NOT A POSTCODE LOTTERY
But SG5 are Number One
SG5 were number one in Fairlands Valley Spartans postcode team relay.
ANDREW PATTERSON (3rd in 30:18); TODD GRAY (5th in 31:05); DAVID BOWKER (10th in 34:18); MARIE COLUCCI (20th in 37:04); TRACY PEZ (22nd in 38:04) and DAWN EASBY (30th in 41:40), all living in postcodes SG5 to SG19 won Tuesday’s team race round the Spartans new five mile course.
“Team SG1 1xx/2xx” consisting of IAN VENNEY (4th in 30:40); DAVIE STAFFORD (7th in 33:04); LISA BURGESS (14th in 35:25); MICHELLE REEVES (29th in 41:10) and JIM BROWN (32nd in 42:33) were a third woman short of a complete team but still finished comfortably ahead of “SG1 4xx.”
The fastest runners were GRANT RAMSAY (28:22); SIMON JACKSON (29:01); ANDREW PATTERSON (30:18); IAN VENNEY (30:40) and TODD GRAY (31:05). LISA BURGESS (35:25) was the fastest woman. 49 runners completed the course.
Magnificent New Personal Best for Grant
GRANT RAMSAY ran a magnificent new personal best in Sunday’s Great North Run and he was in the top 0.1% of the finishers, 56th out of more than 56,000.
Grant says he paced this really well, with the last eight miles run faster than the first five. Even though the conditions were not easy with the wind and the rain he improved his personal best by 22 seconds to finish in 1 hour 13 minutes 8 seconds.
TRACY STILES completed the race in 2:15:30.
Jungfrau Marathon
DANIEL BATES ran two races in Interlaken, Switzerland over the weekend.
On Friday he took part in the Jungfrau Mini –Marathon. This was a 4.2 kilometres race consisting of three laps around the main park in Interlaken with around 2,000 people watching. Daniel finished 18th, with a time of 17 minutes 36 seconds having down the first lap in 5:12, second lap in 5:42 and after a mishap last lap in 6:41.
Then on Saturday he had to go ten times as far in the Jungfrau Marathon. This was a full 42km – 26.2 mile mountain marathon. He finished 987th out of 2,952 runners in the men category. Overall he was 1,143th out of 3,819 runners with a time of 4 hours 54 minutes 22 seconds.
Grafham Water Marathon
PAUL MARSHALL completed the Grafham Water marathon today in a PB of 4:04:15 taking 17mins off my previous time. It was a tough two lap race with uneven surface but the weather was fairly kind. In my goody bag at the end though I received some salad cream, which I’m still trying to understand.
What a difference a day makes!!
In Swanage for a weekend of running, ROGER BIGGS took part in the well organised Park Run 5km on Saturday. Running twolaps around the boating lake on a flat course in good weather for running, Roger completed the 5K in 23:17, to finish in 139th of the 497 finishers.
Then on Sunday the Purbeck Trail Marathon started from Swanage. The course was a clockwise lap of the Isle of Purbeck, often hugging the coastline on rocky coastal paths, and seemingly always going up & down. The concentration of running on tough terrain, the strong winds, then finally squally rain, made this a tough day, with Roger well down the field with a time of 4 hours 43 minutes 4 seconds.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
• 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
• Great Eastern Half Marathon in Peterborough on Sunday 13th October
• Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 17th 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 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, 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