Lockdown Take Two has not stopped Fairlands Valley Spartans running. With a series of virtual events; a new relay; a hard soft challenge and “buddying” opportunities as an alternative to running solo they are keeping very active.
Nineteen Spartans ran the Stevenage 10K virtual event. They included ANDY McGUINNESS 15th overall out of 388 in a new personal best (PB) of 46 minutes 32 seconds, an improvement of 1 minute 45 seconds; GRAHAM BLACKBURN who equalled his season’s best (SB) with 48:54 which gave him 31st overall and fourth in his category; new member DANIK BATES 51st with 50:53; JIM BROWN fourth in his category at 63rd with 52:10; KELLY HURREN fifth in her category and 78th with 54:16; NICOLA ANDERSSON made the top 100 with 55:49 and was seventh in her category; ANGIE KEELING ran a season’s best 70:55 and TONI NICHOLS beat her personal best by 1 minute 56 with 73:23.
(You’ll find all the Spartan results in a table near the end of this release).
Get Your Kicks On Route 66
Spartans keep on running. The twin towns relay was hugely popular in the first lockdown. Now head coach BRIAN WHITE has come up with another challenge – Route 66. Very topical with the recent US election.
The Spartans started in Chicago by running the marathon, now they are following the heritage route 66 all the way to Los Angeles. It’s about 2,300 miles and scenic updates will be provided along the way. On Saturday, day three, they completed 223 miles with 42 Spartans posting a distance to get between Sullivan and Carthage in Missouri. They have run 541 miles so far.
On Day 4, Sunday, 45 Spartans ran another 328 miles so Team Spartan is now between Tulsa and Clinton in Oklahoma. 869 miles covered so far.
The States they are running through are (election result): Illinois (blue, Democrat); Missouri (red, Republican); Oklahoma (red); Texas (red); New Mexico (blue); Arizona (blue) and California (blue). Â So they are heading for lots of blue states!
Get your kicks on Route 66
Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than 2000 miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66
Well it goes from St Louis, down to Missouri
Oklahoma city looks oh so pretty
You’ll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don’t forget Winona
Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernadino
Would you get hip to this kindly trip
And take that California trip
Get your kick on Route 66
Hard Soft Challenge
And NIKKI WILBY has come up with another motivator. Run 5K or 5 miles on tarmac in November then see how close you can get to matching the time cross country in December.
Other Virtuals
Running around Stevenage on Saturday morning JIM BROWN was second man 65 plus in the 23rd virtual Fly 5K event. NICK KLEANTHOUS finished in 26:32 and PAUL HOLGATE improved his 2020 5K time by 8 seconds with 29:49.
Competitors were recording times as far away as Sydney, Australia. There was a record 244 participants.
Fly events have to be run on a Saturday morning. In addition in the 21st (not) Stevenage ParkRun 5K PAUL JENNINGS completed in 27:15; MARIAN MORLEY in 28:06 and
RACHEL SKYE ran her own Virtual ParkRun 5K in 28:20K.
DANNY SCANLON and MATT CLARKE both ran virtual half marathons. Danny in a new season’s best 1:32:16 and Matt in 1:59:30.
Tables
Spartans at the virtual Stevenage 10K
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 15 | ANDY McGUINNESS | 46:32 | PB (1:45) |
| 31 | GRAHAM BLACKBURN | 48:54 | 4th in category. Equals SB |
| 51 | DANIK BATES | 50:53 | |
| 63 | JIM BROWN | 52:10 | 4th in category. |
| 78 | KELLY HURREN | 54:16 | 5th in category. |
| 100 | NICOLA ANDERSSON | 55:49 | 7th in category |
| 170 | STEVEN DOBNER | 60:02 | |
| 256 | CATHY BAKER | 70:17 | |
| 260 | ANGIE KEELING | 70:55 | SB (1:37) |
| 282 | TONI NICHOLS | 73:23 | PB (1:56) |
| 288 | MATTHEW PATTMAN | 74:09 | |
| 294 | PENNY SCHENKEL | 75:35 | |
| 303 | RACHAEL MILLER | 76:53 | |
| 309 | SALLY PICKLES | 77:49 | |
| 316 | STEPH BIGGAR | 79:14 | |
| 333 | PAM TAYLOR | 83:09 | |
| 356 | EMMA SUTHERINGTON | 96:36 | |
| 387 | KAREN BROOM | 2:39:00 | |
| 388 | SALLY McBRIDE | 2:46:45 |