Month: January 2019

Categories
News Race Results

TOUGH AT SOUTHERNS

 

Fairlands Valley Spartans had a total of seven runners in Saturday’s South of England cross country championships on Parliament Hill Fields.  The race starts with a tough climb and it carries on that way.  The conditions were described as the driest for a very long time but the event still extremely challenging.

703 times were recorded in the women’s race which was over eight kilometres (about five miles).

CLAIRE EMMERSON was 545th in 43:27; JENNY GARRETT 609th in 46:25; PETA WILSON 672nd in 51:32; SHARON CROWLEY 679th in 52:24 and CALLIE CHAPMAN 686th in 54:48.

There was a very tough cut off time of 1 hour 30 minutes for the 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) men’s race.  Spartan TIM ROBINSON got a shift on in the last kilometre overtaking others to finish with just 13 seconds to spare.  Technically he was last of the 1147 finishers but in fact there were actually quite a few behind him.  Beating a limit of well below 10 minutes per mile is an achievement in itself for such a hilly and usually muddy event.  TOM SAUKA was 1,002nd in 1:11:14.

parliament 2

 

Biggs in Georgia

ROGER BIGGS completed his USA race trilogy at the Callaway Gardens Marathon in Pine Mountain, Georgia, USA on Saturday.

The marathon was held entirely within the Callaway Gardens.  It was two laps amongst lovely scrubland and many lakes.

The race started at 08:00hrs, with an air temperature of around -3C, only warming to around 7C in mid afternoon.  Roger started the race with a hat; cap; two pairs of gloves; two long sleeve T-shirts; one T-shirt and one running vest!!  He was past 19 miles before he started the shed things.

With his usual consistent manner, Roger finished with a time of 5:40:50, to be third in the 70+ category, winning another trophy to take home.

 

Lee Valley Velodrome Ten

The Lee Valley Velodrome Ten consists of ten laps of an undulating ten mile loop around the Olympic Velodrome Park.  ANN TRYSSESOONE finished first in her age group with 1 hour 27 minutes 10 seconds.

 

Cathy Third In Seville

Spartan CATHY CRAIG was third in her category in the EDP Seville Half Marathon with a gun time of 2:18:11 and a watch time of 2:12:53.

 

Serpentine

January maybe but it was a lovely day in Hyde Park for the Last Friday of the Month 5K round the Serpentine.  JIM BROWN ran a year’s best 24 minutes 48 seconds and moved up to second in his age category.  It was mild, dry and with a slight breeze for the lunch time race.  Jim was 217th out of the 266 finishers.

 

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 26 January

Runner numbers remained high at Stevenage Parkrun with 377 runners.  Martin Blackburn was ninth and first Spartan man in 19.11.  Anton McCalla ran a parkrun PB of 28:08 on his third parkrun.  Caren Dowsett was also running her third parkrun and achieved a new PB of 44:47.

Congratulations to David Pattman running his 50th parkrun in 25:36 (48 of those runs were at Stevenage).  Marie Colucci was second woman at Stevenage in 22:35.

Barry Osborne ran a new parkrun PB of 26:20 at Westmill on his 49th parkrun.  Nicola Hatherley also ran there for the first time in 36:50.

Andy Jay and Steve Smithson joined 384 others at Panshanger with Steve clocking a time of 23:25 and Andy 24:55.

Darryl Stevens ran for the first time at Dartford Heath in his 106th parkrun overall.  His time was 37:43.

It was Letchworth parkrun’s first birthday and the course was run in reverse.  Madeline Pritchard was sixth lady in a time of 25:41.

James McSweeney was in Littleport near Ely on occasion of his 51st parkrun and ran a new PB (personal best) of 22:49.

Full Spartan parkrun results can be found at the end of this release.

 

Spring Marathon?

Fairlands Valley Spartans are into week four of their marathon training plan.  Are you running a Spring marathon?  Whether you want to get round and enjoy; are a first timer; want a personal best or expect to go “Sub Three” the Spartans are the local club for you, there are group training opportunities five days a week.  Have a look at www.fvspartans.org.uk or the club’s Facebook page.

 

Tables

 

Parkruns:  Saturday 26th January

Full Spartan results are listed below.

 

Westmill parkrun

A total of 137 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
29 24 Barry OSBORNE 00:26:20
96 38 Nicola HATHERLY 00:36:50

 

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 377 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
9 9 Martin BLACKBURN 00:19:11
11 11 Stuart ARCHER 00:20:05
25 24 Dean CARPENTER 00:21:45
36 2 Marie COLUCCI 00:22:35
41 38 Gareth COWELL 00:22:51
44 41 Martin DUDLEY 00:22:57
64 56 Lee PICKERSGILL 00:24:33
67 59 Jonathan JONES 00:24:37
78 69 David PATTMAN 00:25:36
87 11 Susan MCANENY 00:26:05
88 77 Ciaran MCANENY 00:26:05
117 22 Sofia CARPENTER 00:27:00
135 109 Michael O’KEEFE 00:27:41
137 111 David SCOTT 00:27:42
151 122 Paul SHELLEY 00:28:05
154 124 Anton MCCALLA 00:28:08
164 132 Edward HARE 00:28:25
168 134 Paul JENNINGS 00:28:33
173 137 David ACKERY 00:28:41
210 157 Daniel SUTTON 00:30:40
211 54 Verity FISHER 00:30:41
271 184 Trevor BROOM 00:33:26
329 124 Hazel JONES 00:40:12
358 146 Caren DOWSETT 00:44:47

