Categories
News

HEATED HALVES AT MK AND CAMBRIDGE and Twenties Plenty at Finchley

News from Milton Keynes and Cambridge half marathons, Finchley 20 and a track marathon in Telford

It was a beautiful Spring-like day for the Milton Keynes Half Marathon. However the last mile and a bit of this event were as tough as usual. TODD GRAY was the fastest finisher for Fairlands Valley Spartans. He was 135th out of thousands of runners in 1 hour 30 minutes 21 seconds. HADRIAN COOPER was 936th in 1:54:33; DEBORAH FLEMING 1,750th in 2:12:09; PAUL HOLGATE 1,764th in 2:12:38 and HELEN TRANTER 2,097th in 2:24:13.

Spartan Trio At Cambridge Half
It was unexpectedly warm for Sunday’s Cambridge Half Marathon. The race was expected to be cool, wet and flat. Instead it was warm, sunny, twisty / turny and with plenty of undulations. Despite that RUTH REILLY was happy with her time of 2 hours and 58 seconds (2:00:58). She was 1,954th out of the 3,316 finishers.

SIMON JACKSON missed his planned finish time by 7 seconds but his 1:17:07 put him into 16th place, within the top 0.5% of the field.

Grant and Nicola at Finchley 20
GRANT RAMSAY ran his best 20 mile time for six years at Sunday’s Finchley 20. He was 13th out of the 506 finishers in 1 hour 58 minutes 57 seconds.

NICOLA HABERLAND beat three hours to finish in 2:57:52.

Carol On Track
Spartan CAROL PAUL has been running for over 20 years and has completed over 280 marathons and ultra marathons but on Saturday 8th March she completed her first track marathon at Telford. Carol ran the 105.5 laps of the Groundhog Marathon in 4 hours 47 minutes 4 seconds.

Boundary Running
LUCY FIELD completed the recent Cambridge Boundary Half Marathon in 1 hour 53 minutes 44 seconds. KIRSTY CALLAN got very close to the two hour target with 2:00:27. No doubt she will breeze past that next time. Other Spartan times included CAROL PAUL 2:28:59; LISA MARRIS 2:33:45 and JODIE FORD 2:41:56.

London Marathon

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

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

• Veterans Cross Country Championships in Royston on 16th March
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 20th March
• Last Friday 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 28th March
• Herts 1500 and Veterans Track and Field Championships on 5th May
• First Mid Week Road Race League (10K) race in Stevenage on Tuesday 13th May
• Second Road Race League (5 miles) race in Chingford on Wednesday 4th June
• Third Road Race League (9K) race in Trent Park on Thursday 12th June
• Fourth Road Race League (10K) in St Albans on Tuesday 1st July
• Mid Week Mob Match (10K) in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 17th July
• Off Road Challenge in Stevenage on Sunday 20th July
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 31st July
• Stevenage Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd November

Join The Spartans
Live in or near Stevenage? Like running? Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up! The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010. It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all. The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m. Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9.30a.m. sharp. Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m. There are events to enter every Sunday. Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £35 per year, £25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

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

www.fvspartans.org.uk

Leave a Reply