Fairlands Valley Spartans ANDREW PATTERSON competed for Great Britain in the World Masters Athletics Championships this week in Gothenburg. He was ranked 25th going into the heats of the 1500 metres for men 40 plus on Friday. The conditions were horrid with heavy winds and rain. He managed to finish fourth in his heat in 4.19. The top two from each heat went through to the final and the next 10 fastest runners. Andrew sneaked into the final as the 10th fastest. The only Brit to qualify for the final.
Sunday was the final and it was delayed 30 minutes due to thunder and the conditions were still windy when we started. Making the final was a bonus and the aim was to not finish last, and finished in a season’s best 4.17 and 13th. The championship style racing of slowly starting was tough going and Andrew who runs fantastic half and full marathons says he didn’t have the track speed to match his competitors. Overall he said it was a great experience.
Rolling Around A Velopark…
On Saturday 24th August CHRIS WATLING ran the Lee Valley Velo Park half marathon at the Olympic Park in Stratford.
He said it was 13 times one mile laps around a hilly course, with heavy rain from the offset. It was tough, but Chris enjoyed it and finished in 1 hour 53 minutes 46 seconds (1:53:46) exactly half way with 76th out of 152.
Got a few shout-outs from the race organisers in his Spartan vest!
Parkrun Highlights 24th August
It was third again for Spartan GRANT RAMSAY as he finished the Stevenage parkrun in 19:02. Miserable weather and the late summer public holiday probably contributed to keeping the total number of finishers to 327 and that included 22 from FVS.
At Stevenage STEVE PLATT ran his 75th parkrun in 28:44; ALISON SHELLEY her 150th in 30:30; PAMELA VILJOEN her 240th in 38:45 and TREVOR BROOM his 25th in 55:16.
Eleven of the 22 Spartans were under 30 minutes.
Altogether 46 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday. Spartans elsewhere included JONATHAN PARR who won the Sandringham parkrun in 17 minutes 52 seconds (17:52). JOHN HARRIS was third man at Letchworth in 21:48 with MEGAN SUTTON coming in at 28:35 and GEORGIE HOOPER at 29:33; SUZY HAWKINS was fourth woman at Milton Keynes with 24:44; SIMON HAIGH finished the Gunpowder parkrun in 25:56; LIZ CROWLEY 30:36 at Mile End (London) and SHARON CROWLEY 31:31 at Boston (Lincolnshire); SAMANTHA SUTTON 35:17 and MATTHEW PATTMAN 37:49 at Holkham; and DARRYL STEVENS at Brockenhurst in 47:15.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Time | Comments |
| 3 | 3 | Grant RAMSAY | 19:02 | Third overall |
| 29 | 26 | Paul SHELLEY | 22:05 | |
| 47 | 43 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 23:05 | |
| 64 | 59 | Daniel VILJOEN | 23:57 | |
| 89 | 80 | Darren EMMERSON | 25:13 | |
| 98 | 88 | Ryan DUNNING | 25:37 | |
| 106 | 96 | Keith HOOKER | 26:07 | |
| 147 | 20 | Gail MACKIE | 27:42 | |
| 168 | 136 | Steve PLATT | 28:44 | 75th parkrun |
| 191 | 147 | Jay PAPA | 29:27 | |
| 195 | 151 | Jim BROWN | 29:35 | |
| 209 | 46 | Alison SHELLEY | 30:30 | 150th parkrun |
| 211 | 157 | Pete COOK | 30:33 | |
| 215 | 48 | Annabelle WHITE | 30:42 | |
| 219 | 51 | Claire EMMERSON | 30:59 | |
| 223 | 54 | Ashley JOHNSON | 31:05 | |
| 222 | 53 | Nikki Katherine NATION | 31:05 | |
| 248 | 70 | Caroline CROFT | 32:57 | |
| 263 | 80 | Chloe CHAPMAN | 34:29 | |
| 278 | 179 | Paul JENNINGS | 36:21 | |
| 288 | 94 | Pamela VILJOEN | 38:45 | 240th parkrun |
| 324 | 191 | Trevor BROOM | 55:16 | 25th parkrun |
STOOP
And four Spartans did the STOOP (Stevenage Outer Orbital Path) walk. All 44 kilometres, or 27 miles, of it.