Thirty eight Spartans took part in Sunday’s Paul Maguire Memorial Handicap Five Mile race in Stevenage.

Race winner REECE McCULLAGH completed the five miles a huge 5 minutes quicker than handicap to record a new personal best (PB) time of 33 minutes exactly, with JULIE SIMMONS in second position overall the leading woman with 41:30, 2:15 ahead of her handicap.  ANDREW PATTERSON was second man (third overall) in a new PB time of 27:21 and SIMON JACKSON third man in 28:52.

JOANNE BOWDERY was second lady in a new PB time of 40:08 just ahead of ZOE JACKSON with 44:14 in her first five mile race.

Andrew Patterson was also fastest runner of the day with his 27:21, with Simon Jackson second quickest and Grant Ramsay third fastest.  MARIE COLUCCI was quickest female in a new PB time of 36:56 with ISABEL GREEN second fastest in 37:30 and Joanne Bowdery third fastest woman.

DANNY SCANLON 32:00, STUART ARCHER 32:55, SALLY PHILLIPS 50:30 and CAROLE SHELDRICK 43:52 all also improved their 5 mile personal bests, while there were season best improvements for PAUL HOLGATE (45:20) and KAREN PALMER (44:03), and year best improvements for JIM BROWN (40:07) and ROGER BIGGS (54:45).

The event was first organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans in 2009 to pay tribute to Paul Maguire, who won the Stevenage running club’s Spartan of the Year award prior to his death in 2008 at the age of 42.  This year the event was raising funds for Societi – the UK Kawasaki Disease Foundation.

 

No Walls in Berlin

Fairlands Valley Spartans were not hitting the wall in Sunday’s Berlin Marathon.  Although it was hotter than expected JENNY GARRETT ran a new PB (personal best) of 4 hours 14 minutes 6 seconds taking 4 minutes 26 seconds off her London time.

Trevor and KAREN BROOM also ran the marathon.  It was TREVOR BROOM’s first full marathon since he started running 16 months ago he finished in 6.25.19.  KAREN BRROM finished in 5.19.13 which gave her a 21 minutes PB.  They are both so happy with that as it was hot sunny day.  Trevor and Karen are both big success stories from the starter section of Fairlands Valley Spartans, which takes complete non runners to marathon running athletes.

JACKIE DOWNES took seven seconds off her PB with 4.35:39.

TIM SABAN went really well with 3.27:06 but STUART HAYCROFT was fastest from Fairlands.

He finished tantalisingly close to the three hour mark with 3:00:38, which was a PB of just under 14 minutes.  He said he loved the race, not just because it’s fast, but because the marathon takes over Berlin, the atmosphere and experience is unlike anything he has ever done.

 

Chase The Sun

JAMES McSWEENEY ran his twelve Chase the Sun 10K since April and it was a personal best of 47 minutes 12 seconds.  Thursday’s race was at the Olympic Park, Stratford

He said: This was my 12th Chase Sun since April and it was my PB – smashing my previous by 2:41.  I felt like I was struggling in the middle after Tuesday night’s Surge Session but pushed on, keeping a steady pace and a sprint finish.  Glorious sunset behind Olympic Park midway through.

On a more general note the Tuesday night interval sessions at FVS (I only joined last month) have done wonders for my times and for my mental approach to running.

 

Great East Run in Ipswich

ERICA GRAYSON said she had her second “great” run in eight days and commented the Great East Run was very hot.  Well organised with a stadium finish. Amazing marshals but not enough first aid support.  She stopped three times to help runners and twice participated in first aid.  It was an undulating course with a couple of surprise hills.

Erica finished the half marathon in 2:20:39 and MAGGIE MONTGOMERYin 3:05:41

 

Harvest Trail Half Marathon

Richard Hazeldene, Karen Liddle, Tricia Hopper and Barry King all ran together at the Royston Harvest Trail Half Marathon.  This is an extremely tough hilly off road course and the Spartans were happy to complete the course in a time of 2.50.18

Shelford 5K Fun Run

DAVE BOWKER enjoyed the Shelford 5K fun run saying it was a good course on traffic free roads and he finished 12^th out of 292 in 20:21.

 

Get 4^th November In Your Diary

More than 270 people have already entered the Stevenage Half Marathon which will be on Sunday 4^th November.  This superb local event is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans and includes the senior county championships.  It’s on an accurately measured and licensed course starting from Ridlins and including Fairlands Valley Park.  All the surplus from this volunteer organised event will go to charity.  The 2018 Charity for the Stevenage Half Marathon Charity is Kawasaki Kid.  Don’t miss out.  Enter now.  Go to https://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/events/2018/11/04/stevenage_half_marathon or via www.fvspartans.org.uk

 

Parkrun Round Up Saturday 8^th September

The weekend saw 34 Spartans running five different Parkruns.  In Stevenage there were three personal bests: Jonathan Jones (23.41), Nigel Strongitharm (23.46) and Michael Andrews (24.33).  Steve and Isabel Green took a trip to a forest.  Their times 21:07 and 28:42.  Tom Sauka ran for the first time in Houghton Hall and came 7th overall in 20:51.  In Letchworth John Harris was 6th (22:02) and Paul Jennings (28:36).  John Roxburgh was in Ulverston Cumbria and finished in 11th position in 23:34.

(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).

 

 

Tables

Paul Maguire Handicap 5 Mile

Pos	First Name	Last Name	Time	R	F	PB	Impr	H’cap	Comments
1	REECE	McCULLAGH	33:00	8		PB	New	5:30	Overall winner.  1st 5.
2	JULIE	SIMMONS	41:30	21	4	YB	New	2:15	First woman
3	ANDREW	PATTERSON	27:21	1		PB	1:19	3:09	Fastest man.  PB (1:19)
4	SIMON	JACKSON	28:52	2		YB	New	2:38	2nd fastest man
5	STEVEN	DOBNER	45:35	29		PB	New	1:40
6	GRANT	RAMSAY	29:10	3		SB	New	2:20	3rd fastest man
7	KEN	JUDE	40:27	18		PB	New	2:03
8	JOANNE	BOWDERY	40:08	17	3	PB	1:15	2:07	3rd fastest woman
9	ZOE	JACKSON	44:14	25	8	PB	New	2:01
10	RICHARD	SPRINGALL	31:15	4		PB	New	2:00
11	DANNY	SCANLON	32:00	6		PB	2:00	2:00
12	KARL	SHREEVE	44:42	26		PB	New	1:48
13	STUART	ARCHER	32:55	7		PB	0:23	1:35
14	MATTHEW	NEWTON	38:30	14		PB	New	1:30
15	ISABEL	GREEN	37:30	11	2	YB	New	1:15	2nd fastest woman
16	JAMES	McSWEENEY	38:30	13		PB	New	0:45
17	JIM	BROWN	40:07	16		YB	0:33	0:53
18	ANDY	SMITH	40:04	15		PB	New	0:26
19	STEFFAN	FORD	31:24	5		SB	New	0:36
20	MATT	GILL	37:40	12		SB	New	0:35
21	STEVE	GREEN	33:45	9		YB	New	0:30
22	MONICA	SMITHSON	46:47	32	10	YB	New	0:28
23	PAUL	HOLGATE	45:20	28		SB	2:10	0:25
24	SALLY	PHILLIPS	50:30	35	13	PB	5:00	0:15
25	ALISON	SHELLEY	45:10	27	9	PB	New	0:05
26	MARIE	COLUCCI	36:56	10	1	PB	0:08	0:04	Fastest woman
27	CALLIE	CHAPMAN	48:30	34	12	PB	New	(0:15)
28	CLAIRE	PULLEN	43:32	22	5	SB	New	(0:32)
29	KAREN	PALMER	44:03	24	7	SB	11:48	(0:33)
30	CAROLINE	CROFT	47:05	33	11	SB	New	0:25
31	CAROLE	SHELDRICK	43:52	23	6	PB	0:16	(0:37)
32	JONATHAN	JONES	41:30	20		PB	New	(1:15)
33	ROGER	BIGGS	54:45	38		YB	4:48	(2:45)
34	ROWENA	RUTLEDGE	51:12	36	14	PB	New	(2:57)
35	VISHAL	SHAH	46:17	30		SB	New	(3:32)
36	SHELBE	MOONBEAM	53:22	37	15	PB	New	(3:37)
37	SIMON	SYPULA	46:18	31		YB	New	(4:33)
38	JOHN	NELMS	41:20	19		SB	New	(5:20)

 

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 15^th September

Heartwood Forest parkrun

A total of 218 runners took part.

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
25	25	Steve GREEN	00:21:07
127	38	Isabel GREEN	00:28:42

 

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 319 runners took part.

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
7	7	Danny SCANLON	00:19:25
27	27	Dean CARPENTER	00:22:05
42	40	Martin DUDLEY	00:22:46
51	47	Ryan DUNNING	00:23:26
55	51	Jonathan JONES	00:23:41
57	53	Nigel STRONGITHARM	00:23:46
58	54	Chris HOLLAND	00:23:46
62	57	Wills JENNINGS	00:24:01
67	8	Jo BOWDERY	00:24:10
74	64	Michael ANDREWS	00:24:33
75	65	Lee PICKERSGILL	00:24:35
90	13	Claire EMMERSON	00:25:08
93	79	Andy PRIOR	00:25:14
106	90	David SCOTT	00:26:01
117	22	Karen PALMER	00:26:44
118	96	Daniel SUTTON	00:26:45
133	109	Michael O’KEEFE	00:27:31
140	26	Sofia CARPENTER	00:27:54
153	120	Stephen SMITHSON	00:28:41
155	35	Alison SHELLEY	00:28:47
185	53	Callie CHAPMAN	00:30:39
192	56	Chloe EMMERSON	00:31:04
219	146	Roger BIGGS	00:32:49
230	81	Jane MCFARLANE	00:33:32
242	92	Judy KING	00:34:13
279	113	Hazel JONES	00:38:24
289	169	Steven DOBNER	00:39:31
302	132	Sharon CROWLEY	00:44:01
303	133	Verity FISHER	00:44:02
316	173	James SOUTH	00:53:52

 

Houghton Hall parkrun

A total of 241 runners took part.

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
7	7	Thomas SAUKA	00:20:51

 

Letchworth parkrun

A total of 134 runners took part.

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
6	6	John HARRIS	00:22:02
62	50	Paul JENNINGS	00:28:36

 

Ford parkrun

A total of 108 runners took part.

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
12	11	John ROXBOROUGH	00:23:34

 

After our scorching summer it’s maybe hard to remember that the Welwyn Half Marathon due to be held on 4^th March was cancelled due to snow and ice.  Well it was re-arranged and held on Sunday.

All seven Spartans beat the two hour barrier and DANNY SCANLON edged ever closer to the 1:30 mark with his new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 31 minutes 15 seconds.  He was 37^th out of the 453 finishers.  MARK GOODWIN won again for Fairlands Valley taking the male 60 plus (MV60) title with 1 hour 43 minutes 48 seconds.

ADRIAN BUSOLINI made another “in race” video and still finished 65^th in 1:37:27 with DUNCAN FLOUNDERS just behind at 70^th in 1:37:46.

ANDREW SMITH was 207^th in 1:52:59 and NEIL ROBINSON 244^th in 1:57:18.  Oldest Spartan in the race JIM BROWN was never going to be as fast as his satisfying run at Bedford a week earlier but was pleased to get his weary body round this fiddlier course in 1 hour 50 minutes 46 seconds.

 

Roger’s 900^th Marathon

Roger’s remarkable recovery continues.  Not long out of his hospital bed he’s just done two marathons in one weekend.  He was staying with an Irish friend for the Dundalk Marathon on Sunday, so he thought!

Only a few days before, it was suggested that they add in the ‘Beast from the End’ Marathon on the preceding day in Carrickfergus (Northern Ireland).  Sitting on 898 marathons meant that this double would now be marathons 899 & 900!

Both days were much the same, a bit nippy at the start, some  rain, brightening up later on. ROGER BIGGS’s marathon times were 5:47:47 and 6:26:07.  He says “Next stop 1000!”

 

Hatfield 5K

ERICA GRAYSON ran a new personal best of 26 minutes 11 seconds at the Hatfield 5K on Wednesday evening.  JENNY GARRETT only missed her PB by four seconds with 24:59.  GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest from Fairlands, he was fifth in his age group and 18^th overall with 17:22.  YUKO GORDON won the women 65 plus category with 22 minutes 13 seconds and an incredible age related score of 90.5%.  Club Treasurer HAZEL SMITH squeezed under 24 minutes with 23:56.  JIM BROWN said he completely overcooked the first two kilometres after a good half marathon only three days before but hung on for 25 minutes 6 seconds.  CALLIE CHAPMAN came in with 28:29; MICHAEL ANDREWS with 29:54 and ROGER BIGGS in 30:45.

There were 192 finishers.  The final Hatfield 5K races for 2018 will be on Wednesday 19^th September and Wednesday 3^rd October.

 

Great North Run

Nine Spartans headed north for the Great North Run.  STEVE GREEN finished the half marathon in 1:39:44; ISABEL GREEN in 1:44:05; NICK GILL in 2:8:16; ERICA GRAYSON and KAREN PALMER in 2 hours 19 minutes 9 seconds; CAROLE SHELDRICK in 2:19:39; CAROLINE CROFT in 2:28:31; TRACY STILES in 2:41:52 and MAGGIE MONTGOMERY in 3:13:52.

Tracy Stiles was running her 15^th Great North Run.

Steve Green said he had never to use the crowd support so much before to get him through a run.  But the great north east folk helped his tired legs finish this year’s Great North run in 1:39:44.

He added Isabel ran an fantastic 1:44:05 despite lots of weaving, she was not far off her PB (personal best) and ensured she had a huge smile for the finish photographers.

The Great North Run was his first half marathon since failing to finish one in June so NICK GILL had one aim….. FINISH!  Despite the hot weather and some hip pain he got round in 2 hours 8 minutes 16 seconds but really could not care less about the time.

This year a record 43,700 runners started what is one of the most amazing half marathons.  The race was won by Mo Farah in 59 minutes 27 seconds.  Many good club runners would be pleased to do that for ten miles!

 

Watford 1500

On Wednesday, Simon Jackson and Andrew Patterson ventured over to Watford for the Open Track Meet where they took part in the 1500 metres. Neither of them had run a track race for a number of years so they tucked in for the first few laps in the main group and pushed on with 500m to go.  Andrew finished in fourth in 4:31.2 and Simon eighth in 4:34.3.

 

Cambridge 10K

DAVID BOWKER said he didn’t have a good day at the Cambridge 10K.  He got round in 44 minutes 4 seconds but said it was an awful course, there was a road crossing or tight turn every few hundred yards, not for him.

David was 67^th out of 372.  LIAM HERBERT  was 98^th in 46:22 and YUKO GORDON 112^th in 47:38

 

Chiltern Marathon

Three Spartans took part in this year’s Chiltern marathon where up MEANS UP with 3,193 feet of ascent this year.  THOMAS SAUKA came in with 5 hours 30 minutes; PAUL HOLGATE with 7 hours 10 minutes and MIKE NEWBITT in 7 hours 30 minutes.

 

Baldock Rat Run

On Sunday Spartans TIM ROBINSON and PAUL WHYTE took part in the inaugural Baldock Rat Run 5K.  Organised by Sports Therapy 4U, the route started in Whitehorse Street and headed out on a loop to Norton Mill via a dark foot tunnel under the railway and along trails on the nature reserve then back to the high street through the tunnel.  The course incorporated narrow trails, steps, kissing gates and at one point ducking under a fallen tree.

Running the 5K as part of a 17mile training run Paul and Tim both completed the 5k in 31:23.

 

Get 4^th November In Your Diary

More than 270 people have already entered the Stevenage Half Marathon which will be on Sunday 4^th November.  This superb local event is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans and includes the senior county championships.  It’s on an accurately measured and licensed course starting from Ridlins and including Fairlands Valley Park.  All the surplus from this volunteer organised event will go to charity.  The 2018 Charity for the Stevenage Half Marathon Charity is Kawasaki Kid.  Don’t miss out.  Enter now.  Go to https://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/events/2018/11/04/stevenage_half_marathon or via www.fvspartans.org.uk

 

Parkrun Round Up Saturday 8^th September

Danny SCANLON was joined by 32 Spartans to run his 100^th parkrun at Stevenage.  Danny finished seventh overall in 19:20 whist Dan MCALPINE and Stuart HAYCROFT were first and second finishers in 16:36 and 18:24, Dan achieving a new PB.  Other milestone runs included David SCOTT running his 80^th parkrun in 23:59, Mark BEASLEY running his 70^th in 26:39, Tim SABAN 50^th in 20:19, Sheryl HANN running her 10^th in 32:02 and first timer James KAY joining the fun in 19:42.  PBs were achieved by Tim SABAN 20:19, Andy JAY 23:12 and Gemma PARKER 36:36.  Claire EMMERSON was third woman in 23:42.

Five Spartans travelled further afield this week including Natalie LAWRENCE who was first lady at Bedford in 18:31.

(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).

 

Tables

Welwyn Half Marathon

Position	Name	Time	Comments	10K Split
37	DANNY SCANLON	1:31:15	PB	41:50
65	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	1:37:27		??
70	DUNCAN FLOUNDERS	1:37:46		46:24
129	MARK GOODWIN	1:43:48	1st MV60	48:24
186	JIM BROWN	1:50:46	4th MV60	51:51
207	ANDREW SMITH	1:52:59		52:36
244	NEIL ROBINSON	1:57:18		53:13

 

Hatfield 5K

Position	Cat Pos	Name	Cat	Time	Comments / WAVA
18.	5.	Grant RAMSAY	MV40	0:17:22	82.3%
101.	1.	Yuko GORDON	FV65	0:22:13	90.5%
125.	5.	Hazel SMITH	FV45	0:23:56	64.8%
139.	12.	Jim BROWN	MV60	0:25:06	66.5%
140.	6.	Jenny GARRETT	FV45	0:24:59	Within 4.  64.6%
154.	8.	Erica GRAYSON	FV45	0:26:11	PB.  61.7%
168.	15.	Callie CHAPMAN	FV35	0:28:29	51.6%
171.	44.	Michael ANDREWS	MS	0:29:54	43.0%
175.	6.	Roger BIGGS	MV70	0:30:45	56.1%

 

Parkruns Saturday 8^th September

Parkrun	Position	Gender	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Ashton Court	368	227	Darryl STEVENS	00:42:01
Bedford	6	1	Natalie LAWRENCE	00:18:31	PB 80.02% age grading
Crosby	14	14	James MCSWEENEY	00:23:39
Gunpowder	72	19	Rowena RUTLEDGE	00:28:18
Southsea	44	39	John ROXBOROUGH	00:21:43
Stevenage	1	1	Dan MCALPINE	00:16:36	PB 78.61% age grading
Stevenage	2	2	Stuart HAYCROFT	00:18:24
Stevenage	7	7	Danny SCANLON	00:19:20	100th parkrun
Stevenage	10	10	James KAY	00:19:42	First timer
Stevenage	11	11	Stuart ARCHER	00:19:51
Stevenage	15	14	Tim SABAN	00:20:19	50th parkrun.  PB 73.17% age.
Stevenage	39	37	Martin DUDLEY	00:22:34
Stevenage	44	42	Darren EMMERSON	00:22:58
Stevenage	46	44	Andy JAY	00:23:12	PB 65.66% age grading
Stevenage	53	3	Claire EMMERSON	00:23:42
Stevenage	54	51	David SCOTT	00:23:59	80th parkrun
Stevenage	66	6	Tracy PEZ	00:24:42
Stevenage	69	63	Nigel STRONGITHARM	00:24:48
Stevenage	95	85	Steven DOBNER	00:26:07
Stevenage	96	86	Daniel SUTTON	00:26:13
Stevenage	102	89	Ken JUDE	00:26:28
Stevenage	104	90	Michael O’KEEFE	00:26:34
Stevenage	105	15	Verity FISHER	00:26:35
Stevenage	107	92	Paul WHYTE	00:26:37
Stevenage	108	93	Mark BEASLEY	00:26:39	70th parkrun
Stevenage	109	16	Claire PULLEN	00:26:41
Stevenage	110	17	Alison SHELLEY	00:26:41
Stevenage	112	95	Dave SMITH	00:26:43
Stevenage	113	96	Chris HOLLAND	00:26:48
Stevenage	115	98	Michael ANDREWS	00:26:59
Stevenage	133	111	Stephen SMITHSON	00:28:11
Stevenage	144	116	James SOUTH	00:28:53
Stevenage	169	43	Callie CHAPMAN	00:30:23
Stevenage	170	44	Sally PHILLIPS	00:30:23
Stevenage	184	136	Tim ROBINSON	00:31:12
Stevenage	192	53	Sheryl HANN	00:32:02	10th parkrun
Stevenage	229	74	Judy KING	00:34:10
Stevenage	257	89	Gemma PARKER	00:36:36	PB 44.44% age grading

 

Seventeen Spartans were among 1,953 finishers at Sunday’s Bedford Half Marathon

Fastest Spartan and 16^th out of the 937 women in the race was ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER in 1 hour 31 minutes 21 seconds.

SALLY McBRIDE ran the Bedford Half Marathon which was only her second ever attempt at that distance.  She managed to pick up a non stop PB (personal best) of 2:26:33 knocking off 5 minutes 14 seconds off her first one back at the Herts Half last November so was really happy with that.  Sally said the Bedford route is lovely to run and mainly flat apart from the bridge section out and back from the two loops in the first eight miles.  She’s totally amazed by the size of the medal.  It’s huge and it weighs a fair bit, the finishers T shirts are great too.  Sally says she would definitely run the race again

YUKO GORDON time was 1:41:45, she fell again, saying her legs won’t take the speed bumps anymore and that she must go to Specsavers.

MARIE COLUCCI underlined the improvements she has been making recently by recording a brand new personal best of 1 hour 43 minutes 49 seconds beating her previous PB which was set six years ago.

Coming out of wave two and hitting congestion at various pinch points was a bit frustrating for JIM BROWN who was almost at a standstill on several occasions but he was delighted to get under 1 hour 50 minutes; a very useful qualifying time for his age group.  Although the temperature was rising during the race he finished in a year’s best 1:46:55, trimming 3 minutes 16 seconds off his previous time.

Meanwhile ADRIAN BUSSOLINI was multi-tasking.  Not only did he finish in 1:34:03 but he was making a video on the way round!

SIMON SYPULA ran his first half marathon in 2:21:36 and SAM SIMMONS ran a new PB of 2:07:28.

(All 17 Spartan times can be found at the end of this release).

 

Bedford Twilight

On Saturday evening MAGGIE MONTGOMERY ran her first race as a Spartan.  She completed the Bedford Twilight 10K in 1:28:03.

 

St Albans Stampede

On a lovely sunny Saturday morning six Spartans turned up in a field near St Albans with 400 others to run the St Albans Stampede.

This is a very friendly relaxed event run by the St Albans Striders with a very easy format. There’s a four mile off road loop – how many loops can you run in 12 hours?  There is no pressure, you can stop in the start / finish area on any lap and have a break and sample the ample food and drink supplied – from bacon sarnies and coffee for breakfast to afternoon tea and cakes to pizza and beer in the last hour.  Most local clubs were represented and had a tent or gazebo set up as a base for socialising between laps.

The weather was perfect and the Heartwood Forest course fast and dry.  Steve Green, John Nelms and Reece McCullagh did the first lap together with Jackie Downes not far behind.  Wendy Tharani and Roger Biggs made up the Spartan contingent.

As the day progressed Reece and Steve showed they were in great form making the laps look easy.  Jackie was using this as a training run for Berlin in two weeks time and looked strong and relaxed up the hills.  John dropped back after taking two hours out for lunch. !

As the dusk fell, Steve, John and Jackie went out with Roger to complete his seventh lap and marking his 898^th marathon, a real privilege to run with a legend.

Jackie and John then dropped out for a massage and coffee leaving Reece and Steve powering out on the next lap.

The final results:  Wendy – 5 laps = 20 miles; John, Jackie and Roger – 8 laps each  = 32 miles;  Reece and Steve – 13 laps = 52 miles.

 

36^th in the World!

The world rankings for number of marathons completed have just been released.  And Spartans own ROGER BIGGS is at 36th IN THE WORLD with 898.  No wonder wherever you go everyone recognises the Spartans vest …

 

Spitfire 10K

TREVOR and KAREN BROOM went to RAF at Hendon on Sunday to run The Spitfire 10K.  They said this year is the 100^th Anniversary of the RAF so that made it even more special.  They were using it as a training run as they are both running Berlin marathon in the 16th of September.  Trevor finished in 1.05.43 and Karen in finished in 1.01.59 which gave her a 12 minute personal best for that course.  Karen commented it was warm and sunny and a lovely course though hilly in places.

 

Sheryl at St Clears

Spartan SHERYL HANN was in lumpy South Wales for the St Clears Trots 10K near Carmarthen.

She was 122^nd out of 166 in 1 hour 1 minute 49 seconds.

 

Thanet Coastal Half Marathon

CAROLINE BARTER was 157^th in the Thanet Coastal Half Marathon in 2 hours 4 minutes 22 seconds.  There were 312 finishers.

 

Maidenhead Half

TIM SABAN ran the Maidenhead half on Sunday as part of his final preparation for Berlin marathon on 16^th September.  It was on a very picturesque flat two lap course with plenty of support.  The running condition were very warm but luckily he wasn’t under any kind of pressure and posted a time of 1:35:19.

 

Last Friday 5Kth out of the 202 finishers in 20 minutes 23 seconds.  JIM BROWN said he was struggling for the last kilometre but ran his fastest 5K for three years.  He was 140^th in 23:44.

 

Get 4^th November In Your Diary

More than 240 people have already entered the Stevenage Half Marathon which will be on Sunday 4^th November.  This superb local event is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans and includes the senior county championships.  Don’t miss out.  Enter now.  Go to https://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/events/2018/11/04/stevenage_half_marathon or via www.fvspartans.org.uk

 

Parkrun Round Up Saturday 1^st September

The first day of Autumn brought 28 Spartans out to run the weekly Parkrun Event.  Personal best (PB) times were recorded for JAMES McSWEENEY in 23 mins and 29 secs, KARL SHREEVE in 27 mins and 11 secs, and PAUL JENNINGS in 28 mins and 24 secs at the Stevenage run and MICHAEL O’KEEFE in 28 mins and 47 secs in Lullingstone

Of the 28, 22 runners attended Stevenage in stripes to represent the club. DARREN EMMERSON ran his 65th event in 23 mins and 51 secs, ALISON SHELLEY her 30th in 26 mins and 24 secs, ROWENA RUTLEDGE her 50th in 29 mins and 40 secs, CALLIE CHAPMAN her 40th in 30 mins and 10 secs, and STEVEN DOBNER his 35th in 43 mins and 48 secs. DANNY SCANLON was the 8th male to finish in 19 mins and 13 secs and CLAIRE PULLEN the 3rd woman in 23 mins and 58 secs, closely followed by HAZEL SMITH and JULIE SIMMONS who finished as the 6th and 7th woman, respectively, in a time of 25 mins and 20 secs. Top 50 gender places also went to MONICA SMITHSON in 29 mins and 06 secs, KAREN PALMER in 29 mins and 41 secs and ERIC GRAYSON in 29 mins and 42 secs. DAVID SCOTT was the 50th male to finish in 25 mins and 13 secs, behind him NIGEL STRONGITHARM ran in 25 mins and 48 secs, DAVE SMITH in 28 mins and 51 secs, ANTON McCALLA in 29 mins and 02 secs, STEPHEN SMITHSON in 29 mins and 12 secs, and JAMES SOUTH in 43 mins and 22 secs. SHARON CROWLEY completed the course in 51 mins and 49 secs.

First time runs at new locations were recorded for JOHN ROXBOROUGH at Linford Wood in 23 mins and DANIEL SUTTON and VERITY FISHER in 23 mins and 13 secs and 25 mins and 18 secs, respectively. DARRYL STEVENS completed the Brockenhurst course in 38 mins and 38 secs and SHERYL HANN the Letchworth event in 29 mins and 19 secs.

(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).

 

Tables

Spartans at the Bedford Half Marathon

Position	Name	Time	Number	Comments
113	ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER	1:31:21	2405
153	ADRIAN BUSSOLINI	1:34:03	850	Filming
260	YUKO GORDON	1:41:45	1371
307	MARIE COLUCCI	1:43:49	977	PB (1:00)
374	JIM BROWN	1:46:55	817	YB (3:16)
473	PAUL MAGUIRE	1:50:27	1865
695	LEE PICKERSGILL	1:58:20	2228
948	SAM SIMMONS	2:07:28	469	PB
965	ROBERT WRIGHT	2:08:21	2862
1008	VICTORIA BRETT	2:09:37	801
1048	CLAIRE HYDE	2:11:11	1607
1120	JON SYPULA	2:13:32	2571
1245	MEGAN TAYLOR	2:18:44	2584
1321	SIMON SYPULA	2:21:36	2572	First Half
1438	SALLY McBRIDE	2:26:33	1926	PB (5:14)
1724	VISH SHAH	2:44:35	322
1941	EMMA MARTIN	3:33:32	1895

 

Parkruns Saturday 1^st September August

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Stevenage	8	8	Danny SCANLON	0:19:13
	33	31	James MCSWEENEY	0:23:29	new PB!
	38	36	Darren EMMERSON	0:23:51	65th
	40	3	Claire PULLEN	0:23:58
	55	50	David SCOTT	0:25:13
	57	6	Hazel SMITH	0:25:20
	58	7	Julie SIMMONS	0:25:20
	70	63	Nigel STRONGITHARM	0:25:48
	84	12	Alison SHELLEY	0:26:24	30th
	100	80	Karl SHREEVE	0:27:11	new PB!
	119	96	Paul JENNINGS	0:28:24	new PB!
	131	105	Dave SMITH	0:28:51
	135	108	Anton MCCALLA	0:29:02
	136	28	Monica SMITHSON	0:29:06
	138	109	Stephen SMITHSON	0:29:12
	151	39	Rowena RUTLEDGE	0:29:40	50th
	152	40	Karen PALMER	0:29:41
	153	41	Erica GRAYSON	0:29:42
	162	44	Callie CHAPMAN	0:30:10	40th
	266	161	James SOUTH	0:43:22
	268	163	Steven DOBNER	0:43:48	35th
	280	109	Sharon CROWLEY	0:51:49
Linford Wood	18	18	John ROXBOROUGH	0:23:00	1st time here
Brockenhurst	90	49	Darryl STEVENS	0:38:38
Lullingstone	24	19	Michael O’KEEFE	0:28:47	new PB!
Letchworth	62	11	Sheryl HANN	0:29:19
Ford	22	19	Daniel SUTTON	0:23:13	1st time here
	39	9	Verity FISHER	0:25:18	1st time here

 

Karen Liddle, Tricia Hopper and Barry King completed Leila’s run on Sunday.  This was on a 6 and a bit mile loop around Wheathampstead in memory of Leila Taylor who sadly passed away a few years ago.

The loop is a tough 60% off road and hilly route.  They enjoyed running together.  Barry says they were delighted to average 1.5 hours per loop before smashing home a fourth lap to record a marathon time of 5 hours 47 minutes 27 seconds.

ROGER BIGGS completed 26.2 miles at Leila’s Run in 6:22:42

 

Grant Doubles Up

In the Southern Athletic League at Hemel Hempstead , GRANT RAMSAY doubled up the 5000 metres flat and 2000 metres steeplechase.

In the 5K he finished 8th in a time of 17:34, and in the steeplechase finished slightly higher in 4th in a time of 7:40.

 

Get 4^th November In Your Diary

More than 200 people have already entered the Stevenage Half Marathon which will be on Sunday 4^th November.  This superb local event is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.  Don’t miss out.  Enter now.  Go to https://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/events/2018/11/04/stevenage_half_marathon or via www.fvspartans.org.uk

 

EMAC

The Spartan women’s and men’s teams have both qualified for the final East of England (EMAC) veteran track and field championships which will be at the Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes on Sunday 23^rd September.

 

Parkrun Round Up Saturday 18 August 2018

Stevenage parkrun saw 17 Spartans run with two achieving PBs and 12 taking top 100 gender positions. Michael O’KEEFE achieved a PB of 26:00 while Trevor BROOM achieved a PB of 30:48.

Other performances at Stevenage included Danny SCANLON 19:31, Thomas SAUKA 21:59, Darren EMMERSON 23:12, Martin DUDLEY 23:58, Nigel STRONGITHARM 25:30, David RIDDELL 25:45, Karen PALMER 26:39, David SCOTT 27:01, Simon SYPULA 27:25, John MCCALL 29:13, Liz CARVELL 29:19, Karen BROOM 30:29, Stephen SMITHSON 30:59, Melanie BUTT 32:31 and Roger BIGGS 32:38.

In York, James MCSWEENEY succeeded in another PB, 23.22, whilst in Letchworth, Yuko GORDON was 3^rd lady home in 23:19.  Paul JENNINGS shaved 1min 37secs off his time at Gunpowder to achieve a new PB of 26:56, Rowena RUTLEDGE also ran the same course in 27:15.  Other travelling Spartans included Sheryl HANN 29:18 who ran in Haverfordwest, Verity FISHER 25:17 and Daniel SUTTON 37:42 in Torbay Velopark.

(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).

 

Tables

Parkruns Saturday 18^th August

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Ashton Court	217	48	Alison SHELLEY	00:28:29
Bushy, Dublin	21	20	Adrian DONNELLY	00:21:38
Ellenbrook Fields	174	59	Niki PLUMB	00:33:53
Gunpowder	74	58	Paul JENNINGS	00:26:56	PB
Gunpowder	78	18	Rowena RUTLEDGE	00:27:15
Haverfordwest	45	12	Sheryl HANN	00:29:18
Heartwood Forest	22	21	Barry OSBORNE	00:21:03
Letchworth	25	3	Yuko GORDON	00:23:19
Milton Keynes	470	289	Graham HILL	00:37:44
Panshanger	65	59	Andy JAY	00:23:58
Stevenage	7	7	Danny SCANLON	00:19:31
Stevenage	31	30	Thomas SAUKA	00:21:59
Stevenage	46	44	Darren EMMERSON	00:23:12
Stevenage	60	57	Martin DUDLEY	00:23:58
Stevenage	83	75	Nigel STRONGITHARM	00:25:30
Stevenage	88	79	David RIDDELL	00:25:45
Stevenage	92	81	Michael O’KEEFE	00:26:00	PB
Stevenage	107	15	Karen PALMER	00:26:39
Stevenage	111	95	David SCOTT	00:27:01
Stevenage	120	103	Simon SYPULA	00:27:25
Stevenage	145	118	John MCCALL	00:29:13
Stevenage	149	29	Liz CARVELL	00:29:19
Stevenage	160	35	Karen BROOM	00:30:29
Stevenage	167	128	Trevor BROOM	00:30:48	PB
Stevenage	171	130	Stephen SMITHSON	00:30:59
Stevenage	202	59	Melanie BUTT	00:32:31
Stevenage	203	144	Roger BIGGS	00:32:38
Torbay Velopark	99	16	Verity FISHER	00:25:17
Torbay Velopark	269	169	Daniel SUTTON	00:37:42
Upton House	75	68	Ken JUDE	00:25:36
York	95	90	James MCSWEENEY	00:23:22	PB

 

HAZEL SMITH says she temporarily joined the elite by winning the first in age category for women aged 35 plus at Sunday’s Stopsley 10.  She finished in 1 hour 28 minutes and was well chuffed at winning her first ever trophy.  Her mother CATHY CRAIG won her category in 1 hour 44 minutes.

GRANT RAMSAY was fourth overall in 64 minutes 23 seconds and won the men 40 plus category and DANNY SCANLON was tenth overall in 69 minutes 49 seconds.  This was on a tough two lap trail course with a nice steep hill.

 

St Albans 10K

The Spartans fourth winner was YUKO GORDON at the St Albans 10K.  She won the women 60 plus (she’s actually 65 plus) race in a fantastic time of 47 minutes 2 seconds.

JIM BROWN said the race was similar but not identical to the course used for the mid week league in July.  A bit cruel as he says there was a gradual climb for much of the second half.  He reckons he was having to work very hard over the last mile to achieve his target of beating 50 minutes.

JAMES KAY was the fastest from Fairlands.  He was 51^st out of the 478 finishers in 42 minutes 34 seconds.  Next came DUNCAN FLOUNDERS, 62^nd in 43:47.  Then came Yuko at 106^th with JOHN ROXBURGH not far behind in 47:17.  After a short wait Jim Brown finished in 49:48 then JONATHAN JONES, still in the top half of the field, in a quickest 10K for 2018 of 51:40.

ROGER BIGGS continued his amazing recovery from heart surgery with a controlled 68 minutes 18 seconds.

 

MK5000

CALLUM STEWART did the MK5000 special on Saturday.  It was a very wet and windy race in Milton Keynes but he ran his first official sub 16 minutes 5K with a chip time of 15:59.55.

 

Double David

DAVID BOWKER went to Battersea Park on Tuesday for the Veterans Athletics Club five mile league.  He finished in 34 minutes 44 seconds and finished 20^th overall and third MV55.

On Saturday he took part in the EMAC track and field championships in Southend.  He finished second overall and 1^st MV55 in the 2K walk with 11:56 and sixth overall, second M55 in the 3000 metres run with 11:49.

 

Herts Stroller

THOMAS SAUKA completed his first 54 mile trail event, the Herts Stroller Marathon in 14 hours 29 minutes.  This was an Essex and Hertfordshire LDWA (Long Distance Walkers Association) event starting from Hitchin Rugby Club and including Pegdson and the Barton Hills to Wheathampstead then back to Hitchin on bridleways and footpaths.

 

EMAC

The Spartan women’s and men’s teams have both qualified for the final East of England (EMAC) veteran track and field championships which will be on 23^rd September.

 

Parkrun Round up 11 August 2018

A fantastic Parkrun weekend for the Spartan Army.  Nigel STRONGITHARM ran his first ever in Stevenage with a time of 25:30.    In Stevenage, PBs were achieved by Hazel JONES 35:04 and Dave PEACH 35:37.  Steven DOBNER achieved a PB in Crissy Fields of 24:22.

There were top 50 gender positions for 12 Spartans at various events.  At Stevenage, Danny SCANLON was 4^th male 19:30, Kelly EVANS 24:55, Karen PALMER 26:20, Verity FISHER 27:35, Zoe JACKSON 27:40, Mark BEASLEY 23:31, Daniel SUTTON 23:54, Rowena RUTLEDGE 31:11.  At Havenfordwest Sheryl HANN was 22^nd female in 30:23, Alison SHELLEY was 26^th female at Eden Project 26:12 and John ROXBOROUGH was 29^th at Houghton Hall in 23:00.

(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).

 

Spartan of the Month

ROGER BIGGS was the July Spartan of the Month.  Not only did he sort out the Spartan entries and baggage volunteers for the London Marathon when he was waiting for a serious heart operation earlier in the year now that he’s out of hospital he’s already done twenty races!

 

 

Tables

Parkruns Saturday 11^th August

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Perth	65	58	Stuart STABLES	00:22:47
Eden Project	122	26	Alison SHELLEY	00:26:12
Stevenage	4	4	Danny SCANLON	00:19:30
Stevenage	43	41	Mark BEASLEY	00:23:31
Stevenage	48	45	Daniel SUTTON	00:23:54
Stevenage	59	7	Kelly EVANS	00:24:55
Stevenage	62	54	David SCOTT	00:25:04
Stevenage	67	58	Chris HOLLAND	00:25:12
Stevenage	68	59	Sam SIMMONS	00:25:12
Stevenage	75	65	Nigel STRONGITHARM	00:25:30	First timer
Stevenage	84	14	Karen PALMER	00:26:20
Stevenage	100	25	Verity FISHER	00:27:35
Stevenage	101	26	Zoe JACKSON	00:27:40
Stevenage	109	80	James SOUTH	00:28:27
Stevenage	118	86	Paul JENNINGS	00:28:52
Stevenage	134	97	John MCCALL	00:30:14
Stevenage	151	47	Rowena RUTLEDGE	00:31:11
Stevenage	158	107	Roger BIGGS	00:31:40
Stevenage	168	58	Callie CHAPMAN	00:32:28
Stevenage	193	119	Jonathan JONES	00:34:47
Stevenage	194	75	Hazel JONES	00:35:04	PB
Stevenage	200	122	Dave PEACH	00:35:37	PB
Houghton Hall	29	29	John ROXBOROUGH	00:23:00
Gadebridge	90	69	Michael O’KEEFE	00:29:28
Haverfordwest	69	22	Sheryl HANN	00:30:23
Crissy Field	58	49	Steven DOBNER	00:24:22	PB
Ellenbrook Fields	180	70	Niki PLUMB	00:36:31

 

St Albans 10K

Position	Name	Time	Comments	5K Split
51	JAMES KAY	42:34	26 Senior	20:54
62	DUNCAN FLOUNDERS	43:47	14 MV40	21:18
106	YUKO GORDON	47:02	1st FV60	22:56
112	JOHN ROXBURGH	47:17	48 Senior	22:52
161	JIM BROWN	49:48	7 MV60	24:33
194	JONATHAN JONES	51:40	26 MV50	24:45
403	ROGER BIGGS	68:18	5 V70	33:06

 

478 finishers.

 

Fairlands Valley Spartans’ Ladies track and field team, defending champions in the Eastern Masters Athletic Club League, have charged into the final of this year’s competition. The women were in the comfortable position of knowing they had already secured their position in the final at the previous match, winning the Central Division from Milton Keynes. However, they finished the divisional matches in style, taking victory over Milton Keynes at their home track.

The final will see the team returning to the Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes on Sunday 23^rd September, spectators welcome!

The Men’s team have had a much improved season his time around and the main question at the last match was whether they could join the women in the final. They needed to be in front of Bedford and County Athletics Club by two and a half points for automatic qualification.

They finished in a fine 2nd place on the night behind Milton Keynes but agonizingly only 2 points in front of Bedford and County Athletics Club. There are still places left in the final, and Fairlands Valley Spartans Men are still hoping to qualify for one of these spaces by being one of the best third places from the three divisions.

Nine women and Ten men competed, and individual performances in the final match were as follows:

 

Men

Anton McCalla was second the long jump and discus

Steve Mayfield had a very busy evening doing the 200m (2nd), Discus (2nd), Javelin, Long Jump and Pole Vault (3rd) plus relay.

Richard Bruce – 200m (2nd), Javelin (3rd)

Mark Freeman  – 4th 200m 5th Discus

Pete Smith – 1st 400m Hurdles

Chris Westcott -2nd 1 Mile

Dave Bowker – 3rd M50 1 Mile

Barry Osborne – 3rd 1 Mile

Dave Stephenson 3rd M50 Pole Vault

Paul Holgate – 4th 400m Hurdles, 6th in Javelin and Long Jump   Mile non- scoring

 

Women

Chris Lathwell – 1st in Mile & 400 hurdles, 4th 200m

Monica Brown – 1st in 200, Javelin and Long Jump

CathyCraig –  2nd in 200m, 2nd in 300m hurdles & discus

Sharon Crowley – 2nd in Mile

Tessa Stephenson – 1st 300m hurdles 2nd discus

Andrea Westcott – 3rd Javelin

Peta Wilson – 5th discus

Steph Mayfield – 1st pole vault, 4th long jump

Yuko Gordon – 1st in LJ, 2nd 1 mile, 4th Javelin.

 

Hatfield Forest Half Marathon

Sam Simmons was first Spartan to finish the Hatfield Forest Half, and in spite of the 30 degree heat ran a new PB of 2:13:05, beating his previous best at the distance by 80 seconds.

He was joined by Julie Shadbolt who completed in 2:16:56 and Erica Grayson who finished in a time of 2:26:26.

 

Forest of Dean

Roger Biggs continued his recovery from heart surgery with a Half Marathon on the trails of the Forest of Dean in Herefordshire.

On a very hot sunny day, entirely run on hilly forest trails, Roger completed the 13.1 miles in a time of 2:51:34.

 

Regent’s Park 10k

Paul Holgate & Roger Biggs were in the capital on Tuesday evening to run a 10k in Regent’s Park.

In good conditions, although a little warm for running, Paul finished in 56:59 and Roger 1:08:47.

