Lots of Spartans enjoyed the club’s dinner and presentation evening at the Cromwell Hotel in Stevenage on Friday evening.
YUKO GORDON is the new overall club champion with amazing scores of 100.2% for the short distance and 102.8% for the long distance series.
ANDREW PATTERSON won the men’s open short distance with 79.0%, including winning the Hitchin 5K by 50 seconds, and the open long with 78.6%.
ASHLEY JOHNSON won the women’s race at Hitchin by a similar margin and won the club’s open short distance championship for women with 73.9%.
The age graded short championship for men went to SIMON JACKSON with 85.3%.
FIONA CLARKE won the club’s open long distance championship for women with 54.7% just ahead of HARRIET SMITH on 54.0%.
NICK GILL and VICKY ARCHER were the most improved Spartans.
The Starter of the Year was JUDY KING. The volunteer awards were Chair’s award MICHAEL O’KEEFE; Head Coach’s award JOHN HARRIS; President’s Award BRIAN WHITE; Cathy Craig Spartan of the Year CALLIE CHAPMAN.
The full list of amazing winners are noted as follows:
Female Open Short
1st Ashley Johnson
2nd Vicky Archer
3rd Kerstin Prior
Female Age Graded Short
1st Yuko Gordon
2nd Sharon Crowley
3rd Nicola Andersson
Female Open Long
1st Fiona Clarke
2nd Harriet Smith
3rd Sam Maidens
Female Age Graded Long
1st Yuko Gordon
2nd Sharon Crowley
3rd Wendy Tharani
Male Open Short
1st Andrew Patterson
2nd Nick Gill
3rd Mike Jeffs
Male Age Graded Short
1st Simon Jackson
2nd Grant Ramsay
3rd John Harris
Male Open Long
1st Andrew Patterson
2nd Simon Fraser
3rd Grant Ramsay
Male Age Graded Long
1st Simon Jackson
2nd David Harris-Cherguit
3rd Pete Smith
Overall Champion – Male – Andrew Patterson
Overall Champion – Female – Yuko Gordon
Overall Club Champion – Yuko Gordon
Most Improved Spartan – Male – Nick Gill
Most Improved Spartan – Female – Vicky Archer
The Lisa Potter Starter of the Year Award – Judy King
Chairs Award – Michael O’Keefe
Head Coaches Award – John Harris
Captains Awards – Liz Crowley and Michael O’Keefe
Presidents Award – Brian White
The Cathy Craig Spartan of the Year Award – Callie Chapman
Essex 20
NICK GILL ran 2:17:10 at Sunday’s Essex 20. He decided to race it, aiming for sub 3-hour marathon pace (6:50 per mile/4:15 per km). Managed to do exactly that and even split all the laps, and really enjoyed running with two guys – Matt and Callum – pretty much the whole way. His last 20-mile race was back in 2019 at the Hillingdon 20 when he did 2:46:03 – so a big improvement on that.
Needing to up his miles from a half marathon in preparation for the London Marathon JIM BROWN thought the Essex 20 would be the ideal opportunity. He decided to chunk it up into 5Ks and see how long he could keep them under 30 minutes. It went a lot better than expected and he finished in 3 hours 6 minutes 31 seconds, a 7 minute 20 second improvement on the fastest 20 he raced last year.
Blickling Multi Terrain Half Marathon
The Blickling multi-terrain half marathon near Aylsham in Norfolk saw CAROL PAUL come third in her age group (60 – 64) with 2:08:36. She said the weather was ideal for running but underfoot it was a bit mucky.
Milton Keyenes Festival
SOPHIE PARSONS ran in the 10k event at the Milton Keynes Festival. It was hillier than she expected but she managed to complete the course in a brilliant time of 57:43!
Parkrun
Total turnout at Stevenage parkrun went past 500 again on Saturday. This time to 518 and no doubt helped by the large number of Spartans who turned out to support Jane WADEY, Kerstin WEINER and Nicola HATHERLY for their fiftieth parkruns.
Spartan LINDA GEORGE was very pleased to beat the two hour barrier when she finished the Cambridge Half Marathon in 1 hour 59 minutes 34 seconds.
CRAIG BACON finished in 1:39:11. He said it was a bright crisp morning for the Cambridge Half Marathon. It was a picturesque and very flat course through the colleges, city centre and out to the villages of Grantchester and Trumpington before heading back into the city for the finish. Craig said mile 9 was tough, but even with a pit stop he was very pleased to finish with a 12 second PB (personal best).
Spartan VICKY ARCHER took more than four minutes off her PB with 1:51:58 and STUART ARCHER improved to 1:23:18.
NICK GILL said 1:23:21 at the Cambridge Half Marathon – a new PB and almost 4 minutes quicker than one year ago [1:27:16]. He ran with Mike Jeffs from start to finish and it went perfectly! They just couldn’t quite catch Stuart Archer. MIKE JEFFS 1:23:21 was also a PB.
CAROLE SHELDRICK and CAROLINE CROFT ran the Cambridge Half Marathon together. Carole said it has always been one of her favourite half marathons to run. They had to negotiate a lot of mud to get to the start line, but it was definitely worth it.
Carole continued “as always it was very well organised and the support throughout the route was amazing.”
Their official times: Carole Sheldrick 2hrs 31mins 23sec and Caroline Croft 2hrs 31mins 21sec (The seconds matter and Caroline was very pleased to beat Carole across the finish line).
ANDREW PATTERSON was very happy and in some shock at knocking 1 minute 26 seconds off his PB, he thought he could PB but wasn’t expecting a time of 1.11.03. He said conditions were ideal for me out there today. No wind or rain and a flat, fast course. His first time at doing Cambridge and he loved it.
Also MATTHEW NEWTON finished in 1:27:43; JOHN HARRIS in 1:32:59; MARTIN JACOB in 1:50:22 and DANIELA PETRIANNA in 2:10:55.
Well done all the Spartans some great times clocked by all!
The Berkhamsted Half Marathon was very different to Cambridge. Hilly rather than flat, rural rather than town and just over 900 runners rather than about 14,000. Spartan WENDY THARANI finished in 2 hours 12 minutes 47 seconds.
Eight Spartans tamed the Beast. ADRIAN BUSOLINI got a podium position with third place and a fantastic time of 1 hour 20 minutes 20 seconds on the tough course.
The Baldock Beast is an undulating multi-terrain half marathon. THOMAS SAUKA 1:51:12 and JOHN NELMS 1:56:21 also beat two hours.
Spartan PENNY SCHENKEL ran her first half marathon in 22 years. She finished in 2:24:20.
Position
Name
Chip Time
Comments
3
ADRIAN BUSOLINI
1:20:20
Podium
93
THOMAS SAUKA
1:51:12
120
JOHN NELMS
1:56:21
162
TIM ROBINSON
2:03:43
183
CHLOE CHAPMAN
2:07:12
225
MICHAEL O’KEEFE
2:21:41
232
JIM BROWN
2:21:24
Final starter
233
PENNY SCHENKEL
2:24:20
London Winter 10K
YUKO GORDON ran the London Winter 10K and was first woman 70 plus with 46 minutes 16 seconds. Yuko said there were nearly 20,000 participants but it was very well organised, even down to avoiding the chaos of long toilet queues. The course was interesting passing many London landmarks and easy to run with no traffic. The 5 degrees start was cold and it took her a couple of kilometres until she felt slightly less frozen.
In the same race MATTHEW NEWTON finished in 43:53; KEITH HOOKER in 44:42 which was a new PB for him, DANIELLA PETRIANNI in 56:44; PAUL SHELLEY in 57:49 and ALISON SHELLEY in 57:50.
Brighton Half Marathon
Despite a brutal headwind in the last 5 kilometres ANN TRYSSESOONE finished the Brighton Half Marathon in 2 hours 2 minutes 33 seconds.
Serpentine 5K
Sunny but chilly with a medium breeze at Friday’s Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park. Spartan JIM BROWN was 197th in 27:20. The next Serpie 5K will be on Friday 22nd March, a week earlier than might be expected to avoid Good Friday.
ANDREW PATTERSON was at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre where he won 1500 metres SILVER in the British Masters Indoor Championships.
He said he was happy to medal in a field of strong runners and said his time 4:17 (four minutes 17 seconds) was good for the first track race of the year.
National Masters Indoor Championships
JOYLYN SAUNDERS MULLINS and IRIS HORNSEY both took part in the National Masters Indoor Championships.
Iris ran the 1500m in 9:22:38 and won her age category! Joylyn ran 60m in 9:34 and picked up the bronze award! They both said that they enjoyed their races!
Success all round!
Spartan Parkrun Highlights 17th February
22 Spartans ran at Stevenage where there were 521 runners. GRANT RAMSAY was top five in 18 minutes 34 seconds (18:34). CHARLES COOK was eighth with a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 19:20 and DAVID HODBOD also ran a new PPB, this time 23:26.
As part of a twelve mile training run for the London Marathon PENNY SCHENKEL ran her 80th parkrun in 36:45.
Away Spartans included JANE McFARLANE 8th woman at Loch Leven, Kinross, Scotland in 28:45; CHLOE CHAPMAN 27:49 and MATT CLARKE 30:01 at Luton Wardown; STEVE PLATT 27:58 at Torbay Velopark; ANDY JAY 29:06 at Westmill and ANNABELLE WHITE 29:49 at Haldon Forest, near Exeter.
There was a win for Jim at the Bedford ten mile race on Sunday morning. Chilly and just a bit slippery in places but sunny, calm and JIM BROWN won the male veteran 70 plus race in 1:31:32 finishing 1 minute 6 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
The fastest Spartan was ANDY PRIOR with 1:19:08. SOPHIE PARSONS was fastest female from Fairlands with 1:31:20. DAVID ACKERY came in with 1:36:09 and CHLOE CHAPMAN with 1:36:34.
Hyde Park 5k
Runners enjoyed a wonderful tail breeze on the back straight of the two lap course at the Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park. These are great friendly lunch-time events with a cafe nearby but the front end can be very sharp. This month 16 finishers beat 17 minutes and the range of times was from 15:37 to 41:18.
Sunny, mild and a light breeze in January. Spartan JIM BROWN improved by 1 minute 20 seconds to finish in 27:20.
Run The Sun
MICHAEL O’KEEFE “Ran the Sun” race based at Weston near Hitchin on Sunday 21st January. He covered a distance of 33 miles over 8 hours, on a very muddy and hilly course.
Amazing ADRIAN BUSOLINI from Fairlands Valley Spartans has completed one of the toughest running events anywhere. He ran 268 miles of the Pennine Way in 120 hours 45 minutes 46 seconds in the Montane Spine Winter Race. This was a non-stop expedition style race from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. The time limit was 168 hours.
Gold, Silver and Bronze for Spartans in the 30th Aniversary Fred Hughes 10
There were gold, silver and bronze medals for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the 30th Anniversary Fred Hughes 10 (miles) race from St. Albans on Sunday. The race included the county championships for veterans.
SIMON JACKSON said it was very windy and hilly. He took SILVER in the men 40 plus category in 57 minutes 48 seconds (57:48) which was also a 40 second personal best from 13 years ago!
JOHN HARRIS is the new county champion for men 60 plus. He won with 1 hour 12 minutes 5 seconds (1:12:05).
Successfully defending a BRONZE medal he won only three weeks ago at the very end of 2023 JIM BROWN finished in 1:30:57 for third in the county championship for men 70 plus. That was 57 seconds quicker than on the same course twelve months ago and 46 seconds quicker than the last county championship.
In the open race GABBIE O’BRIEN finished in 1:17:14 and MARIE COLUCCI in 1:22:36. It was great to see 15 Spartans in the open race which had 1,003 finishers.
JANE WADEY not only co-ordinated the Fairlands Valley take-over of Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun but the all-time participation record was smashed. 643 completed the 5K run, more than fifty more than the previous record of 586 set four years ago before Covid.
Fairlands Valley Spartans provided about 50 volunteers and 57 club members completed the event. There were marshals, barcode scanners, timekeepers, pacers, tailwalkers, token sorters, all sorts of jobs being done and rewarded by a bumper attendance.
In the race there were 643 participants including 266 women; 92 first timers; 78 parkrun personal bests and the halfway through the field time was 29 minutes 48 seconds.
Spartan SIMON JACKSON was second overall in 17 minutes 15 seconds and ABI PEZ second woman in 21:08. GRANT RAMSAY beat 20 minutes with 19:56, spot on task as he was the 20 minute pacer, and GABBIE O’BRIEN was a top ten woman at eighth with 23:44.
MATT GIFFORD scored a new parkrun personal best of 20:30 and TAMSIN BROOKS of 46:37.
Tromso Polar Night Marathon
On Saturday 6th January MIKE JEFFS took on the Tromso Polar night marathon in Norway.
The route was 26.2 miles of gruelling weather and terrain all in the dark. The temperature was -4 but with the wind it was around -9 degrees. Coming into Tromso itself a blizzard struck with 33mph head winds making the last six miles a real slog.
He was 21st in 3 hours 41 minutes 52 seconds.
Mike said it was an amazing experience and definitely the toughest challenge of his life.
Ultra John Goes Country to Capital
John NELMS ran the country to capital 43 mile ultra marathon on Saturday. Starting in Wendover with 23 miles of muddy trails before hitting the grand union canal in Denham for 20 miles of towpath to the finish near Paddington station in central London. This was John’s sixth time in this event and he finished in 9 hours 31 minutes.
Welwyn Half Marathon
Wendy Tharani ran the Welwyn Half Marathon in 2:08:22. It was a fairly low key and friendly event, very well marshalled. Out and back from the stadium at Gosling. Sunny but quite cold!
County Cross Country
In the County Cross Country at St Albans LIZ CROWLEY was 80th in 56:14 and SHARON CROWLEY 86th in 1 hour and 19 seconds (1:00:19).
Walt Disney World Marathon
PAUL HOLGATE said the Walt Disney World Marathon was the perfect way to spend his Birthday. It’s the fourth time his birthday and the marathon have been on the same day since 1/1/2000 and he was very pleased that his 6 hours 50 minutes 9 seconds (6:50:09) was seven minutes quicker than the last time (2018) and 1.5 hours quicker than my latest previous marathons in October (Snowdon/Eryri) and November (Steppingley).
Four Spartans entered the British Masters Athletic Federation ten mile championships which were held in Hertfordshire on 30th December as part of the Buntingford end of the year race. Yuko won GOLD in the women 70 plus race with 1 hour 18 minutes exactly.
DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT was the first of 18 Spartans. He beat one hour finishing in 59 minutes 38 seconds to be 34th out of the 487 finishers. He said it was great to see so many Spartans. He was followed by our first Spartan championship runner JOHN HARRIS with 1:12:02.
A great race but shouldn’t have worn white trainers said STUART ARCHER who finished with a new personal best (PB) of 1:05:08.
JIM BROWN ran a satisfying negative split with his second five miles almost two minutes quicker than the first. He came in with 1 hour 31 minutes 43 seconds. Jim said it was a fantastic club organised event.
WENDY THARANI said it was a great race. Her time was 1:31:58.
In the women’s veteran 65 category SHARON CROWLEY finished in 1:46:30.
NICHOLA DURENT was delighted to beat the cut off by nearly eight minutes with her 2 hours 22 minutes 19 seconds.
Position.
Bib
Name
10YR Rank
10YR Category
Net Time
34
1283
David Harris-Cherguit
16/86
MV40
59:38
58
1236
Nick Gill
20/75
MSEN
1:03:59
69
1015
Stuart Archer
28/86
MV40
1:05:08
125
1496
Abbie Pez
7/50
FSEN
1:11:45
126
1231
Ross Gallagher
36/86
MV40
1:11:45
132
1281
John Harris
11/28
MV60
1:12:02
191
1246
Yuko Gordon
1/7
FV70
1:18:00
213
1562
Danny Scanlon
52/86
MV40
1:19:38
214
1338
Mike Jeffs
43/75
MSEN
1:19:38
256
1497
Tracy Pez
19/72
FV50
1:23:26
337
1087
Jim Brown
7/12
MV70
1:31:43
341
1620
Wendy Tharani
30/72
FV50
1:31:58
346
1642
Ann Tryssesoone
31/72
FV50
1:32:41
369
1110
Chloe Chapman
35/50
FSEN
1:35:40
398
1337
Andrew Jay
64/70
MV50
1:39:13
400
1384
Karen Liddle
22/30
FV60
1:39:50
432
1154
Sharon Crowley
26/30
FV60
1:46:30
487
1190
Nichola Durent
59/59
FV40
2:22:19
Buntingford 10 mile finishers
St Albans 10K
Getting back into racing after injury ALISON SHELLEY ran the New Year’s Eve 10K at St Albans in one hour and 58 seconds (1:00:58). There were 535 finishers.
Ely 10k
PAUL HOLGATE and ROGER BIGGS ran the Ely 10k which they said was a flat course with one climb between 8-9k but they had their heads down between 5 and 9k with the usual courses headwind! Paul finished in 1:13:21 and Roger in 1:32:10
Hyde Park 10k
JIM BROWN was up early enough on New Year’s Day to catch the train to London and run the Hyde Park 10K event.
He finished in 55 minutes 20 seconds (55:20) which considering he hasn’t managed to finish a 5K recently in under 28 minutes 40 seconds was pretty satisfying.
Parkrun Saturday 23rd December
SHARON CROWLEY ran her 50th parkrun. Running and celebrating with a group of friends.
ADRIAN BUSOLINI won with a new parkrun personal best of 16 minutes 55 seconds. WILLIAM MORLEY was 15th out of the 499 on Christmas Day with a new parkrun PB of 19 minutes 44 seconds and in the same race PAUL JENNINGS ran a new parkrun PB of 26 minutes 42 seconds.
Parkrun Saturday 30th December
ASHLEY JOHNSON was first woman at Green Denham in a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 19 minutes 18 seconds.
More than fifty from Fairlands Valley Spartans were in Fairlands Valley Park for the cross country league race on Sunday.
33 men and 14 women ran in the race and dozens of volunteers from the club and our lovely friends at the Stevenage Striders helped make the event a success by being marshals, race director, chief marshal and taking on other tasks.
Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON had another good run and was sixth overall out of 433 runners with 28 minutes 31 seconds (28:31) for the nine kilometres, three lap run. ASHLEY JOHNSON was first woman in for FVS in 35:02.
The increase in numbers from 24 runners in the last league race to 47 had a really positive effect on the team results.
The fifth and final cross country league race this season will be on Therfield Heath (Royston) on Sunday 18th February.
Three Spartans raced for their finishers chocolate Santa at the Festive Five in Welwyn Garden City on Sunday. NICK KLEANTHOUS was 96th in 45 minutes 22 seconds.
Nothing like “race fit” at the moment PENNY SCHENKEL and JIM BROWN enjoyed cruising round to beat 50 minutes with Jim coming in 126th with 49:44 and Penny 127th with 49:53. Jim was second in his age group.
Malaga Marathon
There was a new personal best (PB) for Spartan MATTHEW NEWTON at the Malaga Marathon in Spain. He finished in 3 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds (3:13:11) which got him 591st place out of 5,914.
Twas The Run Before Christmas Ultra
MICHAEL O’KEEFE ran the “Twas the Run before Christmas” ultra event completing nine laps, or 29 miles, in Brandon Country Park, near Bury St Edmunds, in 5 hours 54 minutes 14 seconds (5:54:14). He said it was quite a hilly course and all off road.
Spartan VICKY ARCHER ran a fantastic new five mile personal best (PB) at the Hatfield Five on Sunday morning. A five minute improvement on a five mile run with 40 minutes 32 seconds. Her previous best was 45:46.
In the same event GRANT RAMSAY ran 30:50 and won SILVER in the County Championship for men 50 plus. He’s now aiming for a sub three marathon in 2024. YUKO GORDON went one better winning GOLD in the women 70 plus championship with 36:44. A winning margin of 29 seconds.
JUDY KING ran a PB in 52:51 which was 1 minute 25 seconds faster than her 5 mile race only the week before where she won the club’s 5 mile handicap race!
There was also a new PB for NICHOLA DURENT who finished with SHARON CROWLEY in 69:35.
Bass Belle Ten
Spartan JOHN HARRIS ran the Bass Belle 10 mile race in 1 hour 11 minutes 54 seconds, a new season’s best (SB).
Fairlands Valley Spartans raised even more money for charity with their Paul Maguire Five mile and Bryan Moore Ten mile handicap races on Sunday.
Handicap running events are races with phased starts, slower runners first. Runners exact start times are determined by their recent performances. In theory everyone will finish together. In practice the best improver wins. Good for participation and great as runners come together towards the finish.
The big winners were JUDY KING, JOHN HARRIS, KEITH HOOKER, VICKY ARCHER and WENDY THARANI.
Winner of the Paul Maguire 5 mile was JUDY KING in a new personal best (PB) time of 54 minutes 16 seconds (54:16), 6:14 ahead of handicap with ALISON SHELLEY 2nd in a year’s best (YB) time 49:29 and SOPHIE PARSONS third female in her first 5 mile with the club in 45:57. JOHN HARRIS was first man, 3rd overall, in a (season’s best) SB 35:38, with BRIAN WHITE second man in 38:10 and PAUL JENNINGS third man in 44:17.
JOHN HARRIS was the quickest runner of the day in the five with his 35:38, BRIAN WHITE, 38:10, second quickest and ANDY PRIOR, 39:06, third fastest. JACKIE PERRY, 41:54 was quickest lady, KERSTIN PRIOR, 43:33, second fastest and SOPHIE PARSONS, 45:57, third fastest.
KEITH HOOKER won the Brian Moore Handicap 10 mile race just pipping last year’s defending champion by 4 seconds to finish in 1:24:04 in his first 10 miles with the club.
Last year’s winner ANDREW PATTERSON was second in 56:27 returning from injury, and SIMON JACKSON third in a new SB time of 58:51. VICKY ARCHER was first lady in a new PB of 1:37:36 together with WENDY THARANI as they ran together, and LINDA GEORGE was third lady in 1:33:44.
ANDREW PATTERSON was quickest runner in the ten, SIMON JACKSON second fastest, 58:51 and NICK GILL third fastest. GABRIELLE O’BRIEN was fastest lady in 1:20:41, with CLAIRE PULLEN second quickest, 1:28:40, and LINDA GEORGE third fastest.
Many finishers recorded fastest times as it was their first 5 miles or 10 miles race for some time, or ever, standing them in a very good position when the club championship statistics are updated at the end of this month.
Wolverton Five
CRAIG BACON ran the Wolverton 5 race on Saturday morning at Willen Lakes in Milton Keynes. The predominantly flat course followed the footpath around the two lakes and a field of 133 runners completed the course.
Having not run in a road 5 mile race previously he was guaranteed a personal best (PB) and was pleased with a finish time of 36:38 and a chip time of 36:33.
It was a last minute race for SIMON JACKSON who took part with just 75 minutes notice after his daughter’s football was called off.
He completed the race in 28:05 which was fourth man over 40 (MV40) in a highly competitive race at the front end.
Steppingley Off Road Marathon
PAUL HOLGATE reports it was very muddy for Sunday’s Steppingley off road marathon. Paul and MIKE NEWBITT finished in 8 hours 22 minutes with SHARON and MIKE CROWLEY coming in at 9 hours 47.
Stevenage Half Marathon is an annual road race hosted by Fairlands Valley Spartans which was first held in 1984. All proceeds are donated to charities that support the Stevenage community.
On a sunny 22nd October, 325 people had entered and arrived to run the annual Stevenage Half marathon.
A two lap course, fully on cycle ways and paved footpaths, took in local areas of the town including the town centre and Fairlands Valley Park.
Race Director Andy Prior said “2023 has been a great year for the event and we have been able to present a cheque to the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance for £5,297, Chells Scout group and 5th Stevenage Scouts each receiving £300 and by hiring Hampson Park Community centre as Race HQ our runners increased takings in their coffee shop as most runners love cake.”
The cheque presentation took place recently.
Andy said “2024 sees Stevenage Half returning on the 20th October when we will also host a full marathon which is a once in a decade event and coincides with the 40th Anniversary of Fairlands Valley Spartans running club, so we are aiming to make this an even bigger event than normal.”
It took ten attempts but JIM BROWN beat two hours for a half marathon for the first time this year at the Remembrance Runs on Saturday morning. He improved by 12 minutes 8 seconds compared with a run last Sunday and his 1 hour 57 minutes 36 seconds was good enough to win the men 70 plus category by 26 minutes 7 seconds.
ROBERT WRIGHT ran the same race in 1:56:15 while PAUL SHELLEY ran the Remembrance 10K in 44:51. The races were at Debden Airfield, Carver Barracks, near Saffron Walden.
Asked what was the secret, Jim said “No idea but what actually happened was even though last Sunday’s half was disappointing it was still a 13.1 miles run; then no training Monday and Tuesday; a vigorous for me daylight run on Wednesday morning; leading a lovely three mile Spartan training run on Thursday evening; and short cycle ride to Rableyheath. On the day the aim was to run at a pace equivalent to 28 minutes for every 5K (roughly nine minute miles) all the way round.”
Rob was 48th in the half marathon and Jim 54th.
Parkrun – Saturday 11th November
New Spartan SOPHIE PARSONS ran a new parkrun personal best of 27 minutes 2 seconds (27:02).
Sunday saw the third Cross Country event at Trent Park which was a five mile race. JONATHAN PARR came in in eighth place in a time of 27:53 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI was 25th in 29:38. They were the first two finishers from Fairlands Valley Spartans while TRACEY JACKSON 273rd overall in 41 minutes exactly; GEORGIE HOOPER 308th in 42:31 and ZOE JACKSON 359th in 45:07 were the club’s first three women.
Altogether there were 24 Spartans. 17 men and 7 women and a total of 467 finishers in the race. Male “A” teams consist of eight runners. Female “A” teams have five runners.
Position
Name
Time
Official
Comments
8
JONATHAN PARR
27:54
27:53
SM. Team “A”
25
ADRIAN BUSOLINI
29:39
29:38
SM. Team “A”
50
NICK GILL
31:12
31:13
SM. Team “A”
114
STUART ARCHER
34:39
34:42
SM. Team “A”
132
ALEX ZHERDEV
36:02
35:26
M40. Team “A”
147
ROSS GALLAGHER
36:08
36:12
M40. Team “A”
171
MATT GIFFORD
36:59
37:01
M50. Team “A”
177
FRANCOIS SWANEPOEL
37:00
37:10
M50. Team “A”
190
BRIAN WHITE
37:43
37:45
M60
273
TRACEY JACKSON
40:40
41:00
W45. Women Team
304
MIKE JEFFS
42:23
42:31
SM
308
GEORGIE HOOPER
42:22
42:31
W35. Women Team
359
ZOE JACKSON
45:00
45:07
W35. Women Team
367
NICK KLEANTHOUS
45:27
45:31
M60
379
ANNABELLE WHITE
46:16
46:24
SW. Women Team
380
TIM ROBINSON
46:23
46:25
M50
381
DAVID ACKERY
46:24
46:33
SM
395
MARK MacDONALD
47:11
47:47
M50
400
MICHAEL O’KEEFE
47:53
48:00
M50
402
MARK FREEMAN
48:10
48:11
M60
422
ANDY JAY
49:36
49:55
M50
432
LIZ CROWLEY
51:13
51:14
W35. Women Team
449
SHARON CROWLEY
57:10
57:26
W65
457
CALLIE CHAPMAN
60:05
60:20
W35
Hertfordshire Half and 10K
Happy Spartan LINDA GEORGE ran a new personal best (PB) at Sunday’s Hertfordshire Half Marathon based at Knebworth House. She finished in 2 hours 2 minutes 45 seconds (2:02:45) an improvement of 3 minutes 48 seconds on her previous best which she ran on 22nd October. MARTIN JACOB paced her finishing 780th out of the 1400 finishers in 2:02:46. They said they had a wonderful run. Linda was jumping for joy at the finish.
JIM BROWN was third man 70 plus in 2:09:54.
In the 10K, new Spartan SOPHIE PARSONS ran her race in 1:00:10 which was a new personal best beating her previous time of 1:04 set in September. She was joined and supported by PENNY SCHENKEL who finished in 1:00:18 and CLAIRE EMMERSON in 1:00:24.
It just started to drip at the start then the rain got harder and harder throughout Sunday’s cross country league race at Watford’s Cassiobury Park but 27 from Fairlands Valley Spartans completed the testing six mile event with ANDREW PATTERSON winning in just 34 minutes 50 seconds.
GABRIELLE O’BRIEN was the fastest female from Fairlands with 49 minutes 32 seconds.
JONATHAN PARR and ADRIAN BUSOLINI were both top twenty overall with Jonathan seventh with 36:49 and Adrian 13th with 37:30.
A good turnout of some of their faster men meant the Spartan men’s “A” team moved up to fourth out of 21 clubs compared with seventh at the first race on 15th October. The club’s women were seventh. The men’s “B” team were second out of eight.
There were 18 FVS men and 9 women.
Position
M/F
Name
Official Time
Comments
1
1
ANDREW PATTERSON
34:50
V40. “A” team
7
7
JONATHAN PARR
36:49
SM. “A” team
13
13
ADRIAN BUSOLINI
37:30
SM. “A” team
49
47
NICK GILL
41:09
SM. “A” team
51
48
GRANT RAMSAY
41:19
V50. “A” team.
111
97
MATT NEWTON
46:12
V40. “A” team.
112
98
STUART ARCHER
46:14
SM. “A” team.
116
102
MIKE JEFFS
46:25
SM. “A” team.
154
133
MATT GIFFORD
48:39
V50
163
139
DANNY SCANLON
49:04
V40
169
27F
GABRIELLE O’BRIEN
49:32
SL
178
147
BRIAN WHITE
50:14
V60
240
184
TOBY ECCLESHALL
54:02
SM
241
57F
YUKO GORDON
54:05
FV65
251
191
DARREN EMMERSON
54:26
V50
252
61F
TRACEY JACKSON
54:27
FV45
260
65F
SALLY REEVES
54:39
FV45
322
226
TIM ROBINSON
59:28
V50
323
97F
WENDY THARANI
59:34
FV45
336
229
DAVID ACKERY
60:52
SM
345
113F
CLAIRE EMMERSON
62:07
FV45
348
115F
ANNABELLE WHITE
62:08
SL
356
235
MARK FREEMAN
63:57
V60
366
239
ANDY JAY
64:49
V50
379
243
JIM BROWN
68:20
V70
392
147F
CALLIE CHAPMAN
81:32
FV35
393
148F
MICHELLE HOLTON
81:32
FV45
Marathon Eryri – Snowdon Marathon
This years Snowdon Marathon, now known as the Marathon Eryri took place on Saturday. SHARON CROWLEY completed her 30th consecutive Snowdon marathon in 6:18:29 and continues to have run more Snowdon marathons than any other female. But none of this year’s finishers have run more Snowdons than PAUL HOLGATE who despite having his preparations hampered by a hamstring injury still managed to complete his 33rdconsecutive Snowdon marathon in 8:20:55. Both regulars were this year joined by a third Spartan, THOMAS SAUKA, whose comments at the end were “What an event, I can see why people love the Marathon Eryri so much, I thought I could sneak under 5 hours but it wasn’t possible in the end, now let the beer flow” as he finished in 5 hours 7 minutes 50 seconds.
Great South Run (10 miles)
Recently four from the Spartans Introduction to Running Group enjoyed the Great South Run race in Portsmouth. And each one achieved a Personal Best!!
The Great South Run is a flat course around Portsmouth and the docks with bag pipes, drums and a choir along the route – a really fun run!
SALLY PICKLES went round in 1:56:23; JUDY KING in 2:02:17; RACHAEL MILLER in 2:04:25 and NICOLA HATHERLY in 2:04:27.
Nicola and Judy had a sea swim later, to refresh tired legs – it was warmer in than out!
Serpentine Series
It was sunny, mild, with a light breeze in Hyde Park for the 31st anniversary Last Friday of the Month 5K. JIM BROWN was 170th in 27 minutes 20 seconds (27:20). Second man over 70 by 3 seconds – closing down towards the end but not quite fast enough.
That’s ten of the Serpentine runs done this year. More than enough for a series.
It was a lovely sunny morning in Stevenage on Sunday and Fairlands Valley Spartans welcomed hundreds of runners to the Stevenage Half Marathon on their new route from Hampson Park.
Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON won the race by 51 seconds with 1 hour 12 minutes 45 seconds and took GOLD in the Hertfordshire County Championship. ADRIAN BUSOLINI was third and won BRONZE in the county event with a new personal best of 1:15:46, an improvement by 10 minutes 40 seconds.
In the women’s competition ASHLEY JOHNSON took BRONZE with 1 hour 32 minutes 49 seconds and was second in her category. That was a new personal best (PB) for Ashley by 4 minutes 43 seconds.
The females from Fairlands excelled in the County team competition. Ashley, GABRIELLE O’BRIEN (1:44:32) and PAULA McMAHON (1:53:09) won GOLD with 17 points which was five ahead of Garden City Runners who were on 22. Three runners for women’s teams. Paula improved her half marathon time by 4 minutes 49 seconds.
It was SILVER for the Spartan men with GRANT RAMSAY (1:28:57) and NICK GILL (1:29:17) joining Andrew and Adrian to score 25 points, just four behind the winners. Four runners for men’s teams.
MARTIN JACOB and LINDA GEORGE both ran new half marathon personal bests. Martin with 1:46:33 and Linda with 2:06:33. Martin said it was a wonderful day for a run. Well marshalled route!!! Six Hills Way was tough, but I managed to compensate for that in the down hills.
Martin was five minutes faster than his Cambridge half in 2020. Linda improved her time by two minutes.
JIM BROWN was second male 70 plus with 2:03:26.
21 Spartans were running and, as the event was organised by the club. Andy Prior was the Race Director and dozens more volunteered to make sure the race was a success – marshals, lead bike, water station, baggage, etc.
The event raised money for the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance.
Pos
Cat
M/F
Name
Cat
Time
Halfway
Comments
1
1
1
Andrew PATTERSON
MV40
1:12:45
36:01
Winner
3
1
3
Adrian BUSOLINI
MS
1:15:46
37:24
PB (10:40)
18
6
17
Grant RAMSAY
MV50
1:28:57
43:45
SB
20
10
19
Nick GILL
MS
1:29:15
45:07
31
2
3
Ashley JOHNSON
FV35
1:32:49
46:10
Third woman. PB (4:43)
37
17
34
Stuart ARCHER
MS
1:35:01
47:47
SB
49
10
46
Craig BACON
MV50
1:39:50
49:14
73
5
8
Gabrielle OBRIEN
FS
1:44:21
52:00
85
25
75
Martin JACOB
MV40
1:46:43
53:41
PB (4:57)
106
34
92
Liam HERBERT
MS
1:50:53
54:00
125
6
21
Paula McMAHON
FV35
1:52:30
56:27
PB (4:49)
162
9
131
Stephen HARRIS
MV60
1:59:14
58:05
182
11
147
Martin DUDLEY
MV60
2:02:56
56:33
185
2
148
Jim BROWN
MV70+
2:03:26
1:01:28
2nd MV70
189
50
152
Chris HOLLAND
MV40
2:04:30
59:02
SB
197
55
159
Jon SYPULA
MV40
2:06:19
1:00:53
SB
198
12
39
Linda GEORGE
FV35
2:06:33
1:02:33
PB (1:54)
225
12
175
Nick KLEANTHOUS
MV60
2:10:17
1:04:25
233
59
181
Dave ACKERY
MS
2:14:25
1:03:18
244
17
57
Wendy THARANI
FV45
2:20:25
1:05:58
268
51
201
Tim ROBINSON
MV50
2:40:15
1:17:10
Resolution 5K
Eight Spartans ran the Resolution Track 5K on a very wet Wednesday evening at Ridlins Track, Stevenage.
After the 12.5 laps SIMON JACKSON was second in 16 minutes 58 seconds and GEORGIE HOOPER first woman and 17th overall with 21 minutes 18 seconds, a new personal best (PB) by a massive 1 minute 55 seconds.
ALEX ZHERDEV improved his PB by 21 seconds to 21:20.
The other Spartan times were MATT TUTTON 25:03; SHARON CROWLEY 28:19; KARL REEVE 31:24; ROGER BIGGS 38:35 and PAUL HOLGATE 40:23. Simon got the highest age score with 84.0% followed by Georgie on 70% exactly and Sharon on 69.5%.
The first cross country league race of the season was at Cheshunt on Sunday. 27 Fairlands Valley Spartans were there – 18 men and 9 women.
Andrew Patterson WON the race in just 26 minutes 36 seconds. JONATHAN PARR and ADRIAN BUSOLINI were also in the top ten. Jonathan sixth with 27:20 and Adrian ninth with 28:12.
GEORGIE HOOPER was the fastest female from Fairlands at 135th overall (women and men) and 18th woman of 133 with 37 minutes 7 seconds. Next came TRACEY JACKSON 207th (and 43rd woman) in 39:47. There were 359 finishers.
Counting teams consisted of five women and eight men. The Spartan women and men were both seventh out of the 21 clubs participating.
Overall Position
Name
Time
Category
1
ANDREW PATTERSON
26:38
M40
6
JONATHAN PARR
27:27
SM
9
ADRIAN BUSOLINI
28:13
SM
31
GRANT RAMSAY
30:36
M50
45
NICK GILL
31:30
SM
85
ALEX ZHERDEV
34:00
M40
97
STUART ARCHER
34:32
SM
126
FRANCOIS SWANEPOEL
36:28
M50
133
DANNY SCANLON
36:58
M40
177
BRIAN WHITE
38:57
M60
178
THOMAS SAUKA
38:57
M40
203
DARREN EMMERSON
39:57
M50
285
DAVID ACKERY
45:06
SM
293
JON SYPULA
45:56
M40
299
MALC MacDONALD
46:14
M50
302
MARK FREEMAN
46:29
M60
321
ANDY JAY
48:05
M50
325
TIM ROBINSON
48:44
M50
Mens Results
Overall Position
Women Position
Name
Time
Category
135
18
GEORGIE HOOPER
37:18
W35
207
43
TRACEY JACKSON
40:01
W45
279
79
WENDY THARANI
44:29
W45
291
85
ANNA SWANEPOEL
45:47
W35
313
98
CLAIRE EMMERSON
47:28
W45
338
115
LIZ CROWLEY
50:11
SW
341
118
SHARON CROWLEY
51:47
W65
349
125
NIKKI NATION
54:01
W55
353
128
CALLIE CHAPMAN
58:10
W35
Ladies Results
Chester Marathon
Coach John Harris was selected to represent England V’s Wales in an International match at the Chester Marathon. Following a recent injury John only decided 10 days before the race to take up his place.
Here is his story:
I am pleased to say that I finished and left everything out on the course.
Standing on the start line, I literally had no idea how the Chester marathon would pan out for me and decided to get to half way and worry about it then.
I ran how I felt and got to 13.1 in 1.57, and felt surprisingly ok . I then focused on each mile and got to 20 miles in 3.01 and rewarded myself with a 30 second walk.
Unfortunately, through lack of training following my injury (my training consisted of 3 weeks after a 3 month break and a long run of only 10 miles) my legs didn’t want to start again and so the last 10k took 81 mins.
I am delighted with my finish time of 4.22.13 given that 4 weeks ago I couldn’t run.
Not an ideal training plan but I wanted to start and see what happened. So glad that I did!
Yuko Gets A Call Up
There were perfect weather conditions for the Bath Half Marathon but Spartan YUKO GORDON said she still felt weak from her recent Covid infection and lacked her usual second half strength. Yuko was fine when she passed 10K in 46:30 but was disappointed with her finishing time of 1 hour 40 minutes 35 seconds. However that was good enough to win her age category. She’s going to have a good rest for a while.
Yuko has received news from British Masters that she has been selected for the England cross country team for the British and Irish international cross country championship to be held in Glasgow next month.
Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team, GEORGIE HOOPER 45:08; SUZY HAWKINS 46:43 and CLAIRE PULLEN 47:17 were second, SILVER medals, in the county championships at the Standalone 10K on Sunday morning.
In the open race they were third with MARIE COLUCCI 48:08 joining them to make up the team of four in that event. Claire was also first woman 55 plus in the race.
23 Spartans ran. The fastest was SIMON FRASER who finished ninth out of more than 1100 finishers. Next came NICK GILL 36th in 38:38; MIKE JEFFS 48th in 39:36 and GRANT RAMSAY 51st in 39:47.
PENNY SCHENKEL wanted to beat one hour which she did by four seconds (59:56). An excellently paced run.
The other Spartans enjoying the 6.2 miles road event in Letchworth; Stotfold and Fairfield Park were MARTIN DUDLEY 51:24; MATT TUTTON 54:23: WENDY THARANI 55:17; ANDY JAY 56:55; NICK KLEANTHOUS 57:49; JO COOKSLEY 58:26; TRICIA HOPPER 59:01; CLAIRE EMMERSON 59:02; JIM BROWN 59:37; KAREN LIDDLE 1:00:04; SHARON CROWLEY 1:02:58; MONICA SMITHSON 1:07:11; SAMANTHA SUTTON 1:18:26 and ROGER BIGGS 1:32:58.
Pos
Cat
Gen
Name
Cat
5K Split
Gun
Chip
Age Gd
Com
9
7
9
Simon FRASER
MS
17:50
35:27
35:27
76.7%
36
22
35
Nick GILL
MS
18:58
38:40
38:38
69.7%
48
26
47
Mike JEFFS
MS
18:58
39:36
39:33
69.5%
51
3
50
Grant RAMSAY
MV50
19:25
39:47
39:46
76.1%
130
5
11
Georgie HOOPER
FV35
22:02
45:18
45:08
67.9%
ST
179
5
20
Suzy HAWKINS
FV45
23:15
47:00
46:43
70.4%
ST
199
1
27
Claire PULLEN
FV55
23:53
47:32
47:17
78.6%
ST
239
10
32
Marie COLUCCI
FV45
23:21
48:23
48:08
67.7%
OT
363
20
299
Martin DUDLEY
MV60
26:02
51:55
51:24
63.1%
497
144
384
Matt TUTTON
MS
27:29
55:12
54:23
49.8%
548
35
138
Wendy THARANI
FV45
28:47
56:05
55:17
61.8%
598
81
432
Andy JAY
MV50
27:56
57:22
56:55
56.6%
646
47
462
Nick KLEANTHOUS
MV60
29:34
58:35
57:49
56.5%
675
71
205
Jo COOKSLEY
FV35
31:36
59:22
58:26
51.8%
695
30
219
Tricia HOPPER
FV55
29:40
59:43
59:01
61.7%
701
61
225
Claire EMMERSON
FV45
30:17
59:50
59:02
58.6%
726
9
486
Jim BROWN
MV70+
30:17
1:00:44
59:37
60.2%
727
65
241
Penny SCHENKEL
FV45
30:17
1:00:44
59:56
58.5%
730
7
243
Karen LIDDLE
FV65+
29:58
1:00:52
1:00:04
68.5&
822
11
308
Sharon CROWLEY
FV65+
33:00
1:04:14
1:02:58
64.9%
920
50
376
Monica SMITHSON
FV55
31:31
1:07:59
1:07:11
55.7%
1071
135
493
Samantha SUTTON
FV45
39:25
1:19:43
1:18:26
42.0%
1099
17
585
Roger BIGGS
MV70+
45:43
1:34:29
1:32:58
41.0%
Serpentine 5K
JIM BROWN enjoyed wonderful sun and a tailwind on the back straight for Friday’s Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park. He finished in 28:45.
It was a double win in Hitchin for Fairlands Valley Spartans as ANDREW PATTERSON and ASHLEY JOHNSON won first man and first woman in the Hitchin 5K.
Andrew won the race in 16 minutes 23 seconds. Which was 50 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. And Ashley won the woman’s race in 20:17, again a victory by 50 seconds.
MONICA SMITHSON ran the Hitchin 5K in 32 minutes 17 seconds.
Bedford Autodrome
JIM BROWN ran the Bedford Autodrome 20 miles and improved his “year best” by 15 minutes 29 seconds when he finished in 3 hours 13 minutes 51 seconds.
This was a bit of a leap up after some indifferent half marathons so his plan was to run six “parkruns” in an average of 30 minutes or just under. That he did going through 30K in maybe a second under 3 hours.
Then the last 2.2 kilometres largely into a howling headwind took 13 minutes 51 seconds. He was second in his age group.
Spartan CAROLE SHELDRICK won her category in the Autodrome 10K with 56:38.
Windsor Half
WENDY THARANI was at the Windsor Half Marathon. She said it was a busy event, well organised and well attended. Beautiful scenery through Windsor Great Park, however it is very undulating and felt like more up than down! Big hill at mile 11!
She finished in 2:14:15 (chip time).
Ottawa 10K
Spartan Andy Jay travelled to Ottawa, Canada for a memorial and charity event, raising funds for injured and veteran members of the Canadian armed forces.
With the start and finish in Downtown Ottawa, the race went past famous Landmarks such as Parliament buildings and the famous Chateau Laurier Hotel. The race headed east alongside the Ottawa River before returning for a tough finish up on Parliament Hill.
Andy ran the 10k distance, finishing in 55.17.
Vitality Westminster Mile
JONATHAN PARR was fifth in the Vitality Westminster Mile with 4 minutes 42 seconds.
Parkrun Saturday 23rd September
Michael O’Keefe ran a new course PB at Letchworth with 29:05
At Stevenage there was a new parkrun PB for William Morley 19:52; Claire Pullen ran her 50th parkrun in 24:41; and Grant Ramsay was sixth at Stevenage on his 100thparkrun with 19:26
JONATHAN PARR WON the Hatfield 5K series of Wednesday evening races with an average of 16 minutes 20 seconds, that’s ten seconds quicker than his nearest rival. There were three races on consecutive weeks.
NICK GILL ran another fantastic personal best (PB). This time it was 17 minutes 25 seconds which got him in the top twenty in Wednesday’s race. ALISON WOOD was first woman 55 plus with 21 minutes 3 seconds.
Ten Spartans finished the race. The others in the club’s first four were SIMON JACKSON 12th in 16:39 and MIKE JEFFS 25th in 17:37.
SHARON CROWLEY was fourth in the series for her category and ran the final race in 28 minutes 53 seconds.
The other Spartans were NICK KLEANTHOUS 25:04; JIM BROWN 26:37; MICHAEL O’KEEFE 26:56 and ROGER BIGGS 46:50.
Pos
Bib
Name
Time
Cat
M/F
Cat Pos
Age Gd
Comments
2
5692
Jonathan PARR
16:21
MS
2
2
82.1 %
Series winner
12
5959
Simon JACKSON
16:39
MV40
12
5
85.6 %
19
5353
Nick GILL
17:25
MS
19
14
74.8 %
PB
25
5542
Mike JEFFS
17:37
MS
25
18
76.0 %
106
2944
Alison WOOD
21:03
FV55
17
1
84.3 %
1st FV55
173
5636
Nick KLEANTHOUS
25:04
MV60
127
17
63.2 %
187
2909
Jim BROWN
26:37
MV70
135
5
65.7 %
192
5504
Michael O’KEEFE
26:56
MV50
136
35
57.9 %
198
3015
Sharon CROWLEY
28:53
FV65
58
4
67.4 %
215
1844
Roger BIGGS
46:50
MV70
148
8
39.6 %
Stevenage 10k
In the Stevenage 10K Spartan SIMON JACKSON was second overall and first man 40 plus with 35 minutes 33 seconds. KIM JURY was seventh in her category with 54:36 and JIM BROWN third in his with 56:44.
DAVE ACKERY said “I really pushed hard for a sub 60 but the hills were proving a bit of a hard slog in the heat especially the final big push!” He finished with 60:57.
Seven Spartans ran and there were 273 finishers. The other Spartans were GRANT RAMSAY 40:35; ROBERT WRIGHT 53:53 and ROGER BIGGS 1:38:52.
Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON won Wednesday’s Hatfield 5K race in a new personal best (PB) of just 15 minutes 55 seconds AND took GOLD in the County Championships.
SAMANTHA PRETTY-CONNORS won BRONZE with 19 minutes 25 seconds, a PB by 5 seconds, and YUKO GORDON won GOLD in the women 65 plus race with 22 minutes 25 seconds (22:25).
JONATHAN PARR was third senior in 16:35.
There was a year’s best time for SIMON JACKSON improving by 30 seconds to 16:50.
MATT TUTTON ran another PB this week this time trimming another five seconds off to 24:32 and JIM BROWN improved his time for the year by one second to 26:34.
Fairlands Valley Spartans won SILVER medals in the team competition at the Hertfordshire County 5K championships for senior men on Wednesday 30th August.
The medal winning team was ANDREW PATTERSON (15:59); JONATHAN PARR (16:18); KIRK NDUGU (16:31) and NICK GILL (17:46). With 52 they were only four points behind the gold medal winners.
It was a season’s best (SB) for Andrew and Kirk, a year’s best (YB) for Jonathan and a personal best for Nick.
The championships were included in the Hatfield 5K which was completed by 14 Spartans.
MIKE JEFFS came in with a new PB of 18:02; MATT TUTTON with a new PB of 24:37; ANDY JAY with a season’s best 24:49 and SHARON CROWLEY with a season’s best of 28:59.
Place
Name
M/F
Cat Pos
Cat
Time
Age Grade
Comments
5.
Andrew PATTERSON
5
1
MV40
15:59
85.2 %
Team silver SB
8.
Jonathan PARR
8
7
MS
16:18
82.3 %
Team silver YB
11.
Kirk NDUGU
11
10
MS
16:31
80.0 %
Team silver SB
35.
Nick GILL
33
25
MS
17:46
73.3 %
Team silver PB
43.
Mike JEFFS
40
29
MS
18:02
74.2 %
PB
79.
Grant RAMSAY
69
12
MV50
19:34
75.1 %
174.
Matt TUTTON
130
51
MS
24:37
54.0 %
PB
177.
Andy JAY
131
34
MV50
24:49
62.7 %
SB
178.
Nick KLEANTHOUS
132
14
MV60
24:49
63.8 %
199.
Michael O’KEEFE
141
37
MV50
26:35
58.6 %
209.
Jim BROWN
145
5
MV70
27:09
64.4 %
226.
Sharon CROWLEY
78
7
FV65
28:59
67.0 %
SB
243.
Paul HOLGATE
155
22
MV60
39:29
42.1 %
244.
Roger BIGGS
156
10
MV70
42:37
43.4 %
Results for all Spartan finishers at the Hatfield 5k
Bedford Running Festival
In the half marathon JIM BROWN was 307th out of the 684 finishers with 2 hours 1 minute 34 seconds. He was second in his category just 27 seconds behind the winner.
In the Bedford 20 DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT was ninth overall and seventh in the 40-49 category in 2 hours 8 minutes 13 seconds.
He said the weather was hot! Great support on route and it was good to see Stevenage being represented by Spartans, Striders and Phoenix running clubs.
Baldock Rat Run
Tim Robinson took part in the fifth Baldock 5k Rat Run, an off road fun run raising fund for Garden House Hospice. He finished 64th out of 88 finishers in a time of 29:21. He has run in all 5 events now and is a regular but difficult to spot.
UTMB (Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc)
ADRIAN BUSOLINI said “My journey to UTMB started in 2019 with my running a section of the UTMB course, and falling in love with the Chamonix Valley. In 2021, I ran the UTMB CCC, which is more or less the second half of the UTMB course. I finally obtained my UTMB spot in 2022 based on my category placing in Val d’Aran.
For us based in Hertfordshire, training for something like UTMB is not easy, as we have no comparable terrain nearby. My lack of specific training is probably what held me back in this race.
Regardless of my result, the experience of participating in a race as famous and competitive as UTMB is extraordinary. Between bumping into many friends and acquaintances in Chamonix, experiencing the otherworldly level of support in St Gervais les Bains and Les Contamines, or just soaking up the sight of Mont Blanc from every angle. The UTMB is a tough, technical race, but one to savour.” Adrian took 30 hours 21 minutes 21 seconds for the 160 kilometres.
Duck and Dash
NICK KLEANTHOUS said it was a great weather for Sunday’s Duck n Dash involving 400 metres of Letchworth outdoor pool followed by a 5K hilly trail run around Norton Common. Tracy Haygarth found me before the start and we talked while waiting for our swim as swimmers went off at 15 second intervals. It was Tracy’s first event and without her Garmin on did amazing. It was very well organised and the support was fantastic. Hope to be back next year!
Summer Nuts Challenge
STEVE PLATT tackled the two muddy, wet and obstacle filled laps of the Summer Nuts Challenge on Saturday 2nd September. The 15.69 kilometres OCR (British Obstacle Sports) event took 3 hours 39 minutes 21 seconds.
A sunny summer’s evening brought perfect conditions for the Resolution 5K event at Ridlins track in Stevenage and nine Spartans were there to enjoy it.
For those keen to judge their pace there was a timing mat and clock after two hundred metres and then every 400 metres for the 12 full laps.
NICK GILL was first in for the club at third overall and first male senior with 18 minutes 3 seconds (18:03). MIKE JEFFS was second male senior with 18:26.
ASHLEY JOHNSON was first woman in the race with 19:31. Not only did YUKO GORDON win her category but she did it in 22 minutes 22 seconds achieving an amazing age graded score of 96.8%.
JIM BROWN won his category with 27 minutes 13 seconds (27:13).
Spartan times at the Resolution 5K:
Pos
MF
CatPos
Bib
Name
Cat
Time
Age Gd
3.
3
1
286
Nick GILL
MS
18:03
72.3 %
6.
6
2
1299
Mike JEFFS
MS
18:26
72.9 %
14.
1
1
1286
Ashley JOHNSON
FV35
19:31
79.0 %
33.
4
1
5559
Yuko GORDON
FV65
22:22
96.8 %
39.
32
3
5889
Nick KLEANTHOUS
MV60
26:02
61.4 %
43.
33
1
5780
Jim BROWN
MV70+
27:13
64.8 %
49.
16
5
212
Sharon CROWLEY
FV65
29:59
65.6 %
50.
34
4
5943
Paul HOLGATE
MV60
30:38
54.6 %
52.
35
2
5742
Roger BIGGS
MV70+
41:23
45.2 %
England Masters Inter Area Track & Field Challenge
Spartan YUKO GORDON was in Nuneaton to run the 1500 metre at the England Masters Inter Area Track & Field Challenge. Representing the East of England she won the women 70 plus race in 6 minutes 18.26 seconds (6:18.26).
Summer 10K
MATT TUTTON ran the London Summer 10k. The three laps of the outer path of Regents Park. Running conditions were great and the course was flat. Perfect for a PB which he achieved with a new personal best of 54 minutes 25 seconds (54:25).
Stopsley 10 Miles
Fairlands Valley Spartan DANNY SCANLON ran the Stopsley 10 Mile Trail race recently.
He finished with a chip time of 1 hour 14 minutes 11 seconds for an 11th place finish. The course was a tough two laps with a very steep hill in each lap!
DAVE PATTMAN and MO WARRILOW ran the Stopsley 5 Mile Trail Run. The chip times were 35:41 for Dave, and 47:00 for Mo.
Burnham Beeches Half Marathon
WENDY THARANI took on the Burnham Beeches Half Marathon and completed it in 2:13:15. She said that the course was rather undulating but lovely through the beechy woodland. There were lots of ridiculously expenses houses including Dorney Wood which is traditionally the Chancellor of the Exchequers country residence. The race was well organised with lots of friendly marshals.
Schierker Sommerlauf Trail Run
JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL took part in the Schierker Sommerlauf trail run in the Harz area of Germany.
They tackled the hauptlauf which consisted of two 4.2 kilometre laps so giving a total of just over five miles. Each lap started with a 1.2 kilometre tough climb into the countryside, a real lung buster. There were 350 metres of climbing in the race.
Jim and Penny finished together in 56 minutes 36.4 seconds.
Parkrun Saturday 19th August 2023
KIRK NDUGU won Stevenage Parkrun in a new parkrun personal best of 17 minutes 20 seconds.
KARL SHREEVE and JANE WADEY won Thursday evening’s Fairlands Valley Spartans club handicap 5K race in Stevenage. 28 Spartans took part.
The winner was Karl Shreeve showing a much improved return to form in 29 minutes 15 seconds (29:15), six minutes ahead of handicap with Jane Wadey second (1st female) in 34:06, four seconds ahead of Sally Pickles with a 2:22 Season Best (SB) time of 34:10. New member Lee Burton was second man in 28:48 and Steve Platt third in a Year Best time of 26:17.
The fastest runner on the night was Adrian Busolini with a SB 17:41 with Nick Gill second quickest in 20:01 and Matt Gifford third fastest in a new Personal Best (PB) time of 20:41.
Ashley Johnson was quickest female in 20:45 with Jackie Perry second quickest in 26:10 and Nicola Andersson third fastest in 28:56. 19 of the 28 finishers finished within two minutes of their handicap time.
St Albans Summer 10k
Spartan JIM BROWN ran the St Albans Summer 10K on Sunday in 54 minutes 49 seconds. He was the first finisher over 70 years of age by more than ten minutes and won GOLD in the Hertfordshire 10K Championship for veteran runners. The county championships were incorporated in the open race in which there were 294 finishers.
Jim says he went through 5K seven seconds late and had doubts whether he could do it but a substantial negative split in the second half of the race meant he beat his target by a few seconds.
ROBERT WRIGHT completed his 10K in 42 minutes 55 seconds and was well placed in the 40 plus category.
ANDREW PATTERSON went to Watford on Wednesday night to race in the Open Graded Meeting, 1500 metres race. The weather was horrendous. The rain started heavy and was torrential by the time he got to race.
He said, “In the pack on the track, I didn’t really notice the rain and found a good rhythm, getting round in a new personal best (PB) of 4:15.42. I’m very happy with that effort in those conditions.” He should be. That’s a new Fairlands Valley Spartans club record for 1500 metres and only three months after beating 2 hours 40 minutes in the London Marathon.
Chases The Sun 10K at Battersea
DANNY SCANLON ran the ironically titled “Chase the Sun” 10k at Battersea Park in pouring rain on Wednesday.
Four glorious laps in the rain, to finish with a chip time of 42 minutes exactly.
Sundowner Half Marathon
The Sundowner runs were a bit different. They were on Saturday evening starting at 5.30p.m. With a choice of 10K or Half Marathon Spartan JIM BROWN chose the half and ran his best 13.1 miles so far this year. With an improvement of 2 minutes 26 seconds his 2 hours 49 seconds (2:00:49) won him his category and an age score of 65.81%.
The 3k Relays in the Park, organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans in Fairlands Valley Park, were brilliant. The 3K course was covered 473 times by runners enjoying a great summer’s evening on Thursday.
As well as organising the event the local club enjoyed some success with their women taking BRONZE in the County Championships in 48 minutes 13 seconds and their veteran women also winning BRONZE with 54:32.
All teams – men, women, mixed, senior or veteran – consisted of four runners so ran a total of 12 kilometres.
The medal winners were ASHLEY JOHNSON (11:38); SAM PRETTY (11:50), GABRIELLE O’BRIEN (12:16) and GAIL MACKIE (12:29) in the senior county championships and SUZY HAWKINS (12:45); MARIE COLUCCI (13:07); TRACEY JACKSON (13:53) and YUKO GORDON (14:47) in the veterans race.
The FVS male team were fourth in the open and county races in 38:42 just eight seconds off bronze. They were JON PARR (9:20); ANDREW PATTERSON (9:31); ADRIAN BUSOLINI (9:55) and KIRK NDUGU (9:56).
The fastest Spartan was in the top ten individuals – JON PARR in 9 minutes 20 minutes (9:20). ASHLEY JOHNSON was the fastest female from Fairlands with her 11 minutes 38 seconds, twelve seconds ahead of SAM PRETTY with 11:50.
The first woman in the race finished in 9 minutes 28 seconds!
There were 119 teams. Luton AC won the open men’s race in 36:57 (for 12 kilometres) and the open mixed race with 41:03; St Albans Striders won the open women’s race in 43:46.
Doug Anderson 5K – 20th Anniversary
Last Wednesday MATT TUTTON ran at the Bedford Harriers organised Doug Anderson 5k at Bedford Park. This was two and half laps of the park on a cool and dry evening. Matt finished in a personal best time of 24:54.
This was the 20th anniversary of the event. PAUL HOLGATE has now run 17 of the 20. The only missing ones were two that fell on his wife’s birthday and one when he was in Mount Vernon Hospital. He finished in 31 minutes 19 seconds.
ROGER BIGGS came in with 38:38.
Bedford Blues Half Marathon
Spartan JIM BROWN ran the Bedford Blues Foundation Half Marathon on Sunday.
He was 86th and second MV70 with 2:04:16 (64%).
Jim said it was nice after recent form to properly run all the way.
He added it was an almost perfect morning for running. Only 132 on the half marathon but another 202 on the 10K. The short out and back sections actually made it a better experience as runners smiled and encouraged each other as they passed.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 22nd July 2023
MATT TUTTON ran a new parkrun personal best of 24:20. He was 84th out of the 394 finishers.
Nearly 200 people ran, jogged or walked the Fairlands Valley Challenge, on Sunday 16th July. The challenge is a self navigating trail event that offers a choice of distances from 10 kilometres to half marathon, 18 miles, marathon or an ultra 50 kilometres.
This annual event is much loved by lots of runners far and wide and is organised by our very own chairman, Tim Robinson.
Tim is supported by his army of Spartan volunteers which ensures the event is able to be just as fabulous year after year! Alongside the brilliant, friendly checkpoints the pull of the challenge is the beautiful countryside trails and not forgetting our famous Spartans bread pudding!
With lots of lovely comments like, “Thanks for another great event Fairlands Valley Spartans”, and “Thanks for all the work behind such a great event!” to “Fantastico! Thanks to all the organisers and volunteers”, “This was a fantastic event and as far as half marathons go we loved it! Thank you to all that helped and supported!” we are sure that the Challenge will remain a firm favourite in all runners diaries for many years to come!
Our very own marathon/ultra man ADRIAN BUSOLINI was the 2nd fastest but 3rd finisher as he started later in the 50K Ultra. ROSS GALLAGHER and MIKE JEFFS enjoyed the half distance coming in 2nd place and STEVE PLATT came in a tremendous 2nd place in the 10k!
Well done to all those that ran, took part and enjoyed the day. We hope to see you all again next year!
Lots of Spartans took part in Race for Life on Sunday as part of the Cancer Research fundraising event.
It is usual to see a lot of Spartans at this event as those that don’t take part offer their marshalling skills to encourage and support others.
This year saw a larger than normal amount of Spartans take part as they were honouring a beloved Spartan member who we sadly lost earlier this year. The family were out supporting the wonderful charity and so our members also took to the course to support and remember Cathy.
Cathy Craig was a true inspiration to so many of us. From 5k up to Ultra’s and back down to EMAC, you name it Cathy did it. She was a renowned trophy winner at our annual Presentation Evening and we believe that she may of achieved the whole collection of awards available including the much sought after award of Spartan of the Year at this years ceremony.
Cathy would always greet everybody with a warm, infectious smile and would always be supportive and encouraging offering lots of runners tips where she could.
The Race for Life event would have been a day that Cathy loved! Dressing up in tutu’s, coloured wigs and head boppers, she would have been at the front of the queue!
#bemorecathy
EMAC
The FVS women’s team finished in third place in the EMAC league central division at Bedford on Wednesday. EMAC run a track and field league for veteran athletes in the East of England. Cambridge & Coleridge were out in force after their narrow defeat last month, winning on the night with 141 points with Marshall Milton Keynes placed second with 110 points and FVS with 106. FVS remain top points scorers with 393 points, but it all comes down to the last match in Sandy next month.
Spartan Women – SHARON CROWLEY, ASHLEY JOHNSON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, PAULA McMAHON, MARIAN MORLEY, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS and ANDREA WESTCOTT
Wins on the night came from Sharon Crowley in the 2km A string walk and W60 hammer throw. Sharon also placed 4th in the W50 100m and 5th in the W60 1500m. Other points came from Christine Lathwell, who placed 5th in the W35 100m after sprinting to the start line having placed 4th in the 2km B string walk. Christine also covered the W35 triple jump, finishing 4th. Joylyn Saunders-Mullins secured 2nd place in the W60+ 100m, 3rd in the W60+ 400m, and 2nd in the W60+ shot put. Paula McMahon made a mad dash from her car straight to the start line for the W35 400m, changing in to her spikes while the other women were lining up! Despite the lack of a warm up, Paula finished in a very respectable 3rd place. Andrea Westcott placed 2nd in the W50 400m, 4th in the W35 hammer, and 6th in the W35 shot put. Marian Morley started the evening with a new PB in the W50 shot put, finishing 3rd and also placed 3rd in the W50 hammer. Ashley Johnson made a welcome return to the team, running a great W35 1500m and finishing 2nd.
The W35 relay team of Paula McMahon, Christine Lathwell, Ashley Johnson, and Joylyn Saunders-Mullins finished 3rd in the 4 x 200m
The men’s team conststing of CHARLIE ARNOLD, ANTON McCALLA, NICK KLEANTHOUS, STEVE MAYFIELD, MICHAEL O’KEEFE, ANDREW PATTERSON, TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS and CHRIS WESTCOTT did themselves proud, finishing fourth on the night, just 8 points behind third placed Cambridge & Coleridge.
Wins from Andy Patterson in the M35 1500m and Tim Saunders-Mullins in the M60+ hammer throw combined with points scored by Anton McCalla, Nick Kleanthous, Chris Westcott, Charlie Arnold, Steve Mayfield, and Michael O’Keefe so the Spartans team remain in fourth place overall.
Mid Week League Round Up
Not only did Fairlands Valley Spartans get promoted to the top division in the Mid Week League (see last week’s release) but they had some great individual prize winners.
SAM PRETTY was second woman in the open competition; ASHLEY JOHNSON second in the women 35 plus category; SIMON FRASER third man in the open competition; ANDREW PATERSON WON the men 40 plus category with RICHARD BATE third.
AND Fairlands Valley Spartans were overall winners in the veterans contest.
Ultra 5k
MIKE JEFFS took on the ultra 5k challenge at Box End Bedford. This was a gruelling challenge running a 5k on the hour every hour for five hours. He managed to keep his times consistent which helped him achieve a third place finish. Mike’s first ever podium finish for a running event.
Wendover Woods 100 Miles
Adrian Busolini WON the Centurion Wendover Woods 100 mile event in 20 hours 24 minutes 59 seconds.
With 600m of climb and a mix of terrains, just one lap of this Wendover course is quite punchy. So 10 laps, in conditions only slightly cooler than SDW100, was always going to be a challenge for the 30 souls who toed the start line.
13 of them made it to the end, and Adrian was glad to be the first – not just because that meant he got to take home an almost life-sized Centurion trophy, but because he could catch an hour of rest and a few pretty awesome crepes before the Wendover Weekender kicked off, with Allie talking crewing and The Green Runners demonstrating how to repair shoe uppers.
It was the first time Centurion had run a camping, talks and general fun & games weekend like this, and they put on a really good show, with the volunteers standing out as usual being the ultra awesome folks they are. Good times, good conversations, and a weekend well spent.
ASHLEY JOHNSON was first female at Stevenage in a new parkrun personal best of 20 minutes 21 seconds for her 10th parkrun.
NICK GILL ran his 100th parkrun at Stevenage and did it with a new parkrun personal best of 18 minutes 40 seconds (18:40) which got him a top ten sixth place out of the 406 finishers.
NICOLA ANNDERSSON ran a new parkrun PB of 26:22 in Ballina, Ireland
The Spartans are promoted! In the final counting race of the Mid Week series Stevenage based Fairlands Valley Spartans squeezed past Royston Runners to grab second spot and thus promotion to the top division in the Mid Week League.
In the end it couldn’t have been much closer with Watford first with 39 points, Spartans second with 38 and Royston missing out with third and 37.
They did it by coming second in the men’s contest while Royston slipped to fourth. While the Spartans were third in the women’s event, with home team Barnet winning Royston coming two places behind in the men’s race gave FVS the opportunity.
The Trent Park race had a largely off road six miles course. There were 449 runners overall for the combined divisions two and three event and 43 were Spartans.
There were some brilliant Spartan performances including SAMANTHA-PRETTY CONNORS (41:30); ASHLEY JOHNSON (41:45) and CHRISTINE LATHWELL (42:02) all top ten at fourth, fifth and sixth in the women’s race. Samantha won her category (FV35); Ashley was second and Christine was second in the FV45. YUKO GORDON was first woman 65 plus with 49:36.
And the FVS men had four in the top ten. ANDREW PATTERSON (33:45); SIMON FRASER (33:54); ADRIAN BUSOLINI (34:17) and SIMON JACKSON (35:06) were fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth! Andrew was the fastest man over 40 and Simon Jackson third.
As a bonus the club won the veterans championship with 41 points ahead of Watford on 39 and Barnet on 27 – having beaten Watford by one race position on Thursday, just one race position by one runner – but what they are really celebrating is promotion to division one.
Ware 10 miles
Spartan MIKE JEFFS ran an amazing new personal best (PB) of 64 minutes 14 seconds in the challenging Ware ten mile race on Sunday morning. He was fourth senior man, fifth overall.
JIM BROWN defended his 70 plus “title” which he won last year. This time he finished in exactly 100 minutes and exactly four minutes ahead of his nearest rival.
MO WARRILLOW was fourth FV45 in 1:29:30 and ROBERT WRIGHT was another Spartan top ten in his category. He was seventh MV40 in 1:14:07.
DAVID PATTMAN and STEVEN DOBNER came in with 1:22:37 and 1:23:33. There were 220 finishers.
Pos
Cat Pos
Name
Cat
Gun
Chip
Comments
5.
4
6087
Mike JEFFS
MS
1:04:15
1:04:14
PB
29.
7
6155
Robert WRIGHT
MV40
1:14:07
1:14:03
84.
25
6144
David PATTMAN
MV40
1:22:37
1:22:30
90.
26
6143
Steven DOBNER
MV40
1:23:33
1:23:25
122.
4
6168
Mo WARRILLOW
FV45
1:29:38
1:29:30
178.
1
6094
Jim BROWN
MV70+
1:40:10
1:40:00
1st MV70
7 Peaks in Snowdonia
Spartan JOHN NELMS took part in a national police competition on Saturday joining teams from 30 different forces racing on a 22 mile all off road route over 7 peaks in Snowdonia. With almost 9000 feet of elevation and weather ranging from freezing rain to glorious sunshine, the team finished 21st out of 40 and 2nd in the super veterans’ category (all four team members had to be over 50 on race day).
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 1st July 2023
Congratulations to MATTHEW NEWTON running a parkrun PB of 18:50 at St Albans.
DEBBIE BLANTERN won the club’s 5K handicap race on Thursday evening. Debbie beat her handicap by 4 minutes 38 seconds with 30:22 and finished seven seconds ahead of MICHAEL O’KEEFE with a season’s best 25:14.
MATT GIFFORD was third in his first handicap with 21:10, beating his handicap by 2:05.
MARIE COLUCCI was second woman on handicap and on speed with 23:38 with ASHLEY JOHNSON was fastest female and third on handicap with 20:20.
The fastest Spartan on the night was NICK GILL with 18:46.
Summer Solstice 10K
Seven Spartans went to St Albans for the Summer Solstice 10K or #BeatTheSunset race on Wednesday. An 8p.m. start on a beautiful summer’s evening didn’t present problems for many people and all the Spartans were back in the sunshine with about half an hour to spare. Sunset was at 9.24p.m.
The fastest from Fairlands Valley Spartans was DAVID PATTMAN 83rd out of the 532 finishers with 44 minutes 19 seconds. STEVEN DOBNER was next in with a fine 47:45 with HARRIET SMITH 33rd woman beating 50 minutes with 49:12 and MO WARRILOW coming in at 52 minutes 32 seconds.
There was a tremendous personal best (PB) by CHLOE CHAPMAN who finished in 53 minutes 3 seconds, an improvement by 1 minute 47 seconds. MATT TUTTON improved his PB by 56 seconds to 55:17.
JIM BROWN ran his best 10K this year by seven seconds with 55:21 and was second in his category.
Yuko Wins Brutal British Masters
YUKO GORDON won Gold in the British Masters Multi-terrain 30K Championship on Sunday. The championship was incorporated into the North Downs Run, in which she came first in W65 (women 65 plus) category in 3:24:06. Overall Yuko was 180th out of 400 plus finishers.
The race started and finished at the Cyclo Park in Gravesend, Kent. The course is well known as tough, hilly and challenging on a normal day, but with the 31C heat added, it was absolutely brutal. However, the race is very popular for the stunning beauty of Britain’s fine vineyards, red carpets of poppy field and breathtaking views.
Orwell Challenge
Sunday saw MIKE JEFFS take on the Orwell Challenge in Felixstowe. There was some difficult terrain to deal with along with the local wildlife which included jelly fish! Mike said that it was a tough course but very beautiful.
He completed the half marathon distance in 2:14:14 – 21st out of 100 finishers.
Purbeck Plod
THOMAS SAUKA did the Purbeck Plod on Sunday, it was meant to be 25 miles but he did a marathon in the end with a few errors. Lucky Tom.
It was very beautiful event but very brutal as well. The course followed the southwest coast path from Swanage to Kimmeridge Bay, which had some killer vertical climbs and descents and 5 miles of overgrown path, then it cut inland to Corfe Castle then back to Swanage going over the hills and the great ridge which is amazing but a very long climb.
Tom finished in 7 hours 34 minutes with 42.26 kilometres done. He said “A tough day that I will never forget.”
Velo Park
JIM BROWN was running at the Lee Valley Velo Park, an Olympic venue, on Saturday morning. It was perhaps too hot to expect a good time but 1 hour 33 minutes 16 seconds for the ten miles WON his age group.
Parkrun Saturday 24th June 2023
STEVE DOBNER ran a new park PB of 24 minutes 47 seconds at Wimpole.
Every single race position counted in the third race in the Mid Week League on Thursday evening.
Fairlands Valley Spartans improved to win the men’s and women’s races but in an amazingly tight result only by a single point, that’s one race position, in each. The Spartans won the men’s race by 345 points to 346 and the women’s race by 152 to 153. In each case just ahead of Royston. So overall they won the fixture by 497 to 499.
The Spartans won every category on the night. Open men, open women, veteran men (by 11 points), veteran women (by 6 points).
FVS were helped by having a fantastic 57 runners – 26 women and 31 men. That was more than enough for three women’s teams of eight and two men’s teams of twelve.
The club’s big improvement compared with race two was down to having a lot more runners, more depth, and some outstanding performances.
The Spartans had four in the top twenty women and six in the top twenty men.
The four women were SAMANTHA PRETTY-CONNORS, second and first in her category (FV35) with 41 minutes 9 seconds for the approximately 10K of mixed terrain near Sandon and Buckland (not far from Royston); ASHLEY JOHNSON, fourth and second in her category (FV35); CHRISTINE LATHWELL, ninth and second in her category (FV45) with 42:59 and GABRIELLE O’BRIEN 19th in 47:01.
YUKO GORDON won the women aged 65 plus category with 48:29 and was 26th women in the race.
The six men were ANDREW PATTERSON, fifth and first man 40 plus in 34:12; SIMON FRASER, sixth in 34:15; SIMON JACKSON eighth and third man 40 plus in 35:04; JONATHAN PARR, 12th in 36:13; RICHARD BATE 19th in 37:33 and DANNY HUKIN 20th in 38:10.
The other “A” team women were SUZY HAWKINS 27th in 48:32; GEORGIE HOOPER 28th in 48:34 and MARIE COLUCCI 37th in 50:50. HARRIET SMITH and KELLY McHALE led in the “B” team at 38th and 39th with 51 minutes 5 seconds.
Altogether there were 472 runners in the race which included all the second and third division clubs, a total of 15 clubs. The promotion race is very tight. Two will get promoted and the Spartans are second on score with 29 compared with Watford’s 30 and tied with Royston but a little bit behind second on points (race positions) with 1,755 against 1,529. There are six clubs in the second division. It will all depend on the fourth and final race which will be in Trent Park on Thursday evening 29th June.
Tables
FVS Women (26)
Pos
Women
Cat
Vet
Time
First Name
Last Name
Cat
Div
Comments
72
2
1
2
41:09
Samantha
Pretty-Connors
V 35
2
1st FV35. Team A
94
4
2
3
42:33
Ashley
Johnson
V 35
2
2nd FV35. Team A
105
9
2
8
42:59
Christine
Lathwell*
V 45
2
2nd FV45. Team A
174
19
47:01
Gabrielle
O’Brien
S
2
Team A.
208
26
1
19
48:29
Yuko
Gordon
V 65
2
1st FV65. Team A
209
27
7
20
48:32
Suzy
Hawkins
V 45
2
Team A
211
28
10
21
48:34
Georgie
Hooper
V 35
2
Team A
251
37
9
26
50:50
Marie
Colucci
V 45
2
Team A
253
38
51:05
Harriet
Smith
S
2
254
39
12
27
51:05
Kelly
McHale
V 35
2
260
42
12
30
51:26
Tracey
Jackson
V 45
2
279
48
52:10
Abbie
Pez
S
2
306
55
18
41
53:59
Tracy
Pez
V 45
2
340
67
21
50
56:18
Wendy
Tharani
V 45
2
349
71
22
52
56:57
Mo
Warrillow
V 45
2
355
75
23
56
57:40
Fiona
Clarke
V 45
2
362
77
24
58
58:03
Nicola
Andersson
V 45
2
367
80
21
60
58:20
Anna
Swanepoel
V 35
2
389
88
28
66
59:55
Claire
Emmerson
V 45
2
390
89
59:56
Chloe
Chapman
S
2
392
90
23
67
1:00:13
Ada
Janusiene
V 35
2
393
91
29
68
1:00:14
Hazel
Smith
V 45
2
436
112
21
86
1:05:33
Sharon
Crowley
V 55
2
445
117
23
91
1:06:55
Jane
Wadey
V 55
2
447
118
24
92
1:07:36
Monica
Smithson
V 55
2
461
124
41
97
1:13:46
Tracy
Haygarth
V 45
2
FVS Men (31)
Pos
Men
Cat
Vet
Time
First Name
Last Name
Cat
Div
6
5
1
1
34:12
Andrew
Patterson
V 40
2
1st MV40. Team A
7
6
34:15
Simon
Fraser
S
2
Team A
10
8
3
3
35:04
Simon
Jackson
V 40
2
3rd MV40. Team A
15
12
36:13
Jonathan
Parr
S
2
Team A
27
19
6
7
37:33
Richard
Bate
V 40
2
Team A
32
20
7
8
38:10
Danny
Hukin
V 40
2
Team A
50
31
39:26
Mike
Jeffs
S
2
Team A
54
33
40:02
Nick
Gill
S
2
Team A
76
47
7
22
41:36
David
Riddell
V 50
2
Team A
83
51
42:05
Stuart
Archer
S
2
Team A
87
54
18
27
42:16
Adrian
Donnelly
V 40
2
Team A
92
59
21
31
42:29
Danny
Scanlon
V 40
2
Team A
136
75
15
44
44:34
Paul
Shelley
V 50
2
141
78
4
46
44:55
John
Harris
V 60
2
4th MV60
144
79
27
47
45:23
David
Pattman
V 40
2
145
80
28
48
45:24
Alexey
Zherdev
V 40
2
153
82
17
50
45:44
Matt
Gifford
V 50
2
154
83
30
51
45:45
Francois
Swanepoel
V 40
2
170
91
5
56
46:53
Charlie
Arnold
V 60
2
5th MV60
180
93
19
58
47:20
Craig
Bacon
V 50
2
225
106
36
68
49:02
Robert
Wright
V 40
2
248
112
50:34
Adrian
Busolini
S
2
252
113
27
73
51:01
John
Nelms
V 50
2
278
120
32
80
52:10
Matt
Clarke
V 50
2
351
140
57:04
Matt
Tutton
S
2
356
141
41
97
57:43
Andy
Jay
V 50
2
382
148
43
102
59:37
Tim
Robinson
V 50
2
403
152
43
105
1:01:04
Paul
Jennings
V 40
2
405
153
44
106
1:01:30
Michael
O’Keefe
V 50
2
446
158
17
110
1:07:08
Paul
Holgate
V 60
2
452
159
45
111
1:08:45
Karl
Shreeve
V 50
2
Parkrun Saturday 17th June 2023
Congratulation to GAIL MACKIE who ran her 100th parkrun and did it in 27:21.
The FVS women’s track and field team continued their winning streak in the EMAC (East of England Masters’ Athletics Club) league central division on Wednesday, narrowly beating hosts Cambridge & Coleridge AC by just 3 points! The team were missing a few key people, so everyone stepped up and competed in more events than originally planned, some for the first time!
FVS took maximum points in the sprint hurdles, with wins from Paula Dunne (W35 – women aged 35 plus) , Monica Brown (W50), and Sharon Crowley (W60+). Paula also won the W35 200 metres, clinching the win in the last few metres, finished 4th W35 800m, and placed 3rdin the W35 discus. Monica Brown won the W50 long jump and W50 high jump, finished 3rd in W50 javelin, and placed 3rd in the W50 discus.
Sharon Crowley dropped down an age group to cover the W50 200m, finishing in 4th place. Sharon also finished 2nd in the A string 1.5km walk. Other points on the night were won by Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (2nd in the W60 200m, W60 javelin, and W60 discus), Yuko Gordon (2nd place B string 1.5km walk and 4th W60 800m), Andrea Westcott (4th placed W50 800m, 4th W35 javelin, 4th W35 long jump, and 2nd W35 high jump). Sharon Crowley, Yuko Gordon, Paula Dunne, and Andrea Westcott finished the evening 4th in the W35 4x400m relay.
The men saw an improved performance from last month, with more events covered, and finished in fourth place. Andrew Patterson won the M35 800m and also finished 4th M35 javelin, managing to get a valid throw at his last attempt. Anton McCalla returned to the squad, finishing second in M35 long jump, 5th in M35 200m, and 4th M35 discus. Nick Kleanthous finished 5th M60+ 200m, 3rd B string 1.5km walk, and 5th M60+ discus. Charlie Arnold finished 4th in the M60+ 800m and M60 javelin. Michael O’Keefe finished 5th in the A string 1.5km walk, 6th M50 javelin, 4th M50 discus, and 5th M50 long jump. The men’s relay team finished 5th.
St Albans Half Marathon
It was approaching 30 degrees as four from Fairlands Valley Spartans tackled the hot and hilly St Albans Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
Jim Brown said, “It’s a good event but a challenging course in the best conditions. This was not the day for running a new fast time. I finished in 2 hours 8 minutes 14 seconds and top half with 810th out of the 1692 finishers which is not bad considering I was also third veteran aged over 70. Almost 27 minutes quicker than 2022.”
Nicola Andersson said, “The race was hot and hilly.” Nicola came in with 2:28:37.
Spartans LINDA GEORGE and MARTIN JACOB finished in 2:19:43 and 2:20:14.
100 Miles On The South Downs Way
ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran the South Downs Way 100 mile trail event at the weekend. That’s the entire South Downs Way national trail from Winchester to Eastbourne. He was fifth in 18 hours 12 minutes 41 seconds.
Parkrun Saturday 10th June 2023
Please click the link for the Consolidated Results for the 10th June 2023 for all Spartan runners
Three Fairlands Valley Spartans were in the top ten of the second midweek league event. Forty one Spartans made the trip to Watford where ANDREW PATTERSON was third in 34 minutes 53 seconds; ADRIAN BUSOLINI fifth in 35:08 and SIMON FRASER sixth in 35:13.
CHRISTINE LATHWELL was third woman in 42:24 and SAMANTHA-PRETTY-CONNORS seventh in 43:14. Three other Spartan women SUZY HAWKINS 48:41; GEORGIE HOOPER 49:26 and HARRIET SMITH 49:38 got under 50 minutes on the tough course.
251 finished the 10K race which was a mixture of surfaced paths and cross country in Cassiobury Park, Whippendell Wood and on Jacotts Hill.
Fairlands Valley Spartans came third in the race.
Royal 10 5k in The Netherlands
ASHLEY JOHNSON ran the Royal 10 5k race in the Netherlands and was second lady home! She ran just under the 20 minute mark with her chip time being 19:52.
She said that she didn’t know what to expect from the course and so took it easy for the first 1k, she then realised that it was pretty flat and the course took her through some beautiful woods which were lovely and shaded, at this point she sped up and came in with her brilliant time!
Not only did she get 2nd place on the podium but she also received a running shoe trophy and flowers.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 3rd June 2023
Please click the link to see the Consolidated Results for Spartan Parkruns on the 3rd June 2023
PB Success for the weekend of the 3rd June:
MARTIN JACOB ran his 5k PB in Stevenage with 23:07.
LINDA GEORGE ran her first ever sub 30 parkrun in a personal best (PB) of 28:31.
FRANCOIS SWANEPOEL ran a new PB of 21:40 at the Gunpowder parkrun.
Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT beat three hours in his first ever marathon. He ran the Edinburgh Marathon in 2 hours 54 minutes 13 seconds and was seventh in the men 45 plus category. David’s really pleased and proud of the result.
Also at Edinburgh was ROB WRIGHT and he ran a new personal best (PB) of 3 hours 31 minutes 6 seconds.
Round Up of Mid Week League Race 1
Fairlands Valley Spartans gave their promotion hopes a tremendous boost in the first race in the 2023 Mid Week League series. The Spartans had 67 finishers, more than any other club.
FVS were second in the men’s “A” race just behind Watford and second in the women’s “A” race just behind Royston. That meant that overall they scored ten match points – the same as current league leaders Watford.
In the veterans competition the Spartans were second just behind Watford but WON the women’s event well clear of Bishop Stortford. That means they lead the veterans contest.
The Spartan women in the top ten were SAMANTHA PRETTY-CONNORS third, and first female 35 plus, in 40 minutes 4 seconds (40:04); CHRISTINE LATHWELL fourth, and second FV45, in 40:28 and ASHLEY JOHNSON sixth, and second 35 plus, in 40:59.
The club’s leading men were SIMON FRASER sixth in 33:37; ANDREW PATTERSON eighth, and first man 40 plus, in 33:47; SIMON JACKSON tenth, and second man 40 plus, in 34:17 and, just out of the top ten but not far behind ADRIAN BUSOLINI eleventh in 34:27.
Fairlands Valley Spartans had no less than three senior men’s teams, three senior women’s teams, five veteran men’s teams and six veteran women’s teams. Senior men’s teams consisted of 12 runners. Senior women teams had eight runners. The 67 Spartans consisted of 38 men and 29 women.
Hatfield Broad Oak 10k
Jim Brown completed the course in 55:43 and Penny Schenkel in 59:05.
Serpentine 5k
Once through the first kilometre Spartan Jim Brown enjoyed himself and finished first MV70 in 27 minutes 24 seconds (63.7%).
Fairlands Valley Spartans gave their promotion hopes a tremendous boost in the first race of this year’s evening Mid Week League. They were second overall with 67 finishers, 38 men and 29 women.
FVS were second with 545 points, just 24 ahead of Royston. Watford appear to have a strong lead of 59 points but they could easily be caught in the coming weeks. The top two clubs will be promoted at the end of the season so the Spartans will be maximising their efforts to maintain that second place, or better.
Altogether there were 538 runners from 15 clubs in the race. The 67 from FVS compares with 65 from Royston; 53 from Barnet and 51 from Watford. In addition to the 67 many other Spartans were volunteers helping to make the event a success.
Stort Five
Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the team prize at Sunday’s Stort Five trail race.
STEVE DOBNER reports: Sunny skies greeted us as we made the short hop over to the Stort5. The event was a sell out with 500 runners entered into the 5 or 10 mile race with 209 runners finishing the 5 mile run. Having run both the 5 & 10 race previously it is now a must in my race diary, it is a friendly and extremely well run event.
A slight delay greeted us at the start line as a local bee keeper decided to open their hives 10 minutes before the scheduled start, a quick route change was arranged (unfortunately leaving the races short of 5 or 10 miles) and we were called back and set off.
The route snakes round Cammas Farm before taking in some lovely trails with two short road sections.
Dave Pattman was first Spartan home, fourth overall in 31:53, Steve Dobner came home in 8th in 33:53 followed by Suzy Hawkins 35:11, Mo Warrillow in 39:24, Nicola Anderson 42:21 and Sue Harmer in 45:53.
With Dave finishing fourth, Steve in 8th and Suzy in 13th Fairlands Valley Spartans won the mixed team event and received their lovely wooden trophies as they watched the 10 mile runners come home.
The Spartans women’s team smashed it at the first EMAC fixture of the year which was at Milton Keynes on Wednesday evening. They scored 143 points way ahead of the home club Milton Keynes with 88.
The FVS team of six men came a very creditable fifth with several taking part for the first time.
13 Spartans travelled to Milton Keynes on Wednesday evening to compete in the first EMAC league match of the season. A minute silence was held before the competition began, and the team wore ribbons to remember Cathy Craig who was a much loved member of the team.
In fitting tribute to Cathy, the women’s team romped to victory on the night, beating arch rivals Marshall Milton Keynes by nearly 60 points. The team welcomed newbie Paula McMahon, who covered the women 35 plus 100 metres ( with 4th place) and WON the W35 400 metres! Other wins on the night came from Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (WON W60 100m by a massive margin, and also took second place in W60 shot put), Christine Lathwell (WON W35 3k, also 2nd place W35 triple jump), Andrea Westcott (WON W50 400m, WON W50 high jump, and WON W50 triple jump, and was also 4th place W35 hammer, and 4th place W35 shot put), Yuko Gordon (WON W60 3k and B string 1m walk), Sharon Crowley (WON W60 hammer, and was also 3rd place W60 400m, 2nd place A string 1m walk, and 2nd place W60 triple jump), Marian Morley (WON W50 shot put – just missing out on a PB (personal best) by 4cm, also 2nd place W50 hammer).
Following a tactical decision by the captain, Joylyn, Yuko, Sharon, and Andrea ran unopposed in the W50 4 x 100m relay to gain maximum points.
The men finished in a respectable fifth position, with newbies Michael O’Keefe and Charlie Arnold covering multiple events, but points went begging due to a lack of throwers and jumpers this time. Wins on the night came in the M60 hammer and the M35 3k, with other points scored in M50 100m, M60 100m, M35 400m, M60 400m, M60 3k, A string and B string 1m walk, M35 hammer, M50 shot put, and the 4 x 100m relay.
14 Spartans enjoyed the 13.1 miles of the Greenway Challenge which is a largely trail event around Letchworth on Sunday.
Several members have recently ran marathons and so took the opportunity to relax a bit and enjoy this unique event.
There were some good performances including Nick Gill 12th overall in 1:52:47; John Harris 13th overall and first man over 60 also in 1:52:47 and Kim Tyler beating two hours with 1:59:35. She was fourth woman 35 plus.
Steve Dobner and Mo Warrilow came in together at 2:05:34.
Jim Brown finished in 2:10:35. He was third man over 60. Michael O’Keefe came in with 2:12:26.
Tim Robinson, Vicky Archer, Claire Emmerson, Linda George and Martin Jacob all had a wonderful time at the Greenway Challenge. They ran, walked and skipped their way around the half marathon course enjoying chatting with each other and seeing the scenery.
They have all either ran marathons and/or trained hard in the past few weeks and so they enjoyed running for fun and even more, they enjoyed the cakes at the end!
Milton Keynes Marathon
Adrian Busolini paced the sub three hour group at the Milton Keynes Marathon. A job well done as they crossed the line in 2 hours 59 minutes 42 seconds (2:59:42).
Adrian Busolini said:
“I was peppered with questions about my race strategy in the starting pen, which was a slightly daunting experience for a first-time pacer. I explained we’d be running mostly even splits, while aiming for consistent effort on the ascents and descents; and given the race started atop a hill, this meant we’d be subject to a slightly faster start. Questions continued into the first few kilometres of the race, most concerningly from a couple of runners who expressed some anxiety over the starting pace. If they couldn’t briefly handle some 10 seconds/km under target over a descent, I thought, then I seriously feared for their chances at sub-3. I quietly wondered how many would still be with me at the end of the race.
Down on the flat, to avoid any more unnecessary congestion at bottlenecks, I eased forward to put a little distance between us and the half marathon 1h 30m pacer. Now I could more clearly see that quite a sizable group had gathered around me. We comfortably settled into the 4:15 target pace, and I began my Milton Keynes running tour commentary. Kudos to everyone who tolerated that with good humour.
My group remained fairly consistent until the second lap of the course, when despite warnings about maintaining fluid/electrolyte balance in the warmer conditions, numbers rapidly started to dwindle. I tried my best to keep various people going, even slightly losing track of pace on a couple of occasions as I tried to coax individuals along. Once a small pack broke away in the last 7km to push on for PBs, and the last few runners I’d been desperately trying to encourage dropped off, I found myself entirely alone for a kilometre or two, briefly pondering why I was here today, casually trotting past Woughton on the Green with a blue flag flying from my back.
Near the finish, I picked up a few more struggling souls, until we hit that final hilly kilometre, where I found myself maniacally screaming at tiring runners on the ascent, demanding more and more effort from them, to assure their sub 3 finish. Being right there when they achieved their goals was a fantastic experience, one that’ll stick long in my memory. No doubt partially aided by the sight of a runner in the background dressed in a cow suit, who was going by the name of ‘Moosain Bolt’.
Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the team prize at Sunday’s Hitchin 10K road race plus ANDREW PATTERSON was second man and ASHLEY JOHNSON second woman overall.
Only a week after an outstanding run in the London Marathon Andrew was second in the race with 34 minutes 26 seconds, a new season’s best by 1 minute 22 seconds.
Ashley was second woman overall, first in her age category and ran a new 10K personal best (PB) by 38 seconds with 41 minutes 59 seconds (41:59).
The other Spartan team counters were DAN HUKIN 13th overall in 38:05, his best this year, and fourth in age category, and DANNY SCANLON 41st in 41:05, a season’s best by 2 seconds. The FVS team won by 1 minute and 1 second.
PENNY SCHENKEL expected she was going to take 70 minutes but took 1 minute 48 seconds off her season’s best time when she finished in 1:00:27.
JIM BROWN said he was pleased to finish the Hitchin 10K only 28 seconds outside his best time of the year with 56:06.
MICHAEL O’KEEFE was another Spartan who ran at London. He maintained a sensible 10 minutes per mile pace and finished the 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in 1:00:06.
JANE WADEY said she was pleased with her results. 65:40 was just 38 seconds short of her PB despite running with a sore ankle.
(Photo Credit, Main Photo – Marie Colucci)
County Track and Field Championships
There were eight members of the club at the County Track and Field Championships for veterans at Ridlins on bank holiday Monday.
In the 1500 metres MO WARILLOW won GOLD in the women 45 plus race with 6 minutes 57.56 seconds (6:57.56); SHARON CROWLEY won GOLD in the women 55 plus event with 8:06.10; PAUL HOLGATE won GOLD in the men’s 60 plus category with 8:23.88 and JIM BROWN won GOLD in the 70 plus race with 7:47.26.
DAVID PATTMAN won 1500 metre SILVER in the MV40 category race with 5:37.81 and STEVEN DOBNER MV40 BRONZE with 5:43.94. THOMAS SAUKA just missed out on the medals with 5:50.56.
In the sprints DAVE STEPHENSON won the men 60 plus 100 metres in 14.2 seconds and the men 60 plus 200 metres in 29.45 seconds.
SHARON CROWLEY took SILVER in the hammer with 16.32 metres.
Serpentine
Jim Brown ran Friday’s Serpentine 5K in 27 minutes 54 seconds (27:54). He was second MV70.
What a fantastic day for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the London Marathon. Two Spartans under 2 hours 40 minutes – that’s championship level, a third close to a world record, 17 runners and 44 helpers.
ANDREW PATTERSON and SIMON FRASER both swept under 2 hours 40 minutes with Andrew 505th out of about 50,000 finishers in 2 hours 38 minutes 37 seconds and Simon 545th in a tremendous new personal best (PB) by 7 minutes 15 seconds with 2:39:10.
YUKO GORDON won her age group by more than 35 minutes and came close to a world record for a woman aged 70 plus with 3 hours 28 minutes 20 seconds (3:28:20).
Spartan TANYA BRAZIER took exactly 29 minutes off her marathon personal best when she finished in 4 hours 10 minutes 1 second and FIONA CLARKE took 8:47 off hers with 4:21:00.
Three were running their first marathons – CHARLOTTE BRAZIER with 4:30:26; SAM MAIDENS with 4:32:57; and MICHAEL O’KEEFE with 4:34:10.
There were season’s bests by CHRIS HOLLAND 4:44:36; TRUDIE KING 5:15:17; BARRY KING 5:38:07 and MARIA THORNE 5:43:41.
JIM BROWN could be running next year as he qualified Good For Age with 4 hours 50 minutes 5 seconds (4:50:05).
MIKE JEFFS completed his second marathon at London with 3 hours 29 minutes 22 seconds. He said it was tough work but the atmosphere and crowd got him over the line.
An eighteenth Spartan ROBERT WRIGHT ran the London Marathon virtually in 4:24:52.
The Spartans organised a huge number of volunteers to provide helpers on three baggage lorries just after the finish on The Mall. Something FVS have done very efficiently for many years and vital so that runners get their kit back after their 26.2 miles.
Boston Marathon
Spartan PETE SMITH ran the 127th Boston Marathon the 17th April in 3 hours 35 minutes 20 seconds (3:35:20). He said it was a hilly course and now knows why it’s called Heartbreak Hill! It was a tad wet but he thoroughly enjoyed it!
Centurion Track 100
On Saturday, Spartan CIARAN MCANENY competed in the Centurion Track 100 mile race at Bedford Athletics Stadium.
This is an IAU Gold elite level event, designed for runners to compete under the fastest possible conditions and with a focus on record setting. The main focus is on the 100 mile distance, but official records are also taken at 50km, 50 mile, 100km, 6hr and 12hrs en-route.
Ciaran was crewed by fellow Spartans Adrian Busolini and Susan McAneny, who gave amazing support for every lap and made sure he was sticking to his pacing and nutrition plan.
The race saw multiple national records fall and a V50 100 mile World Record set. Amongst all of this, Ciaran set a PB completing 100 miles in 16:17:20 (including a 100km PB of 9:25:32 and a 12hr PB of 124.226km).
Endurance Pembrokeshire Half
Spartan NICK GILL ran the Pembrokeshire Half in Wales on the 22nd April. It is part of the Endurancelife coastal trail series.
The route goes along the stunning Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Nick said that he really wanted to enjoy it so wasn’t pushing too hard, but had a great second half and somehow ended up finishing 7th out of 180 finishers in 1:52:14!
Wednesday 12th April saw the return of the evening Resolution 5K on Ridlins track, Fairlands Valley Spartans won it and recorded no less than eight new personal bests (PBs).
The Spartans won with Simon Fraser 3rd in 16:27, Jonathan Parr 4th in 16:45, Kelvin Beyioku 6th in 17:54 and Ashley Johnson first woman and 27th overall in 20:19. Teams consisted of the first three men and first woman finishing from each club. Simon improved his PB by 21 seconds and Ashley hers by 46 seconds.
Spartan PAULA DUNNE was the third woman overall in 21:39, a new personal best by 1 minute 14 seconds.
NICK GILL was seventh in the race in 17:59, a new 5K personal best by 1 minute 8 seconds. He said the support in the stands and on the track made a real difference and helped him get over the line in just under 18 minutes with the help of a sprint finish. MIKE JEFFS came in next in 19:11 and DANNY SCANLON in 19:25.
There was another PB by NICK KLEANTHOUS with 24:04. He said it was a well organised event and a very big turnout for FVS. Lots of runners stayed until the end to support later runners. Lovely to see this and the support from non runners alike.
JANE WADEY equalled her 5K personal best with 31:31 which was set in May 2022. HAZEL SMITH was very pleased with her 24:22.
That was cold said JIM BROWN who went round the 12.5 laps in a steady 27 minutes 57 seconds.
FVS also achieved the highest number of finishers. The top three clubs were FVS 24; North Herts Road Runners 14 and Stevenage Phoenix 11.
Manchester Marathon
Spartan SIMON JACKSON ran a new personal best at the Manchester Marathon. His 2:44:12 beat the very significant 2 hours 45 minutes target.
Simon said “A new PB which I’ll take at 47 and after a lot of years of running.”
Spartans LINDA GEORGE and MARTIN JACOB did their first full marathon at Manchester on Sunday.
Martin said the last six miles were a real struggle. The training sessions and the long Sunday runs with Fairlands Valley Spartans really helped me to push the boundaries and achieve a sub 4 hour timing.
Martin Jacob finished in 3:59:57 and Linda George in 5:00:23
VICKY ARCHER ran her first road marathon in Manchester finishing in 4.19.09.
She smashed her 4:30 goal and it was also a personal best from her last one on file which was 5:40 (although that was a trail marathon when doing the challenge a couple of years ago).
Flitwick 10K
Spartan YUKO GORDON showed the way at the Flitwick 10K. She won the women 65 plus category in 46 minutes 33 seconds, was 85th overall out of 424 finishers and received a lovely gold medal.
HAZEL SMITH did 52:47 for 178th.
JIM BROWN was very pleased with his efforts at Flitwick. He finished in 55 minutes 38 seconds, 1 minute 13 seconds faster than on the flatter St. Albans 10K two weeks earlier. He said the first kilometre winding up through a housing scheme felt hard but he ran a negative split, second half faster than the first by 34 seconds, came second in his category and just in the first half of the race.
Calderdale Hike
Mike and Sharon Crowley took part in the Calderdale Hike on Saturday, based at Sowerby. They completed the 26 miles, with some 3600 feet of climb, in 8 hours 26 minutes. The weather was unexpectedly lovely, with lots of sunshine and minimal breeze.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 15th April 2023
Congratulations to Spartan TRACY HAYGARTH who was at Stevenage to run her 100th parkrun. She finished her celebration run around Fairlands Valley Park in 34:07.
Fantastic! Fairlands Valley Spartan Yuko Gordon WON her age group, women 70 plus, and broke the British record by nearly half a minute in the Maidenhead 10 miles race on Good Friday.
Her chip time of 74:08 easily won her category and her “gun time” (used officially) of 74:20 broke the 10 mile record which had been held by Angela Copson since 2017.
The race was very well organised and marshals were friendly and efficient like Spartans. The car park was big enough to accommodate everyone and was just next to race HQ and the start/finish area. All in one place.
Yuko said, “The course was generally flat and fast but the inevitable nature of country lanes came with uneven surfaces (not ideal for my air pumped up Nike high heel shoes i.e. alpha fly… every chance of tripping) and water puddles in some part. Even pacing didn’t work and my pace varied from 7 minutes to nearly 8 minutes each mile. I hurtled down the slight down hill between miles 5 and 6; the hop and step side to side over the wet puddles on the pavement section was the slowest mile before coming back into the last mile, the fastest at 6:58.”
St Albans Easter 10K
NICK GILL excelled with a new personal best (PB) by nearly three minutes and his first time under 40 minutes with 38 minutes 10 seconds. He was 34th overall. Nick’s previous PB was 41:07 at the St Albans Mid Week League race in St Albans in May 2022.
JIM BROWN was a little slower than he’d like but 56:51 was good enough for second in his category. LIZ CARVELL came back in 64:05. This was her first race since 29th December 2019, before lockdown. She said it was a flat course but slightly uphill near the end of the Alban Way. She was happy with her time.
There was a big cheer for NICHOLA DURENT when she finished in 83 minutes exactly. Nichola said it was nice to have sun and not rain and mud like Lee Valley a couple of weeks ago.
Beaconsfield 5 Cross Country
WENDY THARANI said the Beaconsfield 5 Cross Country was beautiful, very wet and very muddy. It was really well organised by Burnham Joggers, with loads of friendly marshals standing about in the pouring rain. An absolutely stunning route in the grounds of the Hall Barn Estate. She really enjoyed it. Wendy ran the five miles in 50 minutes 12 seconds.
Six Fairlands Valley Spartans accepted an invitation from Stevenage and North Herts Athletics Club to join them at their open track event.
Spartan SIMON JACKSON won the men’s 1500 metres race at the SNHAC Track Open event at Ridlins on Saturday afternoon. He finished in 4 minutes 38.61 seconds. NICK GILL was next in for Fairlands Valley with 5 minutes 3 seconds exactly.
PETER ORTON came in with 5:49.93; NICK KLEANTHOUS, running his first 1500, with 6:34.47 and JIM BROWN was first in his category with 8:08.62.
In the women’s race JANE WADEY, also running her first 1500, was sixth with 9:12.89.
Jane said that it was her first attempt at 1500m and although it was hard, she was pleased in the end as she managed my best pace yet.
Brighton Marathon Weekend
Spartans STEVE DOBNER and DAVE PATTMAN ran the Brighton Marathon on Sunday.
Steve said it was pretty chilly on arrival but the sun came out to warm the day. Lots of hairpin turns and hillier than they anticipated.
He was really pleased to complete it in 3:47:33 for a 25 minute PB and achieving a sub 4 after struggling for the last 3 or 4 miles.
Dave Pattman came home in 3:52 and said with his sub 4 he is retiring from marathons – well until he runs Beachy Head in October.
Paris Marathon
MIKE JEFFS took part in the Paris marathon on Sunday. He said that the event was incredible, really well supported and organised.
He completed the course in 3:13:18 taking 11 mins off his PB. Leading up to the day he had struggled with his knee but on the day it played ball and he was able to take in the sites and keep a good pace. He now has 3 weeks to rest before doing it all again in London!
London Landmarks Half Marathon
Spartan CHRIS WATLING finished the London Landmarks Half Marathon in (what he called) a respectable 1.55:02
He said it’s a race he’s always wanted to do and he thoroughly enjoyed it!
Danny Scanlon finished the Landmarks in 1:30:21.
Sandy 10
CLAIRE PULLEN finished in 1 hour 18 minutes 18 seconds for 84th place. JIM BROWN and TRICIA HOPPER raced together over the last mile with Jim finishing 172 in 1:31:15 and Tricia 173rd in 1:31:17. SHARON CROWLEY came in with 1:47:55 and PAUL HOLGATE with 1:49:50.
Serpentine 5k
Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park, London. Spartan JIM BROWN was first man 70 plus in 28 minutes 29 seconds (28:29).
In the ATW RunFest at Lee Valley there were two Spartans in the 10K, JANE WADEY came 208th with 68:17 and NICHOLA DURENT 251st in 86:04.
Nichola Durent said, “On Sunday I completed the Lee Valley Run Fest 10K. It’s a lovely route, although some bits pretty muddy and puddly from all the rain. I completed it in 1.26.04. I overtook a few people and had my eye on one last person to overtake before I finished. I only went and did it!
Nichola was joined by her brother who is pictured with her and Jane. The photo credit goes to Keith Fenwick.
It was Jane Wadey’s first 10K. She said it was very wet with lots of mud and surface water underfoot but she completed it in 68 minutes 17 seconds.
Adrian Busolini was third in the Camino Lea Valley 50km race with 3 hours 34 minutes 32 seconds (3:34:32).
Five Spartans ran the Twin Lakes 20 race in Milton Keynes on Sunday. PETE SMITH was in the top 100 at 87th and won the men 60 plus category with 2 hours 42 minutes 22 seconds (2:42:22). Next came HARRIET SMITH and SAM MAIDENS two senior women Spartans whose marathon preparation seems to be going well. Harriet was 205th in 3 hours 5 minutes exactly and Sam 248th in 3:13:09.
MICHAEL O’KEEFE’s hard work over the last few months is paying off. He was 253rd in 3:14:37. WENDY THARANI continued her recovery from injury with 3:55:47.
The TWIN LAKES 20 is a stunning 10-mile or 20-mile race that will have prepared many for a Spring half or full marathon experience without having to run on their own.
MATTHEW NEWTON ran the ten mile TWIN LAKES option in 1 hour 54 minutes 42 seconds.
Rome Marathon
They say running “Run Rome the Marathon” is like running in an open-air museum and Spartan ROB WRIGHT ran it on Sunday. He said it was brilliant but a tough course with lots of cobblestones. Not a PB (personal best) this time but a sub 4 achievement with 3 hours 56 minutes 7 seconds (3:56:07).
Parkrun Results
Local parkrun events returned two, well deserved, first place Spartan finishes for NICK GILL and SIMON FRASER.
NICK GILL’s run in Letchworth resulted in a PB time of 19 minutes and 58 seconds, while SIMON FRASER completed the Stevenage course to WIN in 17 minutes and 33 seconds (17:33).
PB runs were also recorded for ASHLEY JOHNSON, who finished as the second female in a time of 20 minutes and 52 seconds in Stevenage, and DAVID PATTMAN who completed the Great Denham event in 20 mins and 50 secs.
ANDREW PATTERSON won the last race in the cross country league series.
On the tough course near Royston with several sloggy hills Andrew ran the nine kilometres event in just 34 minutes 37 seconds. Next came SIMON JACKSON in 38:23 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI also in the top twenty at 19th with 40:13. Eight were needed for a men’s “A” team and the others were NICK GILL, 27th in 41:44; ADRIAN DONNELLY 42nd in 44:14; DANNY SCANLON 63rd in 46:22; THOMAS SAUKA 142nd in 57:26 and MICHAEL O’KEEFE 160th in 59 minutes 5 seconds.
KELLY McHALE had a brilliant run to lead in the women’s team at 112th overall and 19th woman with 53 minutes 1 second. A team of five for the women was needed and the others were CLAIRE EMMERSON 174th in 61:17; PENNY SCHENKEL 185th in 63:17; SHARON CROWLEY 214th in 70:47 and JANE WADEY 216th in 72:47.
The Spartans needed another five male finishers for a “B” men’s team and the next five across the line were NICK KLEANTHOUS 175th in 61:19; JON SYPULA 187th in 63:23; MARK FREEMAN 194th in 65:06; ANDY JAY 198th in 65:35 and JIM BROWN 199th in 66:20.
Milton Keynes Festival of Running
HARRIET SMITH ran the half marathon distance at the MK Festival of Running and beat 1:50 with a great 1:49:36.
Fairlands Valley Spartans had a great club outing to Cambridge with seventeen running the half marathon and three of the fastest from Fairlands finishing within two seconds of each other.
Three personal bests came from the three who raced the event together. NICK GILL 1,011th in 1:27:16; MATTHEW NEWTON 1,013th in 1:27:27 and MIKE JEFFS 1,014th in 1:27:18. Nick improved by 3 minutes 49 seconds; Mike by 3:54 and Matthew by an enormous 38:37. All in the top ten per cent of the race.
The fourth PB was from SAM SIMMONS with 1:32:59.
STEVEN DOBNER improved his best half marathon time by 4 minutes 37 seconds when he finished in 1 hour 37 minutes 3 seconds (1:37:03). CHRIS WATLING came in at 1:51:38, an improvement of 1:46. MO WARRILOW ran a new pb of 1:53:26! She was so pleased as for a long time she didn’t think she could go sub 2 hours! CAROLYN LINSELL ran a new PB of 2:16:34.
SIMON JACKSON finished second in his age group and 83rd overall with 1:13:42. He said, “Unfortunately I never really found a group to run with but I was happy with my second fastest half marathon ever after some very average training and some niggles. He was the fastest from the club and in the top 1% in the race.
YUKO GORDON won her age category F70 in 1:37:22, over 9 minutes ahead of F65 winner. She said, “I pushed harder than usual to shake off my habit of running within my comfort zone but there was a little drop in pace here and there by losing concentration.”
CAROLE SHELDRICK ran her first half marathon in three years. Carole said, “The Cambridge Half has always been one of my favourites. My plan was to make it round and enjoy it, so I was very happy to come in under two hours (Official time 1 hour 59 minutes 47 seconds). Brilliant event, great support along the route and as always a fantastic medal.
Tokyo Marathon – Abbott world marathon 6 star finishers
Four Spartans endured the 14 hour flight to Japan to run the 2023 Tokyo marathon.
STUART HAYCROFT, JACKIE DOWNES and TODD GRAY were originally scheduled to run in 2020, but five days before they were due to board flights and after 16 weeks of intense training, the marathon was cancelled due to Covid. After several deferrals and foreign embargoes, they finally toed the start line this year for the original 2020 entry.
This race was the culmination of a several year journey to achieve the coveted Abbott world major six star finishers medal for Jackie Downes and Stuart Haycroft. This medal is only being awarded to people who have completed all the majors, comprising Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo and London. The group of people in the world who have completed remains small as it’s incredibly difficult to gain entry to these races, and the logistics of running them is very problematic and difficult.
Stuart said, “Wow, what a city, what lovely people and such a great race. To finally receive my six star medal is one of my proudest moments of my life, the effort, resources, patience and money it has taken to here has been massive. It’s been such a long journey, but absolutely worth it. It was great to share this experience with three other Spartans”
ROSS GALLAGHER was the fastest Spartan on the day, breaking three hours for the first time in 02:59:26 (PB) with an amazing run through this amazing city.
Ross said of his run, “After what was tough training block it was fantastic to go under 3 hours for the first time and grab a 9 minute PB. Thanks to Stuart Haycroft for some consistent pacing and words of encouragement when I had to dig deep for the last three miles for what felt like the world’s longest ‘park run’.”
The other Spartans completing this race were: Stuart Haycroft: 02:59:27 (SB); Todd Gray: 3:24:21 and Jackie Downes: 04:42:14.
All four have commented on what an amazing place Tokyo is and should definitely be on the bucket list of anybody who enjoys running foreign races.
Berkhampstead Half Marathon
Four Spartans stayed in the county and were in Berkhamsted to help celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Berko Runs.
FIONA CLARKE had a brilliant run to finish in 1 hour 55 minutes 54 seconds. Fiona said, “It was a surprise sub-2 for me, as I simply haven’t been running well or with enough results to point to this result so I’m very happy. I really enjoyed the race, the organisation and support were amazing. I even enjoyed the undulating course, the long downhills were very rewarding.”
JIM BROWN improved by ten minutes on his most recent attempt at a half marathon and finished in 2:03:15 which gave him third in his age group. Coming back from injury WENDY THARANI wanted a trouble free long run which she did with 2:16:55.
In the five mile Berko race PENNY SCHENKEL went round in 48 minutes 22 seconds. She was 250th out of the 447 finishers.
Essex 20
ROB WRIGHT added to the variety with a former airfield based 20 mile race near Saffron Walden. He completed the race in 2 hours 36 minutes 36 seconds. That’s a personal best (PB) by 39 minutes 44 seconds.
Chiltern Kanter
Mike and Sharon Crowley completed the 26 mile Chiltern Kanter in 8 hours 49 minutes. The route included over 4700 feet of climbing. The challenge was to answer questions at 32 map references, self navigating round the route, not following written instructions.
TIM ROBINSON did an 18 mile version of the same event in 3 hours 36 minutes exactly.
Wokingham
CRAIG BACON ran the Wokingham Half Marathon recently. He finished in 1:43:22.
The route took a two mile loop around the historic town centre, before heading out into the country roads of Royal Berkshire. The route was pretty flat, which was advertised as an opportunity for a PB, although with disruption to training due to minor ailments this was not very likely.
I was encouraged along for the first few miles by running with an old friend from Reigate Priory Athletics Club, before letting him push on and taking the sensible decision to stick with my own maintainable pace.
I was very pleased to come in with a chip time of 1:43:22 to finish 1135 of 2500 finishers and 143 of 330 Male Vet 50.
Parkrun Highlights
Saturday 4th March 2023
CHLOE CHAPMAN enjoyed her 100th parkrun with 30:14.
New PB for Michael O’Keefe of 26:15 at Henlow Bridge Lakes
The Spartan men’s team of SIMON FRASER, TONY RANDFIELD, JOHN HARRIS and MARCUS RIDLEY won the team competition by 175 points to 188 ahead of North Herts Road Runners.
Simon was fourth overall in 1 hour 21 minutes 31 seconds (1:21:31); Tony 40th in 1:38:09; John 47th in 1:39:10 and Marcus 84th in 1:47:50. Tony was first in the men 60 plus category and John Second.
SAM MAIDENS was the fastest female from Spartans beating two hours with 1:59:18. An excellent time as she continues her marathon preparation. LINDA GEORGE was next woman in for the Spartans with 2:21:25.
CHRIS WATLING 1:59:10 also beat two hours. Then came TIM ROBINSON 2:04:14 who felt strong at the start and up to about 5miles. Then he said his legs started protesting but his last three miles were very fast. He was happy to be not too much over two hours
Within the next minute MARTIN JACOB 2:04:32 and MICHAEL O’KEEFE 2:04:55. Followed by JIM BROWN in with 2 hours 13 minutes 50 seconds.
MATTHEW NEWTON was not far behind in 2:14:53 then SHARON CROWLEY completed the Spartan thirteen with 2:33:13.
Presentation Evening
Fairlands Valley Spartans enjoyed themselves at the Cromwell Hotel, Stevenage with their annual presentation evening on Friday evening.
ANDREW PATTERSON was overall male and club champion for 2022 and YUKO GORDON was overall female champion.
CATHY CRAIG was voted Spartan of the Year.
SUZY HAWKINS won the women’s open short contest with a margin of 7% while YUKO GORDON won the age graded competition with 97.4%! The short contest was determined by the best of three out of 1500 metres, 5K, 5 miles and 10K.
The women’s open long was won by HAZEL SMITH 4.2% ahead of WENDY THARANI who was just 0.2% in front of FIONA CLARKE.
Meanwhile the women’s age graded long competition was won by YUKO GORDON with an amazing 99.5. TRICIA HOPPER was second and SHARON CROWLEY third. The long contest was best of three out of 10 miles, half marathon, 20 miles and full marathon (26.2 miles / 42.2 kilometres).
ANDREW PATTERSON won the men’s open short and long open competitions with 79.4% and 79.2%. GRANT RAMSAY was second in the short with 69.8% and STUART ARCHER third with 68.5%. ROSS GALLAGHER was second in the long with 66.6% and STUART ARCHER third with 65.4%.
SIMON JACKSON won both men’s age graded competitions with 84.5% and 84.2%. GEORGIE HOOPER and DEREK CORNELIUS was the most improved Spartans in 2022.
David Scott, Chair of FVS in 2022 presented the Chair’s Award to VICKY ARCHER while the captains’ awards went to NICK KLEANTHOUS and JANE WADEY for their participation in league events.
The President’s Award went to ROGER BIGGS who has co-ordinated the Spartans involvement – runners and volunteers – in the London Marathon for 25 years.
Seville Marathon
The Seville Marathon went well for YUKO GORDON. She finished in 3 hours 27 minutes 18 seconds to win first women 70 plus beating the men’s 70 plus winner by two minutes. Her average pace was better than 5 minutes per kilometre. She said the course was similar to London with a couple of under paths down and up, there was a long flat cobbled path from 38k to 39k which was pain for her to keep her balance but no problem for bigger feet.
Parkrun Saturday 25th February 2023
There was a parkrun PB (personal best) for Nick Gill who finished 5th in 19-07, smashing his previous time by thirty-five seconds.
Running just a shade under 10 kilometres off road Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI finished under 40 minutes with 38 minutes 48 seconds (38:48) and was 14th out of about 300 in the race.
The Spartans needed eight for a men’s team and they were Adrian, GRANT RAMSAY 21st in 40:25; STUART ARCHER 54th in 43:32; NICK GILL 56th in 43:40; DANNY SCANLON 75th in 44:46; THOMAS SAUKA 129th in 49:18; STEVE MAYFIELD 133rd in 49:19; and ROBERT WRIGHT 239th in 59:28. Grant won the 50 plus category.
HARRIET SMITH says she started too fast but she was still fastest female from Fairlands with 51:35 and 155th overall. Five were needed for a women’s team and the others were SHARON CROWLEY 288th in 72:23; JANE WADEY 289th in 72:30; HAZEL SMITH 297th in 83:11 and CALLIE CHAPMAN 298th also in 83:11.
Six other men ran for the Spartans. They were MICHAEL O’KEEFE 240th in 59 minutes 34 seconds; JIM BROWN 255th in 61:31; MARK FREEMAN 257th in 61:49; TIM ROBINSON 262nd in 62:49; GRANT MURPHY 287th in 72:13 and PAUL HOLGATE 290th in 73:01.
Seville Marathon
YUKO GORDON was in Spain for the Seville Marathon and won her category, women 70 plus, in a fantastic time of 3 hours 27 minutes 18 seconds. That’s better than 5 minutes per kilometre. She was 3,014th overall out of the 8,283 finishers.
Nuclear Canicross Race
JANE WHITROW and her dog Rufus did the Tailrunners (South Essex Canicross) first event at Nuclear Races. This was a Canicross event including trail, woods and swamps Jane said it was great fun and well organised. The course was 5K and they did it in 39 minutes 40 seconds….Jane said she wasted a lot of time sitting down in the swamp.
Watford Half Marathon – 12th February
Fairlands Valley Spartans had a famous five at Sunday’s Watford Half Marathon. Known for its hills at least this year there was sunshine. ROBERT WRIGHT was first in with a time of 1 hour 39 minutes 6 seconds for 269th out of the 1,185 finishers.
New Spartan MOLLY CRIMMIN continued her preparation for the London Marathon with her first ever half marathon. She beat two hours with 1 hour 58 minutes 56 seconds for 786th.
MICHAEL O’KEEFE in 2:03:17; SHARON CROWLEY in 2:33:16 and PAUL HOLGATE 2:36:02 completed the line up from Fairlands Valley Spartans.
Adrian’s Arc of Attrition
ADRIAN BUSOLINI returned to the Arc of Attrition 100 for the second year running, this time seeking a sub 26 hour finish. He had his brother crewing for him, and favourable ground conditions; but an awkward race with many complicating factors left him merely on par with his 2022 performance at the last checkpoint, with only 35km to go. It took a determined effort to get himself in almost 90 minutes faster than the previous year’s performance, albeit some 45 minutes slower than target. With a finish time of 26 hours 47 minutes 4 seconds he was 40th out of the 330 that started the 100 mile race in Cornwall. Adrian said, “Arc – I will return, you bewitching botheration!”
Winter Run – 12th February
There were also five Spartans at the London Winter Run 10K. Out of 9,000 finishers PAUL SHELLEY was 790th in 44:11; STEVE DOBNER 792nd in 44:12; DAVID PATTMAN 997th in 45:14; MATT TUTTON 6,114th in 58:59 and CLAIRE HYDE 8,503 64:24.
Essendon 10K
DANNY SCANLON ran the Essendon 10K on Sunday 12th February at Essendon golf club.
On an undulating, twisting and turning two lap route through the golf club he finished fourth out of 94 runners with a chip time of 41:07.
Parkrun Highlights
Saturday 4th February 2023 – There was a record breaking performance by Spartan YUKO GORDON at Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun. She achieved an age grade of 98.98%, breaking the course record and was third woman overall with 22 minutes 52 seconds.
For the full consolidate results please click the following links:
Spartan MIKE JEFFS had a superb run in the ten mile race at Bedford on Sunday. He was 26th overall in 65 minutes 22 seconds.
In dry conditions but a chilly head wind in places MATT CLARKE came in at 113th with 1 hour 22 minutes 49 seconds (1:22:49) and FIONA CLARKE at 1:28:25 for 163rd position. Fiona enjoyed the flat course.
JIM BROWN ran the course in 1:30:03 and missed first place in his age category by only nine seconds.
Serpentine 5K
It was the first last Friday of the Month 5K for 2023 in Hyde Park, London. JIM BROWN finished in 27 minutes 16 seconds (27:14 net). There were 214 finishers in the lunch-time race.
Watford Senior County Cross Country Championships – 8th January
Four Spartans were in a very wet and muddy Cassiobury Park and Whippendell Wood, Watford for Sunday’s Hertfordshire County Cross Country Championships.
MOLLY CRIMMIN and SHARON CROWLEY ran in the women’s championship with Molly 50th in 39:42 and Sharon 80th in 51:42. The ladies raced over 8,000 metres – about five miles.
It was raining again for the men’s race that started at 1.30p.m. ADRIAN BUSOLINI was 26th in 45:20 and NICK KLEANTHOUS 105th in 1:12:52. The men raced over 11,250 metres – about seven miles. They said the conditions, hills and distance made it hard work but the event was well organised and they were pleased to finish.
Mid Month Mayhem 10K – 15th January
GRANT RAMSAY had a good run on Sunday morning at the Mid Month Mayhem 10K event in Hitchingbrooke Country Park, Huntingdon. Underfoot conditions were a bit of a challenge in the undulating trail event. Grant was first over the line and took the course record with 40 minutes 48 seconds. He said his skill set from the steeplechase competitions helped when tackling the mud and the puddles!
Fred Hughes 10 Miles
Twelve Spartans were among 1015 runners who completed the Fred Hughes 10 mile race on Sunday morning. The course is undulating and due to the chilly weather conditions there were a few slippery patches.
Leading for the Spartans was MIKE JEFFS who came in at 108th in 66 minutes 2 seconds. MO WARRILOW was the fastest female from with 1:25:49.
The start was in waves which is based on estimated finish times, ROBERT WRIGHT was 304th over the finish line in 1:15:17 and SAM SIMMONS 314th in 1:15:14.
STEVEN DOBNER and DAVID PATTMAN were 356th and 358th in 1:16:48 and 1:16:55.
JIM BROWN finished nearly two minutes faster than he had last year in 1:31:54.
CHLOE CHAPMAN finished in 1:36:36 with NICK KLEANTHOUS just eight seconds behind. Next came ANN TRYSSESOONE with 1:39:39; SUE HAMER with 1:47:57 and SHARON CROWLEY 1:48:21. Sharon was nearly nine minutes faster than the Buntingford Ten at the very end of December so she was very happy with that.
Parkrun Roundup
7th January – Annabelle White ran her 100th parkrun at Panshanger with 32 minutes 34 seconds (32:34).
Consolidated results for 21st January – FVS Results
Consolidated results for 14th January – FVS Results
Consolidated results for 7th January – FVS Results
ROSS GALLAGHER was fastest of the seven from Fairlands with 63 minutes 58 seconds and 34th out of the 437 who finished. Next came PAUL HEWETT 56th in 66:51; then MARCUS RIDLEY in 84:12.
DANNY SCANLON ran the soggy but well organised Buntingford 10 on Friday. He finished in a time of 1hour 11 minutes which was exactly 3 minutes faster than his last visit in 2018!
Position
BiB
Name
Category
Category Position
Time
34
216
Ross Gallagher
MV35
5/26
1:03:58
56
272
Paul Hewett
MV35
8/26
1:06:51
77
490
Danny Scanlon
MV40
13/43
1:11:00
197
468
Marcus Ridley
MSEN
37/47
1:24:12
299
286
Tricia Hopper
FV55
14/32
1:34:58
418
154
Sharon Crowley
FV60
9/9
1:57:07
424
281
Paul Holgate
MV65
10/11
2:01:45
Witham Boxing Day Five
It was a last minute decision to run but Fairlands Valley Spartans YUKO GORDON won her category at the Boxing Day Five in Witham, Essex. Her time of 37 minutes 1 second placed her 100th out of the 321 finishers.
Yuko said she just decided to run the race late on Christmas Day. She had run the race once before and responded to a reminder from the organisers. Without much running for a whole week she expected her fresh legs would do a good run. It was a sunny morning and the course was a quiet and beautiful on a rural undulating road. Yuko finished in 37:01 and 1st in 70-99 age category (they classified her as such, together with 99!)
Hyde Park 5k
JIM BROWN enjoyed the last Friday 5K of the year in Hyde Park which he ran in 28 minutes 5 seconds. He was 161 out of the 192 finishers.
Serpentine organise a 5K at the end of every month and Jim finished the event every month in 2022 – 12 out of 12.
Ely 10k
PAUL HOLGATE ran the last competitive race of 2022 on New Years Eve. He finished in 69 minutes 46 seconds.
Flitch Way Marathon
TIM ROBINSON ran the Flitch Way Marathon on New Years Eve. The marathon started in Felsted, Essex and followed the Flitch Way disused railway line. It first went east with a turn around at 4.5 miles and then west with a turn aroud at 16.6 miles. As usual for a winter trail Marathon, there was wind, rain and mud, but the route was fairly sheltered. Tim reached the 16.5 mile turnaround check point in around 3 hours and completed in 5:20:13, 46th overall and 6th in age.
Parkruns – Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day
Christmas Eve
There were milestone runs for Claire EMMERSON and Hazel SMITH. Claire finished her 100th event in 38:10. Hazel her 50th time in 38 minutes and 10 seconds (38:10).
On Christmas Day, Andrew PATTERSON won the race. He was the first to finish the Stevenage course in a parkrun PB time of 17 minutes and 7 seconds. Georgie HOOPER ran her 50th parkrun event in 28 minutes and 11 seconds.
At Lee-on-Solent, Sharon FLAHERTY ran a parkrun PB time of 36 minutes and 2 seconds.
Spartan of the Month and Milton Keynes Half Marathon
MICHAEL O’KEEFE was voted Spartan of the month for November. He organised the Bryan Moore 10 and Paul Maguire 5 mile handicap events as well as putting a huge amount of effort into helping set up the Stevenage Half Marathon before running it!
On Sunday Michael was at the Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon which he finished in 2 hours 1 minute 41 seconds. He said it was minus 3 degrees at start and minus one at the finish so a tad chilly.
Goodwood Marathon
GRANT RAMSAY ran the Goodwood Marathon in 3 hours 5 minutes 52 seconds which was a significant improvement on a couple of his previous marathons earlier in the year which he ran at Bedford in 3 hours 16 minutes and Milton Keynes in 3 hours 22 minutes.
Welwyn Festive 5 miles
Following on from the Festive 5 at Welwyn on the 11th December it has now been confirmed that ANDREW PATTERSON not only achieved a personal best but has also set a new course record of 26 minutes 34 seconds. Well done Andrew!
Minsden Chapel Christmas Club Run
The clubs pre-Christmas Minsden Chapel Run has been a favourite for Fairlands Valley Spartans for many years. This year a group of Spartans ran the route braving chilly temperatures and freezing fog.
This is a fantastic club run that brings all members and abilities together to enjoy a social Christmas run which always delivers on stunning views! Three different distances are covered with all runners ending up at the very pretty and recently renovated Minsden Chapel before they head back to Stevenage ‘dropping off’ different runners at the different meeting points.
Parkrun
Altogether there were four parkrun PB for Spartans. STEVE DOBNER 20:39 and MO WARRILOW 24:31 at Great Denham; MICHAEL O’KEEFE at Henlow Bridge Lakes 27:10 and NIKKI NATION at Stevenage with 28:57.
Festive maybe but for some it was fast. ANDREW PATTERSON won the race in just 26 minutes 34 seconds. And second was SIMON JACKSON in 28 minutes 26 seconds.
HAZEL SMITH ran a new personal best of 40 minutes 53 seconds, an improvement by 1 minute 27 seconds, and NICK KLEANTHOUS a new PB by 6 seconds with 42:13. Not bad considering both were dressed as Santa’s helpers.
JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL ran together with Jim in 111th place winning the trophy for first man 70 plus with 47:06 and Penny 112th in the same time.
Pos
Cat Pos
MF
Name
Chip Time
Cat
AG%
Comments
1
1
1
Andrew PATTERSON
26:34
MV40
84.3%
Winner
2
2
2
Simon JACKSON
28:26
MV40
81.9%
Second
61
7
22
Hazel SMITH
40:53
FV45
65.8%
PB (1:27)
71
4
44
Nick KLEANTHOUS
42:13
MV60
62.0%
PB (6 seconds)
111
1
65
Jim BROWN
47:06
MV70+
60.8%
1st MV70
112
14
47
Penny SCHENKEL
47:06
FV45
59.6%
Herts Santa Run
In the Herts Santa Run over 10K MIKE JEFFS was third senior man and fourth overall with 44 minutes 37 seconds while JONATHAN JONES and DZENANA TOPIC were 29th and 30th in the 5K with 37:20 and 37:21. Dzenana was third in her age category.
Santa Canta 5K
Spartan JOHN HARRIS was first reindeer in the North Herts Road Runners Santa Canta in Letchworth. He was joined by TRACY PEZ and YUKO GORDON.
British Masters 5K Championships
Spartan YUKO GORDON won Gold in the women aged 70 plus (W70) category at the British Masters 5K Championships in Battersea Park, London on Sunday. Her time of 22 minutes 9 seconds was ahead of the W65 winner. The field was very strong and the fastest was 15:01 by a man 40 plus (M40) and the oldest was 85+ years old.
Goodwood Marathon
GRANT RAMSAY ran the Goodwood Marathon in 3 hours 5 minutes 52 seconds a significant improvement on Bedford in 3 hours 16 minutes and Milton Keynes in 3 hours 22 minutes earlier this year. He aims to run a sub 3 hours over 50 marathon next year.
4.9 miles/8K of park land. The course is a three lap course around the Showground side of Fairlands Valley Park.
Surface: Grass. Trail shoes recommended.
Facilities: Temporary toilets will be available near the start.
Kit: Unsupervised area to leave belongings around the start and finish.
Travel: Parking is available within the showground carpark – Broadhall Way, Stevenage, SG2 8RH. This is directly opposite Stevenage Football Club and the Lamex Stadium. This is 1.1 miles from the train station. If you do intend to drive, please car-share as much as possible as there are not sufficient spaces for every runner to park a car.
Many thanks to all of our helpers and marshals who have been working hard to put this event on and GOOD LUCK to all of the runners, we hope you enjoy the course and have a great race!
Fairlands Valley Spartans came home with GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE from the Hertfordshire County Five Mile Championships for veterans which were incorporated in the Hatfield Five on Sunday morning.
GEORGIE HOOPER (35:32 – a personal best PB by 11 minutes 39 seconds!); MARIE COLUCCI (37:18 – a season’s best SB by 3:01) and YUKO GORDON (37:42) won BRONZE in the women’s team competition.
Yuko took individual SILVER in the championship for women aged 65 plus.
The GOLD medal went to JIM BROWN who won the county championship for men aged 70 plus with exactly two minutes to spare in a year’s best (YB) time of 42 minutes 39 seconds.
Good fast five-mile races are pretty rare, and 22 Spartans took the opportunity. There were some outstanding performances in the open race as well as the county event. Every single Spartan that ran achieved a milestone. NICK GILL was fastest from Fairlands, 53rd out of the 655 finishers in 30 minutes 50 seconds – an outstanding personal best by 16 minutes 21 seconds.
SAM SIMMONS improved his PB by 4:13 to 33:40. PETE SMITH took 3:05 off his SB to 35:12. SUSAN McANENY reduced her PB by five seconds to 39:27 and NICK KLEANTHOUS by 58 seconds to 42:19. NICOLA ANDERSSON sliced 1:17 off her life-time best with 43:38 and PENNY SCHENKEL improved her SB by 1:42 to 45:14.
MATT TUTTON took 37 seconds off his PB with 46:46 and JANE WADEY ran the PB bell with her new personal best of 52 minutes 26 seconds. An improvement of 1:48.
SHARON CROWLEY took her season’s best down by 52 seconds to 55:03 and BRIAN WHITE, JONATHAN JONES and DZENANA TOPIC ran their best five-mile times this year with 36:51; 56:55 and 57:40.
Three Spartans were running their first ever five-mile races – MIKE JEFFS in 35:32; MARCUS RIDLEY in 37:34 and HARRIET SMITH 38:59.
MARK GOODWIN equalled his five-mile time with 37:34 and DANNY SCANLON was in the top 100 with a year’s best time of 32:49.
Bests At Bass Belle Ten
Another ten Spartans were at the Bass Belle Ten, a partly off-road event based in Bassingbourn.
STEVEN DOBNER said “Rain greeted us but luckily had passed through before the start. After setting an unofficial PB in last week’s half marathon in Gosport I had a time to aim at and felt comfortable throughout. Starting quickly to find some space and to try to get the best of the tricky 1.5miles muddy and slippery off-road section in road shoes, we settled into our rhythm ticking off the kilometers and judging the effort. The little hill proved less of an obstacle this year and I was very happy to come home in a time of 1:15:05, knocking 5 minutes 31 off my previous best 10-mile race.”
DAVE PATTMAN also came home with a new personal best of 1:15:41 shaving 2 minutes off his PB. MO WARRILOW said she enjoyed the run, finished with a smile on her face and beat 90 minutes by 22 seconds.”
PAUL and ALISON SHELLEY ran Bass Belle again and said as always it was well organised and well supported. The 1:5 mile off road section was a bit tricky but otherwise a nice route. It was great to see so many Spartans.
Paul was 27th 1:11:35 – 27th overall. Alison finished in 1:27:41.
The other Spartans were MATT CLARKE 1:25:11; MICHAEL O’KEEFE 1:35:00 in his first ten-mile race; FIONA CLARKE 1:37:39; CHLOE CHAPMAN 1:37:53 and MONICA SMITHSON 1:51:24.
Serpentine
Runners were so lucky with the conditions again for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park, London. It was sunny, mild and with a light breeze for the lunch-time event. JIM BROWN ran his best 5K of the year with 26 minutes 8 seconds and second in his age category.
Canicross
TRACY PEZ (and her dog) enjoyed a Canicross event at Grafham Water which they completed in 1 hour 21 minutes 7 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 26th November 2022 – Penny in the Cape
Numbers were back over 300 for the 266th Stevenage with 314 completing the 5K Saturday morning run in Fairlands Valley Park. 24 were Spartans.
In Stevenage PENNY SCHENKEL ran her 50th parkrun in the red celebration cape with a time of 30 minutes 49 seconds. MATTHEW NEWTON ran new PB of 20:14. ADRIAN BUSOLINI was 3rd overall in 18:15 and GRANT RAMSAY 4th in 18:58.
Elsewhere DARRYL STEVENS continues his tour of many different parkruns. He was a first timer at Eastville, Bristol and finished in 39:30. MATT and FIONA CLARKE were first timers at Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire with 31:07 and 31:11.
JULIET FULLWOOD was a first timer at Alexandra, Moss Side in Manchester on her first parkrun. She was fourth women in 21:59.
42 Spartans took part in the two memorial handicap races in Stevenage on Sunday morning. They were on an undulating course with the highest point being near the Oval Community Centre.
BRYAN MOORE SHIELD HANDICAP 10 MILES
The Bryan Moore Handicap ten mile event was brilliantly won by Andrew Patterson in a new personal best (PB) time of 55:21. He crossed the finish line 42 seconds ahead of Nick Gill second who smashed his PB by more than 25 minutes to finish in 67:03 and Simon Jackson third man (4th overall) in 59:32. Marie Colucci was the winning female and third overall, finishing in 79:15, 3:45 better than handicap, with Zoe Jackson second female in 1:27:00 (87:00) in her first ever 10 mile race and Harriet Smith third with 1:23:25 (83:25) also in her first ever 10 miles.
The leading two women both ran negative splits. Marie was 15 seconds in her second half (39:44 to 39:31) and Zoe a significant 1 minute 30 seconds (44:15 to 42:45).
Andrew was also quickest runner of the day with Simon second quickest and Nick (Gill) third fastest. Marie was also quickest lady with Harriet second (1:23:25) fastest and Zoe third (1:27:00) quickest.
Wendy Tharani improved her season’s best by 1 minute 20 seconds and Jim Brown his year’s best by three seconds! Vicky Archer took 2:44 off her ten mile handicap time.
Bryan Moore was a founding member of Fairlands Valley Spartans in 1984.
PAUL MAGUIRE MEMORIAL HANDICAP 5 MILES
The winner of the Paul Maguire Memorial Five was Nicola Andersson in a new PB time of 44:55 with Steve Mayfield second (winning man) in a SB time of 37:39 and Tony Vickers third (second man) with 44:08 in his first 5 mile race. Alison Shelley was second lady in 42:54 and Carolyn Linsell third lady with 54:52.
Twenty seven Spartans tackled the five mile event.
Paul Shelley was quickest runner of the day in 34:17, with Steve (Mayfield) second quickest and Charlie White third quickest in 38:51. Alison (Shelley) was fastest lady with Ann Tryssesoone second fastest in 43:34 and Nicola third quickest.
There were also five mile PB improvements for Nick Kleanthous (43:17) and Jane Whitrow (57:53), while Jon Sypula (41:33), Simon Sypula (46:12) and Penny Schenkel (46:56) improved their Season Best times.
Paul Maguire was an inspirational Spartan, a former Spartan of the Year, who passed away in 2008. He lost a long battle with cancer, still running for several years following his diagnosis, at the age of 42.
Overall no less than 24 other times were the first recorded at that distance this year.
Gosport Half Marathon
There were two fantastic Spartan personal bests in the Gosport Half Marathon.
Steve Dobner said, “It was another fabulous day for running down on the south coast as Dave Pattman and I ventured down to Gosport to run the half with our good friend and ex Spartan Ed Hare. We were due to run it last year but Dave was out injured and I was unable to walk 100 metres due to covid. This year was a different story.
Setting off with a time in mind we built into the race with Dave overtaking me at around 4K and upping the pace. The course is two laps and a lovely tail wind helped me accelerate on the way back into town.
Settling into a good pace the turn round into the wind for the second lap needed us to dig in. The race was extremely well supported and the encouragement from the spectators and our families was fabulous.
In the final 3-4K I managed to close the 20-25 second gap to Dave and we entered into the home straight together giving each other plenty of encouragement. I managed to finish in 1:41:41 with Dave coming home in 1:41:44. Both of us setting new PBs and I somehow knocked over 5 minutes off my previous best with Dave improving his by 2 minutes. Ed came home in 1:44:53 for his second best ever time.”
SAM PRETTY finished in 1 hour 35 minutes 3 seconds. She was 306th out of the 1216 finishers.
St Neots
PETE SMITH enjoyed the St Neots Half Marathon where he was third man 60 plus in 1 hour 38 minutes 5 seconds.
SAM SIMMONS and MARCUS RIDLEY also completed the course in 1.42.59 and 1.48.13 respectively.
Sundon Saunter
The sun shone for the Sundon Saunter on Sunday for Spartan Sharon Crowley, although after all the recent rain it was 27.8 miles and 9 hours of slip sliding around Bedfordshire!
Parkrun Highlights
Nick KLEANTHOUS achieved a new parkrun PB (personal best) of 24 minutes 45 seconds at the Preston Park event in Brighton. Obviously good preparation for the Spartan five mile race the following day where he also achieved a new PB. Well done Nick!
Not content with running 1 hour 18 minutes 10 seconds in the Stevenage Half Marathon on 6th November just six days later ANDREW PATTERSON was running another half and this time he finished in just 1 hour 12 minutes 29 seconds to win the Remembrance Run Half Marathon race at Debden, near Saffron Walden on Saturday. That’s a new personal best.
At the same venue STEVEN DOBNER ran a new personal best of 43 minutes 58 seconds in the 10K and DAVID PATTMAN was not far behind in 44:45. In the 5K MASON SIMMONS was second man aged 20-29 in the 5K with 19 minutes 28 seconds.
Steven said, “It was a gorgeous morning over Saffron Walden for the Essex Remembrance 10k with a dry and pretty still day greeting us.
Dave and I set off with a target of getting close to or breaking 45 minutes. After the first lap and feeling good I left Dave and pushed on. Andrew Patterson flying past shouting encouragement on his way to winning the half marathon was perfectly timed and led to my fastest kilometre as I was dragged along in his wake.
A final push saw me dip under 44 minutes coming home in 43:58 for a new personal best, knocking three minutes off my previous best. Dave came home in 44:45 for his season best. A great event with a fantastic medal, hopefully more Spartans will make the relatively short trip over the county lines to support the event next year.”
33rd Masters Cross Country International Championships
The 33rd Masters Cross Country International Championship was held at Santry Demesne Park, Dublin on Saturday 12 November. There were teams from England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Yuko Gordon led the England W70 (women 70 plus) Team to Silver medal. Gold went to the home favourite Ireland.
FVS’s Yuko Gordon was fifth in W70 race which was very competitive. All the top five finished within 40 seconds of each other. Yuko won the title in 2018 but concentrating more on marathons and road races in recent years, was unable to take the cross country surface as well as she hoped.
Westport Sea 2 Summit (Mayo)
Spartan PAULA DUNNE was back in Ireland for her third Westport Sea2summit race. She managed to knock 15 minutes off her PB (personal best). Finishing in 2 hours 34 minutes Paula placed 521 out of 1600 people, and 118th female out of 723. The race consisted of a 4k run; an 11k cycle; climb up Croagh Patrick mountain then fell run back down; an 8k cycle and finally another 4k run.
Parkrun – 12th November 2022
Nick GILL ran the Stevenage Parkrun course finishing seventh overall with a new PB time of 19 minutes and 41 seconds. Well done Nick!
A fantastic half marathon organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans. A wet morning but hundreds ran the 13.1 miles around Stevenage and 35 of them were Spartans. The club provided dozens of voluntary helpers including marshals, lead bikes, water stations and refreshments. Others helped out including the Rotary Club of Stevenage, Grange Rotary Club, Stevenage Scouts, Stevenage Air Cadets and the Garden House Hospice giving their time freely to make the event a huge success.
This year the Stevenage Half Marathon raised funds for the Garden House Hospice, the Spartans Charity of the Year.
The event hosted the Hertfordshire County Half Marathon Championships for veteran runners.
FVS had individual success in two categories. YUKO GORDON won GOLD for women aged 65 plus in 1 hour 44 minutes 59 seconds and JIM BROWN won GOLD for men aged 70 plus with 1 hour 57 minutes 23 seconds.
The Spartans women’s team took the GOLD team medals with GEORGIE HOOPER (1:41:17), YUKO GORDON (1:44:59) and PAULA DUNNE (1:57:19) (teams of three and runners aged 35 plus). In the process Georgie ran a PB which was 7 minutes and 41 seconds quicker than her last half at Stafford earlier in the year and Paula reduced her PB (personal best) by 4 minutes 41 seconds.
The FVS men won SILVER with DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT (1:17:57), ANDREW PATTERSON (1:18:10), GRANT RAMSAY (1:29:04) and PAUL SHELLEY (1:40:02) (teams of four and runners aged 40 plus).
GABRIELLE O’BRIEN and HARRIET SMITH were both running their first half marathons and both did brilliantly. Gabbie was the fifth senior (i.e. young adult 18 – 34) woman in the race with 1:44:04 and was 89th overall. Harriet came in with 1:51:27.
NICK GILL and ROSS GALLAGHER ran together encouraging each other. They finished 30th and 31st in 1:31:05 a personal best (PB) improvement of 2:56 for Nick and 1:35 for Ross.
ROB WRIGHT enjoyed a chicken run in fancy dress but still finished in 1:47:01 and was presented with a custom made chicken medal! He was even asked for selfies with other runners. Next year he plans on giving out autographs! DEREK CORNELIUS was exactly 100th in his first half with 1:46:31.
While WENDY THARANI had a brilliant run and managed a season’s best (SB) with 1:59:22 coming fourth in her county category, TIM ROBINSON said that he enjoyed the local support from the many volunteers. Unfortunately the Beachy Head Marathon from two weeks previously was still in his legs and together with the rain and long incline at 7miles faded badly through miles 8 and 9. At mile 10 he found some motivation and kicked on for three sub 9 minute miles to finish a touch over 2 hours which was a year best result.
Relatively new Spartan JANE WADEY ran her first ever half marathon distance in (2:34:11) and had the following to say – I just wanted to say, it was my first time of running a half marathon and the support of the marshals and everyone on the route was amazing. I was happy with my time as I had not even thought what time to aim for. Thanks especially to Sharon and Tony as they escorted me on the last 2 miles, and the ladies at the finish who gave me water and then Pete and the ladies who gave me flapjacks and a brilliant cup of tea at the end!
The biggest PB was by JUDY KING who took 23 minutes 48 seconds off her time with 2:52:44. Judy ran with JANE WHITROW who accomplished a SB in 2.52.27.
The overall winners were both from Ware Joggers. Kevin Francis was first man in 1 hour 15 minutes 29 seconds and Katy Woodward first woman in 1:25:19.
New York Marathon
JACKIE DOWNES finished the New York Marathon with a chip time of 5:02:02. An amazing time for what was said to be the hottest New York Marathon ever!
CHRIS HOLLAND had an incident with his heart rate after an insect bite at mile 5, but after help from the medical tent, he finished in a chip time of 4:56:38.
Trent Park Cross Country – Three Top Tens for Spartans and Women Move Up
Despite trees being blown down by strong winds a few days ago the cross country league fixture in Trent Park, near Cockfosters went ahead. This was the second race in this season’s series and Fairlands Valley Spartans increased their turnout compared with race one. This time 34 Spartans, 19 men and 15 women, enjoyed the mud. A total of 492 including 212 women from 21 clubs competed.
Three Spartans achieved three top ten positions. SIMON JACKSON 10th overall for the five miles in 28:23 – he was also second man 40 plus; CHRISTINE LATHWELL second woman in 30:34 – and first woman 45 plus and MICHELLE REEVES eighth in 32:16. YUKO GORDON was first woman 65 plus and 48th woman in 38:16.
A stronger turnout this time meant the Spartan women moved up from 11th to sixth place. Their “A” team was completed by GEORGIE HOOPER 49th woman in 38:18 and TRACEY JACKSON 60th in 39:42. The “B” team was led in by KELLY McHALE, 61st in 39:47 with HARRIET SMITH 82nd in 41:19 and PAULA DUNNE 85th in 41:25 not far behind.
The men were 12th this time. Next in after Simon were GRANT RAMSAY 66th overall in 31:49; DANNY SCANLON 115th in 33:53; PETE SMITH 167th in 36:11 and NICK GILL 168th in 36:15.
2022 was the 37th running of the popular Snowdon Marathon, considered to be one of the best marathons in the UK despite the difficulty of the course with three BIG climbs and a very technical off-road section between 22 – 25 miles that sees many runners lose their footing and cross the finish line covered in mud. Heavy rain at the beginning and finish together with strong winds ensured this year’s race was as tricky as usual if not trickier but that did not prevent the two Spartans taking part continuing to add to their long runs of consecutive finishes in the years that the race has gone ahead. SHARON CROWLEY who has run more Snowdon marathons than any other female finished her 29th Snowdon marathon in 6 hours 32 minutes 25 seconds (6:32:25) for 1520th position while PAUL HOLGATE finished 1591st with 7:17:44 in his 32nd Snowdon marathon. (He’s run every year that the race has taken place since 1988).
There were 1,601 finishers from the 2,500 runners that entered.
John Harris Selected for England
On the strength of his performance in the recent York Marathon Spartan JOHN HARRIS has been selected for England.
Next year he will be running in the England Masters Marathon Team based on his recent marathon qualifying time and top three placing. He has trained all year for this and is so pleased to make the team. The representative race will be at the Chester Marathon next October.
Serpentine Thirtieth Anniversary 5K
There have been lunch-time 5Ks in Hyde Park, London since October 1992 and the thirtieth anniversary fell on Friday. Spartan PENNY SCHENKEL was delighted to improve her 5K time to 27 minutes 52 seconds (27:52). JIM BROWN went round in 27:10.
Cockbain’s Track 100
ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran the Cockbain’s Track 100. He said he was running in circles for no particular reason. Due to lack of fitness, he had planned to DNS (not start), but at the last minute decided to show up to ‘run for a few hours’. A few turned into 23.
Adrian ran 100 miles, that’s 403 laps of the 400 metre track, in 23 hours 8 minutes 59 seconds. He was 14th out of the 21 that finished, 51 started.
Hertfordshire Half and 10K
Spartan JOHN NELMS ran the Hertfordshire Half Marathon, starting and finishing at Knebworth House, in 2 hours 8 minutes 54 seconds. He was 538th out of 900 finishers.
JANE McFARLANE was encouraging a friend to a new personal best in the Hertfordshire 10K and was 333rd out of the 501 finishers in 61 minutes 42 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 29th October 2022
Alison SHELLEY and Jim BROWN reached their 100 Parkrun milestones on the Stevenage course in 32 minutes and 46 seconds and 32 minutes and 47 seconds respectively. They enjoyed running around in their “100” capes on what was the nearest Saturday to Halloween. At the same location, Matt TUTTON ran a PB time of 27 minutes and 23 seconds.
Nine Spartans tackled the hilly Beachy Head Marathon on the south coast on Saturday. Here are some of their stories:
Steve Dobner – “Dave, Mo and I signed up this year and we joined the rest of the Spartan crew at the start line. I can honestly say it was the most enjoyable and breathtaking run I have ever done. The event is fantastic with amazing marshals and excellent checkpoints offering water, bananas, chocolate, one even had sausage rolls and hot cross buns with tea and coffee. On finishing you return to the local school for a free hot meal – baked potatoes and beans for me. The route was simply stunning, brutal in places but worth every step. The 170 Steps of Doom are an interesting challenge and the Seven Sisters are brutal (plus I’m sure there were more than seven). It was great to see some of our other local clubs with Royston Runners also well represented. I cannot recommend this event highly enough and we were so lucky as the weather was amazing.”
Tim Robinson – “The day before had seen thunder, lightning and heavy rain which meant the clay/chalk mix of the South Downs made for difficult progress in parts. Being both sticky and slippery at the same time particularly around the 15 mile mark where there were several tricky puddles. A warmer than usual day also meant slower progress. Running mostly as a group made the event more fun. Each runner has different strengths, some being quick uphill, some being quick downhill, and some needing rests at different places which means notions of a quick time are sacrificed at the expense of camaraderie and a good day out.
The group fragmented slightly towards the end, catching each other at checkpoints and steep hills and all but 3 finished within 20 or 30 minutes of each other.
THOMAS SAUKA and ROBERT WRIGHT finished together in 6 hours 10 minutes 58 seconds and said they are looking forward to going back next year.
Mother and Daughter run the Beachy Head Marathon
Hazel Smith (daughter) and Cathy Craig (mum) started the Beachy Head Marathon together, running, walking chatting and singing. At 10 miles Cathy felt ill and decided she wanted to do the rest alone as the hills were tough and nutrition wasn’t helping. One of the toughest UK marathons was certainly living up to its name!
Both ran/walked the rest of the way. Hazel met company and chatted and ate her way to the end. Cathy had a few breaks, lying at the top of a hill for a rest and taking a seat at a pit stop, being unable to eat.
When finished, Hazel walked up the big hill again to meet Cathy near the finish. Cathy ran down but took a tumble at the bottom.
Quite a few sweary words left Hazel’s mouth as she then attempted to run down to check on Cathy – having visions of her getting that close and not being able to finish!
Cathy lay there for a bit then got up and seemed to turn into tigger, bouncing along and working the crowd up to cheer her through the finish line – super strong finish!!
Position
Name
Time
Category
723
ROBERT WRIGHT
6:10:58
MV40
724
THOMAS SAUKA
6:10:57
MV40
786
DAVID PATTMAN
6:22:36
MV40
792
STEVE DOBNER
6:24:03
MV40
805
MO WARRILOW
6:25:51
LV45
834
TIM ROBINSON
6:31:16
MV50
903
TONY RANDFIELD
6:47:42
MV60
933
HAZEL SMITH
6:53:26
LV45
1114
CATHY CRAIG
8:05:51
LV55
GERRY ROSEN said the Beachy Head 10K was a tough race to return to racing after 10 months out due to illness and work. He finished in 1 hour 29 minutes 22 seconds.
Abingdon Marathon
After a dry Saturday Spartans Fiona Clarke, Matt Clarke, Karen Ellis and Chloe Chapman ran the Abingdon marathon on a very wet Sunday.
The weather forecast was awful, thunder and lightning forecast for the duration they would be running. It was a soggy start and rained heavily – there were huge puddles all round the course, fortunately the weather broke and they ended their runs in sunshine.
They were all unsure how they’d get on as on top of the weather Karen had recently been unwell, Chloe had just had covid and Fiona and Matt hadn’t be able to train for about a month. But they all dug deep and got it done. Karen finished in 4 hours 19 minutes 45 seconds; Chloe in 4:49:13; Fiona in 5:05:07 and Matt in 5:05:08.
Cross Country – Cheshunt 16th October
A full table of results following the first Cross Country race of the season is now available. Full team results available to download here Cheshunt Results.
Position
Firstname
Lastname
Time
Gender
Cat
Team
25
Adrian
Busolini
00:31:10
M
SM
AM
30
Charlie
White
00:31:43
M
SM
AM
38
Grant
Ramsay
00:32:23
M
V50
AM
65
Paul
Hewett
00:33:28
M
SM
AM
75
Stuart
Archer
00:33:52
M
SM
AM
96
Danny
Scanlon
00:34:51
M
V40
AM
151
Steven
Dobner
00:37:12
M
V40
AM
152
David
Pattman
00:37:13
M
V40
AM
157
Brian
White
00:37:25
M
V60
BM
176
Steve
Mayfield
00:38:20
M
V50
BM
192
Thomas
Sauka
00:39:13
M
V40
BM
204
Luke
Gurney
00:39:51
M
SM
BM
232
Darren
Emmerson
00:40:57
M
V50
BM
251
Zoe
Jackson
00:41:54
F
FV35
AF
267
Kelly
McHale
00:42:34
F
FV35
AF
301
Nick
Kleanthous
00:44:45
M
V60
314
Mark
Freeman
00:45:56
M
V60
318
Tim
Robinson
00:46:26
M
V50
322
Tony
Vickers
00:46:34
M
V50
336
Simon
Sypula
00:47:49
M
V40
346
Claire
Emmerson
00:48:15
F
FV45
AF
347
Vicky
Archer
00:48:22
F
FV35
AF
356
Michael
O’Keefe
00:48:49
M
V50
371
Grant
Murphy
00:50:53
M
V50
392
Jane
Wadey
00:55:15
F
FV55
AF
394
Sharon
Crowley
00:55:51
F
FV55
395
Cathy
Craig
00:56:30
F
FV65
405
Callie
Chapman
01:01:07
F
FV35
406
Hazel
Smith
01:01:07
F
FV45
Parkrun Personal Best and Consolidated Results – Saturday 22nd October
Sam SIMMONS ran at the Stevenage Parkrun and achieved a personal best, finishing 10th male in 21:26 – Well done Sam!
The cross country league season started off surprisingly early in the year on what seemed like a summer’s day but thirty Spartans travelled to Cheshunt to enjoy the sunny conditions.
The team results won’t be available for a while but the Spartan women’s “A” team consisted of ZOE JACKSON 251st overall in 41:44; KELLY McHALE 267th in 42:35; CLAIRE EMMERSON 347th in 48:13, VICKY ARCHER 348th in 48:15 and JANE WADEY 392nd in 55:17.
The men’s teams consisted of eight runners. First in for the Spartans was ADRIAN BUSOLINI 25th in 31 minute 9 seconds. CHARLIE WHITE 30th in 31:40 and GRANT RAMSAY 38th in 32:21 were next in. They were supported by PAUL HEWETT 65th in 33:27; STUART ARCHER 75th in 33:50; DANNY SCANLON 96th in 34:49; STEVEN DOBNER 151st in 37:11 and DAVID PATTMAN 152nd in 37:14.
(All the Spartan times and the team results should be included in next weeks news!)
International Selection and a Record for Yuko
There was an amazing double for YUKO GORDON at the weekend.
There was a selection race for the England Team for the Masters International Cross Country at Markeaton Park, Derby on Saturday afternoon. YUKO GORDON won her age group and was selected to represent England for the forthcoming international championships to be held in Dublin in November.
Returning from Derby late in the evening, she finished a quick pizza dinner and had a short sleep before heading south for another race, the Great South Run ten miles in Portsmouth on Sunday morning.
Yuko said, “I anticipated a very exciting event by just looking at the number and colourful coffee coupons they sent me and it was as fantastic as I had expected. Number 1 reason for that was the sheer number of loos, absolutely no queues! Car parking space for any thousands of cars in the waterfront adjacent to start/finish area. The course was truly flat, my racing form has been this season only around 8 minutes per mile pace even at Parkruns but the course tuned my legs into 7:20 minutes pace while I kept worrying if I’m over pacing but I managed the even pace till the end after all. I went through 5K and 10K both in my season’s best time. My 74 minutes 7 seconds (74:07) gives me the UK’s all time best record for a woman aged over 70. If I put more effort into Tuesday club sessions and had no selection race the day before, I might be able to improve more, hopefully. I’m glad to know that I am finally recovering from the lengthy distraction of a hamstring injury and Covid.”
Great Eastern Run
The Great Eastern Run is a popular half marathon in Peterborough which attracts over 2000 runners. This year, its 30th year, 2301 finished
DAN HUKIN said his confidence was a bit low as he had not run for 10 days prior to the race with a small injury but decided to go for it anyway, he suffered towards the end but hung in there for a new PB with an official chip time of 1:21:17. He was 72nd overall.
STEVE WELLS was 289th and fourth man 60 plus in 1:31:58.
JIM BROWN decided to go into the sub two hour starting area and thought if he could maintain an average of nine minutes per mile he should come under the 2 hours. He did with 1 hour 57 minutes 25 seconds and was second man 70 plus.
Running the furthest distance that he’s done in a while was PAUL HOLGATE and he came in with 3:15.13.
York Marathon
Spartans NICK GILL and JOHN HARRIS ran the York Marathon.
Nick Gill improved his marathon personal best (PB) by a massive 21 minutes with 3 hours 21 minutes 58 seconds. His previous best was 3:43:27 at the Great Welsh Marathon in 2019.
Nick ran with John Harris for the first half and then Adrian Sherwood from NHRR from mile 14 until mile 21… when he got cramp!
He had been running at 3:15:00 pace and feeling good, but his legs had other ideas. A painful finish after getting cramp in the other leg at mile 24 meant he had to walk, but was able to get going again and was super happy with the time.
JOHN HARRIS said his York Marathon was a marathon of two halves. He ran well for the first half then an ankle injury hampered him in the second half. However he still finished in 3:37:08 which is a Good For Age qualifying time.
Great South Run
The Great South Run is a ten mile race in Portsmouth.
