A massive 48 Fairlands Valley Spartans were among the 1340 runners at Sunday’s Standalone 10K in Letchworth. It included the Hertfordshire County Championships for veteran runners and eight Spartans took home championship medals.
In the open race the Spartans had four runners in the top 100 and they made up the team winning BRONZE medals in the County race. SIMON JACKSON was 15th overall in 35 minutes 21 seconds; JOHN HARRIS was 65th and also won the individual BRONZE for the veteran (50 plus) age group with 39:44; BRIAN WHITE was 83rd and won individual SILVER in the veteran (60 plus) category with 40:14. STEVE GREEN completed the team improving his 10K personal best to 40 minutes 42 seconds to come 99th overall.
NICOLA KENNEDY led in the BRONZE medal women’s team. She was 360th in 48:10. CLAIRE COX, 367th in 48:09 and JULIE SIMMONS, 370th in 48:36 completed the three person team but Julie also won SILVER in the County Championship for veteran women (55 plus).
JIM BROWN surprised himself by running his fastest 10K since major injury. His 47 minutes 49 seconds won him the BRONZE medal in the veteran (60 plus) contest and a new season’s best (SB).
JOHN NELMS improved his PB (personal best) to 41:44; DARREN EMMERSON to 45:39; ANDREA WESTCOTT by 17 seconds to 55:13; and CHLOE EMMERSON to 1:03:22.
SAM PRETTY was the fastest Fairlands female with 41 minutes 5 seconds.
All the Spartan times:
| Position | Name | Category | Time | Comments |
| 15 | SIMON JACKSON | Vet Men 40-49 | 35:21 | County Team Bronze |
| 65 | JOHN HARRIS | Vet Men 50-59 | 39:44 | Cty. Bronze & Team Bronze |
| 83 | BRIAN WHITE | Vet Men 60-69 | 40:14 | Cty. Silver & Team Bronze |
| 99 | STEVE GREEN | Vet Men 40-49 | 40:42 | Cty. Team Bronze; PB (0:18) |
| 106 | SAM PRETTY | Senior Ladies | 41:05 | |
| 117 | JOHN NELMS | Vet Men 40-49 | 41:44 | PB |
| 184 | DAVE SMITH | Vet Men 40-49 | 44:06 | |
| 211 | CRAIG BACON | Vet Men 40-49 | 44:43 | |
| 212 | CLAIRE PULLEN | Vet Ladies 45-54 | 44:43 | |
| 238 | PAUL BOICHAT | Vet Men 40-49 | 44:08 | |
| 245 | RICHARD KENNEDY | Senior Men | 45:25 | |
| 250 | DARREN EMMERSON | Vet Men 40-49 | 45:39 | PB |
| 279 | MARTIN DUDLEY | Vet Men 50-59 | 46:22 | |
| 284 | GARETH COWELL | Vet Men 40-49 | 46:36 | |
| 288 | DEAN CARPENTER | Vet Men 40-49 | 46:37 | |
| 332 | JIM BROWN | Vet Men 60-69 | 47:49 | County Bronze and SB |
| 337 | DANIEL SUTTON | Senior Men | 47:52 | |
| 360 | NICOLA KENNEDY | Vet Ladies 35-44 | 48:10 | County Team Bronze |
| 367 | CLAIRE COX | Vet Ladies 45-54 | 48:09 | County Team Bronze |
| 370 | JULIE SIMMONS | Vet Ladies 55-64 | 48:36 | Cty. Silver & Team Bronze |
| 376 | SELVAN NAICKER | Vet Men 40-49 | 48:16 | |
| 400 | MARIE COLUCCI | Vet Ladies 35-44 | 49:00 | |
| 446 | ROSIE INGRAM | Vet Ladies 35-44 | 49:36 | |
| 480 | ANDY JAY | Vet Men 50-59 | 50:35 | |
| 502 | VERITY FISHER | Senior Ladies | 51:07 | |
| 521 | SOPHIE COWAN | Vet Ladies 35-44 | 51:11 | |
| 542 | NIKKI WILBY | Senior Ladies | 52:03 | |
| 572 | KEN JUDE | Vet Men 50-59 | 52:03 | |
| 584 | BARRY KING | Vet Men 40-49 | 52:53 | |
| 629 | STEPHEN PIKE | Vet Men 50-59 | 53:01 | |
| 681 | SARAH PIKE | Senior Ladies | 53:56 | |
| 698 | ROBERT SHAW | Vet Men 60-69 | 53:56 | |
| 713 | ANDREA WESTCOTT | Vet Ladies 45-54 | 55:13 | PB (0:17) |
| 867 | KAREN LIDDLE | Vet Ladies 55-64 | 57:14 | |