 

Panshanger parkrun

A total of 386 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
53 50 Stephen SMITHSON 00:23:25
91 86 Andy JAY 00:24:55

 

Dartford Heath parkrun

A total of 109 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
96 68 Darryl STEVENS 00:37:43

 

Letchworth parkrun

A total of 187 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
41 6 Madeleine PRITCHARD 00:25:41

 

Littleport parkrun

A total of 210 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
19 18 James McSWEENEY 00:22:49
Categories
News Race Results

Fairlands Run Fred

 

PAUL HEWETT, MARTIN BLACKBURN, STUART ARCHER and ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER were all in the top 100 in Sunday’s Fred Hughes 10 mile race in St Albans.  They were some of the fifteen Fairlands Valley Spartans in the race.

Starting near Verulamium Park and going south west from the town centre into the hills in the nearby countryside there was a particular challenge at around six miles with a climb lasting almost a mile, and, of course, it was cold.

Ashley was fourth senior woman in 1 hour 6 minutes 54 seconds.  Paul ran a new ten mile personal best of 1:02:12 and was 37th out of the 840 finishers.  Martin wanted to beat 64 minutes and did so with 1:03:54 at 52nd and Stuart came in 94th with 1:06:41.

DANNY SCANLON improved on his Buntingford time, three weeks earlier, by one and a half minutes to 1:12:30 and hopes his hamstring problems are now behind him.  GRAHAM BLACKBURN was back in 1:17:16.

ISABEL GREEN improved her best ten mile time by 17 seconds to 1:19:22 running with husband STEVE who was given 1:19:21.

JIM BROWN improved on last year’s event by 1 minute 27 seconds and finished in 1:22:13.  He was sixth in his category in the county championships.

It was the first ten mile race for LIZ CARVELL who completed the race in a time of 1:44:14.  She said it was a lovely day for it and lovely countryside but the hills were quite tough.

Sharon CROWLEY was six minutes faster than Buntingford with 1:44:54.

The others in the Fairlands Fifteen were WENDY THARANI 1:28:58; KEN JUDE 1:33:11; CLAIRE HYDE 1:34:45 and HELEN WHITEHURST who despite pre-race nerves easily beat the time limit with 1:49:06.

 

Essendon 10K

A fab four went to the Essendon 10K on Sunday.  This was a very cold and early morning run along an undulating gold buggy track around the Essendon Country Club with about 400 runners.  JONATHAN JONES ran a new 10K personal best (PB) of 52 minutes exactly; CAROLE SHELDRICK 54:13; CAROLINE CROFT in 1:00:56 and JANE WHITROW in 1:11:53.

 

Georgia On His Mind

ROGER BIGGS reports there’s lots of snow in the USA but fortunately not in Georgia.

He continued his winter trip to the States, with the Jekyll Island Marathon on the Georgia Atlantic Coast.

Overall a good running temperature, but there was a nasty cold wind blowing off the Atlantic. A flat course helped Roger run 5:37:59, his best time since a heart operation in April last year.

His time was good enough to be the 1st Veteran over 70 years old, finishing in 159th of 182.

 

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 19 January

Spartans attended 13 different parkrun locations today – not an unlucky number for Maria SWIFT who picked up a parkrun personal best (PB) in Letchworth of 22:32 and was first lady.  Meanwhile, in Stevenage, 27 Spartans joined Alison SHELLEY who ran her 50th parkrun in a time of 27:14.  Joining her was first timer Annie LOVATT in 30:55.

op finishers included Marie COLUCCI 3rd woman in 24:15 at Letchworth, Stuart HAYCROFT 5th 19:08 Stevenage, Tracy PEZ 7th 26:32 Letchworth, Richard SPRINGALL 11th 20:19 Wimpole Estate, Martin BLACKBURN 12th 20:06 Stevenage, Andy JAY 15th 26:08 Westmill and Zoe JACKSON 19th 25:42 Stevenage.

TREVOR and KAREN BROOM are away in Belfast for the weekend and did the Ormeau park run Saturday morning

Nice two lap course round Ormeau Park, it’s a very busy park run with 468 runners.  Last week there were over 600.   Trevor finished in 32.43 and Karen finished in 31.09

 

 

 

Tables

 

Spartans at the FH10

 

Pos Name Time Category Cat Pos Gender Comments
37 Paul Hewett 01:02:12 Senior U40 23 Male
52 Martin Blackburn 01:03:54 Senior U40 30 Male
94 Stuart Archer 01:06:41 Senior U40 48 Male
97 Ashley Schoenwetter 01:06:54 Lady U35 4 Female 4th senior
185 Danny Scanlon 01:12:30 Senior U40 68 Male 1:30 imp Bunt
261 Graham Blackburn 01:17:16 M50 40 Male
294 Isabel Green 01:19:22 W35 22 Female PB 17 seconds
295 Steve Green 01:19:21 M40 89 Male
363 Jim Brown 01:22:13 M60 12 Male 1:27 better 2018
519 Wendy Tharani 01:28:58 W45 57 Female
580 Ken Jude 01:33:11 M50 81 Male
622 Claire Hyde 01:34:45 W35 91 Female
721 Liz Carvell 01:44:16 W55 36 Female First 10 miles
727 Sharon Crowley 01:44:54 W55 39 Female 6 min imp Bunt
760 Helen Whitehurst 01:49:06 W45 114 Female

 

840 finishers.

 

Essendon 10K

 

Pos Name Net Time Cat Pos Gender Gen Pos
63 Jonathan Jones 00:52:00 47 Male 48
83 Carole Sheldrick 00:54:13 24 Female 24
139 Caroline Croft 01:00:56 49 Female 49
192 Jane Whitrow 01:11:53 90 Female 90

 

Parkruns:  Saturday 19th January

 

Parkrun Position Gender Parkrunner Time Notes
Bedford 42 39 John NELMS 00:22:16
Oak Hill 44 39 John ROXBOROUGH 00:22:15
Westmill 16 15 Andy JAY 00:26:08
Westmill 31 26 Ken JUDE 00:28:03
Wanstead Flats 156 128 Nick GILL 00:27:29
Pymmes 42 38 Michael O’KEEFE 00:28:22
Stevenage 5 5 Stuart HAYCROFT 00:19:08
Stevenage 12 12 Martin BLACKBURN 00:20:06
Stevenage 50 47 Martin DUDLEY 00:23:02
Stevenage 62 58 Gareth COWELL 00:23:30 10th parkrun
Stevenage 85 71 David PATTMAN 00:24:59
Stevenage 105 88 Lee PICKERSGILL 00:25:41
Stevenage 107 19 Zoe JACKSON 00:25:42
Stevenage 118 98 Jay PAPA 00:26:15
Stevenage 120 21 Liz SMITH 00:26:20
Stevenage 150 30 Alison SHELLEY 00:27:14 50th parkrun
Stevenage 151 121 Steven DOBNER 00:27:14
Stevenage 152 122 Paul SHELLEY 00:27:16
Stevenage 182 139 Paul JENNINGS 00:28:19
Stevenage 199 153 David ACKERY 00:28:51
Stevenage 202 155 Sean MILLWOOD 00:28:58
Stevenage 209 52 Karen PALMER 00:29:14
Stevenage 215 158 Jon SYPULA 00:29:24
Stevenage 248 71 Anne LOVATT 00:30:55 1st timer
Stevenage 291 95 Chloe EMMERSON 00:33:22
Stevenage 294 98 Hazel SMITH 00:33:26
Stevenage 295 99 Jenny GARRETT 00:33:27
Stevenage 301 103 Bernadette MILLWOOD 00:33:38
Stevenage 303 200 Nick WITCOMBE 00:33:43
Stevenage 311 201 Peter CARPENTER 00:34:16
Stevenage 342 130 Callie CHAPMAN 00:37:40
Stevenage 358 139 Hazel JONES 00:40:37
Stevenage 367 146 Gemma PARKER 00:42:35
Stevenage 378 153 Caren DOWSETT 00:46:44
Mile End 414 275 Tim ROBINSON 00:33:53
Wimpole Estate 12 11 Richard SPRINGALL 00:20:19
Ormeau (Belfast) 311 112 Karen BROOM 00:31:09
Ormeau (Belfast) 351 216 Trevor BROOM 00:32:43
Exeter Riverside 31 28 Adrian DONNELLY 00:21:18
Holkham 28 27 Nigel STRONGITHARM 00:24:07
Castle Park 48 48 Daniel SUTTON 00:23:13
Castle Park 192 41 Verity FISHER 00:28:50
Letchworth 8 1 Maria SWIFT 00:22:32 PB
Letchworth 19 3 Marie COLUCCI 00:24:15
Letchworth 38 7 Tracy PEZ 00:26:32
Letchworth 86 66 Dave SMITH 00:32:17 60th Parkrun

 

Categories
News Race Results

CALLUM WINS

 

43 Spartans ran Sunday’s cross country and a Spartan won the race!  The league fixture was in Cassiobury Park, Watford.

CALLUM STEWART took firm control at the front of the race, striding round the hilly 5.9 miles in a winning 33 minutes 46 seconds.

ANDY PATTERSON and DANNY McALPINE was also in the top ten.  Andy sixth with 35:45 and Danny ninth in 35:53.  CHRIS WESTCOTT was top twenty, 20th in 37:04.  PAUL HEWETT also beat 40 minutes, he was 43rd in 38:37.  The eight runner men’s “A” team was completed by MARTIN BLACKBURN (40:35), NICK GILL (42:46) and PAUL SHELLEY (43:22)

SUZY HAWKINS was fastest female for Fairlands and headed up their women’s A team.  She was 120th overall (men and women) in 43 minutes 10 seconds.  Super veteran YUKO GORDON was next in at 47 minutes 28 seconds and 204th.

An enthusiastic RHIANNON GRIFFIN was third for the “A” team and said: “It’s hard to describe just how awesome that was in words… but I’ll try!!

On Sunday I completed the 5.9mile notoriously difficult Watford cross country.  It was close to 6 miles of undulating super steep and long dragging hills, mostly through amazing woodlands, and ending in a mile long uphill to the finish line (which was seriously tough!!).

My time today was 49.35 which I’m so super happy with.

This was the longest and most difficult course that I have raced since being back running over the last few months, so to get a sub 50 on this run is something I’m super proud of!!  The run was brilliant as well.

I felt so strong throughout the race -both in my body and with my mental strength pushing through the pain of all those hills and keeping a strong form the whole way round.

I could really feel the benefits of all the training I’ve been doing solo and the weekly weight workouts, training my core, helping me to lift my knees up to keep the relaxed longer stride that helped me power round the course.

This was the first race where instead of having people overtake me the whole way round I actually was the one overtaking others!  I just felt so strong going round.

If I wanted to go faster I would relax my shoulders, engage my core and stride out, lifting my knees that bit higher and just hitting the ground that bit harder.

And to my amazement when I did this I just felt like I was flying; overtaking people like I’ve not done since I was running six years ago.

I honestly love cross country so much. Being out in nature. Running in the forests breathing deep rich oxygenated woodland air. Using my agility to skip round sharp corners, over roots and leaping to avoid potholes and mud. It’s so grounding, interesting and fun to run. It’s a beautiful refreshing challenge for me. Pushing myself, telling myself I can do it. Telling myself I believe in myself. Such a meditative experience… Getting a good time is just a bonus.”

Rhiannon was 249th out of about 480 men and women.

The others in the five runner “A” team were ISABEL GREEN, 259th in 50:19 and KELLY EVANS, 297th in 52:04.

The Spartan women kept their noses in front of the men with 23 finishers compared with 20 men.  They had A, B, C and D teams.

The “B” team was ALICE POOLE (53:11), KAREN ELLIS (54:52), KELLY McHALE (55:07), ZOE JACKSON (55:10) and JENNY GARRETT (56:22)

Who will win the “Battle of the Sexes” on Therfield Heath in the last league race on Sunday 10th February?

TODD GRAY led in the men’s “B” team with 44:44.  Others included DANNY SCANLON (44:58); JAMES McSWEENEY (50:00); JONATHAN JONES (52:01); ED HARE (52:31); GRAHAM BLACKBURN (53:10) and STEVE DOBNER (55:30).

JIM BROWN was lacking a bit of Spartan sparkle on Sunday but despite that and a very slow first 2K managed to complete the men’s “B” team with 58 minutes 14 seconds.  He said, “I would like to have been a couple of minutes faster but I had only five runners behind me last week and eighty today so that’s progress.”

 

Chase The Moon

Chase the Moon was JAMES McSWEENEY’s first race of the year.  On Wednesday he was at the Olympic Park for the 10K race which he ran in 47 minutes 26 seconds.  James was very pleased with being only 14 seconds off his PB (personal best) on a pretty chilly evening.  Lovely flat, well lit course round the Olympic Park taking in the Orbit and the London Stadium.

 

Country to Capital

On Saturday, JOHN NELMS, THOMAS SAUKA and ADRIAN BUSOLINI  took on the 43 mile Country to Capital ultra marathon.  The race with over 350 entrants, starts in Wendover on the top of the Chilterns and follows footpaths, bridle ways and country lanes up and down hills for 20 miles before arriving at the grand union canal in Denham, just west of Watford. Then it’s just 23 miles of flat canal tow path running into central London, the finish line being in Little Venice, close to Paddington Station.

The weather was perfect for distance running, cool and overcast and the lack of any recent rain meant the paths were mainly dry and firm.

John finished in 7 hours 30, his best ever on this course in his fifth appearance at this event. Adrian was just behind him at 12th in 7:32:40 and Thomas just over 20 minutes back in 7.53.   This is the traditional first ultra of the season and is always on the second weekend of the year.  With a generous cut off time of 11 hours and a field of up to 400 runners with a great social feel, it makes a perfect opener to the year.

 

Biggs in States

Roger Biggs took his stripy Spartan vest to Charleston, South Carolina, on the East Coast of the USA.

With little training over the last two months, Roger traded down from the Marathon to the Half Marathon.

The basically flat course, is run on the peninsula within the Charleston Harbour area, and as such has the sea on both East and West at different times.  The temperature started at a little over freezing, and never got above 7 or 8C.

Roger completed the half marathon (13.1 miles) in 2:34:58, to be in 1874th position with a total of 2390 finishers.

 

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 12 January

From the 35 Fairland Valley Spartans’ who ran in this week’s Parkrun Events, there were two parkrun PB (personal best) times recorded.  Both in Stevenage, JAMES McSWEENEY ran his 50th event in a PB time of 23 mins and 02 secs and JONATHAN JONES who finished his PB run in 23 mins and 27 secs.  They were joined by top 20 gender finishes for DANNY SCANLON and STUART ARCHER in times of 20 mins 38 and 21 mins and 30 secs, respectively, and LIZ SMITH in 26 mins and 07 secs.  In addition, MICHAEL BIRONNEAU finished the Huntingdon course 5th overall in 19 mins and 48 secs, and ANDY JAY was the 20th man to finish at the Teignmouth Promenade in 23 mins and 43 secs.

Landmark runs were spread across this week’s events.  In Stevenage, CAREN DOWSETT successfully completed her first ever event in 46 mins and 19 secs, while CLAIRE EMMERSON ran for the 60th time in 28 mins and 38 secs and LEE PICKERSGILL for the 45th in 25 mins and 46 secs.  At Clapham Common, DARRYL STEVENS finished his 105th event in 25 mins and 03 secs, and NICOLA HATHERLY ran for the 30th time in 37 mins and 01 secs on the Cassiobury course.

First time visits to new events saw JOHN ROXBOROUGH complete the Wycombe Rye run in 22 mins and 02 secs, while BARRY OSBORNE the 27th male at the Westmill event in 28 mins and 19 secs, and DAVE SMITH the Great Denham run in 29 mins and 23 secs.

Full Spartan results for all parkruns can be found at the end of this release.

 

This Sunday the Spartans will be represented at the Fred Hughes 10 event in St. Albans.  It’s an open race but includes the Hertfordshire County Ten Miles Championships for veteran runners.

 

Tables

 

Position Name Time Category Comments
1 CALLUM STEWART 33:46 M Winner.  MA
6 ANDREW PATTERSON 35:45 M MA
9 DANNY McALPINE 35:53 M MA
20 CHRIS WESTCOTT 37:04 M MA
43 PAUL HEWETT 38:37 M MA
76 MARTIN BLACKBURN 40:35 M MA
111 NICK GILL 42:46 M MA
120 SUZY HAWKINS 43:10* F FA
122 PAUL SHELLEY 43:22 M MA
144 TODD GRAY 44:44 M MB
156 DANNY SCANLON 44:58 M MB
204 YUKO GORDON 47:28* F FA
249 RHIANNON GRIFFIN 49:35 F FA
255 JAMES McSWEENEY 50:00* M MB
259 ISABEL GREEN 50:19 F FA
297 KELLY EVANS 52:04 F FA
299 JONATHAN JONES 52:01 M MB
311 ED HARE 52:31 M MB
326 GRAHAM BLACKBURN 53:10* M MB
327 ALICE POOLE 53:11 F FB
353 KAREN ELLIS 54:52 F FB
354 KELLY McHALE 55:07 F FB
361 ZOE JACKSON 55:10 F FB
367 STEVEN DOBNER 55:30 M MB
376 JENNY GARRETT 56:22 F FB
380 HAZEL SMITH 57:00* F FC
403 JIM BROWN 58:14 M MB
410 KEN JUDE 58:33 M
415 JULIE SHADBOLT 59:12 F FC
423 PAUL HOLGATE 60:49 M
424 SEAN MILLWOOD 60:50 M
427 DAVID ACKERY 61:38 M
434 PENNY SCHENKEL 62:30* F FC
444 MONICA SMITHSON 63:18* F FC
445 SOPHIE COWAN 63:19 F FC
446 HAYLEY YENDELL 63:20* F FD
447 CALLIE CHAPMAN 63:21* F FD
452 ANGIE KEELING 64:21 F FD
453 VICKY COTTOM 64:48 F FD
458 SHARON CROWLEY 65:24 F FD
462 SALLY PHILLIPS 66:32* F
470 TRACY STILES 68:48 F
471 SUE HAMER 68:55 F

 

Parkruns:  Saturday 12th January

 

Parkrun Pos Gen Parkrunner Times Notes
Westmill 37 27 Barry OSBORNE 0:28:19
Wycombe Rye 38 37 John ROXBOROUGH 0:22:02
Stevenage 16 15 Danny SCANLON 0:20:38
20 19 Stuart ARCHER 0:21:30
26 25 Allan SHARMAN GARCIA 0:21:52
50 48 James MCSWEENEY 0:23:02 PB! 50th run
60 58 Stephen SMITHSON 0:23:19
65 63 Ryan DUNNING 0:23:31
69 67 Jonathan JONES 0:23:37 PB!
84 80 Daniel SUTTON 0:24:13
86 82 David PATTMAN 0:24:27
87 83 Matthew PATTMAN 0:24:28
89 85 Darren EMMERSON 0:24:43
94 89 Nigel STRONGITHARM 0:24:58
105 98 Lee PICKERSGILL 0:25:46 45th
122 12 Liz SMITH 0:26:07
167 141 Michael O’KEEFE 0:28:01
169 142 David ACKERY 0:28:04
175 147 Paul JENNINGS 0:28:14
187 33 Claire EMMERSON 0:28:38 60th
188 34 Jenny GARRETT 0:28:39
189 35 Verity FISHER 0:28:40
204 162 David SCOTT 0:29:19
233 55 Alison SHELLEY 0:30:10
239 180 Paul HOLGATE 0:30:15
258 187 Steven DOBNER 0:30:57
282 85 Dzenana TOPIC 0:32:10
297 92 Chloe EMMERSON 0:32:51
409 168 Caren DOWSETT 0:46:19 First ever parkrun!
416 172 Catherine CRAIG 0:51:43
Huntingdon 5 5 Michael BIRONNEAU 0:19:48
Cassiobury 437 151 Nicola HATHERLY 0:37:01 30th
Great Denham 122 88 Dave SMITH 0:29:23
Clapham Common 946 600 Darryl STEVENS 0:35:03 105th
Teignmouth Promenade 25 20 Andy JAY 0:23:44
Categories
News Race Results

OLD YEAR OUT * NEW YEAR IN

 

Sixty seven Fairlands Valley Spartans got 2019 off to a great start as sixty five of them joined CALLIE CHAPMAN and STEVE DOBNER running 5K in Stevenage as they celebrated their fiftieth parkrun.

Serpentine NYD 10K

A little further south JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL began the New Year in great form as they ran their fastest 10K races in more than twelve months at the Serpentine New Year’s Day 10K in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

Despite it being his third race in five days Jim finished in 49 minutes 13 seconds, third in his age group and 232nd overall and Penny easily beat the hour with 57 minutes 48 seconds compared with 1 hour and 49 seconds (1:00:49) on New Year’s Day 2018.

Jim said it was a good way to blow the cobwebs away.  He thought he was struggling but then saw his time at the first kilometre marker and thought let’s go for it despite residual tiredness left from the Buntingford ten mile event on Sunday.  He said there was a bit of a northerly drift to contend with but it actually helped for the last mile which was along the east side of the Serpentine.

 

Ely New Year’s Eve 10K

PAUL HOLGATE said the Ely New Year’s Eve 10K was the perfect way to end the year.

Spartan SIMON JACKSON was ninth in 35 minutes 31 seconds.  A best for 2018 by 39 seconds.  He was third veteran (40 plus).  Paul came in with 57 minutes 16 seconds.  There were 616 finishers.

Peterborough NYE 10K

Others saw out the old year at the Peterborough 10K.  HAZEL SMITH achieved a year’s best 55 minutes 22 seconds (277th); KAREN BROOM came in with 1:00:33 (390th); CALLIE CHAPMAN in 1:03:05 (435th) and TREVOR BROOM in 1:05:53 (490th).

Flitch Way Marathon NYE

TIM ROBINSON went a lot further.  On New Year’s Eve he ran the Flitch Way Marathon.  The marathon starts at Braintree in the Great Notley Country park and follows an out and back trail route along the disused railway track towards Bishops Stortford.  Although the route sounds fairly flat the track continually rises and drops over its length.  There was good support at the two ‘railway station platform’ cafés but for the most part fellow runners were the only company.  He came in with 5 hours 1 minute 24 seconds, the last Spartan marathon of 2018.

 

Tough But Satisfying – County Cross Country

Complete and counting Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s and men’s teams completed the tough but satisfying county championships in Verulamium Park, St Albans on Sunday.

natalie

Only 88 finished the senior women’s race which was over eight kilometres.  NATALIE LAWRENCE won County BRONZE in third place with a time of 30 minutes 36 seconds.  RHIANNON GRIFFIN had a great time and beat her previous time on the same course by five minutes with 39:05, she was 54th.  JULIE SHADBOLT and PENNY SCHENKEL completed the four woman team in 83rd with 45:44 and 86th in 48:55.  They were 13th team out of 18 and had a reserve, SHARON CROWLEY who came in after 51 minutes 22 seconds.

The senior men, that’s age 20 and over, had to run three laps or about 12 kilometres.  Although they were missing some of their faster runners they were determined to finish with a complete team of at least six men.

PaulHewett

59th out of 150 PAUL HEWETT was first in for the Spartans in 45 minutes 21 seconds; then came RICHARD SPRINGALL 88th in 47:28 and PAUL SHELLEY 115th in 52:07.  THOMAS SAUKA ran a well paced race to cut his time by about ten minutes for the same event, he was 134th in 56:44.  One of the oldest in the race and decades older than many JIM BROWN was battling to avoid last place for the first two laps but overtook a handful on lap three to come in with 145th in 61:56 four minutes quicker than his last race on this course in 2015.  TIM ROBINSON made it team complete and smiles all round at 146th in 62:39.  Tough but satisfying and recommended for next year.

The next cross country race for the club will be a league race at Watford on Sunday 13th January.  Dozens of Spartans are expected for that event.

 

Spartan of the Month

SOPHIE COWAN was awarded Spartan of the Month for December recognising her work which included organising the Stevenage Half Marathon and the cross country league fixture in Fairlands Valley Park.

 

Parkrun Highlights New Year’s Day

Lots of Spartans took advantage of being able to run two parkruns on New Year’s Day.  There were plenty of options with start times of local events staggered to allow this.  There were 67 Spartans who made up the 441 record breaking turnout at Stevenage.

So who did the double?

Erica GRAYSON (Barrow and Fell Foot)

Michael O’KEEFE (99th at Luton Wardown and 100th Stevenage).

Grant Ramsay (5th overall at Letchworth and Stevenage).

Tim Saban, Mark Goodwin, Paul Shelley, Thomas Sauka, Steven Dobner, Jonathan Jones, Ken Jude and Tim Robinson  (Panshanger and Stevenage)

Maria Swift and Mylo, Caroline Croft, Carole Sheldrick and David Scott (Letchworth and Stevenage)

Ashley SCHOENWETTER was first lady at Stevenage (20:04) and Natalie Lawrence was first lady and 7th overall (19:00) at Houghton Hall.

Ruth Reilly ran in Panshanger then was kept very busy bar code scanning in Stevenage.

Congratulations to Michael O’Keefe running his 99th and 100th parkrun on New Year’s Day.  Congratulations also go to Callie Chapman and Steven Dobner who completed their 50th parkruns both at Stevenage.  Steven was at Panshanger for his 49th parkrun at 9 am.

Spartan men made up 3 of the top 10 at Stevenage with Jonathan Parr 3rd overall in (17:16), Grant Ramsay (5th 18:17) and running his first parkrun Martin Blackburn (8th in 18:55).

There were PBs for Ashley SCHOENWETTER (20:04), Jonathan Parr (17:16), Nigel STRONGITHARM(23:43), Maria SWIFT (and Mylo) at Stevenage (24:26), Carole SHELDRICK at Stevenage (26:35) and Sean MILWOOD (28:44).

Michael O’KEEFE got a PB at Luton Wardown (26:12) on his 99th parkrun.  James SOUTH ran a new PB at Panshanger (27:14) and Ros INGRAM a new PB at Letchworth (25:46).

 

Saturday parkrun

There was another bumper turnout at Stevenage parkrun on Saturday with over 400 runners.  There were PBs for James McSweeney (23:07) on his 49th parkrun.  First Spartan man was Danny Scanlon (20:26).  Kerry Flain finished his first Stevenage parkrun in 22:39.

Grant Ramsay was first overall at Letchworth in a new course PB of 20:42.  Maria Swift (+ Mylo) was second lady in a new PB of 22:42.  Also running Letchworth were Maddie Pritchard (25:52) and Karen Palmer (29:18).

John Roxborough ran at Victoria Dock in London (near the ExCel) finishing in 21:03.

Rowena Rutledge was at Gunpowder and ran 27:59.

Hannah Neale ran a new PB at Coldhams Common Cambridge (23:08).

 

Full Spartan results for all parkruns can be found at the end of this release.

 

Tables

Parkruns: New Year’s Day and Saturday 5th January

 

New Year’s Day:

 

Luton Wardown parkrun

 

A total of 339 runners took part.

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
108 94 Michael O’KEEFE 00:26:12

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 441 runners took part including 67 Spartans.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
3 3 Jonathan PARR 00:17:16
5 5 Grant RAMSAY 00:18:17
8 8 Martin BLACKBURN 00:18:55
11 11 Stuart ARCHER 00:19:43
13 1 Ashley SCHOENWETTER 00:20:04
17 16 Danny SCANLON 00:20:36
20 19 James KAY 00:21:02
23 22 Tim SABAN 00:21:28
37 35 Kieran FEETHAM 00:22:09
38 36 Graham BLACKBURN 00:22:16
51 48 Peter SMITH 00:22:55
63 57 Mark GOODWIN 00:23:27
67 59 James MCSWEENEY 00:23:38
70 62 Paul MAGUIRE 00:23:42
71 63 Nigel STRONGITHARM 00:23:43
74 65 Paul SHELLEY 00:23:50
82 71 Craig BACON 00:24:15
85 13 Maria SWIFT 00:24:26
89 75 Thomas SAUKA 00:24:30
96 81 David PATTMAN 00:24:42
97 82 Andrew SMITH 00:24:44
106 90 Steven DOBNER 00:25:08
141 29 Nikki WILBY 00:26:04
145 115 Michael O’KEEFE 00:26:20
150 33 Ann TRYSSESOONE 00:26:27
154 121 Jonathan JONES 00:26:30
155 34 Susan MCANENY 00:26:30
156 122 Ken JUDE 00:26:31
157 35 Carole SHELDRICK 00:26:35
158 123 Ciaran MCANENY 00:26:36
170 39 Alison SHELLEY 00:27:05
188 142 Paul HOLGATE 00:27:44
193 47 Karen PALMER 00:27:49
194 147 Tim ROBINSON 00:27:50
204 152 Robert SHAW 00:28:15
213 158 Simon SYPULA 00:28:29
215 159 Karl SHREEVE 00:28:33
218 161 Sean MILLWOOD 00:28:44
228 62 Monica SMITHSON 00:29:13
233 170 David ACKERY 00:29:23
236 66 Caroline CROFT 00:29:31
237 171 Stephen SMITHSON 00:29:33
244 68 Carol PAUL 00:29:46
254 71 Liz CARVELL 00:30:07
260 76 Catherine CRAIG 00:30:24
283 89 Andrea WESTCOTT 00:31:45
307 105 Debbie BLANTERN 00:32:42
327 206 Roger BIGGS 00:34:22
335 127 Callie CHAPMAN 00:34:46
337 210 Paul JENNINGS 00:34:47
339 212 David SCOTT 00:34:48
340 128 Bernadette MILLWOOD 00:34:48
341 129 Hazel SMITH 00:34:48
342 130 Rowena RUTLEDGE 00:34:49
343 131 Jenny GARRETT 00:34:49
344 132 Nicola HATHERLY 00:34:50
345 133 Claire EMMERSON 00:34:50
348 134 Chloe EMMERSON 00:34:52
349 215 Darren EMMERSON 00:34:52
363 145 Karen SMITH 00:35:36
371 153 Niki PLUMB 00:36:05
394 224 Matthew PATTMAN 00:39:53
415 187 Rhiannon GRIFFIN 00:42:55
418 189 Maggie MONTGOMERY 00:43:04
427 195 Yuko GORDON 00:45:22
436 199 Verity FISHER 00:50:50
437 238 Daniel SUTTON 00:50:51