In addition to YUKO GORDON’s record breaking 1:14:07, PHILIP POTTER finished in 1:20:29. JUDY KING 2:08:31; NICOLA HATHERLY 2:08:43 and SALLY PICKLES 2:11:16 all three ladies had a fabulous day and love their new medals!
Birthday Half
ABBIE WHITROW celebrated her 21st birthday by running her first half marathon in Amsterdam! She finished in 3 hours and 37 seconds (3:00:37) with JANE WHITROW (3:00:36).
Parkrun
For all the Parkrun Spartan results from the weekend please follow this link – Parkrun 15th October 2022
Nine Spartans raced round Hitchin in the town’s 5K race. Only a week after running a fast time in the London Marathon it was won by FVS own ANDREW PATTERSON in 16 minutes 2 seconds.
HARRIET SMITH was the second woman 20 plus and fastest female from Fairlands in 23 minutes 51 seconds.
ADRIAN DONNELLY was 15th in 20:01. The other Spartans were SAM SIMMONS 21:06; MARC RIDLEY 23:06; DAVID KENNEDY 23:23 NICK KLEANTHOUS 26:54; MATT TUTTON 27:24 and MONICA SMITHSON 30:32. There were 228 finishers.
Willow 10K
Spartans DANNY SCANLON, JIM BROWN and JUDY KING made the short trip to Hatfield for a 10K race. This was a friendly multi-terrain charity event for the Willow Foundation in the picturesque grounds of Hatfield House. Danny was 10th in 44 minutes 3 seconds, Jim finished 60th in 55:37 and Judy came in 184th with 1:16:10. There were 211 finishers. Judy said her run has really boosted her confidence for future races including the Great South Run (10 miles) and the Stevenage Half Marathon on 6th November. Willow organises special days for seriously ill young adults.
Royal Parks Half
CRAIG BACON finished the Royal Parks Half Marathon in less than 1 hour 40 minutes with 1:39:23.
VISHAL SHAH did the run round London in 2:13:52 and CALLIE CHAPMAN finished in 2:47:19.
Chicago Marathon
Spartans DUNCAN FLOUNDERS and ROSS GALLAGHER were in Chicago for the marathon. Duncan ran a couple of events for the first time in a long time this weekend.
He finished the Chicago 5K in 26 minutes 29 seconds (26:29) and then the full Chicago Marathon in 3 hours 53 minutes 14 seconds (3:53:14).
Duncan said, “The marathon was an awesome experience despite being two years late. Crowds lined the course for pretty much every step of the way and they were all amazing. The whole city heats up for this for days beforehand and it didn’t disappoint. Lots of fun, the inevitable pain around 30k but managed to work through that and actually enjoyed the last few kilometres. Great event.
ROSS GALLAGHER completed the Chicago marathon in a time of 3:08:43.
Target was a sub 3:10 so he was delighted to walk away with 3:08 and a 15 minute PB from London 2022.
Ross said, “After a chilly start the sun came up for what were perfect running conditions. Great crowd and support which were particularly needed for the last three miles ‘these felt much longer than just a park run’.
Tring Ridgeway Run
On Sunday 9th October Tim Robinson ran the 40th Tring Ridgeway Run. A 15km trail run in the Chilterns organised by Tring Running Club who organise several very good races throughout the year in the Chiltern Hills. The race starts in Tring and heads up to the Bridgwater Monument on the Ashridge Estate before winding through the woods down to Steps Hill and over Pitstone Hill back to Tring for a total ascent of around 750ft. The ascent to the Bridgewater Monument was fairly steady going but once into the woods the constant up and down meant several walk breaks and there was a strong headwind on Pitstone Hill despite the sun. Tim took advantage of the long downhills to make up for lost time and finished 256th in a time of 1:35:45.
Maverick Lincolnshire
JANE WHITROW and her dog Rufus had a day trip out to do a 10k…actually a 10.5k Canicross run at the beautiful Grimsthorpe Castle park. It was the first Maverick event for them – they loved it and the alcohol free cold beer at the finish was very welcome!
Official time was 1 hour 17 minutes on a beautiful and “undulating” course.
Three Fairlands Valley Spartans beat the three hour barrier at Sunday’s London Marathon. ANDREW PATTERSON was 274th out of more than 40,000 in just 2 hours 38 minutes 29 seconds and SIMON JACKSON also in the top 1,000 at 591st in 2:46:18. The Spartans third sub three was ADRIAN BUSOLINI in 2:58:38.
The amazing YUKO GORDON won her age group, women 70 plus, in 3 hours 31 minutes 54 seconds.
Meanwhile ROBERT WRIGHT, dressed as a chicken, went round in 4:15:10.
ASHLEY KING finished in 4:19:54. ZOE JACKSON said that she received her place through a work ballot mid-July so she managed to condense a 16 week training plan into 12 weeks and went for it! Luckily her training went well with the help of some lovely Spartans and she stuck to the plan with no major injuries. Her target was to run it in 4 and a half hours. On the day everything came together, including the weather and the crowd were like nothing she’d ever experienced! She struggled after Canary Wharf but knew she had to keep going to get her target time. She realised at mile 25 that she had 14 minutes to spare and had plenty of time, but in her tired state completely forgot about the extra 0.2 mile at the end. The last half a mile was a push but she ran as quickly as she could and finished in a time of 4:29:08. It was such an amazing feeling crossing the finish line and great to see all the friendly Spartans faces at the end on the lorries!
Dozens of other Spartans volunteered to help in Pall Mall on the “baggage buses” – getting kit back to runners as they finished.
Here are the Spartan finishers:
Position
Name
Time
Comments
274
ANDREW PATTERSON
2:38:29
591
SIMON JACKSON
2:46:18
1689
ADRIAN BUSOLINI
2:58:38
3228
STUART HAYCROFT
3:13:39
6070
YUKO GORDON
3:31:54
1st in age group
16383
ROBERT WRIGHT
4:15:10
Chicken
17517
ASHLEY KING
4:19:54
19956
ZOE JACKSON
4:29:08
28591
MARK MACDONALD
5:06:31
29582
GAVIN DAVIES
5:11:31
31606
KIM MARTIN (F)
5:22:37
36808
CATHERINE CRAIG
6:02:29
40391
KARL SHREEVE
7:53:17
In addition GERRY ROSEN (7:28:16) ran the London Marathon virtually.
Dorney Lakes Marathon
Spartan JIM BROWN did not have a place in the London Marathon and did not fully prepare but made a last limit decision to enter the Dorney Lakes Marathon which was on the same day. Jim ran well, all things considered to 22 miles, but then, not surprising, it became a grind to the finish. With 4 hours 32 minutes 51 seconds he was second in his age group, and this is important, he kept on target for a Good For Age qualifying time which he achieved with 27 minutes 9 seconds to spare and just in time for the midnight deadline.
Clarendon Way Off Road Marathon
DARRYL STEVENS completed the Clarendon Way Off Road Marathon in 7 hours 30 minutes 56 seconds.
Hyde Park 5K
Runners were very lucky to enjoy dry, mild but blustery conditions for the Serpentine Last Friday 5K before the downpour began.
JIM BROWN ran his fastest 5K this year with 26 minutes 20 seconds, more than a minute faster than the previous month and good enough for second in category.
The Serpentine race celebrates its thirtieth year on Friday 28th October.
Parkrun – 1st October 2022
To view the consolidated Parkrun report for the weekend please click this link – Parkrun Results 02.10.2022
A good number of Fairlands Valley Spartans ran the 35th anniversary Standalone 10K in Letchworth on Sunday.
GRANT RAMSAY was fastest of the 29 Spartans. He was 35th out of the 820 finishers in 39 minutes 29 seconds. ADRIAN DONNELLY also beat 40 with 39 minutes 41 seconds. The third Spartan was DANNY SCANLON in 41:22 and fourth DEAN CARPENTER in 44:22.
JOHN HARRIS was third man 60 plus in 44 minutes 58 seconds.
Three Spartan women beat 50 minutes. TRACY PEZ in 48:14; MARIE COLUCCI in 48:29 and PAULA DUNNE who improved by 55 seconds to 49:26.
There were personal bests by STEVE DOBNER, by 20 seconds to 46:44, and LUKE GURNEY, by 1:07, to 47:10. MARTIN DUDLEY improved his season’s best (SB) by a significant 2 minutes 12 seconds to 49 minutes 54 seconds.
JIM BROWN was delighted to improve his 10K time by nearly five minutes in a week to 53 minutes 11 seconds. His best 10K this year and good enough for second in his age group.
MICHAEL O’KEEFE and NIKKI NATION improved their season’s best (SB) times to beat the hour with 58 minutes 10 seconds and 59 minutes 54 seconds respectively.
Well done JON FILBY (47:17), MARK LACY (54:15) and ABIGAIL WHITROW (81:48) who were running their first 10K races.
Position
Name
Time
Comments
Grade
35
GRANT RAMSAY
39:29
5th MV50
77.59%
39
ADRIAN DONNELLY
39:41
73.64%
54
DANNY SCANLON
41:22
YB (1:35)
69.01%
93
DEAN CARPENTER
44:22
67.88%
113
JOHN HARRIS
44:58
3rd Vet 60
73.97%
116
NICK GILL
45:10
60.21%
152
STEVEN DOBNER
46:44
PB (0:20)
??
159
LUKE GURNEY
47:10
PB (1:07)
56.99%
172
JON FILBY
47:17
1st 10K
60.77%
188
TRACY PEZ
48:14
4th FV45. YB (0:06)
69.97%
197
MARIE COLUCCI
48:29
5th FV45
66.76%
219
PAULA DUNNE
49:26
PB (0:55)
61.84%
234
MARTIN DUDLEY
49:54
SB (2:12)
65.85%
289
BEN SNOWDEN
51:41
55.40%
333
JIM BROWN
53:11
2nd Vet 70. YB (2:10)
68.50%
370
MARK LACY
54:15
1st 10K
55.35%
430
ANN TRYSSESOONE
56:04
65.64%
489
MICHAEL O’KEEFE
58:10
SB (0:09)
56.05%
495
ANDREA WESTCOTT
57:41
SB
59.36%
507
ANDY JAY
58:13
55.36%
534
NIKKI NATION
59:49
SB
62.50%
611
MONICA SMITHSON
62:46
58.91%
658
SHARON CROWLEY
64:59
YB (0:22)
62.50%
660
JANE WADEY
65:03
55.80%
759
MO WARRILOW
74:10
45.29%
801
JANE WHITROW
81:28
44.68%
802
ABIGAIL WHITROW
81:48
1st 10K
36.38%
817
PAUL HOLGATE
86:34
39.65%
819
ROGER BIGGS
94:08
YB (2:59)
40.74%
Goodwood Marathon
Spartan SIMON FRASER had a great run in the Goodwood Marathon. He was second man 35 plus and eleventh overall in a fantastic sub three time of 2 hours 52 minutes 35 seconds.
The Great Bristol Run
JOHN NELMS travelled to his home city of Bristol to run the Big Bristol half marathon. A really well organised event on a fantastic city course with big supporting crowds helped him finish in 1:53:51
Norfolk Coastal Marathon
THOMAS SAUKA did the Norfolk coastal marathon on Saturday, he found it tough as he did not had a great lead up to this. Tom said he had a niggle with his left leg feeling tight which stopped him running properly in the last six miles but never the less he prevailed and finished 76th in 5:16:15 official time, that’s another great trail marathon ticked off. It was flat but challenging as well
Hatfield 5K – race three
After the three races in the Hatfield 5K series Spartan TONY RANDFIELD was a trophy winner. Third in the men 60 plus category. He ran 20 minutes 9 seconds on Wednesday evening for a score of 81.3%. The fastest Spartan was NICK GILL with a new personal best of 19 minutes 8 seconds – an improvement of 39 seconds.
There were also PBs by PAULA DUNNE who improved by 22 seconds to 22:53 and was fourth in the series for her category; GEORGIE HOOPER by 11 seconds to 23:13 and JANE WADEY by 13 seconds to 31:15.
MARK GOODWIN ran a season’s best of 22:33. There were also season’s bests from ANDREA WESTCOTT 26:09 and NIKKI NATION 28 minutes exactly.
Club Handicap 5K
In a very busy week for racing 28 runners finished Thursday evening’s Handicap 5K.
Winner on the night was Penny Schenkel, 2:03 quicker than her handicap in a year best time of 29:57, closely followed by the first man to finish, Chris Watling, 2:00 ahead of handicap in 24:15. Amanda Vickers (aided by Sharon Crowley) was second lady 1:50 better than handicap in a season best time of 37:40, followed by Anna Swanepoel in a new personal best time of 27:27. Andy Jay was second man 1:34 quicker than handicap in 26:56 and Matt Tutton was third man, 1:15 ahead of handicap in 29:45.
Pete Smith was quickest runner in 21:48 with Luke Gurney 2nd fastest, 23:19 and Chris Watling 3rd fastest, 24:15. Karen Ellis was quickest lady in 25:14 with Harriet Smith second fastest in 25:27, 20 seconds quicker than her previous season best and Tracy Pez third fastest in 26:57.
Judy King and Sally Pickles both beat their previous fastest 5k of this year and there were also improvements by Monica Smithson, Michael O’Keefe and Roger Biggs.
Total time difference between the 1st and last finisher was less than 3 minutes and all runners finished within 2:03 of their handicap. Thanks to Paul Holgate and Mike Crowley for organising the event.
There has been lots of wins for our members over the last week as lots of medals and prizes have been won.
All these Spartans won gold, silver, bronze county medals or other prizes – JIM BROWN, CATHY CRAIG, PAULA DUNNE, JOHN HARRIS, DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT, GEORGIE HOOPER, SAM PRETTY, GRANT RAMSAY, TONY RANDFIELD and JANE WADEY.
The medal haul started at the Hatfield 5K on Wednesday evening which included the county championships for veterans and continued into the Stevenage 10K on Sunday.
Stevenage 10K
Fourteen Spartans tackled the undulating Stevenage 10K and they won lots of medals. The event included the Hertfordshire 10K championship for veterans and the team of David Harris-Cherguit (36:48); Grant Ramsay (39:42); John Harris (41:56) and Tony Randfield (42:17) won the team event and GOLD medals.
Helped by Jane Wadey improving her personal best (PB) by two minutes to 64:41 the Spartan women BRONZE medals with Georgie Hooper (49:27) and Paula Dunne (50:21) also in the team.
Jim Brown won the 70 plus trophy in the open event and the County GOLD medal with 58 minutes exactly.
SIMON FRASER was the fastest Spartan in the open race. He was fourth overall and second senior with 35:06.
Hatfield 5K
Spartan participation in the second race of the Hatfield 5K series was high and members managed to bring home some medals!
The fastest Spartan was SIMON JACKSON who came seventh overall in 16 minutes 38 seconds and the fastest female was PAULA DUNNE in 23:15.
The race included the Hertfordshire County Championships for veterans in which JIM BROWN won the GOLD medal for men 70 plus with 27 minutes 17 seconds and CATHY CRAIG the BRONZE medal for women 65 plus with 28:29.
NIKKI NATION ran a new season’s best of 28:11, a minute quicker than the previous week.
New Forest Half Marathon
DARRYL STEVENS went for a run in the New Forest the New Forest Half Marathon, and finished in 2 hours 48 minutes 39 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 17th September
Congratulations to Nigel Strongitharm running a new PB of 24:59 at Bolberry Down parkun in Devon.
Yuko Gordon ran a new PB of 24:01 coming 21st on her 21st parkrun at Henlow.
Seventeen Spartans enjoyed the first in the series of 5K races at Hatfield on Wednesday evening and five of them came away with new personal bests (PB) for the distance. Three achieved new season’s bests (SB) and one ran his fastest time this year.
SIMON JACKSON was third veteran runner and sixth overall taking six seconds of his lifetime best with 16 minutes 34 seconds. KELVIN BEYIOKU took a significant 44 seconds of his PB with 17:37. PAULA DUNNE took a 55 seconds chunk off her best time with 23:16; NICK KLEANTHOUS 39 seconds off his with 24:13 and JANE WADEY improved her PB by six seconds to 31 minutes 28 seconds.
RICHARD BATE ran a new season’s best of 18:21; ANDREA WESTCOTT of 27:32 and CATHY CRAIG was delighted to get under 30 minutes with 29:15.
Steadily coming back from injury BRIAN WHITE finished in 22 minutes 34 seconds.
YUKO GORDON was the race winner based on age grade. She scored a massive 92.7%. She was also first woman aged over 70 with her 22 minutes 56 seconds.
EMAC (Eastern Masters)
Last week we announced that the Fairlands Valley Spartans women came third in the East of England (EMAC) final. Here’s the full story:
Thirteen FVS women travelled to Bedford on Sunday (4th) to compete in the Eastern Masters Athletic Club final. Despite injuries, illness, and absences, brilliant team spirit meant all events were covered and resulted in an unexpected third place behind Peterborough/Nene Valley (1st place) and Chelmsford AC (2nd place). Medal positions changed throughout the day, and FVS were originally awarded joint second, only to discover the following day that the scores were incorrect.
Yuko Gordon won an individual award for her outstanding 99.5% age graded 1st place performance in the women 60 plus (W60) 3k race and she also won the W60 800m.
Christine Lathwell dominated the W35 distance events, winning the 800m, 500m, and the 3k! Monica Brown excelled in the W50 jumps, winning long jump, triple jump, and high jump. Monica also dropped down to cover W35 shot put, finishing in third place.
The other win on the day came from Nikki Wilby (W35 high jump, also 5th place 400m hurdles, and 2nd place pole vault). With some team changes needed along the way, other points on the day were scored by Fiona Clarke (W35 5th place 100m, 6th place 200m – PB!, 4th place long jump – PB!, and 3rd place triple jump), Callie Chapman (W35 5th place 400m – PB!, 5th place hammer throw, and 6th place discus), Andrea Westcott (W50 4th place 100m, 2nd place 200m, 8th place 1500m, 3rd place 300m hurdles, and 5th place shot put), Carolyn Linsell dropped down to W50 (8th place 400m and 7th place 800m), Marion Morley (W50 8th place 3k, 6th place hammer throw, and 4th place discus), Karen Dodsworth (W60 6th place 100m, 2nd place discus, 4th place long jump, and 4th place triple jump), Sharon Crowley (W60 6th place 200m, 5th place A string 2k walk, 3rd place 300m hurdles, 4th place hammer throw), Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (W60 3rd place shot put and W50 2nd place javelin), Cathy Craig (a brave 3rd place B string 2k walk).
The W35 relay team finished in 5th place, with W50 team finishing 3rd in their race. The team enjoyed thoroughly well deserved bubbles and cake at the end of a very long day.
Great North Run
Six Spartans ran the biggest half marathon in the world. They were in Newcastle for the Great North Run. ADRIAN DONNELLY excelled with 1 hour 26 minutes 7 seconds which gave him 691st out of more than 35,000 finishers. STEVE DOBNER came in with 1:48:17; DAVID PATTMAN 1:49:09; MO WARRILOW 2:05:33; ROGER HARDMAN 2:14:31 and SUE HAMER 2:43:06.
Budapest Half Marathon
ROB WRIGHT went international at the weekend and enjoyed the Budapest Half Marathon which he completed in 2:17:08.
Sandy 10
Several Spartans kept it more local and ran the Sandy 10 (miles) race.
SAMANTHA PRETTY-CONNORS who sped round in 71 minutes exactly won the women 35 plus award. CLAIRE PULLEN came in fast with 77:37 followed by BRIAN WHITE 79:19; and ANN TRYSSESOONE 88:23. JIM BROWN was second 70 plus in a year’s best 88:56 with JACKE DOWNES in 1:30:49; TRICIA HOPPER in 1:31:09 and CAROL PAUL 1:41:21.
Montane Dragon’s Back Race
Six days running 380 kilometres off road down the spine of Wales. Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI was running the Montane Dragon’s Back Race from Conway Castle to Cardiff Castle.
Adrian was 69th out of the 102 finishers with a total time of 79 hours 8 minutes 14 seconds. His longest day was 15 hours 21 minutes 43 seconds. Many starters of this incredibly tough event did not finish.
Adrian said, “Six days. Trods, bogs, and bushwhacking, over some of the toughest peaks and ridges in Wales.
Scrambling, high exposure and fear. Self management, injuries and fatigue. Downpours, hail and high winds. Isolation. Dejection. Self doubt.
Cameraderie, friendship and community. Encouragement, assistance and a shared goal. Learning, growth and transformation. Fresh perspectives. Stoicism. Self confidence.
What an extraordinary group of people – participants, volunteers and staff – to invest a week with. Words can’t do it justice, but this truly was time well spent. There was also some running.”
Milton Keynes Marathon Prep 20 Miles
Two Spartans, WENDY THARANI and YUKO GORDON ran the new format of events organised by Marshall Milton Keynes Athletics Club. This was a 20 mile marathon preparation event consisting of 4 laps each of 5 miles around Willen Lake, its surrounding village roads and towpath along the Grand Union Canal. It wasn’t totally flat as it was a mixture of usual MK undulations but it was pretty and interesting. Yuko finished 26 seconds outside of the women 70 plus (W70) UK all time best time of 20 miles in 2:46:12 but she ran only to check her present fitness and wanted to build up some mileage this week before the London Marathon, so didn’t taper.
Wendy came 174th in 3:52:07 and after a summer of wonderful adventures consisting of epic bike rides and climbing mountains (alongside running) she was very pleased to complete the race.
Tables
Spartans at the Hatfield 5K race (race 1 in a series of 3).
Place
Name
Time
Cat
M/F
Cat Pos
Grade
Comments
6.
Simon JACKSON
16:34
MV40
6
3
85.3%
3rd Vet. PB (0:06)
16.
Oluwatobi Kelvin BEYIOKU
17:37
MS
15
9
72.8 %
PB (0:44)
31.
Richard BATE
18:21
MV40
29
10
73.6 %
SB
41.
Grant RAMSAY
19:03
MV50
39
11
76.5 %
62.
Tony RANDFIELD
20:29
MV60
55
3
79.9 %
3rd V60
84.
Brian WHITE
22:34
MV60
73
5
74.5 %
YB (0:44)
88.
Yuko GORDON
22:56
FV65
12
1
92.7 %
% winner
89.
Mark GOODWIN
22:58
MV60
77
7
71.3 %
98.
Paula DUNNE
23:16
FV35
19
6
63.6 %
PB (0:55)
111.
Nick KLEANTHOUS
24:13
MV60
84
10
65.1 %
PB (0:39)
153.
Jim BROWN
27:04
MV70
98
5
63.8 %
156.
Andrea WESTCOTT
27:32
FV45
57
17
60.0 %
SB (0:45)
164.
Catherine CRAIG
29:15
FV65
61
5
70.3 %
SB (1:14) Sub 30
165.
Nikki NATION
29:44
FV55
62
12
59.7 %
170.
Sharon CROWLEY
30:24
FV55
66
14
63.3 %
171.
Jane WADEY
31:28
FV55
67
15
55.8 %
PB (0:03)
178.
Roger BIGGS
43:38
MV70
107
9
41.9%
Parkrun – 10th September
For the consolidated Parkrun results please follow this link – Parkrun Results
Several Spartans ran the Big Half Marathon in London on Sunday.
Among them were TONY RANDFIELD and ROB WRIGHT who ran together. Tony finished in 1:52:13 and Rob in 1:52:19. They said it was a good race, fairly flat and it’s always great running across Tower Bridge.
There were nearly 12,400 finishers.
EMAC Ladies
The Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team won BRONZE in the East of England final for track and field athletes aged over 35 (EMAC). The team included CAROLYN LINSELL, NICKY WILBY, CALLIE CHAPMAN, MARIAN MORLEY, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, FIONA CLARKE, KAREN DODSWORTH, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS, YUKO GORDON, ANDREA WESTCOTT and SHARON CROWLEY.
Andrea Westcott said, “The FVS Women were in the medals at the Eastern Masters final in Bedford on Sunday, finishing third behind Peterborough and Chelmsford in a hotly contested match. The medal positions changed frequently throughout the day, but the Spartans fought bravely and finished strong.”
Yuko Gordon won Woman of the Meeting 2022!
Oakley 20
There were two Spartans running 20 mile races on Sunday. JOHN HARRIS was second man 60 plus at the Oakley 20 with 2 hours 30 minutes 39 seconds and 36th overall.
JIM BROWN took advantage of a late transfer to run the Bedford Festival 20. He was third man over 70 and 208th out of the 393 finishers in 3 hours 22 minutes 46 seconds.
Bedford Festival
ROSS GALLAGHER ran the Half Marathon at the Bedford Festival. He ran it in 1:32:50. It was a good race on mixed terrain which he used for some marathon pace training ahead of his run in Chicago on 9th October.
THOMAS SAUKA ran the Bedford Festival 5K in 21 minutes 49 seconds and was 19th out of 319. CHRIS WATLING was 49th in 24:24.
Meanwhile FIONA and MATT CLARKE ran the Festival 10K. Fiona was 184th in 56 minutes 1 second and Matt 95th in 48:44. There were 655 finishers. Fiona said she was very keen to get one of the pink finisher T shirts.
Baldock Rat Run
The Baldock 5 kilometre Rat Run is a multi terrain run around Baldock, including steps, a low tree to climb under and a dark tunnel to navigate. It is held in aid of the Garden House Hospice and is a regular event for Spartan Tim Robinson. The Rat Run is a very friendly, family orientated fun race with many children taking part and loads of activities for the younger children to do while waiting for the runners to finish.
MATT TUTTON was 68th with a gun time of 31 minutes 6 seconds and TIM ROBINSON 71st with 31:10. Their chip times were 30:57 and 30:56.
FVS Club 5K Handicap
Hazel (Smith), Abbie (Pez), Mark (Freeman) and Charlie (White) were winners in Thursday’s club 5K at twilight.
There were 39 finishers in Thursday evening’s Handicap 5k and thank you to Mike Crowley and Jim Brown for their assistance with the start and finish. The winner on the night was Hazel Smith recovering superbly from her recent injury with an impressive 26:12. Caroline Zverev finished 2nd lady (3rd overall), 2:32 better than handicap in 37:28 and Penny Schenkel was 3rd lady, 2:28 quicker than her July Handicap 5K time in 31:52.
Mark Freeman was first man (2nd overall), 2:14 quicker than July in 25:30, with Chris Watling second man in a new PB time of 23:12, 42 seconds quicker than July, and Steve Tinsley third man in a new PB time 25:48. Charlie White was quickest runner on the night in 20:03, with Paul Shelley 2nd quickest in a year best time of 20:41, and David Pattman third quickest with 21:34.
There were only six seconds between the three fastest females. Abbie Pez was quickest female in 24:05, with Marie Colucci 2nd quickest just 1 second behind in 24:06 and Paula Dunne 3rd quickest with 24:11.
There were also new PBs for Grant Murphy (28:21), Luke Gurney (23:02) and Derek Cornelius (23:38), while Simon Sypula improved his season best time by 2:45 to 28:18, and Karen Ellis, Tracy Pez, Craig Bacon, Jane Wadey & Martin Dudley were all others to improve on their July 5k times. Total time difference between 4th – 32nd position was just 2:14 and 32 finishers were within 2 minutes of their calculated handicap time. Full results are attached. The next Handicap 5k will be on the 22nd September.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 3rd September
First Saturday of the month is Stripey Saturday, and twenty four Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelled to 6 different Parkrun venues across the country wearing the Club Stripey vest with pride.
Congratulations and well done to Grant RAMSAY who claimed top spot at Stevenage with a time of 18:46, 12 years and 8 months since his first ever Parkrun win at Finsbury Park. Top spots were achieved through his 30s, 40s and now 50s!
The fastest female Spartan was Gail MACKIE with a time of 22:34, third female at Stevenage. Adrian DONNELLY achieved a personal best (PB) at Letchworth (3rd, 19:51) completing the Spartans line-up of top ten finishers this week.
Luke GURNEY also achieved a PB, finishing with a time of 23:00 at Stevenage.
The main event for the Spartans this weekend took place in Fairlands Valley Park. It was a joint four part session with the Stevenage Striders on Sunday morning. The weather was ideal and there were 1K loops; chasing lamp posts; relays; hills & descents. More than forty runners enjoyed the event and the exercise.
The two local running clubs came together to help promote running in Stevenage!
There will be more events of this kind in the future so watch this space!
Shuttleworth Marathon
Spartan YUKO GORDON ran the Shuttleworth Marathon on Sunday. She was second lady overall in 4 hours 16 minutes 2 seconds. It was a tough course, six laps of a 7km loop of off-road with a long uphills and mostly dry hard farmland. Yuko was pleased with her run as she felt my Covid fatigue is on the mend and said she felt comfortable all the way.
Three Peaks Challenge
Spartans Claire and Darren Emmerson completed the three peaks challenge on Sunday afternoon alongside others for the Garden House Hospice.
Claire works for Garden House and with them being the Spartans chosen charity this year it was a no brainer for her to do the challenge! As she’s always up for an adventure Darren went along with her and together they completed all three peaks in 24 hours and 48 minutes.
The weather on Ben Nevis was horrendous. They had sleet, torrential rain and very strong winds with apparently a wind chill of minus 20! No chance of seeing any view and they were so wet we had wet boots for the other mountains.
Scafell pike, again by the time the mist and fog was quite thick so again no view. Snowdon was perfect weather though so beautiful views.
Challenge completed! But… Claire has said that she doesn’t want to see a mountain again for a little while. She said give me a marathon to run any day.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 20th August
It was a busy weekend for Spartans at parkrun, taking part across nine different venues.
In Stevenage Jonathan Parr was second overall in 18 minutes exactly and Suzy Hawkins was first female in 20:13. There were parkrun PBs for Tony Randfield (20:16) and Luke Gurney (23:17). Congratulations to Monica Smithson who was running her 50th parkrun.
Further afield Nick Kleanthous ran a new PB (personal best) of 25:00 at Preston Park, Brighton on his seventh outing there. David and Nicola Pattman were at Holkham both running PBs (24:01 for David and 35:46 for Nicola).
Over in Letchworth, Grant Ramsay was third overall in 19:47 followed by John Harris (7th overall) in 21:15. Martin Blackburn was a first timer at Mole Valley near the Denbies Wine Estate in 22:38 and Simon Bell a first timer at Doddington Hall (20:08).
Andy Jay was at Teignmouth on his eighth outing there running 27:16.
Total finishers at Stevenage were back up to 264 with 22 Spartans running. Steve Smithson made it to his 25th milestone volunteering to help with the Stevenage parkrun.
Tables
Stevenage parkrun (264 finishers including 22 Spartans)
It was seriously hot, an estimated 30 degrees at the finish line, for the St. Albans Summer 10K but Danny SCANLON ran it in a quick 42 minutes 57 seconds for 39th place overall. At Saturday’s parkrun Jim BROWN was nervous about the heat but come Sunday he won his age category by more than thirteen minutes with 56:38. Michael O’KEEFE was close to his personal best with 58:22.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 13th August
The summer holiday period saw thirty two Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelled to 10 different parkrun venues across the country.
Simon JACKSON took first place at Stevenage and was the fastest Spartan this week finishing in 17:13. Jonathan PARR took first place at Hunstanton promenade finishing at 17:59 and Susan MCANENY was the fastest female Spartan with a time of 26:46, 8th female at Stevenage.
Other top ten finishers are Adrian DONNELLY at Malahide (6th, 19:20), John HARRIS at Letchworth (5th, 20:40), Claire PULLEN at Stevenage (9th female, 26:46).
Cathy CRAIG travelled to Blandford park run and achieved a new seasons best in 25C heat of 30:40.
Spartans Dave Pattman, Mo Warrilow and Steve Dobner took ran the Snetterton 10K on Wednesday. It was seriously hot, 29°C as they walked to the start. The event was on an open course with two laps of the motor racing circuit finishing in the pit lane. With it being so open there was nowhere to hide from the sun and every straight felt like it was into a headwind.
Steve did well to run a personal best (PB) of 47 minutes 4 seconds in those conditions with Dave coming in with 46:17 and Mo in 56:54.
Stopsley Striders Five
Spartan TONY RANDFIELD tackled the Stopsley Striders five miles undulating trail race in 36 minutes 15 seconds. He said there were two hills, one in particular was a killer but he was very happy with his time which was only 17 seconds outside his personal best.
Nicola and Carolyn’s Challenge Runs
NICOLA ANDERSON completed 240.42 miles for the British Red Cross charity Miles for Refugees 108 miles challenge. This was set over eight weeks early June to 31st July, started as a Strava badge with five other location distances to choose from if you were to set up a fundraising page with Just Giving. There was 22 miles English Channel right up to 555 miles Turkey to Croatia. Nicola stuck with Strava’s own Lviv Ukraine to Lublin Poland 108 miles being so currently relevant. Consisting mostly of running activities which were automatically uploaded to the fundraising page with a few of my own posts, a few walks and one cycle ride towards the end. She was hoping to do a long distance with the bike but for the fact she had not ridden for three years and getting a puncture she had to cut it short last Saturday. The following day it came to an end with a final walk and run, raising £235 for the British Red Cross which just beat Nicola’s Race for Life 10k raised in July 2019… The other charities she’s run for fundraising are Blesma 11k and Captain Tom 100, running 100 minutes and raising slightly more than the set target of £100 for Mind in Mid Herts for April 2021….
In addition Nicola completed 71.32 miles in just 11 runs over 16 days from 14th June -30th June for the Queens Platinum Jubilee 70 miles virtual challenge. Some of this overlapped doing Miles for refugees at the same time. All for a medal of course.
Carolyn LINSELL completed her 70 miles Jubilee Run on 30th July after a bout of injuries just after she signed up (bruised coccyx, turned ankle and rib injury). She signed up on 14th June but is delighted to have completed it.
Runnymede Roger
Roger Biggs was breaking historic lands, with a lapped event in the Runnymede area, along the banks of the Thames in London.
Runners had the opportunity to change their intended finish distance as the event progressed.
Each lap was measured at 5km, with Roger intending to complete 10k. On another hot day you might have thought Roger would want to down distance, but in the end, he went up to 15km then 20km.
Roger finished his run in 3 hours 33 minutes 51 seconds.
NH First Saturday 5K
JANE WHITROW said the North Herts first Saturday 5K was a very friendly get together- and it allowed Canicross.
It was Abbie’s first ever 5k without walking. JANE WHITROW finished in 35 minutes 55 seconds and ABIGAIL WHITROW in 38 minutes 57 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 6th August
DEBBIE BLANTERN wore the celebration cape to run her 100th parkrun. At 263 runners it was the highest attendance at Stevenage for several weeks.
With the summer holidays now in full flow, twenty-nine Fairlands Valley Spartans headed out to run in Parkrun events this Saturday morning.
Success was seen on the Stevenage course with Jonathan PARR finishing first overall in a time of 17 minutes and 31 seconds and Suzy HAWKINS completing as the first female in 19:50. Sam SIMMONS ran a parkrun PB (personal best) time of 21:38 and Debbie BLANTERN ran her 100th event in 29:10.
At the Great Denham event, PB times were recorded across the board. David PATTMAN ran a time 21:16, Steven DOBNER 21:42, and Mo WARRILLOW 25:07.
With holidays spreading the Spartan clan far and wide there have been many new Parkrun events to discover. On her first visit, Alison WOOD was the second female to finish the Barnstaple course in 21:43, and Yuko GORDON completed the event in Reading as the 12th female in 24:50. Darryl STEVENS finished at Bowling Park as the 18th male in 38:07.
Sharon CROWLEY was at the warm, sunny and flat Pegwell Bay Park Run in Kent. Her 29:53 was her fastest time since before the pandemic, coming in 100th position. She has no idea where that time came from!
The Spartans club handicap 5K returned on Thursday evening and there were 41 runners.
Running round the Fairlands, Grace, Martins, Verity, Fairlands Ways course the winner on the night was a very quick SIMON FRASER in a new PB (personal best) time of 16:48, with CHRIS WATLING second in 23:54 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI third in 17:52.
ANNA SWANEPOEL won the women’s handicap with a new personal best (PB) of 27 minutes 48 seconds. PENNY SCHENKEL was second across the line with a year’s best 34:20 and KAREN ELLIS just two seconds behind third with a year’s best (YB) 25:11 which was 1:42 quicker than her previous fastest 5K time this year.
Fastest runner on the night was Simon Fraser with Adrian Busolini second quickest in 17:52 and Charlie White third quickest (19:18). GRANT RAMSAY continued his return to form at fourth fastest with 19:22. Tracy Pez was quickest female (24:15) with Karen Ellis second quickest and Nikki Wilby, 25:41, third quickest.
In handicap races the slower runners, on recent performance, start first and if everyone runs exactly to form they will all finish together. So a pursuit race and the best improver wins.
Thus SIMON FRASER was first across the line 36 seconds of CHRIS WATLING. Chris finished 12 seconds ahead of ADRIAN BUSOLINI in third even though Chris’ net time was 23:54 and Adrian’s 17:52
The next handicap 5K will be on Thursday 1st September 2022 and it would be fantastic if the Spartans can get even more than 41 taking part next time.
A big thank you to helpers and supporters: Vicky and Stuart Archer and boys; Sharon and Mike Crowley; Jan and Nick Fry; Tony Randfield; Hannah Sypula and Tony Willson.
EMAC – East of England track and field hit by downpour
The last Eastern Masters central division competition at Bedford on 20th July was cut short due to a downpour which left the track and field completely flooded and unsafe. Some events took place before the heavens opened, with our women’s team completing another clean sweep, this time in the distance hurdles – W35 400m Nikki Wilby, W50 300m Andrea Westcott, and W60 300m Sharon Crowley.
Stephanie Biggar won the W35 javelin competition, marking her last appearance for the team with a new PB! Christine Lathwell also scored top points, winning the W35 mile in horrendous conditions with race bibs disintegrating before crossing the line! Monica Brown won the W50 long jump, making a brave return to the event that caused her injury last year. Other points scored on the evening – Wendy Tharani (third W50 mile), Carolyn Linsell (third W60 mile), Marian Morley (second W50 javelin), Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (second W60 javelin), Fiona Clarke (fourth W35 long jump and a new PB!), and Karen Dodsworth (second W50 long jump). Tracey Jackson was due to make her debut for the team, but the weather had other ideas!
The men’s team had wins from Chris Westcott (M35 mile) and Grant Ramsay (M50 mile) with other points from Pete Smith (second M60 mile and second M60 300m hurdles), Anton McCalla (third M35 discus), Nick Kleanthous (fifth M50 discus), Ron Westcott (third M60 discus)
The final will be held at the Bedford International stadium on Sunday 4th September. The Spartans women’s team will be attempting to retain their championship title.
Three in Three for Jim
It was three 5K races in three days for JIM BROWN. His second was at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park on a dry, sunny, warm with a light breeze Friday lunch time. He finished in a reasonable 27 minutes 8 seconds and was second in his age group. His first was the Spartans handicap 5K on Thursday evening and his third in the Stevenage parkrun where his previous exploits came to haunt him a bit in the last 1.5 kilometres.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 30th July
GRANT RAMSAY wearing his Team GB top from the recent world masters championships WON the Stevenage parkrun in 18 minutes 21 seconds.
Fairlands Valley Spartan members were out in force on Saturday with thirty seven members taking part at ten different parkrun venues across the country. It was a bumper weekend of achievements with personal bests, year bests, first finishes and top tens.
Congratulations to Sam SIMMONS running his 50th Parkrun at Stevenage, coincidently finishing at 50th place with a time of 23:45. Congratulations also go to Adrian DONNELLY (19:58 at Stevenage) and Michael O’KEEFE (27:18 at Henlow Bridge Lakes) who both achieved personal bests this weekend.
Grant RAMSAY was fastest at Stevenage, coming first with a year best (YB) time of 18:21. Alison WOOD and Sam PRETTY (who made her debut at Stevenage Parkrun) took home first and second lady with times of 21:42 (YB) and 21:55 respectively.
There were three other top ten finishers this week, with Adrian DONNELLY fifth, Ashley KING eighth lady both at Stevenage (25:15) and Karen ELLIS sixth lady at Sheringham (26:41 YB).
Four more year bests were achieved with Chloe CHAPMAN (27:15) and Claire EMMERSON (27:20) both running at Stevenage, Peter CARPENTER (43:17) at Squerryes Winery and Maria SWIFT (29:13) at Sandringham.
25 of the 229 finishers at Stevenage were Spartans. Last but not least, five Spartans reached unofficial milestones with Nicola PATTMAN completing her 20th Parkrun, Jonathan JONES (80th), Alison SHELLEY (90th), Thomas SAUKA (110th) and Martin DUDLEY (150th) all at Stevenage.
Tables
All the Spartan handicap 5K runners in finish line order
The FVS 3K Relays returned for the first time since 2018 on Thursday with 115 teams taking part. Fortunately the temperature had dropped from the previous few days, meaning the 460 runners and 30 marshals didn’t get roasted! It was great to see so many clubs taking part, with male, female and mixed teams all entering.
In the men’s senior race Luton Athletics Club took first place, with North Herts Road Runners winning for the veterans. North Herts took the senior women’s title, with St Albans Striders winning the womens vets. Ware Joggers took both titles for the mixed race.
Fairlands Valley Spartans were third in the women’s over 35 race with SAM PRETTY 12 minutes 14 seconds; SUZY HAWKINS 11:20; ASHLEY KING 12:15 and MICHELLE REEVES 11:19 running the team’s 47 minutes 8 seconds.
The fastest Spartans men’s team took 38 minutes 49 seconds with SIMON JACKSON 9:29; SIMON FRASER 9:23; JONATHAN PARR 9:40 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI 10:17.
Every team consisted of four runners covering a total of 12 kilometres. There were two men and two women in mixed teams.
The relays in Fairlands Valley Park were great to run and to watch on a lovely sunny evening.
They included the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire road relay championships.
In the Wimpole Hall Trail 10K JOHN HARRIS was 12th in 43:45.
Brandon Country
Roger Biggs travelled to Brandon Country Park near Thetford, for a 10km trail event.
It was hilly, rough in places, a bit over-distance, and very warm. Roger completed the two lap course in 2:02:48.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 23rd July – Nicola’s 100th at the Stevenage 250th
It was a big week at Stevenage parkrun with the venue celebrating its 250th parkrun. There was a Spartan ladies 1 and 2 with Gail Mackie first female (22:14) and Suzy Hawkins second female (22:15). Stuart Archer was third overall (18:44), Grant Ramsay fifth (18:55) and Tony Randfield 10th overall (20:24) won his age group and achieved a magnificent age related score of 81.45% Congrats to Nikki Nation with a new parkrun PB (30:31). Many congratulations to Nicola Andersson celebrating her 100th parkrun. There were 23 Spartans amongst the 252 runners.
72,801 people have run the 250 Stevenage parkruns since 2016.
Further afield, Maria Swift was a first timer at Sandringham parkrun (29:36). There was a new parkrun PB for Michael O’Keefe at Kingdom parkrun near Tonbridge (29:38) in his third run there. Also a PB for Darryl Stevens at Lymington Woodside (35:57).
A tale of two Paul’s at Letchworth parkrun: Paul Maguire (25:08) and Paul Jennings (34:10).
A posse of Spartans took a trip to Westmill: Paul Shelley (26:14), Alison Shelley ran a new PB (29:22), David Pattman (32:17), Mo Warrillow (32:21) and Steve Dobner (32:18).
Mike Reynolds ran the Panshanger parkrun in 25:26.
It was a hot day for any kind of long distance event but 105 completed Sunday’s Fairlands Valley Challenge.
The annual Fairlands Valley Challenge is a self guided trail run through the countryside and villages in East Herts surrounding Stevenage and is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.
Normally five distances are available from 10k to 50k, including half and full marathon distances. Participants are supplied with snacks and drinks at Aid Stations/check points spread out on the course.
With a severe Amber weather warning in effect, and other races around the country being cancelled, the event had to be scaled back and altered.
The 50k option was dropped and the marathon and 18 mile routes changed to two laps rather than one big lap.
Nevertheless 107 participants including 33 Spartans turned up looking for adventure and given instructions to be back soon after 1pm before the heat of the day would get too unbearable.
Some sensibly in the conditions switched down distances but all returned safely by 2pm in good spirits having had a challenging but fun time.
Despite the heat some runners managed to complete the marathon distance in around 3 hours 35 minutes.
NICOLA ANDERSSON said, “The Fairlands Valley Challenge Sunday morning, it had to be early to beat the heat and I was up for the 18 miles to begin with… I’ll eventually go for a longer than a half marathon one day, this being my fifth run over the distance and second official half event but that was one hot day. Our self navigated route to Watton at Stone, through to Datchworth and back on the multi terrain trail route through fields and woods. I provided the map instructions though Tony Randfield led the way for Carolyn Linsell and myself with his navigation skills. Myself being a first timer I’d either get lost or take much longer. It was a hot one but we got the 13plus miles done.” Nicola, Carolyn and Tony finished together in 3 hours 13 minutes.
Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI, perhaps benefitting, from his ultra advantages was fastest in the half marathon event more than 20 minutes ahead of his nearest rival.
DANNY SCANLON commented, “I ran the FV challenge for the 1st time today. Thoroughly enjoyed my half marathon and was great to run with Mr & Mrs Archer! Lovely morning, lovely run and pretty much everyone involved had a smile on their faces! Nice 2.14.29 morning half in the sun.”
FVC professionals SHARON CROWLEY and CATHY CRAIG said, “We had a super day out completing our loops in 5hrs 30 for 20 miles! The 1st 13 went quickly, then out for the next lap, by this time the heat was taking its toll, so one foot in front of the other and get to the end! The 2 Spartan ladies going the furthest…we think!”
A big thank you to TIM ROBINSON and all his volunteer helpers who were out in that heat.
2022 Fairlands Valley Challenge Provisional Results.
10 km
Kartik Sharma 1:14:48 Callie Chapman 01:47:20 Claire Emmerson 01:51:20 Sean Millwood 01:51:21 Paula Dunne 01:51:29 Sally Pickles 01:59:56 Judy King 01:59:58
Tony Willson 02:00:00 Rachael Miller 02:00:01 Steph Biggar 02:00:21 Hannah Sypula 02:00:22 Jon Sypula 02:00:23
Half
Adrian Busolini 01:35:59 Danny Scanlon 02:14:51 Chris Watling 02:17:43 Thomas Sauka 02:23:21 Susan McAneny 02:25:19 Zoe Jackson F 02:25:19 Vicky Archer 02:27:03 Wendy Tharani 02:49:20 27 Luke Gurney 02:59:23 Christine Zverev 02:59:23 43 Nicola Andersson 03:13:53 Tony Randfield 03:13:54 Carolyn Linsell 03:13:54 Darryl Stevens 03:41:03 Paul Holgate 03:48:46 Tricia Hopper 04:08:17 Karen Liddle 04:08:19 Robert Hardy 05:17:29 Pauline Hardy 05:17:29 Roger Biggs M70 05:17:32
18 Mile
Stuart Archer 03:24:46 Cathy Craig 05:25:14 Sharon Crowley 05:25:15
Marathon
Clare Moore 05:27:50 Davie Stafford 5:27:50
Grant Top Ten in World Masters
One for the international scores on the doors. Spartan GRANT RAMSAY was in Tampere, Finland for the World Masters Championships. He was sixth in the 50 plus steeplechase race with 13 minutes 2 seconds.
Ramsay was delighted with sixth place to achieve his goal of finishing in the top 10, which had a strong field.
Adrian’s Tough Century
ADRIAN BUSOLINI recently ran a 161 kilometres off road and undulating World Series Major at Val D’Aran in the Pyrenees.
He completed the 100 miles in 32 hours 15 minutes 59 seconds for 35th place.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 16th July
As temperatures soared across the UK, thirty-six Fairlands Valley Spartans headed out to run in Parkrun events on Saturday morning.
In Stevenage, ASHLEY JOHNSON, who ran a parkrun PB time to finish as the third female overall in 20 minutes and 55 seconds, was joined by JOHN HARRIS, the sixth male to finish the course in a time of 19 minutes and 53 seconds and, finishing as the 100th male, MATT CLARKE as he completed his 100th Parkrun event with a run of 31:06.
Also running a parkrun PB was YORDAN YORDANOV in Basingstoke with a time of 25:17.
Many Spartans were off trying new courses. JONATHAN PARR ran Whitstable Parkrun in 17 minutes and 34 seconds where he was second, while ANNABELLE WHITE finished Wimpole Estate in 32:05 and NICK KLEANTHOUS ran the course at Clacton Seafront in 26:24. ALISON and MARTIN WOOD completed The Pastures (Alnwick) course in 22 minutes and 30 secondss and 25 minutes and 43 seconds, respectively, as DARRYL STEVENS ran Henlow Bridge in 38 minutes and 41 seconds, and JAMES MCSWEENY Mildenhall Hub Parkrun in 26:19.
A huge thunderstorm and tremendous downpour confronted Fairlands Valley Spartans as they made their way to Trent Park, Cockfosters for the fourth Mid Week League event but 29 made it, enjoyed the rainbow and finished the event. This was an evening largely off road 10K event.
The fastest of the 18 men were ADRIAN BUSOLINI 25th in 37 minutes 59 seconds and SIMON FRASER 30th in 38:36. PETE SMITH was the fastest 60 plus in the race with 45:53 and ROGER HARDMAN second 70 plus with 63:12.
For the women SUZY HAWKINS was 16th in 44 minutes 40 seconds. YUKO GORDON was the fastest 65 plus woman with 53:10.
Altogether 306 runners finished the race. The end of series celebration, the mob match, is at Welwyn Garden City on the 6th July.
Ware Ten
There were two trophies for Fairlands Valley Spartans at Sunday’s testing Ware 10 mile race. JIM BROWN won the male 70 plus award with 1 hour 34 minutes 32 seconds and JAN FRY won the women 65 plus category with 1:54:04.
ROB WRIGHT was the fastest Spartan with 1:19:52. He was 67th out of the 260 finishers.
STEVEN DOBNER said it was super weather for a scenic run around Ware and Hertford. A few large lumps and some fast downhill sections on an enjoyable but tricky course. A fantastic local event which deserves to be supported as they always put on a great race.
He said he felt strong and happy to finish in 1:24:07 having spent most of the run alongside DAVID PATTMAN who finished a few seconds later in 1:24:11.
The fastest female from Fairlands was MO WARRILOW with 1:35:53. CHRIS SAUNDERS ran his first ten mile race in 1:36:11 and NICOLA PATTMAN came in with 1:52:59.
In the Ware 10K DZENANA TOPIC was 163rd in 1:11:45 and JONATHAN JONES 165th in 1:11:54.
Roger on the River Thames Towpath
On Friday ROGER BIGGS ran his longest race since September 21, with an event along the River Thames towpath in Walton-on-Thames.
Eight out-and-back laps represented a total race distance equivalent to a half marathon (13.1 miles). Roger completed the course 3:57:29
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 2nd July
Stevenage parkrun was back above the 250 runner mark on Saturday.
Stripey Saturday saw 24 Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelled to seven different Parkrun venues across the country.
Jonathan PARR took first place at Exmouth finishing at 16:56, also taking the titles of fastest and the further travelled Spartan.
Debbie BLANTERN was the fastest female Spartan finishing at 29:27 at Stevenage.
Nikki NATION ran a personal best of 31:55, also at Stevenage.
Three runners achieved year’s best times with Sam SIMMONS (20:04) and Hilary DAVIES (33:43) at Stevenage and Chris HOLLAND (24:50) at Rutland Waters.
Unofficial milestones were achieved by Roger BIGGS completing 110th Parkruns, Michael O’KEEFE 140th and Danik BATES 220th this weekend.
Stevenage celebrates its 250th parkrun on Saturday 16th July. Make sure you have your free parkrun barcode and that your parkrun profile includes Fairlands Valley Spartans.
The FVS Ladies continued their winning streak in the Eastern Masters Athletics league meeting in perfect conditions at Cambridge on Wednesday evening. The team of 14 greatly outnumbered the opposition, allowing everyone to focus on one or two events instead of having to cope with multiple shoe changes! FVS had a clean sweep in the high jump competition, with Nikki Wilby (W35), Monica Brown (W50 – also second place shot put), and Karen Dodsworth (W60) all winning maximum points for the team. Karen also claimed first place in W50 400 metres and placed second in W50 triple jump. Other wins on the night came from Andrea Westcott in the W50 100m (also second place hammer throw with a PB!), Tessa Stephenson W60 100m, and Wendy Tharani W50 1500m. Having such a large contingent ensured every event was covered. Important points were scored by Callie Chapman (fourth place in both W35 100m and 400m), Carolyn Linsell (second place W60 400m), Fiona Clarke (second place in both W35 1500m and her first ever triple jump competition!), Cathy Craig (third place W60 1500m), Sharon Crowley (fourth place 2k walk ‘A’ and second place W60 hammer), Yuko Gordon (third place 2k walk ‘B’), Stephanie Biggar (third place W35 hammer and fourth place shot put), and Joylyn Saunders-Mullins finished in second place in a hotly contested W60 shot put. As always, the relays rounded off the evening with W35 team of Monica Brown, Callie Chapman, Fiona Clarke, and Nikki Wilby finishing in third place. The W50 team of Carolyn Linsell, Andrea Westcott, Tessa Stephenson, and Wendy Tharani were unopposed, finishing in first place.
The men’s team had fewer competitors, seven, available but TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS, STEVE MAYFIELD, DAVE STEPHENSON, NICK KLEANTHOUS, CHRIS WESTCOTT, GRANT RAMSAY and PETE SMITH still managed a credible fourth place finish. Tim Saunders-Mullins won the M60 hammer throw by a huge margin, with other points from Steve Mayfield (4th place in M35 100m, shot put, triple jump, and high jump then moving to his own age group to finish 4th in M50 hammer!), Dave Stephenson (3rd place in both M50 100m and 400m), Nick Kleanthous (5th place M60 100m, 2nd place 2k walk ‘A’, and 4th place M60 shot put), Chris Westcott (3rd place in both M35 400m and 1500m), Grant Ramsay (2nd place in his new age group M50 1500m), and Pete Smith (2nd place M60 1500m, 5th place M50 triple jump, 2nd place M60 high jump). The relay team finished in 4th place, just pipped to the line by 0.3 seconds!
The ladies team have now secured their place in the final but will still be aiming for another victory in Bedford net month on Wednesday 20th July!
Two Wins At Welwyn
There were eleven Spartans and two wins at the Welwyn 10K.
MARK GOODWIN was really pleased and surprised by achieving first place in his age category. He managed a negative split, rare for him, due to the challenging hill in the first half of the race. Mark WON the Vet 60 competition with 48 minutes 1 second.
JIM BROWN’s second half was 1 minute 39 seconds faster than his first, so another negative split, and he WON the 70 plus category by three minutes with 56 minutes 56 seconds.
VISH SHAH came in with 53 minutes 53 seconds and new member HARRIET SMITH raced round in an excellent 54 minutes 27 seconds. She was in the top half of the field, 160th out of 355.
There was a new personal best (PB) for MICHAEL O’KEEFE – 61:42.
JANE WADEY said it was tough but pleased to complete her first ever measured and chip timed 10K race in 67:09.
It was a very hot run at the Welwyn 10K said CHRISTINE ZVEREV. Sadly not the sub 60 she was hoping for but Christine said it was beautiful nonetheless. She came in with 67:47.
JANE WATT, 68:26, thought it was a lovely course. Bit hot in places but it is June.
LUKE GURNEY 63:01; NICOLA HATHERLY 74:00 and JUDY KING 74:55 completed the Spartan eleven.
Hitchin Hard Half
ROBERT WRIGHT took the Hitchin Hard Half Marathon at an easy pace and finished in 2.06.10. There were 149 finishers.
Race To The Tower
SHARON CROWLEY ran a 52 mile Ultra, the Race to the Tower, which she finished in 19 hours 57 minutes 7 seconds at 4:30am. It’s a tough and very hilly event in the Cotswolds, some of it quite steep. She kept a good pace throughout and only slowed down a little near the end when it was dark. She said she needed her poles for both up and down the hills. She was supported by Mike, who was a great help, especially close to the end. An amazing achievement.
Sharon said it was one of the hardest things she’s ever done!
Serpentine
It was bright dry and windy for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park where runners were entertained by the warm up for the BST festival. Jim Brown was 105th and second in his category with 27:20. He is twelfth in the year long series.
Windy maybe but it was quite neat as it was headwind where there was shelter but tailwind out in the open on the back straight. The race was won in an eye watering 14 minutes 58 seconds! The Serpentine 5K is now in its 30th year with a celebration to come in October.
Run Orwell
DAVE SCOTT took part in the Run Orwell event near Royston today, and although he’d planned for the 10k, because of the heat he made the decision to do the 5k distance instead.
It was a small event, with around 120 participants across both distances. It was mixed terrain, including some sections across private farm land which were scenic but tough! It was very much a social run for Dave, so he took it relatively easy and finished in 34:17.
Parkrun Highlights
The purple start and finish signs made a welcome return to Stevenage parkrun for the first time since March 2020. There were 238 runners including 14 Spartans.
It was a busy week for Spartans participating across 11 different venues including home base at Stevenage. JONATHAN PARR was first at Stevenage (17:16). He was exactly one minute ahead of his nearest rival.
JIM BROWN won the category by three seconds with a little scamper to the line ahead of a Garden City Runner with the two of them 105th and 107th out of 238 in the race. Jim’s time was 27:14, slightly faster than the Serpentine 5K the day before.
Lots of “First timers” this week: ROGER BIGGS at Eastbourne (44:51), the Pattmans ran in Lowestoft (David 23:04 and Nicola 35:03), MO WARRILOW and STEVE DOBNER ran together at Jersey Farm (Mo 29:27) (Steve 29:28) and YUKO GORDON was at Henlow Bridge Lakes (25:11).
There were new parkrun course PBs for PAUL MAGUIRE at Exmouth (23:48), MICHAEL O’KEEFE at Henlow Bridge Lakes (28:35) and NIKKI NATION at Stevenage (32:29),
ANDY JAY was at Westmill (28:32), JAMES MCSWEENEY at Littleport (25:04) and DARRYL STEVENS at Brockenhurst (35:46).
CATHY CRAIG ran a virtual parkrun in 31:51 to help celebrate her son’s 100th.
Tables
Spartans at the Welwyn 10K
Pos
Gender
Cat Pos
Name
Category
Chip
Age Grade
Comments
82.
74
1
Mark GOODWIN
MV60
48:01
70.1%
1st V60
157.
137
44
Vishal SHAH
MS
53:53
49.7 %
160.
21
8
Harriet SMITH
FS
54:27
54.4%
New
197.
164
1
Jim BROWN
MV70
56:56
62.4 %
1st V70
255.
197
56
Michael O’KEEFE
MV50
1:01:42
51.5 %
PB
266.
203
62
Luke GURNEY
MS
1:03:01
41.7 %
299.
88
17
Jane WADEY
FV55
1:07:09
52.9 %
First 10K race
304.
93
35
Christine ZVEREV
FV35
1:07:47
44.8 %
313.
100
37
Jane MCFARLANE
FV35
1:08:26
45.5 %
338.
117
30
Nicola HATHERLY
FV45
1:14:00
43.9 %
342.
120
23
Judy KING
FV55
1:14:55
49.2 %
Number of records: 355
The full Spartan result for Stevenage parkrun is below:
There was a win for Spartan JOHN HARRIS in the Letchworth Round the Garden 5K. He dipped under 20 minutes for a season’s best 19:59, first male 60 plus and 24th overall.
The other Spartans racing in Letchworth were DAVID KENNEDY 22:56; MONICA SMITHSON in a new season’s best (SB) of 28:32; SAMANTHA SUTTON 33:00; JANE WHITROW 34:22; and ROGER BIGGS 43:16.
Ciaran Second In Norfolk
CIARAN McANENY ran in the Positive Steps Norfolk 100km race from Castle Acre along the Peddars Way to the North Norfolk Coast, then along the coastal path to Sheringham.
It was a long day out in the sun and he says he wasn’t quite in top form; but still finished in second place overall in 10 hours 26 minutes. Some 1 hour 30 minutes behind the winner who was in a different class on the day.
Ciaran said it was another great event again from the Positive Steps team. Lovely course (despite around six kilometres of it being on soft sand and shingle beaches) and a really friendly atmosphere.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 18th June
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, we have members running at home around Fairlands and around the country as far as the Isle of Wight this week.
In Stevenage 228 runners took on the course. MIKE JEFFS was first Spartan home second overall finishing in 18 minutes 48 seconds which was a course PB (personal best on that parkrun course). ANN TRYSSESOONE was first female home for the club finishing 67th in 26-25.
Other results at the lakes were: STEVEN DOBNER 22-55 (28TH), MATT CLARKE 23-51 (39TH), MARTIN DUDLEY 24-21 (45TH), ANDREW MCGUINNESS 24-58 (53RD), JAMES MCSWEENEY 26-15 (66TH), DAVID PATTMAN 26-39 (70TH), BRIAN WHITE 26-47 (73RD), MO WARRILLOW 26-52 (77TH), JIM BROWN 28-19 (101ST), DEBBIE BLANTERN 30-27 (126TH), CHLOE CHAPMAN 32-21 (158TH), FIONA CLARKE 32-22 (159TH), GRANT RAMSAY 34-31 (180TH), TRACY HAGARTH 35-05 (188TH), HILARY DAVIES 35-28 (189TH), CRAIG BACON 36-20 (194TH), SIMON SYPULA 37-17 (202ND) AND ROGER BIGGS 46-737 (223RD).
Other away day results:
Medina (Isle of Wight): Nick Kleanthous 27-12 (86th out of 214 runners).
Roberts Park (Shipley, West Yorkshire): Tony Randfield 21-13 (22nd out of 303 runners).
Tidworth (Wiltshire): Darryl Stevens 40-47 (91st out of 111 runners).
Barclay (Hoddesdon, Herts): Annabelle White 31-19 (66th out of 103 runners).
Letchworth (Herts): Georgie Hooper 32-26 (75th out of 105 runners), Nick Gill 32-27 (76th out of 105 runners).
Panshanger (Hertford, Herts): Mike Reynolds 28-10 (84th out of 182 runners).
Henlow Bridge Lakes (Henlow, Beds): Michael O’Keefe 30-21 (70th out of 126 runners).
34 Spartans made the difficult early evening journey to Chingford for the third in the series of Mid Week League road races.
This was on a tough six mile course in Epping Forest. SIMON JACKSON was third veteran and 12th overall in 34 minutes 58 seconds; PETE SMITH first man 60 plus in 43:52 and TONY RANDFIELD third in 44:42.
This time MICHELLE REEVES was the fastest woman for FVS with 44:24 and MARIE COLUCCI second with 47:51. ABBIE PEZ was third woman under 20 with 54:08.
CAROLYN LINSELL was second woman 65 plus with 62:24 and CATHY CRAIG third with 66:50.
There were 15 Spartan women and 19 men. The fourth and final counting race in the 2022 Mid Week Road Race series will be in Trent Park, north London at 7.45p.m. on Thursday 30th June
(For all 34 Spartan times and positions please see the table near the end of this release)
Hot and Hilly in St Albans
It was hot and hilly for the St Albans Half Marathon.
Spartan JOHN HARRIS was second man 60 plus and 130th out of the 1,600 finishers in 1 hour 34 minutes 16 seconds.
MATT CLARKE came in at 1:43:27 and FIONA CLARKE 2:07:12.
CHLOE CHAPMAN said it was a really well organised event, although there were some big hills the route was beautiful. The ice lolly at the end was much needed. She finished in 2:14:19.
JIM BROWN was taken ill during the race but did eventually finish in 2 hours 35 minutes exactly.
JANE WADEY ran the 5K at St Albans. She came in with 33:53. She said she found it a bit hard, as it was very hilly which she hadn’t anticipated and also hot but it was the first actual chip-timed race she has done.
ROGER BIGGS completed the 5K in 49:29.
Adrian Busolini – Grand Trail du Saint Jacques (GTSJ)
ADRIAN BUSOLINI raced the 74 kilometres Grand Trail du Saint Jacques in France. One of the UTMB (Ultra Trail) World Series events there were 3.2 kilometres of climbing. He was 23rd in 9 hours 34 minutes 55 second. Here’s his story:
The first half of the race wends its way up and down the hillsides rising from the Allier river, which are plastered with dense forest: a vibrant, dark green carpet so uncommon in England, which has been almost entirely deforested. Frequently steep, dry and slippery, poles are highly recommended on these trails.
Starting right at the back of the first wave after getting confused by the (lack of) instructions in Monistrol, within minutes I was stuck in queues at the base of the first single track ascent. It was painfully apparent I had a gargantuan challenge on my hands to try to forge a path through, and the narrow trails in the first half of GTSJ make it a very tough course to do that. After some 30-40 or so km I had managed to clear the slower part of the field, just as the temperature rose to around 30C – but now I had to push on, and start making up time, as opposed to just places.
50K is where the course peaks, and it’s mostly a gradual downhill thereafter, with the hilly, forested landscape making way for sweeping plains and fields. I was starting to run low on food and water, and was rationing supplies, daring not to stop at any of the public water spots alongside my fellow runners so as not to lose any more time (having been joined by marathon and 32K competitors at this point, the course was, again, fairly crowded).
As I dehydrated and cooked out in the unshaded plains, passing runner after runner stationary and bent double over their poles, I kept my eye out for the iconic symbols of Le Puy en Velay, where the race concluded: the chapel of St Michael perched incredibly atop its own extinct volcano, and the imposing terracotta statue of Mary and child similarly overlooking the city. I did not spot them until I descended into the streets of the city itself, when I cranked into another gear and pushed on through a surprisingly good crowd up the final climb to the cathedral, a stunning location for the finish.
An important lesson for future trail races: don’t hang around in reception venues waiting for instructions, or presume where the start is. Get yourself to that start line early. Recovering from a back of the pack start can be non-trivial.
That said, 23rd place in a “by UTMB” race – I’ll happily take that.
Over the Sea to Skye
STEVE DOBNER and DAVID PATTMAN completed the Isle of Skye half in 2:01.59.
The weather was against them – 50mph wind, sideways rain and hail. With an elevation gain of 368 metres, it’s definitely a challenging course but also an amazing experience.
British Masters Steeplechase Silver
It was SILVER for GRANT RAMSAY in the British Masters Steeplechase Championship in Derby.
Over 3,000 metres he was second man 50 plus with 12 minutes 50 seconds.
Tony in the Forest
Spartan TONY RANDFIELD won the men over 60 (MV60) award at the Marston Forest 5K on Friday. He finished in 20 minutes 46 seconds and was 62nd out of the 341 finishers.
Hampshire Hoppit
TONY RANDFIELD and ROB WRIGHT ran the Hampshire Hoppit trail marathon. They kept together to finish in a moving time of 4 hours 45 minutes 10 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 11th June
Eighteen Fairlands Valley Spartans ran in Parkrun events on Saturday morning.
Mark GOODWIN ran a PB time of 22 minutes and 54 seconds on the Stevenage course. Alongside Stuart ARCHER who finished the course 3rd overall in 19 minutes and 36 seconds and Jim BROWN who won his age category in 26 minutes and 55 seconds.
Visits to new courses were completed by, Michael O’KEEFE on the Armley course in 30:17, and Tracy HAYGARTH at Fell Foot, Newby Bridge in 34:40.
Tables
Midweek Road Race League Division 1 – Race 3 – Chingford 6 miles – Wednesday 8th June
In a time of 36 minutes 35 seconds Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI was tenth out of 989 in the Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on Friday. He was sixth senior (17 to 39).
GRANT RAMSAY was 23rd in 38:09 and MATTHEW NEWTON 101st in 44:11.
The Hatfield Broad Oak 10K is back for the first time since 2019. Not in its usual Bank Holiday Monday slot the change of date to a Saturday and then a Friday may have reduced participation a little but pre-Covid this was a very popular event for Fairlands Valley Spartans including the opportunity to get a 10K time on a measured fairly fast course.
The County 10K championships will be in Welwyn on Sunday 26th June.
Women Win at Milton Keynes
The FVS ladies track and field team continued to dominate the central EMAC (Eastern Veterans) division with another impressive win on Wednesday evening at Milton Keynes. Two more new joiners, and near perfect competition conditions, helped the team beat rivals Marshall Milton Keynes by an impressive 15 points. Newbies Michelle Reeves (3rd place W35 800 metres) and Fiona Clarke (3rd place W35 long jump and 4th place 200 metres) really enjoyed their return to track competition after a number of years. Wins on the night came from Tessa Stephenson W60 200m (by a massive margin!), Monica Brown W50 80mH and javelin, Sharon Crowley W60 80mH (also 2nd place A string 1k walk), Nikki Wilby W35 pole vault, and Andrea Westcott W50 long jump (also 2nd place 800m). Helping the team to victory with all important points were Marian Morley with a superb sprint finish to clinch 2nd place W50 200m (also 2nd place discus), Cathy Craig 3rd placed W60 800m and finished 1st place B string 1k walk, Stephanie Biggar 2nd place W35 javelin with a new massive PB! also 2nd place discus throw, Joylyn Saunders-Mullins 2nd place W60 javelin, Karen Dodsworth 2nd place W60 discus and 2nd place long jump. Both Cathy and Sharon were competing in new events for the first time (800m and 80mH respectively), showing that it’s never too late to try new things.
The evening was rounded off by 4x400m relays, with W35 team of Nikki, Fiona, Andrea, and Michelle finishing in second place and W50 team winners Tessa, Joylyn, Karen, and Cathy.
The men’s team finished fourth in a highly competitive league fixture with another decent turnout and a new joiner to the squad. Steve Feely dropped down an age group to compete in the M35 javelin (4th place) and discus (3rd place), while Pete Smith and Steve Mayfield were vying for the busiest man on the night award, covering 11 events between them! Points were earned by Anton McCalla – 4th place M35 200m and 2nd place long jump; Steve Mayfield – 2nd place M50 200m, 4th place in javelin, discus, long jump, and M35 pole vault; Nick Kleanthous – 5th place M60 200m, 4th place discus, and 4th place 1k A string walk; Chris Westcott – 2nd place M35 800m; Pete Smith – 2nd place M60 800m, 3rd place in 100mH, javelin, long jump, and 4th place pole vault.
The 4x400m relay team of Grant, Anton, Pete, and Chris finished in fourth place.
Stockholm
JOHN HARRIS ran the Stockholm Adidas 3 Mile Race. This was on a scenic undulating course in the heart of Stockholm, finishing on the track in the Olympic stadium. He was 13th on 20:02 (20 minutes 2 seconds).
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 4th June
Jubilee weekend has seen Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelling far and wide, with 35 members running at 11 different venues across the country. It was also the first Parkrun of the month, with all the Stripes out in force for Stripey Saturday.
Adrian DONNELLY ran a Personal best of 20:24, coming 5th at Oldbridge, Ireland.
Three other runners achieved top 10 positions, with Grant RAMSAY 3rd at Stevenage (18:41), Nick GILL 5th at Letchworth (20:58) and Kelly McHALE 8th lady at Whitehaven, Cumbria (25:14).
A special mention goes to Darryl Stevens who has completed 200 Parkruns, astonishingly running in 105 different venues over 6 years. He achieved this milestone at Somerdale Pavilion with a time of 36:45 at this parkrun in Keynsham near Bristol.
Sixty seven Spartans made the trip to St Albans on Wednesday evening for the second Mid Week League race of the season. There were 447 finishers with 25 women and 42 men from FVS.
Some of the notable performances included TONY RANDFIELD first man 60 plus (MV60) in 43:01; PETE SMITH second MV60 in 43:07. CAROLYN LINSELL second FV65 in 61:37 and SUZY HAWKINS in a fantastic 40:58, a personal best (PB) by 18 seconds, for third woman 45 plus.
Suzy was the fastest female from Fairlands at 13th out of 176 women with GABRIELLE O’BRIEN second from the club and 28th in 43:20 and MICHELLE REEVES third and 33rd woman in 44:06.
ABBIE (daughter) and TRACY (mother) came in together with 48:31.
KELLY McHALE continues to improve. She made it into the “A” team with a sub fifty 49 minutes 16 seconds cutting 1:41 off her personal best. GEORGIE HOOPER also beat fifty with 49:56.
The quickest Spartan was SIMON JACKSON in 34:08 for 16th out of 271 men with SIMON FRASER not far behind at 23rd in 34:58 and ANDREW PATTERSON 31st in 35:48.
Seventeen Spartans smashed their personal bests (PB) for 10K and ten were running their first ever 10K race. The personal bests included ADRIAN BUSOLINI taking his 10K down to 36:05; KELVIN BEYIOKU down to 36:23; DANNY HUKIN down to 37:08; ROSS GALLAGHER down to 39:07 and STUART ARCHER down below 40 for the first time with 39:29. The table at the end of the release notes all the PB details along with everyone else’s results.
The Spartans had more than enough for three men’s teams of 12 runners and three women’s teams of eight runners. Everyone of the 67 Spartans contributed.
The next mid week race will be in Epping Forest, near Chingford on Wednesday evening 8th June.
Edinburgh Marathon and Half Marathon
What an emotional rollercoaster the past few months have been said Spartan MIKE JEFFS. What started out as a way just to keep fit grew legs quite rapidly with him entering his first race doing the Hertfordshire 10K 18 months ago all the way to doing his first ever marathon at Edinburgh in 3:24:02.
DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT got a great result in the Edinburgh Half Marathon with a new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 16 minutes 25 seconds for 51st overall and 8th in the 40 to 44 age group.
There was also a PB for CRAIG MARTIN who ran the Edinburgh Half in 1:36:29. His previous PB was 1 hour 43 minutes.
MARIE COLUCCI smashed the Half in 1 hour 43 minutes 03 seconds! After what she admitted was a grumpy start to the day this was a much better run than she was expecting and came in the top 5% of her age group!
Buxton Half
Eighth place in 1:23:58 was SIMON FRASER’s reward for battling some really tough hills, up and down, in the Buxton Half Marathon. He said there were lots of beautiful running miles.
Serpentine
JIM BROWN ran the Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park (Serpentine) for the last time before going up an age group. He was delighted to finish in his best time (YB) this year – 26 minutes 26 seconds.
Once again the top end standard was very high. Jim was 165th out of 194. It was dry, sunny, mild, with a medium breeze and the race followed with a lunch-time ice cream by the lake.
The Coaching Team Gets Even Stronger
Another boost to an already fantastic Fairlands coaching team. After six months of studying, JOHN HARRIS has qualified as a UKA Endurance Level 4 Coach. That’s the highest possible UKA Coach qualification. Well done John!!
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 28th May
Stevenage parkrun’s sixth birthday brought out several Spartans in fancy dress. There was a total of 253 runners. The 21 Spartans included GRANT RAMSAY fifth in 18 minutes 21 seconds and ALISON SHELLEY ninth woman in 25:52.
PAUL MAGUIRE said he had a great run in Liverpool. He ran the Princes parkrun, appropriately alongside many Penny Lane Striders, in 24 minutes 22 seconds and was 140th out of 451. He said it was a lovely route around the park and by the lake and that he kept it steady and felt strong.
ANY JAY was 62nd out of 99 at Westmill, Ware in 30:55.
Tables
Midweek Road Race League Race 2. St Albans 10km. Wednesday 25th May 2022
Although she said she wasn’t in the best shape despite it being the hottest day of the year so far ASHLEY JOHNSON ran the Hackney Half Marathon in 1 hour 37 minutes 32 seconds. 1439th out of 13,089.
Met Police Battersea 10K
On Wednesday ZOE JACKSON took part in the Met Police Battersea 10k which is a race for serving or retired officers. It was three laps of the park and a nice flat course. The heat got to her in the second half but she still managed a personal best (PB) of 51:08, so pleased with the result. Zoe was 90th out of the 239 runners.
Wheathampstead 10K
Spartan SIMON FRASER whizzed round the Wheathampstead cross country 10K in 38 minutes 38 seconds and was fifth out of the 343 finishers.
JIM BROWN didn’t find it so easy and wilted in the unexpected May temperatures which reached 24 degrees on the finish line. He was 241st in 65:20. Oh well not last by 102.
Parkrun Highlights 21st May
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, we have members running at home around Fairlands and around the country as far as South Wales and the South Coast this week.
In Stevenage ROB WRIGHT was first Spartan home finishing top ten in a parkrun personal best of 20 minutes 18 seconds and 10th out of 264. TONY RANDFIELD was second Spartan home in 21:03 at 15th.
Other results for the 24 Spartans at the lakes were: Martin Dudley 23:32 (50th), Ryan Dunning 23:54 (61st), Toby Eccleshall 24:05 (63rd), Matt Clarke 24-:4 (69th), Darren Emmerson 24:58 (79th), Alison Shelley 26:12 (99th), Jim Brown 80th parkrun and a parkrun year’s best in 26:30 (104th), Mark Beasley 26:55 (111th), Nick Kleanthous 27:05 (114th), David Pattman 27:30 (120th), Steven Dobner 27:33 (122nd), Mo Warrillow 27:47 (126th), Debbie Blantern 28:50 (140th), Fiona Clarke 29:42 (158th), Chloe Chapman 29:50 (160th), Kartik Sharma 30:08 (165th), Jane Wadey in a new parkrun personal best of 31:31 (181st – PB), Caroline Croft 31:48 (187th), Tracy Haygarth 32:36 (196th), Simon Sypula 38:53 (239th) and Roger Biggs 45:25 (253rd).
Parkrun away day results:
Monica and Steve SMITHSON celebrated Steve’s 50th park run at Colby park run. It was on a lovely scenic three lap route near Tenby. Steve finished in 31:50 and Monica in 32:10.
Letchworth (Herts): John Harris 20-47 (6th out of 117 runners and a season’s best), Georgie Hooper 31-13 (91st) and Nick Gill 31-14 (92nd).
Colby (near Tenby, South Wales): Stephen Smithson 31-50 (83rd out of 107 runners), Monica Smithson 32-10 (86th).
Henlow Bridge (Beds): Michael O’Keefe 31-26 (77th out of 116 runners).
Durlston Country Park (Dorset): Darryl Stevens 1-16-57 (80th out of 81st runners).
Mid Week racing is back for the first time in three years. 409 raced in Wednesday evening’s Mid Week League race and 79 of them were from Fairlands Valley Spartans. The six mile race started and finished at the showground end of Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage.
There was some amazing running at the front end of the race which was won in 31:25 and the Spartans were fifth on the night.
First in for the Spartans was SIMON JACKSON 15th out of 259 men in 32:59. Not far behind came JONATHAN PARR at 17th in 33:03; SIMON FRASER 23rd in 33:39 and ANDREW PATTERSON 26th with 33:52.
PETE SMITH was third man 60 plus in 41:44.
The quickest woman completed the largely Gunnels Wood Road cycleway based course in 34 minutes 54 seconds. SUZY HAWKINS 16th woman out of 151 at 40:38 was the fastest of the 34 females from Fairlands and GABRIELLE O’BRIEN was 26th in 41:41 with ASHLEY KING just two seconds behind her 27th in 41:43.
MARIE COLUCCI (45:27); ABBIE PEZ second under 20 (45:31); GEORGIE HOOPER (46:50), CLAIRE PULLEN (47:09) and TRACY PEZ (also 47:09) completed the FVS women’s “A” team.
KELY McHALE led in the women’s “B” team with 47:56.
VICKY ARCHER did a magnificent job as tail runner bringing the last runner in at 1 hour 21 minutes 57 seconds.
Men’s teams consisted of twelve runners while women’s teams had eight so there were three men’s teams and four women’s from FVS. The race was organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans and North Herts Road Runners.
The second Mid Week Road Race League event will be in St. Albans on Wednesday evening 25th May.
(For all the Spartan MWRRL results please look near the end of this release).
Hertfordshire County Championships
JONATHAN PARR raced in the 5,000 metres Hertfordshire County Championships at the weekend and won the trophy.
He said it wasn’t the fastest race in the wind and the rain but he was really pleased with the result. He won the GOLD medal in 16 minutes 28 seconds.
The event was at the Bedfordshire International Athletics Track.
Oxford Town & Gown 10K
SITA CHITAMBO ran the Oxford Town and Gown 10K in 63 minutes 11 seconds.
Mammoth Half
EMMA SOUTHERINGTON and SAMANTHA SUTTON ran the Mammoth Half in Norfolk on Sunday. On a very tough course from Mundesley to Sheringham Emma finished in 2 hours 49 minutes 28 seconds and Samanth in 2:55:07. There were 823 feet of climbs.
Parkrun Highlights
Thirty-three Fairlands Valley Spartans entered Parkrun Events in the May sunshine this weekend.
SIMON FRASER was first to finish the Stevenage event in a time of 17 minutes and 41 seconds. He was closely followed by GRANT RAMSAY who was third overall in 18:46, and ALISON SHELLEY was the first Spartans female to finish with 26:35. Completing his 100th Parkrun event on the same course, TONY RANDFIELD ran in 31 minutes and 50 seconds.
NICK KLEANTHOUS ran a parkrun PB time at the Gunpowder Parkrun of 24:52. On the Westmill run, DAVID ACKERLEY finished fifth in 21:34.
Thirteen Spartans STEPHANIE BIGGAR, MONICA BROWN, CALLIE CHAPMAN, SHARON CROWLEY, KAREN DODSWORTH, YUKO GORDON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, CAROLYN LINSELL, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS, TESSA STEPHENSON,WENDY THARANI, ANDREA WESTCOTT and NIKKI WILBY started the track and field season by WINNING at the first league event on Wednesday.
The FVS Ladies track and field team kicked off their defence of the EMAC (East of England) title in style on Wednesday night. Thirteen team members travelled to Milton Keynes and won the competition, beating rivals Marshall Milton Keynes by an amazing 13 points. Other teams in the division struggled to field full teams on the night, but that does not detract from the brilliant performances of FVS. The team welcomed newcomers Wendy Tharani (second place W50 3k) and Carolyn Linsell (third place W60 3k). Wins on the night came from Tessa Stephenson (W60 100m and 400m), Christine Lathwell (W35 3k, also 3rd place W35 400m), Sharon Crowley (W60 Hammer Throw, also second place 1 mile walk A string), Monica Brown (W50 Shot Put and W50 High Jump), Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (W60 Shot Put), Andrea Westcott (W50 Triple Jump, also 2nd place W50 100m and 2nd place W50 Hammer Throw), Karen Dodsworth (W60 Triple Jump, also 2nd place W50 400m), Nikki Wilby (W35 High Jump, also 3rd place W35 Triple Jump). Valuable points were also picked up by Callie Chapman (4th placed W35 100m), Yuko Gordon (1st place 1m walk B string), Stephanie Biggar (3rd place in both W35 Hammer Throw and W35 Shot Put).
An exciting 4x100m relay event rounded off the evening with Carolyn, Sharon, Karen and an excellent last leg by Monica just pipping Milton Keynes to the finish line by 0.2 seconds in the W50+ race. The W35 team of Nikki, Tessa, Callie, and Christine finished second in the W35 event.
The FVS Men’s team were bolstered by newcomers and returners, finishing in a very respectable fourth place on the night. Wins from Tim Saunders-Mullins (M60 Hammer Throw) and Anton McCalla (M35 Triple Jump, also 4th place M35 100m, 5th place M35 Shot Put). Points were also scored by newbie Nick Kleanthous (5th place M60 100m and 400m, 3rd place 1mile B string walk, 4th M60 Shot Put), Chris Westcott (2nd place M35 400m and M35 3k), Pete Smith (2nd place M60 3k and M60 Triple Jump, 3rd place M60 High Jump), John Harris (3rd place 1m A string walk, 4th place M35 High Jump), Steve Mayfield (3rd place M50 Hammer Throw, 4th place M50 Shot Put, and 4th place M50 Triple Jump). The men’s relay team finished 4th.
Bedford 10K
Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT WON the Run Bedford Super Fast 10 kilometre race in 35 minutes 7 seconds, a new 10K PB (personal best)and a first place result for Spartans.
He says his training is clearly paying off and looking good for the Edinburgh Half Marathon at the end of the month and that it was great to see fellow Spartan KELVIN BEYIOKU, who had another great run after the Hitchin 10km last week. Kelvin was third in 37:04.
Greenway Challenge
Fifteen Spartans ran the Greenway Challenge Half Marathon from Standalone Farm, Letchworth on Sunday. Nearly all the 13.1 miles were off road.
Their fastest was ADRIAN DONNELLY fourth overall in 1 hour 28 minutes 29 seconds.
Next in was JOHN HARRIS, second male 50 plus in 1 hour 33 minutes 16 seconds for 11th place. NICK GILL came in with 1:42:27 then TONY RANDFIELD who was first man 60 plus with 1:48:01.
TRICIA HOPPER and CLAIRE PULLEN were Fairlands first females in 2:17:00.
SAM SIMMONS and MARCUS RIDLEY came in 87th and 88th with 1:56:51 and 1:56:53.
Attempting his first long run after an encounter with Omnicron at the start of April JIM BROWN carefully paced himself round in 2 hours 9 minutes 17 seconds. CLAIRE EMMERSON, WENDY THARANI, TIM ROBINSON, SIMON SYPULA and VICKY ARCHER all ‘skipped’ around the greenway in about 2 hours 20 minutes.
Vicky said, “We never set out to ‘race’ today. The aim of the game was to be chatty and have some fun which we achieved beautifully! The sun shone and we had a lovely morning out with cake at the end.”
SAMANTHA SUTTON enjoyed a lovely morning with 2:53:15.
Pednor
DARREN and CLAIRE EMMERSON took part in the Pednor Five road race on Holiday Monday. In the Chilterns and not flat Darren was 109th in 39 minutes 59 seconds and Claire 151st in 43:27. There were 197 finishers.
Stort Five
DAVE PATTMAN and STEVE DOBNER ran the Stort5 on Sunday. Dave finished sixth overall and second in his age category in 39:39 and Steve was ninth and fourth in his age category in 41:36. The course is almost completely off-road and luckily the farmer had kindly rolled a section after the rain this week to take away the worst of the ruts. Beautiful morning but you cannot really takes your eyes off the ground as it was so uneven so Steve said he had I no idea what the countryside looked like. A brilliant relatively local event.
Blesma 11K
After a delay of six months NICOLA ANDERSSON, CAROLYN LINSELL and KAREN ELLIS ran their 11K for the Blesma charity on Saturday morning. Their total time, they ran together, was 1 hour 8mins and 56 seconds for the 6.81 miles.
Saturday morning’s stripey running at Stevenage parkrun concluded the Blesma 11k with Nicola, Carolyn, and Karen incorporating parkrun (no.95 for Nicola) with medal presentation at the finish. lt’s a first having medals at parkrun…
The charity run was last November for Remembrance Sunday but Carolyn unfortunately broke her foot a few days beforehand. Karen then kindly stepped up to run this with Nicola instead. When Blesma heard about Carolyn’s accident etc. they kindly sent a third medal for Karen back in December.
Several months on with Carolyn fully recovered and still improving on her stamina and strength they chose Saturday… They raised a total of £151 for Blesma The Limbless Veteran’s and want to thank those again who donated. After all this time it was lovely to give Karen her medal for running the 11K a second time with us, a total of two and a bit parkruns runn in one.
John runs another 100
JOHN NELMS finished his fifth 100 mile event Sunday on the Centurion running Thames Path 100. Starting in Richmond, London at 0930 Saturday morning, John ran / walked through the day and night to finish in Oxford at 1100 Sunday morning.
Parkrun Highlights 7th May
Fairlands Valley Spartan members were out in force wearing their club vests on the first Parkrun of the month, aka Stripey Saturday. Thirty two members took part at six different venues across the country.
JANE WADEY ran a personal best (PB) of 32:28 at Stevenage after joining FVS in January this year. She has improved her 5K time by 8 minutes since her first Parkrun in August 2021, crediting track training and Monday starters sessions which helped her achieve this amazing improvement.
There were a few Year Best achieved this weekend, including MARTIN DUDLEY (23:49), SALLY PHILLIPS (34:01), SAMANTHA SUTTON (34:27), JAMES MCSWEENEY(24:04) and MICHAEL O’KEEFE (32:19) having ran their best times for this year.
The title of fastest Spartan in Stevenage went to GRANT RAMSAY, crossing the line at 18:59 at Stevenage and fastest female Spartan of the week was ALISON SHELLEY (26:54) both at Stevenage. The fastest Spartan anywhere was CHRIS WESTCOTT running in Bangor, Northern Ireland with 18:26. Also running in Bangor ANDREA WESTCOTT finished in 28:35.
Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, MATT CLARKE has completed his 90th and TIM ROBINSON his 170th Parkrun at Stevenage.
Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the team award at Sunday’s Hitchin 10K. They had 25 out of the 518 finishers with several top twenty positions.
JONATHAN PARR was second overall and first in his category with a fantastic 34 minutes 24 seconds. KELVIN BEYIOKU was fifth in 36:42.
In her first ever 10K race ASHLEY JOHNSON won her category and was fourth woman overall in 42 minutes 37 seconds.
NICK GILL took eight seconds off his 10K personal best finishing in 41 minutes 28 seconds and he was 18 seconds quicker than the same race last year.
ADRIAN DONNELLY was 13th man in 39:33; MARIE COLUCCI 18th woman in 47:51 and GEORGIE HOOPER was twentieth woman in 48:28.
SHARON CROWLEY ran her first official 10k in a very long time! She finished in 1 hour 5 minutes 21 seconds. JIM BROWN improved his St Albans 10K time by exactly one minute when he finished in 56:29. He said it was great seeing so many Spartans at an event again.
The 25 Spartans were JONATHAN PARR 34:23; KELVIN BEYIOKU 36:41; ADRIAN DONNELLY 39:33; ROSS GALLACHER 40:19; NICK GILL 41:28; ASHLEY JOHNSON (F) 42:37; MARIE COLUCCI (F) 47:51; GEORGIE HOOPER (F) 48:28; ANDY JAY 50:28; VISH SHAH 50:49; LUKE GURNEY 51:29; ZOE JACKSON (F) 51:43; NIKKI WILBY (F) 51:51; KARK SHREEVE 54:46; SARAH ILLINGWORTH (F) 55:52; STEVE PIKE 55:54; JIM BROWN 56:29; MONICA SMITHSON (F) 1:02:01; CHRISTINE ZVEREV (F) 1:03:27; NICOLA PATTMAN (F) 1:04:13; STEVEN DOBNER 1:04:14; SHARON CROWLEY (F) 1:05:21; JONATHAN JONES 1:09:38; DZENANA TOPIC (F) 1:10:10 and SAMANTHA SUTTON (F) 1:12:40.
Milton Keynes Sub Four and PBs (Personal Bests for Hazel and Rob)
TIM ROBINSON and HAZEL SMITH ran the Milton Keynes marathon which was hotter than expected and had some sneaky hills towards the end. Both were very pleased with their times, Tim 4:35:22 and Hazel 3 hours 59 minutes 40 seconds. It was a massive PB (personal best) of around 24 minutes from Hazel’s last marathon in October. Hazel says that joining the Spartans peak performance group and following the training plan from Steffan Ford has improved her overall fitness and pace. Hazel was over the moon to dip under 4 hours for the first time ever.
Also TRICIA HOPPER, KAREN LIDDLE and BARRY KING ran and completed the Milton Keynes Marathon. As with many people/runners this was their first marathon since Covid.
Tricia Hopper ran the 26.2 miles in 4:28:30, this was her 87th marathon.
Karen and Barry ran together in 5.55.34. Karen has now completed 76 marathons and Barry 56.
Spartan ROB WRIGHT ran a new personal best (PB) of 1:35:31 at the Milton Keynes Half Marathon 2022.
Belfast
CATHY CRAIG ran the Belfast Marathon on a cold dull day. All went well until around mile 17 when she was a bit sick and the queasiness never really left her. Still, she managed a watch time of 5:29:47, which was just within her second target time of 5:30.
Vitality London 10k
DEBBIE BLANTERN ran the Vitality London 10K, her first race since December 2019. She was super happy with her time of 58 minutes 41 seconds.
She said this will give her a big confidence boost to get more races booked this year.
Having run the Hitchin 10K in 1:12:40 on Sunday SAMANTHA SUTTON ran the Vitality 10000 in a time of 1 hour 11 minutes 55 seconds.
Also in the London 10000 CHARLIE WHITE ran a new personal best (PB) of 38 minutes 46 seconds and ANNABELLE WHITE a “pregnant best” of 55:41.
Serpentine
JIM BROWN was at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K. Some amazing runners show up for these lunch-time races. Jim was 146th out of 166 with 27 minutes 46 seconds. Slowly knocking off a few seconds since coming back from illness. It was dry but cold and breezy.
Good News for YUKO
YUKO GORDON is out of action at the moment but received some good news from British Masters last week. Her half marathon record has been ratified as a new British record for women over 70.
She ran a gun time of 1:40:02 (chip time 1:39:58) at Bedford on 27th March this year. Yuko did run 1:37:50 last summer but it was a chip time (and not ratified) as a gun time was not available with Covid restrictions. The previous record was 1:40:43 (chip time 1:40:33) held by Angela Copson.
Parkrun Highlights 30th April
First Spartan home at Stevenage parkrun was TONY RANDFIELD on his 98th parkrun in 20.59.
SAM SIMMONS took a trip to Bedford and ran 25:51 on his first outing there. Sam may have clocked the longest “parkrun” this week running just over 16 miles with parkrun included.
A parkrun “first timer” event for JAMES MCSWEENEY at Letchworth (25:55)
MIKE REYNOLDS was at Panshanger (25:12) and ED HARE was at Lee on the Solent (23:25). DARRYL STEVENS was at Brockenhurst running 45.34.
Three Spartans took part in the iconic 126th Boston Marathon in the USA last week.
The Boston weather can be unpredictable. You can experience four seasons in one day, to the infamous headwind blowing up from the sea to storms and glorious sunshine.
. As far as Boston weather was concerned, MICHELLE REEVES, STUART HAYCROFT and JACKIE DOWNES struck it lucky with glorious sunshine lighting up the New England streets bringing incredible support all the way!
Stuart and Michelle boarded the yellow school buses to transport them to the streets ready to start their race in Hopkinton just after 10am, with Jackie Downes starting after 11:15.
Michelle and Stuart ran the first 20 miles together to the sound of “Way to go Stuart” “Keep it up Stuart” from the crowds, and were focused on taking in the whole experience.
At mile 16, there’s the Newton Hills. A series of mini crests in prime position when a marathon just starts to feel tough, finishing with the infamous “Heartbreak Hill” at mile 20.
Michelle, feeling good after the hills pushed on in the last six miles to finish in 3 hours 6 minutes 21 seconds. A result she was really pleased with after the main goal of “enjoying the experience”.
Stuart finished in 3:18:16, spending a bit longer to high five the crowds who loved the guy with “Stuart” and a Union Jack on his top. Jackie finished in a great 4:15:23.
All celebrated with a pint in the famous Cheers pub after!
Golds Galore at County Track and Field Championships
There were seventeen (17) GOLD medals and one silver for Fairlands Valley Spartans in the Hertfordshire County AAA Veteran Championships at Ridlins on Saturday.
TESSA STEPHENSON and ANDREA WESTCOTT each won three GOLD medals. Tessa in the 100 metres, 200 metres and shot, Andrea in the shot, javelin and high jump.
The other multiple GOLD medal winners were SHARON CROWLEY in the hammer and 1500 metres; JIM BROWN in the 1500 and 5000 metres.
STUART ARCHER won GOLD in the senior men’s 1500 with 5 minutes and half a second (5:00:5), PAUL SHELLEY gold in the male 50 plus 1500 with 5:19.0 and THOMAS SAUKA took silver in the male 45 plus with 5:45.4.
SUZY HAWKINS won GOLD in the women’s 45 plus with 5:46.8; SUSAN McANENY gold in the women’s 40 plus with 6:24.9 and Sharon Crowley taking gold in the women’s 60 plus with 8:14.6.
DAVE STEPHENSON won the male 55 plus 100 metres in 14.2 seconds and CIARAN McANENY won the male 45 plus 5,000 metres in 17 minutes 57.3 seconds.
CAROLYN LINSELL and JIM BROWN provided entertainment for some of the officials and spectators by running sensibly but side by side all the way round 12.5 laps to finish in exactly the same time of 28 minutes 2.8 seconds and win two gold medals in their 65 plus categories in the 5,000 metres.
Birthday Boy at Dorney Lake
Birthday Boy PETE SMITH turned sixty and won his age category at the Dorney Lake Marathon on Sunday. He finished in 3 hours 24 minutes 40 seconds and was 46th male and 49th overall.
SAM SIMMONS and CHLOE CHAPMAN ran the half marathon at Dorney. Sam finished in 1:44:49 and Chloe in 2:05:50
Chloe was pleased with that three weeks after the Manchester Marathon.
Parkrun Highlights 23rd April
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, we have members running at home around Fairlands as well as far afield as the weather starts to brighten up and the temperatures are rising.
Stevenage: 311 runners took on the course and GRANT RAMSAY managed to finish fourth with a time of 18:48. Afterwards Grant said: Would have won it if it was not for those meddling kids half my age!! It was my best 5K time since February 2020. With no barriers and water jumps, it was relatively easy compared to last weekend’s 3K steeplechase.
Other results at the lakes were: Craig Bacon 24-31 (72nd), Darren Emmerson 24-42 (77th), Nick Kleanthous 25-00 (89th), Alison Shelley 26-26 (119th), Nicola Andersson 28-08 (153rd), Debbie Blantern 29-07 (180th), Mark Beasley 30-03 (204th), Chloe Chapman 30-39 (216th), Tracy Haygarth 33-29 (241st), Simon Sypula 38-28 (283rd) and Roger Biggs 50-39 (305th).
Other away day results:
Panshanger (Hertford, Herts): Mike Reynolds 26-39 (93rd out of 201 runners).
Letchworth (Herts): Nick Gill 21-44 (14th out of 126 runners), Georgie Hooper 28-10 (66th).
Wimpole Hall Estate (Cambs): David Pattman 28-34 (134th out of 249 runners), Mo Warrillow 28-35 (135th), Steven Dobner 28-36 (136th).
Henlow Bridge (Beds): James McSweeney 26-05 (18th out of 79 runners).
Squerryes Winery (Kent): Michael o’Keefe 31-15 (109th out of 145 runners).
Rugby (Warwickshire): Darryl Stevens 37-01 (125th out of 134 runners).
Fairlands Valley Spartans SIMON JACKSON was fifth overall and first veteran in the St Albans 10K on Good Friday. He was under 35 minutes with 34 minutes 37 seconds. There were 633 finishers.
ROSS GALLAGHER also beat 40 with 39 minutes 18 seconds for 35th place.
Thirteen Spartans enjoyed the run the others being ANDREW VAUGHAN 41:08; SAM SIMMONS 45:46; TRACY PEZ 48 minutes exactly; ABBIE PEZ 48:04; DAVID PATTMAN 49:16; GEORGIE HOOPER 50:10; STEVEN DODNER 54:13; NICOLA ANDERSSON 56:06; JIM BROWN 57:29: DZENANA TOPIC 1:15:52 and JONATHAN JONES 1:15:57.
Ramsay Top Of The Euros
On Saturday GRANT RAMSAY took part in the first London Inter Club Challenge (LICC) meeting of the season. All members of running clubs outside of London are also welcome. He got a very good result in the 3000 metres steeplechase and achieved high positions in World & European Masters Rankings. (No 1 in Europe)! This was over 35 barriers which included 7 water jumps. Grant won his event in 12 minutes 1 second which shot him up to the number one spot in the rankings.
Ten Marathons in Ten Days for Davie
On Monday DAVIE STAFFORD today completed his 10 marathons in 10 days challenge in Walton on Thames with Phoenix Running. His average time over the 10 days was 4 hours 1 minute and 16 seconds. His fastest marathon was on day 5 when he ran a 3.55.40. Every day had a different name – Fortitude; Gauntlet; Dauntless; Resolute; Perseverance; Adversity; Intrepid; Indomitable; Unbreakable and Invincible
Boston UK Marathon
ROB WRIGHT ran the Boston Marathon, the UK one, in a new personal best (PB) of 3 hours 35 minutes 46 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 16th April
The Saturday of the Easter weekend saw thirty Fairlands Valley Spartans run in Parkrun events worldwide.
Running in Stevenage’s Spring sunshine resulted in a first-place finish and parkrun PB for Ciaran McANENY in a time of 17 minutes and 23 seconds. With Vishal SHAH also running a PB of 25:01 and Suzy HAWKINS completing the course as the first female in 20:16.
Paul MAGUIRE joined those running PBs with a time of 23:46 at the Westmill event.
Trying out new courses for the Bank holiday were Monica SMITHSON (31:20) and Steve SMITHSON (34:34) at the Thomas Mills event. Darryl STEVENS headed all the way to the Netherlands for his 193rd Parkrun to complete the Kralingse Bos course in 37:07.
301 finishers at Stevenage including nineteen Spartans.
Fairlands Valley Spartans JONATHAN PARR has won another race. He won the Kew Gardens 10K on Saturday with a time of 33 minutes 54 seconds. It was part of the Richmond Running Festival and he beat 1886 other runners.
Great Welsh Half
Carmarthenshire was the setting for a great result for JOHN HARRIS. He ran the Great Welsh Half Marathon in 1 hour 31 minutes 4 seconds, was 38th out of the 576 finishers and first runner aged 55 plus. The event started and finished in Pembrey Country Park and was along the Welsh scenic coastal path.
Essex
THOMAS SAUKA completed the Essex walker LDWA challenge marathon, in 5 hours 47 minutes. He said the event is run in a lovely area, starting at Galley Wood Heritage Centre, which is a lovely wooded area, going out to Ingatestone and back to the start, some lovely villages and lanes around the course as well as woodland.
This was his first marathon of the year. He said he’s a bit out of practice but looking forward to the next one.
Ibiza Relay Marathon
Callie CHAPMAN and Hazel SMITH ran the relay marathon in Ibiza. Hazel ran the first half then handed over to Callie before they both reunited to cross the finish line together.
It was hot and hilly but both were over the moon with their combined time of 4 hours 35 minutes 18 seconds.
Flitwick
CATHY CRAIG had to run her 20 miles training run on a very windy Thursday instead of the weekend after discovering midweek that she had an entry in Sunday’s Flitwick 10K. Sunday was a perfect day for a run in beautiful hilly countryside with a nice downhill finish. She ran it in 63:31, third in her age category, a nice way to start tapering for her marathon.
Brighton Marathon and 10K
WENDY THARANI completed the Brighton marathon in 5.12.22 only a week after running the Manchester Marathon! She now deserves a massive rest! EMMA SOUTHERINGTON finished in 6 hours 20 minutes 18 seconds.
SAMANTHA SUTTON took part in the Brighton 10K on Sunday and finished with a time of 1 hour 12 minutes 54 seconds.
Calderdale Hike
On Saturday Sharon and Mike Crowley took part in the 42nd Calderdale Hike back after a break of two years. The walk started and finished in Sowerby Bridge, the suggested route followed part of the Pennine Way and over the M62. The route involved over a 1000 metres of climb, the pair completed the short walk of 27 miles in 8 hours and 45 minutes, Sharon being second lady home.
Parkrun Highlights 9th April
SIMON JACKSON won the Stevenage parkrun in 17 minutes 2 seconds, a parkrun PB for him.
Twenty six Spartans headed out to nine different venues for Parkrun last Saturday with Darryl STEVENS running at Stadspark, Netherlands!
Grant RAMSAY also achieved a top ten finish at Stevenage, with a time of 19:24.
Congratulations to Jenny GARRETT and Michael O’KEEFE who have achieved unofficial milestones of 40th and 130th Parkruns. Jim BROWN achieved his own unofficial milestone of 75 parkruns, halfway to his next T shirt, and this was his first run of any kind since an encounter with Omnicron.
There were 211 runners at Stevenage including 18 Spartans.
John ROXBOROUGH tried out another new venue at Bury Field, Newport Pagnell. That’s John’s 101st different parkrun venue.
Spartan STUART ARCHER ran the Manchester Marathon in 3 hours 4 minutes 59 seconds. He was 1,538th out of the 14,168 runners in the super flat but chilly race.
Stuart says his preparation for this one wasn’t great. It included a rolled ankle in January, Achilles issues in February and Covid in March. Not the best prep for a marathon but these things don’t stop us 😉
So, he said, “not really knowing what I could do I chose a different game plan. Went at a faster pace and tried to hang on for the last 10K. Hoping to sneak under 3 hours…
Finished in 3:04:59. Not sub 3 But still six minutes off my previous best in Liverpool two years earlier.”
Next in was MATT CLARKE, 5,062nd in 3:45:09. That was a 4 minutes 35 seconds improvement. Matt and FIONA CLARKE had both run Manchester in October. One of the impacts of the race calendar being affected by the pandemic.
Fiona finished in 4:46:45 which is six minutes quicker than the last attempt and her second fastest marathon. Considering this was two weeks post Covid recovery, she was very happy with it.
CHLOE CHAPMAN ran Manchester marathon. She was chuffed with her time of 4:43:29. She said it didn’t quite go to plan but she cut her PB (personal best) by 39 minutes (previously 5:22:12). The course was a lot hillier than she expected. Chloe said the Spartan support was great.
WENDY THARANI said it was a very cold Manchester. She finished in 4:49:43.
Fast At Saffron Walden
The power of a flat course said LUKE GURNEY after finishing the Essex Half Marathon in a new personal best of 1 hour 44 minutes 25 seconds. He was proudly wearing his Spartan stripes as he beat his previous time by 12 minutes. His previous PB was 1:56:09. Over the moon with this as he had a target of reaching sub 1:50. Lovely sunny morning and flat course. Started to tire around the 10 mile mark but got there! Really happy with this!
RICKY PEARCE finished the full marathon in 3 hours 14 minutes 6 seconds. He was seventh senior man.
Regents Park 10K
Regents Park was lovely, beautiful sunshine and nice cafés afterwards for YUKO GORDON’s 10K. She won her category and was fourth out of all the women in the race with 46:27.
Zig Zag Cirque du Sore Leg
CIARAN McANENY won the Zig Zag 6 hour Track Race at Wodson Park in Ware on Sunday. Official results show that he completed 200 laps of the track (80km) which is a 25 lap personal best over six hours.
In fact he’s validating the result as he recorded 202 laps on his Garmin and in Strava which would bring his distance over 50 miles in 6:01:50 (6 hours plus the final lap).
ELLIE McDERMOTT did the Zig Zag six hour challenge at Ware Track on Sunday. She covered 25 miles in the Cirque du Sore Legs.
You’ll be pleased to know they changed direction after three hours!
First Saturday
In Letchworth JOHN HARRIS ran the NHRR First Saturday of the month 5K in 20 minutes 34 seconds. He was seventh overall.
Parkrun Highlights 2nd April
Stripey Saturday rolled around again on a chilly morning at Fairlands Valley, Stevenage. ROGER BIGGS celebrated his 100th parkrun donning the 100 parkrun cape. Well done Roger!
SUZY HAWKINS was first woman in 20:14. GRAHAM and MARTIN BLACKBURN clocked 24:26 and 21:25 ahead of their move to pastures new. Congratulations to DEBBIE BLANTERN on her new PB of 27:47 and also JANE WADEY 34:15 on her 25th parkrun.
KELLY MCHALE ran a new personal best (PB) of 24 minutes 29 seconds at Wimpole Estate.
There were a trio of Spartans at Gunpowder parkrun: StEVE DOBNER (24:03) plus MO WARRILLOW and DAVID PATTMAN both in 27:07.
Three Spartans were on the podium at the Lee Valley Half Marathon.
ABBIE PEZ won the under 20 category with 1 hour 44 minutes 11 seconds; MARK GOODWIN was second, only missing first by seven seconds, in his with 1:43:45 and CLAIRE PULLEN second in hers with 1:44:29.
TRACY PEZ finished in an excellent time of 1:45:46.
All on a two lap flat course from the Lee Valley white water centre, Waltham Cross.
In the Lee Valley 10K NICHOLA DURRENT teamed up with her running partner in crime STEPH BIGGAR to finish in 1 hour 23 minutes 35 seconds. JONATHAN JONES came in at 68 minutes 59 seconds and DZENANA TOPIC at 69 minutes 17 seconds. They said it was a lovely course.
TIM ROBINSON was at a similarly named Olympic venue but this was the Lee Valley Velopark in the Olympic Park. He was there on Saturday for the Velopark Ten.
He said poor pacing for the first three 1 mile laps meant the last five miles were too hard, especially as the sun came out on the hottest day of the year so far. Tim finished the ten miles in 1:38:14 for 15th place and first MV50 (men 50 plus).
Herts Veteran Cross Country Championships
ROGER HARDMAN was nearest to the medals in the Hertfordshire Veteran Cross Country Championships. He was fourth in the men over 70 race with 40 minutes 1 second for the 6.4 kilometres course.
This was the last cross country race of the season and run at Trent Park the reverse way to the Sunday League event. Women and men aged 60 and above ran 6.4 kilometre (four miles). Younger veteran men ran 9.6 kilometres (6 miles). The Spartan results were:
MARTIN WOOD was 15th in the men 50 plus race with 47 minutes 55 seconds for 9.6 kilometres. LINDA NOLAN sixth female 60 plus in 39:26 and SHARON CROWLEY 14th female 60 plus in 43:57 both over 6.4 kilometres.
NICK KLEANTHOUS was 16th male 60 in 36 minutes 15.
Sibling Fun
There was Sibling fun at the Bedford Autodrome Marathon. Ashley Pearson, GRANT RAMSAY’s sister, smashed it to win the ladies race. Her 3 hours 12 minutes 35 seconds (3:12:35) was a 12 minutes personal best and qualifies her for the London Marathon Championship race for the first time.
GRANT RAMSAY says he was well out of sorts and not race fit over 26 miles. Although he was averaging 45 to 50 miles a week in training, the lack of races over 5K and no speed work, (sciatic nerve issues) did show up. He did test positive for Covid 13 days ago, but can’t use that as an excuse, as the effects on him were minimal.
Only a week after the Great Yarmouth cycle sportive YUKO GORDON was also at Bedford Autdrome but for the half marathon.
She says she didn’t quite get the result she hoped for though she won her age group and was ninth out of all the women in race. Yuko says the temperature was cool and perfect but it was windier than last year. The smooth tarmac was wonderful but making pace and keeping concentration were the difficult part in this kind of venue and event. It was like a personal time trial, each runner was aiming for a different distance and knowing nobody to hang on, so the only way to go was to listen her breathing. Yuko said she felt better after half way when she caught up with another woman and changed her strides to match her rhythm. The other runner kept pushing against the head wind and left Yuko along the windy side of course. She might have paid the price for that as Yuko passed her at three miles to go. Yuko was two minutes slower than last year in 1:39:58 and was first woman 70 plus.
Orion 15
Spartan JOHN HARRIS completed the classic Orion 15 cross country race in 2 hours 12 minutes 22 seconds (2:12:22) finishing 52nd out of 148 .
It was a tough challenging 15 miles course through Epping forest with many hills (1500 feet of elevation), knee high mud pools, stiles and lots of twists and turns. John highly recommends the event.
Parkrun Highlights 26th March
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit we have a first female finisher at Stevenage, a fourth place finish at Cassiobury and some members running in university and castle grounds.
5th female and a new personal course pb of 24:09 for SUSAN McANENY at Stevenage parkrun this weekend.
Stevenage: Ashley Schoenwetter was first female runner home on Saturday with a time of 21-44, finishing 12th out of 251 runners. Other finishers: Tony Randfield 22-40 (28th), Susan McAneny 24-09 (51st – Parkrun PB), Steven Dobner 24-11 (52nd), Alison Shelley 25-03 (64th – Parkrun PB), Andy Jay 25-05 (65th), Jim Brown 27-00 (92nd), Nicola Andersson 28-12 (114th), Chloe Chapman 28-15 (116th), Vicky Archer 28-16 (117th), David Pattman 28-34 (124th), Mo Warrillow 28-34 (125th), Debbie Blantern 28-56 (130th), Toby Eccleshall 29-25 (140th), Luke Silver 31-06 (161st), Helen Harris 36-20 (209th), Samantha Sutton 36-44 (215th), Angie Waters 39-35 (230th), Roger Biggs 48-41 (240th).
Other away day results:
Cassiobury (Watford, Herts): Jonathan Parr finished fourth out of 405 runners on the two and half flat lap course. Jonathan finished with a time of 16-26, gaining a Parkrun PB in the process. Jonathan also finished thirteen seconds behind the first finisher, six seconds behind second and five seconds behind third. Very tight at the business end of the field.
Daventry (Northamptonshire): Darryl Stevens 39-05 (178 out of 192 runners).Fareham (Hampshire): Mike Reynolds 31-39 (146 out of 223 runners).
Millfield (North Yorkshire): Caroline Croft 32-08 (66 out of 107 runners).
Panshanger (Hertford): Jane Whitrow 52-51 (222nd out of 222 runners).
There were perfect conditions for NICK GILL and GEORGIE HOOPER at the Stafford Half Marathon. They made the most of a fast course and both achieved substantial personal bests. Nick ran a 1:34:01 PB. His previous best was 1:37:50 at the Stevenage Half Marathon in 2017. Georgie ran a 1:48:58 PB. Her previous PB was 1:54:22 at the Richmond Half in 2019.
Great Yarmouth Endurance Weekend
Several Spartans enjoyed a weekend of running at Great Yarmouth.
After several disappointing runs this year JIM BROWN was a bit happier with his half marathon at Great Yarmouth managing to get under two hours with 1 hour 57 minutes 3 seconds, a year’s best by 5 minutes 22 seconds.
ELLIE McDERMOTT ran the half in 2 hours 28 minutes 18 seconds. A bit of a cold north easterly breeze but it stayed dry.
In the Great Yarmouth 10K CHRISTINE ZVEREV raced up and down the seafront and finished in 64 minutes 29 seconds.
Ashridge Boundary Run
SUSAN McANENY and ZOE JACKSON had a beautiful spring day to enjoy the scenic and very undulating course of the Ashridge Boundary trail run.
They thoroughly enjoyed the run, taking it at a casual pace and walking some of the bigger hills. They enjoyed reaching Ivinghoe beacon and the views that rewarded them with.
They finished the 16.5 miles in 3 hour 10 minutes and enjoyed the homemade cake at the finish!
THOMAS SAUKA finished in 2:42:39 and WENDY THARANI in 3:42:36.
Parkrun Highlights 19th March
Twenty-four Fairlands Valley Spartans ran in the Spring sunshine at Parkrun events this weekend, making it a Saturday morning of milestones.
TOBY ECCLESHALL ran his 100th event on the Stevenage course in a time of 23 minutes and 26 seconds while DARRYL STEVENS ran for the 190th time at the Brockenhurst event in 45 minutes and 48 seconds.
At Woodhouse Moor, Leeds PAUL MAGUIRE ran a parkrun PB times of 23 minutes and 9 seconds. Paul said, “This was a three lap run around the park with a hill climb at the end of each lap and the end. It was a big field of 450 runners and I was very pleased with my time of 23:09. I was 97th overall and third in my age category.”
NICK KLEANTHOUS ran a parkrun PB at Preston Park with 25 minutes and 25 seconds.
In addition, STEVE WELLS was third overall in Thetford running a time of 20 minutes and 24 seconds.
If you thought last week was good this week was amazing for Spartan results.
Seven Victories in Seven Days for Adrian Busolini
It’s hard to describe the achievement of Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI who ran seven marathons in seven days, WON all seven of them and broke the event record by more than 30 minutes. He is the Enigma Week @ the Knees Champion following an incredible week in Milton Keynes. Adrian’s total time was 22 hours 56 minutes 11 seconds, so he took 39 minutes 24 seconds off of the course record.
His average time for each of the seven marathons was 3 hours 16 minutes 36 seconds. His fastest: 2:53:11, and his slowest 3:33:58.
Here’s his story:
“Seven marathons in seven days with 7 wins and a new7 in 7 record (finishing the last one in 3:05:09). Enigma Week @ the Knees Champion.
After the Arc of Attrition, I felt I could use a different sort of challenge. One that didn’t involve wading through bogs, or slipping down rocky paths in the middle of the night. The answer popped up on my Facebook feed: Foxy from Enigma Running had one place remaining on his “Week at the Knees” 7 marathons in 7 days race.
The journey started on Monday at Willen Lake. I planned to run easy 3:30s. However, once I got going, I was delighted with my free-flowing gait and got a bit carried away, finishing in 2 hours 53 minutes – barely five minutes shy of my personal best (PB). This seemed to raise a few eyebrows amongst the competition. Unfortunately, this was immediately followed by my picking up a flat tyre on my return journey, which threw a major spanner in the works for my recovery plan!
On Tuesday, I paid for Monday’s hard effort and impaired recovery with a 3:19 finish. Still quick enough to secure first place, but the effort it took felt significantly greater than my 2:53. Wednesday followed a similar pattern, with muscular tightness and fatigue taking its toll, resulting in a 3:33 finish, my slowest of the week. By this point, I was sensing I might have blown my chances on the very first day. Would I be able to recover and complete the week?
Thursday brought a change of venue to Caldecotte Lake. The different scenery, coupled with fantastic sunny conditions, on-site support from FVS’ own ultra legend John Nelms, and a friend who joined the race alongside me (taking first female spot), all helped raise my mood. I kept it fairly slow & steady, and at least managed a more consistent race, finishing in 3:28. This felt much better than the previous two days. Was I recovering?
Post-race, John dropped the idea to Foxy and I that the course record of 23 hours 35 minutes, set back in 2014, might be achievable. Back at home, I calculated it would take an average of 3:26 on the remaining days for me to break it. The seed had been planted.
So on Friday I set out with the goal of running 3:15, to give myself 5 minutes more leeway heading into the weekend. It was, frankly, a horrible day: I was battling intermittent muscular problems, a caloric deficit, and all without knowing whether I was, as I hoped, recovering from Monday. Despite not looking at my watch for the last half, I ran 3:14:45, hitting my target pace more or less dead on.
Saturday revealed a mysterious problem with my tibialis anterior. It could have been anything from a muscular injury to a nasty bite. I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to complete, and was prepared to bow out if need be, but otherwise set myself a target of 3:25 to give myself another eight minutes leeway on Sunday. Fortuitously, whatever it was resolved itself over the first 10k, enabling me to dig in and secure a 3:21 finish. Going into Sunday, so long as I completed, I was guaranteed the overall win. The question was whether I could break the course record by running sub 3:44.
Frankly, Sunday felt like a formality, but it was still a marathon that needed to be run. There were lots of fresh faces today, and even though I set off at pace, two of them sat alongside me for the first couple of kilometres. I feared I might have to settle for a third place finish today, but when I tested them by increasing the pace by some 20 secs/k, they both dropped off. That was the last I’d see of them.
The rest of the race was a case of focussing on the task at hand. I vaguely fancied the sub-3, but was cautious about applying too much speed, just in case I pulled something in the final furlong. So it was a case of keeping the pressure on to keep my two rivals at bay, whilst juggling gels, electrolytes and pace changes to make it as comfortable as one can on the seventh day of marathoning. I finished the final race in 3 hours 5 minutes 9 seconds taking 39 minutes 24 seconds off the event record with a total of 22 hours 56 minutes 11 seconds.
And with that, I won the Week at the Knees, breaking the course record by over 30 minutes. For good measure, I won each individual day too. This was my first attempt at the multiday format, and I think it went fairly well.”
Milton Keynes Festival of Running
There were two Spartans at the Milton Keynes Festival of Running. STUART ARCHER ran a great new 20 mile personal best of 2 hours 20 minutes 13 seconds and JOHN HARRIS completed the 10K in 42 minutes 45 seconds for 37th out of the 576 finishers. John commented it was a great course with a sting in the tail – a horrible hill in the last mile.
Oundle 20 Miles
There was a new (personal best) PB for ROBERT WRIGHT at Oundle. He ran the 20 miles in 2:36:40 for 67th overall.
Burghley 7
ROB EVANS took part in the Burghley 7 mile race that took place in and around the Burghley House Estate in Stamford, near Peterborough, which is best known for hosting the Burghley Horse Trials each year.
Burghley House is the ancestral home of the Cecil family and the house provided a stunning backdrop to the event. Weather conditions were good and Rob completed the seven mile race in 59:34 despite a nosebleed at mile 3!
Inter County Cross Country
JONATHAN PARR finished sixth scorer, i.e. counted for the team, for Hertfordshire, 211th overall, in the Inter County Cross Country men’s senior race on Saturday.
Yuko Is A National Champion
Spartan YUKO GORDON is a national champion. She won GOLD at the British Masters Cross Country Championship (National) in Tonbridge, Kent on Saturday
Yuko won W70 over one of the toughest cross country courses 6km (for all women 35+ and men 65+, 8km for men 40-64). If the boggy Parliament Hill is a 10, this was 9, probably Royston Heath is much kinder by comparison at 7.5. It was a long up slope followed by steep up hill, down to catch up the speed before next up with ditches and slippery mud between. The top three of Yuko’s age group W70 were very competitive and all faster than the winner of younger category W65. It was very competitive race and winning it was fantastic.
Parkrun Highlights 12th March
CIARAN MCANENY leads the way this week as the fastest parkrun Spartan running at Holy Cross College parkrun in Northern Ireland, finishing at 18:07.
Fastest lady goes to HAZEL SMITH who completed Stevenage Parkrun in 23:41 which was a year best (YB).
Hazel said, “A week after my 20 miler and I’m over the moon to have a year’s best at Stevenage parkrun today. I was fourth female and first in my age category with 23:41.”
There were plenty of unofficial milestones achieved by members this week, with LUKE SILVER completed 40 Parkruns, PAUL SHELLEY with 50, ALISON SHELLEY with 80 and MO WARRILLOW with 150.
GRANT RAMSAY ran his eleventh sub 20 minutes parkrun in succession at Stevenage with 19 minutes 39 seconds.
There were some fantastic performances from many of the thirteen Fairlands Valley Spartans racing the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
The fastest from Fairlands, and wow it was fast – he set a phenomenal new personal best, was SIMON JACKSON with 1 hour 12 minutes 30 seconds. 90 seconds is a lot at that standard. He was 48th out of about 10,000 finishers in the whole race AND third in his age category. The fastest female from the club was MICHELLE REEVES in 1:30:24.
VICKY ARCHER took about ten minutes off her Half Marathon personal best (PB) which was set at Hampton Court two years ago. On Sunday she was well under two hours with 1 hour 56 minutes 18 seconds. She said she trained so hard and is feeling quite proud of herself.
MARIAN MORLEY was delighted to report a new half marathon PB of 1:58:35 – improving by over nine minutes. Her previous best HM was 2:07:36 at the London Big Half in 2021. She surprised herself by running without stopping with an even cadence throughout and splits that only varied by 30 seconds – perhaps helped by being a fairly flat course. Her son William volunteered as a helper for the event and cheered all the runners on from the side.
LINDA GEORGE had a great time. On her way to a new half marathon PB of 2 hours 8 minutes 27 seconds she ran her best time ever for 5K, under 30 minutes, and her best time ever for 10K, under 60 minutes.
Then ELLIE McDERMOTT improved by 24 minutes 27 seconds in a week. She ran the Welwyn Half in 2:43:04 but Cambridge in 2:18:37.
Want to improve? Fairlands Valley Spartans offer training sessions on five days a week and now can arrange one to one coaching sessions. All are free to members.
Meanwhile JIM BROWN was content to continue his recovery, proving to himself that he can again run 13.1 minutes without stopping and trimmed his 2022 time by 26 seconds to 2:02:25.
The other Spartans included STUART HAYCROFT in 1:28:55 and MARTIN JACOB in 1:54:14.
Essex 20
WENDY THARANI, CATHY CRAIG and HAZEL SMITH travelled to Debden Airfield, near Saffron Walden to compete in the Essex 20. Hazel said it was a lovely course with five loops of four miles each. Some sections were quite exposed with a chilly headwind but it was basically flat.
Hazel had a fantastic run. She cut her 20 mile time by 49 minutes and her personal best is now 2 hours 49 minutes 13 seconds.
Wendy Tharani had an outstanding run finishing in 3:45:39 after being ill all week and completing a 20 mile training run the previous week. Cathy Craig won her age category with 3:55:24.
Silver for Andrew
It was silver for Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON in the British Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday. He was taking part in the 1500m. It was Andrew’s first race back after a hamstring tear two weeks ago. He’d worked really hard with the physio to get to the start line, albeit he said he was being held together by tape.
He finished in 4:19.43, took the silver medal and said he was very happy to just get through the race and not to make the hamstring worse.
Second in Surrey 5K
It was second in Surrey for JONATHAN PARR in the Surrey 5K at Woking on Saturday. Morning. He was second overall and first male 35 plus in 16 minutes 9 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 5th March
Anticipation of some hard races on Sunday meant there were only Spartans at three parkrun venues on Saturday and 18 stripes at Stevenage. This week there was a total of 259 finishers.
NICK GILL got a new personal best PB) of 20:06 on the occasion of his 80th parkrun. GRANT RAMSAY was in eighth position in another nineteen (19:29). Another top ten and sub 20 at Stevenage.
SUZY HAWKINS was first female in 21:11 on her 18th parkrun.
Further afield PETER CARPENTER was at Squerryes Winery parkrun running a new PB of 42:57. DARRYL STEVENS was in Minehead clocking at time of 37:11.
53 Times Round a Lake
A big shout out for Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI who, as this was being written on Monday, was setting out on his quest to run seven marathons in seven days. That’s round and round Willen Lake in Milton Keynes.
There was clapping, eating and dancing on Friday evening as 88 Spartans enjoyed their presentation evening the first that’s been possible for two years.
This was a fantastic celebration of two years of achievements and an opportunity to enjoy each others’ company after so long.
YUKO GORDON’s achievements at national and international level are well known and she is the club’s overall champion for 2021. She scored 96.7% in the short distance championship and 98.9% in the long. She was also voted Spartan of the Year.
SIMON JACKSON won the men’s championship.
As well as 27 awards based on the long and short distance championships the evening recognised the most improved Spartans – SAM SIMMONS and FIONA CLARKE; the Lisa Potter Starter of the Year SUSAN MURPHY and many of the club members whose voluntary efforts have made the club possible over a difficult period. They included WENDY THARANI (Chair’s Award); MARK FREEMAN (President’s Award; PETE SMITH (Head Coach’s Award) and SHARON and MIKE CROWLEY (Captains’ Awards).
A great night at the Cromwell Hotel, Old Stevenage which finished with some very energetic dancing.
(All the presentation evening winners can be found near the end of this release).
Welwyn Half
The Welwyn Half Marathon is a bit of a hybrid with 1.5 miles of trail including some quite slippery sections and narrow footpath and pavement which caused some delays in the busy middle third of the field. However the cold start turned into a pleasant sunny morning with a tailwind finish and there were some massive efforts from the thirteen Spartans.
For a flattish course SUZY HAWKINS was surprised how hard the Welwyn Half Marathon felt with off road sections and narrow bumpy pavements that seemed busy with non runners. She said she was disappointed with her time, but collecting third placed female was nice. Suzy finished in 1 hour 32 minutes 46 seconds (1:32:46).
DAVID HARRIS – CHERGUIT said it was great to see so many smiling Spartans out Sunday morning. He was sixth overall out of the 387 finishers in the race and third man 40 plus with 1 hour 21 minutes 35 seconds.
ANDREW VAUGHAN was second male 50 plus in 1:31:38. ASHLEY KING took a third place in the women 35 plus contest with 1:45:40.
There was a personal best (PB) of 1 hour 37 minutes 59 seconds for ROBERT WRIGHT. A great achievement on a tricky course.
JIM BROWN said it was a good quality Sunday 13 mile training run and although a little disappointed he improved his 2022 half marathon time by ten minutes to 2:02:51.
Thirteen Spartans ran. Others were MIKE JEFFS 1:34:39; JOHN NELMS 1:46:21; MARK GOODWIN 1:47:10; LUKE SILVER 1:54:45; NEIL ROBINSON 2:07:31; SIMON SYPULA 2:17:08 and ELLIE McDERMOTT 2:43:04
(Detailed results for all the Spartans can be found near the end of this release).
Baldock Beast
Six Spartans raced the Baldock Beast Multi-Terrain and Spartan JOHN HARRIS excelled by winning the male 50 plus category with 1 hour 34 minutes 53 seconds. He was 13th out of the 154 finishers.
John said six Spartans tamed the beast, which included 14 hills and 856 feet of ascent. It was definitely a run of two halves with negative splits, on a cold but sunny morning that warmed up during the race. He said he faded over the last mile and was passed by three quicker runners but very happy with a trophy at the end.
NICK GILL came in 25th with 1:40:38 and SUSAN McANENY comfortably beat the two hour barrier with 1:57:45. GEORGIE HOOPER and SUE HAMER came in with 2:04:49 and 2:11:47.
Despite running the National Cross Country the previous day TIM ROBINSON went round in 2 hours 11 minutes 47 seconds.
National Cross Country
Four Spartans went to Parliament Hill Fields, London for the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday. In the ladies race SHARON CROWLEY covered the eight kilometres (8K) in 59 minutes 18 seconds.
The men ran 12K with CIARAN McANENY taking 59 minutes 47 seconds; ANDY JAY 1:25:42 and TIM ROBINSON 1:28:05.
The usual generous helpings of liquid mud on that course.
Battersea Park Chase the Sun
JONATHAN PARR came third overall and first man 35 plus in the RunThrough Battersea Park Chase The Moon 5K event on Wednesday. His time was 16 minutes 26 seconds.
Sunny Serpentine
It was mild, dry and sunny for Friday lunch-time’s Serpentine 5K run in Hyde Park and thinking about Sunday Spartan JIM BROWN was happy going round the two lap course in about nine minutes per mile to finish in 27 minutes 17 seconds. The winner took 15:27!
Parkrun Highlights 26th February
Eunice cancelled last Saturday’s race but there were 320 runners at this week’s Stevenage parkrun. Spartan GRANT RAMSAY was sub 20 and in the Top Ten again with 19 minutes 18 seconds and 6th Place.
The Paignton parkrun was right next to where YUKO GORDON was staying for the weekend so she popped out to join. This was her first ever park run outside Hertfordshire. The course was supposed to be a mixture of velo park and the adjacent grass field which was boggy and swampy. So, Yuko was surprised to see many of the runners come in squeaky clean Nike alphafly. She was in Inova8 Mudcrow XC shoes. They changed the course just to three laps of the velo park and gravel path, no field. Yuko was first woman 70 plus, eighth woman and 61st overall out of 258 in 23 minutes 49 seconds.
Tables
All the winners at the FVS Presentation Evening:
Female Open Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Suzy Hawkins 73.0% 2nd Tracy Pez 61.4% 3rd Hazel Smith 59.0%
Female Age Graded Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Yuko Gordon 96.7% 2nd Cathy Craig 70.5% 3rd Alison Shelley 68.6%
Female Open Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Suzy Hawkins 72.3% 2nd Marie Colucci 62.1% 3rd Fiona Clarke 56.0%
Female Age Graded Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Yuko Gordon 98.9% 2nd Cathy Craig 65.1% 3rd Alison Shelley 63.8%
Male Open Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Andrew Patterson 80.3% 2nd Adrian Busolini72.8% 3rd Grant Ramsay 71.6%
Male Age Graded Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Simon Jackson 84.1% 2nd Brian White 82.2% 3rd Barry Osbourne 81.5%
Male Open Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Andrew Patterson 79.4% 2nd Danny Scanlon 66.6% 3rd Paul Shelley 63.5%
Male Age Graded Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Simon Jackson 82.2% 2nd Grant Ramsay 75.0% 3rd Pete Smith 72.2%
Overall Champion – Male Simon Jackson
Overall Champion – Female Yuko Gordon
Overall Club Champion Yuko Gordon
Most Improved Spartan – Male – Sam Simmons Most Improved Spartan – Female – Fiona Clarke Lisa Potter Starter of the Year Award- Susan Murphy Chairs Award – Wendy Tharani Presidents Award – Mark Freeman Head Coaches Award – Pete Smith Captains Awards – Sharon Crowley and Mike Crowley Spartan of the Year – Yuko Gordon
Spartans at the Welwyn Half Marathon (27th February):
The individual results are out for the cross country league and Spartan CHRISTINE LATHWELL won the women 45 plus (45 to 54) category with just five points. She won all but one of the races she ran, in the other one she was second. TRACEY JACKSON was eighth with 51 points.
In the senior race (up to 39) JONATHAN PARR was fifth with 26 points and ADRIAN BUSOLINI eighth with 56.
(In these league events those with the lowest scores are the winners as your positions in your four best counting events are added up).
In Memory Of Lisa
Fairlands Valley Spartans past and present walked ten kilometres on Sunday in memory of Lisa Potter.
Lisa Potter was a very kind hearted Spartans who sadly lost her battle with cancer last year.
The starters award which will be given out at Friday’s presentation evening has been renamed The Lisa Potter Starters Award in her memory. Lisa attended the very first Spartan starters session and was a keen to be there every week. She was always friendly and very welcoming with new members.
Parkrun Highlights 19th February
The aftermath of Storm Eunice cancelled the Stevenage parkrun as there just wasn’t time to clear and check the course.
So this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit consists of a few stripes on tour. The biggest result comes from South Africa as STUART HAYCROFT took on the Grey Goose course at the Grey Goose Game Lodge in the North-East of the country. Stuart completed the 5km course in 20-33 finishing first out of 126 runners.
Other away day results:
St Albans (Hertfordshire): DAVID PATTMAN 25-06 (52nd out of 207 runners), MO WARRILLOW 33-33 (170th) and STEVEN DOBNER 33-34 (171st).
Letchworth (Hertfordshire); GEORGIE HOOPER 30-38 (65th out of 108 runners), NICK GILL 30-39 (66th).
Panshanger (Hertford, Hertfordshire): TONY RANDFIELD 42-13 (184th out of 193 runners).
Westmill (Ware, Hertfordshire): ANDY JAY 26-13 (14th out of 76 runners).
Ifield Mill Pond (Crawley, East Sussex): DARRYL STEVENS 383-9 (108th out of 117 runners).
Fairlands Valley Spartan Jonathan Parr to Represent Hertfordshire!
As a result of doing so well in the County Cross Country race, speedy Spartan Jonathan has been selected to represent Hertfordshire Senior Men at the Inter Counties Cross Country race in Loughborough on the 12th March!
Subsequent to his selection he scored another top ten place in Sunday’s cross country league race on Therfield Heath.
Up, Down and Around Therfield for the Cross Country League
The final race in this season’s cross country league took place on Sunday and 32 Spartans were on Therfield Heath for the encounter. JONATHAN PARR and ADRIAN BUSOLINI were both in the top twenty with Jonathan tenth with 36:31 and Adrian 15th with 37:36.
CHRISTINE LATHWELL had a fantastic run. She was third Spartan to finish and fifth woman in the whole race with 39 minutes 56 seconds.
In this the last race the Spartan men were sixth out of 19 and their masters (or veterans) team eighth. The club’s women were mid-table at 10th out of 19.
Over the whole series the men were also sixth and the women tenth. In the combined scores, women and men, the Spartans were sixth.
Love Welwyn 10K
Not quite the 14th February but fourteen Spartans enjoyed the Love Welwyn 10K and six were under 50 minutes. MIKE JEFFS and ANDREW VAUGHAN were pretty much locked together for the last couple of kilometres but Mike got away by just seven seconds at the very end to be 22nd overall in 41 minutes 35 seconds with Andrew 23rd in 41:42. NICK GILL was also in the top thirty at 27th in 42:30.
MARK GOOWIN just missed out on a podium place with fourth in the 60 plus category with 47 minutes 53 seconds.
CAROLE SHELDRICK was the fastest woman from Fairlands with 53 minutes 46 seconds.
The other Spartans were CRAIG BACON 46:10; DAVID KENNEDY 48:34; CHRIS SAUNDERS 56:06; JIM BROWN 56:18; SUE HAMER 57:38; ERICA GRAYSON 58:43; MONICA SMITHSON 63:04; JONATHAN JONES 67:15 and DZENANA TOPIC in 68:40.
Stamford 30K – Yuko
YUKO GORDON went to one of her annual fixtures. The Stamford 30K.
This was a very very hilly road race and one of the toughest road races in the region. The only positive was the beauty of the course. Yuko said she had often run poorly in this event in the past and Sunday was no exception. The wet and gusty condition over the uphills made her really think ‘why am I running?’ Still she was glad that she didn’t drop out but was 10 minutes slower than two years ago with 2 hours 30 minutes 7 seconds – still wining the 70 plus category.
41st Fat Choi
The 41st Fat Choi run celebrates the year of the tiger and YUKO GORDON ran this with CATHY CRAIG at Fairlands Valley Park.
It was a virtual 8k run and you could run between the 1st and 15th February. Yuko came in with a time of 52.51 and Cathy 53.23. Yuko used to belong to the Hong Kong Ladies Road Runners Club and it was a race that they did annually. Yuko has kept up the tradition.
Parkrun Highlights 12th February.
There were only four venues covered this week but lots of Spartans were out getting their parkrun fix in Stevenage on Saturday.
GRANT RAMSAY was second in Stevenage in 19:10 and Alison Wood was first woman with 21:47. MARIAN MORLEY got a new PB of 25:47 on her 43rd parkrun. SAMANTHA SUTTON completed her 99th parkrun in 36:23. Former Chair and recently returned to the Club, TONY WILLSON, ran his first parkrun in 34:57.
Further afield DARRYL STEVENS was at Brockenhurst (39:03).
A Spartan trio of PAUL SHELLEY, GEORGIE HOOPER and NICK GILL made a trip to Letchworth. Paul was 3rd overall in 21:46. Georgie and Nick finished in 28:55.
There were 29 Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun where there was a total of 303.
Tables
All 32 Spartans at Sunday’s Cross Country League Fixture:
Big hills and big puddles faced the seven Spartans who ran the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday. They splashed through to the finish.
On that course and in those conditions ROBERT WRIGHT ran an excellent 1 hour 42 minutes 27 minutes for the lumpy 13.1 miles. Five minutes later MATT CLARKE came in with 1:47:58.
FIONA CLARKE ran a well judged event to get close to two hours with 2:03:36. JIM BROWN said he had a terrible day in his running office but was in the middle of a little cluster with SUE HAMER 2:11:18; Jim at 2:12:23 and WENDY THARANI at 2:13:18.
SHARON CROWLEY ran a good steady half marathon and came in smiling with 2:33:30. There were 1,083 finishers.
Parkrun Highlights 5th February.
Fairlands Valley Spartan members were out in force on the first Parkrun of the month, aka Stripey Saturday. Forty four members took part at seven different venue across the country.
NICOLA ANDERSSON ran a Personal best of 26:01 at Stevenage in her 90th Parkrun, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week. JONATHAN PARR was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 17:01 at Stevenage and was first in the event.
New Spartan JANE WADEY completed her 20th Parkrun in 34:19, a new PB!
DARRYL STEVENS ran at Great Salterns Parkrun, Portsmouth, for the first time finishing with a time of 40:00. Astonishingly, this was the 94th venue he has tried out!
Special mention to TONY RANDFIELD who achieved the highest age grade percentage this week with 80.26%, getting into national class level.
Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, CHLOE CHAPMAN has reached 70 runs at Stevenage.
At least 32 out of another great total of 346 finishers at Stevenage were Spartans. Well done all!
Spartan YUKO GORDON broke the British road 5 kilometres age record for women on Friday. Running at the Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park she finished in 21 minutes 53 seconds beating the previous record for women aged 70 plus of 22:08 set by Angela Copson by 15 seconds. It was also a race record. While many runners would be happy with an age related score around 70% Yuko achieved 96.5%!
There was also a good run by new Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON who won her category and got a new personal best (PB) of 21 minutes 5 seconds.
Completely outshone by the two Spartan women JIM BROWN was nevertheless pleased to get under 28 minutes for the first time in what seemed like ages. In fact with a dash for the line he beat 27 minutes with 26:58.
The Serpentine 5K is a long established running club event. Great to enjoy on a Friday lunchtime or if you are after a personal best or even a record it’s accurately measured and properly timed.
It was a good day to run – mild, dry and with a modest breeze. The next Serpentine 5K will be on Friday 25th February.
Adrian’s Arc of Attrition
Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI completed the 100 miles Cornish Coastal Path “Arc of Attrition” ultra marathon in 28 hours 12 minutes 31 seconds.
Here’s his story:
“I didn’t even know what the Arc was when I added my name to its waiting list sometime last year; it was just “some legendary race” that I should probably run at some point. So it wasn’t until I was offered a place in November, that I read the website and learned the basics. January, 100 mile, Cornwall, coast path. I’d already run part of the route in the 70k Classic Quarter back in May. I rated that as one of the toughest runs I’d done, and for some reason I assumed I’d likely experienced the worst bits of the coastal path.
I learned a bit more about it in the weeks preceding the race; notably the infamous Pendeen-St Ives section, and consequently bought an awful lot of new kit. Also, only having 4 aid stations, and 1 drop bag, presented some real challenges for an uncrewed runner like me. The most kit I’d carried before was during the CCC; but even there, I hadn’t needed to carry 5kg of supplies in a 12l pack. Water resupply was an open question.
The weather conditions were described as unusually favourable, and we joked about course PBs on the start line, before the drums rang out and the blue smoke was deployed to signal the start of the Arc.
The Arc is a bit of a beast. The section through Lizard to Marazion is technical, tough coastal running. In May, when I ran the Classic Quarter, it was slippery. In January, it’s more slippery. And it’s pretty relentless up-and-down stuff. The downs in particular are awkward; you can’t easily use them to regenerate, as their awkwardness means you’re usually having to break, and thus pummel your quads, which you know you’ll pay for later.
Marazion to Mousehole (via Penzance) is flat and easy, a nice period to recover & pile on the miles. But Mousehole to Land’s End is extremely technical. It’s only runnable in very short bursts. It was tough in the Classic Quarter, and it’s tougher in the Arc when it’s at night. In places, one’s foot and entire lower leg disappear into mud. When the shining lights of Land’s End Hotel rise like the sun over the crest of the hills, they act like a beacon of hope in the loneliness of the mizzley night. At this point, my shoes were full of water, mud, sand, and stones; so my drop bag, and fresh pair of shoes and socks, at Land’s End made the world of difference.
Pendeen to St Ives is a borderline ridiculous race section. There’s about 20km of night-time rock-hopping, mud-wading, clambering, scrambling, slipping and sliding. In places, my knees were swallowed up by the mud. Progress was painfully slow. Meanwhile, time ticks away.
Arriving into St Ives was a huge relief, where I did my best to dust the worst of the debris from my socks (a lost cause), before getting back to the job of polishing off the last 35km. An easier section; initially road, then back to the coastal path, interrupted by the infamous “Dunes of Doom”, before I finally focussed back on my finishing time and place, and began to rein in those ahead of me. I must have gained 5-10 places in the final 10km.
The finish through Porthtowan, ending with a brilliant hill climb up to the Eco Park, was a thoroughly enjoyable end to what was an extremely tough race. I got a gold buckle for a sub-30 hour finish, which I’ll take with pleasure. It was a race I was simply happy to finish uninjured. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my two pairs of socks: I fear they are both ‘beyond economical repair’.
I finished in 28:12:31, putting me around 31st place.”
Parkrun Highlights 29th January.
Late January and it was amazingly mild and sunny for the 227th Stevenage parkrun. Many runners were in shorts and running vests without the extra layers that might be expected at this time of the year. 326 finishers this time including 24 Spartans.
Altogether thirty-nine Fairlands Valley Spartans ran at Parkrun events around England.
PB times were recorded at the Westmill course for Danny SCANLON. Danny completed the event in 21 minutes and 36 seconds, finishing sixth overall.
Also hitting milestones were both MATT CLARKE and TONY RANDFIELD who ran in Stevenage. Here they completed their 80th and 90th Parkruns respectively, in times of 26 minutes and 47 seconds and 21 minutes and 6 seconds. MIKE REYNOLDS also hit 80 runs with a time of 26 minutes and 8 seconds at the Panshanger event.
GRANT RAMSAY was fourth overall in Stevenage in a time of 19 minutes and 15 seconds.
The next stripy Saturday will be this Saturday 5th February.
Fairlands Valley Spartans sent men’s and women’s teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans on Sunday. Veterans start at age 35 for women and 40 for men with age category breaks every ten years. The championships were incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race.
There were 415 women and 410 men in the race.
Clearly ABIGAIL PEZ could not count towards a veterans’ team but she did WIN the race for women under 20 with a new personal best (PB) of 1 hours 18 minutes 53 seconds. That’s seven and a half minutes faster than her previous ten miles PB!
The fastest Spartan was ADRIAN DONNELLY in the first 100 of the 825 finishers with 67 minutes 16 seconds. At 99th he led in the Spartan men’s team with JOHN HARRIS 135th in 1:09:49; PETE SMITH 193rd in 1:13:01; and MARK GOODWIN 293rd in 1:18:32.
It was teams of three in the women’s race and YUKO GORDON and ASHLEY JOHNSON were well up there at 54th and 62nd out of 415 women. Yuko, running against people several years younger than her, was second in the 65 plus category in 1 hour 15 minutes 35 seconds and took SILVER in the County Championships. She had a higher age related score which was 95.00%! MARIE COLUCCI impressed at 83rd woman and was the Spartans third counter with 1:18:45.
Ten women were running for the Spartans. The others were TRACY PEZ, 90th woman in 1:19:26; WENDY THARANI 1:31:37; CAROL PAUL 1:35:45; SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON both in 1:42:37 and SHARON CROWLEY 1:51:10.
The other three men were ANDY JAY 1:31:40; JIM BROWN happy to get round “steady state” in 1:33:48 and recovering after recent mishaps and PAUL HOLGATE 1:49:26.
In addition ANN TRYSSESOONE was not eligible for the Spartan teams but finished in 1 hour 26 minutes 40 seconds.
All this on the undulating roads and lanes to the south west of St. Albans including Potters Crouch, Chiswell Green and a favourite climb up past mile six to the edge of Bedmond. So good to see this classic club organised race back.
These were the mildest conditions many veterans of the Fred Hughes Ten could remember. It’s usually notorious for icy patches, snowing during the event, freezing winds or just chucking down large amounts of very cold rain.
The next county road championships will be at the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 6th February.
(The Spartans results table can be found near the end of this release).
Spartan Women Jump In Cross Country
Much greater participation helped boost the Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team to fourth out of nineteen clubs in the latest cross country league race which was at Watford. They won the veteran women’s team race.
This time there were five Spartan women in the top fifty and eighteen running. They were twelfth, eleventh and eleventh in the first three races so this is a tremendous improvement. The women’s “A” team were CHRIS LATHWELL, SUZY HAWKINS, TRACEY JACKSON, YUKO GORDON and HAZEL SMITH.
The Spartan men were seventh at Watford with JONATHAN PARR in the top ten out of 405 finishers. In the combined scores over the series so far the Spartans are seventh. The final event will be on Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13th February.
A WIN for Jonathan – RunThrough Olympic Park 5k
On Saturday morning Spartan JONATHAN PARR WON the Olympic Park 5K with a time of 16 minutes 9 seconds.
Ciaran At Peddars
CIARAN MCANENY got fifth place overall at the 48 mile Peddars Way Ultra in a time of 6 hours 52 minutes.
The race follows the Peddars Way Trail from Knettishall Heath, just north of Bury St Edmunds, to Holme-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast; on a mix of forest path, bridleways and road.
Beautiful, crisp, sunny weather kept the trails firm and the late morning sun was just warm enough to make for comfortable running temperatures.
All went to plan in terms of pacing and nutrition with Ciaran finishing 24 minutes faster than his previous outing on the course.
Ciaran was very happy and, after missing most of last year’s racing due to niggling injuries, it was great to be back on such a nice course and in a really well run and friendly event
Fast Five for Feetham
Three laps 33:40 52nd out of 680.
KIERAN FEETHAM did the Romsey 5 mile race on Sunday. Although it’s classed as multi-terrain with a 700 metres non-tarmac section for each of the three laps it’s flat and fast.
The race was delayed by 15 minutes and Kieran had to warm up again as it was cold. He said he found a good group to stay with for the first three miles but then unfortunately got held up trying to pick his way through some back markers and lost that group. So he ended up on his own into a headwind. The last mile marker was in the wrong place so Kieran was slightly panicking why it was taking so long to complete it but he was happy to hold on for a new PB (personal best) of 33 minutes 40 seconds. An improvement of 1 minute 42 seconds. He was 52nd out of the 680 finishers.
Parkrun Highlights 22nd January 2022
Yet another record was set at Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun. This was the 27th since parkrun restarted for the 200th local run and this time there were 365 finishers. The highest number since lock down. Despite some holding back for a ten mile championship race on Sunday twenty five Spartans completed a Parkrun this week, on a cold, crisp, sunny morning.
GRACE COVENTRY ran a parkrun personal best (PB) of 24 minutes 22 seconds at Stevenage, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week. GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 19:24 at Stevenage.
DARRYL STEVENS ran at Great Salterns Parkrun, Portsmouth, for the first time finishing with a time of 40:00. Astonishingly, this was the 94th venue he has tried out!
ANTON McCALLA (27:46 at Market Harborough) and PETER CARPENTER (44:29, Squerryes Winery) completed their first parkruns of the year.
JIM BROWN (28:45) won his category and KARL SHREEVE (28:47) achieved a year best at Stevenage.
Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, three Spartans have reached 70 runs at Stevenage with LEE PICKERSGILL finishing at 24:23, TRACY HAYGARTH at 31:51 and HELEN HARRIS finishing at 52:44.
It’s stripy Saturday on Saturday, 5th February.
Tables
Spartans at the Fred Hughes 10 (including a county championship).
These are chip times, the time from when the runner crosses the start line to when they cross the finish line. Gun times are “bang” to finish line and it can take those at the back several minutes to start.
Fairlands Valley Spartan JONATHAN PARR was in the top ten for a cross country race for the second week in a row. Last week he was eighth in the county championships. This time he was seventh in the cross country league fixture in Cassiobury Park, Watford covering the six undulating miles in 36 minutes 12 seconds.
The club had a good turnout of 24 men and 18 women in the race of nineteen clubs and 405 runners. That meant they had three men’s and three women’s teams finish the race. League teams consist of eight men and five women.
Their fastest woman was CHRIS LATHWELL, 45th overall in 40 minutes 22 seconds. She was fifth woman out of 169. Next came SUZY HAWKINS, 124th in 45:17 and TRACEY JACKSON, 186th in 49:31. YUKO GORDON was 198th in 50:12 and HAZEL SMITH fifth counter for the women’s “A” team in 225th with 51:57. This time the Spartans had five women in the top fifty female runners.
In addition to Jonathan Parr the Spartan men had a strong team this time with ADRIAN BUSOLINI 17th in 37:58; KELVIN BEYOKU 39th in 39:47; GRANT RAMSAY 61st in 41:48; STEVE WELLS 104th in 44:10; DANNY SCANLON 106th in 44:17; STUART ARCHER 121st in 45:13 and NICK GILL in 46:48.
(All 42 Spartan times are near the end of this release. The team scores will be released by the league later this week).
Parkrun report for 15th January
34 Spartans took part across nine different parkuns including the Spartans’ homebase of Stevenage.
Numbers at Stevenage were still high with 27 Spartans contributing to a new post lockdown record of 353 people taking part. GRANT RAMSAY was fifth overall in 19 minutes 13 seconds; ASHLEY JOHNSON was second woman and got a new parkrun personal best (PB) of 21:48 as did NICOLA ANDERSSON with 26:34. MO WARRILLOW was absent from her marshal position of “Mo’s corner” as she was running her second parkrun after returning from injury. She finished in 46:52 which was great after such a long absence from running. JIM BROWN reached an unofficial milestone of 70 parkruns.
MARTIN WOOD was a “first timer” in Sheffield at Endcliffe parkrun (22:53) for his 15th parkrun. Another first timer, CATHY CRAIG joined a large field of 546 runners at Bournemouth parkrun (31:04). Cathy said, “I was second in the WV65 age group with a time of 31:04. Due to temporary works on the path, the course had been changed this week to a mainly off road one which had teething problems – a long bottleneck after half a mile. They are likely to reroute again to avoid this problem.”
DARRYL STEVENS was “tail walker” at Brockenhurst (47:09). MIKE REYNOLDS was at Panshanger (29:37); JOHN HARRIS was fifth at Letchworth (22:41),
Fred for the Championship
Fairlands Valley Spartans will be sending mens and womens teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans this Sunday. Veterans start at age 35 with category breaks every ten years. The championships are incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race.
Tables
All 42 Spartans at the cross country league race in Watford on Sunday 16th January.
Position
Name
Official Time
Gender / Cat
Comments
7
JONATHAN PARR
36:12
MS
MA
17
ADRIAN BUSOLINI
37:58
MS
MA
39
KELVIN BEYOKU
39:47
MS
MA
45
CHRIS LATHWELL
40:22
W45
FA. 5th woman.
61
GRANT RAMSAY
41:48
M40
MA
104
STEVE WELLS
44:10
M50
MA
106
DANNY SCANLON
44:17
M40
MA
121
STUART ARCHER
45:13
MS
MA
124
SUZY HAWKINS
45:17
W45
FA..18th woman.
141
NICK GILL
46:48
MS
MA
142
WILLIAM MORLEY
46:57
MS
MB
182
MARTIN WOOD
49:14
M50
MB
186
TRACEY JACKSON
49:31
W45
FA. 34th woman.
198
YUKO GORDON
50:12
W65
FA. 41st woman.
216
DAVID KENNEDY
51:25
MS
MB
218
MARK GOODWIN
51:31
M60
MB
225
HAZEL SMITH
51:57
W45
FA. 49th woman.
228
DANIEL BATES
52:16
MS
MB
232
MATT CLARKE
52:29
M40
MB.
254
LUKE GURNEY
54:00
MS
MB
261
DARREN EMMERSON
54:23
M50
MB
293
TIM ROBINSON
56:34
M50
MC
304
NICK KLEANTHOUS
57:15
M50
MC
306
CAROLE SHELDRICK
57:22
W45
FB
307
MARK FREEMAN
57:35
M60
MC
319
WENDY THARANI
58:27
W45
FB
330
FIONA CLARKE
60:05
W35
FB
337
NICOLA ANDERSSON
61:14
W45
FB
359
MARIAN MORLEY
64:33
W55
FB
360
JIM BROWN
64:36
M60
MC
361
JENNY GARRETT
65:20
W45
FC
362
VICKY ARCHER
65:20
W35
FC
371
KEN JUDE
66:21
M50
MC
374
JONATHAN JONES
66:59
M50
MC
380
SHARON CROWLEY
68:38
W55
FC
381
JAMES KILROY
68:52
M40
MC
384
PAUL HOLGATE
69:29
M60
MC
392
CHRISTINE ZVEREV
73:03
W35
FC
393
SHERYL HANN
73:04
W55
FC
395
MONICA SMITHSON
73:25
W55
398
CALLIE CHAPMAN
74:24
W35
403
NICOLA HATHERLY
78:41
W45
24 Spartan men. 18 Spartan women. 405 finishers. 169 women. FA means women’s (female) “A” team and so on.
Fairlands Valley Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun
Spartan JONATHAN PARR was a top ten finisher in Sunday’s Hertfordshire County Cross Country Championships for seniors (aged 20 and over). Fifteen Fairlands Valley Spartans tackled the championships which were at Stanborough Park, Welwyn Garden City.
The county championships are a real step up in standard and this was a chance for Spartans to test themselves against many of the best in Hertfordshire.
First the women went on an eight kilometres (about five miles) course. NICOLA ANDERSSON was the fastest female from Fairlands with 43 minutes 38 seconds and in 53rd place. Next came LINDA NOLAN 67th in 51:45. SHARON CROWLEY came in 71st with 55:23; CATHY CRAIG 73rd with 57:23 and NIKKI NATION 74th in 60:43. Women’s teams consisted of the four fastest runners.
The men raced 11.25 kilometres (about seven miles) over five full laps. Jonathan Parr came in eighth in 46 minutes 48 seconds. Six men counted towards the team championships. Despite missing some of their faster runners the Spartans men’s team were 13th.
PAUL HEWETT was 58th in 53:45 and STUART ARCHER 69th in 55:16. The other “counters” were JOHN HARRIS 90th in 58:57; MARK WILLIAMS 99th in 60:13 and MARTIN WOOD 111th in 63:25. There were 127 finishers.
(Result tables towards the end of this release).
There’s another opportunity to try cross country this weekend. The league race at Watford on Sunday morning 16th January.
Victoria Park Half
Both GERRY ROSEN and ROB WRIGHT competed in the Victoria Park Half Marathon on Sunday. Gerry said it wasn’t pretty. Rob helped get him round after a non existent few weeks running. They both finished in 2 hours 39 minutes 26 seconds.
Tony at the Essex Run Fest
New member TONY RANDFIELD ran the 5K at the Essex Runfest at Carver Barracks, Debden near Saffron Walden. He was fourth on chip time with 21 minutes 50 seconds and first in the men 60 plus category. There were 27 finishers. Tony said icy conditions prevented a really fast time but it is a flattish and fast course normally.
Parkrun report for 8th January
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, two Spartans get a top ten place finish at Stevenage – GRANT RAMSAY fifth in 19 minutes 35 seconds and DANNY SCANLON 10th in 20:10. ASHLEY JOHNSON was third woman at Stevenage in a course PB (personal best) of 22:06. STEVE WELLS just missed out on a sub-20 minute time at Poole.
Stevenage Parkrun Results where 326 runners including 31 Spartans took part. GRANT RAMSAY 19 minutes 35 seconds (5th), DANNY SCANLON 20-10 (10th), ASHLEY JOHNSON 22-06 (32nd and third female finisher, plus course PB), TONY RANDFIELD 22-52 (38th), SAM SIMMONS 24-13 (60th), HAZEL SMITH 24-14 (61st, 5th female and 1st in her age category), MARTIN DUDLEY 24-30 (70th), DARREN EMMERSON 24-40 (72nd), MARIAN MORLEY 26-23 (106th and course PB), NICK KLEANTHOUS 26-39 (111th), MATT CLARKE 26-55 (114th), LEE PICKERSGILL 27-21 (124th), NICOLA ANDERSSON 28-18 (138th), DEBBIE BLANTERN 28-46 (154th), GRACE COVENTRY 29-00 (167th), SUSAN MCANENY 29-08 (168th), ZOE JACKSON 29-08 (169th), JIM BROWN 29-30 (175th), MIKE REYNOLDS 29-32 (176th), CLAIRE EMMERSON 31-08 (212nd), DAVID SCOTT 31-08 (213th), CAROLE SHELDRICK 31-43 (224th), CAROLINE CROFT 31-46 (226th), CHARLOTTE KEARNEY 32-42 (240th), PAUL JENNINGS 32-59 (243rd), CALLIE CHAPMAN 34-11 (255th), MO WARRILLOW 39-39 (302nd), STEVEN DOBNER 48-48 (322nd), DAVID PATTMAN 48-48 (323rd) and ROGER BIGGS 49-42 (324th).
Away days:
Poole (Dorset): STEVE WELLS 20-08 (26th out of 508 runners). Brockenhurst (Hampshire): DARRYL STEVENS 46-56 (124th out of 124th runners).
Four Fairlands Valley Spartans took on the New Year’s Eve 10K race at Peterborough. A congested start and muddy course slowed times but STEVE WELLS was second male 60 plus and 60th overall in 41 minutes 40 seconds; JOHN HARRIS 97th and fourth male 55 plus in 44:15; MARIA SWIFT 439th overall in 58:22 and PAUL HOLGATE 670th in 1:06:00.
There were 875 finishers. John Harris ran 2001 miles in the year 2021.
Parkrun Highlights on New Year’s Day 1st January 2022
New Year’s Day 2022 and a lovely morning brought forty-five Fairlands Valley Spartans out to the first Parkrun events of the year.
JONATHAN PARR was first overall to finish the Stevenage course in a time of 16 minutes and 59 seconds, closely followed by GRANT RAMSAY and DANNY SCANLON with times of 19 minutes and 41 seconds and 20 minutes 8 seconds respectively. ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER was the second female at the event in 21 minutes and 39 seconds, and YUKO GORDON third woman in 23 minutes and 33 seconds.
Yuko won her age category as did CATHY CRAIG with her 34 minutes 16 seconds and JIM BROWN with his careful return to racing 29 minutes 56 seconds.
The 39 Spartans at Stevenage contributed to a post lockdown record of 351 parkrunners in Fairlands Valley Park.
Festive holidays meant a first time visit to Thetford for JAMES MCSWEENEY who completed the run in 25 minutes and 50 seconds, and to Haverhill for BARRY OSBORNE who ran the course in 25 minutes and 57 seconds.
(Parkrun times for all 45 Spartans can be found near the end of this release).
Flitch Way for Tim
On New Year’s Eve TIM ROBINSON took part in the Flitch Way Marathon. The trail Marathon followed the Flitch Way from Felsted Eastwards to Rayne, then west as far as Takeley Street and back to Felsted. Following a lot of rain the old railway track was extremely boggy in parts, particularly miles 13 to 20. Although the warmest New Year’s Eve on record meant less layers the track seems flat but rises and falls continuously and is very wearing on the legs. Tim finished in 43rd place with a time of 5:25:07.
Magnificent Seven Spartans Complete the Coasts and Borders
By the deadline of 31st December seven Spartans had completed the virtual challenge to run the coasts and borders of England, a total of 2,970 kilometres “starting” and “finishing” in Bristol.
They were PENNY SCHENKEL who finished in a moving time of 170 hours 51 minutes 5 seconds; JIM BROWN; BRIAN WHITE; PAUL HOLGATE; CATHY CRAIG: LIZ CROWLEY and SHARON CROWLEY.
This was one of the virtual events that kept Spartans going during the pandemic restrictions.
The Spartans of the Month for December were VICKY ARCHER and HAZEL SMITH. Vicky, FVS Vice-Chair, for all her work on Spartan social media and Hazel for encouraging so many people during training sessions and at cross country.