Author: GB

Five Spartans completed the Garden City Festive Five on Sunday. The first from Fairlands Valley over the line was CHRIS WESTCOTT, 1st M40 and 6th overall in a time of 29 minutes 20 seconds – his first time under 30 minutes for five miles. STEVE MAYFIELD was the next Spartan in, 43rd in 36:21, followed by ROY BOWDERY, 77th in 41:42. ANDREA WESCOTT was the first Spartan lady, 92nd in 44:21 with LORRAINE WYATT six places behind in 45:53. There were 140 finishers in all.

South Eastern X/C

Sharon Crowley and Bev Harlow competed in the South Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships at Old Warden on Saturday. It was a glorious morning and a lovely course.
Bev finished the 6km course in 36 minutes 36 seconds and Sharon in 38:13.

A good race to run next year.

Lanzarote

Carol Paul ran the hottest Lanzarote Marathon to date. In over 27 degress Celsius she was third Vet 50 in 5 hours 1 minutes 14 seconds.

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:

• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 19th December
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30th December 2013
• Hertfordshire Cross Country Championships in Watford on Sunday 5th January
• Cross country race four on Therfield Heath on Sunday 12th January
• Cross country race five at Watford on Sunday 16th February
• Presentation Evening on Friday 28th February 2014
• Veterans Cross Country Championships in Royston on 16th March 2014
• Off Road Challenge in Stevenage on Sunday 20th July 2014
• Stevenage Marathon on Sunday 2nd November 2014

Join The Spartans

Live in or near Stevenage? Like running? Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up! The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010. It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all. The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Brittain Way, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m. Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9.00a.m. sharp. Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m. There are events to enter every Sunday. Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £35 per year, £25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

Please reply to Roger using this email address: roger@thebiggs.net

Hi Folks,

If you have no interest in the 2014 London Marathon, then you can look away now.

This is especially for those members who were rejected in the open ballot.
Fairlands Valley Spartans receive guaranteed entries for up to 9 members. Those members to receive one of these entries will be decided in a club ballot.
To be eligible for the ballot:

1) You must have been a paid-up 1st Claim member of the club at the time the ballot closed.
(2nd Claim members should apply to their 1st claim club)

2) You must have actually entered the London Marathon ballot (online), before this closed.
(Forgetting or trying to enter after the ballot closed does not make you eligible)

3) You may be asked to prove your ballot rejection

If you meet the above criteria and would like to be included in the Spartan ballot, then please let me know by replying to the email address at the top of this post. If applying, and you were a baggage volunteer in 2013, then please make me aware, as you get an extra chance in the ballot.
It is hoped that the ballot will take place at the AGM on Friday, 22nd November 2013. It is important that you get your request in before that date.

(As at today, the London Marathon has not confirmed the number of baggage places we will get in addition to the 4 Club Entries. This may affect when the draw will take place.)
As a reminder, those eligible who also worked on the baggage in 2013, go into the first draw. Any people or places left at the end of the 1st draw, go into a 2nd draw.

While it is not important at this point, could members who have received a place please advise us, and please let us know your running number where known.

Can I please ask those interested in helping with the baggage in 2014 to hold off until after the draw for places has been made. I think it’s a bit unfair to ask to go in the draw and request a baggage place if they don’t get in. Let’s start with a level playing field.
Any queries, then please get in touch using the contact details at the top of this post.

Regards,
Roger Biggs

Here are the results from the Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd November 2013
To see a full list of results  click here

Also to see a list of prize winners: click here

 

Well done everyone

Fairlands Valley Spartans will be holding the Stevenage half marathon on Sunday 3rd November 2013. The race starts at 10:30am and will have a race time limit of 3 hours.

Stevenage Half Marathon 3rd November 2013

The race is now closed.

To see an alphabetical list of race entrants and numbers click here (This opens an Excel spreadsheet)

Also checkout final race instructions here.

Here are the results from the Cheshunt Cross Country.  Cheshunt XC Results

Well done everyone.

The next cross country is on Sunday 24th November at Grovelands Park

29 finishers in last night’s Handicap 5k. A big thank you to Graham Blackburn, Mick Connell and Bernie Barnaby for their excellent support with the start and finish, and also to Martin Dudley, Tracy Pez and Matt Gill for their support to runners around the course.

Winner on the night in her debut 5k was newcomer Denise Hurlock in 28:06, 6:54 quicker than handicap, with another debutee, Eileen Latchford 2nd, in 29:00, 6 minutes ahead of handicap, and Sofia Carpenter 3rd in a new personal best time of 25:30, 2:36 quicker than September, supported by Martin Dudley.

First male to finish was Robin Hester in a new PB of his own, 28:08, 2:54 faster than his previous PB, with Robert Shaw 2nd in 27:15, 3:10 quicker than September, and Darren Bennett 3rd man in his debut 5k in a time of 20:57, 2:18 better than handicap.

Fastest man was Grant Ramsay, in 16:46, 11 seconds quicker than September, with Dean Carpenter 2nd quickest in 20:01, 14 seconds better than September and Vishal Shah 3rd quickest, equalling his September PB time of 20:35.

Fastest lady was Lisa Liversidge in a new PB time of 24:26, 19 seconds better than her previous PB and 54 seconds faster than in September, with Isabel Green 2nd quickest in a season best time of 24:51, 1:39 better than handicap, and Karen Palmer 3rd quickest in a new PB of 25:12, 27 seconds better than her previous PB, supported by Matt Gill.

There were also PBs for Kerstin Weiner +1:38 to 25:34, in 5th position overall, Wendy Summerbee +2:16 to 31:56, in 8th position overall, Fiona Keely 32:54, Richard Bates +1:34 to 29:06, Jan Fry +0:45 to 29:50 and James Seals 22:21, while Steve Elder ran a new SB time of 23:13 and there were other year bests for Mark Beasley and Paul Holgate.

Total time between 1st and last finisher was 7:19 (6:15 from 2nd-27th) and 59% of finishers were within less than 1 minute of their adjusted handicap.

Next Handicap 5k will be on Thursday 21st November.

Best regards

Paul

Result_17Oct13

Here are the results from last night’s 5 mile team championship.

Huge well done to everyone who ran and big thanks to Bernie for organising and to Paul for the results.

5 mile Results

SPRING MARATHONS START TO ROLL

10Ks at Flitwick and Cambourne as Simon Shapes Up

14^th April 2013
Sun shining, felt like Spring, a week to go to the London Marathon but several Spartans were running marathons at the weekend.

Brighton Rocks As Marie and Dawn PB

It was a lovely warm day, albeit on the windy side, for Sunday’s Brighton Marathon.

MARIE COLUCCI ran brilliantly to finish in a new personal best (PB) of 3 hours 51 minutes 30 seconds; ROGER BIGGS was also inside four hours with 3 hours 59 minutes 37 seconds.

DAWN EASBY was over the finish line in a new PB 4 hours 4 minutes 33 seconds and CAROL PAUL in 4:15:18.

PAUL HOLGATE was heading for a sub five time but just drifted away towards the end to finish in 5.06.58. He reckons he got the better suntan. CLAIRE YOUNG finished in 5:22:17.

Position	Name	Time
2119	MARIE COLUCCI (F)	3:51:30 (PB)
2738	ROGER BIGGS	3:59:37
3463	DAWN EASBY (F)	4:04:33 (PB)
3883	CAROL PAUL (F)	4:15:18
7223	PAUL HOLGATE	5:06:57
7903	CLAIRE YOUNG (F)	5:22:17

There were 9,067 finishers.

Hazey’s Rotter”Dam Buster

Richard Hazeldene ran the Rotterdam Marathon in 3 hours 29 minutes 40 seconds, a personal best by 3 minutes 3 seconds and 20 minutes quicker than at last year’s London Marathon. In a well organised popular race it took 2-3 miles for him to find enough space to get into his stride. The temperature rose throughout, which made the latter stages tough but to break through the sub 3.30 barrier was the target. Mission accomplished…..just.

Holland in Paris

CHRIS HOLLAND ran in the recent Paris Marathon in 4 hours 11 minutes 19 seconds. This was in improvement of just over 40 minutes on his time in London last year, a month before he joined the Spartans. He was pretty pleased with this given his fairly inconsistent training in 2013 and only getting three hours sleep the night before. The crowds were very enthusiastic, a little too much in places encroaching on to the course. All in all a very enjoyable experience.

Flitwick 10K

NICK WITCOMBE and KAREN PALMER ran Sunday’s Flitwick 10K. No personal bests but great preparation for the Mid Week League on an undulating course. Nick finished in 55:07 and Karen in 55:52.

Simon Shapes Up For London

Spartan SIMON JACKSON won the weekly St Albans 5k Parkrun on Saturday morning.

At 1k Simon was holding on to the lead pack but he slowly ate in to the competition to take the lead at 3.5k before battling with a St Albans Strider to the finish line to win by six seconds.

Simon’s time of 17 minutes 4 seconds was his best on the course & his best 5k for nearly a year, just one week before he races at the London marathon.

Cambridge Festival of Running

BARRY KING ran the Cambourne 10k on Sunday. It was a cross country race ! In very windy conditions, on a hilly hilly course, in ankle deep mud and 20 degrees heat he ran a new 10K personal best (PB) of 48 minutes 23 minutes finishing 176^th from about 1,000 runners ! He ran this in 2011 finished 268^th in 50.23 so is very happy to take two minutes off that today and get a new PB despite being a XC race and the difficult conditions !

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:

• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday 25^th April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6^th May.
• County Track and Field Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6^th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12^th June.
• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26^th June.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25^th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6^th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30^th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.

Join The Spartans

Live in or near Stevenage? Like running? Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up! The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010. It now has about 400 members and encourages participation by all. The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Brittain Way, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m. Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9.30a.m. sharp. Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m. There are events to enter every Sunday. Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £35 per year, £25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.

SUNSHINE IN SANDY

Success For Lucky 13s At Lee Valley

Three Spartans finished the indoor track and field season by representing Eastern Veterans against five other British regions at Lee Valley indoor stadium.  The Eastern Veteran men’s and women’s teams were both second to Southern Counties veterans.

Monica Brown had a brilliant competition by winning the women’s over 35 years Triple Jump in a personal best of 9 metres 12 centimetres, the first time she has jumped over 9 metres.  Monica then went onto race the 200 metre leg of a 800, 200, 200 and 400 metre medley relay.

Dave Stephenson had a very busy day as he competed in four events for the younger age group of male over 35 years even though he turned 50 just a month ago! Dave kindly stepped in and covered for a couple of people who were unable to compete due to illness. Dave events were 60 metre Hurdles second in 13.76 seconds; Triple Jump fourth in 8 metres 65 centimetres; 2000 metre walk third in 12 minutes 5 seconds and like Monica did a 200 metre leg in the medley relay.

Tessa Stephenson competed in the younger age group of over 35 years with the heavier weight shot of 4 kg instead of the over 50 years shot weight of 3 kg.  Despite the heavier weight she managed 7 metres 42 centimetres to come third.  Tessa also covered  gap in the 2000 metre Walk by coming second in 15 minutes 45.1 seconds, earning valuable points for the team.

Monica Brown

Triple Jump 1st 9 metres 12 (Personal Best, indoor and outdoor)
200 Metres leg in Medley Relay

Dave Stephenson

60 Metre Hurdles  2nd 13.76 seconds
Triple Jump 4th 8 metres 65 centimetres
2K Walk 3rd 12 minutes 05 seconds

200 Metres in Medley Relay

Tessa Stephenson

Shot Putt 3rd 7 metres 12 centimetres
2000 Metre Walk 2nd 15 minutes 45.1 seconds

Sandy Ten

At last Sunday was a beautiful Spring day and great for the Sandy Ten.  DEAN CARPENTER, 80^th in 67 minutes 48 seconds; MARK CHEADLE, 223^rd in 79:13; and BARRY KING, 271^st in 82:42 all ran new personal bests.  JULIE SIMMONS was second female veteran (55 plus) and 219^th overall in 78:53.

GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan in the race, seventh overall and fourth veteran in  57 minutes 35 seconds.

A good turnout of Spartans also included Graham Blackburn 90^th in 68:41; Davie Stafford 101^st in 69:55; Pete Smith 110^th in 70:27; Matt Gill 141^st in 73:25; Vishal Shah 167^th in 75:09; Ann Tryssesoone 293^rd in 84:47; Karen Ellis 296^th in 84:57; Stephen Block 343^rd in 89:45; Karen Palmer 344^th in 89:33; Paul Holgate 91 minutes 58 seconds and Sharon Crowley 106:35.

Bedfordshire Open

This open graded event at Luton was well attended by Bedfordshire clubs and others in the catchment area with athletes enjoying some welcome Spring sunshine after other early season events had been cancelled due to the weather.   STEVE MAYFIELD managed 4.33 metres in the Long Jump and 19.77 metres in the Discus, both a little short of last season’s standards.   He was much happier with his 400m as his time of 1 minute 01.9 seconds was his fastest for nearly two years.

Caythorpe Canter

Tricia Hopper, Karen Liddle and Paul Marshall completed Sunday’s Caythorpe Canter yesterday in 5 hours 33 minutes 17 seconds.  This was Paul’s first off-road marathon which he enjoyed very much.

Personal At Lincoln

ANDY PRIOR raced round the Lincoln 10K in a new personal best time of 47 minutes 10 seconds.  He says it was a nice course, but a busy race.  He would recommend the trip for anyone hunting for a fast time next year.

Victoria for Liam

LIAM HERBERT returned to East London for the second time this year, to compete in the Victoria Park Open 5 mile race for his third consecutive year.  It also gave him his third consecutive personal best time over 5 miles on the same course.

The Victoria Park Open 5 is billed as one of the fastest 5 mile races in the UK, and offers a relatively flat, traffic-free two-lap circuit of the park.  In a extremely competitive race attracting some of the fastest athletes around (the winning time was a devastatingly fast 23 minutes and 36 seconds!), Liam was 86th out of 204 finishers and he reduced his personal best by 22 seconds to 30 minutes and 3 seconds.  He is equally delighted and frustrated to be that close to a sub 30 minute 5 mile time, and believes that his breakthrough run will eventually come!

North Herts First Saturday

JOHN HARRIS was sixth in the North Herts First Saturday of the month 5K with a time of 19mins and 53 seconds.

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:

• Flitwick 10K on Sunday 14^th April.
• Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21^st April.
• Handicap 5K on Thursday 25^th April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6^th May.
• County Track and Field Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6^th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29^th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12^th June.
• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26^th June.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17^th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21^st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25^th July.
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24^th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6^th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8^th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3^rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30^th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.