Fairlands Valley Spartans were delighted at the success of the Sunday’s Stevenage Half Marathon. Nearly five hundred runners set off on the 13.1 mile race around the town. Although more than eighty volunteers were needed 36 of the runners were Spartans. Conditions were great for long distance running and there were spectators out encouraging everyone all the way round the course.
The race was won by Michael Waddington of Ware Joggers in 1 hour 13 minutes 17 seconds with second placed Tom Sawyer from Tring RC in 1:17:41 more than four minutes behind.
Kate Rennie from Dacorum and Tring AC was first woman in 1 hour 22 minutes 12 seconds; second was Kay Neesam from New Maske Harriers (Cleveland) in 1:27:57. Kate was 13th overall in the whole race.
There was Spartan success. SIMON JACKSON was first in for the club, fifth overall and won the men 40 plus category in 1 hour 19 minutes 37 seconds. Together with STEFFAN FORD eighth in 1:21:23; JASON ANDERSON tenth in 1:21:38 and MARTIN BLACKBURN 27th in 1:26:46 he was in the silver medal winning team in the Hertfordshire Half Marathon Championships. Martin improved his personal best by 2 minutes 26 seconds.
ALEX DUNNETT 35th in 1:28:39; ADRIAN BUSOLINI 41st in 1:29:19; MIKE GREEN 43rd in 1:29:24 and DANNY SCANLON 57th in 1:32:29 won team bronze.
DAVID BOWKER won the male 60 plus contest with 1:37:25. JIM BROWN was third in that category with 1:47:30.
The Spartan women’s team won bronze with SUZY HAWKINS 1:33:26; CAROLINE BARTER 1:58:46 and MEGAN TAYLOR 2:05:22. Suzy was ninth woman and third woman 40 plus. Megan improved her personal best by more than 13 minutes!
New member DAVID HARRIS was really pleased with his new half marathon personal best (PB) of 1:26:23 following on from a new 10K PB earlier this month. He wants to thank Fairlands Valley Spartans, the fantastic support from all of the marshals and supporters on the route. ROBERT WRIGHT improved by 6:17 and MICHAEL O’KEEFE by 4:28. Six Spartans were running their first half marathon including Alex Dunnett, PAUL SHELLEY; REECE McCULLAGH; ED HARE; JONATHAN JONES; and TAHER THARANI.
Fundraiser
All the surplus from the Stevenage Half Marathon goes to charity. This year the nominated charity is Team Societi Kawasaki Kid.
Kawasaki Disease is the No.1 cause of acquired heart disease in children in the UK. It is a vascular disease that if not treated timely can cause irreparable heart damage and life long cardiac care. The consequences of this disease can be devastating. Unfortunately it is not well known and cases in the UK are rising.
Stanley Patterson, the son of Spartan runner, Andrew is one of those affected. Stanley now lives with two aneurysms to his heart.
Societi, the UK Kawasaki Foundation is a small but mighty charity making huge inroads in raising awareness of this disease literally saving children’s hearts.
As well as many more local clubs there were entrants from Grimsby Tri Club; Witham Running Club; York Knavesmire Harriers; Mornington Chasers; South Cheshire Harriers and even some overseas including three from Gibraltar just for this race and promised to be back next year with friends.
Stevenage should be proud of this community organised event run by Fairlands Valley Spartans team of volunteers.
(Times for all 36 Spartans can be found in the table at the very end of this release).
Olympic Park
SHELBE MOONBEAM did another midweek run Olympic Park on Thursday. Her last run was on 14th February 2018 when she did it in 33.03 but this time with all the self motivation and hard work and training she has done over the last nine months she did it in 30.22. She is so proud of who she is today and her passion for running is much more than she ever thought it would be.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 3rd November
Personal best runs and finishing in the top ten ladies were the order of the day at the Stevenage event. KERSTIN WEINER was the first lady home in 24 mins and 16 secs and KAREN ELLIS the seventh in 25 mins and 17 secs, both achieving personal best runs. Alongside them JO BOWDERY finished as the sixth woman in 25 mins. Not to be outdone SIMON JACKSON ran his tenth parkrun event in a PB time of 31 mins and 25 secs, a 5 minute Stevenage course record for him. MADELINE PRITCHARD also ran a PB time of 23 minutes and 54 seconds in Letchworth.
STEPHEN SMITHSON ran at the Stevenage event for the first time in over a year, following injury, with a time of 26 mins and 18 secs. He was joined by PAUL HOLGATE who completed his 20th Parkrun in 29 mins and 23 secs and HANNAH SYPULA who ran in 25 mins and 59 secs. ROWENA RUTLEDGE finished her 55th event in 28 mins and 32 secs at the Gunpowder location.
First time runs at new events saw STUART ARCHER run the Lymington Woodside course in 19 mins and 09 secs, ALISON SHELLEY run at Ludlow in 33 mins and 42 secs, and NICOLA HATHERLY and NIKI PLUMB run the Aldenham course in 33 mins and 49 secs and 36 mins and 29 secs respectively.
Venturing from our local event, MICHELLE MARCHANT ran the St Albans event in 30 mins and 42 secs and DARRYL STEVENS ran at BROCKENHURST in 38 mins and 59 secs. Back in Stevenage top 60 finishes were recorded for JOHN NELMS in 22 mins and 17 secs, JAMES MCSWEENEY in 23 mins and 57 secs, LUKE VINCENT in 24 mins and 01 secs, DANIEL SUTTON in 24 mins and 33 secs, PAUL SHELLEY in 24 mins and 43 secs, and TOM ROBINSON in 25 mins and 16 secs. While top 200 positions went to MICHAEL O’KEEFE in 26 mins and 16 secs, CLAIRE PULEN in 27 mins and 06 secs, VERITY FISHER in 27 mins and 10 secs, JULIE SHADBOLT in 27 mins and 15 secs, PAUL WHYTE in 27 mins and 55 secs, MONICA SMITHSON in 28 mins and 07 secs, PENNY SCHENKEL in 29 mins and 24 secs, CALLIE CHAPMAN in 31 mins and 16 secs, KAREN PALMER in 31 mins and 16 secs, JIM BROWN in 31 mins and 16 secs, SALLY MCBRIDE in 31 mins and 52 secs, and PETER CARPENTER in 33 mins and 23 secs. JON SYPULA finished in 36 mins, HAZEL JONES in 38 mins and 17 secs, and DAVID SCOTT in 50 mins and 55 secs.
(See the end of this release for all Saturday’s Spartan Parkrun results).
Tables
Spartans at the Stevenage Half Marathon
Position | First Name | Last Name | Chip | Other Comments |
5 | SIMON | JACKSON | 1:19:37 | 1st Vet 40. Silver team |
8 | STEFFAN | FORD | 1:21:23 | 2nd Vet 40. Silver team |
10 | JASON | ANDERSON | 1:21:38 | Silver team (YB) |
25 | DAVID | HARRIS | 1:26:23 | |
27 | MARTIN | BLACKBURN | 1:26:46 | Silver team (PB 2:26) |
35 | ALEX | DUNNETT | 1:28:29 | Bronze team (1st half marathon) |
41 | ADRIAN | BUSOLINI | 1:29:19 | Bronze team |
43 | MIKE | GREEN | 1:29:24 | Bronze team (SB) |
57 | DANNY | SCANLON | 1:32:29 | Bronze team |
58 | GRANT | RAMSAY | 1:32:30 | Bronze team |
63 | SUZY | HAWKINS (F) | 1:33:26 | Women’s bronze team |
76 | DEAN | CARPENTER | 1:36:30 | YB |
82 | DUNCAN | FLOUNDERS | 1:37:07 | |
83 | DAVID | BOWKER | 1:37:25 | 1st Vet 60 overall (SB) |
117 | PAUL | SHELLEY | 1:42:19 | (1st half marathon) |
129 | REECE | MCCULLAGH | 1:44:12 | (1st half marathon) |
143 | STUART | HAYCROFT | 1:45:09 | |
162 | JIM | BROWN | 1:47:30 | 3rd Vet 60 overall |
179 | CHRIS | HOLLAND | 1:49:13 | |
192 | MARTIN | DUDLEY | 1:50:41 | YB |
203 | ROBERT | WRIGHT | 1:51:51 | PB (6:17) |
214 | TIM | ROBINSON | 1:53:22 | YB (9:27) |
229 | MICHAEL | O’KEEFE | 1:55:43 | PB (4:28) |
245 | SELVAN | NAICKER | 1:57:36 | SB |
249 | EDWARD | HARE | 1:58:21 | (1st half marathon) |
250 | CAROLINE | BARTER (F) | 1:58:46 | Women’s bronze team |
281 | WENDY | THARANI (F) | 2:01:50 | |
310 | MEGAN | TAYLOR (F) | 2:05:22 | Women’s bronze team (PB 13:22)) |
317 | JONATHAN | JONES | 2:07:17 | (1st half marathon) |
328 | SOPHOCLES | GEORGIOU | 2:08:46 | |
357 | KARL | SHREEVE | 2:14:39 | YB |
373 | PAUL | HOLGATE | 2:19:20 | SB (3:13) |
376 | ANGIE | KEELING (F) | 2:19:47 | |
427 | TAHER | THARANI | 2:37:46 | (1st half marathon) |
441 | KAREN | BROOM (F) | 2:45:12 | |
442 | TREVOR | BROOM | 2:45:10 |
457 finishers. 36 Spartans
Key: YB Year Best (faster time on record for 2018); SB Season Best (fastest time on record 2017-2018). Faster time on record pre-2017; PB Personal Best (fastest time on record).
Parkruns, Saturday 3rd November
Parkrun | Pos | Gen | Parkrunner | Time | Notes |
St Albans | 330 | 82 | Michelle MARCHANT | 0:30:42 | |
Lymington Woodside | 6 | 6 | Stuart ARCHER | 0:19:09 | |
Stevenage | 15 | 15 | John NELMS | 0:22:17 | |
36 | 36 | James MCSWEENEY | 0:23:57 | ||
38 | 38 | Luke VINCENT | 0:24:01 | ||
40 | 1 | Kerstin WEINER | 0:24:16 | PB! | |
43 | 41 | Daniel SUTTON | 0:24:33 | ||
46 | 43 | Paul SHELLEY | 0:24:43 | ||
53 | 6 | Jo BOWDERY | 0:25:00 | ||
60 | 54 | Tim ROBINSON | 0:25:16 | ||
61 | 7 | Karen ELLIS | 0:25:17 | PB! | |
86 | 77 | Michael O’KEEFE | 0:26:16 | ||
88 | 79 | Stephen SMITHSON | 0:26:18 | first run in over a year | |
105 | 16 | Claire PULLEN | 0:27:06 | ||
107 | 17 | Verity FISHER | 0:27:10 | ||
110 | 18 | Julie SHADBOLT | 0:27:15 | ||
120 | 99 | Paul WHYTE | 0:27:55 | ||
124 | 24 | Monica SMITHSON | 0:28:07 | ||
142 | 110 | Paul HOLGATE | 0:29:23 | 20th run | |
143 | 33 | Penny SCHENKEL | 0:29:24 | ||
163 | 45 | Callie CHAPMAN | 0:31:16 | ||
164 | 46 | Karen PALMER | 0:31:16 | ||
165 | 119 | Jim BROWN | 0:31:16 | ||
168 | 121 | Simon JACKSON | 0:31:25 | PB!/10th run – 5 min course record | |
175 | 49 | Sally MCBRIDE | 0:31:52 | ||
189 | 131 | Peter CARPENTER | 0:33:23 | ||
215 | 77 | Hannah SYPULA | 0:35:59 | 10th run | |
216 | 139 | Jon SYPULA | 0:36:00 | ||
226 | 84 | Hazel JONES | 0:38:17 | ||
247 | 150 | David SCOTT | 0:50:55 | ||
Gunpowder | 101 | 32 | Rowena RUTLEDGE | 0:28:32 | 55th run |
Brockenhurst | 177 | 109 | Darryl STEVENS | 0:38:59 | |
Aldenham | 130 | 45 | Nicola HATHERLY | 0:33:49 | |
137 | 51 | Niki PLUMB | 0:36:29 | ||
Ludlow | 70 | 26 | Alison SHELLEY | 0:33:42 | |
Letchworth | 14 | 1 | Madeleine PRITCHARD | 0:23:54 | PB! |