Fairlands Valley Spartans have another British Champion. GRANT RAMSAY won the British Masters Marathon Championship on the Isle of Man at the weekend. He was first veteran in 2 hours 49 minutes 8 seconds. The championship was incorporated in the Isle of Man open event in which he was fourth overall.
Grant was delighted with his performance and time considering the injury issues he has had this year and feels he paced the run perfectly.
Richard and Nicola Kennedy ran the Isle of Man Half Marathon.
Donegal Double
ROGER BIGGS ran two of the marathons that make up the Donegal Quadrathon.
The first, on Thursday, was from Moville to Malin Town. He says there was lovely scenery when you could see through the mist, and it was certainly hilly. With persistent light rain throughout and windy most of the time Roger ran a consistent race to finish in 5 hours 35 minutes 13 seconds.
First Over The Line
Then on Sunday Roger tackled race four which went by the name ‘Muff Marathon’. This marathon started in Buncrana on the west side of the Inishowen Peninsula. It followed Lough Swilly for ten miles before heading east to meet Lough Foyle at Muff, right on the Ireland/N.Ireland border just after the 17 miles marker. It was then a simple task to follow Lough Foyle North to the Redcastle Hotel just South of Moville.
In near perfect weather, which Roger Biggs took advantage of, to finish in a much better time than expected time of 4:52:36. Roger has started in the early start, and was actually the first over the line, as the faster runners who started up to two hours later failed to catch him.
Parkrun Report
Eighteen Spartans took on the parkrun in Fairlands Valley. DAVID RIDELL was the first Spartan finisher in 19:18 for 6th place, while THOMAS SAUKA continued to improve his pace at the shorter events, dipping below the 20 minute mark for a new course PB of 19:39 in 9th place. BARRY OSBORNE ran his first ever parkrun, finishing 13th in 20:42 (an age-graded score 81%). DAVE SMITH was 19th in 22:03.
For the women CAROL PAUL was 5th in 24:59 and NIKKI WILBY 11th in 26:08, both new course PBs. HAZEL SMITH also notched a new course PB finishing 13th in 26:27 and KAREN PALMER was 15th in 26:49.
There were also new course PBs for CHRIS HOLLAND (25:52) and LIZ CARVELL (29:08). Other Spartans running at Stevenage were MARK BEASLEY (22:15), DARREN EMMERSON (22:32), MARTIN DUDLEY (22:42), ANDY PRIOR (26:26), CLAIRE COX (27:48), HEATHER MOLONEY (29:14), CHLOE EMMERSON (33:50) and IAN ALEXANDER who was tail-runner in a time of 48:45.
At other local venues, TIM ROBINSON ran 26:39 at Panshanger, where they were celebrating their 100th event, and TIM SABAN ran a new course PB of 20:15 at Cassiobury Park for an excellent 15th place finish.
Runners at locations further afield were DANIEL SUTTON (25:36) and VERITY FISHER (26:06) at Lowestoft, IAIN MCKEAN (18:30 for 7th place at Springburn in Glasgow), ANDY JAY (28:17 at Longrun Meadow, JOHN ROXBOROUGH (22:44 at Fulham Palace), JOHN HARRIS (19:32, new course PB, for 4th place at Llyn Llech Owain) and DARYL STEVENS (37:54 at Medina on the Isle of Wight).
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- Fairlands Fun Day including try a 1500 on Sunday 20th August.
- Harlow 10 on Sunday 4th September.
- Herts 5K senior championships on Wednesday 7th September.
- Herts 5K veteran championships on Wednesday 21st September.
- FVS Handicap 5 / 10 in Stevenage on Sunday 25th September.
- Standalone 10K including County Vets Championships on Sunday 2nd October.
- Open 5K race in Hatfield on Wednesday 5th October.
- Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 9th October.
- Abingdon Marathon on Sunday 23rd October.
- First Cross Country League Race in Cheshunt on Sunday 23rd October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon, a Stevenage 70 event, on Sunday 6th November.
- Second Cross Country League Race on Sunday 13th November (new date).
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 20th November.
- County Five Miles Open Championship in Hatfield on 27th November.
- Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
- Third Cross Country League Race on Sunday 18th December.
- Boxing Day Five in Witham on Monday 26th December.
Join The Spartans
Live in or near Stevenage? Like running? Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up! The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010. It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all. The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.
The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m. Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!
The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.
Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9a.m. sharp. Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m. There are events to enter every Sunday. Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.
Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy. You can also join online.
If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk