All twenty seven Fairlands Valley Spartans wanted for Christmas was to join in the festive Parkrun fun at six different locations around the country on Christmas Day.
Christmas number one goes to JONATHAN PARR finishing as first man with a time of 16:51. Spartans took one two at Stevenage with ADRIAN BUSOLINI (18:16) taking second place.
The fastest female Spartan this week was TRACEY JACKSON who finished with a time of 23:43 and was the fifth fastest lady also at Stevenage.
There were Santa, elves, Christmas crackers, little helpers, even grinches and most of the 22 Spartans at Stevenage stepped into Christmas Parkrun fun, dressed in festive clothing with a special shout out to CAROL SHELDRICK and CAROLINE CROFT dressed as elves.
Other Spartans were parkrun volunteers to help make it a special morning. There were 325 parkrunners in Stevenage.
Visiting relations GRANT RAMSAY enjoyed the Edinburgh parkrun which he finished in less than twenty minutes with 19:47 and 40th position out of 568.
There will be a New Year’s Day parkrun in Fairlands Valley Park, Stevenage at 9a.m. on Saturday. It’s free but you need to register with parkrun beforehand.
Andrew Wins On Boxing Day
There was a lower attendance than usual at the Pirton Boxing Day run and miserable weather but spirits were high. Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON won the very muddy 3.2 mile event in 17 minutes 48 seconds.
Cross Country Update
Fairlands Valley Spartans finished the cross country league fixture in Stevenage with more than three complete men’s and three complete women’s teams. In the participation table the club swept into second place with 45 with only Garden City Runners getting more round with 63. This time FVS overtook Royston Runners 42 and got well ahead of Trent Park 35; North Herts Road Runners 33; St Albans Striders 26; Team Trident 25 and Watford also 25. There are 19 clubs in the league.
This time in the race the Spartan men were again fifth out of nineteen but not far behind Garden City Runners. Their women were eleventh but only three points behind Ealing who were tenth. Now the Spartans are seventh out of nineteen in the combined team score following three races.
It was a murky and misty morning on 19th December but that didn’t stop more than 400 people enjoying five miles of cross country running around Fairlands Valley Park in the race which was organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.
Let’s see what the club can do at the next league fixture which will be in Watford on Sunday 16th January.
The county cross country championships are in Welwyn Garden City on 9th January.
Paul Completes His Coasts and Borders
With more than four days of the year still to go PAUL HOLGATE completed his virtual coast of England challenge running the full 2,970 kilometres in a moving time of 383 hours, 53 minutes and 43 seconds.
Tables
Spartans at parkruns on Christmas Day:
| Position | Gender Position | Name | Run Time |
| Stevenage parkrun | |||
| 1 | 1 | Jonathan PARR | 16:51 |
| 2 | 2 | Adrian BUSOLINI | 18:16 |
| 20 | 18 | Steve WELLS | 20:27 |
| 60 | 5 | Tracey JACKSON | 23:43 |
| 61 | 53 | Thomas SAUKA | 23:44 |
| 70 | 59 | Andy JAY | 24:10 |
| 138 | 100 | Tim ROBINSON | 27:29 |
| 174 | 43 | Ann TRYSSESOONE | 29:05 |
| 176 | 119 | Ken JUDE | 29:09 |
| 184 | 48 | Jo BOWDERY | 29:31 |
| 189 | 126 | Matt CLARKE | 29:35 |
| 190 | 51 | Fiona CLARKE | 29:36 |
| 192 | 53 | Claire EMMERSON | 29:38 |
| 193 | 127 | Darren EMMERSON | 29:38 |
| 194 | 54 | Debbie BLANTERN | 29:45 |
| 235 | 72 | Monica SMITHSON | 31:51 |
| 236 | 73 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 31:58 |
| 242 | 77 | Carole SHELDRICK | 32:15 |
| 243 | 78 | Caroline CROFT | 32:15 |
| 244 | 79 | Harriet PACE | 32:19 |
| 272 | 96 | Sharon CROWLEY | 34:51 |
| 317 | 123 | Helen HARRIS | 44:53 |
| Edinburgh parkrun | |||
| 40 | 33 | Grant RAMSAY | 19:47 |
| Houghton Hall parkrun | |||
| 87 | 63 | Michael O’KEEFE | 29:30 |
| Panshanger parkrun | |||
| 83 | 72 | Mike REYNOLDS | 26:02 |
| Lee-on-the-Solent parkrun | |||
| 174 | 119 | Edward HARE | 27:24 |
| Bartley Park parkrun | |||
| 117 | 64 | Darryl STEVENS | 39:51 |
All 45 Spartan finishers at the Stevenage cross country (19th December):
| Position | Name | Official | Gender | Category | Team |
| 4 | ANDREW PATTERSON | 27:33 | M | 40 | MA |
| 9 | SIMON JACKSON | 28:30 | M | 40 | MA |
| 10 | JONATHAN PARR | 28:32 | M | S | MA |
| 46 | CHARLIE WHITE | 30:56 | M | S | MA |
| 57 | KELVIN BEYOKU | 31:32 | M | S | MA |
| 70 | STUART ARCHER | 32:27 | M | S | MA |
| 99 | STEVE WELLS | 33:30 | M | 50 | MA |
| 104 | DANNY SCANLON | 33:34 | M | 40 | MA |
| 142 | MARK COLLINS | 35:23 | M | 40 | MB |
| 146 | JOHN HARRIS | 35:30 | M | 50 | MB |
| 150 | PETE SMITH | 35:37 | M | 50 | MB |
| 164 | THOMAS SAUKA | 36:33 | M | 40 | MB |
| 186 | STEVE MAYFIELD | 37:27 | M | 50 | MB |
| 201 | MARTIN WOOD | 38:00 | M | 50 | MB |
| 210 | YUKO GORDON | 38:20 | F | 65 | FA |
| 218 | TRACEY JACKSON | 38:34 | F | 45 | FA |
| 226 | CRAIG BACON | 38:56 | M | 50 | MB |
| 236 | MARK GOODWIN | 39:15 | M | 60 | MB |
| 249 | ANNABELLE WHITE | 39:38 | F | S | FA |
| 273 | MATT CLARKE | 40:50 | M | 40 | MC |
| 276 | TIM ROBINSON | 41:02 | M | 50 | MC |
| 280 | LUKE GURNEY | 41:07 | M | S | MC |
| 284 | TRACEY PEZ | 41:16 | F | 45 | FA |
| 291 | DAVID KENNEDY | 42:02 | M | S | MC |
| 300 | ZOE JACKSON | 42:27 | F | 35 | FA |
| 301 | DARREN EMMERSON | 42:28 | M | 50 | MC |
| 306 | ANDY JAY | 42:44 | M | 50 | MC |
| 319 | CAROLE SHELDRICK | 43:47 | F | 45 | FB |
| 325 | JON SYPULA | 44:02 | M | 40 | MC |
| 326 | MARK FREEMAN | 44:04 | M | 60 | MC |
| 335 | NICK KLEANTHOUS | 44:55 | M | 50 | |
| 338 | FIONA CLARKE | 45:12 | F | 35 | FB |
| 345 | MARIAN MORLEY | 45:49 | F | 55 | FB |
| 346 | NICOLA ANDERSSON | 45:50 | F | 45 | FB |
| 360 | SIMON SYPULA | 47:04 | M | 40 | |
| 368 | ROGER HARDMAN | 48:01 | M | 70 | |
| 382 | MICHAEL O’KEEFE | 49:43 | M | 50 | |
| 396 | CATHY CRAIG | 52:11 | F | 65 | FB |
| 399 | SHARON CROWLEY | 53:07 | F | 55 | FC |
| 400 | PAUL HOLGATE | 53:18 | M | 60 | |
| 411 | JENNY GARRETT | 56:03 | F | 45 | FC |
| 412 | CALLIE CHAPMAN | 56:12 | F | 35 | FC |
| 418 | CHRISTINE ZVEREV | 57:05 | F | 35 | FC |
| 419 | HAZEL SMITH | 57:05 | F | 45 | FC |
| 420 | CLAIRE EMMERSON | 57:06 | F | 45 |
16 women and 29 men. There were 421 finishers, 165 women and 256 men, altogether.