RAMSAY RACES LONDON
Carol Finishes Her 20th
GRANT RAMSAY ran a national championship qualifying time of 2 hours 40 minutes 51 seconds in Sunday’s warm London Marathon. He was 199th out of the 39,942 finishers – within the top 0.5% of the race. Nineteen Fairlands Valley Spartans finished the 26.2 mile race round the capital.
Two other Spartans beat the three hour barrier – SIMON JACKSON, 767th in 2:40:51 and CHRIS WESTCOTT, 856th in 2:55:17. NATALIE BARNARD was the club’s fastest woman with her time of 3 hours 27 minutes 30 seconds. MARK GOODWIN (3:46:52); JENNIFER ROBERTSON (3:47:22); BARRY KING (4:22:56) and JAN FRY (5:08:31) all ran new personals bests.
CAROL PAUL finished her TWENTIETH London Marathon in 4 hours 24 minutes and 57 seconds.
Several Spartans were running their first marathon including LISA LIVERSIDGE (4:25:59); KATE HANLON (4:50:30); KERRY SETTERFIELD (5:16:31) and TRACY STILES (5:51:37).
Other Spartan performances included ANDREW PATTERSON (3:08:50); PETE SMITH (3:23:08); ROGER BIGGS (3:58:48); TRACY BULLOT (4:30:16); PAUL HOLGATE (5:08:31) and SHARON CROWLEY (5:28:37).
Position Name Time Comments
199 GRANT RAMSAY 2:40:51 Champ Time
767 SIMON JACKSON 2:54:05
856 CHRIS WESTCOTT 2:55:17
2086 ANDREW PATTERSON 3:08:50
3650 PETE SMITH 3:23:08
5000 NATALIE BARNARD (F) 3:27:30
7699 MARK GOODWIN 3:46:52 PB
7834 JENNIFER ROBERTSON (F) 3:47:22 PB
10610 ROGER BIGGS 3:58:48
15973 BARRY KING 4:22:56 PB
16474 CAROL PAUL (F) 4:24:57 20th London
16721 LISA LIVERSIDGE (F) 4:25:59 1st Marathon
17830 TRACY BULLOT (F) 4:30:16
22386 KATE HANLON (F) 4:50:30 1st Marathon
25858 PAUL HOLGATE 5:08:31
25877 JAN FRY (F) 5:08:31 PB
27052 KERRY SETTERFIELD 5:16:31 1st Marathon
28680 SHARON CROWLEY (F) 5:28:57
30937 TRACY STILES (F) 5:51:37 1st Marathon
Forty of other Spartans volunteered to ensure the event was a success by working behind the finish line and remembering the casualties at the Boston Marathon just six days earlier.
Open Graded
Over 300 competitors used Watford’s second midweek open graded of 2013 to get an idea of their early season form. In heat 3 of the 200 metres, STEVE MAYFIELD came seventh, running 28.03 seconds despite the windy conditions and lane 8 draw.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
• Handicap 5K on Thursday 25th April.
• County Five Miles Championships in Pednor on Monday 6th May.
• County Track and Field Veteran Championships in Stevenage on Monday 6th May.
• County 1500 metres championships for seniors and veterans on Monday 6th May.
• County Veterans 10K Championship at St. Albans on Sunday 12th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Stevenage on Tuesday 14th May.
• Main County Track and Field Championships on 25th May.
• Mid Week League 10K in Chingford on Wednesday 29th May.
• Garden House 5K in Fairlands Valley Park on Sunday 9th June.
• St. Albans Half Marathon on Sunday 9th June.
• Mid Week League 10K in Harlow on Wednesday 12th June.
• 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.
• 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.
• Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd November.
• County Ten Miles Championship in Buntingford on 30th December 2013.
• Watch for announcements about the County Marathon Championships.
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 £35 per year, £25 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