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FLOODS DON’T STOP RUNNERS

News from an amended Fred Hughes, Florida and Eastleigh. And don’t forget, the 5k Handicap this Thurday (23rd January) and the FVS Presentation evening coming up soon (28th Feb).

The original course for Sunday’s Fred Hughes 10 mile road race including the county championship was flooded but the race, involving several Fairlands Valley Spartans, went ahead on an amended course.

STEVE GREEN was 190th in 1 hour 14 minutes 8 seconds; MICHAEL CONNELL 295th and eighth veteran (60 plus) in 1:19:40; ISABEL GREEN improved her personal best (PB) by a massive 6 minutes 33 seconds to finish 352nd in 1:23:24; ROGER HARDMAN was 424th in 1:26:58 (13th veteran (65 plus); KAREN PALMER 427th improving her PB by 1 minute 22 seconds to 1:27:01; and BEV HARLOW improved her PB by a similar amount to 1:27:21 – she was 434th and eighth female veteran (55 plus). PAUL HOLGATE was 598th in 1:41:07 and SHARON CROWLEY 621st in 1:44:29.

Cartoon Marathon

LIAM HERBERT realised a longstanding dream by taking part in the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend in Orlando, Florida recently. Liam had signed up to running the ‘Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge’ which involved running a half marathon on Saturday 11th January, followed by a full marathon on Sunday 12th January. Liam’s challenge would see him cover 39.3 miles across the weekend, by travelling between four Disney Theme Parks, around a motor car Speedway, through a multi-sports complex that featured a lap of the athletics track and a circuit of the Baseball stadium, and past a parade of Disney characters, screaming spectators, exotic animals, brass bands, cheerleaders and gospel choirs amongst others! Both events started at 5:30am in the morning, conditions were very humid (and got warmer!) but the atmosphere was electric, the best race experience Liam has experienced yet, with almost 40,000 participants finishing over the two days. The support around the course was incredible, and there was never a dull moment or quiet spot on the course which helped everyone keep going. Liam’s target was to run each race at a decent pace, and potentially to PB on the marathon: he made a good start by running the half in 1:38:20, finishing in 237th place out of 20245 finishers, and started well on the marathon, but suffered in the final 4 miles due to the warm conditions and a lack of energy, but kept pushing on to finish in 3:40:52, and placed 756th out of 19198 finishers. To give further perspective, Liam finished in the top 2% of all half marathon finishers, and in the top 4% of all marathon finishers at the event. Liam describes the racing weekend as the toughest yet most rewarding thing he was done so far, but also the most fun he has had as a runner: he made the most of his experience by running in and out of staged set pieces to get photographs done with Disney characters, and he completed the half marathon by leaping into the air and high-fiving Mickey Mouse to make a memorable finish! Liam was rewarded with three fantastic medals, wonderful race memories and a long sought, more relaxed holiday immediately after!

Eastleigh Parkrun

Official results from Danik’s run at EASTLEIGH (hampshire) Parkrun on 18th January 2018 on their standby course next to the runway of Southampton Airport which was more like a cross-country course with all the small hills, muds and puddles placed DANIEL BATES in 28th position out of 138 runners with a time of 23:32.

Presentation Evening

Fairlands Valley Spartans Presentation Evening, Dinner and Disco will be on Friday evening, 28th February. Tickets are £23. More details from www.fvspartans.org.uk

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 23rd January
• Serpentine 5K race on Friday lunch time 31st 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 9.30a.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

E N D S

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 or Vivienne Honey (Secretary) 07702 846304

www.fvspartans.org.uk

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