The Spring sunshine brought out seven hundred runners including 13 from Fairlands Valley Spartans to run the Flitwick 10K, for many a last race before the London Marathon. The race is on a great if undulating course which can catch some runners out in the second half.
GRANT RAMSAY was fastest for Fairlands in 37 minutes 6 seconds; second veteran runner in the race and 17th out of the 691 finishers. ANN TRYESSOONE was fastest Fairlands female in 47 minutes 1 second, missing a personal best by just one second despite the lumpy course.
WINSTON WOODWARD made the top twenty with 37:20 and JAMES KILROY came in with 46:51,
CLAIRE COX ran an excellent 48 minutes 23 seconds finishing just eleven seconds ahead of DARREN EMMERSON in 48:34. Next came MARK CHEADLE in 49:33; ANDY JAY in 51:44 and ADA JANUSIENE in 54:12. NICOLA TOUT is steadily improving and finished in 56:18 with JENNY GARRETT and NICK WITCOMBE close behind in 56:37 and 56:38. TRACY STILES completed the line up with 62:47.
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 17 | GRANT RAMSAY | 37:06 | 2nd Veteran |
| 20 | WINSTON WOODWARD | 37:20 | 4MV40 |
| 166 | JAMES KILROY | 46:51 | |
| 171 | ANN TRYSSESOONE | 47:01 | |
| 205 | CLAIRE COX | 48:23 | |
| 212 | DARREN EMMERSON | 48:34 | |
| 243 | MARK CHEADLE | 49:33 | |
| 314 | ANDY JAY | 51:44 | |
| 378 | ADA JANUSIENE | 54:12 | |
| 431 | NICOLA TOUT | 56:18 | |
| 443 | JENNY GARRETT | 56:37 | |
| 444 | NICK WITCOMBE | 56:38 | |
| 581 | TRACY STILES | 62:47 |
There were 691 finishers.
Brighton Marathon
Spartans ISABEL GREEN and KAREN BROOM both ran their first ever marathons at Brighton on Sunday.
It was a perfect running day, cool, sunny and a light breeze. Around 11,000 runners turned up for the well organised event on a fairly flat, single lap course that took in the town centre, the promenade, a very well supported residential section and a more peaceful industrial area. The support was amazing, and yet again the Spartans showed their true colours, with lots of cheering and encouragement from those in the race and also many club members watching from the sidelines. ISABEL GREEN showed the benefit of the Club Sunday marathon training runs, stuck to her plan to keep every mile under nine minutes (some by a narrower margin than others) and finished her first marathon in 3 hours 52 minutes 18 seconds.
KAREN BROOM was really pleased to finish her first marathon in 5 hours 42 minutes 9 seconds.
Isabel and Karen both thanked the Spartan coaching team for their advice and support.
TIM ROBINSON ran a new personal best (PB) of 4 hours 14 minutes 51 seconds
Bungay Marathon
On Sunday CAROL PAUL ran the Bungay marathon in Suffolk. It was on a two lap course that went from Bungay out to Beccles and then back to Bungay. The first half of the lap was very hilly. In weather of sunshine and hail stones Carol completed the 26.2 miles in 4 hours 25 minutes 21 seconds.
Parkrun Reports
With the spring marathon season in full swing and a popular 10k at Flitwick fewer Spartans took part in parkruns this week.
CRAIG HALSEY made it back to back first place finishes at St Albans in successive weeks, finishing in 16:46, ten seconds slower than last week. DAVE SMITH also returned and delivered another course PB, bringing his time down to 20:29 while finishing in 31st place, Finally, SUZY HAWKINS made her parkrun debut, finishing as third woman in a time of 21:04.
At Panshanger Park the three Spartans in attendance were led home by MARTIN NICHOLAS in 51st place in a time of 24:36 on his first appearance at the venue. HEATHER MALONEY was 137th (38th woman) in 29:28 and CAROLINE CROFT was 140th (41st woman) in 29:37.
Fastest Spartan woman of the week was NATALIE LAWRENCE who was first woman (and 6th overall) at Luton Wardown in a new course PB of 19:09.
Travelling further for their parkrun fix were VERITY FISHER (64th overall, 7th woman in 24:00) and DANNY SUTTON (76th overall in 24:44) who ran at Moors Valley for the first time. Finally, on his latest Newcastle start, ROGER HARDMAN was 286th finisher in 26:37, and BEV HARLOW was also running at Newcastle finishing 429th (128th woman) in 31:14 on her first visit..
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- 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.
- First event, Midweek League at St. Albans on Tuesday 17th May.
- Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on Monday 30th May.
- Milton Keynes 10K on Tuesday 28th June.
- Bedford 5K on Wednesday 27th July.
- 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.
- Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
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