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SPEEDY AT ST NEOTS

WOMEN’S TEAM QUALIFY * NIGHT 10K

 

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

grant10kGrant 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

dirthalf“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

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