DANIEL BATE had a mixed race at Sunday’s Brighton Marathon. After a fantastic first 16 miles at doing 7 minutes per mile pacing, his back/kidney area gave him a lot of pain and slowed him right down to finish in a time of 3 hours 40 minutes 19 seconds. However he beat his course record from last year’s event by 13 minutes.
CAROL PAUL said it was a “hard day at the office.” Conditions were dry but really muggy and close so it felt quite warm. She completed the course in 4 hours 51 minutes 32 seconds. Such are the joys of marathon running. No doubt we’ll be hearing a lot more about them after this Sunday’s London Marathon.
Maddie’s London PB
It was soggy, cold and breezy but MADDIE PRITCHARD powered to a new 10 kilometres personal best in Regent’s Park on Sunday morning. Her time of 43 minutes 57 seconds beat her previous PB by 34 seconds.
Maddie was 12th woman out of 184 and 89th overall out of the 453 finishers.
Lisa Second On First Saturday
Spartan LISA GRAY was second woman in the North Herts First Saturday of the Month 5K race. She finished in 24 minutes 23 seconds and was 28th out of the 75 finishers.
CRAIG BACON was 22nd in 22:54.
Grant’s A Winner At Flitwick
The Flitwick 10K road race is always a good sharpener ahead of the London Marathon. Sunday’s event had to be shortened to 5.6 miles due to a road accident but GRANT RAMSAY made good use of it. He was first veteran and sixth overall out of the 631 finishers in 29 minutes 42 seconds.
HAYLEY FAULKNER was 356th in 46:10 and KERRY SETTERFIELD 571st in 56:41.
London’s Calling
The London Marathon is this Sunday! Fairlands Valley Spartans are always well represented. This year their entrants are ROGER BIGGS, JIM BROWN, CLAIRE COKER, JAMIE DRACKFORD, STEVE ELDER, ROBERT EVANS, KATE HANLON, RICHARD HAZLEDENE, KAREN LIDDLE, TRUDIE MOLLOY, CLARE MOORE, CAROL PAUL, DAVE PAUL, JOHN ROXBOROUGH, THOMAS SAUKA, MARJ SHANAHAN, PETE SMITH, HANNAH SYPULA and KERSTIN WEINER.
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. There may be some room for spectators. Further details given on booking. If you are interested please contact Roger Biggs on roger@thebiggs.net or 07748 326301.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
• London Marathon on Sunday 13th April
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 17th April
• Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 25th April
• Herts 1500 and Veterans Track and Field Championships on Monday 5th May
• EVAC Track and Field Fixture in Stevenage on Wednesday 7th May
• First Mid Week Road Race League (10K) race in Stevenage on Tuesday 13th May
• Second Road Race League (5 miles) race in Chingford on Wednesday 4th June
• Third Road Race League (9K) race in Trent Park on Thursday 12th June
• Fourth Road Race League (10K) in St Albans on Tuesday 1st July
• Mid Week Mob Match (10K) in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 17th July
• Off Road Challenge in Stevenage on Sunday 20th July
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 31st July
• Stevenage Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd November
Join The Spartans
Live in or near Stevenage? Like running? Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up! The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010. It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all. The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.
The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m. Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!
The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.
Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9.30a.m. sharp. Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m. There are events to enter every Sunday. Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.
Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £35 per year, £25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.
If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk
E N D S
More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 or Vivienne Honey (Secretary) 07702 846304
www.fvspartans.org.uk