| 954 | LIZ CARVELL | Vet Ladies 55-64 | 58:40 | |
| 984 | STEPHANIE MAYFIELD | Vet Ladies 35-44 | 59:33 | |
| 998 | TRICIA HOPPER | Vet Ladies 45-54 | 59:51 | |
| 999 | ROGER BIGGS | Vet Men 60-69 | 1:00:46 | |
| 1111 | CHLOE EMMERSON | Vet Ladies 45-54 | 1:03:22 | PB |
| 1130 | STEVEN GOUGH | Vet Men 40-49 | 1:03:33 | |
| 1154 | PAUL HOLGATE | Vet Men 50-59 | 1:05:05 | |
| 1159 | SHARON CROWLEY | Vet Ladies 55-64 | 1:05:22 | |
| 1183 | TRACY STILES | Vet Ladies 45-54 | 1:06:30 | |
| 1186 | GRAHAM HILL | Vet Men 70+ | 1:06:17 | |
| 1220 | GOPALAN NAIDOO | Vet Men 60-69 | 1:08:09 | |
| 1250 | ANTHONY OSBORNE | Vet Men 70+ | 1:11:31 | |
| 1309 | EMMA MARTIN | Vet Ladies 35-44 | 1:17:36 | |
| 1317 | CAREN THAIN | Vet Ladies 45-54 | 1:17:25 |
Liam Gets A Shout From Paula
LIAM HERBERT took part in the inaugural Disneyland Paris Half Marathon last weekend. There were plenty of highlights for him – it was his first European race (outside of the UK) and he was fortunate to start alongside Paula Radcliffe! Paula finished ten minutes ahead of the Spartan runner to claim the first lady position, seconds ahead of Aly Dixon, who recently competed for Team GB at the marathon distance in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Liam passed Paula on the course on a section where she was running back in as Liam was sent around an off-road lakeside circuit in the villages surrounding the Parisian theme park, and Liam got a supportive shout out from Paula after he cheered her on!
The course took in both two theme parks and a number of themed hotels on the Disney resort, the surrounding motorways and villages and even included a lap around a local athletics track! Liam finished 213th out of 8514 participants in a time of 1:36.28. Liam will be travelling to Walt Disney World in Florida next month to run three races over three consecutive days (5K, 10K and Half Marathon), and in doing so will complete the inaugural Run Disney Castle to Chateau Challenge by virtue of having run a half marathon in Disney theme parks in both Paris and the US within the same calendar year.
Patterson Wins First Saturday
ANDREW PATTERSON maintained his undefeated record at the Norton Common first Saturday of the month 5K. He won in 17 minutes 18 seconds.
Last Friday
A tremendous downpour just before the start meant any warm ups were soaking wet but once underway it was dry, cool and breezy for the Last Friday of the Month 5K race around Hyde Park.
Spartan DAVE BOWKER ran an impressive 20 minutes 56 seconds while JIM BROWN improved his time for this year slightly to 23:56. They were 108th and 200th out of the 286 finishers.
Half An Hour Off At Chester
Spartan TIM SABAN improved his marathon personal best by half an hour at Chester on Sunday. He finished in 3 hours 30 minutes 10 seconds.
PETE SMITH ran the Cardiff Half in 1:34:51.
So Near But…..
Starting with the good news. DAVE BOWKER went to Hillingdon for the national racewalk 50K championships with lots of supporting races for children and adults alike, a real festival of walking on Sunday.
It took place on the cyclopark, a nice flat smooth surface. A slight drawback was the actual route. The star/finish area was outside the clubhouse, then participants walked 500 metres to a bollard, back down the other side to another bollard, repeat 50 times, not for everyone!
