There were two wins and a second place for Fairlands Valley Spartans in the Mid Week Road Race League. NATALIE LAWRENCE was the first woman overall in the four race series. SIMON JACKSON was the first male veteran runner with GRANT RAMSAY second. Well over one hundred different Spartans took part in at least one race.
47 Spartans ran in the “mob match” at Welwyn Garden City which preceded the league presentations. The Spartan women’s “A” team were seventh out of the 29 teams in the race and the men 7th out of 17. Overall the Spartans were seventh out of the 17 clubs.
GRANT RAMSAY was first Spartan, eleventh out of nearly 500 club runners in 35 minutes 44 seconds. The others in the men’s “A” team were CRAIG HALSEY, 30th in 37:09; KEITH COUGHLIN, 41st in 37:45; DAVID RIDDELL who was sixth veteran (50 plus) and 82nd overall in 40:32; STEVE GREEN, 98th in 41:07; THOMAS SAUKA, 120th in 42:20; JOHN NELMS, 126th in a new personal best of 42:27; TODD GRAY, 138th in 42:48; TIM SABAN, 145th in 42:56; PAUL WHYTE, 156th in 43:34; PETE SMITH, 175th in 44:43 and DAVE SMITH, 179th in 44:53.
Fairlands fastest female was ROSIE CANHAM, 170th overall in a new personal best of 44 minutes 15 seconds. TRACY PEZ was just over a minute slower, 189th in 45:16. ISABEL GREEN, 252nd in 48:22; JULIE SIMMONS, 275th in 49:43; LISA GRAY, 285th in 50:06 and NICOLA TOUT, 297th in a personal best 50:38 completed the women’s “A” team.
CLAIRE COX led in the “B” team with 50:46 and 307th overall. She was supported by SOPHIE COWAN, 308th in 50:48; OLWEN BATTY, 313th in a new personal best (PB) 51:03; PENNY SCHENKEL making her first ever appearance in the “B” team with 52:46 and 338th; KELLY McHALE, running her first 10K was 354th in 53:30; and KAREN ELLIS, 387th in 55:58.
JULIE SHADBOLT, VICTORIA BRETT (PB), CLAIRE HYDE, CHLOE EMMERSON (PB), JENNY GARRETT, SHARON CROWLEY and EMMA MARTIN were more than enough for a “C” team, something achieved by few other clubs.
The men had a good “B” team with MARK BEASLEY, 190th in 45:20; MARK GOODWIN, 194th in 45:27; DARREN EMMERSON, 214th in 46:20; DEAN CARPENTER, 235th in 47:43; MARTIN DUDLEY, 251st in 48:29; KEN JUDE, 286th in 50:03; JIM BROWN making it into the “B” team for the first time in many years at 290th and 50:14 which was a 3 minutes 40 seconds improvement over the Stevenage race; CALLUM BEASLEY, 291st at 50:24; MARK CHEADLE, 292nd at 50:27; CLIVE CANNON, 303rd in 50:47; JAMES SOUTH, 306th with a new PB of 50:55; VISH SHAH, 330th in 52:17; SIMON SYPULA, 349th in a PB 53:16.
| Race | Pos | Cat | Vet | Name | Surname | Cat. | M/F | Time | Comments |
| 11 | 11 | 5 | 5 | Grant | Ramsay | V 40 | M | 35:44 | 5th Vet 40 |
| 30 | 29 | Craig | Halsey | S | M | 37:09 | |||
| 41 | 40 | Keith | Coughlin | S | M | 37:45 | |||
| 82 | 77 | 6 | 35 | David | Riddell | V 50 | M | 40:32 | 6th Vet 50 |
| 98 | 92 | 32 | 44 | Steve | Green | V 40 | M | 41:07 | |
| 120 | 112 | 38 | 55 | Thomas | Sauka | V 40 | M | 42:20 | |
| 126 | 116 | 40 | 59 | John | Nelms | V 40 | M | 42:27 | PB (1:03) |
| 138 | 123 | Todd | Gray | S | M | 42:48 | |||
| 145 | 129 | 47 | 67 | Tim | Saban | V 40 | M | 42:56 | |
| 156 | 136 | Paul | Whyte | S | M | 43:34 | |||
| 170 | 22 | 8 | 13 | Rosie | Canham | V 35 | F | 44:15 | 8th FV35 (PB 2:02) |
| 175 | 150 | 23 | 78 | Pete | Smith | V 50 | M | 44:43 | |
| 179 | 153 | 52 | 80 | Dave | Smith | V 40 | M | 44:53 | |
| 189 | 27 | 10 | 16 | Tracy | Pez | V 35 | F | 45:16 | |
| 190 | 161 | 25 | 85 | Mark | Beasley | V 50 | M | 45:20 | |
| 194 | 164 | 27 | 87 | Mark | Goodwin | V 50 | M | 45:27 | |
| 214 | 177 | 60 | 98 | Darren | Emmerson | V 40 | M | 46:20 | PB (1:20) |
| 235 | 192 | 63 | 108 | Dean | Carpenter | V 40 | M | 47:43 | |
| 251 | 204 | 39 | 119 | Martin | Dudley | V 50 | M | 48:29 | |
| 252 | 46 | 16 | 31 | Isabel | Green | V 35 | F | 48:22 | |
| 275 | 58 | 2 | 42 | Julie | Simmons | V 55 | F | 49:43 | 2nd FV 55 |
| 285 | 61 | 22 | 44 | Lisa | Gray | V 45 | F | 50:06 | |
| 286 | 223 | 44 | 135 | Ken | Jude | V 50 | M | 50:03 | |
| 290 | 226 | 18 | 138 | Jim | Brown | V 60 | M | 50:14 | |
| 291 | 227 | Callum | Beasley | S | M | 50:24 | |||
| 292 | 228 | Mark | Cheadle | S | M | 50:27 | |||
| 297 | 65 | 21 | 46 | Nicola | Tout | V 35 | F | 50:38 | PB (1:41) |
| 303 | 233 | 45 | 142 | Clive | Cannon | V 50 | M | 50:47 | |
| 306 | 236 | James | South | S | M | 50:55 | PB (3:50) | ||
| 307 | 69 | 23 | 50 | Claire | Cox | V 35 | F | 50:46 | |
| 308 | 70 | 24 | 51 | Sophie | Cowan | V 35 | F | 50:48 | |
| 313 | 73 | Olwen | Batty | S | F | 51:03 | PB (1:13) | ||
| 330 | 245 | Vishal | Shah | S | M | 52:17 | |||
| 338 | 90 | 30 | 64 | Penny | Schenkel | V 45 | F | 52:46 | |
