There were two Spartans in the top three in the Hatfield 5K. CRAIG HALSEY won Wednesday’s race in just 16 minutes 20 seconds. The event included the county championships for veterans and just eleven seconds later GRANT RAMSAY came roaring in to take third overall and SILVER in the 40 plus category with 16:31.
Two Spartan women achieved new personal bests. ANN TRYSSESOONE improved by 52 seconds to 22:12 and PENNY SCHENKEL by 68 seconds to 24:43.
RICHARD BATE was in the top twenty of the 242 finishers at 16th with 17 minutes 38 while JOHN HARRIS was 45th with 19:01. JIM BROWN ran a year’s best 23:48; ANDREA WESTCOTT finished in 25:53 and PAUL HOLGATE in 27:26.
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 1. | CRAIG HALSEY | 16:20 | Race Winner! |
| 3. | GRANT RAMSAY | 16:31 | County Silver |
| 16 | RICHARD BATE | 17:38 | |
| 45 | JOHN HARRIS | 19:01 | |
| 102 | ANN TRYSSESOONE (F) | 22:12 | PB (52 seconds) |
| 131 | JIM BROWN | 23:48 | Year’s Best |
| 148 | PENNY SCHENKEL (F) | 24:43 | PB (68 seconds) |
| 170 | ANDREA WESTCOTT (F) | 25:53 | |
| 192 | PAUL HOLGATE | 27:26 |
Monster Run
KAREN BROOM was so happy to finish the Loch Ness marathon in a time of 5 hours and 43 minutes and 13 seconds.
Dave Doubles Up
It’s been a busy week for DAVID BOWKER, the club handicap on Thursday and two events  on Saturday.
The first was his first Enfield League walking event at the Lee Valley outdoor track. This was a one hour time trial in which he did five miles.
Then he stayed in London for the Shine Night Walk Marathon which stared in Southwark Park and finished in Old Billingsgate.  Dave’s marathon was the last of four waves and started at 10.15. It took in quite a few of London’s sights on a very pleasant  night.  The event was set up to raise funds for Cancer Research.
He says it was quite an experience trying to walk at speed through London’s nightlife, the quicker ones of us were catching the earlier starters and it got quite congested at times. David got round in 6hrs 42mins.
Steffan Wins
STEFFAN FORD ran in the Basel Marathon weekend. Â He did the 10km and finished 12th overall and first veteran, forty plus, in 37:58.
Craig and Melanie Win In Stevenage
There was another success for CRAIG HALSEY just one day after winning the Hatfield 5K he was first to finish in the Spartans Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday evening. His actual time was 16 minutes 50 seconds and he was in 46 seconds ahead of the next runner.
MELANIE BEALE was the first woman across the line. Her start line to finish time was 30 minutes 35 seconds. She was fourth overall.
DAVID QUICKE was second with an actual 25:54 and RICHARD SPRINGALL third with 19:26. DAVID BOWKER was fifth with 21:42.
Other actual times, in finish order, were JENNY PAUL 28:50; SARAH PIKE 26:15; MARTIN DUDLEY 22:30; STEVE PIKE 25:28; NATALIE LAWRENCE 21:25; LISA SMITH 30:13; MARIA QUICKE 30:13 and SEAN MILLWOOD 30:26.
Poor street lighting and uneven surfaces on the cycleways caused some problems during the event.
Huffin Puffin
CAROL PAUL ran the Huffin Puffin Marathon in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada on Sunday. On a two lap course with a sharp hill and a long incline on each lap Carol ran her best road marathon for eight years finishing in a time of 4 hours 13 minutes 2 seconds. ROGER BIGGS finished in 4:37:10. This completed his four weekend trip which included a marathon in the USA and three marathons and a 5km race in Canada.
Alison’s Update
ALISON WOOD won GOLD at the British Masters (BMAF) 800 metres championships for women aged 50 plus last week.
Twelve and a Half Laps for Grant
GRANT RAMSAY was second in the Biggleswade Open 5000 metres with a time of 16 minutes 51 seconds, a good performance despite the windy conditions.
Parkrun Report
It was a relatively quiet week for Spartans on the parkrun scene.
At Stevenage DANNY HUKIN was first Spartan finisher, pushing a buggy round in 20:48 for 17th place. MARTIN DUDLEY was 33rd in 22:47 and MARTYN DOWLING 43rd in 23:26, a new course personal best (PB). For the ladies, LAUREN HARNETT was 16th in 27:48, also a new course PB, VERITY FISHER 17th in 27:54 and CLAIRE COX 68th in 36:31 on pacing duties.
There was also a new course PB for KELLY CHAPMAN (36:43), while the other Spartans in action were DANIEL SUTTON (24:37), CHRTIS HOLLAND (25:16) DAVID RIDDELL (26:03), DAVE SMITH (28:01), JOHN WALSH (29:42), SIMON JACKSON (43:20 running with his son) and DARREN EMMERSON who was on tail-running duty.
At Panshanger Park, MARK BEASLEY was 21st in 21:30, a new course PB. TIM ROBINSON also notched a new best mark round here, finishing 33rd in 23:11. CALLUM BEASLEY was 48th in 24:45.
On the south coast, DARRYL STEVENS ran at Bournemouth, achieving a new course PB of 38:22, while on his first visit to Keswick JOHN ROXBOROUGH was 44th in 23:42. Finally, ROGER HARDMAN ran 26:16 at Newcastle.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the Hertfordshire 10K championships. The opportunities include:
- Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 30th September.
- Standalone 10K including County Vets Championships on Sunday 2nd October.
- Henlow Ten on Wednesday 5th October (daytime).
- 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
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