Fairlands Valley Spartans BRIAN WHITE won County GOLD at St Albans on Sunday morning.
The temperature was well below freezing as 735 runners including 16 Spartans lined up for the Fred Hughes memorial ten mile race, which included the Hertfordshire Championships for veterans, but the pace was soon hot. Despite the cold air, occasional ice patches and challenging, undulating course Brian White won the championship for veterans aged 60 plus in just 68 minutes and 30 seconds.
PAUL HEWETT was the fastest Spartan at 31st overall in 62 minutes 48 seconds. The Spartans’ third man was STEVE GREEN 195th at 1:13:26 just ahead of SUZY HAWKINS who with a slightly later start was 197th in 1:13:24.
GARETH COWELL was 270th in 1:18:14. KAREN ELLIS continued her recent improvement with a tremendous 1 hour 22 minutes 55 seconds for 371st place with ISABEL GREEN 379th in 1:23:22. JIM BROWN beat his 2016 time by 2 minutes 10 seconds when he finished in 1:23:55. He was 401st. JULIE SHADBOLT had a good run close to an hour and a half with 1:30:32 and 507th. Starting from near the back, the first 400 metres of the course was narrow and congested, MARIANNE LOWNE was 513rd in 1:30:14. ROGER BIGGS was 568th in 1:33:56; CAROLE SHELDRICK 590th in 1:35:26; KEN JUDE 593rd in 1:36:21; CAROLINE CROFT, 612nd in 1:36:53; WENDY THARANI, 614th in 1:37:41 and SHARON CROWLEY, 664th in 1:42:05.
Position | Name | Chip Time | Comments |
31 | PAUL HEWETT | 1:02:48 | |
109 | BRIAN WHITE | 1:08:30 | Vet 60 GOLD |
195 | STEVE GREEN | 1:13:26 | |
197 | SUZY HAWKINS | 1:13:24 | 7FV35 |
270 | GARETH COWELL | 1:18:14 | |
371 | KAREN ELLIS | 1:22:55 | |
379 | ISABEL GREEN | 1:23:22 | |
401 | JIM BROWN | 1:23:55 | 2:10 better than 2016 (Vet 60) |
507 | JULIE SHADBOLT | 1:30:32 | |
513 | MARIANNE LOWNE | 1:30:14 | |
568 | ROGER BIGGS | 1:33:56 | |
590 | CAROLE SHELDRICK | 1:35:26 | |
593 | KEN JUDE | 1:36:21 | |
612 | CAROLINE CROFT | 1:36:53 | |
614 | WENDY THARANI | 1:37:41 | |
664 | SHARON CROWLEY | 1:42:05 |
Paul At Pegwell
On Sunday CAROL PAUL ran the Huggin Challenge at Pegwell Bay near Sandwich in Kent. The course was multi terrain and the marathon consisted of 8 laps. In temperatures of – 4 degrees and thick fog Carol completed the marathon in 4:22:27
Wildest Peaks
TOM SAUKA travelled to Hathersage in the Peak District on Saturday for the re-scheduled Wildest Peaks Trail Run. He managed 2:25:17 overall for for 25.6 kilometres course. He was 18th overall in the men’s and 10th in his age group. A highlight of it all was meeting Lucy Gossage who is a pro ironman triathlete.
Parkrun Reports
In sub-zero temperatures DARREN EMMERSON was the first Spartan finisher at Stevenage parkrun, crossing the line 17th in a time of 22:07. JOHN ROXBOROUGH ran a new course Personal Best to finish 22nd in 22:33 and MARTIN DUDLEY was 30th in 23:15. TIM ROBINSON was fourth Spartan home in 24:41.
VERITY FISHER was first Spartan woman and fourth overall in 23:55. KAREN BROOM finished 23rd in 30:20 (a new course PB) and HEATHER MALONEY was 30th in 31:10. ELLA GOWER was fourth Spartan woman in 31:10.
There were also new course PBs for ROBERT EVANS (26:40) and PAUL HOLGATE (28:31).
The other Spartans running at Stevenage were LEE PICKERSGILL (24:43), CLIVE CANNON (25:06), DANIEL SUTTON (25:11), KEN JUDE (25:49), ALASTAIR BALDWIN (30:31) and JAMES SOUTH (45:24).
The only other Spartan in parkrun action this week was DARRYL STEVENS who ran 41:44 at Queen Elizabeth parkrun in Horndean near Portsmouth.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including cross country league. The opportunities include:
- Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 27th January.
- Southern Seniors Cross Country at Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday 28th January.
- Watford Half Marathon inc. County Senior Champs on Sunday 5th February.
- Fifth and Final Cross Country League Race at Royston on Sunday 12th February.
- Veterans County Cross Country Championships on Sunday 19th February.
- Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 24th February.
- Spartans Presentation Evening in Old Stevenage on Friday 24th February.
- Roding Valley Half Marathon on Sunday 26th February.
- Essex 20 and Berkhamsted Half Marathon on Sunday 5th March.
- Finchley 20 on Sunday 12th March.
- Welwyn Half Marathon on Sunday 19th March.
- Sandy Ten and Wymondham 20 on Sunday 26th March.
- Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 31st March.
- Lee Valley 10K and Half Marathon in Waltham Forest on Sunday 2nd April.
- Brighton Marathon on Sunday 9th April.
- Maidenhead Easter Ten on Friday 14th April.
- London Marathon on Sunday 23rd April.
- County 1500 Championships in Stevenage on Monday 1st May (TBC).
- Dereham 10 (ten miles) on Sunday 7th May.
- Summer Solstice 10K at St Albans on Tuesday 16th May.
- Stirling Marathon on Sunday 21st May.
- Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 8th October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 22nd October.
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19th November (TBC).
- Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26th November.
We should know the 2017 Mid Week Road Race League dates soon after 8th February.