Team Medals * Handicap 5K
28 Spartans took part in Thursday evening’s Handicap 5K around Stevenage.
Winner on the night was DAVID PRICE in a time of 24 minutes 34 seconds 3:26 better than handicap with FIONA CLARKE firstfemale in 26:14, 2:46 better than handicap. NICOLA HATHERLY was second female in 34:44 and CAROLYN LINSELL third female in 26:24, while CHLOE CHAPMAN was fourth female in 26:58. MATT CLARKE was 2nd male in 23:02 with DANNY HUKIN 3rd male in 18:34 and STUART ARCHER 4th male in 19:27.
The winners are, in effect, the best improvers. In a handicap event the slowest go off first with the faster ones following according to recent performances. In theory if everyone runs to form they will all finish together. In practice the first ones over the finish line will be those that have improved the most, or those that have slowed down the least.
DANNY HUKIN was fastest on the night with his 18:34 and STUART ARCHER second quickest with his 19:27, while BRIAN WHITE was third quickest in 21:15 and PETE SMITH fourth fastest in 21:40. MARIE COLUCCI was quickest female in 22:56, with TRACEY JACKSON & TRACY PEZ second and third fastest in 23:32 and FIONA CLARKE fourth quickest with her 26:14.
There were Season Best times for Chloe Chapman, Matt Clarke, Danny Hukin, Andy Jay, Marie Colucci, Jane McFarlane, Tracey Jackson, Tracy Pez, Peter Smith, Nigel Strongitharm and Sharon Crowley, and Year Best times for Fiona Clarke, Nicola Hatherly, Stuart Archer, Dean Carpenter, Mark Beasley, Sally Pickles, Nick Kleanthous, Kelly Evans and Dzenana Topic.
The race was in Stevenage on the Fairlands, Verity, Martins, Grace and back to Fairlands Way course with the start near Webb Rise and the finish under Douglas Drive.
The club thanked Paul Holgate, Cathy Craig, Mark Freeman, Angie Keeling and Adrian Busolini for their much appreciated support, assistance and photos which made the event a success.
Spartans at the Stevenage 10K
After months of cancellations and postponements it was great to enjoy the company of others at a “real” race in Stevenage. Twenty Spartans ran the Stevenage 10K on Sunday.
The Spartan men’s team of four consisted of BRIAN WHITE in 42 minutes 21 seconds; LUKE GURNEY 50:12; JAMES McSWEENEY 51:19 and, to his surprise, JIM BROWN in 55:21.
Brian was third runner aged 60 plus and 23rd out of the 393 finishers. Luke said it was hilly but worth it for the cake and was 100th. James was 118th and Jim 171st.
NICOLA ANDERSSON was the fastest female from Fairlands. She was 168th in 55 minutes 11 seconds. CAROLYN LINSELL was second woman aged 65 plus and 177th with her 56 minutes 8 seconds. SARAH ILLINGWORTH was third Spartan woman and 188th overall with 56:59. Sarah said “It was certainly not a PB (personal best) but given the lack of races over the last 17 months and sporadic training not too bad. Great race, well organised, friendly and only five minutes from my front door. Post race cake is always a bonus!” PENNY SCHENKEL was fourth female from Spartans in 1:02:15. Penny, SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON were 262nd, 263rd and 264th.
CHRISTINE ZVEREV recorded a chip time of 1 hour 8 minutes 40 seconds for the Stevenage 10K. She said, “The course was a bit hilly in places but I still kept the time under 1 hour 10minutes and I did manage a 5K PB of 29 minutes 5 seconds on the way round. That’s a win in my book.”
The County Championships for veteran runners (those aged 35 and over will be in the Standalone 10K this Sunday.
(All the Spartan results from the Stevenage 10K can be found near the end of this release.
Adrian’s Century Run
ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran the Cotswold Way Century, finishing in 25 hours, in ninth place. The Cotswold Way Century is a 102 miler along the Cotswold Way walking path, which runs north to south through the hills and villages of the Cotswolds, finishing outside the Abbey in Bath. It’s incessantly hilly, and navigation requires constant vigilance; however, weather conditions were favourable, there was great camaraderie out on the course, and the vegan chili at Painswick aid station was awesome.
Swansea 10K
Spartan ROBERT EVANS had a good run in the Swansea 10K with 52 minutes 54 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 18th September 2021
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, there was a first finisher (event winner) at Exmouth in Devon where Jonathan Parr powered home in a time of 16-46 whilst Steve Wells took on the Great Notley course near Braintree, Essex and tackled the ‘big hill’ twice to finish in third with a time of 20-11
Stevenage Parkrun Results: SAM SIMMONS 21-50 (31st) – Parkrun PB, EVA RAMSEY 23-02 (49th), PAUL SHELLEY 23-14 (56th), ASHLEY KING 23-16 (57th), CLIVE CANNON 23-40 (65th), DARREN EMMERSON 24-44 (83rd), GAIL MACKIE 25-23 (98th), JULIE SIMMONS 26-10 (117th), DAVID PATTMAN 26-52 (137th), STEVE DOBNER 26-52 (138th), JIM BROWN 27-41 (157th), MATT CLARKE 29-00 (183rd), CHLOE CHAPMAN 29-05 (187th), NICOLA ANDERSSON 29-07 (192nd), DEBBIE BLANTERN 29-31 (202nd), STEPHEN SMITHSON 31-51 (254th), FIONA CLARKE 33-28 (281st) and BETH FOLEY 33-34 (286th). In its ninth week back Stevenage parkrun was up to 358 runners.
The Spartans on parkrun away days were:
Brockenhurst (Dorset): DARRYL STEVENS 53-47 (156th out of 156 runners).
Canons Park (North London): TIM SABAN 24-46 (37th out of 192 runners).
Exmouth (Devon): JONATHAN PARR 16-46 (1st out of 313 runners).
Great Notley (Essex): STEVE WELLS 20-11 (3rd out of 221 runners).
Lee-on-the Solent (Hampshire): ED HARE 27-39 (175th out of 418 runners).
Letchworth (Hertfordshire): NICK GILL 21-49 (14th out of 128 runners), GEORGIE HOOPER 25-11 (33rd), CAREN THAIN 38-31 (113th).
Luton Wardown (Bedfordshire): MICHAEL O’KEEFE 28-18 (94th out of 280 runners).
Medina (Isle of Wight), NICK KLEANTHOUS 28-29 (83rd out of 199 runners).
University of Stirling (Stirlingshire, Scotland): STUART STABLES 22-31 (18th out of 131 runners).
The 71st Fly 5K – Saturday 18th September.
Four regular Spartans competed in the 71st run anywhere Fly 5K on Saturday. JIM BROWN was 70th in 27 minutes 41 seconds; NICK KLEANTHOUS 79th in 28:23; NICOLA ANDERSSON 86th in 29:05 and PAUL HOLGATE 97th in 30:55.
Fly 5K was one of the stars of lockdown keeping runners moving and in touch during the restrictions. The first of the free virtual races was in June 2020.
Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon
With only two months to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered. This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual).
Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open and you can enter by clicking this link: Stevenage Half Marathon. This club and community event has a history going back 37 years and is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans. With a break due to Covid 19 in 2020 it’s back for 2021.
Each Year the Spartans nominate a charity to support and the chosen charity for 2021 is Feed Up Warm Up.
Tables
Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 16th September
| Pos | FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | OWN TIME | R | F | H’CAP | TIME | COMP H’CAP | PB | Impr |
| 1 | DAVID | PRICE | 24:34 | 12 | 17:00 | 41:32 | 3:26 | PB | ||
| 2 | FIONA | CLARKE | 26:14 | 15 | 4 | 16:00 | 42:17 | 2:46 | YB | 1:52 |
| 3 | NICOLA | HATHERLY | 34:44 | 26 | 13 | 7:30 | 42:20 | 2:46 | YB | |
| 4 | CAROLYN | LINSELL | 26:24 | 17 | 6 | 16:15 | 42:33 | 2:21 | ||
| 5 | CHLOE | CHAPMAN | 26:58 | 19 | 8 | 15:45 | 42:43 | 2:17 | SB | 0:33 |
| 6 | MATT | CLARKE | 23:02 | 7 | 19:45 | 42:45 | 2:13 | SB | 0:13 | |
| 7 | DANNY | HUKIN | 18:34 | 1 | 24:15 | 42:51 | 2:11 | SB | ||
| 8 | STUART | ARCHER | 19:27 | 2 | 23:30 | 42:59 | 2:03 | YB | 0:22 | |
| 9 | ANDY | JAY | 23:46 | 10 | 19:30 | 43:19 | 1:44 | SB | 1:40 | |
| 10 | DEAN | CARPENTER | 21:53 | 5 | 21:30 | 43:23 | 1:37 | YB | ||
| 11 | MARK | BEASLEY | 25:39 | 13 | 18:00 | 43:41 | 1:21 | YB | 0:04 | |
| 12 | MARIE | COLUCCI | 22:56 | 6 | 1 | 20:45 | 43:42 | 1:19 | SB | |
| 13 | SALLY | PICKLES | 36:12 | 27 | 14 | 7:30 | 43:43 | 1:18 | YB | |
| 14 | JANE | McFARLANE | 27:42 | 21 | 9 | 16:00 | 43:45 | 1:18 | SB | |
| 15 | TRACEY | JACKSON | 23:32 | 8 | 2 | 20:15 | 43:47 | 1:13 | SB | |
| 16 | TRACY | PEZ | 23:32 | 9 | 3 | 20:15 | 43:48 | 1:13 | SB | 1:09 |
| 17 | PETER | SMITH | 21:40 | 4 | 22:15 | 43:56 | 1:05 | SB | 0:54 | |
| 18 | NICK | KLEANTHOUS | 25:58 | 14 | 18:00 | 43:58 | 1:02 | YB | 0:04 | |
| 19 | BRIAN | WHITE | 21:15 | 3 | 22:45 | 44:00 | 1:00 | |||
| 20 | VISHAL | SHAH | 27:26 | 20 | 16:30 | 44:19 | 1:04 | |||
| 21 | NICOLA | ANDERSSON | 26:21 | 16 | 5 | 18:00 | 44:22 | 0:39 | ||
| 22 | NIGEL | STRONGITHARM | 24:07 | 11 | 20:15 | 44:22 | 0:38 | SB | 0:33 | |
| 23 | STEPHANIE | BIGGAR | 36:45 | 28 | 7:45 | 44:30 | 0:30 | |||
| 24 | JUDY | KING | 33:29 | 25 | 12 | 11:30 | 45:05 | 0:01 | ||
| 25 | KELLY | EVANS | 26:54 | 18 | 7 | 18:30 | 45:24 | (0:24) | YB | |
| 26 | DZENANA | TOPIC | 31:52 | 23 | 10 | 14:45 | 46:37 | (1:37) | YB | |
| 27 | SHARON | CROWLEY | 32:20 | 24 | 11 | 14:45 | 46:53 | (2:05) | SB | 2:21 |
| 28 | TIM | ROBINSON | 28:29 | 22 | 18:45 | 47:13 | (2:14) |
Stevenage 10K – Sunday 19th September (394 finishers)
| Post | Cat | Name | Cat | Gun Time | Chip Time | AGrade | Comments |
| 23. | 3 | Brian WHITE | MV60 | 0:42:22 | 0:42:21 | 81.9% | 3MV60 3rd Team |
| 100. | 29 | Luke GURNEY | MS | 0:50:45 | 0:50:12 | 52.6% | 3rd Team |
| 109. | 25 | Nigel STRONGITHARM | MV50 | 51:20 | 50:03 | 62.7% | |
| 118. | 33 | James MCSWEENEY | MS | 0:52:00 | 0:51:19 | 51.8% | 3rd Team |
| 168. | 19 | Nicola ANDERSSON | FV45 | 0:55:34 | 0:55:11 | 62.4% | |
| 171. | 11 | Jim BROWN | MV60 | 0:55:45 | 0:55:21 | 61.6% | 3rd Team |
| 177. | 2 | Carolyn LINSELL | FV65 | 0:56:31 | 0:56:08 | 73.7% | 2FV65 |
| 188. | 21 | Sarah ILLINGWORTH | FV45 | 0:57:12 | 0:56:59 | 59.9% | |
| 219. | 51 | John HARDING | MS | 0:59:38 | 0:58:24 | 44.8% | |
| 255. | 19 | Paul HOLGATE | MV60 | 1:02:30 | 1:01:56 | 54.4% | |
| 262. | 36 | Penny SCHENKEL | FV45 | 1:02:59 | 1:02:15 | 55.0% | |
| 263. | 37 | Sue HAMER | FV45 | 1:03:01 | 1:01:50 | 54.3% | |
| 264. | 38 | Erica GRAYSON | FV45 | 1:03:01 | 1:01:49 | 55.7% | |
| 296. | 19 | Monica SMITHSON | FV55 | 1:06:14 | 1:05:30 | 55.7% | |
| 313. | 23 | Angie KEELING | FV35 | 1:07:54 | 1:06:40 | 46.2% | |
| 320. | 26 | Toni NICHOLS | FV35 | 1:08:35 | 1:07:20 | 45.2% | |
| 326. | 27 | Christine ZVEREV | FV35 | 1:09:12 | 1:08:40 | 44.4% | |
| 337. | 54 | Tracy HAYGARTH | FV45 | 1:11:15 | 1:10:31 | 49.2% | |
| 342. | 56 | Carole SHELDRICK | FV45 | 1:12:03 | 1:10:49 | 45.9% | |
| 344. | 24 | Karen PALMER | FV55 | 1:12:03 | 1:10:50 | 50.5% |