 

Parkrun Round up 4^th August 2018

It was a very busy parkrun Saturday with Spartans running in 13 different locations up and down the country plus one Spartan was stateside.

At Stevenage Spartans donned their stripes for the first Stripey Saturday of the month.  Danny SCANLON was 6th in a new PB of 19:08.  Tim Saban also got a PB running his 49th Parkrun of 20:49 (first in age category).

Steve DOBNER ran San Francisco’s Chrissy Fields Parkrun in 36:28.  The course starts on the San Francisco Bay trail and heads west towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

In Windermere Erica Grayson ran Newby Bridge Parkrun, Paul Jennings joined 82 others running in Rochdale, Jim Brown was in North Yorkshire, Rowena Rutledge in Poole and Alison Shelley in Bodmin.  Tracy Stiles and Monica SMITHSON ran the shady Rushmere course.  Full details of all parkruns and times are below.  Let’s see how many parkruns Spartans get to next week!

 

Tables

Parkruns

 

St Albans parkrun

A total of 392 runners took part.

View full results for St Albans parkrun event #347

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
164	146	Michael O’KEEFE	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:25:51

Milton Keynes parkrun

A total of 470 runners took part.

View full results for Milton Keynes parkrun event #436

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
414	272	Graham HILL	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:37:28

Poole parkrun

A total of 659 runners took part.

View full results for Poole parkrun event #381

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
403	94	Rowena RUTLEDGE	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:28:38

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 247 runners took part.

View full results for Stevenage parkrun event #112

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
6	6	Danny SCANLON	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:19:08
11	11	Stuart ARCHER	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:20:07
12	12	Dean CARPENTER	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:20:19
17	17	Tim SABAN	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:20:49
29	29	Nick GILL	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:22:42
30	30	Barry OSBORNE	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:22:46
36	36	Martin DUDLEY	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:23:05
37	37	Daniel SUTTON	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:23:07
52	51	Mark BEASLEY	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:23:50
59	55	Jonathan JONES	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:24:11
73	65	Chris HOLLAND	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:25:04
82	10	Kelly EVANS	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:25:37
83	73	David SCOTT	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:25:38
95	82	Dave SMITH	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:26:22
98	15	Verity FISHER	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:26:23
114	21	Karen PALMER	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:27:05
118	23	Julie SIMMONS	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:27:21
156	39	Sally PHILLIPS	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:30:43
159	119	Stephen SMITHSON	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:30:57
160	41	Chloe EMMERSON	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:30:59
161	120	Darren EMMERSON	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:31:00
163	42	Sofia CARPENTER	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:31:16
170	124	Roger BIGGS	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:31:56
232	78	Hazel JONES	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:38:57

Wimpole Estate parkrun

A total of 302 runners took part.

View full results for Wimpole Estate parkrun event #276

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
121	98	Barry KING	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:26:41
182	48	Kelly MCHALE	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:30:02

Lanhydrock parkrun (Bodmin)

A total of 265 runners took part.

View full results for Lanhydrock parkrun event #236

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
136	38	Alison SHELLEY	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:30:41

Watergrove parkrun, Rochdale

A total of 83 runners took part.

View full results for Watergrove parkrun, Rochdale event #205

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
62	50	Paul JENNINGS	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:34:46

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge

A total of 278 runners took part.

View full results for Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge event #183

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
146	35	Erica GRAYSON	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:29:00

Panshanger parkrun

A total of 278 runners took part.

View full results for Panshanger parkrun event #205

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
59	55	Andy JAY	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:24:26

Rushmere parkrun (Leighton Buzzard)

A total of 173 runners took part.

View full results for Rushmere parkrun event #143

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
110	28	Monica SMITHSON	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:32:29
134	42	Tracy STILES	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:34:21

Dalby Forest parkrun (North Yorkshire)

A total of 230 runners took part.

View full results for Dalby Forest parkrun event #121

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
48	35	Jim BROWN	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:24:45

Pocket parkrun (St Neots)

A total of 199 runners took part.

View full results for Pocket parkrun event #8

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
14	13	Thomas SAUKA	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:21:16

 

Crissy Field parkrun (San Francisco)

A total of 190 runners took part.

View full results for Crissy Field parkrun event #184

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Club	Run Time
176	108	Steven DOBNER	Fairlands Valley Spartans RC	00:36:28

 

 

Wow.  497 hot runners ran round Fairlands Valley Park in Fairlands Valley Spartans “Relays in the Park” on Thursday evening.

Teams came from all around Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

All runners ran 3K.  Men’s teams consisted of five runners, women’s teams had three, and mixed teams consisted of two men and two women.  This is an inter-club event and included the county championships.  Not only did FVS organise the event and provide dozens of marshals but their mixed team of DANNY SUTTON (12:44); VERITY FISHER (13:49); CHRIS HOLLAND (12:48) and SUZY HAWKINS (12:18) were third.

The Spartans fastest woman was ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER with 11:46 and SIMON JACKSON fastest man with 10:00 exactly.  39 Spartans ran.  There were some amazing times from some of the visitors.  LOTTIE ROWEDDER from Herts Phoenix finished in 10:46 and ALEX LEPERTE from Barnet and District came in with 8:50.

There was a very tiring event for some in the heat with some saying they were dry by 1500 metres but enjoyable, a great atmosphere and fantastic for spectators who could see each leg several times by walking across the bridge between the top two lakes.  Another Fairlands Valley Spartans success.

 

Lee Valley Ten Fest

Spartan STUART HAYCROFT took a massive 14 minutes off his personal best at the Lee Valley 10 mile race.  He was first veteran in 64 minutes 36 seconds.

SALLY McBRIDE ran at the Lee Valley 10 Fest with 10 other Spartans on Sunday and managed to pick myself up a new non stop 10 mile personal best (PB) of 1:44:56 shaving off a huge 11 minutes 47 seconds of her previous 10 mile time.  It was the longest distance she has run this year.  She said the course is a beautiful place to run and even though the weather was a bit wet the temperature was just perfect and the event was well planned.

SUSAN McANENY ran the 10 miles in 1:27:51 and was 19th female out of 96.  She was sixth in her category.

The other Spartans were JAMES KAY 1:12:10; TIM ROBINSON 1:25:16; LEE PICKERSGILL 1:26:47; SAM SIMMONS, 1:36:50; LINDA NOLAN 1:40:53; KAREN BROOM 1:43:53 and TREVOR BROOM 1:44:47.

In the 10K event MONICA SMITHSON finished in 58 minutes 42 seconds.

 

Hot Hyde Park

31 degree temperatures defeated many runners but Spartans DAVID BOWKER and JIM BROWN completed a scorching Serpentine 5K on Friday lunch-time.  David came in with 21 minutes 31 seconds and Jim with 24 minutes 40 seconds and third in his category.  Jim is up to twelfth in the year long Last Friday of the Month series.  Jim said the race was unique in that it was run in reverse direction to usual, it was seriously hot for the second kilometre of each of the two laps where there was no cover.  The conditions contributed to there being only 169 finishers this month.

 

Dynamic

Other Spartans helped at the finish of Ride London, rode Ride London or rode the Dunwich Dynamo, an amazing 188 kilometre cycle ride by about 3,000 people that started in Hackney at 8p.m. on Saturday evening and went through the night to get to Dunwich, on the Suffolk Coast, in time for breakfast.  No rain and lots of moonlight helped to make the Dynamo enjoyable.  BRIAN WHITE completed the Ride London 100 in a very wet 5:20:59 and CAROL PAUL came in at 7:23:04.

 

Parkrun Round up 28 July 2018

The reduced temperatures of the last weekend in July saw 26 Fairland Valley Spartans’ head out to take part in the weekly Parkrun Events.  Parkrun personal best (PB) times were achieved by ALISON SHELLEY at Stevenage in 25 mins and 52 secs and NEIL ROBINSON at Letchworth in 26 mins. While landmark runs took place at Stevenage for BARRY OSBORNE who ran his 40th event in 24 mins and 6 secs, CHRIS HOLLAND who finished for the 65th time in 27 mins and 47 secs, and DANNY SCANLON who completed the course 10th overall in his 95th run in 19 mins and 28 secs.

Top 50 finishes saw THOMAS SAUKA and MARTIN DUDLEY complete the Stevenage event in 20 mins and 40 secs and 22 mins and 59 secs, respectively. Finishing the same course in under 30 mins, JONATHAN JONES ran in a time of 24 mins and 27 secs, KAREN PALMER in a time of 25 mins and 57 secs, MICHAEL O’KEEFE in 26 mins and 53 secs, DAVID SCOTT in 26 mins and 59 secs, and JENNY GARRET in 27 mins and 27 secs. Closely followed by CLAIRE EMMERSON in 27 mins and 28 secs, VERITY FISHER in 27 mins and 45 secs, JULIE SHADBOLT in 27 mins and 52 secs, PAUL HOLGATE in 28 mins and 47 secs, and CATHERINE CRAIG in 29 mins and 23 secs. Fewer than 40 mins was achieved by ROWENA RUTLEDGE, CALLEI CHAPMAN, SALLY PHILIPS, CLAIRE EMMERSON and HAZEL JONES in 30 mins and 17 secs, 30 mins and 31 secs, 30 mins and 39 secs, 24 mins and 6 secs, and 37 mins and 13 secs respectively.

First time attendance at new events resulted in DARYL STEVENS finishing the Bicester event in 39 mins and 52 secs, and PAUL JENNINGS the Westmill event in 28 mins and 33 secs, who was joined by ANDY JAY in a time of 25 mins and 10 secs. TIM ROBINSON, the lone Spartan at the Ellenbrook Fields event, finished the course in 28 mins and 13 secs.

(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).

 

Tables

FVS 3K RELAYS : THURSDAY 26th JULY 2018 – INDIVIDUAL TIMES
Pos	F	Name	Surname	M/F	Time	2017	comp
21		Simon	Jackson	M	10:00	9:50	(0:10)
45		Stuart	Haycroft	M	10:38
82		James	Kay	M	11:07
89		Chris	Tillbrook	M	11:11	10:51	(0:20)
102		Stuart	Archer	M	11:19
112		Todd	Gray	M	11:28	10:57	(0:31)
128		Thomas	Sauka	M	11:38
143		Tim	Saban	M	11:45	11:41	(0:04)
146	12	Ashley	Schoenwetter	F	11:46
156		Barry	Osborne	M	11:55
174	21	Suzy	Hawkins	F	12:08
182	25	Michelle	Reeves	F	12:16
185	27	Suzy	Hawkins (2)	F	12:18
188		Tim	Saban	M	12:20
206		Paul	Jennings	M	12:34
209	34	Marie	Colucci	F	12:37
220		Danny	Sutton	M	12:44
227		Chris	Holland	M	12:48
232		Pete	Smith	M	12:53	12:24	(0:29)
238		Reece	McCullagh	M	12:58
246		Mark	Goodwin	M	13:05	12:40	(0:25)
249		Darren	Emmerson	M	13:09	12:31	(0:38)
276	55	Yuko	Gordon	F	13:30	13:30	0:00
283		Lee	Pickersgill	M	13:36	14:14	0:38
288		Martin	Dudley	M	13:39	13:14	(0:25)
294	63	Verity	Fisher	F	13:49
302		Reece	McCullagh (2)	M	13:57
303	69	Jo	Bowdery	F	13:58	13:05	(0:53)
314		Simon	Sypula	M	14:12
341	90	Jackie	Downes	F	14:42
342		Vishal	Shah	M	14:42	13:48	(0:54)
343		Jim	Brown	M	14:43	14:42	(0:01)
345	91	Jenny	Garrett	F	14:45
382	115	Sarah	Pike	F	15:32	14:36	(0:56)
386		Paul	Holgate	M	15:38	15:42	0:04
392		Michael	O’Keefe	M	15:44
393	121	Julie	Shadbolt	F	15:45	15:06	(0:39)
402		Sophocles	Georgiou	M	15:57
421	145	Cathy	Craig	F	16:19
422	146	Callie	Chapman	F	16:19
446	169	Sarah	Sapstead	F	17:19

Note: County results in full results file linked below and summary results table below amended to remove ineligible club (2nd August)

The summary team results from last night’s FVS 3k Relays are below. Congratulations to the winning teams and thank you to everyone who helped with the hosting, and especially all the clubs that provided another record turnout of teams in hot and steamy conditions.

Team positions after each leg, and the times for individual runners, and now available by downloading the file: HERE

Thanks to Paul Holgate for his work producing the results file.

FVS 3K RELAYS : THURSDAY 26th JULY 2018 – LADIES TEAM RESULTS
Pos	Vet	Co.	No.	Team		Time
1		1	242	NHRR	A	35:28
2		2	200	Herts Phoenix AC	A	35:46
3		3	249	Barnet & District AC	A	35:53
4	1	1	253	Barnet & District AC	B	35:55
5	2	2	255	St Albans Striders	A	35:57
6		4	218	Fairlands Valley Spartans	A	36:10
7		5	257	Royston Runners	A	37:31
8		6	203	Garden City Runners	A	37:44
9	3	3	248	NHRR	B	37:46
10		7	247	Watford Harriers	A	38:01
11		1	236	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	A	38:42
12		8	246	NHRR	C	39:53
13	4	1	223	Stopsley Striders	A	40:06
14	5	4	204	Garden City Runners	B	40:49
15	6	5	214	Stevenage Striders	A	40:54
16	7	2	228	Dunstable Road Runners	A	41:04
17	8	6	260	St Albans Striders	B	41:44
18	9	7	245	NHRR	D	42:46
19		2	237	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	B	43:35
20		3	227	Dunstable Road Runners	B	43:56
21	10	8	217	Fairlands Valley Spartans	B	43:57
22		9	213	Stevenage & North Herts AC	A	44:04
23	11	3	232	Dunstable Road Runners	C	44:21
24	12	9	262	St Albans Striders	C	45:20
25		10	256	Freedom Tri	A	45:25
26	13	10	215	Stevenage Striders	B	45:59
27	14	11	201	Ware Joggers	A	46:14
28	15	12	205	Garden City Runners	C	46:24
29		4	220	Bedford Harriers	A	46:43
30	16	13	210	Garden City Runners	D	47:45
31	17	14	206	Garden City Runners	E	48:10
32	18	15	258	Broxbourne Running Club	A	48:14
33	19	4	238	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	C	48:24
34	20	16	243	NHRR	E	48:57
35	21	5	241	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	D	49:02
36	22	6	225	Stopsley Striders	B	49:07
37		11	219	Fairlands Valley Spartans	C	49:10
38		12	216	Stevenage Striders	C	49:14
39		13	202	Ware Joggers	B	49:19
40	23	7	230	Dunstable Road Runners	D	49:28
41		5	221	Dunstable Road Runners	E	49:44
42		14	244	NHRR	F	49:49
43	24	8	224	Stopsley Striders	C	49:58
44	25	9	229	Dunstable Road Runners	F	50:32
45	26	10	235	Dunstable Road Runners	G	51:17
46	27	17	263	St Albans Striders	D	51:44
47	28		252	NHRR	G	52:04
48	29	18	259	Royston Runners	B	52:32
49		15	212	Garden City Runners	F	52:36
50		16	208	Garden City Runners	G	53:19
51		17	209	Garden City Runners	H	53:55
52	30	11	239	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	E	54:14
53	31	19	207	Garden City Runners	I	54:20
54	32	20	250	NHRR	H	54:35
55	33	21	251	NHRR	I	54:40
56		6	233	Dunstable Road Runners	H	55:32
57	34	12	240	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	F	55:49
58	35	13	234	Dunstable Road Runners	I	56:44
59	36	14	231	Dunstable Road Runners	J	56:50
60	37		226	Stopsley Striders	D	57:31
61	38	22	211	Garden City Runners	J	1:06:28
			222	Stopsley Striders	E	–
			254	St Albans Striders	E	–
			261	St Albans Striders	F	–
			264	St Albans Striders	G	–
FVS 3K RELAYS : THURSDAY 26th JULY 2018 – MIXED TEAM RESULTS
Pos	Vet	Co.	No.	Team		Time
1			300	Ware Joggers	A	43:03
2			310	St Albans Striders	A	45:56
3			306	Fairlands Valley Spartans	A	51:39
4			311	Barnet & District AC	A	53:29
5			308	Fairlands Valley Spartans	B	53:37
6			313	Royston Runners	A	53:56
7			301	Ware Joggers	B	53:59
8			309	Fairlands Valley Spartans	C	57:49
9			302	Stevenage & North Herts AC	A	1:00:05
10			307	Bedford Harriers	A	1:01:12
11			305	Stevenage Striders	A	1:02:59
12			304	Stevenage Striders	B	1:07:11
13			303	Stevenage Striders	C	1:18:05
			312	Freedom Tri		–
FVS 3K RELAYS : THURSDAY 26th JULY 2018 – MENS TEAM RESULTS
Pos	Vet	Co.	No.	Team		Time
1		1	136	Barnet & District AC	A	47:57
2		2	130	NHRR	A	48:45
3			129	Hitchin Running Club	A	50:09
4		3	149	Royston Runners	A	52:23
5		4	118	Garden City Runners	A	52:24
6		5	101	Ware Joggers	A	53:02
7	1	1	140	St Albans Striders	A	53:08
8		6	132	Watford Harriers	A	53:34
9	2	2	131	NHRR	B	53:48
10	3	3	119	Garden City Runners	B	54:48
11	4	1	116	Bedford Harriers	A	55:47
12		2	106	Dunstable Road Runners	A	55:47
13	5	4	113	Fairlands Valley Spartans	A	55:56
14	6	5	120	Garden City Runners	C	56:14
15		7	111	Stevenage Striders	A	56:19
16	7	1	105	Dunstable Road Runners	B	56:21
17	8	6	135	Barnet & District AC	B	56:40
18		8	147	Royston Runners	B	57:27
19		3	126	Stopsley Striders	A	57:27
20		9	133	NHRR	C	57:55
21		10	114	Fairlands Valley Spartans	B	57:58
22		11	110	Stevenage & North Herts AC	A	58:18
23	9	7	109	Stevenage & North Herts AC	B	58:38
24		12	141	St Albans Striders	B	58:43
25		13	142	St Albans Striders	C	58:43
26		14	100	Herts Phoenix AC	A	58:52
27		15	122	Garden City Runners	D	58:56
28		16	150	Royston Runners	C	59:08
29		17	102	Ware Joggers	B	59:49
30	10	8	138	Broxbourne Running Club	A	1:00:32
31		18	146	Freedom Tri	B	1:01:05
32		19	108	Stevenage & North Herts AC	C	1:01:35
33	11	2	127	Stopsley Striders	B	1:02:17
34		20	145	Freedom Tri	A	1:02:22
35			125	Garden City Runners	E	1:02:25
36		4	104	Dunstable Road Runners	C	1:02:31
37		5	103	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	A	1:02:48
38		6	117	Bedford Harriers	B	1:03:11
39	12	3	128	Stopsley Striders	C	1:06:05
40		21	112	Stevenage Striders	B	1:06:11
41		22	148	Royston Runners	D	1:06:17
42		23	134	NHRR	D	1:06:50
43		24	137	NHRR	E	1:07:33
44	13	9	121	Garden City Runners	F	1:07:42
45	14	10	143	St Albans Striders	D	1:08:48
46		7	144	Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers	B	1:10:24
47		25	139	Fairlands Valley Spartans	C	1:11:10
48	15	11	115	Fairlands Valley Spartans	D	1:11:17
49	16	12	123	Garden City Runners	G	1:13:07
50		8	107	Dunstable Road Runners	D	1:14:09
51		26	124	Garden City Runners	H	1:17:50

Main photo courtesy of John Wilderspin (www.sportsinfocus.co.uk)

Wednesday evening saw the Spartans Stripy Army travel to Cambridge for the penultimate fixture in the Central Division of the EMAC Track and Field League, with the women topping their league and the men lying in third.

The ladies’ dominance continued as they put in another strong showing, managing to field a competitor in every event across all the age categories.

Cathy Craig achieved a personal best (PB) of 15:34.6 in the 2km Walk whilst also winning the High Jump.  Sharon Crowley achieved a season’s best (SB) 17 metres in the Hammer.

Alison Wood won the 1500m, Tessa Stephenson won the Shot (8.26m) and 400m (77.2s) achieving a SB in both, whilst Monica Brown was triumphant in the 100m, High and Triple Jumps. They were ably supported by Iris Hornsey, Stephanie Mayfield and Andrea Westcott who all put in strong performances in their respective events ensuring the women won the fixture.

The men saw David Bowker and Barry Osbourne return to the fold putting in strong performances in the 2km walk, 400m and 1500m.

Peter Smith, Mark Freeman, Paul Holgate, Dave Stephenson and Anton McCalla all contributed achieving solid results in their events.

Highlights for the men’s team included wins which set two new club records.  Christopher Westcott finishing the 1500m in 4:20.9, a full 13 seconds ahead of the competition and Richard Bruce, along with his 400m win, topping the High Jump with a height of 1.60 metres, results which helped the men secure second spot on the night.

Going into the final regular fixture, to be held at Stantonbury Campus, Milton Keynes on Wednesday August 1st, the women have all but qualified for the finals being held in September.  The men will qualify if they can put in a strong showing and beat Bedford and County who currently lie 0.5 points behind them.

 

Wilting in Ware

The general consensus was that it was way too hot to race in Ware on Sunday.

DANNY SCANLON was fastest from Fairlands in 68 minutes 56 seconds.  Danny said, “The ten mile race was on a tough two lap course in the heatwave but with lots of water stations including an extra one provided exclusively for Spartans by TIM SABAN.  That was much appreciated as were the two local residents with garden hoses.”  He was fourteenth overall.  STEVE GREEN was next in 1:15:52 and MARK GOODWIN won the veteran 60 plus ten mile race in 1 hour 21 minutes 24 seconds.

ERICA GRAYSON said, “What an amazing day.  It was hot and not a day for personal bests but a day for fun and support amongst the running community.”  She finished in 1:39:45.

ISABEL GREEN was fastest female from Fairlands with 1:22:30.  The other Spartans running ten miles in 30 degree heat were ANDREW SMITH 1:30:30; KEN JUDE 1:39:34; SAM SIMMONS 1:39:40; KAREN PALMER 1:39:45; PAUL JENNINGS 1:47:20; ANGIE KEELING 1:55:21 and ROWENA RUTLEDGE 1:57:17.

In the 10K event JONATHAN JONES was 85^th in 56:30 and WILLS JENNINGS 87^th in 56:55.

 

Jim is a County Champion

Overcoming a long train journey from a three day conference in Birmingham and a ridiculously hot day JIM BROWN time trialled 25 laps of the Sandy Athletics Track under the lights Thursday evening to win the Herts County Championship for runners 60 plus in 50 minutes 12 seconds.

He said, “The race didn’t start until 9p.m.  The conference and journey wasn’t the best preparation and the hot conditions far from ideal, I’d say I was dehydrated before I started, but a GOLD medal was very welcome.  I worked hard for that!”

 

Handicap 5K

Despite the very warm evening 26 Spartan lined up for the Handicap 5K on Thursday evening.

Winner on the night was newcomer CYRUS MALEKPOUR completing the run in under 20 minutes, 19:46, with HAZEL SMITH first lady in second position overall in a year best time of 24:25.  New member JAMES KAY finished third in a 1st 5k time with the club of 21:15 with another newcomer, FABIO OSAKO 4th (3rd man) in 24:16. DEBBIE BLANTERN was 2nd lady in her first sub 30 minute 5k, taking 61 seconds off her PB to 29:59 with SHERYL HANN 3rd lady in a 30 seconds PB of her own of 27:21.

CYRUS’ 19:46 was also the fastest time of the evening with PAUL ROBERTSON second quickest in 19:51 and TIM SABAN 3rd fastest in 20:59 after having already run a warm up lap of the 5k first. HAZEL was quickest lady with SUSAN McANENY 2nd fastest lady in 25:18 and newcomer JENNY TOMPKINS 3rd quickest with 25:52.

There were also PBs for PAUL JENNINGS, 28:29 and  SHELBE MOONBEAM 32:07; Season Best times for SARAH SAPSTEAD and PAUL WHYTE (who would have finished 2nd overall had he started at his correct handicap, but arrived at start almost 4 minutes late) and a year best time for KEN JUDE even despite having had cycled 40 miles earlier in the day.

 

Midsummer Dusk 5K

ROGER BIGGS ran the North Herts Midsummer Dusk 5k in Letchworth.  His time was 36:20, giving him 61st out of 64 finishers.

 

Parkrun Roundup

It was a busy first Saturday of the month for Spartans running across six different locations.  Dan MCALPINE won in Luton in a superb new PB time of 16:43.

Caroline BARTER was first female at Stevenage in 23:05 just 3 secs outside her PB.  There were new PBs for Michael O’KEEFE 26.33 and Paul WHYTE 24:40 (first buggy with Albert).  Anton MCCALLA, 28:47 and Claire HOWELL, 42:22 made their Parkrun debuts in Stevenage.

In Bristol Danny SUTTON, 28:13 and Verity FISHER, 28:14 made their first trip to Pomphrey Hill parkrun.

 

Glencoe Challenge

The Great Glencoe Challenge 2018 26.2 miles from the heart of Glencoe through Kinlochleven to the foot of Ben Nevis near Fort William was hot in the morning 22 degrees C then went cloudy in the afternoon.  TOM SAUKA came third in his age group and fourth overall.  The Fairlands Valley Challenge off road event is this Sunday, 15^th July.

 

Tables

 

Spartan Parkruns 7^th July

 

Luton Wardown parkrun

A total of 293 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
1	1	Dan MCALPINE	00:16:43

 

 

Milton Keynes parkrun

A total of 555 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
514	320	Graham HILL	00:41:15

 

 

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 219 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
6	6	Danny SCANLON	00:19:23
24	24	Martin DUDLEY	00:22:46
31	1	Caroline BARTER	00:23:05
36	35	Barry OSBORNE	00:23:29
52	5	Claire EMMERSON	00:24:35
54	49	Paul WHYTE	00:24:40
83	73	Michael O’KEEFE	00:26:23
96	14	Alison SHELLEY	00:27:29
106	88	Karl SHREEVE	00:28:10
116	94	Anton MCCALLA	00:28:47
123	99	Steven DOBNER	00:29:34
137	32	Sally PHILLIPS	00:31:41
190	129	Roger BIGGS	00:37:46
208	74	Clare HOWELL	00:42:22

 

 

Pomphrey Hill parkrun

A total of 287 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
130	106	Daniel SUTTON	00:28:13
131	25	Verity FISHER	00:28:14

 

 

Panshanger parkrun

A total of 273 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
74	71	Andy JAY	00:24:41
241	177	Tim ROBINSON	00:37:07

 

 

Ellenbrook Fields parkrun

A total of 205 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
7	7	John HARRIS	00:19:54
83	63	Paul JENNINGS	00:28:35
160	59	Niki PLUMB	00:36:32

 

 

Spartans MARK GOODWIN and CATHY CRAIG were prizewinners at the Welwyn 10K on Sunday.  Mark was first man over 60 with 48 minutes 10 seconds and Cathy was third woman over 65 in 61 minutes 53 seconds.

MIKE GREEN was fastest of the twenty Spartans in 41 minutes 43 seconds and RUTH REILLY fastest female in 48:04.  She was chased in by Mark Goodwin who enjoyed what he said was a novel experience of being a prize winner.

JIM BROWN said, “It was emphatically a race of two halves with a ‘mountain’ to climb between 2 and 4 kilometres.  It took me 26 minutes 47 seconds to get to 5K but only 23 minutes 29 seconds from there to the finish.”

REECE McCULLAGH ran his FIRST race ever as a Spartan on Sunday at the Welwyn 10K.  He came in with a brilliant time of 47.11 which placed him in 101^st position overall out of the 521 finishers.  Reece said he found the race quite challenging, especially with the two hills and hot weather.  He was joined by many fellow Spartans and appreciated the support throughout the day.  Reece totally enjoyed the race and found it to be very well organised.

TIM SABAN scored more than 70% on age standard.  VICTORIA BRETT and CLAIRE HYDE came in second and third women for the club with 58:55 and 58:56.  MONICA SMITHSON beat the hour with 59:51.

(All Spartan times at the end of this release).

 

Golds

There were two Southern Masters M45 Golds for Fairlands Valley Spartans at Battersea.  Grant RAMSAY with a scorching last lap in the 3K steeplechase to record 10.58, finally getting under his 11:00 goal.  He was first M45 and first overall.  Richard BRUCE won GOLD running 54.81 in the 400 metres.

In a well paced run in the heat, Ramsay was able to make his last lap the quickest (91 seconds) and get under the magic 11:00 minutes.  Grant said “This my quickest time for years and I am now looking forward to the British Masters Championships in August.”

On Wednesday Grant WON the Cambridgeshire Open 3000 metres steeplechase in 11 minutes 16 seconds.

 

Hitchin Hard Half

Six Spartans ran the hilly Hitchin Hard Half Marathon.  This was a tough race in warm conditions.  It followed an out and back route from Hitchin up to Preston via Offley Holes hill (Charlton), down the Lilley Bottom Road then back up again.  KELLY EVANS ran a great 2 hours 5 minutes 36 seconds to be the first Spartan finisher.

SOPH GEORGIOU came in with 2:09:27; ROBERT WRIGHT and ERICA GRAYSON both with 2:14:11; VICKY COTTOM 2:34:09 and TRACY STILES 2:41:04.

SAM SIMMONS ran the Hitchin Hard 10K in 59 minutes 31 seconds.

 

Summer Solstice 10K

St. Albans Summer Solstice 10K.  JAMES KILROY ran this race organised by St. Albans Striders on Friday evening.  Almost identical route to the Mid Week League 10K but with a shorter start on the field and an added loop round a residential area at the end of the 4.5k run out.  Really well organised, chip timed, well marshalled, BBQ and music afterwards, highly recommend.  He was happy to take 42 seconds off his MWL effort with a chip time of 52.02, after a week off with throat infection.

 

Come And Cheer On The Spartans

Fairlands Valley Spartans racing in Fairlands Valley Park.  Wednesday evening’s Mid Week Road Race League fixture will be in Stevenage.  Starting on Gresley Way near Ridlins Track the race will go up the cycleway to the park through pass to the left of the large lake, the right of the middle lake, continue inside the park to the junction of Chells Way and Fairlands Way, the highest point, then swooping down alongside the long hedge back to Six Hills Way and the finish on Gresley Way.  The race starts at 7.45p.m.

 

Herts Hobble

PAUL HOLGATE said the Herts Hobble was run on ridiculously uneven paths on a very hot day through Buntingford, Ardeley, Walkern, Weston, Cottered and Throcking.

The Spartan finishers were Thomas Sauka 5:50:00; Paul Holgate 6:44:30; Tricia Hopper 6:49:52; Barry King 6:49:52; Karen Liddle 6:49:52 and Mike Newbitt 7:25:30

The walkers were Sharon Crowley and Mike Crowley in 7:45:30.

 

Parkrun Highlights 23^rd June 18

Well done to Dean and Sofia CARPENTER who both ran their first parkrun this weekend.  Keeping it local, they both ran Stevenage.  Dean was 13^th finisher in 20:04 and Sofia was 21^st lady in 27:43.   Others running in Stevenage included Danny SCANLON 6^th male in 19:10 (PB), Jo BOWDERY 7^th lady in 25:10, Verity FISHER 11^th lady in 25:31 and Alison SHELLEY 18^th lady in 27:06.  Melody BROWN achieved a new PB of 33:11.

Other top 20 finishers included Kelly McHALE 10^th lady in Panshanger 25:03, Thomas SAUKA 10th male in Rushmere 22:22, and Sheryl HANN, 12^th lady in Letchworth 27:51 (PB).

 

Tables

 

Spartans at Welwyn 10K

 

Position	Name	Time	Comments
33.	MIKE GREEN	41:43
46.	TIM SABAN	43:12	70.1%
59.	JAMES KAY	44:06
101.	REECE McCULLAGH	47:11
102.	MATTHEW GILL	46:46
115.	RUTH REILLY	48:04
119	MARK GOODWIN	48:10	1st MV60.
165.	JIM BROWN	50:16	68.8%
218.	NEAL MUGGLETON	53:01
283.	JONATHAN JONES	55:58
349.	VICTORIA BRETT	58:55
350.	CLAIRE HYDE	58:56
365.	MONICA SMITHSON	59:51
401.	CATHY CRAIG	1:01:53	3rd FV65.  66.5%
427.	KAREN BROOM	1:04:22
428.	TREVOR BROOM	1:04:21
441	ANNEMARIE NEATHAM	1:05:30
444.	STEPHANIE MAYFIELD	1:05:47
462.	SHELBE MOONBEAM	1:07:30
463.	SALLY McBRIDE	1:07:30

 

Saturday’s Parkruns

 

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Bedford	331	209	Graham HILL	00:35:39
Cirencester	172	112	Darryl STEVENS	00:40:32
Letchworth	69	12	Sheryl HANN	00:27:51	PB
Letchworth	124	41	Ella GOWER	00:34:03
Panshanger	61	53	Andy JAY	00:23:42
Panshanger	80	10	Kelly MCHALE	00:25:03
Rushmere	10	10	Thomas SAUKA	00:22:22
Stevenage	6	6	Danny SCANLON	00:19:10	PB
Stevenage	13	13	Dean CARPENTER	00:20:04	First Parkrun
Stevenage	41	40	Ryan DUNNING	00:23:14
Stevenage	51	47	Daniel SUTTON	00:24:03
Stevenage	57	52	Lee PICKERSGILL	00:24:25
Stevenage	65	60	Jonathan JONES	00:24:49
Stevenage	71	7	Jo BOWDERY	00:25:10
Stevenage	79	70	David SCOTT	00:25:26
Stevenage	84	11	Verity FISHER	00:25:31
Stevenage	111	18	Alison SHELLEY	00:27:06
Stevenage	117	21	Sofia CARPENTER	00:27:43	First Parkrun
Stevenage	123	100	Ken JUDE	00:28:15
Stevenage	151	117	Steven DOBNER	00:29:52
Stevenage	155	35	Claire EMMERSON	00:29:58
Stevenage	156	121	Nick WITCOMBE	00:29:59
Stevenage	176	47	Chloe EMMERSON	00:31:14
Stevenage	184	134	Peter CARPENTER	00:31:48
Stevenage	197	59	Melanie BUTT	00:32:42
Stevenage	211	69	Melody BROWN	00:33:11	PB
Stevenage	212	143	Jim BROWN	00:33:17
Stevenage	213	70	Penny SCHENKEL	00:33:19
Stevenage	230	150	Stephen SMITHSON	00:34:50
Stevenage	250	158	Roger BIGGS	00:36:25

 

Several Spartans ran the Run Around the Garden 5K in Letchworth.

SALLY McBRIDE said “I was only into my second week with Fairlands Valley Spartans but I managed to pick up a new personal best.  My second in nine days which is amazing but I also managed to run a sub 30 for the first time.”  She ran the Round the Garden 5K in 29:06 compared with her previous best of 30:43 at the Stevenage Parkrun.

28 minutes 18 seconds ANGIE KEELING improved her PB by 21 seconds.  This was her first 5K in an event affiliated to England Athletics.

JOHN HARRIS ran a season’s best 20:09 and came 20^th overall.  He said it was a nice, well organised event.

On the come back trail ROGER BIGGS 37:22 was better than his park run the previous day.  He said, “A little bit at a time and I’ll be taking chunks off that.”.

ERICA GRAYSON enjoyed a weekend of personal bests.  On Saturday she ran the Harpenden Five in 44:13, a PB by 91 seconds and on Sunday the Run Round The Gardens 5K in Letchworth in 26:14, a PB by 20 seconds.

Erica said, “I had a fantastic weekend with my Spartan family.  I was very happy with a PB on Saturday.  It was a lovely race with a beaut of a hill thrown in and then to PB the next day in Letchworth was fantastic.  But the highlight of my weekend though was my 15 year old coming second in Letchworth and achieving his goal of a sub 18 minute 5k by 2 seconds.

CAROLE SHELDRICK totally enjoyed the run and came in with a time of 25:49.  She said she will definitely run again next year.

 

Words Up

John Nelms ran the Enigma “Word Up” Marathon 2 on Sunday morning.  This consisted of 7.5 scenic laps of Caldecotte Lake in Milton Keynes.  He finished in 4 hours 15 minutes.

That’s John’s 9th marathon of the year so far ….

 

Cross Training

And several Spartans took part in the Stevenage Circular Cycle organised by Cycling UK.

 

Parkrun Round up 16 June 2018

This week’s Parkrun events were the scene for various personal achievements for the 33 Spartan’s who ran.  PB runs were recorded for VERITY FISHER at Belton House in 25 mins and 10 secs, KELLY McHALE at Wimpole Estate in 26 mins and 12 secs, PAUL JENNINGS in Stevenage at 28 mins and 37 secs, and ELLA GOWER in Letchworth at 34 mins and 4 secs.  The Stevenage event saw milestone races for KAREN PALMER who completed her 50th Parkrun in 25 mins and 58 secs and DAVID SCOTT who finished his 70th Parkrun in 27 mins and 40 secs.

Another bumper week at the Stevenage event saw DANNY SCANLON and STUART ARCHER finish in under 20 mins with times of 19 mins and 26 secs and 19 mins and 54 secs, respectively. Coming in under 30 mins were LEE PICKERSGILL finishing as the 50th male at 23 mins and 52 secs and CALLIE CHAPMAN as the 30th female at 28 mins and 41 secs. With MARTIN DUDLEY at 22 mins and 28 secs, JONATHAN JONES at 24 mins and 41 secs, SUSAN MCANENY at 25 mins and 56 secs, ALISON SHELLEY at 27 mins and 22 secs, and LIZ CARVELL at 29 mins and 11 secs in the same time bracket. Under 45 mins was achieved by KERSTIN WEINER at 31 mins and 10 secs, STEPHEN SMITHSON at 33 mins and 54 secs, MELODY BROWN with a new parkrun PB at 34 mins and 18 secs, JIM BROWN at 34 mins and 18 secs, PENNY SCHENKEL at 34 mins and 21 secs, ROGER BIGGS at 38 mins and 34 secs, and HAZEL JONES at 40 mins and 22 secs.

Finishing within two minutes of each other, ANDY JAY, KEN JUDE and TIM ROBINSON completed the Panshanger course in 25 mins 6 secs, 26 mins and 13 secs, and 27 mins and 15 sec, respectively. While first time runs at new venues saw MICHAEL O’KEEFE run the Brockenhurst event in 26 mins and 29 secs, DANIEL SUTTON complete the Belton house course in 24 mins and 43 secs, and PAUL WHYTE finish the Stevenage course in 35 mins and 27 secs.

 

 

Tables

 

Parkruns

 

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Stevenage	7	7	Danny SCANLON	00:19:26
	9	9	Stuart ARCHER	00:19:54
	34	33	Martin DUDLEY	00:22:28
	54	50	Lee PICKERSGILL	00:23:52
	68	62	Jonathan JONES	00:24:41
	93	13	Susan MCANENY	00:25:56
	94	14	Karen PALMER	00:25:58	50th Partkrun
	124	22	Alison SHELLEY	00:27:22
	130	108	David SCOTT	00:27:40	70th Parkrun
	152	123	Paul JENNINGS	00:28:37	new PB!
	155	30	Callie CHAPMAN	00:28:41
	159	33	Liz CARVELL	00:29:11
	189	52	Kerstin WEINER	00:31:10
	216	146	Stephen SMITHSON	00:33:54
	221	74	Melody BROWN	00:34:18
	222	148	Jim BROWN	00:34:18
	223	75	Penny SCHENKEL	00:34:21
	239	152	Paul WHYTE	00:35:27
	260	156	Roger BIGGS	00:38:34
	268	109	Hazel JONES	00:40:22
Brockenhurst	40	34	Michael O’KEEFE	00:26:29
Wimpole Estate	119	17	Kelly MCHALE	00:26:12	new PB
Panshanger	102	91	Andy JAY	00:25:06
	131	115	Ken JUDE	00:26:13
	164	138	Tim ROBINSON	00:27:15
Belton House	64	56	Daniel SUTTON	00:24:43
	70	10	Verity FISHER	00:25:10	new PB
Letchworth	113	35	Ella GOWER	00:34:04	new PB

 

Stuart Haycroft ran the Gruelling Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa, the largest in the world with over 20000 runners covering a distance of 90km/57miles.  He said, “This marathon is a national institution in South Africa, with the whole country glued to the television sets all day to see the drama unfold, with time based medals and cruel cut-offs.  The worst being the 12 hour cut-off, if you run 12 hours and 1 second, you get no medal and are marked as did not finish.”

This year was the down run, from the City of Petermaritzburg to Durban, although that doesn’t mean it’s downhill, just that is more downhill than up, with the course having a total elevation gain of 1110m / 3642 feet  with a total descent of 1779 metres /5837 feet).

Stuart says he loved the incredible crowd support and excellent organisation of the event and absolutely recommends it to anybody silly enough to want to run 57miles.

Stuart completed the event in a time of 8 hours 25 minutes which is equivalent to running two sub four hour marathons with an extra 5 miles on top.  This time was 2 hours and 7 minutes faster than his previous attempt on the down run.

 

Fairlands Fifty

A fabulous fifty from Fairlands ran in Thursday’s Mid Week League race at Trent Park.  Low light in the woods made a tough race even trickier for some in what was essentially a cross country event.  As a consequence average times were slower than for a normal 10K but there were still some great Spartan performances.

CALLUM STEWART was second out of the 397 finishers in 35 minutes 25 seconds.  DAN McALPINE was also top ten at ninth in 36:48.  SIMON JACKSON was sixth in his category with 38:23 and STEFFAN FORD eighth forty flus 38:45.  RICHARD SPRINGALL was another highly placed Spartan with 41:04.

MICHELLE REEVES was the fastest of the sixteen Spartan women with 46 minutes 39 seconds.  ISABEL GREEN 49:13; CLAIRE EMMERSON 49:52 and MARIE COLUCCI 49:51 also all beat 50 minutes

The fourth Mid Week Road Race League fixture will be in Stevenage on Wednesday evening 27^th June.  The start and finish will be near Ridlins Track with the course going into Fairlands Valley Park and back.

(The full Spartan result from Thursday can be found near the end of this release).

 

A First For Sally

On Saturday SALLY McBRIDE ran the Runthroughuk 10k at Dorney Lake, Windsor.  It was the first time she’d ever been there and her fourth 10k race I’ve entered but her first with Fairlands Valley Spartans.

She ran a time of 1:05:04 which was a PB as her previous best was 1:06:16 at the Finsbury Park Chase the Sun.

The weather was quite cloudy when we arrived but the sun soon came through and it ended up being a fairly hot sunny day.

 

Natalie Wins At Windsor

NATALIE LAWRENCE won the Dorney Lake Triathlon.  This was her first triathlon of 2018 & off no structured swim or bike training purely run (18:32 off bike)

She was first female and first in her age category.  In fact she was fifth overall including the men.  This was a sprint distance triathlon with 10:59 for the 750 metres swim; 33 minutes 28 seconds for the 20K bike and 18 minutes 32 seconds for the 5K run.

Natalie said she enjoyed the nice early start time too- 7am at Eton Dorney Olympic rowing lake and that she was pretty happy with the result having done no swimming or cycling preparation, just running, after having baby Louie in January.

 

Chased By Horses

ANDREW PATTERSON took on the epic Man v Horse Marathon in Wales.  Albeit 22 miles and not quite marathon distance it did include 4000 feet of elevation gain.  The race pitches 600 solo or team of three relay runners against 60 horses and their riders.  The start is in the smallest town in Britain, Llanwrtyd Wells, and after a mile you are ascending the mountain range.  After a 15 minute head start the horses are chasing you down!

Andy said, ”Unfortunately I went in to the race with a slight hamstring injury and wasn’t able to attack the downhill sections as much as I would have liked so the lead group got away and I found myself in fifth spot.  Annoyingly I took a wrong turn and ended up doing 0.8mile longer and dropped to 20th place.  I worked my way back up the field to tenth but at 18 miles the first horse came galloping past.  n the end I was beaten to the finish by three horses.  Gutted to have taken a wrong turn but overall I was pleased with my efforts, really enjoyed it and would absolutely recommend the event.”

He finished in a time of 2 hours 55 minutes.

 

St Albans Half

YUKO GORDON ran her fifth St. Albans Half Marathon on Sunday and it was her fifth win in the women over 55 category.  She said she was quite satisfied to dip under 100 minutes with 1:39:59.

DANNY SCANLON ran his second ever half marathon and managed a PB of 1 hour 32 minutes 6 seconds.!

ADRIAN BUSOLINI was fastest Spartan in 1:27:15.  LIZ SMITH came in with 1:57:48; SUSAN McANENY with 1:59:50 and CLARE HOWELL with 2:20:15.

 

EMAC

Fairlands Valley Spartans were third of the seven men’s teams in Wednesday’s in the second match of the 2018 EMAC track and field league at Bedford.  They are third in the league on 194.5 compared with Bedford who are second on 202 and Milton Keynes first on 275.

The club’s women are in the lead.  Although they were second on the night they lead the league by 257 points to 235.

The third match will be in Cambridge on 4^th July.  EMAC organise events for veteran athletes in the East of England.

 

Parkrun Highlights 9^th June 2018

Saturday’s Parkruns saw a celebration of 70 years of the NHS with a rendition of happy birthday in Stevenage and some runners donning fancy dress.

At Barclay parkrun in Hoddesdon Ashley SCHOENWETTER was second overall and first female in a new PB of 20.18.

In Stevenage there was another big turnout of 330 people.  Todd GRAY was 9th overall in 19.43.  First Spartan lady was Caroline BARTER who was second female overall in a new PB of 23.02.

Other Spartan PBs to note were Danny SUTTON in 21.52 and Karl SHREEVE 27.47.

Wayne MCMILLAN ran his first parkrun with Chloe EMMERSON.  They both finished in 33.11.  New member Melody BROWN also completed her first Parkrun in 36.24.  It was great to see Roger BIGGS back.   He ran/walked to finish in 39.58.

In Orpington Michael O’KEEFE ran a new PB of 26.01.

Alexandra WHITEHOUSE ran for a second time in Market Harborough in a new PB of 33.49.

 

Tables

Spartans at Mid Week League

SCOTT’s TRAVEL MIDWEEK ROAD RACE LEAGUE – DIVISION 1
RACE 3 – Trent Park 10k – Thursday 7th June 2018
Race	Pos	Cat	Vet	No.	Time	Name	Surname	Cat.	M/F
2	2	2		433	35:25	Callum	Stewart	S	MA
9	9	9		428	36:48	Dan	McAlpine	S	MA
27	27	6	6	427	38:23	Simon	Jackson	V 40	MA
33	33	8	8	429	38:46	Steffan	Ford	V 40	MA
64	63	37		430	41:04	Richard	Springall	S	MA
65	64	38		401	41:16	Todd	Gray	S	MA
78	76	45		434	42:09	Adrian	Busolini	S	MA
91	87	51		440	42:57	Paul	Robertson	S	MA
96	92	54		419	43:14	Stuart	Archer	S	MA
108	104	28	45	448	43:43	Steve	Green	V 40	MA
116	111	64		406	44:02	Danny	Scanlon	S	MA
125	116	33	52	404	44:31	Dean	Carpenter	V 40	MA
136	122	21	56	345	45:00	Andy	Neatham*	V 50	M*
142	127	36	60	412	45:20	Thomas	Sauka	V 40	MB
149	131	26	63	436	45:48	John	Harris	V 50	MB
156	136	69		420	46:25	Adrian	Donnelly	S	MB
160	22	10		511	46:39	Michelle	Reeves	S	FA
196	35	17	25	527	49:13	Isabel	Green	V 35	FA
203	40	8	28	529	49:32	Claire	Emmerson	V 45	FA
211	42	20	29	501	49:51	Marie	Colucci	V 35	FA
217	172	79		450	50:05	Daniel	Sutton	S	MB
219	173	42	94	400	50:11	Martin	Dudley	V 50	MB
222	176	80		441	50:24	Andrew	Smith	S	MB
242	190	52	107	437	51:51	Darren	Emmerson	V 50	MB
267	64	13	42	509	53:13	Ann	Tryssesoone	V 45	FA
275	207	89		446	53:43	Chris	Holland	S	MB
277	208	90		413	53:59	Mick	Andrews	S	MB
281	210	59	119	414	54:15	Andy	Jay	V 50	MB
292	217	55	125	445	55:11	James	Kilroy	V 40	MB
300	80	29	54	508	55:34	Tanya	Brazier	V 35	FA
301	221	93		411	55:38	David	Scott	S	MB
309	84	28		499	56:03	Verity	Fisher	S	FA
312	86	22	58	510	56:25	Wendy	Tharani	V 45	FA
313	87	23	59	496	56:26	Liz	Smith	V 45	FB
321	229	56	135	424	57:03	Tim	Robinson	V 40	M
322	230	57	136	417	57:04	Simon	Sypula	V 40	M
328	95	34	67	530	57:26	Sophie	Cowan	V 35	FB
331	236	11	142	410	57:44	Jim	Brown	V 60	M
356	247	73	153	407	59:39	Michael	O’Keefe	V 50	M
370	251	8	157	409	1:02:00	Rob	Shaw	V 70	M
373	121	42	90	498	1:02:22	Hayley	Yendell	V 35	FB
379	126	43	94	507	1:05:00	Angie	Keeling	V 35	FB
384	131	34	98	500	1:06:34	Debbie	Blantern	V 45	FB
385	132	34		517	1:06:42	Elizabeth	Crowley	S	FB
386	133	20	99	516	1:06:42	Sharon	Crowley	V 55	FB
387	254	78	160	442	1:07:05	Karl	Shreeve	V 50	M
389	135	3	101	497	1:08:13	Cathy	Craig	V 65	FB
391	255	59	161	418	1:09:04	Paul	Jennings*	V 40	M
392	256	95		453	1:09:10	Nick	Witcombe	S	M
396	257	9	162	416	1:11:38	Peter	Carpenter	V 70	M

 

Parkruns

 

Market Harborough parkrun

A total of 272 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
219	80	Alexandra WHITEHOUSE	00:33:49

 

Stevenage parkrun

A total of 330 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
9	9	Todd GRAY	00:19:43
24	24	Liam ERRINGTON	00:21:30
30	30	Daniel SUTTON	00:21:52
46	45	David SCOTT	00:22:51
49	2	Caroline BARTER	00:23:02
78	68	Lee PICKERSGILL	00:24:38
79	69	Neil ROBINSON	00:24:41
105	17	Susan MCANENY	00:25:56
114	20	Karen PALMER	00:26:20
125	23	Alison SHELLEY	00:26:44
140	28	Verity FISHER	00:27:27
149	121	Karl SHREEVE	00:27:47
151	122	James SOUTH	00:27:55
243	172	Kartik SHARMA	00:32:27
251	76	Chloe EMMERSON	00:33:11
252	176	Wayne MCMILLAN	00:33:11
255	78	Judy KING	00:33:15
280	95	Melody BROWN	00:36:24
281	186	Jim BROWN	00:36:24
308	190	Roger BIGGS	00:39:58
319	129	Sally PHILLIPS	00:43:28

 

Abingdon parkrun

A total of 400 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
215	59	Lucy May FIELD	00:28:33

 

Orpington parkrun

A total of 256 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
92	85	Michael O’KEEFE	00:26:01

 

Tring parkrun

A total of 251 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
27	27	Thomas SAUKA	00:23:12

 

Barclay parkrun

A total of 110 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
2	1	Ashley SCHOENWETTER	00:20:18
73	50	Paul JENNINGS	00:31:14

 

Letchworth parkrun

A total of 114 runners took part.

 

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
47	6	Sheryl HANN	00:28:02
88	30	Ella GOWER	00:34:35

 

The incredible 45 Spartans are back from their Edinburgh Marathon and Half Marathon trip to Scotland and ready for this Thursday evening’s Mid Week League race.  63 Fairlands Valley Spartans raced in the second fixture in St. Albans and the club are hoping for seventy plus in the third race which will be in Trent Park, North London.

 

Championships Update

With seven months of the Spartan championships still to go there are already 173 participants in the short championships (85 female + 88 male) and 119 in the long championships (61 female + 58 male), with 462 percentages scored already, and no less than 1,187 personal bests (PBs) across the eight distances.

The early leaders in the club championships are:

Female Open Short (1500; 5000; 5 miles; 10K): 1^st  Yuko Gordon 65.3%; 2^nd Claire Emmerson 59.5%; 3^rd Penny Schenkel 54.1%.

Female Age-Graded Short: 1^st Sharon Crowley 66.1%; 2^nd Monica Smithson 63.4%; 3^rd none yet.

Female Open Long (10 miles; half marathon; 20 miles; marathon): 1^st Yuko Gordon 65.6%; 2^nd Ruth Reilly 64.9%; 3^rd Joanne Bowdery 56.7%.

Female Age-Graded Long: 1^st Karen Ellis 63.6%; 2^nd Karen Palmer 62.9%; 3^rd Erica Grayson 60.5%.

Male Open Short (1500, 5000, 5 miles, 10K):  1^st Stuart Haycroft 70.0%; 2^nd Craig Bacon 61.5%; 3^rd Michael Andrews 53.1%.

Male Age-Graded Short: 1^st Jim Brown 68.3%; 2^nd Andy Jay 64.5%; 3^rd Paul Holgate 59.9%.

Male Open Long (10 miles, half marathon, 20 miles, marathon): 1^st Todd Gray 68.2%; 2^nd Steve Green 62.7%; 3^rd Stuart Haycroft 62.1%.

Male Age-Graded Long; 1^st Jim Brown 70.2%; 2^nd Pete Smith 68.0%; 3^rd Thomas Sauka 60.4%.

Leader in two competitions JIM BROWN said, “It’s great to get my nose in front briefly but I’m sure many of the faster runners will sweep past as they complete the various qualifying distances in the next few weeks.”

How does it work?  There are four qualifying distances for men and women in the short and long distance championships.  They are 1500 metres; 5K; 5 miles and 10K for the short and 10 miles; half marathon; 20 miles and marathon (26.2 miles) for the long.

It’s your best performances in three out of the four distances that are counted and averaged.  A runner can race as many 10Ks as they like in a year and the fastest one will count but they must also run at least two out of 1500, 5K or 5 miles to be eligible for the short distance championships.  As well as the open competitions there are age related competitions to give targets for veteran runners.  For example a 25 year old running a marathon in three hours is equivalent to a 65 year old running the same distance in 3:52:08.  International (WAVA) tables are published to do the calculations.

 

Parkrun Highlights 2^nd June 2018

22 Spartans donned their stripes for the first Saturday of the month in Stevenage with 10 achieving top 30 gender placings, and 5 with new personal bests.  Woman top 30 included Nikki WILBY 24:07 (PB) 8^th lady, Caroline BARTER 24:26 11^th lady, Kelly EVANS 24:58 13^th lady, Jo BOWDERY her tenth parkrun in 25:47 for 17^th lady, Alison SHELLEY 26:30 24^th lady and Julie SHADBOLT 27:21 28^th lady.  Men top finishers included Stuart HAYCROFT 18:22 (PB) 5^th male, Todd GRAY 18:40 (PB) 9^th male, Danny SCANLON 19:23 16^th male, Luke VINCENT (PB) 21:16 28^th male.  Sharon CROWLEY achieved a new PB of 28:17.

Claire WHITCHURCH and Paul WHYTE complete their first parkrun with son Albert today, Paul was second buggy home in 26:50 with Claire completing in 30:26 just 11 weeks after giving birth.

JIM BROWN completed his tenth parkrun in 27:25.

Further afield, the EMMERSON family supported each other around Canterbury parkrun –  Claire EMMERSON 37:16, Chloe EMMERSON 38:18 and Darren EMMERSON 38:18.  Thomas SAUKA achieved 12^th male placing at Heartwood Forest in 20:30.

 

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Newcastle	334	256	Roger HARDMAN	00:27:04
Heartwood Forest	12	12	Thomas SAUKA	00:20:30
Bath Skyline	290	98	Alexandra WHITEHOUSE	00:35:53
Bath Skyline	307	107	Hannah NEALE	00:37:22
Canterbury	120	51	Claire EMMERSON	00:37:16
Canterbury	121	52	Chloe EMMERSON	00:37:18
Canterbury	122	70	Darren EMMERSON	00:37:18
Stevenage	5	5	Stuart HAYCROFT	00:18:22	PB
Stevenage	9	9	Todd GRAY	00:18:40	PB
Stevenage	16	16	Danny SCANLON	00:19:23
Stevenage	28	28	Luke VINCENT	00:21:16	PB
Stevenage	35	33	Martin DUDLEY	00:22:13
Stevenage	70	8	Nikki WILBY	00:24:07	PB
Stevenage	71	63	David SCOTT	00:24:15
Stevenage	78	11	Caroline BARTER	00:24:26
Stevenage	91	13	Kelly EVANS	00:24:58
Stevenage	104	88	Lee PICKERSGILL	00:25:39
Stevenage	106	17	Jo BOWDERY	00:25:47
Stevenage	123	24	Alison SHELLEY	00:26:30
Stevenage	130	106	Paul WHYTE	00:26:50
Stevenage	140	28	Julie SHADBOLT	00:27:21
Stevenage	142	114	Jim BROWN	00:27:25
Stevenage	152	35	Zoe JACKSON	00:27:35
Stevenage	154	119	Paul HOLGATE	00:27:45
Stevenage	166	40	Sharon CROWLEY	00:28:17	PB
Stevenage	168	128	Andy JAY	00:28:18
Stevenage	176	134	Karl SHREEVE	00:28:46
Stevenage	187	142	James SOUTH	00:29:27
Stevenage	205	52	Claire WHITCHURCH	00:30:26
Brokenhurst	135	86	Darryl STEVENS	00:38:43
Cheltenham	219	188	Paul BOICHAT	00:25:19
Cheltenham	386	100	Liz CARVELL	00:29:35
Scunthorpe	78	68	Andy PRIOR	00:24:04

An incredible 45 Spartans were in Scotland to run in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival.

Much kinder conditions than the recent London and Milton Keynes Marathons, a great course and effective preparation with the Spartans coaching team and training groups helped many to achieve fantastic new personal bests.

Three Spartans beat three hours in the full marathon.  SIMON JACKSON took 52 seconds off his personal best to come 65^th out of the 7,664 finishers (top 1%) in 2 hours 50 minutes 49 seconds; less than two minutes later in came STEFFAN FORD, also top 1%, in 75^th place with a new PB of 2 hours 52 minutes 35 seconds – a whopping 6 minutes 9 seconds improvement for a runner who was already sub 3.  DAVID RIDDELL completed the sub three trip with 2 hours 57 minutes 44 seconds.

STUART ARCHER chalked up the biggest marathon PB with 12 minutes 14 seconds, for 3:18:20 with VICTORIA BRETT not far behind with an 11:33 PB for 4:43:18.  KAREN PALMER 4:23:33 (9:51 improvement) and JAN FRY 5:02:19 (6:12 improvement) also ran new PBs.

KAREN PALMER was buzzing “I only blooming did it new marathon PB at Edinburgh 4.23.33.  I nearly deafened myself ringing the PB bell.  Fantastic being with such a great group of super Spartans today. So lucky to belong to such a great running club.”

STEFFAN FORD said, “SIMON JACKSON and myself raced Edinburgh Marathon.  On an overcast morning with some strong coastal winds it made a change from the recent hot weather I experienced at London and was 20 minutes quicker.  We both smashed our Marathon PBs in achieving a top 100 finish.”

18 of the 7,664 finishers were Spartans.

 

Edinburgh Marathon

Position	First Name	Last Name	Time	Comments
65	Simon	Jackson	2:50:49	PB	0:52
75	Steffan	Ford	2:52:35	PB	6:09
143	David	Riddell	2:57:44	New
252	Keith	Coughlin	3:03:52	New
583	Stuart	Archer	3:18:20	PB	12:14
1,286	Pete	Smith	3:35:28	YB	16:45
1,828	Andrew	Kearney	3:45:53
1,864	John	Nelms	3:46:27
4,215	Jon	Sypula	4:21:06	SB	10:26
4,367	Karen	Palmer	4:23:33	PB	9:51
5,478	Claire	Hyde	4:43:16	New
5,483	Victoria	Brett	4:43:18	PB	11:33
5,627	Carol	Paul	4:46:04
5,816	Sue	Hamer	4:50:47
6,316	Jan	Fry	5:02:19	PB	6:12
6,765	Barry	King	5:18:30
6,766	Tricia	Hopper	5:18:30
6,767	Karen	Liddle	5:18:30	YB	2:08

 

Marathon 7,664 finishers; 18 Spartans

 

Edinburgh Half Marathon

CALLUM STEWART was top ten out of more than 10,000 finishers in the Edinburgh Half Marathon.  He was eighth in an impressive new half marathon time of 1 hour 13 minutes 15 seconds.

CLAIRE EMMERSON first female from Fairlands in the half set a new PB of 1:41:05, and improvement of 4:57; RUTH REILLY was less than a minute behind with 1:42:01.  Despite recovering from injury HAZEL SMITH ran a new PB of 1:47:35.  Other new personal bests came from JENNY GARRETT 1:51:50 and TRUDIE MOLLOY 1:56:51.

Position	First Name	Last Name	Time	Comments
8	Callum	Stewart	1:13:15	New
1,353	Mark	Goodwin	1:41:00	SB	0:34
1,366	Claire	Emmerson	1:41:05	PB	4:57
1,481	Ruth	Reilly	1:42:01
2,274	Mollie	Smith	1:46:59	SB
2,357	Hazel	Smith	1:47:35	PB	0:52
3,127	Jenny	Garrett	1:51:50	PB	3:04
3,278	Karen	Ellis	1:52:33	YB	31:06
4,140	Trudie	Molloy	1:56:51	PB	4:09
4,287	Vishal	Shah	1:57:37	SB	6:06
4,527	Ken	Jude	1:58:39
4,699	Andy	Jay	1:59:32
4,797	Manuel	Patron	1:59:58
5,719	Jackie	Downes	2:04:32
5,897	Katie	Blyth	2:05:30	New
6,115	Callie	Chapman	2:06:38
7,483	Julie	Shadbolt	2:15:00
7,484	Caroline	Croft	2:15:01
7,486	Anne Marie	Neatham	2:15:01	SB
7,492	Cathy	Craig	2:15:03
7,514	Sean	Millwood	2:15:12	New
7,794	Paul	Whyte	2:16:57
8,193	Karen	Broom	2:19:49	YB	0:06
8,419	Nick	Witcombe	2:21:46	SB
8,981	Trevor	Broom	2:27:40	New
9,160	Karen	Smith	2:29:45	SB	1:36
10,084	Bernadette	Millwood	2:49:47	New

 

27 of the 10,531 finishers were Spartans.

Spartan press officer JIM BROWN commented “45 Spartans crossed the border by train and plane to race round Edinburgh and East Lothian.  What a great weekend and achievement for Fairlands Valley Spartans from Stevenage!  In just one week the club notched nearly 140 different race results from experienced Spartans encouraging Starters round their first Mid Week League race to some spectacular performances in Scotland and winning in the British Masters Mile.”

 

Massive 63 Spartans at the St Albans Mid Week League Race

Wow.  63 Spartans at the second Mid Week Road Race League fixture, that’s seven more than race one.  The Fairlands Valley men finished three complete teams and still had some to spare.

ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER was fastest woman from the club with a new personal best (PB) of 42 minutes 21 seconds – a 57 second improvement.  YUKO GORDON won the women over 65 contest with an incredible 45 minutes 20 seconds while MARIE COLUCCI is back, third Fairlands female in 48:23.

DAN McALPINE headed up the men’s “A” team with 34 minutes 17 seconds and fourth out of the 436 finishers, that was up 42 on the first fixture in Epping Forest.

20 women; 43 men.

Race

M/F

Cat

Vet

Name

Surname

Cat.

Time

PB

Impr

M/F

2016

Impr

4

4

Dan

McAlpine

S

34:17

PB

1:01

MA

29

28

11

11

Grant

Ramsay

V 40

36:24

MA

34:54

(1:30)

47

46

17

17

Simon

Jackson

V 40

37:42

YB

New

MA

36:00

(1:42)

58

55

24

26

Stuart

Haycroft

V 40

38:14

PB

1:49

MA

68

64

Todd

Gray

S

38:33

SB

2:44

MA

44:06

5:33

72

67

27

32

Steffan

Ford

V 40

38:55

YB

New

MA

100

92

Paul

Robertson

S

40:59

PB

New

MA

101

93

Danny

Scanlon

S

41:03

PB

0:17

MA

108

99

40

53

Steve

Green

V 40

41:18

YB

New

MA

117

107

43

58

Dean

Carpenter

V 40

41:46

SB

0:04

MA

129

14

Ashley

Schoenwetter

S

42:21

PB

0:57

FA

135

117

Nick

Gill

S

42:45

SB

5:35

MA

136

118

Stuart

Archer

S

42:49

MA

146

125

19

65

John

Harris

V 50

43:15

YB

New

MB

149

128

46

67

Thomas

Sauka

V 40

43:29

YB

New

MB

43:57

0:28

170

142

Luke

Vincent

S

44:24

PB

New

MB

171

143

Adam

Guest*

S

44:24

PB

1:33

MB

185

152

55

84

Craig

Bacon

V 40

45:10

SB

1:19

MB

186

33

1

20

Yuko

Gordon

V 65

45:20

SB

2:32

FA

44:22

(0:58)

193

157

56

87

Gareth

Cowell

V 40

45:29

YB

New

MB

204

162

7

90

Mark

Goodwin

V 60

46:09

YB

New

MB

213

168

Chris

Holland

S

46:23

YB

New

MB

48:12

1:49

214

169

59

95

Andrew

Jordan

V 40

46:31

SB

New

MB

223

176

Andrew

Smith

S

46:54

PB

6:16

MB

247

60

20

38

Marie

Colucci

V 35

48:23

SB

4:23

FA

48:15

(0:08)

251

189

Daniel

Sutton

S

48:43

MB

255

63

Michelle

Reeves

S

48:49

SB

New

FA

270

71

Joanne

Bowdery

S

49:28

YB

New

FA

273

72

Nikki

Wilby

S

49:40

SB

New

FA

274

201

43

119

Pete

Smith

V 50

49:44

YB

New

MB

43:01

(6:43)

275

202

44

120

Darren

Emmerson

V 50

49:44

YB

New

MC

278

203

45

121

Martin

Dudley

V 50

49:44

YB

New

MC

280

205

12

123

Jim

Brown

V 60

49:50

YB

0:21

MC

1:00:51

11:01

284

206

Mick

Andrews

S

50:16

PB

4:02

MC

287

208

66

125

Neal

Muggleton

V 40

50:13

PB

2:55

MC

290

81

22

52

Ann

Tryssesoone

V 45

50:34

FA

45:30

(5:04)

300

87

27

56

Kelly

McHale

V 35

50:57

PB

2:22

FA

301

88

28

57

Jane

McFarlane

V 35

51:04

SB

New

FB

50:46

(0:18)

302

213

69

130

John

Nelms

V 40

51:05

YB

New

MC

306

214

Lee

Pickersgill

S

51:24

MC

52:58

1:34

311

95

31

62

Susan

McAnery

V 35

51:56

PB

0:44

FB

319

101

26

66

Wendy

Tharani

V 45

52:13

PB

1:19

FB

324

220

71

135

Simon

Sypula

V 40

52:41

MC

54:06

1:25

325

221

72

136

James

Kilroy

V 40

52:35

YB

New

MC

47:20

(5:15)

338

111

38

76

Tanya

Brazier

V 35

53:37

PB

3:25

FB

339

227

51

141

Ken

Jude

V 50

53:27

YB

0:52

MC

341

228

Vishal

Shah

S

53:36

YB

1:10

MC

48:29

(5:07)

347

230

Sam

Simmons

S

53:51

MC

349

117

41

80

Sophie

Cowan

V 35

54:02

SB

12:37

FB

50:38

(3:24)

356

236

18

148

Paul

Holgate

V 60

54:52

SB

1:27

1:00:22

5:30

364

239

David

Scott

S

55:18

PB

New

388

247

56

156

Michael

O’Keefe

V 50

57:45

PB

0:08

395

250

7

159

Rob

Shaw

V 70

59:16

YB

New

53:15

(6:01)

396

145

15

103

Sharon

Crowley

V 55

59:17

SB

0:23

FB

1:04:43

5:26

404

151

47

107

Angie

Keeling

V 35

1:00:55

FB

405

152

41

108

Jenny

Garrett

V 45

1:00:55

YB

New

FB

54:58

(5:57)

413

255

76

163

Paul

Jennings*

V 40

1:02:44

PB

New

414

158

43

114

Claire

Emmerson

V 45

1:02:44

YB

New

47:32

(15:12)

415

159

44

115

Kerstin

Weiner

V 45

1:02:51

YB

New

56:50

(6:01)

416

256

59

164

Karl

Shreeve

V 50

1:03:04

YB

New

419

162

Callie

Chapman

S

1:02:56

YB

New

420

163

45

117

Sue

Hamer

V 45

1:02:58

YB

New

430

258

8

166

Peter

Carpenter

V 70

1:07:28

YB

New

1:03:54

(3:34)

 

Yuko Wins Masters Mile

Opportunities to run the classic middle distance race, the mile, are rare these days.  Spartan YUKO GORDON grabbed the chance and WON the British Masters Mile Championship for women 65 plus in 6 minutes 38 seconds.  ANDREA WESTCOTT was seventh in the 45 plus category with 7 minutes 58 seconds.

 

Hoohaah Alison

ALISON SHELLEY is new to the Spartans having joined just a few weeks ago.  She took part in her first ever 10K run on Sunday 20th May at Wimpole Estate and finished in one hour and 54 seconds net.

She was 322 out of 534, more than 200 behind her in her first race in the Hoohaah 10K.

 

Serpentine

Starting slowly following his 10K effort the night before JIM BROWN completed the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in 25 minutes 28 seconds.  He was third in his age category.

 

Hatfield Broad Oak

Tired for his third race in four days JIM BROWN still managed to take 28 seconds of his year’s best time at the Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on the Bank Holiday Monday morning.  He said, “I was hurting at 2K and thought it was all going to end in tears but helped by a fantastic flying final 1.5K all ended well and I was pleased with 49:22.  Finishing at a village flower festival meant I was straight in the tea tent.”  PAUL HOLGATE finished in 56:02.  There were 1,115 finishers.

 

Vitality 10000

ERICA GRAYSON ran Monday’s Vitality 10000 in 61 minutes 44 seconds.  She said, “It was a great London course.  Very busy and congested in parts but all the same very enjoyable with friends.  I was very happy with my time eight days post Windermere Marathon and in the heat.”

New member ALISON SHELLEY ran a new personal best of 57 minutes 53 seconds, improving by 3 minutes 1 second.  TIM SABAN was the fastest Spartan with 42 minutes 40 seconds while SARAH SAPSTEAD ran a new season’s best (SB) of 1:07:46 and JONATHAN JONES finished in 53:56.

 

Parkrun Highlights 26^th May 2018

As Stevenage’s weekly Parkrun reached its milestone Second Birthday fifteen Spartans came out to celebrate. DAN MCALPINE led the 338 strong field home in a time of 16 mins and 44 secs, and LYNSEY CHALKLEY a new PB of 32 mins and 39 secs. DANNY SCANLON was the tenth man to finish in a time of 19 mins and 45 secs and KERSTEIN WEINER the fortieth woman in a time of 30 mins and 12 secs.  CHRIS HOLLAND, MARK BEASLEY, LEE PICKERSGILL, SAM SIMONS and DAVID SCOTT all finished in under 30 minutes with times of 22 mins 30 secs, 25 mins and 20 secs, 26 mins and 9 secs, 29 mins and 13 secs, 29 mins and 14 secs respectively.  Across the rest of the event, SALLY PHILLIPS ran a time of 31 mins and 16 sec, STEPHEN SMITHSON at time of 34 mins and 47 secs, and NIKI PLUMB a time of 35 mins and 15 secs.

Further afield, first time attendance was recorded for JOHN ROXBOROUGH at the Heartwood Forest event in 22 mins and 4 secs, and MICHAEL O’KEEFE at Cassiobury in 26 mins and 53 secs.  NATALIE LAWRENCE was the fourth woman to finish at Houghton Hall in 18 mins and 56 secs. DANIEL SUTTON and VERITY FISHER attended Moor Valley and ran 38 mins and 36 secs and 48 mins and 6 secs in turn, while at Panshanger THOMAS SAUKA finished in a time of 21 mins and 5 secs.

 

Tables

Parkruns

Parkrun	Pos	Gen	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Heartwood Forest	18	17	John ROXBOROUGH	00:22:04
Moors Valley	414	238	Daniel SUTTON	00:38:36
	451	206	Verity FISHER	00:48:06
Stevenage	1	1	Dan MCALPINE	00:16:44	1st home
	10	10	Danny SCANLON	00:19:45
	80	74	Chris HOLLAND	00:25:20
	96	87	Mark BEASLEY	00:25:51
	104	95	Lee PICKERSGILL	00:26:09
	179	144	Sam SIMMONS	00:29:13
	180	145	David SCOTT	00:29:14
	182	147	Paul JENNINGS	00:29:28	new PB!
	195	40	Kerstin WEINER	00:30:12
	214	51	Sally PHILLIPS	00:31:16
	237	62	Lynsey CHALKLEY	00:32:39	new PB!
	273	191	Stephen SMITHSON	00:34:47
	284	91	Niki PLUMB	00:35:15
Houghton Hall	4	1	Natalie LAWRENCE	00:18:56
Panshanger	17	17	Thomas SAUKA	00:21:05
	110	90	Wills JENNINGS	00:26:37
Cassiobury	177	142	Michael O’KEEFE	00:26:53