gymnastics centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN) 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 £27 per year.  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 or 01438 354505), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

197 20th october 2012v0.1

Loads of personal bests!

Forty one Fairlands Valley Spartans ran in the sun Sunday’s Great Eastern Run, the Peterborough Half Marathon.  Many of the twenty three women and eighteen men were rewarded with new personal and season’s bests.

The Spartans star performer was DUNCAN MARSHALL who finished 78^th out of the 3,431 finishers in 1 hour 19 minutes 13 seconds.  LIAM HERBERT took 2 minutes 36 seconds off his PB to finish 180^th in 1:25:46; STEVE MAYFIELD chopped 50 seconds off his PB to 1:33:50 and LISA BURGESS 4 minutes off her PB to 1:34:35.

Running his first half marathon since a major operation last year Spartan Press Officer JIM BROWN was delighted to finish with a time of 1 hour 41 minutes 45 seconds.  MATT GILL ran his best half marathon this year with an improvement of 14 minutes 16 seconds to 1:43:15; JON SYPULA improved his PB by 49 seconds to 1:45:14; whilst NIKKI COLLINS improved her PB by 7 minutes and 34 seconds to 1:48:02 and CLAIRE COKER took a 13 minutes 5 seconds chunk off her PB reducing it to 1:48:18 and was absolutely chuffed to bits all her training paid off.

MADDIE PRITCHARD cut her PB by 7 minutes 38 seconds to 1:51:42.  KAREN ELLIS improved by 4:01 to 1:55:02; RACHEL PAYNE by 4:09 to 1:57:29; MARIA THORNE by 2:51 to 2:01:09; STEVE WATKINS by 10:39 to 2:11:34; and MARIA RUSHTON by 1:28 to 2:14:11.

LES BUTLER improved his season’s best by 2:48 to 2:16:12; JAN FRY her PB by 8:57 to 2:20:20; JACKIE MORRISON cut her season’s best time by seven seconds to 2:23:53 and 80 year old RON COHEN cut his season’s best by 2:29 to 2:29:04.

Those who achieved the milestone of their first half marathon included DANNY HARWOOD (2:00:48); TRUDY MOLLOY (2:01:00); MELISSA GIBSON (2:14:23) and JAYNE PINNER (2:41:30).

The results for all 41 Spartans follow: