Mid Week Made It
17 women and 22 men made sure Fairlands Valley Spartans kept their place in division two of the Mid Week Road Race League. It was a bit tight in the fourth and last counting race but FVS stay in the middle division.
Based in Chingford the race was a tough mixture of road and woodland path with a hill in the middle, in Epping Forest, which had to be climbed in both directions.
New member SAMUEL PAUL excelled again leading in the Spartans in seventh place overall with a time of 36 minutes 19 seconds. That’s a new personal best (PB) by 15 seconds.
GAIL MACKIE was fastest for the women’s team with 45:14. LEANNE WILSON improved again, taking 2 minutes 1 second off her personal best with 51:48. OLI LACIGOVA ran her fastest 10K this year, 48:00 and SUZY HAWKINS came in with 48 minutes exactly.
CHARLIE ARNOLD and BRIAN WHITE were second and third in their category with 52:02 and 53:13, and SHARON CROWLEY third in hers with 58:52.
NICK ANDREWS and MIKE JEFFS also beat 40 minutes. Nick with 38:25 and Mike with 39:21. ALICE WELCH 52:35 and LUCY PAUL 58:26 also beat the hour while CLAIRE EMMERSON completed the women’s “A” team with her 1:01:46.
For various reasons the Spartans were missing some of their faster runners. At Chingford the FVS men’s team were fifth out of seven and the women sixth. Overall on the night FVS were sixth. However after the four races the Spartans were fifth, equal on points with Watford, avoided the bottom two places and stay in Division Two next year.
Barnet and Hitchin will be relegated.
Up next. The mob match. Runners from all three divisions get together for a massed start race in Welwyn Garden City at 7.30p.m. on Thursday 9th July. Followed by the awards for the series.
| Race | First Name | Last Name | Time | M/F | Cat |
| 7 | Samuel | Paul | 36:19 | 7 | |
| 25 | Nick | Andrews | 38:25 | 24 | 11 |
| 30 | Mike | Jeffs | 39:21 | 29 | 12 |
| 40 | Jay | Papa | 40:30 | 38 | |
| 84 | Gail | Mackie | 45:14 | 19 | 6 |
| 88 | Andrew | Shaw | 45:36 | 68 | 14 |
| 113 | Oli | Lacigova | 48:00 | 28 | 10 |
| 115 | Danny | Scanlon | 48:08 | 86 | 24 |
| 116 | Suzy | Hawkins | 48:12 | 30 | 6 |
| 124 | Stephen | Massey | 48:57 | 91 | 24 |
| 126 | Keith | Hooker | 49:26 | 92 | 27 |
| 130 | Andy | Prior | 50:03 | 94 | 25 |
| 132 | Craig | Bacon | 50:29 | 96 | 26 |
| 136 | Adam | Hill | 51:01 | 99 | |
| 146 | Leanne | Wilson | 51:48 | 41 | |
| 148 | Charlie | Arnold | 52:02 | 106 | 2 |
| 155 | Martin | Wood | 52:26 | 112 | 10 |
| 157 | Alice | Welch | 52:35 | 44 | |
| 159 | Tony | Vickers | 52:48 | 114 | 31 |
| 162 | Brian | White | 53:13 | 116 | 3 |
| 165 | Simon | Haigh | 53:28 | 118 | 34 |
| 174 | Ralph | Dadswell | 55:04 | 124 | 12 |
| 177 | Matthew | Cooke | 55:37 | 126 | |
| 181 | Martin | Dudley | 56:08 | 128 | 14 |
| 199 | Lucy | Paul | 58:26 | 64 | 15 |
| 204 | Sharon | Crowley | 58:52 | 68 | 3 |
| 224 | Claire | Emmerson | 1:01:46 | 83 | 21 |
| 230 | Sam | Gentry | 1:02:37 | 89 | 22 |
| 235 | Sally | Pickles | 1:04:21 | 92 | 15 |
| 240 | Judy | King | 1:05:58 | 96 | 17 |
| 241 | Sujatha | Alexander | 1:05:58 | 97 | 24 |
| 245 | Tim | Robinson | 1:07:36 | 145 | 38 |
| 250 | Penny | Schenkel | 1:08:58 | 105 | 19 |
| 251 | Jim | Brown | 1:09:04 | 146 | 7 |
| 256 | Callie | Chapman | 1:10:58 | 108 | 27 |
| 257 | Hayley | Peach | 1:11:33 | 109 | 28 |
| 262 | Paul | Holgate | 1:13:43 | 151 | 27 |
| 269 | Amanda | Vickers | 1:17:19 | 116 | 32 |
| 271 | Jane | Wadey | 1:18:22 | 117 | 22 |
Ware Was Bronya?
Spartan BRONYA BROWN ran the Ware 10K in 54 minutes 35 seconds. A good run on a testing course for 104th out of 334.
Parkrun Highlights – Win For Samuel; Green Cape For Jim
There were an enormous number of Fairlands Valley Spartans at Stevenage parkrun on Saturday and JIM BROWN was delighted to be a “caped crusader” for an hour as he ran his 250th milestone. Caped in green, the theme for 250. It’s taken more than ten years which included the 16 months gap for Covid. Jim has run 240 of his 250 parkruns at Stevenage so reckons he knows the way. The running part of his celebration took 34:06.
Spartan SAMUEL PAUL ran an amazing parkrun personal best (PPB) beating 17 minutes with 16:56. DAVID BENNETT-HALLIDAY ran a new PPB of 19:53. JO COOKSLEY was the fastest female from Fairlands with 24:06. She was eighth out of the 215 women finishing. NATALIE WHITE was second in 25:30 and FIONA CLARKE third with 27:36.
More than fifty Spartans were running at Stevenage. They included AIMEE BARRETT who finished her first parkrun in 41:12. Mini-milestones includes 150 for PETER SACH (27:20); 20 for SAM GENTRY (30:06); 70 for LLOYD DIAS (35:31) and 10 for EMMA WELCH (52:35).
From Black Rocks to Zuiderpark 70 Spartans enjoyed parkruns on Saturday.
Spartans elsewhere included MARTYN DOWLING who was at the Wimpole Estate with 25:52. It was his first park run for over six years. First time tackling it too. It was quite hot and the infamous Wimpole hill was a challenge but ran it in a steady 25 mins 52 sec. 75th out of 345, 10th in my age category.
MALCOLM MacGREGOR was on the High Peak Trail. He ran the Black Rocks parkrun in 33:05, 181 out of 254. All on an old railway line. Meanwhile NIKKI NATION found a “Z.” She ran the Zuider Park parkrun, The Hague in 34:33
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 1 | 1 | Samuel PAUL | 16:56 |
| 2 | 2 | Kirk NDUGU | 17:18 |
| 5 | 5 | Mike JEFFS | 18:38 |
| 9 | 9 | Simon JACKSON | 19:01 |
| 18 | 17 | David BENNETT-HALLIDAY | 19:53 |
| 53 | 49 | Danny SCANLON | 22:20 |
| 54 | 50 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 22:22 |
| 55 | 51 | Stuart ARCHER | 22:25 |
| 98 | 8 | Jo COOKSLEY | 24:06 |
| 101 | 91 | Martin JACOB | 24:08 |
| 112 | 99 | Richard MOORE | 24:45 |
| 113 | 100 | Daniel VILJOEN | 24:46 |
| 120 | 106 | Martin DUDLEY | 24:55 |
| 122 | 108 | Tony VICKERS | 25:01 |
| 127 | 111 | Ralph DADSWELL | 25:12 |
| 135 | 15 | Natalie WHITE | 25:30 |
| 136 | 117 | Matt CLARKE | 25:31 |
| 153 | 130 | Andrew JORDAN | 25:59 |
| 166 | 138 | Andy PRIOR | 26:22 |
| 168 | 140 | Matthew COOKE | 26:26 |
| 195 | 160 | Peter SACH | 27:20 |
| 205 | 34 | Fiona CLARKE | 27:36 |
| 221 | 175 | Brian WHITE | 28:10 |
| 230 | 181 | Ryan DUNNING | 28:25 |
| 239 | 44 | Alice WELCH | 28:56 |
| 256 | 51 | Lindsay PATEMAN | 29:29 |
| 272 | 59 | Sam GENTRY | 30:06 |
| 288 | 67 | Erica GRAYSON | 30:44 |
| 299 | 71 | Elizabeth CROWLEY | 31:07 |
| 320 | 226 | Steve PLATT | 31:42 |
| 323 | 228 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 31:45 |
| 336 | 91 | Debbie BLANTERN | 32:06 |
| 356 | 102 | Sally PICKLES | 32:37 |
| 360 | 105 | Bronya BROWN | 32:45 |
| 364 | 245 | Andy JAY | 32:54 |
| 366 | 109 | Linda GEORGE | 33:01 |
| 370 | 110 | Pamela VILJOEN | 33:09 |
| 377 | 252 | Tim ROBINSON | 33:25 |
| 393 | 259 | Jim BROWN | 34:06 |
| 394 | 120 | Penny SCHENKEL | 34:14 |
| 395 | 121 | Sharon CROWLEY | 34:15 |
| 403 | 265 | Stephen SMITHSON | 34:33 |
| 421 | 271 | Lloyd DIAS | 35:31 |
| 431 | 139 | Leanne WILSON | 35:46 |
| 444 | 280 | Luke SILVER | 36:38 |
| 454 | 152 | Zoe NEWELL | 37:41 |
| 456 | 154 | Angie KEELING | 37:43 |
| 487 | 174 | Aimee BARRETT | 41:12 |
| 488 | 175 | Julie BUDDEN | 41:12 |
| 501 | 184 | Niki PLUMB | 43:26 |
| 516 | 197 | Nichola DURENT | 45:27 |
| 517 | 198 | Hayley PEACH | 45:38 |
| 522 | 201 | Emma CHAPMAN | 46:21 |
| 535 | 208 | Emma WELCH | 52:35 |
Here Come the Relays in the Park – Full But Come And Cheer On The Runners
The 33rd FVS Relays in the Park are full. They are a great event to watch. They will be in Fairlands Valley Park, Stevenage 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
The maximum of 150 teams, 600 runners, have entered.
The Fairlands Valley Challenge off road event is coming up on Sunday 19th July.