FILTHY HALF MARATHON
Jen’s Ogle
Heavy rain greeted runners as they lined up for the Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday morning. The filthy conditions persisted for much of the race but 446 finished with the fastest being PAUL ADAMS from St. Albans Striders in just 1 hour 17 minutes 39 seconds. SIMON RILEY, also from St. Albans, was second in 1:13:57 with MARTIN BATEMAN, Hillingdon Athletic Club third in 1:15:41.
Fairlands Valley Spartans’ GRANT RAMSAY ran a new season’s best time of 1 hour 17 minutes 39 seconds to come sixth overall and win the County GOLD medal for veteran runners (40 plus).
GIEDRE DRAKE from Garden City Runners was first woman in 1 hour 31 minutes 7 seconds with Spartans’ JO LAING second in 1:35:16. Jo won the County GOLD medal for women veterans (35 plus). CATHERINE COLLINS from London Heathside was third women in 1:35:33 and ANDREA MANN from Garden City fourth in 1:36:01.
Spartans’ CHRISTOPHER WESTCOTT won the County SILVER for men aged 40 plus with his time of 1:22:53.
Golden Women
Fairlands Valley Spartans’ women won the county team race with JO LAING (1:35:16); MADDIE PRITCHARD (1:55:33) and TRACY PEZ (1:57:30). [Teams of three]. The club’s men took SILVER with GRANT RAMSAY (1:17:39); CHRISTOPHER WESTCOTT (1:22:53); TONY BRADFORD (1:33:27) and SAM HARTE (1:40:27). [Teams of four].
The race included the county veteran championships as well as the seniors so Grant Ramsay, Christopher Westcott, Tony Bradford and PAUL MURRAY (1:45:10) to take the team GOLD medals for men aged 40 plus.
New personal bests were run by JON SYPULA (1:43:26); LEWIS DAVIN (1:48:27); SELVAN NAICKER (1:50:48) and ADAM DAVIN (1:58:36).
Fairlands Valley Spartans organised the race and provided dozens of volunteer marshals and race officials.
Results For All 25 Spartans:
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 6 | Grant RAMSAY | 1:17:39 | County Gold (V40), County Bronze |
| 14 | Christopher WESTCOTT | 1:22:53 | County Silver (V40), PB |
| 64 | Jo LAING (F) | 1:35:16 | County Gold, Second Woman |
| 67 | Tony BRADFORD | 1:35:27 | Season’s Best (SB) |
| 103 | Sam HARTE | 1:40:27 | First Half |
| 106 | Jamie DRACKFORD | 1:40:37 | |
| 143 | Jon SYPULA | 1:43:26 | Personal Best (1:48) |
| 161 | Paul MURRAY | 1:45:10 | |
| 179 | Robert EVANS | 1:46:33 | SB |
| 184 | Mikos TAYLOR | 1:47:12 | First Half |
| 197 | Chris HOLLAND | 1:48:21 | First Half |
| 204 | Lewis DAVIN | 1:48:27 | PB (9:08) |
| 227 | Selvan NAICKER | 1:50:48 | PB (0:22) |
| 279 | Andy JAY | 1:55:22 | |
| 281 | Madeleine PRITCHARD (F) | 1:55:33 | |
| 306 | Tracy PEZ (F) | 1:57:30 | |
| 313 | Stephen BLOCK | 1:58:10 | |
| 320 | Adam DAVIN | 1:58:36 | PB (6:54) |
| 326 | Robert SHAW | 2:01:00 | |
| 335 | Paul HOLGATE | 2:01:21 | |
| 352 | Ruth REILLY (F) | 2:04:46 | First Half |
| 363 | Donna GRAY (F) | 2:06:00 | First Half |
| 382 | Lee MORRIS | 2:09:14 | |
| 406 | Graham HILL | 2:13:53 | First Half |
| 422 | Lee POTTER | 2:21:11 |
Ogle
Jennifer Robertson ran the Glen Ogle Ultra in Strathyre, Scotland this weekend. 33 miles of stunning scenery, a forest trail route which was hilly in parts. Jen completed it in 6 hours 8 minutes.
Baggage for VLM
The London Marathon is not until Sunday 21st April but Fairlands Valley Spartans are already signing up volunteers for help in Pall Mall. The club have helped make the event a success for many years.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- St. Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 18th November.
- Handicap 5K on Thursday evening 22nd November.
- Wolverton Five on Saturday 24th November.
- Cross Country League on Sunday 25th November.
- Cross Country League on Sunday 9th December.
- Buntingford Ten on Sunday 30th December.
- Virgin London Marathon on 21st April 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 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 (0793 968 7509 or 01438 354505), Stephanie Mayfield 01438 815859 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk