66 AT NUMBER TWO

Another fantastic turnout by Fairlands Valley Spartans at the second Mid Week League event which was in Trent Park on Thursday evening.  There were 18 clubs, 607 finishers and 66 of them were Spartans.  That’s 29 women and 37 men this time.  The Spartans were one of the few clubs with complete “A”, “B” and “C” teams finishing the race and, again, FVS had more runners than any other club.

Run over 8.5 kilometres this was a largely off tarmac event, two laps with two significant climbs in each lap so a bit of a tough one.

DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT was first Spartan at eighth overall with 30 minutes 19 seconds (30:19).  Next came SIMON JACKSON first in his category and 21^st overall with 31:28.

New member MOLLY SHELLEY had a great time and finished in 41 minutes 27 seconds (41:27)  giving her 39^th out of the 141 women and a place in the Spartan “A” team.

CHARLES ARNOLD was second in his category with 43:25.

GEORGIE HOOPER was the fastest female from Fairlands.  She was 8^th woman overall out of 142 with 38 minutes exactly.  ASHLEY KING was not very far behind.  Ninth woman in 38:18.

The others in the eight person women’s “A” team were SUZY HAWKINS 40:10; ALICE WELCH 44:43; MEGAN SUTTON 45:35; MARIE COLUCCI 45:36 and JODIE WILSON 46:46.  LEANNE WILSON led in the “B” team with 46:54.

JAY PAPA 32:16; MICHAEL FISHER 33:05; JONATHAN PARR 33:08; CHARLIE WHITE 33:10 and NICK GILL 34:30 all got round the undulating and partly rough course in under 35 minutes.

The next Mid Week League race will be in Harlow on Wednesday evening 17^th June.  After two races the Spartans are mid-table but some of the margins are tight so they could move up in races three and four.

FVS	Position	First Name	Last Name	Time
1	8	David	Harris-Cherguit	30:19
2	21	Simon	Jackson	31:28
3	32	Jay	Papa	32:16
4	46	Michael	Fisher	33:05
5	48	Jonathan	Parr	33:08
6	49	Charlie	White	33:10
7	83	Nick	Gill	34:30
8	117	Mike	Jeffs	35:32
9	133	Pete	Gentle	36:18
10	143	David	Bennett-Halliday	36:34
11	159	Sam	Jarvis	37:23
12	178	Andrew	Shaw	37:59
13	179	Georgie	Hooper	38:00
14	191	Ashley	King	38:18
15	213	Alexey	Zherdev	39:03
16	225	Danny	Scanlon	39:21
17	245	Suzy	Hawkins	40:10
18	263	Toby	Eccleshall	40:53
19	269	Paul	Shelley	41:09
20	279	Molly	Shelley	41:27
21	280	Stephen	Massey	41:27
22	281	Matt	Gifford	41:30
23	288	Andy	Prior	41:41
24	291	Adam	Hill	41:48
25	308	Craig	Bacon	42:26
26	310	Keith	Hooker	42:27
27	315	Tom	Grieveson	42:36
28	336	Charlie	Arnold	43:25
29	355	Tony	Vickers	43:56
30	372	Alice	Welch	44:43
31	382	Simon	Haigh	44:59
32	392	Brian	White	45:17
33	401	Megan	Sutton	45:35
34	402	Marie	Colucci	45:36
35	427	Martin	Dudley	46:35
36	430	Matthew	Cooke	46:38
37	435	Jodie	Wilson	46:46
38	440	Leanne	Wilson	46:54
39	448	Matt	Clarke	47:27
40	470	Bronya	Brown	48:38
41	471	Lorraine	Hill	48:38
42	478	Lucy	Paul	48:58
43	493	Claire	Emmerson	49:32
44	506	Sue	Hamer	50:09
45	512	Pete	Cook	50:23
46	515	Karl	Shreeve	50:30
47	517	Fiona	Clarke	50:30
48	521	Samantha	Sutton	50:43
49	527	Alison	Shelley	50:57
50	531	Sally	Pickles	51:07
51	537	Jim	Brown	51:27
52	540	Sam	Gentry	51:34
53	541	Sharon	Crowley	51:51
54	543	David	Ackery	52:05
55	551	Tim	Robinson	53:17
56	557	Elizabeth	Crowley	53:57
57	559	Penny	Schenkel	54:13
58	565	Judy	King	54:54
59	582	Callie	Chapman	58:12
60	597	Amanda	Vickers	62:35
61	598	Paul	Holgate	62:38
62	599	Jane	Wadey	63:13
63	600	Caroline	Auckland	63:43
64	601	Hayley	Peach	63:44
65	606	Julie	Budden	69:04
66	607	Nichola	Durent	69:05

The Last Hard One – and a Win for Jim

Two Spartans, ADRIAN DONNELLY and JIM BROWN, ran in what will probably have been the last ever Hitchin Hard Half Marathon.

It’s exactly what it says and you get a tour of the hills between Hitchin and Lilley Bottom including the concave Charlton Hill; Pinnacle Hill; Preston and Kings Walden.

JIM BROWN says there have been different starts and finishes over the years.  And some evolution of the course.  This year runners were surprised by a long section of trail.

Adrian had a good run and finished in 1:34:22.  Have a look at the gradient profile and you’ll see that was a great run.  He was 26^th overall.

Jim said he slightly exceeded his theoretical maximum heart rate at one point on those hills and decided to maybe ease off a bit.

It took him 2 hours 15 minutes 54 seconds with a bit of a wobble near the end but he did win the men 70 plus category with a margin of 8 minutes 58 seconds.  Nice wooden trophy.

It was hard.  There were 155 finishers.

Spartan women lead Track and Field League

Provisional results from the Eastern Masters (EMAC) track and field league in Wednesday on Bedford show the Spartan women retaining first place and the club’s men in a strong third place.  EMAC is for those over 35.

Here Come the Relays in the Park – Almost Full

Entries for the 33^rd FVS Relays in the Park have opened.  They will be at 7.15p.m. on Thursday 16^th 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.  There is capacity for 150 teams.  133 entries (532 people) had been received at the time of writing so don’t delay if you want to run.

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.

Parkrun Highlights

Not quite the giddy heights of the previous week’s tenth birthday celebration but despite some light rain 530 runners enjoyed the 457^th Stevenage parkrun on Saturday morning.  They included 41 Spartans.

BRIAN WHITE achieved his first milestone, 25 parkruns, and was first man 70 plus with 25:54.  ZOE NEWELL also ran her 25^th milestone parkrun with 38:45.  DANNY SCANLON moved up to 170 finishes with his 21:51 and JULIE BUDDEN ran a new parkrun personal best (PPB) with 40:59.

This time the fastest female from Fairlands was SUZY HAWKINS with 23:43.

JIM BROWN ran his fastest parkrun so far this year with 28 minutes 49 seconds (28:49).

Position	Gender Position	FVS parkrunner	Time
25	24	Steve WELLS	21:11
41	40	Danny SCANLON	21:51
46	44	Jay PAPA	22:06
62	59	Graham HOARE	22:29
73	70	David BENNETT-HALLIDAY	23:12
88	4	Suzy HAWKINS	23:43
104	95	Martin DUDLEY	24:42
108	99	Matthew COOKE	24:53
113	103	Daniel VILJOEN	25:01
127	113	Nick GILL	25:24
130	116	Matt CLARKE	25:33
143	126	Brian WHITE	25:54
150	14	Georgie HOOPER	25:58
155	135	Paul MAGUIRE	26:06
167	141	James SOUTH	26:28
176	23	Fiona CLARKE	26:43
186	155	Paul SHELLEY	27:23
197	28	Lorraine HILL	27:40
217	34	Carole SHELDRICK	28:16
232	185	Ryan DUNNING	28:41
237	187	Jim BROWN	28:47
251	48	Samantha SUTTON	29:15
255	199	Lee PICKERSGILL	29:19
266	53	Lindsay PATEMAN	29:29
286	60	Alice WELCH	30:10
288	219	Steve PLATT	30:16
308	229	Stephen SMITHSON	30:48
310	231	Maurice BALLARD	30:50
314	72	Sally PICKLES	30:56
341	86	Pamela VILJOEN	31:47
350	248	Nick KLEANTHOUS	32:01
366	105	Alison SHELLEY	32:27
376	111	Karen PALMER	32:50
398	123	Debbie BLANTERN	33:42
432	280	Keith MANTON	35:40
469	165	Zoe NEWELL	38:45
475	168	Sam GENTRY	39:50
486	176	Elizabeth CROWLEY	40:49
487	177	Julie BUDDEN	40:59
488	178	Sharon CROWLEY	41:04
513	194	Penny SCHENKEL	45:24