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SEVEN MARATHONS IN SEVEN DAYS

20s Plenty * Welwyn Winners * Kelly PB

 

Last week Spartan JOHN NELMS took on a challenge to run seven full marathons in seven days. The week long event is organised by Enigma running and comprises of a 26.2 mile course each day, looping around one of three lakes in Milton Keynes.

johnnelms

John completed all seven days with his finishing times between 4 hours 10 and 4 hours 27 over the week.

John, who is the FVS ultra marathon captain and completed his 50th lifetime marathon on day one of this week said “The weather was not kind to us this week with high winds every day and rain on five of the seven days.  “I had great support from fellow Spartans both running with me on three days and sending messages of encouragement after each finish.  Once again the Spartan family pushed me on when the going was tough and I’m so glad I’m a member of this brilliant club”

In what was John’s last event of the week long series ADRIAN BUSOLINI won Enigma’s “Buff Week at the Knees” 17 lap marathon round the Milton Keynes lakes in a new personal best (PB) of 3 hours 18 minutes.

adrian

STEVE GREEN finished in 3:53:32 supporting John Nelms on some laps.

(Thanks to Anne Tryssesoone for photos)

Twenties Plenty

Just six weeks from the London Marathon and Spartans were running in twenty mile races in Milton Keynes, Nottinghamshire and Oundle.

KAREN BROOM ran the Oundle 20 on Sunday.  She said it was on a scenic undulating course around country lanes around the Northamptonshire villages of Fotheringhay, Nassington, Yarwell and King’s Cliffe.

Karen added, “I would have been happy with a sub 4 hour as I lost my running mojo but I finished in 3.42.21 which gave me a 3 1/2 minute PB on a really hilly course.  I am so happy.”

 

Milton Keynes 20

Fourteen Spartans ran twenty at Milton Keynes.  JAMES KAY was quickest with 2 hours 29 minutes 10 seconds with TIM SABAN also under two and a half hours with 2:29:19.

James Kay said, “It was my first 20 mile race and longest run to date, so I am pleased with the chip time of 2:29:10 and 7:28 min/mile pace.  The last few miles were tough running into the wind at times and up a large hill, but hopefully this bodes well for London at the end of April.

It was great to meet up with all of the Spartans running before the race.  It was also great to run some of the race with Tim Saban, who I ran my first 10km mid-week league race with last year and who has given me a lot of encouragement over the last year.  Thank you Tim!  It was great we both managed sub 2 hours 30 mins for the 20 miles yesterday.”

This was also RICHARD COWLISHAW’s longest run so far.  He finished in 2:42:24.

Running at her hoped for marathon pace ERICA GRAYSON came in with 3:16:24 behind CLAIRE HYDE with 3:13:08.  MEGAN TAYLOR was not far behind with 3:17:57/

It was KAREN PALMER’s first “20.”  She came in with 3:19:46 and ANNE LOVATT was over the line in 3:29:57.

(All fourteen MK20 times can be found near the end of this release).

 

Yuko wins at Notts 20

YUKO GORDON was a lone Spartan in the Notts 20, which was their inaugural race.  The start and finish was at the beautiful Holme Pierrepont National Water Sports Centre.  The course was picturesque and interesting.  Apart from the chilly cold wind and water puddles along the off road paths, the rest of race was perfectly organised.  The whole route was closed to traffic.

At 68 she won the women’s 55 plus contest in 2:37:10.  Yuko was 16th out of 388 women and 111th out of 752 overall.  There were more women than men in this event.  Less hills helped her to be 8 minutes 30 seconds faster than at Hillingdon last week.

 

“Gold and Silver” at Welwyn

There was also Spartan Half Marathon action at five 13.1 mile races – Welwyn, Reading, Brentwood, Milton Keynes and Hampton Court.

ISABEL GREEN ran the Welwyn Half Marathon Sunday morning in 01:39:22, a new PB (personal best) 15th Lady.

isabel

Next in came DANNY SUTTON-FISHER in a new personal best of 1:40:16, a 2:19 improvement.

PAUL MAQUIRE said, “Basically there was lots of mud everywhere!”  He finished with 1:45:01 in 142nd place

MARK GOODWIN and JIM BROWN were first and second in the men 60 plus competition.  Mark came in with 1:44:56.  Jim had another hard day in the half marathon office.  After cutting this year’s time by seven seconds at Berkhamsted two weeks ago he managed to get past another “Vet 60” in the second half of the race scrape off another nine seconds on Sunday.  His aim was to maintain a marathon training average of 8 minutes 30 seconds per mile which he did by 19 seconds with 1:51:02 despite sliding on liquid mud on two occasions.

mark

ANDREW SMITH finished with an official time of 1:50:40

It was FIONA CLARKE’s first half marathon as a Spartan, and only her second ever. She said, “I finished in 2:02:37 with VERITY SUTTON-FISHER as my unofficial pacemaker and smashed my previous PB by 18 minutes.  I couldn’t have done so well without Verity!”

NEIL ROBINSON came in with 1:52:22; ROWENA RUTLEDGE with 2:24:00 and HAYLEY PEACH came in with 2:57:14.

There were 533 finishers.

(Thanks to Nichola Durent’s Dad for photos)

(Times for all Spartans at the Welwyn Half can be found near the end of this release).

 

Reading Half Marathon

After last year’s cancellation due to snow, just three hours before the start, this year’s Reading Half marathon was run in glorious sunshine.  It was a well organised event, and despite there being over 13000 runners, queues were pretty short and the race went smoothly.

Two Spartans ran the race, Stuart Haycroft was 264th, just popping under 85 minutes with a time of 1:24:54, and Michael Wenn (1343) who finished in 1:42:08.

Stuart said that this race was billed as a flat and fast race, and he was very surprised to find a number of hills and very twisty bits which sapped his energy, but was still very pleased with the result.

 

Brentwood Half

PAUL HEWETT ran 1:23:03 at the Brentwood Half Marathon on a pretty tough course.  He said, “This new personal best sets me up nicely for the Manchester Marathon in three weeks.”  Paul was 28th overall out of the 2,349 finishers.

An undulating and windy Brentwood Half Marathon was completed by Spartan DAN HUKIN in a 1:25:42.  He was 59th overall and ninth in his age group.

REECE McCULLAGH cut his PB by six minutes to 1:37:44.  LEANNE ANGELL came in with 2:09:50; CHARLOTTE KEARNEY with 2:13:28 and DAVID ACKERY with 2:18:04.

 

MK Half

The Spartan male champion for 2018, GRANT RAMSAY, ran the Milton Keynes Half Marathon in 1 hour 25 minutes 10 seconds.  He was joined in the race by WENDY THARANI sub two in 1:59:38 and TAHER THARANI 2:32:42.

 

Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon

The fastest from Fairlands at the Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon was KAREN ELLIS in 1:52:59.  She was 875th out of the 3,450 runners in this large event which finished in the palace.

JENNY GARRETT beat two hours with 1.54.18.  CLAIRE EMMERSON and JULIE SHADBOLT ran together and finished in 2:02:28 and 2:02:29.

JONATHAN JONES’ time was 2:16:08.

 

Chase The Moon PB

KELLY EVANS ran Wednesday evening’s “Chase the Moon 10K” at the Olympic Park.

Her 49 minutes 30 seconds was a PB and the first time she’s beaten 50 minutes.

 

Ashridge – Another Boundary

THOMAS SAUKA did the Ashridge Boundary Run for the first time, it was very muddy and windy tough conditions but he likes this sort of thing so that didn’t deter him.  Tom finished 109 out of 381 starters in a time of 2:31:29.

 

Cyprus Marathon –Sunday, 17th April 2019

After two days of rain, the sun came out for the Cyprus Marathon.

The marathon was a point to point affair, starting at Aphrodite’s birthplace, and finishing beside Paphos Castle next to Paphos harbour.

Heat is of course the big killer when running a marathon, and ROGER BIGGS struggled over the second half to finish in 5:46:42

 

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 16 March

Strong winds didn’t hold back the 26 Fairland’s Valley Spartans’ who attended Parkrun events this weekend. STEVEN DOBNER completed his 60th Parkrun in a PB time of 23 mins and 35 secs on the Stevenage course, where he was joined by CHRIS HOLLAND completing his 80th even in 24 mins and 57 secs. At the same event, RICHARD SPRINGALL was 4th overall in a time of 19 mins and 21secs and DANNY SCANLON and DEAN CARPENTER finished 13th and 17th, respectively, in times of 21 mins and 05 secs and 21 mins and 30 secs.

First time visits outside of Stevenage saw JOHN ROXBOROUGH finish the Pocket Course in 22 mins and 48 secs, PAUL MAGUIRE complete the LETCHWORTH run in 23 mins and 56 secs, KELLY MCHALE run the Ellenbrook Fields course in 26 mins and 47 secs, and DARRYL STEVENS achieve 34 mins and 02 secs at Hilly Fields.

(All the Spartan parkrun results can be found at the end of this release).

 

Spring Marathon?

Fairlands Valley Spartans are into week eleven of their marathon training plan.  Are you running a Spring marathon?  Whether you want to get round and enjoy; are a first timer; want a personal best or expect to go “Sub Three” the Spartans are the local club for you, there are group training opportunities five days a week.  Have a look at www.fvspartans.org.uk or the club’s Facebook page.

 

Tables

Spartans at MK20:

Name Bib Category Gun time Chip time
James Kay 5468 MSEN 02:29:34 02:29:10
Tim Saban 5563 MSEN 02:29:43 02:29:19
Richard Cowlishaw 5615 MSEN 02:42:27 02:42:24
Claire Hyde 5456 FSEN 03:14:06 03:13:08
Erica Grayson 5121 FSEN 03:17:20 03:16:24
Megan Taylor 5465 FSEN 03:18:53 03:17:57
Karen Palmer 5173 FSEN 03:20:42 03:19:46
Edward Hare 5641 MSEN 03:23:29 03:22:32
Anne Lovatt 5581 FSEN 03:30:55 03:29:57
Sue Hamer 6001 FSEN 03:33:13 03:32:16
Robert Wright 5526 MSEN 03:38:19 03:37:20
Sam Simmons 5667 MSEN 03:38:21 03:37:24
Vicky Cottom 5025 FSEN 03:52:12 03:51:15
Gerry Rosen 5355 MSEN 04:00:56 03:59:58

 

Spartans at the Welwyn Half Marathon:

Pos Name Gender Category Net Time Notes
92 Isabel Green Female W40 1:39:22 PB
100 Daniel Sutton-Fisher Male Senior U40 1:40:30 PB by 02:19
139 Paul Maguire Male M50 1:44:37
140 Mark Goodwin Male M60 1:44:56 1st M60
187 Jim Brown Male M60 1:51:02 2nd M60.  YB by 9 seconds.
186 Andrew Smith Male Senior U40 1:50:40
210 Neil Robinson Male Senior U40 1:52:22
325 Fiona Clarke Female W40 2:02:37 PB
326 Verity Sutton-Fisher Female Lady U40 2:03:13
464 Rowena Rutledge Female 2:24:00
522 Hayley Peach Female W40 2:57:14

 

Spartans at the Brentwood Half

Pos Name Bib Gun time Chip Time
28 Paul Hewett 1394 01:23:03 01:23:03
59 Dan Hukin 2607 01:25:46 01:25:42
273 Reece Mccullagh 3030 01:37:56 01:37:44 PB 6 mins
1656 Leanne Angell 3040 02:13:05 02:09:50
1807 Charlotte Kearney 4033 02:16:42 02:13:28
1884 David Ackery 3141 02:19:46 02:18:04

 

 

Parkrun Results

 

Parkrun Pos Gen Parkrunner Times Notes
Stevenage 4 4 Richard SPRINGALL 0:19:21
13 13 Danny SCANLON 0:21:05
17 17 Dean CARPENTER 0:21:30
31 31 James MCSWEENEY 0:22:30
32 32 David PATTMAN 0:22:41
42 42 Martin DUDLEY 0:23:23
48 47 Steven DOBNER 0:23:35 PB! 60th Parkrun
58 54 Barry OSBORNE 0:24:16
71 66 Darren EMMERSON 0:24:49
73 6 Jo BOWDERY 0:24:56
74 68 Chris HOLLAND 0:24:57 80th Parkrun
102 92 Simon SYPULA 0:26:39
126 106 Karl SHREEVE 0:27:28
160 129 David ACKERY 0:29:27
174 137 Paul JENNINGS 0:29:59
196 51 Debbie BLANTERN 0:30:45
200 54 Sofia CARPENTER 0:31:01
272 94 Callie CHAPMAN 0:37:32
279 98 Hazel JONES 0:38:10
Hilly Fields 278 182 Darryl STEVENS 0:34:02
Panshanger 204 56 Jane WHITROW 0:32:25
Rutland Water 83 64 Daniel SUTTON 0:27:29
213 82 Verity FISHER 0:47:06
Ellenbrook Fields 100 14 Kelly MCHALE 0:26:47
Letchworth 17 16 Paul MAGUIRE 0:23:56
Pocket 13 13 John ROXBOROUGH 0:22:48

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