Month: February 2020

 

 

The Baldock Beast was howling but after two weeks of race cancellations caused by Storms Ciara and Dennis it was great that events took place at the weekend.

23 Fairlands Valley Spartans, 12 women and 11 men lined up for what looked like it would be a character building event.

Probably the best Spartan performance was by NATALIE WHITE who fought the wind to finish fourth senior woman in 1 hour 49 minutes 2 seconds.  There were only two Spartans in front of her – RICHARD COWLISHAW 69^th of the 379 finishers in 1:43:46 and ELLIOTT WHITE 114^th and given the same time as Natalie but separated by the electronic timing.

SAM SIMMONS was all smiles at the end.  Before seeing the conditions he had hoped to beat 1:50 but wasn’t giving up and came in with 1:51:23.  TIM ROBINSON tried a constant effort approach all the way round but said the on average downhill last three miles were slower than going uphill with the wind making it impossible to maintain any speed.  1:55:25.

Maria THORNE and KAREN ELLIS ran the Baldock Beast together raising money for the British Heart Foundation.  They said it was a wet windy run today with great support from marshals.  Karen and Maria finished together in 2 hours 30 minutes.

FIONA and MATT CLARKE ran as a two up finishing together in 2:04:15 and 2:04:16.

JIM BROWN said he was watching the trees bouncing around as he left home and wondered if this was going to be a third Sunday event cancelled in a row.  Actually no here was a good turnout of Spartans and hundreds of others registering at the Templars Hotel.  As we made our way to the start it wasn’t that cold, it was dry at that stage but it was obvious the wind was going to make the last six miles hard.  The range of clothing on the start line was extreme.  Almost artic expedition to shorts and club vest.  Feeling brave I went for the latter.

The Baldock Beast is described as multi-terrain but most of it, maybe twelve miles, is on roads and other surfaces where you can run normally so road shoes are needed.  Some years the two off road sections are easy enough but with the recent weather much of “Park Lane” was liquid mud.

Coming out of the Park Lane mud, and approaching the seven mile marker, the rain started and, wow, developed into a headwind storm with runners being stung , visibility dropping and body temperatures crashing.  All the way through Sandon and Roe Green it was a fight to keep going with thoughts of if this keeps up for the next five miles a lot of people, including maybe me, are going to be in trouble.  Then, crossing the River Beane, it was sunshine and I started to dry out and warm up.  It was great crossing the last bridge, over the bypass, and looking down to the finish line but there was no energy left to accelerate for the last two hundred metres.  Pleased enough to get round in less than two hours with 1:55:53.

The other Spartans were 203 ROBERT WRIGHT 2:00:06;  204 NIGEL STRONGITHARM 2:00:07;  248 MATTHEW NEWTON 2:04:54;  249 NEIL ROBINSON 2:04:38;  281 CAROLINE BARTER 2:08:54;  287 JULIE GRAY 2:09:28;  330 WENDY THARANI 2:20:04;  335 KAREN LIDDLE 2:21:31;  336 TRICIA HOPPER 2:21:31;  354 SUE HAMER 2:25:32;  355 ERICA GRAYSON 2:25:34;  359 HAZEL SMITH 2:27:08 and 360 JULIE SHADBOLT 2:27:09.

There were 379 finishers including 127 women.  All the Spartan times can be found near the end of this release.

 

Yuko Wins At Stamford

YUKO GORDON celebrated her birthday at the Stamford 30K which had been postponed for a week by Storm Dennis and she celebrated in style by winning the women 65 plus in 2 hours 20 minutes 14 seconds which was 10 minutes faster than the W55 and W60 winners and improved her own age course record by five minutes which was set two years ago.  The race was on a beautiful course but very hilly and with a gusty wind on Sunday.  Overall she was 13^th out of 236 women

 

Seville

Spartans ED HARE and TIM SABAN ran the Seville Marathon on Sunday.  They said it was an amazing event and a great course which was super flat.

They started in comfortable 8 degree conditions but it quickly rose to 27 which for the two Brits, in February was a bit of a shock.  Although it was tough at times they both finished, Tim is 3 hours 22 minutes and Ed in 4:26

 

Naples

While other Spartans were suffering the wind and rain Nessa Rolfe, from NHRR, and Spartan CATHY CRAIG got a flight to Naples for the half marathon.  It was perfect running weather and a nice route along the coast apart from a tunnel which they had to go through twice – it was half a mile long and dark – like a sauna on the way out and uphill on the way back.  Cathy made it in 2 hours 17 minutes and Nessa in 2:23.

 

Eastern Masters Indoors GOLDS

Spartan JOHN HARRIS won two GOLDs at the Eastern of England Masters indoor championships which were at Lee Valley.

He won the 800 metres 55 plus GOLD in 2 minutes 34 seconds and the 400 metres 55 plus GOLD in 69.50 seconds.

 

Parkrun Highlights 22^nd February 2020

Fifty five Spartans headed out, on yet another rainy and windy Saturday morning, to run at 9 different Parkrun venues.

Claire PULLEN was the first lady at Stevenage with a time of 24:11.

The fastest Spartan was Jonathan PARR finishing with a time of 16:13, placed 2^nd, at Hackney Marshes. There were 3 more top ten gender position finishes, Dean CARPENTER at Stevenage (4^th 19:35), Martin BLACKBURN at Stevenage (5^th 19:49) and Verity FISHER at Rutland Water (4^th 24:18).

Congratulations to Jonathan PARR, Jan FRY (29:55 Stevenage) and Adrian DONNELLY (21:09 Teignmouth Promenade) who achieved new personal bests.

Four Spartans went further afield and tried out new venues with Gail MACKIE at Cannon Hill, Adrian DONNELLY at Teignmouth Prom, Alistair BALDWIN at St Mary’s and Darryl STEVENS at Clevedon Salthouse.

There were no official Parkrun milestones this week but several Spartans reached unofficial milestones including Jo Bowdery (30^th), David SCOTT (120^th) and Karen PALMER (90^th).  Well done and congratulations to all.

(All this week’s Spartan parkrun results can be found near the end of this release).

 

Champions Night

Fairlands Valley Spartans presentation evening, dinner and dance will be at the Cromwell Hotel, Old Stevenage on Friday 28^th February.  An amazing 105 members and friends will be there.

 

Tables

The 23 Spartans who beat the Baldock Howling Beast

Position	Name	Time	Comments
69	RICHARD COWLISHAW	1:43:46
114	ELLIOTT WHITE	1:49:02
115	NATALIE WHITE	1:49:02	4th senior woman
123	SAM SIMMONS	1:51:23
156	TIM ROBINSON	1:55:25
162	JIM BROWN	1:55:53
203	ROBERT WRIGHT	2:00:06
204	NIGEL STRONGITHARM	2:00:07
244	FIONA CLARKE	2:04:15
245	MATT CLARKE	2:04:16
248	MATTHEW NEWTON	2:04:54
249	NEIL ROBINSON	2:04:38
281	CAROLINE BARTER	2:08:54
287	JULIE GRAY	2:09:28
330	WENDY THARANI	2:20:04
335	KAREN LIDDLE	2:21:31
336	TRICIA HOPPER	2:21:31
354	SUE HAMER	2:25:32
355	ERICA GRAYSON	2:25:34
359	HAZEL SMITH	2:27:08
360	JULIE SHADBOLT	2:27:09
365	KAREN ELLIS	2:30:21
366	MARIA THORNE	2:30:22

 

Spartan Parkruns on Saturday 22^nd February:

Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time	Comments
Hackney Marshes
2	2	Jonathan PARR	00:16:13	PB
Stevenage
4	4	Dean CARPENTER	00:19:35
5	5	Martin BLACKBURN	00:19:49
11	11	Paul SHELLEY	00:20:14
24	24	Danny SCANLON	00:21:16
52	50	Martin DUDLEY	00:23:30
65	62	Graham BLACKBURN	00:24:07
66	1	Claire PULLEN	00:24:11
74	69	Thomas SAUKA	00:24:29
83	76	David PATTMAN	00:25:02
92	84	James MCSWEENEY	00:25:15
118	15	Mo WARRILLOW	00:26:16
127	106	Nick KLEANTHOUS	00:26:29
143	20	Jo BOWDERY	00:27:06	30th
157	126	David SCOTT	00:27:38	120th
164	132	Lee PIROTH	00:27:48
170	27	Fiona CLARKE	00:28:00
171	137	Matt CLARKE	00:28:01
172	28	Nicola ANDERSSON	00:28:03
176	32	Marian MORLEY	00:28:08
192	144	Tim ROBINSON	00:28:32
207	45	Ada JANUSIENE	00:29:06
233	55	Jan FRY	00:29:55	PB
235	171	David ACKERY	00:29:57
243	59	Tanya HASKINS	00:30:16
251	179	Paul JENNINGS	00:30:24
262	66	Jane WHITROW	00:31:05
266	69	Debbie BLANTERN	00:31:18
269	71	Erica GRAYSON	00:31:33
270	72	Karen PALMER	00:31:37	90th
271	73	Kerstin WEINER	00:31:38
313	94	Helen HARRIS	00:33:13
314	206	Jim BROWN	00:33:14
321	100	Cathy BAKER	00:33:42
332	108	Melody BROWN	00:34:26
337	110	Penny SCHENKEL	00:34:38
345	116	Tracy STILES	00:34:57
356	124	Hilary DAVIES	00:36:01
390	145	Caren THAIN	00:39:30
393	231	Roger BIGGS	00:40:38
395	148	Nichola DURENT	00:41:58
397	150	Hayley PEACH	00:42:42
Panshanger
79	66	Andy JAY	00:25:45
Rutland Water
41	4	Verity FISHER	00:24:18
42	32	Daniel SUTTON	00:24:19
Teignmouth Promenade
13	10	Adrian DONNELLY	00:21:09	New venue, PB
St Mary’s
97	49	Alistair BALDWIN	00:35:16	New venue
Cannon Hill
322	57	Gail MACKIE	00:26:48	New venue
Wimpole Estate
276	151	Nick WHITCOMBE	00:38:31
277	152	Barry KING	00:38:31
Clevedon Salthouse
288	166	Darryl STEVENS	00:34:39	New venue

 

For the second week in a row a storm wiped out many events in the UK.  Following hard of the hills of Ciara this time Dennis took out the Hertfordshire County Cross Country Championships for Veterans and popular pre-London Marathon events like the Bramley 20.

However before the full force of Dennis arrived in Stevenage two Spartans achieved BIG Parkrun milestones – FIONA CLARKE ran her 100^th and VERITY FISHER her 300^th – at 9a.m. on Saturday morning.

 

Barcelona!!

John Roxborough and Richard Cowlishaw travelled to Barcelona this weekend to run the BCN half marathon along with 23,000 other runners.  The weather was perfect, the course was flat and it was a well organised event.  Richard ran it in a time of 1:43.05 and John ran 2:29:30 alongside his wife Sarah to support her as she has recently got back into running again after having a couple of children.  Richard’s wife Maggie also ran her first (and only) half marathon.  They would highly recommend this event for anyone who fancies a European city break and a warmer February run.

 

Parkrun Highlights 15^th February 2020

The threat of storm Dennis did not deter 33 brave Fairlands Valley Spartans from putting on their trainers and running in eight different Parkrun events this Saturday morning.  In Stevenage, MO WARRILLOW ran a personal best (PB) time of 25 minutes and 44 seconds, while milestone runs saw VERITY FISHER finish her 300^th Parkrun in 28 minutes and 27 seconds and FIONA CLARKE her 100^th in 30 minutes and 40 seconds.  A PB time was also recorded by HANNAH NEALE, who finished as the 10^th female on the Coldham’s Common course in a time of 21 mins and 34 secs.  GRACE BROWN was the second female to finish the Ellenbrook Fields event in 23 mins and 13 secs.

(All this week’s Spartan parkrun results can be found near the end of this release).

 

Champions Night

Fairlands Valley Spartans presentation evening, dinner and dance will be at the Cromwell Hotel, Old Stevenage on Friday 28^th February.  An amazing 105 members and friends will be there.

 

Coming Events

The Spartans are growing.  At November 2019 FVS had 346 members, 177 women and 169 men – that’s more than the previous year.

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

 

• Baldock Beast (Half Marathon) on Sunday 23^rd February.
• Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 28^th February.
• FVS Champions Night and Dinner on Friday 28^th February.
• Berkhamsted Half Marathon and Five on Sunday 1^st March.
• Hillingdon 20 including Hertfordshire county championships on Sunday 8^th March.
• Half Marathons in Bath, Hampton Court, Milton Keynes and Victoria Park on Sunday 15^th March.
• 200^th Stevenage Parkrun on Saturday 21^st March (exact date will depend on any winter cancellations).
• Orion 15 (classic 15 miles cross country race) at Chingford on Saturday 21^st March.
• Bedford Autodrome 5K, 10K; Half; 16 miles; 20 miles and marathon on Sunday 22^nd March.
• Victoria Park Five on Saturday 28^th March.
• Oakley 20 on Sunday 29^th March.
• FVS training (not a race) twenty on Sunday 29^th March.
• Peterborough Marathon on Sunday 5^th April.
• Sandy Ten on Sunday 5^th April.
• Manchester Marathon on Sunday 5^th May.
• Maidenhead Easter Ten on Friday 10^th April.
• Flitwick 10K on Sunday 19^th April.
• The 2020 London Marathon is on Sunday 26^th April.
• Greenway Challenge (13.1 miles) in Letchworth on Sunday 3^rd May.
• County Track Championships in early May.
• Midweek League Race One (six miles) in Chingford on Thursday 14^th May.
• Bedford Spring Half Marathon on Saturday 16^th May.
• Pednor Five (County Championship) near Chesham on Monday 25^th May.
• Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on Monday 25^th May.
• Mid Week Road Race League Race Two (10K) in Stevenage (FVS) on Thursday 28^th May.
• Mid Week Road Race League Race Three (10K) in St. Albans on Thursday 4^th June.
• Welwyn 10K at Stanborough (new date).
• St Albans Half Marathon (and Stevenage Day) on Sunday 14^th June.
• Welwyn 10K (including County senior championships) on Sunday 28^th June.
• Mid Week Road Race League Race Four (9K) in Trent Park on Thursday 2^nd July.
• Mid Week Road Race League Mob Match (10K) in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 16^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge in Stevenage on Sunday 19^th July.
• Relays in the Park (3K stages) in Fairlands Valley Park on Thursday 23^rd July.
• St. Albans 10K on Sunday 2^nd August.
• Bearbrook 10K in Aylesbury on Sunday 2^nd August.
• Burnham Beeches Half Marathon on Sunday 9^th August.
• Clacton Half Marathon and 10K on Sunday 16^th August.
• Bedford Half Marathon on Sunday 6^th September.
• Standalone 10K (including County veteran championships) on Sunday 4^th October (TBC).
• Great Eastern Run (half marathon) in Peterborough on Sunday 11^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon (including County senior championships) on Sunday 1^st November (TBC).
• St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 15^th November.
• Bass Belle ten miles on Sunday 29^th November.