 

Barrow parkrun

A total of 196 runners took part.

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
74 19 Erica GRAYSON 00:27:49

Houghton Hall parkrun

A total of 429 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
7 1 Natalie LAWRENCE 00:19:00

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge

A total of 251 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
123 37 Erica GRAYSON 00:29:38

Panshanger parkrun

A total of 521 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
59 57 Tim SABAN 00:22:11
64 62 John ROXBOROUGH 00:22:21
71 69 Mark GOODWIN 00:22:42
153 138 Paul SHELLEY 00:25:27
157 140 David PATTMAN 00:25:32
162 143 Thomas SAUKA 00:25:39
165 146 Steven DOBNER 00:25:45
172 152 Ken JUDE 00:25:57
225 188 James SOUTH 00:27:14
353 254 Tim ROBINSON 00:31:03
354 100 Ruth REILLY 00:31:04
487 303 Matthew PATTMAN 00:39:15

Ellenbrook Fields parkrun

A total of 337 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
38 36 John ROXBOROUGH 00:21:47

Letchworth parkrun

A total of 167 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
5 5 Grant RAMSAY 00:19:22
41 5 Maria SWIFT 00:24:21
42 6 Marie COLUCCI 00:24:26
50 8 Madeleine PRITCHARD 00:25:37
52 9 Ros INGRAM 00:25:46
55 46 Jonathan JONES 00:26:03
87 19 Carole SHELDRICK 00:28:39
112 30 Caroline CROFT 00:31:06
124 89 David SCOTT 00:32:37.

 

Saturday Parkruns – Spartan results:

 

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 408 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
12 12 Danny SCANLON 00:20:26
33 33 Martin DUDLEY 00:22:39
34 34 Kerry FLAIN 00:22:39
44 44 James MCSWEENEY 00:23:07
60 57 Ryan DUNNING 00:23:37
71 66 John NELMS 00:24:22
72 67 Darren EMMERSON 00:24:23
76 71 Daniel SUTTON 00:24:38
84 79 Lee PICKERSGILL 00:24:54
109 97 Chris HOLLAND 00:26:26
110 98 Nigel STRONGITHARM 00:26:28
119 106 Steven DOBNER 00:26:44
151 133 David PATTMAN 00:27:52
152 19 Claire EMMERSON 00:27:52
153 20 Jenny GARRETT 00:27:53
154 21 Alison SHELLEY 00:27:53
160 136 Paul HOLGATE 00:27:59
190 151 Jonathan JONES 00:28:59
215 169 Paul JENNINGS 00:30:18
237 59 Verity FISHER 00:31:08
238 60 Debbie BLANTERN 00:31:09
273 80 Sally MCBRIDE 00:32:19
289 203 Nick WITCOMBE 00:33:05
290 87 Chloe EMMERSON 00:33:06
307 208 Michael ANDREWS 00:33:53
370 143 Gemma PARKER 00:37:56
391 236 Simon JACKSON 00:42:12

 

Gunpowder parkrun

A total of 264 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
110 28 Rowena RUTLEDGE 00:27:59

 

Ellenbrook Fields parkrun

A total of 301 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
8 8 John HARRIS 00:19:56
30 27 Barry OSBORNE 00:22:47

 

Letchworth parkrun

A total of 147 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
1 1 Grant RAMSAY 00:18:42
10 2 Maria SWIFT 00:22:42
32 11 Madeleine PRITCHARD 00:25:52
51 17 Karen PALMER 00:29:18

 

Victoria Dock parkrun

A total of 160 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
32 32 John ROXBOROUGH 00:21:03

 

Coldham’s Common parkrun

A total of 299 runners took part.

 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time  
72 10 Hannah NEALE 00:23:08