26 at Buntingford
A fantastic twenty six from Fairlands Valley Spartans tackled the Buntingford Year End Ten road race on a cold morning last Sunday. Over the undulating course ANDY NEATHAM was first finisher for the club with a time of 1 hour 1 minute 7 seconds. He was eleventh out of the 497 finishers and won the prize for second veteran (40 plus).
The club’s other top 100 finishers were ADRIAN DONNELLY, 66th in 1:09:34; PETER SMITH, 93rd in 1:12:49 and TRACY PEZ, 98th in a new personal best of 1 hour 13 minutes 11 seconds. ANDY JAY was 198th in a new PB of 1:21:32 and TRICIA HOPPER reduced her PB by more than five minutes when she finished in 1:23:49.
STEPHEN MAYFIELD, 120th in 1:14:48; MARK GOODWIN, 146th in 1:16:55; NATALIE LAWRENCE, 217th in 1:23:05; MICHAEL CONNELL, 238th in 1:24:37; LUCY PATTERSON, 265th in 1:26:52; JOANNE BOWDERY, 282nd in 1:28:30; LISA LIVERSIDGE, 303rd in 1:29:50; ROY BOWDERY, 313th in 1:30:11; NICOLA HABERLAND, 330th in 1:31:40; RICHARD KENNEDY, 331st in 1:31:40; KAREN LIDDLE, 345th in 1:32:55 and CLAIRE WHITTLE, 380th in 1:35:22 all beat 100 minutes.
Position Name Time Category Comments
11 Andy Neatham 01:01:07 Vet40 2nd Male Vet 40
66 Adrian Donnelly 01:09:34 SenM
93 Peter Smith 01:12:49 Vet50
98 Tracy Pez (F) 01:13:11 Vet35 PB
120 Stephen Mayfield 01:14:48 Vet40
146 Mark Goodwin 01:16:55 Vet50
198 Andy Jay 01:21:32 Vet40 PB
217 Natalie Lawrence (F) 01:23:05 SenF
224 Tricia Hopper (F) 01:23:49 Vet45 PB (more than 5 minutes)
238 Michael Connell 01:24:37 Vet60
265 Lucy Patterson (F) 01:26:52 SenF
282 Joanne Bowdery (F) 01:28:30 SenF
303 Lisa Liversidge (F) 01:29:50 Vet45
313 Roy Bowdery 01:30:11 Vet50
330 Nicola Haberland (F) 01:31:40 SenF
331 Richard Kennedy 01:31:40 SenM
345 Karen Liddle (F) 01:32:44 V55+
380 Claire Whittle (F) 01:35:32 SenF
421 Lorraine Wyatt (F) 01:40:08 Vet45
424 Vivienne Honey (F) 01:40:15 Vet35
428 Trudie Molloy (F) 01:40:40 Vet35
429 Barry King 01:40:41 Vet40
448 Tracy Stiles (F) 01:43:14 Vet45
460 Jan Fry (F) 01:44:42 V55+
461 Graham Hill 01:45:14 Vet60
466 Paul Holgate 01:46:15 Vet50
Two Wins For Grant
GRANT RAMSAY won two races in three days. On 26th December he won the Pirton Boxing Day short course race taking 14 minutes 4 seconds for the 2.5 miles off road event. Then on Saturday 28th he won the St. Albans 5K Park Run in 16 minutes 40 seconds.
Full results from Pirton are not yet available but TRACY STILES ran the 3.2 miles event in 32:20.
Two Park Runs for Daniel
DANIEL BATES was racing on Christmas Day. He ran the Northampton 5km Parkrun in 20 minutes 40 seconds and was 11th out of 196 runners.
Then Daniel says that on Saturday he completed the hardest Parkrun course in the world at Harrow Lodge, in Hornchurch, Essex. Bogs, all grass, ice on the small parts of path, loads of geese in the way and so forth he finished 9th out of 80 runners with a time of 22:43.
Iris and James Win Five
Despite the cold, rain, and proximity to the holiday 18 Spartans took part in the club’s pre-Christmas Handicap 5k of the year on Thursday evening.
Winner on the night was IRIS HORNSEY in 32 minutes 11 seconds, 3:49 faster than handicap. She finished 1 minute 4 seconds ahead of KIRSTY CALLAN, who beat her November time by 1:25 to finish in 25:15. LUCY FIELD was third female in seventh position overall, beating her November time by 5 seconds to 23:29.
JAMES SEALS was first man and third finisher in a new personal best (PB) time of 21:28, 53 seconds quicker than before, with CALLUM BEASLEY second, taking 55 seconds off his personal best (PB) to 22:04. NICK EMMETT was third man in a new 24:45 PB of his own, 36 seconds faster than before.
Fastest runner on the night was LIAM HERBERT in 19:15, with DANIEL BATES 2nd quickest in 20:23, and VISHAL SHAH 3rd fastest in 21:17.
Fastest female was TRACY PEZ in 21:32, with LUCY FIELD 23:29 second quickest and KIRSTY CALLAN 25:15 third fastest, and, FIONA KEELY also improved her PB by 50 seconds to 32:04.
In handicap events the slower runners, based on recent races, start first, and are chased by the quicker ones. If the time intervals are correct and everyone runs as expected everyone will finish together.
A big thank you to a very cold Cathy Craig who organised the start.
Pos Name Time Comments
1 IRIS HORNSEY (F) 32:11 Event Winner. YB.
2 KIRSTY CALLAN (F) 25:15 Overall second. PB.
3 JAMES SEALS 21:28 First man. PB.
4 CALLUM BEASLEY 22:04 Second man. PB.
5 NICK EMMET 24:45 Third man. PB.
6 DANIEL BATES 20:23
7 LUCY FIELD (F) 23:29 Third female. PB.
8 TRACY PEZ (F) 21:32 Fastest female.
9 ROBERT SHAW 27:05
10 LIAM HERBERT 19:15 Fastest runner.
11 VISHAL SHAH 21:17
12 MARTIN PRICE 22:32
13 MARK GOODWIN 22:29
14 DYFED THOMPSON-SMITH 25:10
15 FIONA KEELEY (F) 32:04 PB.
16 JAMES KILROY 22:42
17 MARK BEASLEY 22:55
18 PAUL HOLGATE 30:02
The next handicap 5k will be on the 23rd January 2014.
Water Front Paul
On Sunday CAROL PAUL ran the multi terrain Portsmouth water front marathon. In windy conditions on a muddy water logged course Carol finished in 5:06:55. Due to the tide coming in which caused the course to be diverted the distance was 26.7 miles long instead of 26.2 miles.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
• Hertfordshire Cross Country Championships in Watford on Sunday 5th January
• Cross country race four on Therfield Heath on Sunday 12th January
• Handicap 5K on Thursday 23rd January
• Cross country race five at Watford on Sunday 16th February
• Presentation Evening on Friday 28th February 2014
• Veterans Cross Country Championships in Royston on 16th March 2014.
• Off Road Challenge in Stevenage on Sunday 20th July 2014.
• Stevenage Marathon on Sunday 2nd November 2014.
Join The Spartans
Live in or near Stevenage? Like running? Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up! The club was voted the UK’s Best Running Club in 2010. It now has hundreds of members and encourages participation by all. The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons.
The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Go along to the new sports centre at Marriotts School – a Sports College, Brittain Way, Stevenage (SG2 8UT) at 7p.m. Up to five running groups go out on training nights – there will be one to suit you!
The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday (except public holidays) and 7p.m. every Thursday.
Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9.30a.m. sharp. Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m. There are events to enter every Sunday. Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.
Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £35 per year, £25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.
If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk
E N D S
More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 / 01438 354505 or Vivienne Honey (Secretary) 07702 846304
www.fvspartans.org.uk