 

Tables

Spartan Parkruns on Saturday 15^th February:

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Times	Notes
Bournemouth parkrun	504	165	Sally PICKLES	34:06
Stevenage parkrun	67	58	Gareth COWELL	23:34
	90	77	David PATTMAN	24:29
	116	98	Ryan DUNNING	25:31
	121	102	Callum BEASLEY	25:41
	123	15	Mo WARRILLOW	25:44	New PB!
	134	112	Nick KLEANTHOUS	26:13
	141	117	Lee PICKERSGILL	26:20
	156	128	Daniel SUTTON	26:54
	161	131	Mark BEASLEY	27:03
	180	144	James MCSWEENEY	28:06
	192	32	Verity FISHER	28:27	300th Parkrun
	213	162	Lee PIROTH	29:32
	220	168	James NICHOLLS	29:48
	242	52	Fiona CLARKE	30:40	100th Parkrun
	243	53	Alison SHELLEY	30:41
	264	190	Paul JENNINGS	31:44
	267	66	Louise PACK	31:48
	268	191	Matt CLARKE	31:49
	274	194	Tim ROBINSON	31:58
	278	71	Karen PALMER	32:14
	279	72	Claire PULLEN	32:14
	280	73	Julie SHADBOLT	32:16
	327	104	Karen ELLIS	34:53
	328	105	Maria THORNE	34:54
	393	154	Shelbe MOONBEAM	56:53
Gunpowder parkrun	129	32	Rowena RUTLEDGE	28:40
Ormskirk parkrun	261	153	Darryl STEVENS	35:51
Panshanger parkrun	177	131	Andy JAY	30:58
	238	73	Jane WHITROW	35:12
Ellenbrook Fields parkrun	30	2	Grace BROWN	23:13
Walmer and Deal Seafront parkrun	165	60	Sharon CROWLEY	34:41
Coldham’s Common parkrun	51	10	Hannah NEALE	21:34	New PB!

 

The Watford Half Marathon is always a tough workout but great preparation for a Spring marathon.

After a tight start and first couple of miles the Spartans started to hit the hills at about five kilometres with big summits at about 11, 14.5 and 16 kilometres.

The fastest Spartan was TOBY ECCLESHALL in 1:39:22.

The race was DANNY SCANLON’s first half marathon since November 2018!  He managed to achieve a sub 1.45 in a time of 1.44.16 chip time.

JIM BROWN was amused to get into a battle for minor county places on the long drag up Cassiobury Park to the finish line.  Initially left behind a combination of Spartan training, Stevenage’s undulating cycleways and perhaps an old cyclist’s head meant he snatched seventh one second ahead of eighth and a further second ahead of ninth with his 1:52:39.  All very silly but fun.

KAREN ELLIS came in with 125 minutes exactly with ROBERT WRIGHT at 2:08:32.

 

Position	BiB	Name	Chip	Category	Cat
332	426	TOBY ECCLESHALL	01:39:22	Senior U40	135
446	1280	DANNY SCANLON	01:44:16	Senior U40	166
703	183	JIM BROWN	01:52:39	M60	18
975	441	KAREN ELLIS	02:05:00	W45	52
1019	1587	ROBERT WRIGHT	02:08:32	Senior U40	289

 

There were 1317 finishers.  The race included the county championships for veteran runners.  There was a bit of wind but although the registration and finish areas were pretty muddy the rain held off and conditions were pretty good.  Some wet roads but no sign of the ice that cancelled the event in 2019..

 

95% for Yuko

It was back to the one lap course around the Serpentine for the Last Friday of the Month 5K race in Hyde Park on Friday.

While many runners would be happy with a score of 70% Spartan YUKO GORDON won the age graded contest with 95% with her time of 21 minutes 37 seconds.

JIM BROWN won his category with 25:33, SHERYL HANN got 27:42 and PENNY SCHENKEL was pleased with her 28:25.

It was mild, dry and breezy with a lovely slightly downhill drift from behind the Lido Café at 4K to the finish.

Yuko also reports that at the South of England XC Championship in Parliament Hill (last week) she was second W65 in 41:10 (overlooked by the organiser/ Athletic Weekly result)

 

Parkrun Highlights 1^st February 2020

At Stevenage it was Stripey club vest Saturday.   Paul SHELLEY was 5th overall in a new PB of 19:14.

It was also PB o’clock for Natalie White (22:42 3rd lady) Mo Warrillow (25:47) and Karen LIDDLE (30:24). Usually found running much longer distances, Trish Hopper completed her first parkrun but made schoolgirl error of forgetting her bar code!

Congratulations to David Ackery who completed his 50th parkrun.

Rowena RUTLEDGE ran her 80th parkrun at Gunpowder near Waltham Abbey (30:17) and Roger Biggs was in Bedford (38:04). Nicola Kennedy was 4th lady at the Riverside event in Chester-le-Street running 22:53.

Grace Brown was flying the Spartan flag at Panshanger narrowly missing a course PB with a time of 24:36 (6th lady). Debbie Blantern was at Ellenbrook (30:13).

Andy Jay was in Devon at Teignmouth clocking 25:30. John ROXBOROUGH was near Heathrow at Osterley running 22:14.

(All the Spartan parkrun results will be found near the end of this release)

 

Tables

Spartan Parkrun Results for Saturday 2^nd February

Bedford parkrun

A total of 480 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
417	224	Roger BIGGS	38:04

 

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 514 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
5	5	Paul SHELLEY	19:14
7	7	Dean CARPENTER	19:19
39	37	Allan SHARMAN GARCIA	22:30
44	3	Natalie WHITE	22:42
54	49	Daniel SUTTON	23:05
62	57	Martin DUDLEY	23:17
72	66	Thomas SAUKA	23:37
74	68	Luke VINCENT	23:44
93	82	David SCOTT	24:16
102	90	Tim ROBINSON	24:39
108	12	Georgie HOOPER	24:48
109	96	Nick GILL	24:52
112	98	Nigel STRONGITHARM	24:59
119	15	Verity FISHER	25:15
136	19	Mo WARRILLOW	25:47
138	115	Jonathan JONES	25:52
140	117	Craig BACON	25:55
165	138	Luke GURNEY	26:48
209	169	Nick KLEANTHOUS	28:18
237	188	Kartik SHARMA	29:27
258	51	Monica SMITHSON	30:18
261	52	Karen LIDDLE	30:24
262	53	Claire PULLEN	30:24
272	205	David ACKERY	30:41
280	62	Maria SWIFT	31:00
288	69	Nicola PATTMAN	31:10
299	74	Dzenana TOPIC	31:33
315	82	Erica GRAYSON	32:10
316	83	Karen PALMER	32:12
317	84	Caroline CROFT	32:13
337	233	Jim BROWN	32:52
338	95	Penny SCHENKEL	32:52
389	128	Helen HARRIS	35:05
419	148	Bernadette MILLWOOD	37:07
423	151	Marian MORLEY	37:16
444	164	Caren THAIN	38:05
457	176	Pam TAYLOR	38:58
467	186	Sharon CROWLEY	40:04
477	194	Melody BROWN	43:11
494	208	Hazel JONES	47:57
511	220	Sofia CARPENTER	62:02

 

Gunpowder parkrun

A total of 277 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
129	43	Rowena RUTLEDGE	30:17

 

Riverside parkrun

A total of 474 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
67	4	Nicola KENNEDY	22:53

 

Brockenhurst parkrun

A total of 224 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
199	119	Darryl STEVENS	37:13

 

Osterley parkrun

A total of 406 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
29	26	John ROXBOROUGH	22:14

 

Panshanger parkrun

A total of 356 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
52	6	Grace BROWN	24:36

 

Ellenbrook Fields parkrun

A total of 341 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
184	53	Debbie BLANTERN	30:13

 

Teignmouth Promenade parkrun

A total of 279 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
71	54	Andy JAY	25:30