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NOW IT’S THE FAMOUS FIVE

Rufus Does Thetford * Roger Pisa

 

A fifth Spartan woman has qualified for the British marathon championships!  An injury meant SUZY HAWKINS couldn’t target the same race as her amazing Spartan friends on the sub 90 minutes mission.  But with a stripey team now entered in the championship start at London she really wanted to be on that start line with them.  The deadline for entries is 31 December, so she thought would give the four laps of the Dorney Lake Half Marathon a go.  Suzy honestly thought “if I do it I have a 1% chance of qualifying, if I don’t zero%.”  It was very windy.  She was amazed and delighted at the pace she managed to maintain and was over the moon to win, and take almost three minutes off her personal best with 1 hour 27 minutes 14 seconds, but it was about joining the amazing women in the first ever Spartans marathon championship team.

Suzy Hawkins, Ashley King, Gail Mackie, Sam Pretty and Michelle Reeves are the famous Fairlands five.  All had to run a half marathon in less than 1 hour 30 minutes by the end of December to qualify for the marathon championships on Sunday 26th April.

 

Thetford Forest 10K

janecaninecrossRufus and JANE WHITROW ran a 10K race through Thetford Forest on 15 December.  She said it was a fast course; all off road with a mixture of grass, sandy and rocky paths.

It was amazingly dry under foot, Rufus (her dog) didn’t need to be dried off at all.  There was a very civilised 10.30 start for the runners and 11.15 for the Canicross.  The event was based at High Lodge where Go Ape is, the mountain biking centre, café, etc., so great facilities for before and after the race.  The sausage roll got a gold star from Rufus.  This was race 1 in a series.  Races 2 and 3 are January and February.

Jane has space if any Spartan wants to join her for races two and three, with or without dog.

 

Festive Five

SIMON JACKSON did the Festive 5 in Welwyn Garden City on Sunday.  He said conditions were fresh but with a bit of sunshine on the rolling course it was a fun morning.  He started in his Santa hat but by a third of the way round had to take it off.  Simon finished fifth overall in 28:34 and was third in his age group.

Spartan JOHN HARRIS finished in 33 minutes 14 seconds.

 

Pisa Half

Despite a rather indifferent weather report for Pisa, the sun came out, the wind dropped to nothing, and it became a lovely day for running

Starting and finishing with the Iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa in view, ROGER BIGGS completed the Pisa Half Marathon in 2:51:15

 

Parkrun Highlights 14th December 2019

As the rain fell 34 Fairland Valley Spartans’ headed out to run Parkrun events this weekend.

In Stevenage there was enough of a window in the rain for MICHELLE REEVES to finish first woman and 15th overall in 21 minutes 17 seconds, VERITY FISHER finished as the 7th woman overall in a time of 24 mins and 34 secs and ALISON SHELLEY as the 15th in 25 mins and 41 secs, while DEAN CARPENTER finished 6th overall in 20 mins and 18 secs in his 30th parkrun and PAUL SHELLEY as 8th in 20 mins and 38 secs.

Further afield GRACE BROWN was the fourth woman to finish the Canons Park course in 24 mins and 39 secs alongside TIM SABAN who was 7th overall in 21 mins and 42 secs.  At Hunstanton Promenade NICOLA KENNEDY finished as the second female in a time of 24 mins and 04 secs.

Other landmark parkruns at Stevenage included CLAIRE EMMERSON running her 70th in 30:41 and JIM BROWN his 40th in 31:06.

(You can find all the Spartan parkrun results near the end of this release).

Many other Spartans enjoyed the club’s annual off road run to Minsden Chapel.

 

Tables

Parkrun Results Saturday 14th December

Parkrun Pos Gen Parkrunner Times Notes
Grovelands parkrun 155 118 Tim ROBINSON 31:09
Gunnersbury parkrun 456 263 Darryl STEVENS 39:20
Stevenage parkrun 6 6 Dean CARPENTER 20:18 30th parkrun
8 8 Paul SHELLEY 20:38
15 1 Michelle REEVES 21:17 1st woman
22 20 Daniel SUTTON 21:43
40 37 Thomas SAUKA 22:51
46 42 Martin DUDLEY 23:20
71 7 Verity FISHER 24:34
79 70 Matt CLARKE 24:55
81 72 Barry OSBORNE 24:58
82 73 Steven DOBNER 24:59
84 74 David PATTMAN 25:04
85 75 Sam SIMMONS 25:10
88 78 James NICHOLLS 25:18
93 81 Nigel STRONGITHARM 25:25
99 15 Alison SHELLEY 25:41
107 91 Darren EMMERSON 26:13
125 21 Sofia CARPENTER 27:12
137 27 Fiona CLARKE 27:47
165 37 Monica SMITHSON 29:30
169 132 Nick KLEANTHOUS 29:56
176 42 Jan FRY 30:31
180 45 Claire EMMERSON 30:41 70th parkrun
181 46 Jenny GARRETT 30:42
182 47 Kerstin WEINER 30:43
189 140 Jim BROWN 31:06 40th parkrun
190 50 Penny SCHENKEL 31:07
192 51 Dzenana TOPIC 31:17
195 53 Sally PICKLES 31:41
214 65 Tracy STILES 33:11
Canons Park parkrun 7 7 Tim SABAN 21:42
28 4 Grace BROWN 24:39
Cassiobury parkrun 183 149 James KILROY 27:33
Hunstanton Promenade parkrun 11 2 Nicola KENNEDY 24:04

 

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