Unfortunately there was a cut off time of 6 hours 15 minutes, Dave finished his 49th lap in 6hrs 11mins 25secs, he wasn’t allowed to continue, there were several others behind me in the same situation.
He says he’ll just have to go back next year and try harder!
Hitchin Town Centre Race
14 Spartans made the short trip over to our good friends at Hitchin Running Club to race in the second running of the Town Centre 5k road race. Same as last year this was really well organised and chip timed, with the route over two laps, starting and finishing on the Market Place.
Weather conditions were perfect on the day.
Andy Patterson followed up second place in 2015 with another podium, in third place in a time of 17.00, which was 40 seconds quicker than his time the previous year.
Julie Simmons, returning from injury, returned to form with a superb run in 23:46.
All the Spartans’ names and times: Andrew PATTERSON 17:00; Craig BACON 21:39; Darren EMMERSON 21:52; Daniel SUTTON 22:59; Marie COLUCCI 23:13; Rob EVANS 23:41; Julie SIMMONS 23:46; Andy JAY 23:46; Claire COX 23:48; Verity FISHER 24:27; Sue HAMER 26:06; John WALSH 29:22; Iris HORNSEY 30:24 and Chloe EMMERSON 31:18
Stevenage Relay
TRUDIE MOLLOY, KAREN LIDDLE, TRICIA HOPPER and BARRY KING ran the Stevenage Relay in Hampson Park. This was one a 1K loop running in a relay. In the one hour they completed 13 laps (13K) averaging about 4:37 per lap..
Windsor Half Marathon
JORDAN QUICKE ran his first half marathon recently. He finished the Windsor event in 2 hours 18 minutes 30 seconds.
Fell Race
THOMAS SAUKA is getting hooked on fell running. He ran the Castleton 10K in the Peak District and came 24th out of 296 in 59:04. Says it was really tough and he wants more.
Parkrun Report
With some big Sunday targets coming up the next day it was a quiet day for Parkrunning so far as the Spartans were concerned. However….
MICHELLE REEVES was first Spartan woman over the line on a misty, Autumn morning at Stevenage’s Fairlands Valley, finishing as third woman in a time of 20mins 49secs. KAREN PALMER was 17th in 28:20 and THERESA KEAST was 20th in 28:49. The other women taking part were HEATHER MALONEY (29:57), TRACY PEZ (30:24), VERITY FISHER (30:27) and CLAIRE COX who just broke the hour on tail-running duties.
For the men, MARK BEASLEY was 12th finisher in 21:39. MARTYN DOWLING was 26th in 23:19, a new course personal best, and CHRIS HOLLAND was 27th, finishing in 23:26, also a new course PB. The other men in action at Stevenage were CLIVE CANNON (24:09, course PB), SIMON SYPULA (25:53), DANIEL SUTTON (25:57), DARREN EMMERSON (28:31), DAVE SMITH (28:32) and ROB EVANS (42:47).
Only two Spartans ventured further afield this week. JOHN ROXBOROUGH was 25th at Black Park in a time of 21:15 while at Gunnersbury KELLY MCHALE ran a new best for 5k in finishing 17th in 24:04.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the Hertfordshire 10K championships. The opportunities include:
- Open 5K race in Hatfield on Wednesday 5th October.
- Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 9th October.
- Abingdon Marathon on Sunday 23rd October.
- First Cross Country League Race in Cheshunt on Sunday 23rd October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon, a Stevenage 70 event, on Sunday 6th November.
- Second Cross Country League Race on Sunday 13th November (new date).
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 20th November.
- County Five Miles Open Championship in Hatfield on 27th November.
- Spartans Christmas Social on Saturday 10th December.
- Third Cross Country League Race on Sunday 18th December.
- Boxing Day Five in Witham on Monday 26th December.
- Serpentine New Year 10K in Hyde Park on 1st January.
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, Telford Avenue, 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 9a.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 yet done very much running might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session.
Try a few sessions before joining. Membership is only £37 per year, £25 without UKA affiliation. Concessions are available. Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk Please ask if you would like a paper copy. You can also join online.
If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (0793 968 7509), Andy Neatham 0777 197 5499 and 01438 816889; or Karen Palmer (07734678566) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk