Categories
News

News Release

News this week from the British Masters Outdoor pentathlon at Oxford, track action at St. Ives, the Herts Hobble, the Triffic Trail and Shrewsbury

NATIONAL MEDAL FOR STEVE
Spartans Hobble * 4.35 metres to 84 miles

STEVE MAYFIELD competed in this year’s British Masters (BMAF) outdoor pentathlon at Oxford. Competing in the veteran men’s M45 age group, the athletes started with long jump and the windy conditions helped some to excellent performances. However Steve struggled with his run up and registered a disappointing 4.35 metres. His Javelin went better, with 28.74m being just 2cm short of his personal best (PB). He then ran 28.03 seconds for the 200m into a headwind, but after three events was well down in 5th place.

A PB of 22.78 metres in the discus (club record) helped make up some ground and lifted him to fourth albeit by a single point. Still 102 points adrift of third place and 195 off second he needed a strong 1500 metres to make the medal places, so went out hard. Despite tiring towards the end he hung on to earn a comfortable second place in that event with a season’s best 5:16.26, then faced an agonising wait to see if he’d done enough. In the final standings just 32 points separated 2nd and 5th place but he had edged the bronze by a very narrow 6 points! His score of 2311 was a PB and this was Steve’s first national medal.

Another 24 Hours For Dave

Ultra DAVE BOWKER took on another 24 race at the weekend. This time it was the Harp 24 charity event in Southend.

Held in Cherry Orchard Park it was a low key event with nine solo runners and 12 relay teams. Each lap consisted of a 4.2 miles multi-terrain, undulating route with a long “nasty” hill at halfway.

Dave finished second with 84 miles. The winner covered 100.8!

Triffic Trail

DEAN CARPENTER enjoyed the Triffic Trail 10K race on Sunday and worked hard for a top ten finish. He managed his second top ten finish this year with a ninth place in a time of 41 minutes 19 seconds. That was well off a personal best (PB) but on a par considering the nature of the course. A good run on a very hilly course.

Trio at Track and Field

Rhiannon Griffin together with Tessa and Dave Stephenson travelled to St Ives on Wednesday evening to take part in an open meeting organised by Cambridgeshire Athletic Association. On a hot and humid evening, Tessa produced a good consistent series in the Shot Putt, finishing with a best of 8.35 metres. Dave & Rhiannon both took part in the second of three heats of the 800 metres. With a large field of 13 in the race it was difficult to get a clear run leading to Dave finishing in sixth place in 2 minutes 34.00 seconds and Rhiannon finishing in eighth in 2 minutes 36.73 seconds.

Herts Hobble

Seven Spartans completed the Herts Hobble Off Road Marathon on Sunday. CAROL PAUL took 5 hours 21 minutes 47 seconds; KAREN LIDDLE, TRICIA HOPPER and BARRY KING 6 hours 37 minutes and 2 seconds; MIKE NEWBITT 6 hours 39 minutes 26 seconds; PAUL HOLGATE 7 hours 14 minutes and SHARON CROWLEY 7 hours 36 minutes.

MIKE CROWLEY did the 17 mile walk in 4 hours 55 minutes.

Shrewsbury Marathon – Sunday, 23rd June 2013

Roger travelled to the County Town of Shropshire for the inaugural Shrewsbury Marathon.
Despite good running conditions on a cloudy day, Roger missed his 4 hours target round a 4 lap course within the City. The course featured several steep hills, with each one of course having to be completed 4 times. Roger didn’t give up but had to settle for a time 4:06:08, and will live to fight another day.

The fourth and final counting event in this season’s Mid Week Road Race League is at Welwyn Garden City this Wednesday evening. The Spartans hope to confirm their promotion to the top division.

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:

• Mid Week League Five Miles in Welwyn GC on Wednesday 26th June.
• County 10K track championships at Sandy on Thursday 11th July.
• Mob Match 9K in Trent Park, North London on Wednesday 17th July.
• Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21st July.
• Relays in the Park in Stevenage on Thursday 25th July.
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 5th September
• Herts Senior 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 24th September.
• County 10K Championships in Letchworth on Sunday 6th October.
• Herts Veterans 5K Championships in WGC on Tuesday 8th October.
• County 10 Mile Championships for veterans on Sunday 27th October.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30th December 2013.

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 about 400 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, Brittain Way, 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 9.30a.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 done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.

Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only ÂŁ35 per year, ÂŁ25 without UKA membership. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy.

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509 or 01438 354505), Vivienne Honey 07702 846304 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 0793 968 7509 / 01438 354505 or Vivienne Honey (Secretary) 07702 846304

www.fvspartans.org.uk

Leave a Reply