| 349 | 250 | 76 | 153 | Simon | Sypula | V 40 | M | 53:16 | PB (0:50) |
| 354 | 100 | 32 | 72 | Kelly | McHale | V 35 | F | 53:30 | 1st 10K |
| 361 | 255 | 79 | 158 | Karl | Shreeve | V 40 | M | 53:57 | PB (5:16) |
| 363 | 256 | Lee | Pickersgill | S | M | 54:09 | |||
| 387 | 122 | 40 | 88 | Karen | Ellis | V 45 | F | 55:58 | |
| 388 | 123 | 41 | 89 | Julie | Shadbolt | V 45 | F | 55:58 | |
| 394 | 126 | 37 | 92 | Victoria | Brett | V 35 | F | 56:14 | PB (0:03) |
| 403 | 132 | 39 | 97 | Claire | Hyde | V 35 | F | 57:33 | |
| 405 | 271 | 58 | 172 | Paul | Holgate | V 50 | M | 57:57 | |
| 443 | 160 | Chloe | Emmerson | S | F | 1:03:20 | PB (1:48) | ||
| 445 | 162 | 52 | 121 | Jenny | Garrett | V 45 | F | 1:03:24 | |
| 452 | 165 | 19 | 124 | Sharon | Crowley | V 55 | F | 1:05:58 | |
| 458 | 169 | 52 | 128 | Emma | Martin | V 35 | F | 1:15:21 |
Standard Chartered Great City Race
Whilst other Spartans were racing in the Mob Match SIMON JACKSON and STEFFAN FORD were racing for their companies against 5000 other runners in the Standard Chartered Great City Race. This is a twisty turny 5k race around the City of London, run as an individual race and a team race for your company. Even with the temperature at 21 degrees, Steffan after minimal run training due to injury finished in 17:40 and Simon finished in 17:03.
Parkrun Report
With the FVS Challenge due to kick off in the afternoon a lower than usual 17 runners tackled Stevenage parkrun in warm and humid conditions with Spartans again also helping with volunteering duties.
JOHN HARRIS was first male Spartan in a new course PB time of 19:20. MARK BEASLEY was 26th in 22:44. JOHN SYPULA was 46th in 24:11 (course PB) and KEN JUDE 78th in 27:12.
For the women, CAROL PAUL was 4th finisher in 25:31, LAUREN HARNETT 29th in 28:48, HAZEL SMITH was 31st in 28:56 and CHLOE EMMERSON continued her improvement finishing 26th woman in a new course PB of 29:14.
Other runners in action at Stevenage were SARAH STAPSTEAD (29:34), TRACY PEZ (30:02), LIZ CARVELL making a welcome return from a lengthy injury break (30:38), ISABEL GREEN (33:04), STEVE GREEN (38:20), DARRYL STEVENS making a rare trip back to Stevenage for parkrun and FVS Challenge action (40:22) and CAREN THAIN (41:14).
The only other Spartans at parkruns were DAVE SMITH (22:02) and GRAHAM HILL (34:19, new course PB), who both ran at Milton Keynes.
Relays in the Park Coming Soon
The Relays in the Park organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans and in Fairlands Valley Park will be on Thursday 28th July starting at 7.30p.m. Each runner will complete three kilometres. Men’s teams will consist of five runners and women’s of four. The event will include the county championships but a wide range of abilities are expected. This is a great event for spectators with the half way point only a short distance from the changeover area in the top half of the park. For more details please visit www.fvspartans.org.uk
Fairlands Valley Challenge
Fairlands Valley Spartans hosted the Fairlands Valley Challenge off road events on Saturday and Sunday. There was a choice of four distances. Results should be available in time for next week’s release.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- Bedford 5K on Wednesday 27th July.
- Relays in the Park, our 3K Relays in Fairlands Valley on Thursday 28th July.
- EMAC (Veterans Track & Field) event in Stevenage on Wednesday 3rd August.
- Harlow 10 on Sunday 4th September.
- Herts 5K senior championships on Wednesday 7th September.
- Herts 5K veteran championships on Wednesday 21st September.
- FVS Handicap 5 / 10 in Stevenage on Sunday 25th September.
- Standalone 10K including County Vets Championships on Sunday 2nd October.
- Open 5K race in Hatfield on Wednesday 5th October.
- Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 9th October.
- Abingdon Marathon on Sunday 23rd October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon, a Stevenage 70 event, on Sunday 6th November.
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 20th November.
- County Five Miles Open Championship in Hatfield on 27th November.
- Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
- Boxing Day Five in Witham on Monday 26th December.
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, Telford Avenue, 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 9a.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 yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.
Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy. You can also join online.
If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk