Eight Spartans In Manchester! Entries are open for our own Stevenage Half Marathon!
Eight Spartans excelled themselves by finishing the Manchester Marathon on Sunday.
For PAUL and ALISON SHELLEY it was their second ever marathon. It was warmer than they’d expected it to be and they both gave it their all. Paul improved his personal best by 14 minutes and finished in 3 hours 13 minutes 36 seconds. He was 1,098 out of the 9,473 men and 61st out of 929 men aged 50 plus. Alison took 23 minutes off her personal best (PB) with 4 hours 13 minutes 16 seconds and was 84th out of the 415 women aged 50 plus.
MATT CLARKE was pleased to get under four hours, 3:58:01, despite disruptions to his preparation. For FIONA CLARKE it was an emotional run but she completed her target of three marathons this year with 4 hours 52 minutes 21 seconds. Fiona was raising money for the East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust. She said that for her it was an ugly race, very scrappy, the hardest of the three but she did it!
WENDY THARANI ran the London Marathon only a week earlier but she still finished Manchester in 4 hours 38 minutes 55 seconds. DAVID PATTMAN came in with 4:01:07 and STEVEN DOBNER with 4:12:53.
For LIZ SMITH it was an experiment to see if her prodigious cycling fitness could get her round a marathon. It did. She finished with a smile in 5 hours 10 minutes 34 seconds.
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 1148 | PAUL SHELLEY | 3:13:36 | PB (13 minutes) |
| 4948 | MATT CLARKE | 3:58:01 | |
| 5366 | DAVID PATTMAN | 4:01.07 | |
| 6476 | STEVEN DOBNER | 4:12:53 | |
| 6527 | ALISON SHELLEY | 4:13:16 | PB (23 minutes) |
| 9036 | WENDY THARANI | 4:38:55 | Ran London |
| 10130 | FIONA CLARKE | 4:52:21 | Three Done |
| 11402 | LIZ SMITH | 5:10:34 |
Metropolis
On Sunday, ADRIAN BUSOLINI participated in the inaugural running of Metropolis, a story-driven night time ultra experience through central London. Starting with some properly engaging & atmospheric immersive theatre, runners were given new identities and tasked with completing a range of mandatory and optional missions to help the RUN resistance network.
Guided by What 3 Words locations, they had to devise optimised route choices on the fly, accounting for factors such as time windows, deadlines, water supply, and the practicalities of navigating around London on a Saturday night; all the while evading ‘The Eyes’ who were trying to hunt us down with the help of GPS tracking. Ultimately we had to connect with a resistance leader to learn of our extraction location, and make it to the rendezvous point before ‘the last transport from Metropolis’. Billed as a 50 kilometres race, Adrian ended up exceeding 75 from targeting a number of the bonus missions.
The race directors Richard and Mark put a lot of effort into devising this experience, crafting the backstory, preparing the theatrical elements & actor roles, the technological live tracking for the missions, and practicalities of the Eyes hunting participants; down to the details such as the witty mission locations, origami birds, and the extraction location embedded in a fortune cookie. If you fancy a memorable, immersive experience that also happens to involve a fair amount of running, then keep an eye out for what Richand and Mark come up with next.
Results are yet to be finalised, but according to the current state of the leaderboard I finished in second, somehow…
Jonathan Second At Windsor
Spartan JONATHAN PARR was second at the Windsor Autumn 5K around Dorney Lake in 16 minutes 7 seconds.
Yuko Is World Champion
YUKO GORDON from Fairlands Valley Spartans is a marathon world champion. She won the World Age Group Championships which were incorporated in the London Marathon. Her time was 3 hours 25 minutes 30 seconds. She was 6 minutes 54 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Sharon Smith (3:32:24) and 13 minutes 8 seconds ahead of third placed Jeannie Rice from the USA 3:38:380.
Having cleaned up Yuko went straight back into London for the WANDA age group marathon party.
(Yuko’s victory was confirmed after last week’s release had been distributed. Twenty Spartans finished the race).
Royal Parks Half
GERRY ROSEN has had a really difficult year with Covid and other issues but he beat his half marathon personal best by seven minutes with 2 hours 35 minutes 30 seconds at the Royal Parks Half Marathon.
Run With Willow
Two Spartans CAROLYN LINSELL and JIM BROWN ran the Willow Foundation 10K at Hatfield House on Sunday. Jim said it was a really relaxed and friendly wind down after the previous week’s London Marathon though he was woken up by a cattle grid at about five kilometres. Carolyn finished in 55 minutes 26 seconds, her third fastest 10K, and Jim in 58:20. Carolyn was 39th and Jim 51st out of the 131 runners. This was a mixed terrain event with the start very close to Hatfield Station.
Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons? Here Comes The Stevenage Half!
Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons? Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open.
With only six weeks to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered. This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual).
Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open. Go to https://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/
Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 9th Oct 2021
Although many were enjoying an England Athletics track training session at Ridlins or preparing for races the next day a warm October morning saw twenty two Fairlands Valley Spartans attend Parkrun events.
In Stevenage, CHARLOTTE KEARNEY ran a personal best (PB) time of 29 minutes and 44 secondss, completing the course in the top 40 females. On her 75th Parkrun outing, GAIL MACKIE finished as the 8th female in 25 mins and 32 secs closely followed by ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER in 25 mins and 33 secs (9th female). TOBY ECCLESHALL was the first male Spartan to complete the course in 22 minutes and 13 seconds.
Elsewhere MICHAEL O’KEEFE and JAMES McSWEENY respectively ran the Henlow Bridge Lakes and Hillsborough Forest routes for the first time in 28 mins and 48 secs and 24 mins and 08 secs.
HELEN HARRIS and JIM BROWN were both running their 60th parkruns.
(All the Spartans running parkruns on Saturday are included near the end of this release).
Time To Get Muddy
The cross country season starts this Sunday 17th October with a Sunday League race at Cheshunt.
Tables
Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.
Spartan Parkrun Results:
| Position | Gender Position | Parkrunner | Time | ||
| Stevenage parkrun | 27 | 24 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 00:22:13 | |
| 72 | 8 | Gail MACKIE | 00:25:32 | ||
| 73 | 9 | Ashley SCHOENWETTER | 00:25:33 | ||
| 94 | 81 | Jim BROWN | 00:26:37 | ||
| 97 | 83 | Mark BEASLEY | 00:26:43 | ||
| 119 | 96 | Matt CLARKE | 00:27:47 | ||
| 133 | 24 | Nicola ANDERSSON | 00:28:31 | ||
| 145 | 112 | Paul JENNINGS | 00:29:04 | ||
| 146 | 28 | Penny SCHENKEL | 00:29:08 | ||
| 149 | 31 | Fiona CLARKE | 00:29:17 | ||
| 159 | 117 | Danik BATES | 00:29:41 | ||
| 160 | 37 | Charlotte KEARNEY | 00:29:44 | PB! | |
| 161 | 38 | Chloe CHAPMAN | 00:29:44 | ||
| 218 | 62 | Theresa KEAST | 00:32:58 | ||
| 221 | 65 | Beth FOLEY | 00:33:15 | ||
| 284 | 102 | Helen HARRIS | 00:51:01 | ||
| 286 | 163 | Roger BIGGS | 01:06:49 | ||
| Wimpole Estate parkrun | 233 | 87 | Sally PHILLIPS | 00:35:21 | |
| Canons Park parkrun | 18 | 15 | Tim SABAN | 00:22:27 | |
| Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun | 83 | 66 | Michael O’KEEFE | 00:28:48 | |
| Hillsborough Forest parkrun | 22 | 18 | James MCSWEENEY | 00:24:08 | |
| Westmill parkrun | 23 | 17 | Andy JAY | 00:26:06 |