Spartans and the Baldock Beast.
The Baldock Beast Half Marathon really is a beast, hilly with some off road sections but Spartan SAM SUTTON was first woman 50 plus and ran a new half marathon personal best (PB) by 13:59 with 2:08:11. She said it was a hilly and windy course so not the easiest to get a pb on but she thinks she enjoyed it though
A total of eleven Spartans ran including ADAM HILL who was running his first ever half marathon. He said the race went really well. Adam was originally aiming for a sub 2 hour 30, but seven miles in, seeing the opportunity to go for a sub two hour, he went for it! 1:59:14. Not bad for a first half on that course!
The fastest female from Fairlands was JAYNE RIDDELL with 2:01:15.
SHARON CROWLEY tamed the Beast was tamed with a chip time of 2:14:04. That’s almost 20 minutes faster than she’s ever run that course.
LEE POTTER beat his personal best by about 37 minutes.
The quickest Fairlands Valley Spartans were TERRY SAWYER in 1:38:22 and DANNY SCANLON in 1:43:44.
| Pos | BiB | Name | Cat | Gun Time | Chip Time |
| 28 | 2720 | Terry SAWYER | MV40 | 1:38:24 | 1:38:22 |
| 46 | 2975 | Danny SCANLON | MV40 | 1:43:48 | 1:43:44 |
| 103 | 2822 | Keith HOOKER | MV40 | 1:54:22 | 1:54:08 |
| 130 | 2816 | Adam HILL | MS | 1:59:35 | 1:59:14 |
| 137 | 2992 | Jayne RIDDELL | FV60 | 2:01:28 | 2:01:15 |
| 162 | 2936 | Samantha SUTTON | FV50 | 2:08:26 | 2:08:11 |
| 184 | 2938 | Sharon CROWLEY | FV60 | 2:14:20 | 2:14:04 |
| 205 | 2934 | Pete COOK | MV50 | 2:20:26 | 2:20:11 |
| 227 | 2729 | Jim BROWN | MV70+ | 2:29:28 | 2:28:57 |
| 233 | 2716 | Tim ROBINSON | MV50 | 2:36:16 | 2:35:49 |
| 247 | 2939 | Lee POTTER | MS | 2:58:50 | 2:58:02 |
Winning Natalie at the Bedford Half
Spartan NATALIE LAWRENCE was the first woman in Sunday’s Bedford Half Marathon with a superb time of 1 hour 23 minutes 11 seconds. She was in the top ten overall in a race with 600 finishers.
JAY PAPA took a group round and was 44th in 1:29:21. JESS CLARKE squeaked under two hours with 1:59:34; SOPHIE PARSONS with 2:00:20 and SAM TOPHILL, fourth in her category, finished in 2:00:32.
| Position | Name | Gun | Chip | Cat Pos |
| 10 | NATALIE LAWRENCE | 1:23:11 | 1:23:03 | 1 |
| 44 | JAY PAPA | 1:29:45 | 1:29:21 | 20 |
| 344 | SAMANTHA TOPHILL | 2:03:59 | 2:00:32 | 4 |
| 364 | JESS CLARKE | 2:05:20 | 1:59:34 | 25 |
| 377 | SOPHIE PARSONS | 2:07:42 | 2:00:20 | 28 |
Bedford 10K
TOBY ECCLESHALL was 47th in 45:43 and EMMA CHAPMAN 389th in 1:38:19.
Over the Ridge With Jodie
It was further than a marathon for JODIE KANTAS on Sunday. She ran the North Downs Ridge 50K, a trail event near Dorking, in 6 hours 11 minutes 11 seconds. Total elevation 3,000 feet. Jodie said it was a training run for a bigger distance so took it nice and easy, any excuse, but she thought the mud would have prevented her going much faster anyway. She was eighth female and second in her age group which was a nice surprise.
Obviously building up. Jodie did a 20 mile event on the North Downs in January.
Cross Country League Update
The results are out. Fairlands Valley Spartans were fifth out of the eighteen clubs in the series of five cross country races run between September and February.
After last weekend when 21 “hardcore” Spartans finished the last race, the “big squelch” at Watford, in this season’s cross country league they found they had some trophy winners in the series.
Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT and GEORGIE HOOPER were trophy winners in the cross country league. David was second man 40 plus just eleven points behind the winner and Georgie second woman 35 plus just nine points behind the winner.
JIM BROWN was a near miss in the medals at fourth in the men 70 plus category. He missed out by four points. Although he was one of only two in the category to finish all five races it was the best of four to count.
SHARON CROWLEY was fifth woman 65 plus.
Six Spartans ran all five races in the league. They were Charles Arnold; Jim Brown; Matt Cooke; Callie Chapman; Sharon Crowley and Mark Freeman.
| Position | Name | Official Time | Own Time | Category |
| 7 | DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT | 37:19 | 37:18 | M |
| 29 | ADRIAN BUSOLINI | 39:44 | 39:43 | M |
| 64 | MIKE JEFFS | 43:54 | 44:30 | M |
| 107 | GEORGIE HOOPER | 48:11 | 48:09 | F |
| 123 | DANNY SCANLON | 49:42 | 49:39 | M |
| 141 | CHARLES ARNOLD | 51:21 | 51:19 | M |
| 164 | MATT COOKE | 53:02 | 53:00 | M |
| 178 | JODIE KANTAS | 53:40 | 53:40 | F |
| 186 | TONY VICKERS | 54:21 | 54:20 | M |
| 187 | STEPHEN MASSEY | 54:22 | 54:22 | M |
| 198 | JO COOKSLEY | 55:11 | 55:03 | F |
| 251 | MARK FREEMAN | 62:27 | 62:29 | M |
| 252 | SHARON CROWLEY | 62:29 | 62:37 | F |
| 273 | CLAIRE EMMERSON | 66:00 | 65:59 | F |
| 274 | LIZ CROWLEY | 66:02 | 65:59 | F |
| 275 | PENNY SCHENKEL | 66:03 | 66:00 | F |
| 278 | SAMMIE SUTTON | 66:49 | 66:49 | F |
| 279 | LLOYD DIAS | 67:13 | 67:17 | M |
| 289 | JIM BROWN | 71:09 | 71:07 | M |
| 295 | CALLIE CHAPMAN | 74:39 | 74:15 | F |
| 300 | JANE DYMOKE | 81:07 | 81:09 | F |
Parkrun Highlights
Club Champion SIMON JACKSON ran his 100th parkrun on his 50th birthday. He took his balloons and fancy dress round the Stevenage parkrun in 28 minutes 55 seconds.
555 people including 210 women finished the 442nd local parkrun and they included 29 Spartans. Many Spartans ran new parkrun personal bests (PPBs) or achieved new milestones.
The PPBs were by ADAM HILL at 81st in 24:42; SALLY PICKLES 219th in 28:32; BECKY BIRT 348th in 32:03; KEITH MANTON 373rd in 32:55 and JULIE BUDDEN 528th in 45:59.
The mini-milestones were ANDREW PATTERSON running his 20th parkrun as part of Simon the century runner’s “escort” in 28:57; PENNY SCHENKEL 140th parkrun in 43:53; NIKI PLUMB 80th parkrun tail walking in 59:57; NICHOLA DURENT 40th parkrun in 39:40; and HAYLEY PEACH 30th parkrun in 39:40
KIRK NDUGU was second overall in the event with 17:39 just eight seconds off the winner. GAIL MACKIE was fastest female from Fairlands in 26:52 and LORRAINE HILL second in 27:11.
Recently JAY PAPA won a parkrun. The first time he’s done that. He won the Wisbech parkrun with 18 minutes 23 seconds. Thirty seconds ahead of the next runner. JESSICA CLARKE was at the same event and finished in 29:09. There were 204 finishers. Well done Jay!
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 2 | 2 | Kirk NDUGU | 00:17:39 |
| 81 | 74 | Adam HILL | 00:24:42 |
| 115 | 101 | Daniel VILJOEN | 00:25:35 |
| 131 | 113 | Peter SACH | 00:26:05 |
| 141 | 122 | James SOUTH | 00:26:20 |
| 165 | 20 | Gail MACKIE | 00:26:52 |
| 173 | 22 | Lorraine HILL | 00:27:11 |
| 219 | 38 | Sally PICKLES | 00:28:32 |
| 229 | 181 | Simon JACKSON | 00:28:55 |
| 233 | 185 | Andrew PATTERSON | 00:28:57 |
| 260 | 201 | Jim BROWN | 00:29:31 |
| 285 | 215 | Stephen SMITHSON | 00:30:14 |
| 317 | 72 | Alison SHELLEY | 00:31:07 |
| 348 | 84 | Rebecca BIRT | 00:32:03 |
| 355 | 255 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 00:32:15 |
| 364 | 94 | Lindsay PATEMAN | 00:32:35 |
| 367 | 260 | Andy JAY | 00:32:38 |
| 373 | 265 | Keith MANTON | 00:32:55 |
| 405 | 119 | Callie CHAPMAN | 00:34:13 |
| 411 | 275 | Paul HOLGATE | 00:34:30 |
| 422 | 131 | Pamela VILJOEN | 00:35:18 |
| 479 | 164 | Julie MANTON | 00:39:32 |
| 482 | 166 | Hayley PEACH | 00:39:40 |
| 481 | 165 | Nichola DURENT | 00:39:40 |
| 493 | 173 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 00:40:51 |
| 523 | 192 | Penny SCHENKEL | 00:43:53 |
| 528 | 196 | Julie BUDDEN | 00:45:59 |
| 554 | 209 | Samantha SUTTON | 00:59:56 |
| 555 | 210 | Niki PLUMB | 00:59:57 |