Both Fairlands Valley Spartans teams were second in the first event this year for the western division of the Eastern Masters Athletics Club track and field league. The women were only one point behind the winners, Milton Keynes, 102 to 103.
The meeting was in Sandy, Bedfordshire. The other clubs in the Western division are Milton Keynes, Bedford & County AC, Luton AC, Biggleswade AC and Bedford Harriers.
Andy Neatham returned to the team in winning form and also broke the club record for a fifty year old when he won the 3000 metres.
After his medal winning performances in the County Championships on Bank Holiday Monday, Steve Mayfield continued his success by running a club age and seasons best of running 400metres in 60.5 seconds and throwing a personal best in the men’s 50 to 59 years Hammer throw of 21.07 metres and running a club as well as doing the 100 metres, Long Jump, Pole Vault and 4×100 metres Relay.
Newcomers to the FVS team and EMAC are Hazel Clark (1000 Walk 3000 metres) and Anton MC Calla (100 metres and Long Jump) which was a boost as there were several members missing due to holiday and injury.
Monica Brown continued her success from the Bank Holiday as well, by winning her events, 100 metres, Long Jump and finishing second in the pole vault. She also was part of the winning W50+ relay team.
Tessa Stephenson broke the club W55 best at the 400 metres (77.8s) & the 3kg Shot Putt (8.00 metres). Barry Osborne also set a new M60 & M65 best at 3000m with 11.31.0. Andy Neatham’s time was 9.56.6 which took 22 seconds off the Dave Bowker’s old record. Steve Mayfield’s 400 metres was three seconds ahead of John Harris’s 2013 mark.
| Event | Name | Position | Time/Distance | |
| 100m | W35-49 | Peta Wilson | 2 | 15.6 |
| 100m | W50-59 | Monica Brown | 1 | 17.4 |
| 100m | W60+ | Iris Hornsey | 2 | 20.1 |
| 100m | M35-49 | Anton McCalla | 3 | 14.5 |
| 100m | M50-59 | Steve Mayfield | 3 | 13.7 |
| 100m | M60+ | Barry Osborne | 5 | 19.8 |
| 400m | W35-49 | Peta Wilson | 3 | 80.5 |
| 400m | W50-59 | Tessa Stephenson | 2 | 77.8 |
| 400m | M35-49 | Craig Halsey | 2 | 61.3 |
| 400m | M50-59 | Steve Mayfield | 3 | 60.5 |
| 3000m | W35-49 | Christine Lathwell | 2 | 11:22 |
| 3000m | W50-59 | Sharon Crowley | 4 | 16:12 |
| 3000m | W60+ | Iris Hornsey | 3 | 16:48 |
| 3000m | M35-49 | Craig Halsey | 4 | 9:51 |
| 3000m | M50-59 | Andy Neatham | 1 | 9:57 |
| 3000m | M60+ | Barry Osborne | 2 | 11:31 |
| 1K Walk | Women A | Sharon Crowley | 3 | 6:56 |
| 1K Walk | Women B | Hazel Clark | 2 | 7:32 |
| 1K Walk | Men A | Barry King | 1 | 5:56 |
| 1K Walk | Men B | Mark Freeman | 3 | 7:31 |
| Long Jump | W35-49 | – | ||
| Long Jump | W50-59 | Monica Brown | 1 | 4.42 |
| Long Jump | W60+ | Iris Hornsey | 1 | 2.42 |
| Long Jump | M35-49 | Anton McCalla | 3.45 | |
| Long Jump | M50-59 | Steve Mayfield | 3 | 4.30 |
| Long Jump | M60+ | Barry Osborne | 4 | 1.91 |
| Pole Vault | W35-49 | Stephanie Mayfield | 1.80 | |
| Pole Vault | W50-59 | Monica Brown | 2 | 1.40 |
| Pole Vault | M35-49 | – | ||
| Pole Vault | M50-59 | Steve Mayfield | 2 | 2.2 |
| Hammer Throw | W35-49 | Stephanie Mayfield | 1 | 19.05 |
| Hammer Throw | W50-59 | Sharon Crowley | 3 | 16.97 |
| Hammer Throw | M35-49 | Barry King | 3 | 14.81 |
| Hammer Throw | M50-59 | Steve Mayfield | 4 | 21.07 |
| Hammer Throw | M60+ | – | ||
| Shot Putt | W35-49 | Andrea Westcott | 4 | 4.13 |
| Shot Putt | W50-59 | Tessa Stephenson | 1 | 8 |
| Shot Putt | W60+ | Iris Hornsey | 2 | 4.5 |
| Shot Putt | M35-49 | Barry King | 4 | 6.54 |
| Shot Putt | M50-59 | John Harris | 4 | 6.5 |
| Shot Putt | M60+ | Barry Osborne | 5 | 5.09 |
| 4x100m Relay | W35-49 | Steph, Hazel, Peta, Christine | 3 | 70.6 |
| 4x101m Relay | W50+ | Monica, Iris, Sharon, Tessa | 1 | 68.1 |
| 4x100m Relay Men | M35-49 | Anton, Barry, Barry, Craig | 4 | 62.5 |
| 4x100m Relay Men | M50+ | Steve, Andy Mark & John | 2 | 60.3 |
| Pos | Men’s Teams | Match Score | Points |
| 1 | Bedford & County AC | 118 | 118 |
| 2 | Fairlands Valley Spartans | 81 | 81 |
| 3 | Marshall Milton Keynes AC | 76 | 76 |
| 3 | Bedford Harriers | 76 | 76 |
| 5 | Biggleswade AC | 38 | 38 |
| 6 | Luton AC | 36 | 36 |
| Pos | Women’s Teams | Match Score | Points |
| 1 | Marshall Milton Keynes AC | 103 | 103 |
| 2 | Fairlands Valley Spartans | 102 | 102 |
| 3 | Bedford Harriers | 82 | 82 |
| 4 | Biggleswade AC | 25 | 25 |
| 5 | Bedford & County AC | 21 | 21 |
| 6 | Luton AC | 12 | 12 |
Halstead Marathon
On Sunday CAROLINE BARTER took on the Halstead and Essex Marathon was really pleased with a 4 hours 49 minutes 19 seconds finish considering the “undulations” and 26 degrees heat. She was 267th out of the 452 finishers.
Delaware Marathon – Sunday, 8th May 2016
After some serious local rain, Wilmington turned sunny for a well organised Delaware Marathon. The course was two laps, taking in part of the Riverfront Boardwalk, and a tough mile plus long climb halfway through each lap. ROGER BIGGS ran a reasonable firstt lap, but came apart at the seams as the temperature rose with the constant sunshine.
He finished in 5:14:02, which was good enough to pick up a trophy for third in the Vet 65-69 category.
Wings For Life
LIAM HERBERT ran the Wings for Life World Run in Cambridge on Sunday. It is a global race in which runners in 34 locations worldwide start at the same time and have to run for as long as possible before a catcher car passes them. The catcher car starts 30 minutes after the race start and gradually increases speed as it travels along the course. The person who runs the furthest before getting caught at any location is the local race champion, and the person who runs the furthest out of all competitors worldwide is the global champion.
The British race started in Cambridge at midday, and the unrelenting heat proved punishing. Tremendous local support (and soakings from residents’ garden hoses) helped me along the course as the flattish course travelled out of Cambridge city centre and north through neighbouring villages. Liam ran 16.68 miles before the catcher car passed me, in a time of 2 hours 13 minutes and 25 seconds. His aim was to run 16 miles so he was pleased with his performance given the conditions. There were 2002 finishers in Cambridge, and 130,732 finishers in total across the world. The official results (and world rankings) have not been released yet, but are expected in the next few days.
He was 115th out of 2,002 in Cambridge which put him in the top 6% of the British contingent. In Britain he was 101st man and 28th in my age category. Liam’s global ranking is currently 5042 (out of 130,732) … which puts him in the top 4% of the world.
Meridian Meander
On the hottest day of the year so far Sharon and Mike Crowley went to Over near St Ives to walk the Meridian Meander. Sharon completed the full 26 with an ice cream stop in 7hrs 35 mins. Mike took on the 5 Pub Challenge completing the 11.5 miles in 3hrs 30. Mike was first to finish but had avoided stopping at all the pubs on the way round!
Parkrun Reports
Four Spartans took on the delights of a glorious spring morning at Panshanger Park. TIM ROBINSON was first Spartan finisher in 26min 11secs. KAREN PALMER was first Spartan woman (and 30th woman overall) in 28:20. CAROLINE CROFT (51st woman in 30:12) and HEATHER MALONEY (54th woman in 30:18) were the other Spartans in a record turnout of 325 at the venue.
At Aldenham JOHN ROXBOROUGH was 14th finisher in a field of 53, crossing the line in 23:28, while at the Wimpole Estate DAVE SMITH was 39th of 368 runners in 22:57 on his first visit to this parkrun.
Furthest traveller this week was DARRYL STEVENS, 149th of 157 in 37:10 at Brockenhurst. Finally, DANNY SUTTON (122nd in 24:45) and VERITY FISHER (117th woman in 44:42) headed over to Reading parkrun for the first time, leaving Danny now only one short of his 100th parkrun.
Midweek Challenge Starts Soon
Fairlands Valley Spartans won promotion to the top division in the Mid Week League last year. This year’s challenge starts with a 10K race in St. Albans on Tuesday evening 17th May.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- First event, Midweek League at St. Albans on Tuesday 17th May.
- Second event, Midweek League at Chingford (Orion) on Thursday 26th May.
- Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on Monday 30th May.
- Third event, Midweek League in Trent Park on Thursday 9th June.
- Fourth event, Midweek League in Stevenage (FVS) on Tuesday 21st June.
- Milton Keynes 10K on Tuesday 28th June.
- County Track 10K on Sandy on Thursday 7th July.
- Bedford 5K on Wednesday 27th July.
- Relays in the Park, our 3K Relays in Fairlands Valley on Thursday 28th July.
- Handicap 5 / 10 on Sunday 25th September.
- Standalone 10K including County Vets Championships on Sunday 2nd October.
- Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 9th October.
- Abingdon Marathon on Sunday 23rd October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon, a Stevenage 70 event, on Sunday 6th November.
- 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.
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.