SPARTANS WIN SUPER TIGHT RACE THREE

Every single race position counted in the third race in the Mid Week League on Thursday evening. 

Fairlands Valley Spartans improved to win the men’s and women’s races but in an amazingly tight result only by a single point, that’s one race position, in each.  The Spartans won the men’s race by 345 points to 346 and the women’s race by 152 to 153.  In each case just ahead of Royston.  So overall they won the fixture by 497 to 499. 

The Spartans won every category on the night.  Open men, open women, veteran men (by 11 points), veteran women (by 6 points).   

FVS were helped by having a fantastic 57 runners – 26 women and 31 men.  That was more than enough for three women’s teams of eight and two men’s teams of twelve. 

The club’s big improvement compared with race two was down to having a lot more runners, more depth, and some outstanding performances. 

The Spartans had four in the top twenty women and six in the top twenty men. 

The four women were SAMANTHA PRETTY-CONNORS, second and first in her category (FV35) with 41 minutes 9 seconds for the approximately 10K of mixed terrain near Sandon and Buckland (not far from Royston); ASHLEY JOHNSON, fourth and second in her category (FV35); CHRISTINE LATHWELL, ninth and second in her category (FV45) with 42:59 and GABRIELLE O’BRIEN 19^th in 47:01. 

YUKO GORDON won the women aged 65 plus category with 48:29 and was 26^th women in the race. 

The six men were ANDREW PATTERSON, fifth and first man 40 plus in 34:12; SIMON FRASER, sixth in 34:15; SIMON JACKSON eighth and third man 40 plus in 35:04; JONATHAN PARR, 12^th in 36:13; RICHARD BATE 19^th in 37:33 and DANNY HUKIN 20^th in 38:10. 

The other “A” team women were SUZY HAWKINS 27^th in 48:32; GEORGIE HOOPER 28^th in 48:34 and MARIE COLUCCI 37^th in 50:50.  HARRIET SMITH and KELLY McHALE led in the “B” team at 38^th and 39^th with 51 minutes 5 seconds. 

Altogether there were 472 runners in the race which included all the second and third division clubs, a total of 15 clubs.  The promotion race is very tight.  Two will get promoted and the Spartans are second on score with 29 compared with Watford’s 30 and tied with Royston but a little bit behind second on points (race positions) with 1,755 against 1,529.  There are six clubs in the second division.  It will all depend on the fourth and final race which will be in Trent Park on Thursday evening 29^th June. 

Tables 

FVS Women (26) 

Pos	Women	Cat	Vet	Time	First Name	Last Name	Cat	Div	Comments
72	2	1	2	41:09	Samantha	Pretty-Connors	V 35	2	1st FV35.  Team A
94	4	2	3	42:33	Ashley	Johnson	V 35	2	2nd FV35.  Team A
105	9	2	8	42:59	Christine	Lathwell*	V 45	2	2nd FV45.  Team A
174	19			47:01	Gabrielle	O’Brien	S	2	Team A.
208	26	1	19	48:29	Yuko	Gordon	V 65	2	1st FV65.  Team A
209	27	7	20	48:32	Suzy	Hawkins	V 45	2	Team A
211	28	10	21	48:34	Georgie	Hooper	V 35	2	Team A
251	37	9	26	50:50	Marie	Colucci	V 45	2	Team A
253	38			51:05	Harriet	Smith	S	2
254	39	12	27	51:05	Kelly	McHale	V 35	2
260	42	12	30	51:26	Tracey	Jackson	V 45	2
279	48			52:10	Abbie	Pez	S	2
306	55	18	41	53:59	Tracy	Pez	V 45	2
340	67	21	50	56:18	Wendy	Tharani	V 45	2
349	71	22	52	56:57	Mo	Warrillow	V 45	2
355	75	23	56	57:40	Fiona	Clarke	V 45	2
362	77	24	58	58:03	Nicola	Andersson	V 45	2
367	80	21	60	58:20	Anna	Swanepoel	V 35	2
389	88	28	66	59:55	Claire	Emmerson	V 45	2
390	89			59:56	Chloe	Chapman	S	2
392	90	23	67	1:00:13	Ada	Janusiene	V 35	2
393	91	29	68	1:00:14	Hazel	Smith	V 45	2
436	112	21	86	1:05:33	Sharon	Crowley	V 55	2
445	117	23	91	1:06:55	Jane	Wadey	V 55	2
447	118	24	92	1:07:36	Monica	Smithson	V 55	2
461	124	41	97	1:13:46	Tracy	Haygarth	V 45	2

FVS Men (31) 

Pos	Men	Cat	Vet	Time	First Name	Last Name	Cat	Div
6	5	1	1	34:12	Andrew	Patterson	V 40	2	1st MV40.  Team A
7	6			34:15	Simon	Fraser	S	2	Team A
10	8	3	3	35:04	Simon	Jackson	V 40	2	3rd MV40.  Team A
15	12			36:13	Jonathan	Parr	S	2	Team A
27	19	6	7	37:33	Richard	Bate	V 40	2	Team A
32	20	7	8	38:10	Danny	Hukin	V 40	2	Team A
50	31			39:26	Mike	Jeffs	S	2	Team A
54	33			40:02	Nick	Gill	S	2	Team A
76	47	7	22	41:36	David	Riddell	V 50	2	Team A
83	51			42:05	Stuart	Archer	S	2	Team A
87	54	18	27	42:16	Adrian	Donnelly	V 40	2	Team A
92	59	21	31	42:29	Danny	Scanlon	V 40	2	Team A
136	75	15	44	44:34	Paul	Shelley	V 50	2
141	78	4	46	44:55	John	Harris	V 60	2	4th MV60
144	79	27	47	45:23	David	Pattman	V 40	2
145	80	28	48	45:24	Alexey	Zherdev	V 40	2
153	82	17	50	45:44	Matt	Gifford	V 50	2
154	83	30	51	45:45	Francois	Swanepoel	V 40	2
170	91	5	56	46:53	Charlie	Arnold	V 60	2	5th MV60
180	93	19	58	47:20	Craig	Bacon	V 50	2
225	106	36	68	49:02	Robert	Wright	V 40	2
248	112			50:34	Adrian	Busolini	S	2
252	113	27	73	51:01	John	Nelms	V 50	2
278	120	32	80	52:10	Matt	Clarke	V 50	2
351	140			57:04	Matt	Tutton	S	2
356	141	41	97	57:43	Andy	Jay	V 50	2
382	148	43	102	59:37	Tim	Robinson	V 50	2
403	152	43	105	1:01:04	Paul	Jennings	V 40	2
405	153	44	106	1:01:30	Michael	O’Keefe	V 50	2
446	158	17	110	1:07:08	Paul	Holgate	V 60	2
452	159	45	111	1:08:45	Karl	Shreeve	V 50	2

Parkrun Saturday 17^th June 2023 

Congratulation to GAIL MACKIE who ran her 100^th parkrun and did it in 27:21. 

For all the Consolidated Results please click the link.