Spartan BRIAN WHITE endured rather adverse conditions to finish the World Half Marathon Championship in 1 hour 31 minutes 29 seconds. The event was in Cardiff on Saturday. He was sixth veteran (60 plus) and 1,030 overall out of the 12,068 finishers.
Good Friday Ten
The previous day it was a great sunny Spring morning for the three Spartans at the Maidenhead Easter Ten on Good Friday. The course was basically flat except for a wicked little hill at 8 miles.
Jim Brown improved by 62 seconds on last year to finish in 87 minutes 3 seconds (526); Stephen Pike finished in 90:13 (577) and Sarah Pike in 92:49 (617). There were 805 finishers.
Reservoir Jogs
A cold wind made the ‘Easter around the Reservoir Marathon’ a tough day to be running six laps around the Brackmills Reservoir just South of Northampton.
Each lap was a tale of two halves, one half being a tarmac surface and sheltered from the wind, the other half on lumpy grass and trail, and fully feeling what the day was throwing at the runners. CAROL PAUL completed the marathon in 4 hours 38 minutes 16 seconds; ROGER BIGGS in 5:24:30 and MIKE NEWBITT in 5:46:25.
Parkrun Reports
Two Spartans headed over to a windy and chilly St Albans. TIM SABAN rushed round in a time of 21 minutes 12 seconds to finish 42nd of 392 runners. DAVE SMITH was 66th in 22:00 in his first parkrun.
At Panshanger Park, TIM ROBINSON was first Spartan finisher (102nd of 318 runners) in 25:46. BEV HARLOW was first Spartan woman finisher, finishing 248th (and 79th woman) overall, in 33:05 and LIZ MORGAN was 256th (83rd woman) in 33:11 in her parkrun debut.
Heading south, DARYL STEVENS was 160th of 166 at Brockenhurst in a new course PB time of 39:34, which in the north-east ROGER HARDMAN was 225th of 457 runners, crossing the line in a time of 26:53.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- County 20 Miles Championships at Oakley on Sunday 3rd April.
- Sandy 10 on Sunday 10th April.
- Flitwick 10K on Sunday 17th April.
- Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 21st April.
- London Marathon on Sunday 24th April.
- County 1500 metres open and veteran track and field championships in Stevenage on Monday 2nd May. Advance entries essential.
- Pednor Five (including County five miles championship for veterans) on Monday evening 2nd May.
- Halstead Marathon, including Hertfordshire County Championships for seniors and veterans, on Sunday 8th May.
- Relays in the Park, our 3K Relays in Fairlands Valley on Thursday 28th July.
- Handicap 5 / 10 on Sunday 25th September.
- Standalone 10K including County Vets Championships on Sunday 2nd October.
- Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 9th October.
- Abingdon Marathon on Sunday 23rd October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon, a Stevenage 70 event, on Sunday 6th November.
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 20th November.
- County Five Miles Open Championship in Hatfield on 27th November.
Join The Spartans
Live in or near Stevenage? Like running? Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up! The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010. It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all. The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.
The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m. Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!
The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.
Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9a.m. sharp. Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m. There are events to enter every Sunday. Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.
Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy. You can also join online.
If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk