There were great runs by Fairlands Valley Spartans women with the whole “A” team beating 37 minutes for 4.8 miles on a typical liquid mud Trent Park cross country course.
The women’s “A” team were second out of the twenty clubs on the day and are second in the league after the first two events. The FVS women’s “B” team were also second in their category and are also second overall. The Spartan veteran women improved to second in this race and now very close to second in the overall standings.
494 men and women finished the tough race and ELLA-MAY HARDS was 80th out of all of them and third out of the 186 women in 32 minutes 45 seconds beating all but three Spartan men; next came a Spartan rush with SUZY HAWKINS, 132nd in 34:46; MICHELLE REEVES 135th in 34:55 and GAIL MACKIE 138th in 35:03. ALISON WOOD was fifth counter at 189th in 36:56. Four out of the first eleven women were Spartans.
Men’s team consisted of eight runners and SIMON JACKSON lead them in at 15th in 29:38; next came CHRIS WESTCOTT 30th in 30:18; ADRIAN BUSOLINI 58th in 31:41 and in the top 100 and under 32 minutes. STUART ARCHER was 123rd in 34:17.
There were no less than five Spartan women’s teams in the race! The FVS “B” team was led in by YUKO GORDON at 235th in 38:36; followed by RHIANNON GRIFFIN 239th in 38:38; TRACEY JACKSON 272nd in 40:10; CLAIRE EMMERSON 310th in 41:52 and LAUREN ING 326th in 42:32.
25 Spartan women and 18 men completed the race. The third race in the Cross Country League will be hosted by FVS and will be in Stevenage on Sunday 22nd December.
Spartan Women (25) – teams of five:
| Overall Position | Name | Time | Cat. | Comments |
| 80 | ELLA-MAY HARDS | 32:45 | SW | 3rd woman. W “A” team |
| 132 | SUZY HAWKINS | 34:46 | W35 | 9th woman. W “A” team |
| 135 | MICHELLE REEVES | 34:55 | SW | 10th woman. W “A” team |
| 138 | GAIL MACKIE | 35:03 | SW | 11th woman. W “A” team |
| 189 | ALISON WOOD | 36:56 | W45 | W “A” team |
| 235 | YUKO GORDON | 38:36 | W65 | W “B” team |
| 239 | RHIANNON GRIFFIN | 38:38 | SW | W “B” team |
| 272 | TRACEY JACKSON | 40:10 | W45 | W “B” team |
| 310 | CLAIRE EMMERSON | 41:52 | W45 | W “B” team |
| 326 | LAUREN ING | 42:32 | SW | W “B” team |
| 340 | KELLY McHALE | 43:07 | W35 | W “C” team |
| 354 | KAREN ELLIS | 43:31 | W45 | W “C” team |
| 379 | FIONA CLARKE | 44:38 | W35 | W “C” team |
| 392 | WENDY THARANI | 45:56 | W45 | W “C” team |
| 393 | KAREN DODSWORTH | 46:00 | W55 | W “C” team |
| 418 | SHERYL HANN | 48:28 | W55 | |
| 430 | JULIE SHADBOLT | 49:27 | W45 | |
| 436 | VICKY ARCHER | 50:37 | W35 | |
| 437 | MO WARRILOW | 50:40 | SW | |
| 456 | LIZ CROWLEY | 53:08 | SW | |
| 462 | SUE HAMER | 54:13 | W45 | |
| 463 | HAYLEY YENDELL | 54:13 | W35 | |
| 464 | SOPHIE COWAN | 54:23 | W35 | |
| 471 | ROWENA RUTLEDGE | 55:28 | W45 | |
| 475 | SHARON FLAHERTY | 56:52 | W35 |
Spartan men (18) – teams of eight:
| Overall Position | Name | Time | Category | Comments |
| 15 | SIMON JACKSON | 29:38 | M40 | M “A” team |
| 30 | CHRIS WESTCOTT | 30:18 | M40 | M “A” team |
| 57 | ADRIAN BUSOLINI | 31:41 | SM | M “A” team |
| 123 | STUART ARCHER | 34:17 | SM | M “A” team |
| 143 | BRIAN WHITE | 35:20 | M60 | M “A” team |
| 160 | TOBY ECCLESHALL | 35:56 | SM | M “A” team |
| 161 | THOMAS SAUKA | 35:56 | M40 | M “A” team |
| 227 | MARTIN WOOD | 38:14 | M50 | M “A” team |
| 236 | PETE SMITH | 38:39 | M50 | M “B” team |
| 253 | NICK CROWLEY | 39:26 | SM | M “B” team |
| 273 | CRAIG BACON | 40:15 | M40 | M “B” team |
| 285 | MATT CLARKE | 41:04 | M40 | M “B” team |
| 311 | STEVE DOBNER | 44:54 | M40 | M “B” team |
| 400 | LUKE GURNEY | 46:51 | SM | M “B” team |
| 401 | TIM ROBINSON | 46:59 | M50 | M “B” team |
| 453 | KEN JUDE | 47:28 | M50 | M “B” team |
| 455 | TY THARANI | 54:32 | M50 | |
| 476 | ED HARE | 56:57 | SM |
Spartans Run in the Sun at the Valencia Marathon
Five Spartans ran in the sun at the Valencia Marathon on Sunday.
The course is flat and fast – proved by the elite winning time of 2.03.51 making this the sixth fastest course in world.
Richard Kennedy led the blue stripes home in his fantastic first sub 3 hour in 2.58 and Nicola smashed her personal best (PB) with 3 hours 22 minutes. New Spartans Natalie and Elliot White both finished in 3.58. John Nelms plodded around as usual enjoying the sights and the sun and crossing the line in 4.18. (Lifetime marathon 76 and his 31st in 2019).
