At the Bedford Autodrome Running Grand Prix DANNY SUTTON completed his 2nd marathon in a new PB of 3:53:10 – a massive 70 minute improvement over his first in London in the spring. He finished 18th of 42 men. The conditions were great and he gritted his teeth to get the exact time he was aiming for!
CALLIE CHAPMAN complete the half marathon in 2:13:39
VERITY FISHER completed 10km at the same event in a year’s best of 48:59 with negative splits so was really happy with her time, finishing as 16th lady out of 135. ROWENA RUTLEDGE finished in 57.08 with KYM MARTIN finishing in 1:09:04.
Standalone 10k (incorporating Herts County Vets Championships)
Sixty-six Spartans ran in the Standalone 10k, which this year incorporated the county veteran’s championships.
Individual county prizes were won by JULIE SIMMONS (gold in VW55 category) and YUKO GORDON (gold in VW 65 in a season’s best time) for the women. For the men, DAVID BOWKER was third finisher and county bronze medalist in the VM60 category in a season’s best and PETER CARPENTER 4th finisher in the VM70 category, but with one non-Herts runner in front he secured county bronze in a season’s best time.
The race traditionally provides a host of personal achievements for Spartans and this year was no different. There were new personal bests for DANNY SCANLON, JAMES KAY, MARIE COLUCCI, CLAIRE EMMERSON, ANDREW SMITH, NEIL ROBINSON, LEE PICKERSGILL (his second of the week), NEAL MUGGLETON, CAROLE SHELDRICK, SAM SIMMONS, LIZ SMITH, STEVEN DOBNER, ALISON SHELLEY, SHERY HANN, SOPHOCLES GEORGIOU, SALLY PHILLIPS and WAYNE McMILLAN.
Additionally there were season’s best times for MATTHEW GILL, DARREN EMMERSION, MARTIN DUDLEY, STEPHEN PIKE, SARAH PIKE, KAREN PALMER, MONICA SMITHSON, ANTON McCALLA, LIZ CARVELL, TRACY STILES and CHLOE EMMERSON. Also year’s best times for MIKE GREEN, KEN JUDE, JOHN NELMS and KELLY CHAPMAN.
Finally it was tremendous to see a number of Spartans running their first 10k race with the club, including ADAM JENKINS, MATTHEW PATTMAN, HOLLY ARCHER, TAHER THARANI, NICOLA HATHERLEY and NIKI PLUMB, all setting new baseline PBs to work on improving going forward!
Commenting on his result Andrew Smith noted “I was 10 minutes quicker than 2015 .. but I did start drunk that year!”
For Vicky Archer it was both her first ever race and first in stripes after joining the club’s starters group following the Spartans trip to Edinburgh in May where she watched husband Stuart in the marathon. She said “I was very proud to be wearing my stripes! Thanks to the amazing Jenny Garrett I managed 1hr 2mins which for my 1st attempt is amazing and of course a PB. Very proud of myself.”
Speaking about his PB James Kay said: “I was really pleased with my time and for going sub 40. It was great running with Danny Scanlon and Todd Gray who pushed me along. Four Spartans finished within 23 seconds in positions 70-75 all sub 40 mins in great times. A big thank you to everyone who supported along the course as it made a big difference!”
A full table of Spartans results and times can be found towards the end of this release.
Chester Marathon Festival
TIM SABAN ran the Chester marathon in a chip time of 3:24:36. Tim reported afterwards “I found the hills a little tough towards the end. But I enjoyed it nevertheless. It was a year’s best and course record by 6 mins on previous attempts”.
Also taking in the road trip to Chester’s Roodee was ERICA GRAYSON who ran in the metric marathon, a 26.2k race. She was happy with her time after down-trading from the full marathon after a cold and life meant her training had not gone to plan.
Oxford Half Marathon
HELEN WHITEHURST reported she was happy with her time of 2:13:19 at the Oxford Half Marathon. Her goal was to complete without walking, and in a time of sub 2:30, which achieved in some style. The runners at the event have yet to receive medals, as they got caught in storm Ali had not cleared customs in time for the race!
Mount Cook Aoraki Half Marathon and 5k
JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL continued their exploits in the southern hemisphere on New Zealand’s South Island.
Jim ran the Half Marathon, and won the Men’s Vet 60 category in a time of 1:48:27, finishing 54th overall. The race was run down a hill and then run back to Mount Cook Village with a brutal finish. Penny celebrated her birthday by winning the Women’s 40 plus category in the 5k by a wide margin in 28:26.
Bournemouth Marathon Festival
JONATHAN JONES ran the half marathon at the Bournemouth Marathon festival, scoring a new PB of 2.09.34
HAZEL JONES ran the 10K at the festival and completed in a new PB of 01:14:45. SHELBE MOONBEAM also notched a new PB in the race. In a solo outing she showed determination to complete in 1:02:09, knocking over 5 minutes off her previous PB set in Regents Park a month ago.
Shelbe said “that sub 30 5k and sub 60 10k is now with in my reach and I will get it!”
Kempton Park Chase
Kempton Park is the scene of many memorable chases over the years as Desert Orchid, The Fellow, One Man and Kauto Star won one one of racing’s greatest prizes multiple times. But this week it was the scene of a new “chase”, a 10k event. KAREN and TREVOR BROOM travelled to Sunbury for the first running.
Karen reported: “it’s a completely flat course around the racecourse. You choose to run a half marathon 10k or a 5k depending on how many laps you want to run. Trevor ran the 5k and finished in 30:42. I ran the 10k which was 2 laps, and was so happy with not only a 10k PB by a minute, I also got my first sub 60 10k finishing in 59:30.
We are both happy with today results as we both ran Berlin marathon only 3 weeks ago.”
Lee Valley Race for Life Half
MARGARET MONTGOMERY reported that Lee Valley was a lovely venue for running despite the hill at about mile 4. “There was lots of lovely support out on course too.”
She completed the race in 3:08:15.
Hatfield 5k Series – Race 3
It was the final race of the Hatfield 5k series on Wednesday night, in much calmer conditions than the middle event was run in. GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan finishing 6th in 17:06. CHRIS HOLLAND was next, smashing his PB by 29 seconds to set a new mark of 21:21.
YUKO GORDON was first in her category in 21:52, while MICHAEL ANDREWS was fourth Spartan finisher in 22:27. KEN JUDE ran 20 seconds quicker than race 2 to set a new Year’s Best of 22:55 and LEE PICKERSGILL set a new PB of 23:05.
A full table of results can be found towards the end of this release.
Parkrun Round Up Saturday 6th October
On the weekend that Parkrun celebrated its 14th birthday Stuart HAYCROFT was first at Stevenage Parkrun in 18:26. Ashley SCHOENWETTER was first female and fourth overall at Barclay in a time of 21:22.
There were course PBs for John ROXBOROUGH at Heartwood Forest, Michelle MARCHANT in St Albans and Karen ELLLIS in her 4th Parkrun in Stevenage.
(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).
Get 4th November In Your Diary
More than 270 people have already entered the Stevenage Half Marathon which will be on Sunday 4th November. This superb local event is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans and includes the senior county championships. It’s on an accurately measured and licensed course starting from Ridlins and including Fairlands Valley Park. All the surplus from this volunteer organised event will go to charity. The 2018 Charity for the Stevenage Half Marathon Charity is Kawasaki Kid. Don’t miss out. Enter now. Go to https://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/events/2018/11/04/stevenage_half_marathon or via www.fvspartans.org.uk
Tables
Standalone 10k
| Standalone 10k – Sun 7/10/18 | Notes | Gun | PB | Chip | Pos | Impr. | |
| Grant | Ramsay | Team bronze | 36:45:00 | x | 36:45:00 | 22 | |
| Keith | Coughlin | Team bronze | 37:54:00 | 18 | 37:54:00 | 32 | |
| Danny | Scanlon | 39:43:00 | PB | 39:36:00 | 70 | 00:59 | |
| Todd | Gray | Team bronze | 39:56:00 | x | 39:52:00 | 72 | |
| James | Kay | 40:02:00 | PB | 39:55:00 | 74 | 02:14 | |
| Mike | Green | 40:10:00 | YB | 39:59:00 | 75 | 01:44 | |
| Adam | Jenkins | 41:28:00 | New | 41:18:00 | 104 | ||
| David | Bowker | Team bronze/ individual medal | 41:33:00 | SB | 41:24:00 | 106 | 00:42 |
| Dean | Carpenter | 42:36:00 | x | 42:27:00 | 136 | ||
| John | Harris | 42:42:00 | x | 42:34:00 | 138 | ||
| Duncan | Flounders | 43:33:00 | x | 43:16:00 | 161 | ||
| Matthew | Gill | 44:28:00 | SB | 44:12:00 | 183 | 02:34 | |
| Marie | Colucci | 44:58:00 | PB | 44:44:00 | 213 | 01:57 | |
| Yuko | Gordon | County gold | 44:55:00 | SB | 44:46:00 | 209 | 00:34 |
| Darren | Emmerson | 45:55:00 | SB | 45:41:00 | 248 | 00:04 | |
| Matthew | Pattman | 46:29:00 | New | 46:06:00 | 266 | ||
| Claire | Emmerson | 46:32:00 | PB | 46:18:00 | 270 | 01:14 | |
| Andrew | Smith | 46:36:00 | PB | 46:20:00 | 271 | 00:34 | |
| Mark | Goodwin | 47:14:00 | x | 46:57:00 | 282 | ||
| Martin | Dudley | 47:15:00 | SB | 47:01:00 | 283 | 00:07 | |
| Neil | Robinson | 47:15:00 | PB | 47:01:00 | 284 | 01:40 | |
| Paul | Whyte | 48:26:00 | x | 48:11:00 | 329 | ||
| Lee | Pickersgill | 49:02:00 | PB | 48:46:00 | 351 | 00:14 | |
| Ken | Jude | 49:18:00 | YB | 49:01:00 | 360 | 03:24 | |
| Neal | Muggleton | 49:36:00 | PB | 49:03:00 | 382 | 01:10 | |
| Andy | Jay | 50:05:00 | x | 49:50:00 | 394 | ||
| Julie | Simmons | County gold | 50:13:00 | 18 | 50:03:00 | 404 | |
| John | Nelms | 50:31:00 | YB | 50:14:00 | 420 | 00:51 | |
| Carole | Sheldrick | 50:32:00 | PB | 50:16:00 | 422 | 03:12 | |
| Robert | Wright | 50:52:00 | New | 50:20:00 | 430 | ||
| Michael | Andrews | 52:14:00 | x | 50:24:00 | 480 | ||
| Sam | Simmons | 51:46:00 | PB | 51:15:00 | 467 | 02:18 | |
| Stephen | Pike | 51:49:00 | SB | 51:34:00 | 468 | 02:20 | |
| Liz | Smith | 52:22:00 | PB | 51:45:00 | 487 | 00:30 | |
| Madeleine | Pritchard | 52:15:00 | 18 | 51:59:00 | 481 | ||
| Sarah | Pike | 52:26:00 | SB | 52:10:00 | 491 | 02:30 | |
| Wendy | Tharani | 53:23:00 | x | 52:35:00 | 543 | ||
| Julie | Shadbolt | 53:33:00 | PB | 53:17:00 | 552 | +02:00 | |
| Karen | Palmer | 53:36:00 | SB | 53:19:00 | 556 | 01:38 | |
| Barry | King | 54:30:00 | 18 | 53:45:00 | 589 | ||
| Steven | Dobner | 55:08:00 | PB | 54:04:00 | 612 | 05:11 | |
| Simon | Sypula | 54:56:00 | x | 54:10:00 | 598 | ||
| Alison | Shelley | 56:40:00 | PB | 55:36:00 | 678 | 02:17 | |
| Sheryl | Hann | 57:23:00 | PB | 55:54:00 | 721 | 04:37 | |
| Sophocles | Georgiou | 56:40:00 | PB | 55:58:00 | 677 | 06:38 | |
| Monica | Smithson | 57:08:00 | SB | 56:24:00 | 705 | 01:47 | |
| Anton | McCalla | 01:00:24 | SB | 58:19:00 | 842 | New | |
| Liz | Carvell | 59:57:00 | SB | 58:25:00 | 824 | 05:32 | |
| Paul | Jennings | 01:00:32 | x | 01:00:00 | 852 | ||
| Tracy | Stiles | 01:01:32 | SB | 01:00:28 | 890 | 04:04 | |
| Vicky | Archer | 01:03:13 | New | 01:02:28 | 949 | ||
| Jenny | Garrett | 01:03:13 | x | 01:02:28 | 950 | ||
| Sophie | Cowan | 01:04:14 | x | 01:03:14 | 986 | ||
| David | Scott | 01:04:14 | x | 01:03:14 | 985 | ||
| Sue | Hamer | 01:04:18 | x | 01:03:17 | 989 | ||
| Sally | Phillips | 01:04:58 | PB | 01:03:26 | 1,009 | 07:33 | |
| Peter | Carpenter | County bronze | 01:05:08 | SB | 01:03:35 | 1,012 | 01:38 |
| Taher | Tharani | 01:08:05 | New | 01:06:14 | 1082 | ||
| Aimee | Andrews | 01:08:34 | x | 01:06:44 | 1,094 | ||
| Chloe | Emmerson | 01:08:22 | SB | 01:06:52 | 1,088 | 06:05 | |
| Wayne | McMillan | 01:08:24 | PB | 01:06:54 | 1,089 | 00:08 | |
| Nicola | Hatherly | 01:09:19 | New | 01:07:33 | 1,109 | ||
| Roger | Biggs | 01:08:45 | x | 01:07:57 | 1,097 | ||
| Niki | Plumb | 01:14:02 | New | 01:12:16 | 1,179 | ||
| Paul | Holgate | 01:15:36 | x | 01:13:46 | 1,191 | ||
| Sharon | Crowley | 01:16:18 | x | 01:14:13 | 1,203 | ||
| Kelly | Chapman | 01:21:50 | YB | 01:19:55 | 1,232 | 01:55 | |
| Key: PB = Fastest 10k recorded; SB = Best since 1st Jan 2017; YB = Faster 2018 time | |||||||
| 18 = 1st 10k in 2018; New = 1st 10k; x = Faster 10k time recorded this year | |||||||
Hatfield 5k Series Race 3
| Pos | Cat Pos | Bib | Name | Cat | Gun Time | Chip Time | Notes |
| 19 | 6 | 218 | Grant RAMSAY | MV40 | 00:17:07 | 00:17:06 | |
| 87 | 36 | 272 | Chris HOLLAND | MS | 00:21:34 | 00:21:21 | PB 29 secs |
| 97 | 1 | 59 | Yuko GORDON | FV65 | 00:21:58 | 00:21:52 | |
| 116 | 40 | 80 | Michael ANDREWS | MS | 00:22:42 | 00:22:27 | |
| 118 | 20 | 4 | Ken JUDE | MV50 | 00:23:07 | 00:22:55 | Year’s best |
| 121 | 44 | 298 | Lee PICKERSGILL | MS | 00:23:17 | 00:23:05 | PB |
| 137 | 12 | 290 | Verity FISHER | FS | 00:24:10 | 00:23:57 | |
| 144 | 28 | 279 | Simon SYPULA | MV40 | 00:24:49 | 00:24:35 | |
| 188 | 4 | 77 | Roger BIGGS | MV70 | 00:30:53 | 00:30:32 | |
| 192 | 15 | 51 | Sharon CROWLEY | FV55 | 00:31:51 | 00:31:29 |
Parkrun Times Saturday 6th October
Heartwood Forest parkrun
A total of 466 runners took part.
View full results for Heartwood Forest parkrun event #47
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 56 | 53 | John ROXBOROUGH | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:21:53 |
| 199 | 168 | Michael O’KEEFE | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:26:27 |
| 312 | 232 | Paul JENNINGS | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:30:24 |
St Albans parkrun
A total of 407 runners took part.
View full results for St Albans parkrun event #356
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 264 | 73 | Michelle MARCHANT | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:29:58 |
Durham parkrun
A total of 369 runners took part.
View full results for Durham parkrun event #344
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 363 | 220 | Darryl STEVENS | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:45:23 |
Stevenage parkrun
A total of 232 runners took part.
View full results for Stevenage parkrun event #121
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 1 | 1 | Stuart HAYCROFT | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:18:26 |
| 16 | 14 | John HOLMES | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:21:32 |
| 67 | 60 | David RIDDELL | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:25:00 |
| 90 | 12 | Karen ELLIS | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:26:34 |
| 92 | 14 | Kerstin WEINER | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:26:42 |
| 103 | 17 | Karen PALMER | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:27:48 |
| 138 | 104 | Stephen SMITHSON | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:31:03 |
| 144 | 38 | Alison SHELLEY | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:31:23 |
| 159 | 115 | Roger BIGGS | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:32:15 |
| 184 | 59 | Jane MCFARLANE | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:35:11 |
| 199 | 133 | Steven DOBNER | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:36:34 |
| 229 | 140 | James SOUTH | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:51:25 |
Gunpowder parkrun
A total of 164 runners took part.
View full results for Gunpowder parkrun event #361
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 67 | 12 | Rowena RUTLEDGE | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:27:28 |
Barclay parkrun
A total of 127 runners took part.
View full results for Barclay parkrun event #177
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 4 | 1 | Ashley SCHOENWETTER | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:21:22 |
Rutland Water parkrun
A total of 190 runners took part.
View full results for Rutland Water parkrun event #145
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 94 | 22 | Verity FISHER | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:26:54 |
| 136 | 95 | Daniel SUTTON | Fairlands Valley Spartans RC | 00:30:29 |