PAUL HEWETT, MARTIN BLACKBURN, STUART ARCHER and ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER were all in the top 100 in Sunday’s Fred Hughes 10 mile race in St Albans. They were some of the fifteen Fairlands Valley Spartans in the race.
Starting near Verulamium Park and going south west from the town centre into the hills in the nearby countryside there was a particular challenge at around six miles with a climb lasting almost a mile, and, of course, it was cold.
Ashley was fourth senior woman in 1 hour 6 minutes 54 seconds. Paul ran a new ten mile personal best of 1:02:12 and was 37th out of the 840 finishers. Martin wanted to beat 64 minutes and did so with 1:03:54 at 52nd and Stuart came in 94th with 1:06:41.
DANNY SCANLON improved on his Buntingford time, three weeks earlier, by one and a half minutes to 1:12:30 and hopes his hamstring problems are now behind him. GRAHAM BLACKBURN was back in 1:17:16.
ISABEL GREEN improved her best ten mile time by 17 seconds to 1:19:22 running with husband STEVE who was given 1:19:21.
JIM BROWN improved on last year’s event by 1 minute 27 seconds and finished in 1:22:13. He was sixth in his category in the county championships.
It was the first ten mile race for LIZ CARVELL who completed the race in a time of 1:44:14. She said it was a lovely day for it and lovely countryside but the hills were quite tough.
Sharon CROWLEY was six minutes faster than Buntingford with 1:44:54.
The others in the Fairlands Fifteen were WENDY THARANI 1:28:58; KEN JUDE 1:33:11; CLAIRE HYDE 1:34:45 and HELEN WHITEHURST who despite pre-race nerves easily beat the time limit with 1:49:06.
Essendon 10K
A fab four went to the Essendon 10K on Sunday. This was a very cold and early morning run along an undulating gold buggy track around the Essendon Country Club with about 400 runners. JONATHAN JONES ran a new 10K personal best (PB) of 52 minutes exactly; CAROLE SHELDRICK 54:13; CAROLINE CROFT in 1:00:56 and JANE WHITROW in 1:11:53.
Georgia On His Mind
ROGER BIGGS reports there’s lots of snow in the USA but fortunately not in Georgia.
He continued his winter trip to the States, with the Jekyll Island Marathon on the Georgia Atlantic Coast.
Overall a good running temperature, but there was a nasty cold wind blowing off the Atlantic. A flat course helped Roger run 5:37:59, his best time since a heart operation in April last year.
His time was good enough to be the 1st Veteran over 70 years old, finishing in 159th of 182.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 19 January
Spartans attended 13 different parkrun locations today – not an unlucky number for Maria SWIFT who picked up a parkrun personal best (PB) in Letchworth of 22:32 and was first lady. Meanwhile, in Stevenage, 27 Spartans joined Alison SHELLEY who ran her 50th parkrun in a time of 27:14. Joining her was first timer Annie LOVATT in 30:55.
op finishers included Marie COLUCCI 3rd woman in 24:15 at Letchworth, Stuart HAYCROFT 5th 19:08 Stevenage, Tracy PEZ 7th 26:32 Letchworth, Richard SPRINGALL 11th 20:19 Wimpole Estate, Martin BLACKBURN 12th 20:06 Stevenage, Andy JAY 15th 26:08 Westmill and Zoe JACKSON 19th 25:42 Stevenage.
TREVOR and KAREN BROOM are away in Belfast for the weekend and did the Ormeau park run Saturday morning
Nice two lap course round Ormeau Park, it’s a very busy park run with 468 runners. Last week there were over 600. Trevor finished in 32.43 and Karen finished in 31.09
Tables
Spartans at the FH10
| Pos | Name | Time | Category | Cat Pos | Gender | Comments |
| 37 | Paul Hewett | 01:02:12 | Senior U40 | 23 | Male | |
| 52 | Martin Blackburn | 01:03:54 | Senior U40 | 30 | Male | |
| 94 | Stuart Archer | 01:06:41 | Senior U40 | 48 | Male | |
| 97 | Ashley Schoenwetter | 01:06:54 | Lady U35 | 4 | Female | 4th senior |
| 185 | Danny Scanlon | 01:12:30 | Senior U40 | 68 | Male | 1:30 imp Bunt |
| 261 | Graham Blackburn | 01:17:16 | M50 | 40 | Male | |
| 294 | Isabel Green | 01:19:22 | W35 | 22 | Female | PB 17 seconds |
| 295 | Steve Green | 01:19:21 | M40 | 89 | Male | |
| 363 | Jim Brown | 01:22:13 | M60 | 12 | Male | 1:27 better 2018 |
| 519 | Wendy Tharani | 01:28:58 | W45 | 57 | Female | |
| 580 | Ken Jude | 01:33:11 | M50 | 81 | Male | |
| 622 | Claire Hyde | 01:34:45 | W35 | 91 | Female | |
| 721 | Liz Carvell | 01:44:16 | W55 | 36 | Female | First 10 miles |
| 727 | Sharon Crowley | 01:44:54 | W55 | 39 | Female | 6 min imp Bunt |
| 760 | Helen Whitehurst | 01:49:06 | W45 | 114 | Female |
840 finishers.
Essendon 10K
| Pos | Name | Net Time | Cat Pos | Gender | Gen Pos |
| 63 | Jonathan Jones | 00:52:00 | 47 | Male | 48 |
| 83 | Carole Sheldrick | 00:54:13 | 24 | Female | 24 |
| 139 | Caroline Croft | 01:00:56 | 49 | Female | 49 |
| 192 | Jane Whitrow | 01:11:53 | 90 | Female | 90 |
Parkruns: Saturday 19th January
| Parkrun | Position | Gender | Parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| Bedford | 42 | 39 | John NELMS | 00:22:16 | |
| Oak Hill | 44 | 39 | John ROXBOROUGH | 00:22:15 | |
| Westmill | 16 | 15 | Andy JAY | 00:26:08 | |
| Westmill | 31 | 26 | Ken JUDE | 00:28:03 | |
| Wanstead Flats | 156 | 128 | Nick GILL | 00:27:29 | |
| Pymmes | 42 | 38 | Michael O’KEEFE | 00:28:22 | |
| Stevenage | 5 | 5 | Stuart HAYCROFT | 00:19:08 | |
| Stevenage | 12 | 12 | Martin BLACKBURN | 00:20:06 | |
| Stevenage | 50 | 47 | Martin DUDLEY | 00:23:02 | |
| Stevenage | 62 | 58 | Gareth COWELL | 00:23:30 | 10th parkrun |
| Stevenage | 85 | 71 | David PATTMAN | 00:24:59 | |
| Stevenage | 105 | 88 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 00:25:41 | |
| Stevenage | 107 | 19 | Zoe JACKSON | 00:25:42 | |
| Stevenage | 118 | 98 | Jay PAPA | 00:26:15 | |
| Stevenage | 120 | 21 | Liz SMITH | 00:26:20 | |
| Stevenage | 150 | 30 | Alison SHELLEY | 00:27:14 | 50th parkrun |
| Stevenage | 151 | 121 | Steven DOBNER | 00:27:14 | |
| Stevenage | 152 | 122 | Paul SHELLEY | 00:27:16 | |
| Stevenage | 182 | 139 | Paul JENNINGS | 00:28:19 | |
| Stevenage | 199 | 153 | David ACKERY | 00:28:51 | |
| Stevenage | 202 | 155 | Sean MILLWOOD | 00:28:58 | |
| Stevenage | 209 | 52 | Karen PALMER | 00:29:14 | |
| Stevenage | 215 | 158 | Jon SYPULA | 00:29:24 | |
| Stevenage | 248 | 71 | Anne LOVATT | 00:30:55 | 1st timer |
| Stevenage | 291 | 95 | Chloe EMMERSON | 00:33:22 | |
| Stevenage | 294 | 98 | Hazel SMITH | 00:33:26 | |
| Stevenage | 295 | 99 | Jenny GARRETT | 00:33:27 | |
| Stevenage | 301 | 103 | Bernadette MILLWOOD | 00:33:38 | |
| Stevenage | 303 | 200 | Nick WITCOMBE | 00:33:43 | |
| Stevenage | 311 | 201 | Peter CARPENTER | 00:34:16 | |
| Stevenage | 342 | 130 | Callie CHAPMAN | 00:37:40 | |
| Stevenage | 358 | 139 | Hazel JONES | 00:40:37 | |
| Stevenage | 367 | 146 | Gemma PARKER | 00:42:35 | |
| Stevenage | 378 | 153 | Caren DOWSETT | 00:46:44 | |
| Mile End | 414 | 275 | Tim ROBINSON | 00:33:53 | |
| Wimpole Estate | 12 | 11 | Richard SPRINGALL | 00:20:19 | |
| Ormeau (Belfast) | 311 | 112 | Karen BROOM | 00:31:09 | |
| Ormeau (Belfast) | 351 | 216 | Trevor BROOM | 00:32:43 | |
| Exeter Riverside | 31 | 28 | Adrian DONNELLY | 00:21:18 | |
| Holkham | 28 | 27 | Nigel STRONGITHARM | 00:24:07 | |
| Castle Park | 48 | 48 | Daniel SUTTON | 00:23:13 | |
| Castle Park | 192 | 41 | Verity FISHER | 00:28:50 | |
| Letchworth | 8 | 1 | Maria SWIFT | 00:22:32 | PB |
| Letchworth | 19 | 3 | Marie COLUCCI | 00:24:15 | |
| Letchworth | 38 | 7 | Tracy PEZ | 00:26:32 | |
| Letchworth | 86 | 66 | Dave SMITH | 00:32:17 | 60th Parkrun |