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NEWS RELEASE: MEDALS GALORE IN COUNTY 5K

From a sizzling Stevenage 5K with plenty of medal success, to a super seven taking on the Chiltern Off Road Marathon … and Peter’s Duck ‘n’ Dash. Enjoy the latest Spartan news here!

MEDALS GALORE IN COUNTY 5K

There were medals galore for Fairlands Valley Spartans in the County Five Kilometres Championships which the club hosted in Stevenage in the heat on Sunday morning.

RHIANNON GRIFFIN won SILVER in the senior championships in a superb new sub 20 personal best of 19 minutes 59 seconds.  ALISON WOOD took BRONZE in the seniors and GOLD in the women veterans (45 plus) with 20 minutes 12 seconds.

BARRY OSBORNE won GOLD in the male veterans (60 plus) competition in 19 minutes 52 seconds with JIM BROWN taking BRONZE with an amazing improvement to 21 minutes 24 seconds.

DAVE BOWKER was the SILVER medalist in 50 plus category with 18 minutes 50 seconds.

JULIE SIMMONS won GOLD in the women’s (55 plus) category in 22:24 and ANN TRYSSESOONE took BRONZE in the women’s (45 plus) with 23:08.

Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the senior women’s team GOLD with RHIANNON GRIFFIN (19:59); ALISON WOOD (20:12); JULIE SIMMONS (22:24) and ANN TRYSSESOONE (23:08) and the veteran only women’s team GOLD with Alison Wood, Julie Simmons and Ann Tryssesoone.  Rhiannon, Alison, Julie and Ann also won the team contest for the whole race.

In the senior team competition the Spartans men’s team consisting of LIAM HERBERT (18:32); DAVID BOWKER (18:50); BARRY OSBORNE (19:52) and MARTIN WOOD (19:56) won SILVER with veterans David Bowker, Barry Osborne, Martin Wood and JIM BROWN (21:24) taking BRONZE in the contest for those 40 and over only.

SIMON BELL was the fastest of the 21 Spartans, eleventh overall in the race with a time of 18 minutes 7 seconds.  (Simon lives outside Hertfordshire).

Spartan times:

Pos Time Name Cat. Comments

11

18.07

Simon Bell M40  

17

18.32

Liam Herbert MS Team Silver

22

18.50

David Bowker M50 County Silver, Team Silver

27

19.52

Barry Osborne M60 County Gold, Team Silver

28

19.56

Martin Wood M40 Team Silver

29

19.59

Rhiannon Griffin FS County Silver, Team Gold

30

20.12

Alison Wood W45 County Gold, Team Gold

35

21.00

Adrian Donnelly MS  

37

21.25

Jim Brown M60 County Bronze, Team Bronze

39

22.10

Kevin Smyth M50  

41

22.24

Julie Simonns W55 County Gold, Team Gold

47

23.00

Tony Argyrou M40  

50

23.08

Ann Tryssesoone W45 County Bronze, Team Gold

53

23.56

Andy Prior M40  

54

24.13

Claire Coker W35  

57

24.26

Nicola Lorimer W35  

58

24.41

Robert Shaw M60  

66

27.49

Melissa Tyler FS  

67

27.55

Karen Palmer W45  

69

28.59

Peter Carpenter M60  

71

30.17

Mark Stephens M50  

(Lots of images from the race are available in our gallery here: http://fvspartans.org.uk/gallery/).

Chiltern Off Road Marathon

On a very warm day and an exceptionally tough course, seven Spartans took part in this year’s Chiltern Off Road Marathon.

In off road marathons competitors are given route instructions that they follow to navigate their way around the course, with a key to abbreviations used at the top of the instructions, and the key at the top of the Chiltern Marathon are the only instructions that identify that up means UP!

CAROL PAUL completed the full marathon course in 6 hours 31 minutes 38 seconds and MIKE NEWBITT in 6:50:40.  Karen Liddle, Tricia Hopper & Sharon Crowley followed in 7:24:24.

DAVE PAUL completed the shorter, 21.3 miles option in a time of 7:04:30

PAUL HOLGATE retired at the last checkpoint having already completed 25.3 miles in 7:02:13 after not following the instructions properly, instead putting in a three detours of his own!

Peter’s Duck ‘n’ Dash

Last Sunday PETER CARPENTER entered the Duck race in the Duck and Dash at Letchworth which consisted of a 400 metres swim & 6km run.  His time was 51:09  – 27th out of 35 overall — but he is competing in the male over 60 age group.

Enter Now!

The club host the Paul Maguire Memorial Five on 23rd September which includes the County Championship Five and County Championship Half Marathon on Sunday 4th November.  Both races are in Stevenage and all are for seniors and veterans.  The championships are within open races — 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:

  • Paul Maguire Memorial and County 5 Miles Championship in Stevenage on Sunday 23rd September.
  • Serpentine 5K on Friday 28th September.
  • Standalone 10K in Letchworth on Sunday 7th October.
  • Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 25th October.
  • Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 4th 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 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 (01438 354505 or 0793 968 7509), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

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