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Club News Race Results

ADRIAN ARRIVES

Amazing ADRIAN BUSOLINI has finished the Montane Winter Spine Race.  He finished in just over 134 hours (134:02:24) – so nearly 34 hours to spare.  Spartan Adrian was 42nd out of the 78 who finished.  82 others started but did not make it to the finish.

The Montane Winter Spine is widely regarded as Britain’s Most Brutal endurance race. It’s a non-stop, 268 mile (432 kilometres) race along the most iconic and demanding national trail in Britain; the Pennine Way.  Beginning from Edale in Derbyshire, runners have a time limit of 168 hours to reach the elusive village of Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.  They climb over 10,000 metres as the route crosses some of the most beautiful but difficult terrain found in England, including the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park, Hadrian’s Wall and the Cheviots.  It’s a truly epic challenge that will tests physical resilience and mental fortitude.  The up to 150 participants will experience the full intensity and ferocity of the British Winter including deep snow, storm force winds and driving rain.

Spartan Adrian started from Edale, Derbyshire at 0800 on Sunday 12th January and had to be finished at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders by 0800 on Sunday 19th.  He encountered daytime temperatures between zero and 10 degrees but night times between minus ten and plus degrees.

County Ten Championships

Eight Spartans, four women and four men, ran the Hertfordshire County 10 Mile Championships on an undulating course in St Albans on Sunday.  They were incorporated in the Fred Hughes 10 event.  Chilly but nothing like the freezing conditions at the Hatfield 10K last week.

Under the hour for ten miles is always a great achievement and Spartan SIMON FRASER did it with 58 minutes 13 seconds (58:13) which gave him 42nd place out of the 1,012 finishers.

Next came MICHAEL FISHER in 1:05:33 and MATTHEW NEWTON in 1:11:05. 

YUKO GORDON was second woman 70 plus with 1:18:40.

JIM BROWN ran what he called a “magic time.”  He couldn’t do it last year but wondered if he could beat 90 minutes.  It wasn’t looking good at five miles – 45:25 – but a big effort in the second half saw him cross the line in 1:29:59 for a season’s best.  Achieving a target by one second is a bit magic, one second the other way would be very disappointing.

Then there was ANNE TRYSSESOONE with 1:31:27.  PENNY SCHENKEL improved on her last attempt by more than two minutes to finish in 1:41:06.

SHARON CROWLEY was almost four minutes faster than the time she ran at Buntingford at the end of 2024 with her 1:53:18.

The next county championship will be the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd February 2025.  Includes the county championships for seniors (all adults, men and women).

PositionNameChip Time
42Simon FRASER58:13
125Michael FISHER1:05:33
217Matthew NEWTON1:11:05
354Yuko GORDON1:18:40
603Jim BROWN1:29:59
653Ann TRYSSESOONE1:31:27
844Penny SCHENKEL1:41:06
970Sharon CROWLEY1:53:18

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 18th January

A small increase ion temperature saw attendance jump up by nearly seventy at Saturday’s parkrun in Stevenage.  There were 544 finishers including 24 Spartans.  CAROLINE CROFT ran her 100th parkrun in 33 minutes 15 seconds.  GRANT RAMSAY was top ten with 18:52 and ASHLEY JOHNSON was a top ten woman with 23:13.

There were 22 Spartans at other parkruns including a first visit to the Oaklands College parkrun for JANE WADEY.  She definitely recommends trail shoes for this one.  It was a two lap course which Jane reckons was 60% mud.  She finished in 39:21.

Jane added, “As I’m a member of the deaf park run runners, I knew that there would be BSL (British Sign Language) at Oaklands college park run this weekend.  I offered to volunteer but as they said they had enough I decided to run instead.  It was the inaugural event and was opened by the High Sheriff Annie Brewster JP and we were welcomed by the Principal of Oaklands College.There were 254 in attendance with various local clubs represented.  The course was quite muddy in places so trail shoes might be a good idea.  It is two laps, some of it is on paved paths but then you run around the edge of the rugby fields and through the woods but on the whole it is pretty flat.”

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
87Grant RAMSAY18:52
7365Tony RANDFIELD23:04
7768Toby ECCLESHALL23:10
808Ashley JOHNSON23:13
8373Craig BACON23:18
10390Daniel VILJOEN24:12
10794Martin DUDLEY24:37
135116Ryan DUNNING25:25
156133Mark BEASLEY26:13
16420Lorraine HILL26:44
188155Matt CLARKE27:34
19328Fiona CLARKE27:43
224178Jim BROWN28:36
247191Paul JENNINGS29:25
25548Claire EMMERSON29:35
268203Nick KLEANTHOUS29:56
31679Pamela VILJOEN31:22
32988Monica SMITHSON31:49
367109Caroline CROFT33:15
380118Nikki NATION34:09
393124Chloe CHAPMAN34:47
401252Stephen SMITHSON35:07
501198Tracy HAYGARTH42:51
517284Roger BIGGS46:47

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