Spartans Dave Pattman, Mo Warrilow and Steve Dobner took ran the Snetterton 10K on Wednesday. It was seriously hot, 29°C as they walked to the start. The event was on an open course with two laps of the motor racing circuit finishing in the pit lane. With it being so open there was nowhere to hide from the sun and every straight felt like it was into a headwind.
Steve did well to run a personal best (PB) of 47 minutes 4 seconds in those conditions with Dave coming in with 46:17 and Mo in 56:54.
Stopsley Striders Five
Spartan TONY RANDFIELD tackled the Stopsley Striders five miles undulating trail race in 36 minutes 15 seconds. He said there were two hills, one in particular was a killer but he was very happy with his time which was only 17 seconds outside his personal best.
Nicola and Carolyn’s Challenge Runs
NICOLA ANDERSON completed 240.42 miles for the British Red Cross charity Miles for Refugees 108 miles challenge. This was set over eight weeks early June to 31st July, started as a Strava badge with five other location distances to choose from if you were to set up a fundraising page with Just Giving. There was 22 miles English Channel right up to 555 miles Turkey to Croatia. Nicola stuck with Strava’s own Lviv Ukraine to Lublin Poland 108 miles being so currently relevant. Consisting mostly of running activities which were automatically uploaded to the fundraising page with a few of my own posts, a few walks and one cycle ride towards the end. She was hoping to do a long distance with the bike but for the fact she had not ridden for three years and getting a puncture she had to cut it short last Saturday. The following day it came to an end with a final walk and run, raising £235 for the British Red Cross which just beat Nicola’s Race for Life 10k raised in July 2019… The other charities she’s run for fundraising are Blesma 11k and Captain Tom 100, running 100 minutes and raising slightly more than the set target of £100 for Mind in Mid Herts for April 2021….
In addition Nicola completed 71.32 miles in just 11 runs over 16 days from 14th June -30th June for the Queens Platinum Jubilee 70 miles virtual challenge. Some of this overlapped doing Miles for refugees at the same time. All for a medal of course.
Carolyn LINSELL completed her 70 miles Jubilee Run on 30th July after a bout of injuries just after she signed up (bruised coccyx, turned ankle and rib injury). She signed up on 14th June but is delighted to have completed it.
Runnymede Roger
Roger Biggs was breaking historic lands, with a lapped event in the Runnymede area, along the banks of the Thames in London.
Runners had the opportunity to change their intended finish distance as the event progressed.
Each lap was measured at 5km, with Roger intending to complete 10k. On another hot day you might have thought Roger would want to down distance, but in the end, he went up to 15km then 20km.
Roger finished his run in 3 hours 33 minutes 51 seconds.
NH First Saturday 5K
JANE WHITROW said the North Herts first Saturday 5K was a very friendly get together- and it allowed Canicross.
It was Abbie’s first ever 5k without walking. JANE WHITROW finished in 35 minutes 55 seconds and ABIGAIL WHITROW in 38 minutes 57 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 6th August
DEBBIE BLANTERN wore the celebration cape to run her 100th parkrun. At 263 runners it was the highest attendance at Stevenage for several weeks.
With the summer holidays now in full flow, twenty-nine Fairlands Valley Spartans headed out to run in Parkrun events this Saturday morning.
Success was seen on the Stevenage course with Jonathan PARR finishing first overall in a time of 17 minutes and 31 seconds and Suzy HAWKINS completing as the first female in 19:50. Sam SIMMONS ran a parkrun PB (personal best) time of 21:38 and Debbie BLANTERN ran her 100th event in 29:10.
At the Great Denham event, PB times were recorded across the board. David PATTMAN ran a time 21:16, Steven DOBNER 21:42, and Mo WARRILLOW 25:07.
With holidays spreading the Spartan clan far and wide there have been many new Parkrun events to discover. On her first visit, Alison WOOD was the second female to finish the Barnstaple course in 21:43, and Yuko GORDON completed the event in Reading as the 12th female in 24:50. Darryl STEVENS finished at Bowling Park as the 18th male in 38:07.
Sharon CROWLEY was at the warm, sunny and flat Pegwell Bay Park Run in Kent. Her 29:53 was her fastest time since before the pandemic, coming in 100th position. She has no idea where that time came from!
Tables
Spartans at parkruns
| Parkrun | Position | Gender Position | Parkrunner | Time |
| Reading | 106 | 12 | Yuko GORDON | 00:24:50 |
| Market Harborough | 109 | 87 | Anton MCCALLA | 00:26:35 |
| Stevenage (16 FVS) | 1 | 1 | Jonathan PARR | 00:17:31 |
| 9 | 1 | Suzy HAWKINS | 00:19:50 | |
| 16 | 13 | Tony RANDFIELD | 00:20:41 | |
| 25 | 21 | Sam SIMMONS | 00:21:38 | |
| 38 | 34 | Thomas SAUKA | 00:23:00 | |
| 53 | 48 | Matt CLARKE | 00:24:15 | |
| 101 | 12 | Nicola ANDERSSON | 00:26:26 | |
| 117 | 93 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 00:27:17 | |
| 118 | 18 | Gail MACKIE | 00:27:18 | |
| 137 | 27 | Alison SHELLEY | 00:28:33 | |
| 145 | 30 | Debbie BLANTERN | 00:29:10 | |
| 173 | 49 | Nikki Katherine NATION | 00:30:57 | |
| 191 | 62 | Fiona CLARKE | 00:32:04 | |
| 192 | 63 | Chloe CHAPMAN | 00:32:04 | |
| 214 | 73 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 00:34:24 | |
| 256 | 142 | Roger BIGGS | 00:44:26 | |
| Barnstaple | 20 | 2 | Alison WOOD | 00:21:43 |
| Pegwell Bay (Kent) | 100 | 28 | Sharon CROWLEY | 00:29:53 |
| Rutland Water | 191 | 121 | Chris HOLLAND | 00:31:41 |
| Great Denham | 21 | 20 | David PATTMAN | 00:21:16 |
| 25 | 24 | Steven DOBNER | 00:21:42 | |
| 58 | 8 | Mo WARRILLOW | 00:25:07 | |
| Sizewell | 37 | 29 | Nigel STRONGITHARM | 00:25:54 |
| Clevedon Salthouse Fields | 73 | 62 | John NELMS | 00:24:24 |
| Bowling Park | 35 | 18 | Darryl STEVENS | 00:38:07 |
| Henlow Bridge Lakes | 36 | 31 | Michael O’KEEFE | 00:27:53 |
| Sandringham | 73 | 14 | Maria SWIFT | 00:29:25 |