Nine Spartans tackled the hilly Beachy Head Marathon on the south coast on Saturday. Here are some of their stories:
Steve Dobner – “Dave, Mo and I signed up this year and we joined the rest of the Spartan crew at the start line. I can honestly say it was the most enjoyable and breathtaking run I have ever done. The event is fantastic with amazing marshals and excellent checkpoints offering water, bananas, chocolate, one even had sausage rolls and hot cross buns with tea and coffee. On finishing you return to the local school for a free hot meal – baked potatoes and beans for me.
The route was simply stunning, brutal in places but worth every step. The 170 Steps of Doom are an interesting challenge and the Seven Sisters are brutal (plus I’m sure there were more than seven). It was great to see some of our other local clubs with Royston Runners also well represented. I cannot recommend this event highly enough and we were so lucky as the weather was amazing.”
Tim Robinson – “The day before had seen thunder, lightning and heavy rain which meant the clay/chalk mix of the South Downs made for difficult progress in parts. Being both sticky and slippery at the same time particularly around the 15 mile mark where there were several tricky puddles. A warmer than usual day also meant slower progress. Running mostly as a group made the event more fun. Each runner has different strengths, some being quick uphill, some being quick downhill, and some needing rests at different places which means notions of a quick time are sacrificed at the expense of camaraderie and a good day out.
The group fragmented slightly towards the end, catching each other at checkpoints and steep hills and all but 3 finished within 20 or 30 minutes of each other.
THOMAS SAUKA and ROBERT WRIGHT finished together in 6 hours 10 minutes 58 seconds and said they are looking forward to going back next year.
Mother and Daughter run the Beachy Head Marathon
Hazel Smith (daughter) and Cathy Craig (mum) started the Beachy Head Marathon together, running, walking chatting and singing. At 10 miles Cathy felt ill and decided she wanted to do the rest alone as the hills were tough and nutrition wasn’t helping. One of the toughest UK marathons was certainly living up to its name!
Both ran/walked the rest of the way. Hazel met company and chatted and ate her way to the end. Cathy had a few breaks, lying at the top of a hill for a rest and taking a seat at a pit stop, being unable to eat.
When finished, Hazel walked up the big hill again to meet Cathy near the finish. Cathy ran down but took a tumble at the bottom.
Quite a few sweary words left Hazel’s mouth as she then attempted to run down to check on Cathy – having visions of her getting that close and not being able to finish!
Cathy lay there for a bit then got up and seemed to turn into tigger, bouncing along and working the crowd up to cheer her through the finish line – super strong finish!!
Position | Name | Time | Category |
723 | ROBERT WRIGHT | 6:10:58 | MV40 |
724 | THOMAS SAUKA | 6:10:57 | MV40 |
786 | DAVID PATTMAN | 6:22:36 | MV40 |
792 | STEVE DOBNER | 6:24:03 | MV40 |
805 | MO WARRILOW | 6:25:51 | LV45 |
834 | TIM ROBINSON | 6:31:16 | MV50 |
903 | TONY RANDFIELD | 6:47:42 | MV60 |
933 | HAZEL SMITH | 6:53:26 | LV45 |
1114 | CATHY CRAIG | 8:05:51 | LV55 |
GERRY ROSEN said the Beachy Head 10K was a tough race to return to racing after 10 months out due to illness and work. He finished in 1 hour 29 minutes 22 seconds.
Abingdon Marathon
After a dry Saturday Spartans Fiona Clarke, Matt Clarke, Karen Ellis and Chloe Chapman ran the Abingdon marathon on a very wet Sunday.
The weather forecast was awful, thunder and lightning forecast for the duration they would be running. It was a soggy start and rained heavily – there were huge puddles all round the course, fortunately the weather broke and they ended their runs in sunshine.
They were all unsure how they’d get on as on top of the weather Karen had recently been unwell, Chloe had just had covid and Fiona and Matt hadn’t be able to train for about a month. But they all dug deep and got it done. Karen finished in 4 hours 19 minutes 45 seconds; Chloe in 4:49:13; Fiona in 5:05:07 and Matt in 5:05:08.
Cross Country – Cheshunt 16th October
A full table of results following the first Cross Country race of the season is now available. Full team results available to download here Cheshunt Results.
Position | Firstname | Lastname | Time | Gender | Cat | Team |
25 | Adrian | Busolini | 00:31:10 | M | SM | AM |
30 | Charlie | White | 00:31:43 | M | SM | AM |
38 | Grant | Ramsay | 00:32:23 | M | V50 | AM |
65 | Paul | Hewett | 00:33:28 | M | SM | AM |
75 | Stuart | Archer | 00:33:52 | M | SM | AM |
96 | Danny | Scanlon | 00:34:51 | M | V40 | AM |
151 | Steven | Dobner | 00:37:12 | M | V40 | AM |
152 | David | Pattman | 00:37:13 | M | V40 | AM |
157 | Brian | White | 00:37:25 | M | V60 | BM |
176 | Steve | Mayfield | 00:38:20 | M | V50 | BM |
192 | Thomas | Sauka | 00:39:13 | M | V40 | BM |
204 | Luke | Gurney | 00:39:51 | M | SM | BM |
232 | Darren | Emmerson | 00:40:57 | M | V50 | BM |
251 | Zoe | Jackson | 00:41:54 | F | FV35 | AF |
267 | Kelly | McHale | 00:42:34 | F | FV35 | AF |
301 | Nick | Kleanthous | 00:44:45 | M | V60 | |
314 | Mark | Freeman | 00:45:56 | M | V60 | |
318 | Tim | Robinson | 00:46:26 | M | V50 | |
322 | Tony | Vickers | 00:46:34 | M | V50 | |
336 | Simon | Sypula | 00:47:49 | M | V40 | |
346 | Claire | Emmerson | 00:48:15 | F | FV45 | AF |
347 | Vicky | Archer | 00:48:22 | F | FV35 | AF |
356 | Michael | O’Keefe | 00:48:49 | M | V50 | |
371 | Grant | Murphy | 00:50:53 | M | V50 | |
392 | Jane | Wadey | 00:55:15 | F | FV55 | AF |
394 | Sharon | Crowley | 00:55:51 | F | FV55 | |
395 | Cathy | Craig | 00:56:30 | F | FV65 | |
405 | Callie | Chapman | 01:01:07 | F | FV35 | |
406 | Hazel | Smith | 01:01:07 | F | FV45 |
Parkrun Personal Best and Consolidated Results – Saturday 22nd October
Sam SIMMONS ran at the Stevenage Parkrun and achieved a personal best, finishing 10th male in 21:26 – Well done Sam!
Please click the link to see all the consolidated results for the Spartans – Consolidated Parkrun results 22nd October