Fairlands Valley Spartans were busy on Wednesday.
Shorter, much shorter for some Spartans, at the 4 x 400 metre relay event in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday evening. Two FVS teams came out winners and 28 club members in seven teams were running.
MIKE JEFFS, MICHAEL FISHER, JAY PAPA and NICK GILL won senior male and overall with 4 minutes 6 seconds. Michael Fisher was third of the 104 runners with 58 seconds; Mike Jeffs and Nick Gill were fourth and fifth with 1 minute exactly.
Spartan women WON the veteran race with 6:11. Their team consisted of LIZ CROWLEY 1:24; SAM SUTTON 1:57; SHARON CROWLEY 1:36 and JO COOKSLEY 1:23.
It was second place in the senior race for TRACY JACKSON 1:35; GEORGIE HOOPER 1:17; MARIE COLUCCI 1:23 and GABRIELLE O’BRIEN 1:18. Georgie was tenth and Gabrielle eleventh out of all the women running.
| Rank | Bib | Name | Cat | Team | M/F | Time |
| 3. | 5/B | Michael FISHER | MS | Magic Mike and Friends | M | 00:58 |
| 4. | 5/A | Mike JEFFS | MV40 | Magic Mike and Friends | M | 01:00 |
| 5. | 5/D | Nick GILL | MS | Magic Mike and Friends | M | 01:00 |
| 15. | 7/B | Keith HOOKER | MV40 | Sonic Boom Boys | M | 01:05 |
| 22. | 5/C | Jay PAPA | MS | Magic Mike and Friends | M | 01:07 |
| 30. | 10/A | Dave STEPHENSON | MV60 | Mixed Relay Team | M | 01:09 |
| 48. | 10/D | Chris WAITLING | MS | Mixed Relay Team | M | 01:15 |
| 49. | 9/B | Georgie HOOPER | FV35 | Spartans Ladies Team 3 | F | 01:17 |
| 51. | 9/D | Gabrielle O’BRIEN | FS | Spartans Ladies Team 3 | F | 01:18 |
| 53. | 4/A | Susan MCANANY | FV45 | Female Relay Team 2 | F | 01:19 |
| 57. | 7/C | Charlie ARNOLD | MV60 | Sonic Boom Boys | M | 01:21 |
| 58. | 4/D | Annabelle WHITE | FS | Female Relay Team 2 | F | 01:21 |
| 62. | 3/D | Jo COOKSLEY | FV35 | Spartan Ladies 1 | F | 01:23 |
| 64. | 10/C | Megan SUTTON | FS | Mixed Relay Team | F | 01:23 |
| 66. | 9/C | Marie COLUCCI | FV45 | Spartans Ladies Team 3 | F | 01:23 |
| 68. | 3/A | Liz CROWLEY | FV35 | Spartan Ladies 1 | F | 01:24 |
| 69. | 7/D | Brian WHITE | MV70 | Sonic Boom Boys | M | 01:25 |
| 76. | 4/B | Vicky ARCHER | FV35 | Female Relay Team 2 | F | 01:29 |
| 82. | 7/A | Pete COOK | MV50 | Sonic Boom Boys | M | 01:32 |
| 83. | 4/C | Hazel SMITH | FV45 | Female Relay Team 2 | F | 01:35 |
| 86. | 9/A | Tracy JACKSON | FV45 | Spartans Ladies Team 3 | F | 01:35 |
| 88. | 3/C | Sharon CROWLEY | FV65 | Spartan Ladies 1 | F | 01:36 |
| 90. | 11/D | Judy KING | FV55 | 360 + 1 | F | 01:37 |
| 91. | 10/B | Tessa STEPHENSON | FV55 | Mixed Relay Team | F | 01:40 |
| 96. | 11/C | Sally PICKLES | FV55 | 360 + 1 | F | 01:51 |
| 99. | 11/A | Liz CARVEL | FV65 | 360 + 1 | F | 01:55 |
| 100. | 3/B | Sam SUTTON | FV45 | Spartan Ladies 1 | F | 01:57 |
| 101. | 11/B | Rebecca RAYNER | FV35 | 360 + 1 | F | 02:00 |
Amanda Wins Handicap
AMANDA VICKERS won the Spartans handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday evening.
She smashed her PB (personal best) by 1:26 to finish in 32:46, with Alice Welch second woman (3rd overall) in a debut 5k time of 34:51 and Sam Gentry third woman (9th overall) in a new PB of 29:03.
The first man was new member Nic Cashman in 23:53, with Karl Shreeve second man with 29:05 and Kartik Sharma the third man in a SB (season’s best) time of 28:04.
Nathan Kirley was fastest man on the night, 26 seconds quicker than his previous best time in 18:56, with Kris Westcott 2nd quickest with 20:18 and Perri Gentry 3rd fastest in 20:28.
Oli Lacigova was quickest lady in 22:57, with Sally Reeve second fastest in 25:04 and Jackie Perry third in 25:43.
Time difference between 1st and last position was just 3:42.
In handicap races the slowest runners, on recent form start first, and the others follow at intervals appropriate to the performances. In theory if no-one improves or slows down everyone will finish together.
Very well done the 19 Spartans who took part in this month’s Handicap 5k and a big thank you to Mark Freeman for his much appreciated assistance.
The next handicap 5K will be on Thursday 19th June.
| POS | NAME | SURNAME | TIME | H’cap |
| 1 | AMANDA | VICKERS | 32:46 | 3:29 |
| 2 | NIC | CASHMAN | 23:53 | 3:07 |
| 3 | ALICE | WELCH | 34:51 | 2:54 |
| 4 | KARL | SHREEVE | 29:05 | 2:40 |
| 5 | KARTIK | SHARMA | 28:04 | 2:11 |
| 6 | NICK | KLEANTHOUS | 29:50 | 2:10 |
| 7 | NATHAN | KIRLEY | 18:56 | 2:04 |
| 8 | PERRI | GENTRY | 20:28 | 2:02 |
| 9 | SAM | GENTRY | 29:03 | 1:42 |
| 10 | OLI | LACIGOVA | 22:57 | 1:48 |
| 11 | JO | COOK | 36:20 | 1:25 |
| 12 | JACKIE | PERRY | 25:43 | 1:17 |
| 13 | KRIS | WESTCOTT | 20:18 | 1:12 |
| 14 | TIM | ROBINSON | 27:23 | 0:52 |
| 15 | MIKE | REYNOLDS | 28:15 | 0:30 |
| 16 | MARTIN | DUDLEY | 25:46 | (0:01) |
| 17 | SALLY | REEVE | 25:04 | (0:19) |
| 18 | CRAIG | BACON | 22:49 | (0:04) |
| 19 | SAMANTHA | TOPHILL | 26:43 | (0:13) |
Stort Five
CHARLIE ARNOLD ran the Stort 5 mile race at Cammas Farm, Hatfield Broad Oak
He was eighth in 37:25.
Colchester Zoo Duo
Jess Clarke and Jay Papa ran the Colchester Zoo Stampede 10K together.
They both finished in 55 minutes 24 seconds. There were 1,857 finishers.
Hackney Half
PETER SACH completed the Hackney Half marathon in 2:27:35 (2 hours 27 minutes 35 seconds). He said the atmosphere as always was brilliant with people lining the streets in support, and thankfully the weather this year was much milder than last year. There were 20,901 finishers!
Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 17th May
High numbers again at Stevenage parkrun with 572 finishers.
KIRK NDUGU was second in 17 minutes 15 seconds (17:15) and SIMON JACKSON fifth in 19:43. SHARON CROWLEY enjoyed herself continuing her recent improvement at 228th with 28:35. JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL enjoyed the last time they could wear their Mayor and Mayoress T shirts with 29 minutes 11 seconds. Jim broke the unofficial world mayor chain record the previous week.
ANNABELLE WHITE was the fastest female from Fairlands with 27:57.
55 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday. Spartans elsewhere included JOHN HARRIS at the Rothay Park parkrun, Ambleside. He finished 13th in 21:18.
Stevenage parkrun will celebrate its ninth birthday on Saturday 24th May. There’s a celebration and a Where’s Wally? theme.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 2 | 2 | Kirk NDUGU | 17:15 |
| 5 | 5 | Simon JACKSON | 19:43 |
| 23 | 21 | Tony RANDFIELD | 21:33 |
| 70 | 63 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 23:33 |
| 96 | 85 | Martin DUDLEY | 24:15 |
| 100 | 89 | Daniel VILJOEN | 24:41 |
| 153 | 130 | Ryan DUNNING | 26:43 |
| 204 | 37 | Annabelle WHITE | 27:57 |
| 228 | 49 | Sharon CROWLEY | 28:35 |
| 238 | 178 | Matt CLARKE | 28:51 |
| 252 | 186 | Jim BROWN | 29:11 |
| 251 | 60 | Penny SCHENKEL | 29:11 |
| 268 | 64 | Fiona Clarke | 29:31 |
| 295 | 212 | Steve PLATT | 30:15 |
| 326 | 92 | Debbie BLANTERN | 31:04 |
| 328 | 93 | Ada JANUSIENE | 31:05 |
| 333 | 96 | Monica SMITHSON | 31:13 |
| 398 | 133 | Caroline CROFT | 33:56 |
| 433 | 154 | Hilary DAVIES | 35:09 |
| 447 | 268 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 35:58 |
| 453 | 170 | Hannah MANTON | 36:08 |
| 470 | 276 | Lloyd DIAS | 37:37 |
| 475 | 184 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 38:01 |
| 483 | 189 | Jane WADEY | 38:35 |
| 523 | 217 | Nichola DURENT | 45:06 |
| 530 | 285 | Roger BIGGS | 46:16 |
| 533 | 224 | Emma CHAPMAN | 47:22 |
| 553 | 238 | Nikki Katherine NATION | 53:02 |