Thirty six Spartans completed the club’s handicap 5K on Thursday evening and CHRIS HOLLAND had an excellent win in a season’s best time of 22 minutes 28 seconds beating his handicap by 3 minutes 52 seconds.
He was closely followed over the line by newcomer ROB BRIGHT in 28:28. He improved on his handicap by 3:32. DANNY HUKIN was third in a new season’s best time of his own, 18:51.
The winning woman was OLWEN BATTY in a new personal best time of 26:52. That was 1:40 faster than her previous PB.
ANDREA WESTCOTT was second lady in 27:55, and Tessa Stephenson third in a season’s best 26:28.
The fastest runner on the night was GRANT RAMSAY in 16:49, three seconds quicker than his last handicap 5k back in January 2014. Danny’s 18:51 was the 2nd fastest time of the night and STEVE GREEN was third quickest in 20:04.
TRACY PEZ was the fastest female equalling her fastest time of the year with 22:04, SUZY HAWKINS second quickest in a year’s best time of 22:14 and ISABEL GREEN third quickest in a new PB time of 23:46.
There were also personal bests (PB) for Darren Emmerson, Alex Nee, Simon Sypula, Sean Millwood, Bev Redfern, Vikki Meredith and Dominic Jay; season’s bests (SB) for James Kilroy, Mark Goodwin, Dave Stephenson and Sharon Crowley. Callum Beasley, Dean Carpenter, Andy Jay, John Nelms, Vish Shah and Bernadette Millwood all beat their previous Handicap 5k time. There was also a 2015 best time for Alistair Baldwin.
In handicap races the slowest runners start first with others following at intervals calculated from recent performances. If everyone runs to form everyone finish together. In practice the best improver wins.
The next Handicap 5k will be on Thursday 21st January 2016.
| Pos | Name | Time | Speed Pos. | F | Comments |
| 1 | CHRIS HOLLAND | 22:38 | 13 | Event winner | |
| 2 | ROB BRIGHT | 28:28 | 28 | First 5K | |
| 3 | DANNY HUKIN | 18:51 | 2 | Second fastest | |
| 4 | DARREN EMMERSON | 23:06 | 16 | First 5K | |
| 5 | OLWEN BATTY | 26:52 | 23 | 5 | 1st woman. PB (1:40) |
| 6 | ANDREA WESTCOTT | 27:55 | 25 | 6 | |
| 7 | ALEX NEE | 22:01 | 8 | First 5K | |
| 8 | TESSA STEPHENSON | 26:28 | 22 | 4 | SB |
| 9 | ISABEL GREEN | 23:46 | 20 | 3 | 3rd fastest woman. PB (0:07) |
| 10 | GRANT RAMSAY | 16:49 | 1 | Fastest | |
| 11 | SIMON SYPULA | 28:02 | 26 | PB (1:14) | |
| 12 | TODD GRAY | 20:39 | 4 | ||
| 13 | CALLUM BEASLEY | 23:28 | 19 | ||
| 14 | JAMES KILROY | 23:00 | 15 | SB | |
| 15 | MARK GOODWIN | 21:50 | 7 | SB | |
| 16 | DEAN CARPENTER | 20:51 | 5 | ||
| 17 | ANDY JAY | 23:12 | 18 | ||
| 18 | SUZY HAWKINS | 22:14 | 10 | 2 | Second fastest woman |
| 19 | STEVE GREEN | 20:04 | 3 | Third fastest | |
| 20 | SEAN MILLWOOD | 28:51 | 29 | PB (1:00) | |
| 21 | DAVE STEPHENSON | 22:22 | 11 | SB | |
| 22 | MARK BEASLEY | 22:59 | 14 | ||
| 23 | BEV REDFERN | 29:33 | 30 | 8 | First 5K |
| 24 | JOHN NELMS | 21:04 | 6 | ||
| 25 | ROBERT SHAW | 27:14 | 24 | ||
| 26 | TRACY PEZ | 22:04 | 9 | 1 | Fastest woman |
| 27 | STEVE SMITHSON | 24:38 | 21 | ||
| 28 | VISHAL SHAH | 23:10 | 17 | ||
| 29 | PETER SMITH | 22:27 | 12 | ||
| 30 | VIKKI MEREDITH | 31:32 | 34 | 11 | PB (0:14) |
| 31 | BERNADETTE MILLWOOD | 30:53 | 33 | 10 | |
| 32 | SHARON CROWLEY | 30:05 | 32 | 9 | SB |
| 33 | LIZ CARVELL | 28:22 | 27 | 7 | |
| 34 | ALISTAIR BALDWIN | 30:00 | 31 | ||
| 35 | EMMA POULTER | 37:56 | 36 | 12 | |
| 36 | DOMINIC JAY | 32:00 | 35 | First 5K |
Portsmouth Coastal
On Sunday CAROL PAUL ran the Portsmouth Coastal Waterfront Marathon. The course was on paths and off road starting in Southsea and running out to Hayling Island and back. It was really windy with a couple of heavy downpours of rain. Carol completed the race in 5 hours 3 minutes 2 seconds.
Serpentine
Spartan SIMON JACKSON was second in his category at the Serpentine 5K race in Hyde Park last Friday. He had an excellent time of 17 minutes 7 seconds scoring more than 79%.
An out of sorts JIM BROWN pootled round in 25 minutes 43 seconds but still enjoyed this pre-Christmas race. He finished 64th out of 1200 runners in the year long championship.
Natalie Qualifies
NATALIE LAWRENCE qualified to run in the women’s championships at the London Marathon with a well judged run at the Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon. She was ninth female overall and with a time of 1 hour 29 minutes 33 seconds beat the 1:30 barrier. All that only nine weeks after having her baby!
Parkruns
DANIEL BATES took on the three and half lap parkrun course at Luton’s Wardown Park in the very unusual December heat. Still carrying an ankle injury, he managed to finish the five kilometres 16th out of 129 runners in 21 minutes 49 seconds.
At Panshanger (Hertford) the Spartan women were out in force. ISABEL GREEN finished in 25-41 and was 83rd runner home out of 226; JEANETTE COLLINS was 126th at 28:22, and EMMA KINSEY 176th in 33:02.
St Albans produced a fast time with DAVID RIDDELL finishing 12th out of 311 runners with a time of 18 minutes 18 seconds. DANIEL SUTTON was 126th in 23:58 whilst VERITY FISHER was 132nd in 24:15.
TIM ROBINSON ran the Raphael parkrun near Romford on Saturday. He was 22nd overall and fifth in his age category with 23:16.
There will be a parkrun at Panshanger on Christmas Day.
No Snow For Spartans
No snow and no sign of it for this year’s pre-Christmas run by Fairlands Valley Spartans to Minsden Chapel on Sunday but forty club members enjoyed the morning.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- Boxing Day Five at Witham on Saturday 26th December.
- County 10 miles Veterans Championship and Open 10 at Buntingford on Monday 28th December.
- New Year’s Day 10K in Hyde Park on Friday 1st January 2016.
- County Cross Country Championships in Stevenage on Sunday 10th January 2016.
- Fourth cross country league race in Watford on Sunday 17th January.
- Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 21st January.
- Fred Hughes 10 including the County Ten Mile Championships for Veterans on Sunday 24th January.
- Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 29th January.
- South of England Cross Country Championships in London on Saturday 30th January.
- Watford Half Marathon including the County Championships for Veterans on Sunday 7th February.
- Fifth and final cross country league race on Therfield Heath on Sunday 14th February.
- County Veterans Cross Country Championships on Sunday 13th March (probably Watford).
- Finchley 20 on Sunday 13th March.
- County 20 Miles Championships at Oakley on Sunday 3rd April.
- Halstead Marathon, including Hertfordshire County Championships for seniors and veterans, on Sunday 8th May.
- Stevenage Half Marathon, a Stevenage 70 event, on Sunday 6th 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
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More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509; Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889 or Karen Palmer (Secretary) 0773 467 8566