It was seriously hot for the Greenway Challenge in Letchworth. Several of the 17 Spartans grouped up in the sun as they tackled the 13.1 miles multi-terrain event.
Spartan ADRIAN DONNELLY was a bit of a star. He won the men 40 plus category and was fifth overall with 1 hour 38 minutes 41 seconds (1:38:41). NICK GILL and PETE GENTLE came in 36th and 37th in 1:52:59. SUZY HAWKINS was the fastest female from Fairlands in 1:53:59 with TOBY ECCLESHALL not far behind in 1:54:17.
Next came a Spartan quadruplet. ANNABELLE WHITE and ALEX SCOFIELD in 2:08:06 then MARIE COLUCCI and GEORGIE HOOPER in 2:08:17.
FVS club chair TIM ROBINSON was back in 2:43:39 a little in front of another Spartan pair TRICIA HOPPER in 2:45:01 and KAREN LIDDLE in 2:45:04.
A famous Fairlands Five rounded it off for FVS. VICKY ARCHER 126th in 2:51:16 then CLAIRE EMMERSON 127th; HAZEL SMITH 128th; TRACY PEZ 129th and PENNY SCHENKEL 130th all in 2:51:17.
There were 145 finishers.
| Pos | Cat Pos | Name | Time |
| 5 | 1 | Adrian DONNELLY | 1:38:41 |
| 36 | 7 | Nick GILL | 1:52:59 |
| 37 | 11 | Pete GENTLE | 1:52:59 |
| 43 | 4 | Suzy HAWKINS | 1:53:49 |
| 45 | 8 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 1:54:17 |
| 78 | 9 | Annabelle WHITE | 2:08:06 |
| 79 | 15 | Alex SCOFIELD | 2:08:06 |
| 81 | 7 | Marie COLUCCI | 2:08:17 |
| 82 | 12 | Georgie HOOPER | 2:08:17 |
| 118 | 26 | Tim ROBINSON | 2:43:39 |
| 119 | 3 | Tricia HOPPER | 2:45:01 |
| 121 | 4 | Karen LIDDLE | 2:45:04 |
| 126 | 21 | Vicky ARCHER | 2:51:16 |
| 127 | 18 | Claire EMMERSON | 2:51:17 |
| 128 | 19 | Hazel SMITH | 2:51:17 |
| 129 | 20 | Tracy PEZ | 2:51:17 |
| 130 | 6 | Penny SCHENKEL | 2:51:17 |
Five Miles Frazzle but some Spartans top threes.
Some like it hot. Others were not quite so sure at the Phoenix Five mile race in Stevenage. Thirteen Spartans ran. Pretty warm with little shade but a straightforward course from Shephalbury Park to Fairlands Valley Park and back.
MIKE JEFFS and PAUL SHELLEY excelled. Mike was first man 40 plus and fourth out of the 272 finishers in 29 minutes 55 seconds; Paul second man 50 plus and seventh in 31:06.
JESS CLARKE was second senior woman (18-39) and tenth woman overall in 40:44 and LORRAINE HILL third woman 55 plus in 43 minutes exactly.
Lots of room for improvement but JIM BROWN completed a full set of both club championships for this year with 46:20.
| Pos | Cat Pos | Name | Chip Time |
| 4 | 1 | Mike JEFFS | 29:55 |
| 7 | 2 | Paul SHELLEY | 31:06 |
| 10 | 5 | Jay PAPA | 31:43 |
| 74 | 2 | Jess CLARKE | 40:44 |
| 95 | 3 | Lorraine HILL | 43:00 |
| 123 | 38 | Lloyd DIAS | 45:19 |
| 129 | 5 | Jim BROWN | 46:20 |
| 163 | 15 | Sarah ILLINGWORTH | 50:17 |
| 164 | 15 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 50:12 |
| 171 | 27 | Karl SHREEVE | 51:41 |
| 197 | 13 | Monica SMITHSON | 54:53 |
| 211 | 27 | Callie CHAPMAN | 56:34 |
| 229 | 17 | Alice WELCH | 59:15 |
Spartans On Track
Fairlands Valley Spartan sent a team of nineteen to the first fixture in the EMAC track and field series this year.
The FVS women’s team of SHARON CROWLEY, YUKO GORDON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, NIKKI NATION, JOYLYN SANDERS-MULLINS, TESSA STEPHENSON and ALISON WOOD won with 74.0 points compared with 49.0 for second placed Bedford & County.
CHARLES ARNOLD, JIM BROWN, MARK COLLINS, MARK FREEMAN, STEVE FEELY, MIKE JEFFS, STEVE MAYFIELD, ANDREW PATTERSON, GRANT RAMSAY, TIMOTHY SAUNDERS-MULLINS, PAUL SHELLEY and DAVID STEPHENSON were third in the men’s competition with 73.0.
The track was very busy with a number of 1500 metre races. The 1500 features in the Spartans short distance championships. ANDREW PATTERSON won the men 35 to 49 race in 4:23.1; ALISON WOOD won the women 50-59 in 5:56.6; SHARON CROWLEY the women 60 plus in 7:46.0 and YUKO GORDON the women 70 plus in 6:45.7.
There were useful placings by GRANT RAMSAY second man 50 plus 5:21.6; CHARLES ARNOLD second man 60 plus in 6:06.6; CHRISTINE LATHWELL second woman 35 plus in 5:33.5 and JIM BROWN third man 70 plus in 8:11.8. The event was in Sandy on Wednesday evening.
The next two EMAC fixtures will be in Bedford on Wednesday 4th June and in Corby on Wednesday 2nd July. EMAC, Eastern Masters Athletics Club, is for East of England veterans aged 35 plus.
Semington Slog 10K
PETE COOK said the Semington Slog 10K was a lovely sunny outing in the Wiltshire Countryside undulating to start with then a nice flat path along the Kennet and Avon Canal followed by the reason it’s called a slog for the last 5K. He took more than a minute off his personal best (PB) when he finished in 56:35.
MK Marathon Weekend
At about 12 degrees conditions were relatively kind for marathon running in Milton Keynes on May Day Holiday Monday.
A bit of a breeze but TONY RANDFIELD went through 10K in 49:40 and half marathon in 1:45:51 and reached the finish line in 3 hours 45 minutes 29 seconds. JESSICA CLARKE was through 10K in 1:00:12 and halfway in 2:06:51 and the finish line in 4:34:33. With a much better run than in Brighton a few weeks ago HANNAH MANTON in was at 10K in 1:23:45; halfway in 2:41:19 and finished in 5:27:05. There were 1,934 finishers.
Hannah said “It didn’t quite go to plan despite feeling strong, blisters definitely got the better of me! Multiple stops were needed to change plasters, and even swap trainers at the halfway point, but I’ll take it as lessons learned and more training towards my ultra in June!”
JOHN NELMS was running the half marathon. He went through 10K in 1:02:45 and finished in 2:02:15. There were 2,316 finishers in the half marathon.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 10th May – including the 400th parkrun in Stevenege
Stevenage parkrun celebrated a major milestone on Saturday morning 10th May. It was be the 400th Stevenage parkrun. So far there have been 132,505 finishes in just under nine years with an average time of 30 minutes 11 seconds.
There was another huge turnout – 653 runners – and 30 of them were Spartans.
Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI won the event by a good margin. He ran the 5K in 17 minutes 52 seconds (17:52). That was 54 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
GRANT RAMSAY was back in the top five at fourth with 19:15.
It was a double century for JIM BROWN. His 200th parkrun on the 400th parkrun. He finished in 28:56. DANIEL VILJOEN ran his 290th in 25:14; MARK BEASLEY his 150th in 25:43 and JAYNE RIDDELL her 110th in 27:03.Yuko Gordon was second woman and 27th overall in the Letchworth parkrun with 25:04.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 1 | 1 | Adrian BUSOLINI | 17:52 |
| 4 | 4 | Grant RAMSAY | 19:15 |
| 20 | 17 | Perri GENTRY | 21:04 |
| 26 | 23 | David RIDDELL | 21:39 |
| 59 | 54 | Matthew COOKE | 23:14 |
| 99 | 92 | Paul MAGUIRE | 24:37 |
| 101 | 94 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 24:38 |
| 118 | 107 | Darren EMMERSON | 25:14 |
| 119 | 108 | Daniel VILJOEN | 25:14 |
| 141 | 126 | Mark BEASLEY | 25:43 |
| 160 | 138 | Ryan DUNNING | 26:07 |
| 169 | 145 | Matt TUTTON | 26:22 |
| 195 | 162 | Steve TINSLEY | 27:03 |
| 193 | 22 | Jayne RIDDELL | 27:03 |
| 221 | 26 | Lorraine HILL | 27:27 |
| 287 | 221 | Jim BROWN | 28:56 |
| 301 | 228 | Matt CLARKE | 29:18 |
| 300 | 60 | Sharon CROWLEY | 29:18 |
| 343 | 251 | Kartik SHARMA | 30:34 |
| 382 | 99 | Debbie BLANTERN | 31:20 |
| 423 | 273 | Ahaan SHARMA | 32:17 |
| 448 | 142 | Penny SCHENKEL | 33:08 |
| 472 | 297 | Stephen SMITHSON | 34:21 |
| 500 | 169 | Hilary DAVIES | 35:19 |
| 528 | 313 | Lloyd DIAS | 36:30 |
| 550 | 200 | Hannah MANTON | 37:46 |
| 574 | 217 | Nicola HATHERLY | 39:12 |
| 630 | 341 | Roger BIGGS | 47:03 |
| 649 | 350 | Tony RANDFIELD | 56:56 |
| 652 | 263 | Claire EMMERSON | 1:02:57 |