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20s PLENTY FOR ED

Olympic Half * Rock Up ‘n’ Race

ED HARE ran the Goodwood Running Grand Prix on Sunday morning.  It consisted of 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, 20 miles or Marathon distances.  He took on the 20 mile challenge as a training run towards the Peterborough Marathon next month and came away with a 2 hours 48 minutes 51 seconds time which was a personal best (PB) by over 3 minutes.  Ed said it was a fantastic event with almost 1000 competitors and certainly the largest attended event since the pandemic started that he’d seen.

He added, “Runners were sent off socially distanced and in fours and there were staggered starts all morning for all the different events.  It felt very safe around the event village and certainly gives you confidence that larger events can happen this year.  The strangest part of the morning was light aircraft taking off and landing in the middle of the track, but certainly helped taking the attention away from how my legs were.”

 

For Real – a Half Marathon

Jim halfThe half marathon was always a favourite distance for JIM BROWN and on Saturday he was able to run the first real one this year.  Organised by Run Through this was 0.1 miles plus thirteen laps of the cycling circuit in the Lee Valley Olympic Park.  There were plenty of turns and sharp little inclines but at least with only one mile per loop the headwind stretches didn’t last too long.

Jim was keen to tick off every mile at just under nine minutes which, having made great use of the Spartans steady five training session to practice, he did to finish in 1 hour 52 minutes 23 seconds.  He was the last runner across the start line in the phased starting arrangements but with his steady pace caught a few and ended up in the middle of the finishers and second in his age category.  There were over 200 finishers.

 

Rock Up ‘n’ Race

Six months after their last Rock Up ‘n’ Run race along the River Lea towpath from Stanstead St Margarets Paul Holgate and Roger Biggs returned to join the fun organised by Fordy Runners.  Paul beat his October time by 11 minutes 38 seconds, finishing the half marathon in 2:37:48, while Roger was pleased to complete the 10k event in 1:31:50, only slightly slower than his October time despite the chilly headwind to contend with this time.

 

Sunday 25th April: Big Cow Formula 5 Duathlon

A normal duathlon is run-bike-run but the Big Cow Formula 5 Duathlon was run-bike-run-bike-run.  Hence the Formula 5 name.  The run was 5K on mainly an off-road undulating course in Emberton Country Park.  The bike was 40K on roads, around Newport Pagnell which was again undulating, and there was quite a stiff breeze.  BRIAN WHITE entered to test out his endurance fitness and it’s obviously not that bad!  He was second veteran 65 plus and 49th overall in 2 hours 37 minutes 33 seconds.

 

Racing Round England

In their race around England ten of the fourteen Fairlands Valley Spartans have completed more than 1,000 kilometres and team leader PENNY SCHENKEL is already pushing the headwind down the west coast.  She is approaching Fleetwood, northern terminus of the Blackpool Tramways with 2,378 kilometres done.  Penny has a lead of more than 300 kilometres within the Spartans and is eighth overall in the national competition.

Second placed JIM BROWN has just turned left towards Carlisle.  He is at West Chevington near Alnmouth and more than two thirds of the way round with 2045 kilometres.

Early leader BRIAN WHITE is third and making good progress with 1,875 kilometres and has reached Cloughton in North Yorkshire.  Fourth placed SHARON CROWLEY is in Wainfleet St Mary, near Skegness and Gibraltar (!) with 1642 kilometres.

CATHY CRAIG and HAZEL SMITH have switched positions since last week.  Cathy is on 1256 and has opened up a 15 kilometre gap on her daughter but KEN JUDE has got between them again with 1250.  All three are in Essex.

JON SYPULA ON 1,100 IS COMING THROUGH Deal in Kent.  He’s 13 kilometres ahead of LIZ CROWLEY who is in Dover.  PAUL HOLGATE is the latest Spartan through 1,000 kilometres.  He’s on 1,064 and between Dymchurch and Hythe near the narrow gauge stream railway.

In the virtual race around England the Fairlands Valley Spartans team have already covered a total of 17,980 kilometres, the equivalent of six times round the course, and are now scattered between Devon and Lancashire.

 

Bib no. Distance Participant Location
120 2377.9 km Penny Schenkel Fleetwood
118 2045.1 km Jim Brown West Chevington
115 1874.7 km Brian White Cloughton, North Yorks
99 1642.0 km Sharon Crowley Wainfleet St Mary, near Gibraltar
110 1256.4 km Cathy Craig Purleigh, Essex
108 1249.7 km Ken Jude South Woodham Ferrers, Essex
128 1240.9 km Hazel Smith Wickford, Essex
98 1100.4 km Jon Sypula Deal, Kent
100 1087.0 km Liz Crowley Dover, Kent
102 1063.7 km Paul Holgate Dymchurch – Hythe, Kent
113 899.1 km Liz Carvell East Wittering
109 825.1 km Tracy Pez New Forest
136 737.8 km Wendy Tharani Leaving Weymouth
114 580.7 Lee Pickersgill South Devon AONB

 

Fly 5K #49

NICOLA ANDERSSON was the fastest finisher from Fairlands in Saturday’s 49th Fly 5K.  She was 133rd out of runners all over the world in 28 minutes 14 seconds.  PENNY SCHENKEL was on five seconds and two positions behind at 28:19 and 135th.

MARIAN MORLEY was 143rd and third woman 55 plus in 28:35 and PAUL HOLGATE 203rd in 31:52.

Next week’s Fly 5K #50, on Saturday 1st May, includes an inter-club competition and the Spartans are hoping for a successful team entry.

The virtual Fly races started during lock down to help keep people active.

 

(Not) Parkrun

In addition to those using the same effort to record Fly 5K times on Saturday JIM BROWN recorded 26 minutes 11 seconds in the first 5K of his half marathon race.  NICOLA ANDERSSON had run 27:38 on Friday.  The other (not) parkrun Spartans on Saturday were TOM SAUKA 22:11 and ALISON SHELLEY 28:45.

(Not) Parkruns can be run on any day of the week.

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