It was tough, it was tight but Fairlands Valley Spartans came from behind and won promotion to division one in the last race of the Mid Week League series of evening 10K races.
They started the night one point below the promotion zone and finished one point ahead of third placed club Bishops Stortford by 33 to 32. Crucial to this was the men’s team in second place beating Bishops Stortford by 308 race places to 317, just nine places, and the women’s team in third beating the same club by just 92 to 98, only six places. Every Spartan runner, man or woman, made a difference.
The whole men’s “A” team of twelve runners finished in the top seventy places. Ten of them beat the forty minute barrier on the course, from Ridlins to the top of Fairlands Valley Park and back, that was tough for the first five kilometres.
ANDREW PATTERSON led in the Spartan charge for promotion with seventh place and 35 minutes 52 seconds; CRAIG HALSEY was ten seconds behind at eighth and 36:02; next came GRANT RAMSAY at eleventh and third veteran with 36:19. BRIAN BRACKSTON ran his best 2017 10K at 14th place with 36:33; SIMON JACKSON was 25th in 37:53; RICHARD BATE 34th in a season’s best 38:27; MIKE GREEN 38th in 38:45; STEVE GREEN 57th in 39:52; DAVID RIDDELL 59th in 39:59; STUART HAYCROFT 62nd in 40:03 and new member CHRIS TILLBROOK 69th in 40:37.
Fairlands’ top two females sprinted hard for the line with NUALA ROBINSON sixth woman in 43:25 improving her personal best by 27 seconds to 43:25 and ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER seventh with a new PB of 43:18. SUZY HAWKINS was a top ten finisher in 44:09. The women’s “A” team of six runners was completed by ISABEL GREEN running her best 2017 time which was 46 minutes, RUTH REILLY taking a 2 minutes 34 minutes chunk off her already good PB to finish in 46:11 and HANNAH NEALE running through the field to 48:30.
But there were a stunning seventy six Spartans in the race, 27 women and 49 men, all of them contributed and many of the other 58 helped to push other clubs down the finish order. For example the women’s “C” team finished ahead of the “A” teams from two other clubs.
Other great performances included GARETH COWELL running a 45:27 PB, an improvement of 1 minute 1 second; VERITY FISHER was delighted to cut her 10K time by 1:07 to 48:30; ROS INGRAM took 56 seconds off to 48:40; HAZEL SMITH also by 56 seconds this time to 49:21; LAUREN DEIGHTON trimmed two seconds to 49:20; KERSTIN WEINER leapt forwards with a 2:33 cut to 50:10 and JULIE SIMMONS was second in the veteran women (55 plus) race with 52:15; MICK ANDREWS improving by 2:44 to 55:48 and CLAIRE HYDE squeezing off another 3 seconds to 56:46.
| Race | Name | Time | Comments |
| 7 | ANDREW PATTERSON | 35:52 | “A” team |
| 8 | CRAIG HALSEY | 36:02 | “A” team |
| 11 | GRANT RAMSAY | 36:19 | 3MV40. “A” team |
| 14 | BRIAN BRACKSTONE | 36:33 | 4MV40. YB (0:37). “A” team |
| 25 | SIMON JACKSON | 37:53 | “A” team |
| 34 | RICHARD BATE | 38:27 | SB (1:40). “A” team |
| 38 | MIKE GREEN | 38:45 | “A” team |
| 57 | STEVE GREEN | 39:52 | PB (0:38). “A” team |
| 58 | BRIAN WHITE | 39:55 | 2MV60. “A” team. |
| 59 | DAVID RIDDELL | 39:59 | 2MV50 (SB 0:19). “A” team. |
| 62 | STUART HAYCROFT | 40:03 | PB (1:03). “A” team. |
| 69 | CHRIS TILLBROOK | 40:37 | YB (0:50). “A” team. |
| 76 | LIAM HERBERT | 41:07 | SB (0:50). “B” team. |
| 87 | MARK COLLINS | 42:03 | PB (1:03). “B” team. |
| 88 | TIM SABAN | 42:07 | “B” team. |
| 91 | THOMAS SAUKA | 42:25 | “B” team. |
| 92 | DEAN CARPENTER | 42:30 | “B” team. |
| 104 | BARRY OSBORNE | 43:18 | 3MV60. YB (0:02). “B” team. |
| 107 | NUALA ROBINSON (F) | 43:18 | 6th woman. PB (0:27). “FA” team. |
| 108 | ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER (F) | 43:18 | 7th woman. PB. “FA” team. |
| 109 | TODD GRAY | 43:36 | “B” team. |
| 110 | PETE SMITH | 43:40 | YB (0:41). “B” team. |
| 118 | SUZY HAWKINS (F) | 44:09 | 7FV35. 10th woman. “FA” team. |
| 127 | NICK GILL | 44:57 | “B” team. |
| 136 | GARETH COWELL | 45:27 | PB (1:01). “B” team. |
| 142 | JOHN NELMS | 45:30 | “B” team. |
| 151 | PAUL MAGUIRE | 45:52 | YB (1:11). “B” team. |
| 152 | MARK GOODWIN | 45:46 | “C” team. |
| 159 | ISABEL GREEN (F) | 46:00 | YB (0:25). “FA” team. |
| 163 | RUTH REILLY (F) | 46:11 | PB (2:34). “FA” team. |
| 165 | DARREN EMMERSON | 46:24 | “C” team. |
| 190 | GREG KELLY | 48:07 | YB (1:32). “C” team. |
| 194 | MATT GILL | 48:20 | SB. “C” team. |
| 197 | HANNAH NEALE (F) | 48:26 | “FA” team. |
| 198 | JAMES KILROY | 48:26 | YB (0:45). “C” team. |
| 201 | VERITY FISHER (F) | 48:30 | PB (1:07). “FB” team. |
| 203 | PAUL BATTERBEE | 48:30 | “C” team. |
| 206 | ROS INGRAM (F) | 48:40 | PB (0:56). “FB” team. |
| 212 | CLAIRE EMMERSON (F) | 49:11 | 7FV45. “FB” team. |
| 215 | HAZEL SMITH (F) | 49:21 | PB (0:56). “FB” team. |
| 216 | JULIET FULLWOOD (F) | 49:21 | “FB” team. |
| 220 | LAUREN DEIGHTON (F) | 49:20 | PB (0:02). “FB” team. |
| 223 | KEN JUDE | 49:28 | “C” team. |
| 231 | JIM BROWN | 49:51 | 8MV60. “C” team. |
| 234 | VISHAL SHAH | 50:14 | YB (2:41). “C” team. |
| 237 | KERSTIN WEINER (F) | 50:10 | PB (2:33). “FC” team. |
| 247 | ANDY PRIOR | 50:57 | YB. “C” team. |
| 254 | ANDY JAY | 51:22 | YB (0:12). “C” team. |
| 257 | DAVE SMITH | 52:03 | YB. “C” team. |
| 259 | HAYLEY BIRONNEAU (F) | 52:03 | YB (1:14). “FC” team. |
| 261 | JULIE SIMMONS (F) | 52:15 | 2FV55 (YB 1:34). “FC” team. |
| 265 | CALLUM BEASLEY | 52:45 | |
| 267 | KAREN ELLIS (F) | 52:49 | “FC” team. |
| 269 | LISA GRAY (F) | 52:47 | “FC” team. |
| 270 | LEE PICKERSGILL | 52:59 | |
| 271 | JENNY GARRETT (F) | 52:41 | “FC” team. |
| 275 | JON SYPULA | 53:01 | YB (2:20) |
| 276 | ANDY SMITH | 53:10 | PB (1:57) |
| 292 | CAROL PAUL (F) | 54:51 | 4FV55 |
| 305 | KARL SHREEVE | 55:59 | |
| 307 | MICK ANDREWS | 55:48 | PB (2:44) |
| 308 | SUE HAMER (F) | 55:50 | YB (0:58) |
| 313 | SARAH PIKE (F) | 56:21 | |
| 314 | JULIE SHADBOLT (F) | 56:22 | |
| 318 | PAUL HOLGATE | 56:19 | SB (1:13) |
| 319 | SIMON SYPULA | 56:30 | |
| 322 | KAREN PALMER (F) | 56:48 | YB (1:14) |
| 324 | VICTORIA BRETT (F) | 56:46 | |
| 325 | CLAIRE HYDE (F) | 56:46 | PB (0:03) |
| 327 | ROB SHAW | 57:37 | |
| 330 | MONICA SMITHSON (F) | 58:45 | SB (1:15) |
| 339 | ROGER BIGGS | 59:45 | YB |
| 345 | SHARON CROWLEY (F) | 1:00:40 | 6FV55 |
| 350 | SOPHOCLES GEORGIOU | 1:02:36 | PB |
| 358 | NICK WITCOMBE | 1:04:30 | YB |
| 362 | PETER CARPENTER | 1:05:13 | 4MV70 |
The friendly Mob Match will be in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday evening 13th July.
Spartan Women Win At Bassingbourn
Fairlands Valley Spartans team of nine women impressed at Sunday’s Bassingbourn Half Marathon. RUTH REILLY, KAREN ELLIS and JENNY GARRETT won the women’s team race with a total of 5 hours 46 minutes 36 seconds with Ruth 53rd overall in 1:43:26; Karen 160th in 2 hours 1 minute exactly and Jenny 165th overall in 2 hours 2 minutes exactly.
It was warm again with a breeze but VICTORIA BRETT ran a new half marathon personal best of 2 hours 2 minutes 42 seconds.
Four more Spartan women paced each other round and came in together – JULIE SHADBOLT 2:10:46; HAZEL SMITH 2:10:47; CALLIE CHAPMAN 2:10:48 and CLAIRE EMMERSON 2:10:49.
New member JULIA WHITE ran her first half marathon in Bassingbourn. She managed to run it in 2 hours 25 minutes 47 seconds despite tearing a calf muscle less than a month ago. Julia only entered because her sister in law had a brain haemorrhage last July and so she wanted to raise money for the Brains Trust charity as it has personal meaning.
For the men PAUL MAGUIRE ran a great new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 41 minutes 15 seconds. Completing an extravagant four races in a week JIM BROWN missed first place in his category by a few seconds but was content to beat his target of 1:50 for the event with 1 hour 49 minutes 25 seconds. VISH SHAH came in with 2 hours 6 minutes 55 seconds.
Spartan Times At Bassingbourn
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 53 | PAUL MAGUIRE | 1:41:15 | PB |
| 62 | RUTH REILLY | 1:43:36 | Winning Team |
| 94 | JIM BROWN | 1:49:25 | 2nd MV60 |
| 160 | KAREN ELLIS | 2:01:00 | Winning Team |
| 165 | JENNY GARRETT | 2:02:00 | Winning Team |
| 167 | VICTORIA BRETT | 2:02:42 | PB |
| 189 | VISHAL SHAH | 2:06:55 | |
| 220 | JULIE SHADBOLT | 2:10:46 | |
| 221 | HAZEL SMITH | 2:10:47 | |
| 223 | CLAIRE EMMERSON | 2:10:49 | |
| 224 | CALLIE CHAPMAN | 2:10:48 | |
| 271 | JULIA WHITE | 2:25:47 | First Half Marathon |
There were 303 finishers.
Time’s Five Miles
TIM SABAN ran the Ickenham Five in 34 minutes 6 seconds and was 27th overall.
Milton Keynes 10K
In steady rain throughout ROGER BIGGS ran the Milton Keynes 10K in 58 minutes 17 seconds. The evening event started in the Open University grounds.
Inaugural Five
Andy Jay was the solo Spartan at the inaugural 5 mile event held on the Woodhall Estate near Watton At Stone. In very hot conditions on a challenging but beautiful course, Andy finished in 44:25. In the heat the organisers did a great job by holding water stations at every mile.
This was race one in a midsummer race series hosted by Active Training World. Race two will be in Panshanger Park (near Hertford) on 19th July.
Hyde Park Friday
After Wednesday’s effort JIM BROWN ran the Serpentine 5K in 25 minutes 13 seconds on Friday but was still second in his category. He was 180th out of the 218 finishers in mild and dry conditions with a light breeze. The reserve course was used due to a Phil Collins concert. The lunch-time event often attracts a quality field. This time the fastest woman finished in 17:43. Jim’s run means he has already completed a qualifying series for the year. For the time being he is twelfth out of many hundreds of runners.
Sauka on Skiddaw
THOMAS SAUKA ran the Skiddaw fell race. It was tough but he ran a great time of 1:39:42.
Parkrun Reports
On a chilly morning KEITH COUGHLIN was the quickest Spartan at Stevenage parkrun, finishing second in 18mins 15secs. RICHARD SPRINGALL was seventh in 19:10 and NICK GILL finished 20th in 21:08. DANIEL SUTTON (24:49), JON SYPULA (26:17), ROGER BIGGS (28:21), JAMES SOUTH (31:07 with buggy and dogs), SELVAN NAICKER (31:11), TREVOR BROOM (35:23), ROBERT HARDY (36:21) and IAN ALEXANDER (tail-walking in 58:44) were the other men in action. Selvan and Trevor were both notching new course PBs.
For the women, CAROL PAUL finished ninth in 26:09, with the next two Spartans being HANNAH SYPULA (28:49, new course PB) and JO BOWDERY (30:30). Both Hannah and Jo were running with dogs. SALLY PHILLIPS (30:59) and PAULINE HARDY (41:50) were the other Spartan women running.
Elsewhere BARRY KING opted to take on the tough Wimpole Estate for his first ever parkrun, and crossed the line in 26:17. VERITY FISHER opted for Oxford parkrun and was 13th lady in 24:46. Finally DARRYL STEVENS opted for a relatively northerly (for him!) Blandford parkrun and completed in 39:32
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including:
- EMAC Track and Field at Milton Keynes on Wednesday 5th July.
- Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday evening 6th July.
- Mob Match at Welwyn Garden City on Thursday 13th July.
- Fairlands Valley Challenge from Stevenage on 15th and 16th July
- EMAC Track and Field at Stevenage on Wednesday 26th July.
- Fairlands Valley Relays in Stevenage on Thursday 27th July.
- Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 28th July.
- Herts Senior 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 30th August.
- Herts Veteran 5K Championships at Hatfield on Wednesday 13th September.
- Herts Senior 10K Championships at Standalone on Sunday 1st October.
- Peterborough Half Marathon on Sunday 8th October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 22nd October.
- Cross Country at Trent Park on Sunday 12th November.
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 19th November. Enter fast.
- Hertfordshire Five Mile Championship for Veterans at Hatfield on Sunday 26th Nov.
- Bass Belle 10 near Royston on Sunday 26th November.