Nicola Kennedy ran a massive new PB (personal best) of 3:22:35 and Richard Kennedy snuck under three hours for the 1st time with a 2:58:53.
Richard said it was a great event with good support and one of the best finish lines in the world!
Bedfordshire Harriers Half Marathon
The Bedfordshire Harriers Half Marathon is an attractive club organised rural race in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire which starts and finishes in the village of Wootton. From a high point in Cranfield at 9 miles it dives down to the finish.
PAUL MAGUIRE had an excellent run to finish in 1 hour 43 minutes 19 seconds.
JIM BROWN said the air in his lungs was so cold in the first mile that it actually hurt but got going to run a negative split with 1:53:03 while LIZ SMITH was just behind with 1:53:28 having started near the back of the race.
Fantastic Fairlands Women Qualify For Marathon Championships
A first for Fairlands Valley Spartans. A team of women have qualified for the British Marathon Championships which will held at the London Marathon on 26th April.
However the fastest half, by more than ten minutes, was run by a female member of Fairlands Valley Spartans. SAM PRETTY ran the Gosport Half Marathon in 1:29:40. She says it’s a popular fast event and conditions were perfect. Although Sam says it was hard as she was not race fit she was on a mission – to qualify for the London Marathon Championships. Her sub 1:30 did that and she’ll be joining GAIL MACKIE and MICHELLE REEVES on the start line in April – the first time the Spartan women will have a complete team of three in the British Marathon Championship.
Fairlands Valley Spartans have a runner in the Age World Record Holders List for 2019. YUKO GORDON has the highest grading for a marathon. At 68 years and 218 days she ran a marathon in 3 hours 19 minutes 37 minutes.
Serpentine
It was cool but dry for the Serpentine 5K run in Hyde Park on Friday. Jim Brown finished in 25:07 and now has a score of 67.5% in the series.
Parkrun Highlights 30th November 2019
36 Spartans ran in eight different Parkrun locations on Saturday. Fastest Spartan this week was Jonathan PARR [17:23] taking first place in Exmouth. Fastest lady was Jo BOWDERY [23:25] running at Wimpole Estate. Gail MACKIE [23:28] was first lady at Stevenage.
Three personal best (PB) times were achieved; Steven DOBNER [21:56] at Gunpowder Park, Dan SUTTON [23:28] in Milton Keynes and Mo WARRILLOW [25:22] at Panshanger.
Congratulations to everyone!
(You can find all the Spartan parkrun results near the end of this release).
Tables
Parkrun Results Saturday 23rd November
| Parkrun | Pos | Gen | Parkrunner | Time | Note |
| Exmouth Parkrun | 1 | 1 | Jonathan PARR | 17:23 | |
| Stevenage | 3 | 3 | Dean CARPENTER | 19:33 | |
| Gunpowder Park | 26 | 26 | Paul SHELLEY | 21:50 | |
| Gunpowder Park | 27 | 27 | Steven DOBNER | 21:56 | PB |
| Stevenage | 22 | 22 | Andrew MCGUINNESS | 22:19 | |
| Stevenage | 28 | 28 | Danny SCANLON | 22:43 | |
| Stevenage | 29 | 29 | Thomas SAUKA | 22:46 | |
| Wolverhampton | 50 | 44 | Matt CLARKE | 23:04 | |
| Wimpole Estate | 44 | 5 | Jo BOWDERY | 23:25 | |
| Milton Keynes | 7 | 46 | Daniel SUTTON | 23:28 | PB |
| Stevenage | 36 | 1 | Gail MACKIE | 23:28 | |
| Stevenage | 37 | 36 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 23:29 | |
| Stevenage | 39 | 38 | Chris HOLLAND | 23:34 | |
| Wolverhampton | 78 | 12 | Fiona CLARKE | 24:59 | |
| Gunpowder | 52 | 6 | Alison SHELLEY | 25:13 | |
| Panshanger | 84 | 8 | Mo WARRILLOW | 25:22 | PB |
| Gunpowder | 56 | 49 | James NICHOLLS | 25:28 | |
| Stevenage | 99 | 84 | Darren EMMERSON | 26:30 | |
| Stevenage | 103 | 16 | Susan MCANENY | 26:46 | |
| Stevenage | 104 | 88 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 26:47 | |
| Stevenage | 126 | 102 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 27:54 | |
| Stevenage | 136 | 27 | Sofia CARPENTER | 28:32 | |
| Stevenage | 146 | 31 | Claire EMMERSON | 28:55 | |
| Stevenage | 147 | 32 | Jenny GARRETT | 28:56 | |
| Stevenage | 160 | 36 | Jan FRY | 30:25 | |
| Gunpowder | 133 | 47 | Rowena RUTLEDGE | 31:23 | |
| Stevenage | 181 | 47 | Debbie BLANTERN | 31:24 | |
| Panshanger | 218 | 47 | Monica SMITHSON | 31:58 | |
| Stevenage | 191 | 140 | David ACKERY | 32:17 | |
| Stevenage | 195 | 53 | Nicola HATHERLY | 32:35 | |
| Stevenage | 196 | 143 | Tim ROBINSON | 32:36 | |
| Milton Keynes | 325 | 85 | Verity FISHER | 32:49 | |
| Stevenage | 219 | 151 | Roger BIGGS | 35:13 | |
| Panshanger | 248 | 69 | Tracy STILES | 35:31 | |
| Stevenage | 262 | 94 | Caren THAIN | 42:13 | |
| Ellenbrook Fields | 293 | 114 | Grace BROWN | 55:33 |