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NEWS RELEASE: ALL TO RUN FOR IN MWL

95 Spartans travelled to WGC for the second Mid Week Road Race, results from the Hatfield Broadoak 10k and The Comrades.

ALL TO RUN FOR IN MIDWEEK LEAGUE

Plus Stuart’s Comrades Marathon

A huge contingent of 95 Fairlands Valley Spartans travelled to Welwyn Garden City for the second 10K race in the Mid Week Road Race League series.

Both the men and the women finished fourth of the six ‘A’ teams for fourth position overall. However the men were just six points short of Garden City Runners in third and the women only 33 shy of third place Trent Park.

At the half-way point of the league the men are third just 10 scoring positions behind Trent Park in second, both have 8 league points each.  The Spartan women are fifth only 5 scoring positions behind Barnet & District but two league points adrift.

St Albans are running away at the top and Harlow adrift at the bottom, but the 2nd., 3rd., and 4th positions are unbelievably close and there is still has everything to play for, so the club is encouraging another big turnout for race 3 which will be in Harlow on Wednesday 20th June.

In Thursday’s race RICHARD BATE was the first Spartan finisher with a superb new personal best of 34 minutes 37 seconds and eighth position overall.

Richard Bate, Craig Halsey (35:16), Simon Jackson (35:42), Andy Neatham (36:42), Lee Reynolds (36:44) and Chris Westcott (37:14) were all in the top 30 finishers of the 400 runners taking part.  Andy was also 5th V40.

Natalie Barnard (41:49), Lisa Burgess (42:17), Kerry James (43:36) and Tracy Pez (44:36) were in the top 30 female finishers out of 138 women, with Natalie an excellent 7th and Lisa 9th, while Kerry was 5th V35 and Tracy 8th.  Julie Simmons (48:20) was 9th V45, Tony Osborne (59:10) 2nd V70, Iris Hornsey (1:01:03) 1st V65 and Jan Fry (1:04:46) 8th V55.  71 Spartans recorded their fastest 10K time of the year with 43 personal bests, 10 season’s bests and 18 other year bests.

Times for all 95 Spartans can be found at the very end of this release.

Comrades Marathon

STUART HAYCROFT ran the very gruesome Comrades Marathon in South Africa on Sunday.  The Comrades is a 56 mile ultra marathon from the city of Petermaritzburg to the city of Durban.  Stuart finished in 10 hours 32 minutes.

Hatfield Broad Oak

TREVOR SETTERFIELD set a new personal best of 43 minutes 27 seconds and came 171st out of 1106 runners at the Bank Holiday Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on Monday.

TONY ARGYROU was 401st in 48:41.

With a blistering downhill finish PAUL HOLGATE blew MICK CONNELL away and beat him by less than a second in a 10K season’s best time.  Paul was 502nd in 50:57 and Mick 503rd also in 50:57.

DAVID CLARKE was 511th in 51 minutes 6 seconds, SHARON CROWLEY 669th in 54:32 and PAUL FORDE 730th in 55:49.

The village had its usual festive atmosphere with marquees in the churchyard and 1500? runners gathered in Cage End at the start.

Watford Warm Up

Two Spartans warmed up for the midweek league fixture with exciting 1500 metres races at Watford Track the evening before.  Race entry is on the day and heats are allocated according to runners expected times, starting with the slowest heat and ending with the fastest.  In heat 7, CHRIS WESTCOTT stayed near the rear of the field for the first two laps then moved gradually through the pack in lap three.  He ran an excellent last lap of under 70 seconds, reigning in the leading group, and was closing rapidly on the leaders and crossed the line in third place with a new PB of 4:41.56.  Returning from injury STEVE MAYFIELD started at the back of heat 2, but improved his position as other runners slowed and caught the leader with 250 metres to go.  The final 100m was neck and neck with Steve edging it by just 0.07 seconds to win the heat in 5:09.99.

Kent Road Runner Marathon — On A Bike Course

ROGER BIGGS ran 17 undulating laps of the new purpose built Cyclo Park near Gravesend on Monday in the Kent Road Runner Marathon.  He ran another consistent race on a tough course to finish in 3:58:28.

Coming Events

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

  • EVAC Track and Field event in Kettering on Wednesday 13th June.
  • Mid Week Road Race League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 20th June.
  • Spartans v NHRR “Olympic” Fun Event on Sunday 24th June.
  • Mid Week Road Race League Seven Miles in St. Albans on Thursday 28th June.
  • Mob Match at Trent Park on Wednesday 11th July.
  • EVAC Track and Field event in Milton Keynes on Wednesday 11th July.
  • Fairlands Valley Challenge (Off Road) on Sunday 15th July.
  • Relays in the Park (3K legs) on Thursday evening 19th July.
  • County 5K Championships in Stevenage on Sunday 9th September.
  • County 5 Miles Championship in Stevenage on Sunday 23rd September.
  • Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 4th November.

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 over 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 drama studio next to the gymnastics centre at Marriotts School — a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN) 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 £27 per year.  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 (01438 354505 or 0793 968 7509), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

 

E N D S

 

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 01438 354505 / 0793 968 7509 or Stephanie Mayfield (Secretary) 01438 815859

www.fvspartans.org.uk

Mid Week Road Race Leagues Times for all 95 Spartans

 

Race

Name Surname

Cat.

Time

PB

8

Richard Bate

S

34:37

PB

13

Craig Halsey

S

35:16

YB

17

Simon Jackson

S

35:42

19

Andy Neatham

V 40

36:42

PB

21

Lee Reynolds

S

36:44

28

Chris Westcott

S

37:14

PB

50

Liam Herbert

S

39:05

61

Jake Amos

S

39:26

1st 10K

64

Todd Gray

S

39:39

70

Jamie Drackford

S

40:13

PB

75

Christopher Kremer

S

40:32

1st 10K

83

Sam Harte

S

40:48

PB

93

Phil Gale

V 40

41:21

97

Danny Hukin

S

41:31

YB

107

Natalie Barnard

S

41:49

SB

109

Tony Bradford

V 40

42:03

YB

112

Lisa Burgess

S

42:17

118

Davie Stafford

S

42:25

PB

133

Pete Smith

V 50

43:15

145

Mark Beasley

V 50

43:31

YB

148

Kerry James

V 35

43:36

SB

153

Steve Mayfield

V 40

44:06

YB

160

Adrian Donnelly

S

44:22

YB

163

Kevin Smyth

V 50

44:24

170

Tracy Pez

V 35

44:36

SB

181

Darren Wilby

S

45:17

PB

184

Lee Lawrence

S

45:26

PB

188

Matt Gill

S

45:29

PB

193

Trevor Setterfield

V 40

45:45

201

Mark Goodwin

V 50

46:05

202

Robert Evans

S

46:09

YB

211

Dave Stephenson

V 40

46:31

SB

213

Jon Sypula

S

46:27

PB

215

Ryan Dunning

S

46:37

YB

229

Jim Brown

V 50

47:07

230

Hadrian Cooper

S

47:16

YB

231

Roger Biggs

V 60

47:20

YB

233

Mark Glading

V 50

47:24

SB

241

Clive Cannon

V 50

47:57

YB

242

Andrew Hull

V 40

48:06

246

Julie Simmons

V 45

48:20

252

Derek Wood

S

48:30

1st 10K

255

Rhiannon Griffin

S

48:35

1st 10K

265

Vishal Shah

S

49:05

PB

266

Andy Jay

V 40

49:14

YB

272

Marie Colucci

V 35

49:37

SB

274

Tony Vickers

V 40

49:48

PB

282

Matthew Palacio

S

50:28

1st 10K

283

James Day

S

50:29

SB

288

Claire Coker

V 35

50:22

PB

290

Andy Prior

V 40

50:39

PB

293

Nikki Collins

S

50:53

PB

294

Rachel Payne

S

50:55

PB

299

Marc Green

S

51:24

301

Tracy Bullot

V 35

51:44

PB

302

Stephanie Mayfield

V 35

51:47

PB

303

Robert Shaw

V 60

51:51

310

Sarah Pike

S

52:24

311

Karen Palmer

V 45

52:19

PB

312

Karen Ellis

V 35

52:37

PB

314

Chris Leigh

V 40

52:40

SB

315

Paul Holgate

V 50

52:46

316

Steve Carter

V 40

52:54

PB

319

Steve Pike

V 50

53:06

322

Anton McCalla

S

53:26

PB

327

Sharon Crowley

V 45

53:37

YB

329

Mark Cheadle

S

53:53

SB

333

Katie Bradford

S

54:10

PB

335

Katy Jinks

V 35

54:22

338

Nick Stewart

V 50

54:57

341

Maria Thorne

V 35

55:35

PB

342

Julie Twomey

V 45

55:42

PB

346

Lisa Gavigan

V 35

55:59

PB

349

Gary Dempsey

V 40

56:09

YB

352

Ruth Murtagh

V 35

56:43

PB

354

Gaynor Knight

V 45

57:30

1st 10K

355

Louisa Bill

S

57:32

PB

360

Victoria Sealy

S

57:55

PB

361

Nick Witcombe

V 40

58:03

365

Andrea Westcott

V 35

58:00

YB

367

Jeanette Collins

V 45

58:46

YB

368

Sarah Hukin

S

58:57

PB

369

Anthony Osborne

V 70

59:10

YB

371

Steven Dobner

S

59:15

PB

377

Iris Hornsey

V 65

1:00:03

SB

380

Melissa Gibson

V 35

1:01:08

PB

382

Annette Young

S

1:01:43

1st 10K

383

Nicky Freeman

V 45

1:02:39

PB

385

Tracy Stiles

V 35

1:02:47

387

Karen Smith

V 45

1:03:06

391

Sarah Sapstead

S

1:04:46

1st 10K

392

Jan Fry

V 55

1:04:46

PB

398

Jo Cahill

V 45

1:22:04

YB

399

Jo Eley

V 45

1:22:04

1st 10K

400

Simon Harris

S

1:28:50

 

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