Seven Spartans were on the south coast to tackle Beachy Head on the weekend the clocks changed.
Four did the full Beachy Head Marathon. ROBERT WRIGHT made it into the top half of the finishers at 430th with 5:26:35; TIM ROBINSON came in with 6:54:56; HAZEL SMITH and NIAMH SMITH, mother and daughter, walked round together in 8 hours and 7 seconds (8:00:07). There were 1005 finishers. There is no way times at Beachy Head can be compared with a normal road marathon.
Becky Rayner and Nichola Durent did the Beachy Head Half Marathon for the first time and finished together in 4:08:09. They said the event was well organised and the marshals and check points were great having drinks and a selection of snacks.
The weather was perfect, clear skies and beautiful views with a bit of wind .
The first part of the course was up a very steep hill with some steps. This was also the finish back down the hill. Seven Sisters was hillier than they expected but we finished and it was a great day.
On Saturday CALLIE CHAPMAN ran the Beachy Head 10K in 1:17:39.
Sharon in Snowdon
Well it was certainly challenging weather for Sharon Crowley’s 32nd Marathon Eryri! Torrential rain at times, hail, wind and cold made for difficult running, but Sharon dug deep and finished almost an hour quicker than last year with 5 hours 41 minutes 28 seconds (5:41:28) finishing 7th in her age group.
Paul Holgate finished in 7:16:22. He said the 41st running of the Snowdonia marathon, now called Eryri marathon, welcomed some real Welsh weather with wind, rain, hail and bitterly cold. Paul Holgate in his 35th consecutive time was 39 minutes slower than in 2024.
There were 2,208 finishers.
Charles’ Ten
CHARLES ARNOLD ran the Fenland 10 mile race on Sunday. It was organised by Fenland Running Club. This was the 40th year of the event. The course winds around villages just outside of Wisbech and run on roads which are partly closed for the event. The course is flat, but when the wind blows, as it was, it can be quite a battle where it is very open. His time was 1:14:31 which got him second in his age category.
Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 25th October 2025
The last parkrun before the clocks changed and there were 477 finishers in the Stevenage parkrun on Saturday. They included 181 women and 32 Spartans.
It was a tight finish in Stevenage with only 19 seconds between the first four runners. Spartan CHARLIE WHITE was fourth with a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 17:53.
TONY RANDFIELD achieved a major milestone, 250 parkruns. He finished in 24:39.
There was another milestone from KEITH MANTON. His 50th parkrun with a 36:50 finish.
LUCY KIND was the fastest female from Fairlands with her 27:50 and LINDSAY PATEMAN ran another PPPB. This time it was 33:07.
Altogether 55 Spartans were at parkruns on Saturday.
Some of those away from Stevenage were GRANT RAMSAY 20:33 at Edinburgh; PAUL SHELLEY 21:47 and ALISON SHELLEY 31:05 at Great Denham; SUSAN McANENY 23:22 and CIARAN McANENY running with an over 80 relative 59:13 at Holy Cross College, Stabane in Northern Ireland; ANDY PRIOR 23:23 and KERSTIN PRIOR 25:52 in Norwich; MEGAN SUTTON 26:12 and SAMANTHA SUTTON 29:26 in Witney; SUZY HAWKINS 27:26 and ALICE WELCH 30:21 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; JESSICA CLARKE 29:05 at Irchester Country near Wellingborough; NICK KLEANTHOUS 29:39 at Gunpowder, Waltham Abbey; REBECCA RAYNER 36:03 at Eastbourne and DARRYL STEVENS 39:47 at Alderford Lake in Shropshire 39:47.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 4 | 4 | Charlie WHITE | 17:53 |
| 22 | 21 | Simon JACKSON | 20:59 |
| 23 | 22 | Danny SCANLON | 21:01 |
| 71 | 65 | Craig BACON | 23:39 |
| 75 | 69 | Paul MAGUIRE | 23:45 |
| 92 | 85 | Daniel VILJOEN | 24:27 |
| 99 | 90 | Tony RANDFIELD | 24:39 |
| 114 | 101 | Matthew COOKE | 25:16 |
| 128 | 114 | Jay PAPA | 25:29 |
| 150 | 132 | Matt TUTTON | 26:19 |
| 152 | 133 | Matt CLARKE | 26:25 |
| 186 | 29 | Lucy PAUL | 27:50 |
| 217 | 35 | Lorraine HILL | 28:46 |
| 251 | 48 | Sarah ILLINGWORTH | 29:34 |
| 255 | 49 | Carole SHELDRICK | 29:46 |
| 262 | 52 | Claire EMMERSON | 29:55 |
| 282 | 215 | David ACKERY | 30:28 |
| 291 | 67 | Fiona CLARKE | 30:53 |
| 312 | 227 | Steve PLATT | 31:48 |
| 347 | 97 | Lindsay PATEMAN | 33:07 |
| 351 | 99 | Pamela VILJOEN | 33:09 |
| 354 | 101 | Caroline CROFT | 33:15 |
| 362 | 105 | Penny SCHENKEL | 33:49 |
| 363 | 246 | Jim BROWN | 33:50 |
| 374 | 111 | Jayne DYMOKE | 35:11 |
| 378 | 252 | Michael O’KEEFE | 36:00 |
| 394 | 260 | Keith MANTON | 36:50 |
| 437 | 153 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 40:53 |
| 445 | 271 | Dave PEACH | 42:06 |
| 463 | 277 | Roger BIGGS | 50:16 |
| 466 | 278 | Stephen SMITHSON | 50:35 |
| 477 | 281 | Darren EMMERSON | 65:50 |