Five Spartans completed the Garden City Festive Five on Sunday. The first from Fairlands Valley over the line was CHRIS WESTCOTT, 1st M40 and 6th overall in a time of 29 minutes 20 seconds – his first time under 30 minutes for five miles. STEVE MAYFIELD was the next Spartan in, 43rd in 36:21, followed by ROY BOWDERY, 77th in 41:42. ANDREA WESCOTT was the first Spartan lady, 92nd in 44:21 with LORRAINE WYATT six places behind in 45:53. There were 140 finishers in all.
South Eastern X/C
Sharon Crowley and Bev Harlow competed in the South Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships at Old Warden on Saturday. It was a glorious morning and a lovely course.
Bev finished the 6km course in 36 minutes 36 seconds and Sharon in 38:13.
A good race to run next year.
Lanzarote
Carol Paul ran the hottest Lanzarote Marathon to date. In over 27 degress Celsius she was third Vet 50 in 5 hours 1 minutes 14 seconds.
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 in Stevenage on Thursday 19th December
- County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30th December 2013
- Hertfordshire Cross Country Championships in Watford on Sunday 5th January
- Cross country race four on Therfield Heath on Sunday 12th January
- Cross country race five at Watford on Sunday 16th February
- Presentation Evening on Friday 28th February 2014
- Veterans Cross Country Championships in Royston on 16th March 2014
- Off Road Challenge in Stevenage on Sunday 20th July 2014
- Stevenage Marathon on Sunday 2nd November 2014
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, Brittain Way, 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 9.00a.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 done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.
Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £35 per year, £25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.
If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk