Parkrun Highlights – Spartans takeover.
There were an incredible 624 finishers in Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun, the 453rd in the town and Fairlands Valley Spartans provided many of the 57 volunteers including run director; time keeper; funnel manager; barcode scanning; nine marshals; parkwalkers; tailwalkers; volunteer co-ordinator and ten pacers.
Spartan GEORGIE HOOPER was first woman out of the 267 running in 21 minutes 55 seconds, a new parkrun personal best (PPB) on her 80th parkrun.
KIRK NDUGU was second fastest overall with 17:07 and SIMON JACKSON third with 17:52.
It was 1-2-3 for the Spartan super veterans at Stevenage parkrun. BRIAN WHITE was first man 70 plus in 24:50; CHARLES ARNOLD second in 25:40 and JIM BROWN third in 29:13.
CALLIE FINDLAY has one to go to a major milestone. She was pacing Saturday and ran her 99th in 35:57.
Congratulations and thank you to JANE WADEY for getting everyone organised.
The next “takeover” is planned for 5th September.
At least 77 Spartans enjoyed parkruns on Saturday. Some of those outside Stevenage were GRANT RAMSAY – 20:01 at the Wimpole Estate; SIMON HAIGH 27:37 at Sheringham and SAMMIE SUTTON 27:49 at Minehead.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 2 | 2 | Kirk NDUGU | 17:07 |
| 3 | 3 | Simon JACKSON | 17:52 |
| 17 | 16 | Jay PAPA | 19:51 |
| 45 | 1 | Georgie HOOPER | 21:55 |
| 52 | 48 | Charlie WHITE | 22:00 |
| 54 | 50 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 22:02 |
| 62 | 57 | James GUNN | 22:30 |
| 78 | 72 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 23:23 |
| 85 | 78 | Richard MOORE | 23:45 |
| 90 | 5 | Jo COOKSLEY | 23:54 |
| 91 | 83 | Nick GILL | 23:57 |
| 108 | 97 | Craig BACON | 24:38 |
| 109 | 98 | Martin DUDLEY | 24:41 |
| 115 | 103 | Brian WHITE | 24:50 |
| 127 | 112 | Daniel VILJOEN | 25:14 |
| 145 | 128 | Charles ARNOLD | 25:40 |
| 166 | 143 | Darren EMMERSON | 26:15 |
| 199 | 32 | Lorraine HILL | 26:57 |
| 209 | 37 | Claire EMMERSON | 27:11 |
| 234 | 46 | Fiona CLARKE | 27:40 |
| 235 | 185 | Martin JACOB | 27:43 |
| 245 | 190 | Mike JEFFS | 27:53 |
| 257 | 54 | Sarah THOMAS | 28:25 |
| 264 | 203 | Vishal SHAH | 28:42 |
| 269 | 60 | Sarah ILLINGWORTH | 28:52 |
| 271 | 207 | Ryan DUNNING | 29:00 |
| 277 | 212 | Jim BROWN | 29:13 |
| 286 | 64 | Lindsay PATEMAN | 29:25 |
| 297 | 222 | Maurice BALLARD | 29:49 |
| 306 | 72 | Alice WELCH | 30:02 |
| 320 | 80 | Monica SMITHSON | 30:32 |
| 343 | 91 | Judy KING | 31:01 |
| 385 | 113 | Hazel SMITH | 31:49 |
| 386 | 114 | Debbie BLANTERN | 31:51 |
| 388 | 264 | Keith MANTON | 31:57 |
| 420 | 134 | Pamela VILJOEN | 33:11 |
| 448 | 287 | Stephen SMITHSON | 34:07 |
| 466 | 294 | Paul HOLGATE | 34:44 |
| 473 | 166 | Callie FINDLAY | 34:57 |
| 481 | 173 | Angie KEELING | 35:13 |
| 503 | 189 | Zoe NEWELL | 36:10 |
| 506 | 190 | Jane WADEY | 36:16 |
| 539 | 212 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 38:00 |
| 541 | 214 | Sally PICKLES | 38:08 |
| 542 | 312 | Graham HOARE | 38:08 |
| 552 | 316 | Lloyd DIAS | 38:51 |
| 553 | 221 | Sally PHILLIPS | 38:51 |
| 598 | 251 | Emma CHAPMAN | 45:24 |
| 615 | 259 | Niki PLUMB | 53:35 |
| 616 | 260 | Julie MANTON | 53:35 |
| 622 | 335 | Paul SHELLEY | 59:25 |
| 623 | 266 | Sharon CROWLEY | 59:51 |
| 624 | 267 | Alison SHELLEY | 59:52 |
Greenway Challenge
The Greenway Challenge is an approximately 13 miles clockwise trail run around Letcworth Garden City. Not a race due to the road crossings but timings were published including six Spartans.
Lewis Green 35th in 1:43:58; Nick Gill 50th in 1:49:22; Georgie Hooper 51st in 1:49:22; Liam Herbert 73rd in 1:53:46; Linda Nolan 156th in 2:15:05 and Ada Janusienne 157th in 2:15:06. There were 206 finishers.
Milton Keynes Marathon
LIAM WELLER took on the Milton Keynes marathon on bank holiday Monday.
After not being able to run for three months since January due to a back injury he was over the moon to come in at 3 hours 39 minutes 33 seconds (3:39:33). He was 656th out of the 2216 finishers.
Belfast Blur – Spartan Sub Three UK by David
Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT has run a sub three hours marathon in every country and province of the UK.
Recently he ran the Belfast Marathon in 2 hours 41 minutes 20 seconds. That’s fifth in his age category; 35th in the whole race and a new marathon personal best. There were 5,088 finishers.
He’s over the moon and has now completed a UKSUB3 of marathons from 2023 to 2026 taking in Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Stevenage, Newport and Belfast.
A Nuclear Rush!
Spartans DARREN and NIKI WILBY did the Nuclear Race Rush. A 12k obstacle race with lots of mud, jumping in and out of lakes etc). They finished 67th and 69th (out of more than 400) in 2hr 18mins.
Kings Lynn
LORRAINE HILL ran the Kings Lynn 10K in 54 minutes 10 seconds (54:10). There were nearly 2,800 finishers.
Lap Ultra – 72 kilometres round Windermere
MATT GIFFORD ran The Lap ultra on Saturday. That’s 47 miles round Lake Windermere with 2,700 metres of elevation. He finished in 13 hours 18 minutes 8 seconds and was 487th out of 1,139 finishers.
The Lap Ultra is a beautiful 72K/47 mile fully signposted ultra marathon, on some of the most stunning and runnable trails in The Lake District.
Highlights included: Open to both runners and walkers; over 2,000 route marking arrows; GPS Tracker, waterproof map and GPX of the route provided; six fully stocked food and drink stations; bag drop for spare shoes at half way; fantastic finishers’ meal whenever you cross the line; stunning, locally sourced finishers’ medal.
There was a time limit of 24 hours to circumnavigate England’s largest and most iconic lake and to take in the magnificent views across the stunning Lake District Fells from all the best viewpoints.
Some say the Lap is the perfect entry level ultra. Created as a gateway to allow runners and walkers to step up to 50 mile ultra distance, without the need for navigation, exposure to really bad weather, or worries about quantity of food.
Matt said “I completed “The Lap.” My first (and very possibly last) Ultra Marathon. It was far more than I had bargained for or imagined in nearly every way.
The event was bigger. The feeling of community with other runners/sufferers stronger. The scenery more stunning. The course way more brutal (the hills were just ridiculous 2761m of elevation and I personally counted every one). The aid stations more imbued with energy and urgency. The last two miles longer (soooo much longer). The finish more welcome than I can describe and while we are at it, my time (13 hours 18 mins) far quicker than I could dare to hope for.
It’s hard to sum up a day like that in a few words, but if I tell you that a stranger handing me an ice pop somewhere around 30-something miles had me in tears, that probably gives you some idea of where this race took me… other than just around a very big lake.
A huge thank you to everyone who supported me in any way — especially all the dot-watchers and message-senders who helped carry me through the day.
And I’m incredibly grateful that, against the odds, the body held up.
I was raising money for EDS Support UK, and the total is now £1,650 and counting, which makes the whole thing mean even more.
Fair warning: if you ask me about it, you may struggle to get me to stop talking.”
Five for Nikki, 10K for Marlene
NIKKI NATION ran the Marlow Five in 55 minutes and MARLEEN VAN ZWIETEN ran the Bristol 10K in 1 hour 15 minutes 51 seconds.