Eight Spartans sped round the St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday. Although it was a bit cold the lack of wind and fast course, particularly from ten miles to the finish, meant some good times were possible.
MARK GOODWIN was the first to finish. Nothing wrong with 1 hour 45 minutes 24 seconds but he says a lack of training and hence fitness impacted on his time.
The next in was ED HARE. He said, “This was my first St Neots Half and I thoroughly enjoyed it once I had got through the traffic! The conditions were perfect and I settled into my running and soaked up the support through the villages and after the first couple of sharp inclines I realised I was already two thirds of the way through the race and was on for a PB (personal best). It was a training run which felt too good not to keep pushing and I was delighted with a 1 minute 33 second PB and a finishing time of 1:49:09.”
Half marathons haven’t gone well for JIM BROWN recently and this was a chance to get some confidence back. After starting steady near the back by halfway he was thinking if I can get one minute in hand before going up the hill through Abbotsley I am going to try for 1:50. He did it just and then tried turning the last 5K into a downhill parkrun to finish content with 1:49:17 which improved his best time for the year by 1 minute 45 seconds.
Both Mark Goodwin and Jim Brown achieved graded scores of 70%.
CHRIS HOLLAND started ten minutes late but was the fastest Spartan round the course: He said, “I missed the start as the traffic jams meant I didn’t arrive with enough time to go through my usual pre-race routine. I opted to do a warm-up and start late rather than not warm-up. It took me a mile and a half to catch the tail runner. I was reasonably happy with 1:41:44 as the last month hasn’t been kind and I had asthma problems pretty early on.
JOHN HARDING ran a new personal best of 2:24:44. ANGIE KEELING, TONI NICOLLS and PAUL HOLGATE finished in 2:29:26; 2:37:35 and 3:08:47.
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 534 | MARK GOODWIN | 1:45:22 | |
| 627 | ED HARE | 1:49:09 | PB (1:33) |
| 662 | JIM BROWN | 1:49:17 | YB (1:45) |
| 722 | CHRIS HOLLAND | 1:41:44 | Late start |
| 1384 | JOHN HARDING | 2:24:44 | PB |
| 1428 | ANGIE KEELING | 2:29:26 | |
| 1473 | TONI NICOLLS | 2:37:35 | |
| 1509 | PAUL HOLGATE | 3:08:47 |
Go Faster at the Gosport Half – Sam Goes To London
However the fastest half, by more than ten minutes, was run by a female member of Fairlands Valley Spartans. SAM PRETTY ran the Gosport Half Marathon in 1:29:40. She says it’s a popular fast event and conditions were perfect. Although Sam says it was hard as she was not race fit she was on a mission – to qualify for the London Marathon Championships. Her sub 1:30 did that and she’ll be joining GAIL MACKIE and MICHELLE REEVES on the start line in April – the first time the Spartan women will have a complete team of three in the British Marathon Championship.
Grant Chases the Moon at the Olympic Park
Grant Ramsay took part in the “Chase The Moon” 10K night race at the Olympic Park in East London. He had an excellent race achieving a season’s best by almost 90 seconds, finishing in 36:29. It was his fastest 10K since March 2019. All this was good enough for an 11th place finish out of 458.
Dirt Half for Wendy
“Don’t forget to look up, very scenic. Don’t forget to look down, lots of hazards underfoot. Six miles along the grand union canal, five miles through beautiful woodland then return on the canal path. I was very happy for my trail trainers as I squelched over the finish line. A great event,” said Spartan WENDY THARANI about the Dirt Half. She finished in 2:15:44.
Mud, Glorious Mud at the Steppingley Step
“Mud glorious mud!” said SHARON CROWLEY about the Steppingley Step.
It was a hard day out in the Bedfordshire countryside for the three Spartans who took on the Steppingley Step. Based on Barton Le Clay, the 26miles route went up the Sharpenhoe Clappers, then through ,Westoning, Steppingley, Ampthill Park, Flitwick and Flitton, Polloxhill.
The three muddy Spartans were Mike Newbit 7 hours 14 minutes, and 2nd Triple Challenge Award; Sharon Crowley 8 hours 28, and 2nd Triple Challenge Award and Mike Crowley also 8 hours 28.
Parkrun Highlights 16th November 2019
Forty one Fairland Valley Spartans headed out to run at eight different Parkrun venues on 16th November 2019.
Dean CARPENTER was the quickest Spartan running at Stevenage with a time of 19:24. Eva RAMSEY was the quickest female Spartan with a time of 21:52 at Stevenage.
There were seven top ten gender positions this week, with Suzy HAWKINS taking 1st female position at Walthamstow finishing with a time of 23:40. Eva RAMSEY 2nd female at Stevenage, Dean CARPENTER 6th at Stevenage, Verity FISHER 7th female at Stevenage (23:56), Paul MAGUIRE 8th at Westmill (23:52), Kelly McHALE 8th female at Ellenbrook Fields (23:59) and John HARRIS 8th at Letchworth (22:31).
A new personal best was achieved this Saturday by Mo WARRILLOW at Panshanger finishing in 25:29.
Three Spartans tried out new venues with Paul MAGUIRE at Westmill, Suzy HAWKINS at Walthamstow (1st ever Spartan at this venue) and Graham HOARE at Bournemouth (31:29).
Congratulations to four Spartans who have reached milestone runs this weekend: Graham HOARE 10th, Paul SHELLEY 30th, Stuart ARCHER 30th and Grace BROWN 40th.
(You can find all the Spartan parkrun results near the end of this release).
Tables
Parkrun Results Saturday 16th November
| Parkrun | Position | Gender | Parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| Bournmouth | 380 | 269 | Graham HOARE | 00:31:29 | New venue, 10th |
| Westmill | 8 | 8 | Paul MAGUIRE | 00:23:52 | New venue |
| Westmill | 62 | 25 | Grace BROWN | 00:52:25 | 40th |
| Stevenage | 6 | 6 | Dean CARPENTER | 00:19:24 | |
| Stevenage | 23 | 22 | Paul SHELLEY | 00:21:35 | 30th |
| Stevenage | 24 | 23 | Daniel SUTTON | 00:21:40 | |
| Stevenage | 25 | 24 | Danny SCANLON | 00:21:42 | |
| Stevenage | 26 | 25 | Stuart ARCHER | 00:21:43 | 30th |
| Stevenage | 29 | 2 | Eva RAMSEY | 00:21:52 | |
| Stevenage | 40 | 38 | Steven DOBNER | 00:22:56 | |
| Stevenage | 41 | 39 | David PATTMAN | 00:22:59 | |
| Stevenage | 49 | 45 | Martin DUDLEY | 00:23:08 | |
| Stevenage | 51 | 46 | David SCOTT | 00:23:22 | |
| Stevenage | 57 | 51 | Darren EMMERSON | 00:23:52 | |
| Stevenage | 58 | 7 | Verity FISHER | 00:23:56 | |
| Stevenage | 62 | 54 | Nigel STRONGITHARM | 00:24:02 | |
| Stevenage | 75 | 11 | Susan MCANENY | 00:24:33 | |
| Stevenage | 105 | 89 | Sam SIMMONS | 00:25:55 | |
| Stevenage | 110 | 93 | James NICHOLLS | 00:26:05 | |
| Stevenage | 129 | 111 | Jonathan JONES | 00:26:39 | |
| Stevenage | 137 | 20 | Alison SHELLEY | 00:26:57 | |
| Stevenage | 138 | 118 | Edward HARE | 00:27:02 | |
| Stevenage | 153 | 127 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 00:27:24 | |
| Stevenage | 154 | 27 | Gail MACKIE | 00:27:25 | |
| Stevenage | 159 | 30 | Sofia CARPENTER | 00:27:40 | |
| Stevenage | 180 | 142 | Matt CLARKE | 00:28:48 | |
| Stevenage | 184 | 40 | Fiona CLARKE | 00:28:57 | |
| Stevenage | 188 | 43 | Debbie BLANTERN | 00:29:06 | |
| Stevenage | 201 | 156 | Tim ROBINSON | 00:29:41 | |
| Stevenage | 206 | 49 | Monica SMITHSON | 00:29:57 | |
| Stevenage | 220 | 56 | Claire PULLEN | 00:30:22 | |
| Stevenage | 244 | 69 | Jenny GARRETT | 00:31:15 | |
| Stevenage | 250 | 73 | Claire EMMERSON | 00:31:35 | |
| Stevenage | 287 | 192 | Roger BIGGS | 00:35:01 | |
| Stevenage | 296 | 100 | Rowena RUTLEDGE | 00:36:19 | |
| Stevenage | 342 | 133 | Caren THAIN | 00:43:10 | |
| Brockenhurst | 174 | 96 | Darryl STEVENS | 00:35:51 | |
| Walthamstow | 12 | 1 | Suzy HAWKINS | 00:23:40 | New Venue |
| Panshanger | 85 | 11 | Mo WARRILLOW | 00:25:29 | PB |
| Ellenbrook Fields | 60 | 8 | Kelly MCHALE | 00:23:59 | |
| Letchworth | 8 | 8 | John HARRIS | 00:22:31 |