Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun tenth birthday celebrations
639 finishers, 54 volunteers, a 35 plus strong choir, a Mayor, an MP and loads of family, friends and other spectators. What a fantastic way to celebrate Stevenage parkrun’s tenth birthday and it was great for Fairlands Valley Spartans to be part of it. Congratulations Stevenage parkrun.
At least 52 Spartans completed the 5K run and the club provided nine volunteers.
There were four Spartans in the top ten. KIRK NDUGU third in 17:17; SIMON JACKSON sixth in 17:56; JAY PAPA seventh in a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 18:09 and DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT in 18:47.
DAVID BENNETT-HALLIDAY was 40th in a new PPB of 21:53.
TRACY HAYGARTH reached a double century of parkruns with her 43:10. There were mini-milestones from CHARLES ARNOLD 180 finishes and first man 70 plus with 24:41; MARTIN DUDLEY second man 60 plus with 24:43; GRAHAM HOARE 20 finishes with 22:57; SARAH THOMAS tenth parkrun with 28:11; LINDSAY PATEMAN 30th parkrun with 30:18; DEBBIE BLANTERN 210th parkrun with 32:54; KAREN PALMER 120th parkrun with 35:09; and SAMANTHA SUTTON 220th parkrun and volunteering with 62:26.
Kirk has just one to go to a major milestone. He ran his 99th.
At least 73 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday.
Some of the Spartans enjoying “away” events were GRANT RAMSAY 20:25 at Milton Country; CRAIG BACON 25:31 at Sherwood Pines; PETER SACH 26:43; SALLY PICKLES 29:20 and CAROLINE AUCKLAND 37:05 all at Castle Park, Bishops Stortford; JOHN HARRIS 27:05 and LEANNE WILSON 30:33 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; ZOE JACKSON 27:20 at Panshanger; and KERSTIN WEINER 29:45 at Aldenham.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 3 | 3 | Kirk NDUGU | 17:17 |
| 6 | 6 | Simon JACKSON | 17:56 |
| 7 | 7 | Jay PAPA | 18:09 |
| 10 | 10 | David HARRIS-CHERGUIT | 18:47 |
| 40 | 40 | David BENNETT-HALLIDAY | 21:53 |
| 56 | 54 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 22:39 |
| 59 | 56 | Nick GILL | 22:47 |
| 62 | 59 | Graham HOARE | 22:57 |
| 74 | 70 | Tony RANDFIELD | 23:45 |
| 84 | 78 | James GUNN | 24:02 |
| 85 | 79 | Paul SHELLEY | 24:03 |
| 94 | 88 | Richard MOORE | 24:19 |
| 100 | 94 | Charles ARNOLD | 24:41 |
| 102 | 96 | Martin DUDLEY | 24:43 |
| 123 | 114 | David RIDDELL | 25:12 |
| 135 | 122 | Daniel VILJOEN | 25:42 |
| 154 | 136 | Darren EMMERSON | 26:05 |
| 176 | 24 | Bronya BROWN | 26:44 |
| 219 | 38 | Sarah THOMAS | 28:11 |
| 221 | 181 | Matt TUTTON | 28:19 |
| 229 | 42 | Lorraine HILL | 28:31 |
| 236 | 44 | Claire EMMERSON | 28:40 |
| 240 | 47 | Alice WELCH | 28:45 |
| 242 | 193 | Wayne SIMMONS | 28:47 |
| 268 | 207 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 29:23 |
| 301 | 73 | Lindsay PATEMAN | 30:18 |
| 333 | 86 | Sharon CROWLEY | 31:07 |
| 362 | 260 | Steve PLATT | 31:56 |
| 365 | 262 | Ahaan SHARMA | 32:00 |
| 366 | 263 | Kartik SHARMA | 32:03 |
| 393 | 111 | Debbie BLANTERN | 32:54 |
| 405 | 281 | Jim BROWN | 33:01 |
| 407 | 118 | Erica GRAYSON | 33:03 |
| 431 | 129 | Callie FINDLAY | 33:56 |
| 433 | 294 | Mike JEFFS | 33:57 |
| 443 | 136 | Pamela VILJOEN | 34:27 |
| 453 | 304 | Keith MANTON | 34:50 |
| 459 | 144 | Annabelle WHITE | 35:00 |
| 463 | 146 | Karen PALMER | 35:09 |
| 472 | 150 | Caroline CROFT | 35:24 |
| 489 | 160 | Jayne DYMOKE | 36:08 |
| 492 | 321 | Paul HOLGATE | 36:22 |
| 512 | 175 | Jane WADEY | 37:36 |
| 547 | 196 | Jayne RIDDELL | 40:05 |
| 551 | 200 | Nikki NATION | 40:25 |
| 554 | 203 | Monica SMITHSON | 40:34 |
| 556 | 205 | Liz CARVELL | 40:39 |
| 574 | 215 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 43:10 |
| 575 | 344 | Stephen SMITHSON | 43:21 |
| 596 | 233 | Nichola DURENT | 46:34 |
| 632 | 252 | Helen HARRIS | 1:00:32 |
| 634 | 253 | Samantha SUTTON | 1:02:26 |
Handicap 5K
23 runners who didn’t let the warm weather put them off from finishing this month’s FVS Club Handicap 5k on Thursday evening.
First to finish was YUKO GORDON continuing her recovery from injury in 32:08, 2:37 better than handicap, closely followed by Andrew Fenwick in a new personal best (PB) time 32:35. Jayne Dymoke was second lady in a year best (YB) 35:47 and Jade Jenkins third lady in 32:45. Pete Cook was second man with a YB 26:27 and Melvin Auburn third man with a new PB of 22:05, which was also the fastest time of the evening.
Stephen Massey was second quickest in 24:10 and newcomer Tom Grieveson third fastest with 24:17. Jodie Wilson was fastest lady beating her previous handicap 5k time by 4:18 with 24:55 and Alice \Welch second quickest lady in 25:58 and Samantha Sutton third quickest in 29:21.
There was also a season’s best (SB) time of 28:30 for Jon Sypula and Charles Arnold beat his previous 5k time by 1:43 in 24:28.
In handicap races the slowest start first with others following at intervals determined by recent performances. 19 of the 23 finishers were within two minutes of their calculated handicap.
The next Handicap 5k will be on Thursday evening 25th June.
| HP | FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | TIME | R | F | H’CAP | TIME |
| 1 | YUKO | GORDON | 32:08 | 15 | 5 | 10:15 | 42:23 |
| 2 | ANDREW | FENWICK | 32:35 | 16 | 10:15 | 42:48 | |
| 3 | JAYNE | DYMOKE | 35:47 | 19 | 7 | 7:15 | 43:00 |
| 4 | PETE | COOK | 26:27 | 9 | 16:45 | 43:12 | |
| 5 | MELVIN | AUBURN | 22:05 | 1 | 21:15 | 43:20 | |
| 6 | JON | SYPULA | 28:30 | 11 | 15:00 | 43:30 | |
| 7 | TOM | GRIEVESON | 24:17 | 3 | 19:45 | 44:02 | |
| 8 | JADE | JENKINS | 32:45 | 17 | 6 | 11:30 | 44:14 |
| 9 | SALLY | PHILLIPS | 40:16 | 22 | 10 | 4:00 | 44:16 |
| 10 | MARLEEN | VAN ZWIETEN | 40:17 | 23 | 11 | 4:00 | 44:20 |
| 11 | KARL | SHREEVE | 28:54 | 12 | 15:30 | 44:23 | |
| 12 | JANE | WADEY | 37:12 | 21 | 9 | 7:15 | 44:27 |
| 13 | STEPHEN | MASSEY | 24:10 | 2 | 20:45 | 44:54 | |
| 14 | CRAIG | BACON | 24:56 | 6 | 20:15 | 45:11 | |
| 15 | TONY | VICKERS | 25:37 | 7 | 19:45 | 45:22 | |
| 16 | JODIE | WILSON | 24:55 | 5 | 1 | 20:30 | 45:25 |
| 17 | CHARLES | ARNOLD | 24:28 | 4 | 21:00 | 45:28 | |
| 18 | SAMANTHA | SUTTON | 29:21 | 13 | 3 | 16:15 | 45:36 |
| 19 | ALICE | WELCH | 25:58 | 8 | 2 | 20:30 | 46:29 |
| 20 | MARTIN | DUDLEY | 28:13 | 10 | 18:45 | 46:57 | |
| 21 | SAM | GENTRY | 31:29 | 14 | 4 | 15:30 | 46:59 |
| 22 | LEE | POTTER | 33:38 | 18 | 13:45 | 47:20 | |
| 23 | AMANDA | VICKERS | 35:49 | 20 | 8 | 11:30 | 47:27 |
Still Too Warm For Jim
Not as hot as some recent days but the accumulation of hot days meant about 23 degrees and humid was a bit too much for JIM BROWN at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park. Still an enjoyable event but after about 3K Jim backed off and came in with 31 minutes 50 seconds.
Get To Cockfosters
The next Mid Week League race for Fairlands Valley Spartans will be in Trent Park on Thursday evening 4th June.
Gee Up
Spartan ROBERT WRIGHT ran the Newmarket Half Marathon in 01:46:57. He was 210th out of the 1385 finishers.
Here Come the Relays in the Park.
Entries for the 33rd FVS Relays in the Park have opened. They will be at 7.15p.m. on Thursday 16th July. Each leg is three kilometres and teams will consist of four runners. The event incorporates the Hertfordshire AARC (County) Senior & Veteran Championships
Below is the link for teams to enter. All entries must be completed 24 hours before the event; there will be no entries on the night. Lots of entries have been received so don’t delay.
https://my.raceresult.com/390611/registration
This is a great event to run and a great event to watch. It’s possible to see runners twice on each stage.