The Watford Half Marathon is always a tough workout but great preparation for a Spring marathon.
After a tight start and first couple of miles the Spartans started to hit the hills at about five kilometres with big summits at about 11, 14.5 and 16 kilometres.
The fastest Spartan was TOBY ECCLESHALL in 1:39:22.
The race was DANNY SCANLON’s first half marathon since November 2018! He managed to achieve a sub 1.45 in a time of 1.44.16 chip time.
JIM BROWN was amused to get into a battle for minor county places on the long drag up Cassiobury Park to the finish line. Initially left behind a combination of Spartan training, Stevenage’s undulating cycleways and perhaps an old cyclist’s head meant he snatched seventh one second ahead of eighth and a further second ahead of ninth with his 1:52:39. All very silly but fun.
KAREN ELLIS came in with 125 minutes exactly with ROBERT WRIGHT at 2:08:32.
| Position | BiB | Name | Chip | Category | Cat |
| 332 | 426 | TOBY ECCLESHALL | 01:39:22 | Senior U40 | 135 |
| 446 | 1280 | DANNY SCANLON | 01:44:16 | Senior U40 | 166 |
| 703 | 183 | JIM BROWN | 01:52:39 | M60 | 18 |
| 975 | 441 | KAREN ELLIS | 02:05:00 | W45 | 52 |
| 1019 | 1587 | ROBERT WRIGHT | 02:08:32 | Senior U40 | 289 |
There were 1317 finishers. The race included the county championships for veteran runners. There was a bit of wind but although the registration and finish areas were pretty muddy the rain held off and conditions were pretty good. Some wet roads but no sign of the ice that cancelled the event in 2019..
95% for Yuko
It was back to the one lap course around the Serpentine for the Last Friday of the Month 5K race in Hyde Park on Friday.
While many runners would be happy with a score of 70% Spartan YUKO GORDON won the age graded contest with 95% with her time of 21 minutes 37 seconds.
JIM BROWN won his category with 25:33, SHERYL HANN got 27:42 and PENNY SCHENKEL was pleased with her 28:25.
It was mild, dry and breezy with a lovely slightly downhill drift from behind the Lido Café at 4K to the finish.
Yuko also reports that at the South of England XC Championship in Parliament Hill (last week) she was second W65 in 41:10 (overlooked by the organiser/ Athletic Weekly result)
Parkrun Highlights 1st February 2020
At Stevenage it was Stripey club vest Saturday. Paul SHELLEY was 5th overall in a new PB of 19:14.
It was also PB o’clock for Natalie White (22:42 3rd lady) Mo Warrillow (25:47) and Karen LIDDLE (30:24). Usually found running much longer distances, Trish Hopper completed her first parkrun but made schoolgirl error of forgetting her bar code!
Congratulations to David Ackery who completed his 50th parkrun.
Rowena RUTLEDGE ran her 80th parkrun at Gunpowder near Waltham Abbey (30:17) and Roger Biggs was in Bedford (38:04). Nicola Kennedy was 4th lady at the Riverside event in Chester-le-Street running 22:53.
Grace Brown was flying the Spartan flag at Panshanger narrowly missing a course PB with a time of 24:36 (6th lady). Debbie Blantern was at Ellenbrook (30:13).
Andy Jay was in Devon at Teignmouth clocking 25:30. John ROXBOROUGH was near Heathrow at Osterley running 22:14.
(All the Spartan parkrun results will be found near the end of this release)
Tables
Spartan Parkrun Results for Saturday 2nd February
Bedford parkrun
A total of 480 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 417 | 224 | Roger BIGGS | 38:04 |
Stevenage parkrun
A total of 514 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 5 | 5 | Paul SHELLEY | 19:14 |
| 7 | 7 | Dean CARPENTER | 19:19 |
| 39 | 37 | Allan SHARMAN GARCIA | 22:30 |
| 44 | 3 | Natalie WHITE | 22:42 |
| 54 | 49 | Daniel SUTTON | 23:05 |
| 62 | 57 | Martin DUDLEY | 23:17 |
| 72 | 66 | Thomas SAUKA | 23:37 |
| 74 | 68 | Luke VINCENT | 23:44 |
| 93 | 82 | David SCOTT | 24:16 |
| 102 | 90 | Tim ROBINSON | 24:39 |
| 108 | 12 | Georgie HOOPER | 24:48 |
| 109 | 96 | Nick GILL | 24:52 |
| 112 | 98 | Nigel STRONGITHARM | 24:59 |
| 119 | 15 | Verity FISHER | 25:15 |
| 136 | 19 | Mo WARRILLOW | 25:47 |
| 138 | 115 | Jonathan JONES | 25:52 |
| 140 | 117 | Craig BACON | 25:55 |
| 165 | 138 | Luke GURNEY | 26:48 |
| 209 | 169 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 28:18 |
| 237 | 188 | Kartik SHARMA | 29:27 |
| 258 | 51 | Monica SMITHSON | 30:18 |
| 261 | 52 | Karen LIDDLE | 30:24 |
| 262 | 53 | Claire PULLEN | 30:24 |
| 272 | 205 | David ACKERY | 30:41 |
| 280 | 62 | Maria SWIFT | 31:00 |
| 288 | 69 | Nicola PATTMAN | 31:10 |
| 299 | 74 | Dzenana TOPIC | 31:33 |
| 315 | 82 | Erica GRAYSON | 32:10 |
| 316 | 83 | Karen PALMER | 32:12 |
| 317 | 84 | Caroline CROFT | 32:13 |
| 337 | 233 | Jim BROWN | 32:52 |
| 338 | 95 | Penny SCHENKEL | 32:52 |
| 389 | 128 | Helen HARRIS | 35:05 |
| 419 | 148 | Bernadette MILLWOOD | 37:07 |
| 423 | 151 | Marian MORLEY | 37:16 |
| 444 | 164 | Caren THAIN | 38:05 |
| 457 | 176 | Pam TAYLOR | 38:58 |
| 467 | 186 | Sharon CROWLEY | 40:04 |
| 477 | 194 | Melody BROWN | 43:11 |
| 494 | 208 | Hazel JONES | 47:57 |
| 511 | 220 | Sofia CARPENTER | 62:02 |
Gunpowder parkrun
A total of 277 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 129 | 43 | Rowena RUTLEDGE | 30:17 |
Riverside parkrun
A total of 474 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 67 | 4 | Nicola KENNEDY | 22:53 |
Brockenhurst parkrun
A total of 224 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 199 | 119 | Darryl STEVENS | 37:13 |
Osterley parkrun
A total of 406 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 29 | 26 | John ROXBOROUGH | 22:14 |
Panshanger parkrun
A total of 356 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 52 | 6 | Grace BROWN | 24:36 |
Ellenbrook Fields parkrun
A total of 341 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 184 | 53 | Debbie BLANTERN | 30:13 |
Teignmouth Promenade parkrun
A total of 279 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 71 | 54 | Andy JAY | 25:30 |