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Club News

SPARTANS END YEAR WITH BUNTINGFORD TEN

New Fairlands Valley Spartans club captain MIKE JEFFS ran a new personal best of one hour and just 31 seconds (1:00:31) in Sunday’s Buntingford 10.  He was fourth man 40 plus and 38th out of the 524 finishers.  Mike said he took on the very difficult hilly End of Year 10, beat his ten mile personal best (PB) by 1 minute 28 seconds with a start line to finish off the year beating PBs in 1500 metres; 5k; 10k; 10 miles; half marathon and full marathon.

A great turnout of 27 Spartans tackled the race on a chilly, misty but calm and dry morning.

DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT said his time on Sunday was 1:05:22 which had to be dug deep for and it was great to see so many Spartans racing.

PAUL SHELLEY was third man 55 plus with his 1:03:57 and NICK GILL came in with 1:06:34.  Nick said he was very happy with a season’s best and getting closer to his 1:03:59 PB at the 2023 Buntingford 10… maybe he can beat that in 2025!

YUKO GORDON was second woman 70 plus with 1:18:09 and a 96.55% age score.

The race incorporated the British Masters Athletics Federation championships and the Hertfordshire championships for seniors (18 plus).

Fairlands Valley did well amongst those running in the county championships.  Paul Shelley was fastest man 55 plus with his 1:03:57; Jo Cooksley fastest woman 35 plus with her 1:28:37 and Jim Brown fastest man 70 plus with 1:32:02.  Also Mike Jeffs was second fastest 40 plus with 1:00:31 and Wendy Tharani third fastest woman 50 plus with 1:34:07.

There were five Spartan personal bests (Mike Jeffs, Paul Shelley, Charlie Arnold 1:17:11, Keith Hooker 1:18:50 and Annabelle White 1:25:20) and three season’s bests (Sam Tophill 1:28:06, Tim Robinson 1:31:33 and Penny Schenkel 1:43:22) in the race.

PositionFirst nameLast nameNet timecategory
38MikeJeffs1:00:31MV40
66PaulShelley1:03:57MV55
77DavidHarris-Cherguit1:05:22MV45
90NickGill1:06:34MV35
97AdrianDonnelly1:07:43MV45
170JayPapa1:15:01MSEN
189CharlesArnold1:17:11MV65
204YukoGordon1:18:09FV70
217KeithHooker1:18:50MV45
290AnnabelleWhite1:25:20FSEN
317SamanthaTophill1:28:06FV55
322JoCooksley1:28:37FV35
353TimRobinson1:31:33MV55
355JimBrown1:32:02MV70
369WendyTharani1:34:07FV50
376AnnTryssesoone1:34:34FV55
379ThomasSauka1:34:27MV45
399AlisonShelley1:37:18FV55
420KarenLiddle1:39:57FV65
439MeganSutton1:42:15FSEN
451PennySchenkel1:43:22FV55
504SharonCrowley1:57:00FV65
505PaulHolgate1:58:20MV65
510RoseSutton2:01:46FSEN
511SamanthaSutton2:01:47FV45
517RebeccaRayner2:08:25FV40
525NicholaDurent2:27:01FV45

Gerry’s Frozen Phoenix

On Sunday Spartan GERRY ROSEN took part in the ‘Frozen Phoenix’ a running event organised by Phoenix Running

Gerry said it was his sort of event.  Low key, turn up, grab your ‘ankle’ timing chip and away you go.  It was an out and back of 1.6 miles each way alongside the River Thames, totally pan flat, he completed six laps and a bit more for a total of 20 miles in a respectable time of 3 hours 48 minutes.

He said you can take your own supplies or use what’s provided and Gerry said it was very well stocked, all those household sweets we love and know, right up his street, and they know their runner.  ‘Would you like some crisps’ he was asked after he finished, very welcome.

Gerry will be back there after his holiday for the annual doughnut dash on the 12th January and as you might guess there’s doughnuts which he guesses can be eaten during the run……

50 Plus Spartans At Record Breaking Christmas Day Parkrun

We said watch out for the special on Christmas Day and wow.  The record for Stevenage parkrun was broken by 107 as 750 enjoyed the festive fun on Wednesday morning.

The 750 included more than 53 Spartans including PAUL SHELLEY who achieved a major milestone with his 100th parkrun which he ran in a celebratory 34 minutes 51 seconds.

THOMAS SAUKA ran his 160th in 26:13 and WILLIAM MORLEY his 30th in 19:42.  He was 15th in the race.

ANNABELLE WHITE was the fastest female from Spartans with her 23:37.

Misty, Mild and Still at the Serpentine

It was misty, mild and still in Hyde Park as Spartan JIM BROWN tried to up his pace a little for the first time in weeks at the Last Friday of the Month 5K.  He was reasonably successful for the first 3K and finished third man 70 plus in 28:30.  Jim was keen to take part and finish as he became one of only three runners to do all of the twelve races in the Serpentine series this year.  The lunch-time event continues to amaze in many ways.  The winner finished in 14 minutes 56 seconds and the first woman in 17:04!

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 28th December

After a wonderful record breaking Christmas Day 467 ran parkrun on a grey Saturday morning 28th December.

41 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday 28th.  The majority, 26, were at Stevenage.

ASHLEY JOHNSON was second woman and first Spartan in 20:01, just eighteen seconds behind the first woman.  They were 11th and 12th in the race.  That was Ashley’s 25th parkrun.

Other mini-milestones included MIKE REYNOLDS running his 220th parkrun in 28:57; PAUL JENNINGS his 190th in 29:46 and HILARY DAVIES her 60th in 36:20.

Elsewhere TIM ROBINSON was at Panshanger running his 190th parkrun in 33:24 and ANDY JAY at Westmill for his 160th parkrun which he ran in 30:24.

Santa Canta

Some Spartans including Mike Jeffs as The Grinch, Callie Chapman, Nick Gill, Ross Gallagher and Georgie Hopper ran the postponed Santa Canta in Letchworth.  The storm got in the way the previous weekend.

Spartans Star in Herts Annual Runners Awards

Fairlands Valley Spartans did well in the Herts Annual Runners Awards with someone nominated in every category.

Mike Jeffs won male runner of the year.  The Stevenage Marathon, organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans, was second in race of the year.  Keith Fenwick was second in volunteer of the year.  Yuko Gordon was second and Ashley Johnson third in female runner of the year.

Cross Country

The team results are in and as predicted by the much greater Spartan participation and performance the club did much better in the recent cross country league race.  On the day the men’s “A” team were third out of 20 clubs and the “B” team were also third in that category.  The men’s masters (veterans) were second.  In the series the FVS men have moved up to fifth and the male masters up to third.

The women’s team were ninth out of 20 clubs on the day helping to give the club a combined fifth that morning.

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News

SIXTY TURNOUT FOR FAIRLANDS CROSS COUNTRY

The temperature reached double figures and the sun came out for the cross country league fixture in Fairlands Valley on Sunday morning.  And it was Fairlands Valley Spartans enjoying themselves in Fairlands Valley Park as about 60 from the club ran the race and many others volunteered to make it a success.

ANDREW PATTERSON from FVS was second in the race in 27 minutes 42 seconds (27:42).  ADRIAN BUSOLINI also beat 30 minutes for the almost five miles.  He was eleventh in 29:29.  CHARLIE WHITE, BRIAN BRACKSTONE and SIMON JACKSON chased each other in at 22nd, 23rd and 24th with 30:15; 30:20 and 30:23.  New club captain MIKE JEFFS was 31st in 31:01.

MARIE COLUCCI led in the Spartan women with 40:08.  TRACY PEZ 41:47; YUKO GORDON 42:12; JESS CLARKE 43:47 and JAYNE RIDDELL 46:07 completed the FVS women’s “A” team.

A fantastic turnout and wonderful running by Fairlands Valley Spartans which will no doubt boost them in the team standings when they are published.

Altogether about 400 runners from 20 clubs ran three laps, a total of 7.8 kilometres, around the south field.

The full accurate results including team results should be available from the league organisers in the next day or two.

The next cross country league race will be in Watford on Sunday 16th February.

PositionNameTimeCategoryComments
2ANDREW PATTERSON27:42M40M team “A”
11ADRIAN BUSOLINI29:29MSM team “A”
22CHARLIE WHITE30:15MSM team “A”
23BRIAN BRACKSTONE30:20M50M team “A”
24SIMON JACKSON30:23M40M team “A”
31MIKE JEFFS31:01M40M team “A”
33CHRIS WESTCOTT31:09M50M team “A”
35DECLAN TRAYNOR31:21M40M team “A”
44PAUL SHELLEY31:39M50M team “B”
73NICK GILL33:58MSM team “B”
81ROSS GALLAGHER34:21M40M team “B”
87ADRIAN DONNELLY34:47M40M team “B”
89STUART ARCHER34:37MSM team “B”
99JAY PAPA35:13MSM team “B”
125TERRY SAWYER36:44M40M team “B”
126JOHN HARRIS36:50M60M team “B”
147STEVE MAYFIELD37:30M50M team “C”
155BRIAN WHITE39:03M60M team “C”
177MELVIN AUBURN39:27MSM team “C”
180DANNY SCANLON39:38M40M team “C”
213JOE WASNOCK41:17*MSM team “C”
214ALEX SCOFIELD41:20*MSM team “C”
235MARTIN WOOD42:23M60M team “C”
241TONY VICKERS42:30M50M team “C”
244DARREN EMMERSON42:58M50 
250THOMAS SAUKA43:10M40 
266DAVID RIDDELL44:03M50 
276DAVID ACKERY44:30MS 
286LLOYD DIAS45:32MS 
319JIM BROWN47:43M70 
329STEVE TINSLEY48:43*M40 
333SIMON SYPULA49:09M40 
334ROBERT WRIGHT49:09M40 
353ANDY JAY49:24*M50 
357MARK FREEMAN49:27M60 
364STEVE PLATT51:46M50 
367TIM ROBINSON52:09M50 
384NICK KLEANTHOUS59:25M60 
387PAUL HOLGATE64:00M60 
Fairland Cross Country Results (Men)
PositionNameTimeCategoryComments
190MARIE COLUCCI40:08W45W team “A”
 TRACY PEZ41:47W45W team “A”
227YUKO GORDON42:12W65W team “A”
 JESS CLARKE43:47 W team “A”
294JAYNE RIDDELL46:07W55W team “A”
 TRACEY JACKSON46:35 W team “B”
 HAZEL SMITH46:39 W team “B”
 ANNABELLE WHITE46:44 W team “B”
 GEORGIE HOOPER46:44 W team “B”
325PENNY SCHENKEL48:40*W55W team “B”
331KIRSTEN LIGHTBODY49:11W45W team “C”
341MEGAN SUTTON49:33WSW team “C”
354LIZ CROWLEY50:42W35W team “C”
357CLAIRE EMMERSON50:36W45W team “C”
365JUDY KING51:09W55W team “C”
379SHARON CROWLEY56:26W65 
380SAM SUTTON57:04W45 
382CALLIE CHAPMAN58:09W35 
388BECKY RAYNER64:00W35 
396NICHOLA DURENT76:01W45 
Fairlands Cross Country Results (Women)

Parkrun Highlights 14th December

With less crazy weather participation in the Stevenage parkrun jumped up to 421 and this Saturday 27 Spartans were running.

Spartan JAY PAPA got to wear the bright red milestone cape as he was running his 50th parkrun.  He celebrated in 31 minutes 21 seconds.

CRAIG BACON achieved a new parkrun personal best with 21 minutes 58 seconds and GRANT RAMSAY was in the top five at fourth with 18:31.

Mini-milestones were run by DANIEL VILJOEN 270th parkrun in 25:20; JIM BROWN 180th parkrun and category winner in 27:34; and MATT CLARKE 150th parkrun in 28:35.

A total of 421 parkrunners took part in the Stevenage race.Many other Spartans were running parkruns elsewhere including MATT NEWTON 20:47 at Gunpowder; KEITH HOOKER 25:35 at Edgbaston Reservoir; MARTIN WOOD 27:40 at St. Albans; TIM ROBINSON 29:22 at Panshanger; CHLOE CHAPMAN 30:30 at Great Denham

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTimeComments
44Grant RAMSAY18:31Top Five
3432Craig BACON21:58New PPB
5953Tony RANDFIELD23:13 
6255David RIDDELL23:19 
8171Martin JACOB24:22 
10593Daniel VILJOEN25:20270th parkrun
11097Ryan DUNNING25:33 
13615Jayne RIDDELL26:55Fastest female from Fairlands
153128Jim BROWN27:34180th parkrun.  1st MV70.
178142Matt CLARKE28:35150th parkrun
17929Fiona CLARKE28:36 
184146Toby ECCLESHALL28:45 
18531Gail MACKIE28:46 
226169Maurice BALLARD30:35 
23353Annabelle WHITE30:49 
23555Penny SCHENKEL30:52 
241175Nick KLEANTHOUS31:14 
24259Monica SMITHSON31:15 
246178Jay PAPA31:2150th parkrun – milestone!
253182Paul JENNINGS31:47 
255183Michael O’KEEFE31:56 
267189Peter SACH32:19 
304201Stephen SMITHSON33:58 
31397Caroline CROFT34:42 
377138Hilary DAVIES39:56 
391147Pamela VILJOEN41:48 
401234Roger BIGGS48:19 
Categories
News Race Results

PAUL EXCELS AT DEBDEN

It was three laps for four Spartans on Saturday morning and PAUL SHELLEY was an amazing third overall in the Remembrance Runs Half Marathon at Carver Barracks near Debden in Essex.

He finished in 1 hour 23 minutes 18 seconds, a new personal best (PB) by three minutes, and WON his category.  JIM BROWN won his category beating his nearest rival by three minutes.  His 1 hour 56 minutes exactly (1:56:00) was his best this year by 2 minutes 59 seconds.

SAM TOPHILL ran an excellent 1:53:12 and DAVE ACKERY ran a well paced event to beat two hours with 1:59:43.

Jim said it was a bit chilly but no wind and no rain.  Almost ideal.  He was quite pleased to put it mildly.  Jim’s recent parkruns have been 28:42 and 28:12.  On Saturday his 5Ks were 27:36; 27:26; 27:22 and 27:34 taking him to 20K and the last 1.1K was at the same rate.  And only six days after running a half at Knebworth in 2:02:15.

Gran Canaria Night Run

JAY PAPA ran the Night Run 10K at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.  He finished in 56:40.  There were a huge number of runners.

Spartan Sam’s Achievement

SAM GENTRY started with the Fairlands Valley Spartans run together group at the end of August and started her Spartans membership in September this year.  Last Sunday she ran her first ever race, a 10K.  It was the Hertfordshire race at Knebworth House.  Her chip time result was 1 hour 7 minutes 15 seconds.  As her aim was to do it in 1 hour 10 minutes she was very happy with her result.

Cross Country Update

28 Fairlands Valley Spartans – eleven women and 17 men – turned out for the third cross country league race in four weeks on Sunday 3rd November.  That’s a much stronger women’s team than last time and helped the club’s performance.  The race was in Trent Park.  The detailed results showed that FVS have moved up to sixth out of 20 in the combined score and fifth in the men’s competition.

At Trent Park DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT ran 19 seconds faster than seven days earlier and moved up from 10th to sixth overall.  This time ADRIAN BUSOLINI was one second faster with his 29:12 and he was 15th.

TRACEY JACKSON led in the Spartan women with her 39:33 for 40th woman with YUKO GORDON second Spartan and 45th in 40:40.

It seemed warmer and drier in Trent Park than previous years when the event has been a bit of a mudfest.  There were 405 finishers including 152 women.

The next Cross Country League race, race four, will be in Stevenage on Sunday 15th December.

Parkrun Highlights 9th November

26 of the 449 at the 372nd Stevenage parkrun were Spartans.  GRANT RAMSAY moved up to second, only missing out on the top sport by nine seconds, with his 18:30.

KAREN ELLIS ran her 30th parkrun and was the fastest female from Fairlands with 25:30.  PAUL JENNINGS ran his 90th in 30:34 but PAMELA VILJOEN is only one away from a very special milestone.  She ran her 249th in 29:24.

Elsewhere at Henlow Bridge Lakes JOHN HARRIS finished in 22:45 and SUZY HAWKINS in 28:23; YUKO GORDON ran Letchworth in 26:02; MEGAN SUTTON 27:54 and SAMANTHA SUTTON 34:09 at Panshanger; CHRIS HOLLAND 28:14 at Rutland Water; JONATHAN JONES 36:30 and DZENANA TOPIC 36:33 were at the Wimpole Estate and DARRYL STEVENS was in Cranleigh with 39:03.

Categories
News Race Results

BOOST AT TRENT PARK CROSS COUNTRY

28 Fairlands Valley Spartans – eleven women and 17 men – turned out for the third cross country league race in four weeks.  That’s a much stronger women’s team than last time and helped the club’s performance.  The race was in Trent Park.

This Sunday DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT ran 19 seconds faster than seven days earlier and moved up from 10th to sixth overall.  This time ADRIAN BUSOLINI was one second faster with his 29:12 and he was 15th.

TRACEY JACKSON led in the Spartan women with her 39:33 with YUKO GORDON second in 40:40.

It seemed warmer and drier in Trent Park than previous years.

The Spartan men improved to fourth out of 20 in the men’s race at Barley only a week ago.

The next Cross Country League race, race four, will be in Stevenage on Sunday 15th December.

Spartan One Two At Bedford

Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON was first female in Sunday’s Bedford 10K with a brilliant sub 40 time of 39:50 chip time and Spartan MARIE COLUCCI was sixth with 48:52.

Ashley and Marie were first and second in the women 40 plus category and 11th and 34th out of all the 263 finishers.

Ashley said, “It was a twisty, turny course.  Some muddy, cross country parts.  So not as fast as I’d hoped but a win is a win.”

Knebworth – A Win by 15 seconds and Penny was Early

Six Spartans ran the Hertfordshire Half Marathon from Knebworth House.

Spartan KRISTIAN ATANASOV had a top ten run finishing in 1:20:33.  He was ninth out of 1,362 finishers and second senior male.

CHRIS WATLING said it was a tough course, very undulating.  He didn’t feel overly prepared for today coming off the back of two injuries and only two x 5km treadmill runs during recovery over the last two weeks, but he was very happy with his time!  1:53:45.

Chris added it was good preparation for the Baldock Beast in Feb!  Great event and support. Good to see a few Spartans out there today too! 

JIM BROWN reckons he’s still trying to get out of marathon mode and didn’t think there was a sensible chance of getting under two hours on the rolling course but, but with a reasonable last four kilometres he got sight of the leading runner in his category, caught him after going through the gate into the grounds of Knebworth House and dug in to be first man 70 plus by a margin of 15 seconds.

PENNY SCHENKEL was early.  Clearly delighted she beat her predicted time by more than 28 minutes and finished in 2 hours 31 minutes 55 seconds (2:31:55).  The London plan is clicking in.

MARK COLLINS was 80th in 1:33:47 and CLAIRE EMMERSON finished in 2:15:05.

New York Marathon – a Spartan in the Big Apple

Spartan ROSS GALLAGHER ran the New York Marathon in 3 hours 2 minutes 43 seconds (3:02:43).

He ran on Sunday to complete his Abbott World Marathon Majors 6 Stars. 

Ross said it was a fantastic race and up there with some of the best crowds at any race with the Bronx a personal favourite.  The bridges were just as tough as people say… and he thought parks were flat… Central Park isn’t. 

Resolution Track 5K

Five Spartans were among the 39 runners who went 12.5 times round Ridlins Track on Wednesday evening.  This was the Resolution 5K, a guaranteed no hills event.

After spinning around for 19 minutes 15 seconds JAY PAPA was the first Spartan to finish.  SIMON JACKSON wasn’t far behind in 19:27 then MATT GIFFORD 20:49; BRIAN WHITE 22:31 and KARL SHREEVE in 27:12.

PosMFCatPosNameCatTimeAge Gd
773Jay PAPAMS19:1566.7 %
10104Simon JACKSONMV4019:2773.9 %
19196Matt GIFFORDMV5020:4972.5 %
26241Brian WHITEMV6022:3176.5 %
353010Karl SHREEVEMV5027:1256.4 %

39 ran.

Parkrun Highlights 2nd November

Exactly the same number of runners, 527, finished the award winning Stevenage parkrun this week as the previous Saturday.  There were 227 women and 300 men.

This time Spartan GRANT RAMSAY was well in the top ten at fourth with his 18:33.  KAREN ELLIS was fastest female from Spartans with 25:38.

PAUL SHELLEY has just one parkrun to go before a major milestone.  He finished his 99th in 24:49.  MARTIN JACOB ran his 20th in 26:20.

So far there have been 117,694 finishes by 15,674 different people at the 371 Stevenage parkruns.  They won the top award at the Recent Stevenage Together awards.

Spartans running parkrun 5Ks elsewhere included SIMON JACKSON 19:59 at Great Denham; ADRIAN DONNELLY tenth at Henlow Bridge Lakes in 22:15; YUKO GORDON 23:09 at Storey’s Field; SUZY HAWKINS was first woman at Wendover Woods in 23:34; MEGAN SUTTON 27:07 and SAM SUTTON 32:45 at Bedford; LUCY FIELD 27:43 at Sandhurst Memorial; CHRIS HOLLAND 30:20 at Rutland Water; CHLOE CHAPMAN 30:57 at the Pocket parkrun; and STEVE SMITHSON who was the lonesome Spartan at Panshanger.  He said he had a slightly slippy and challenging powerwalk.  He finished in 255th place out of a field of 317 parkrunners in 34:13

Recently Spartans ASHLEY JOHNSON and NIKKI NATION ran the South Norwood parkrun.

South Norwood parkrun ran an event for Black History Month and one of the local running groups called Emancipated Run Crew did a take over. 

Ashley was first woman out of 82 in 20:47 and NIKKI NATION 28th in 30:03.  215 ran and Ashley as fifth overall!

An official ParkRun film crew were there and they interviewed both Nikki and I.

It’s on Facebook if you want to watch it: 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/4Q61SH4SanLStP7y/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Categories
Half Marathon News Race Results Races

WET, WINDY, WONDERFUL STEVENAGE MARATHON

Despite strong winds and rain more than 700 runners completed Sunday 40th anniversary Stevenage Marathon and Half organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.

From the start at the corner of Grace Way and Martins Way to the finish in Hampson Park it was a windswept run, particularly going south with some black numbers in the wind speeds in the weather forecast, and undulating but there were some fantastic runs.

The marathon was won by Stephen Buckle from St Albans in 2 hours 40 minutes 32 seconds (2:40:32) but, by 14 seconds, Fairlands Valley Spartans’ Suzy Hawkins was first woman in 3:32:21.

And the Spartans were third and fourth in the men’s race.  David Harris-Cherguit third in 2:50:20 and Adrian Busolini fourth and first senior (over 18) in 2:55:17.

There were 303 finishers in the marathon and 413 in the half.  The Spartans were wearing their stripes with pride – 38 first claim Spartans finished the full 26.2 miles marathon and 30 the half marathon.

ALISON and PAUL SHELLEY were incredible.  They ran the Chicago Marathon last week and came home to run Stevenage this week.  Just home so sending our results although pretty sure you will have them all.

Alison said, “That was pretty brutal today – tough course and tough conditions on tired legs.  But we are super proud to have both completed the decennial FVS Stevenage Marathon as a ‘Chicago Chaser’!!!”

Paul’s time was 3:42:06 and Alison 4:54:22. 

Despite the conditions there were marathon personal bests by CRAIG BACON 3:39:10; MARTIN JACOB 3:57:30 and GERRY ROSEN 5:33:36

There was a clean sweep GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE for Fairlands Valley Spartans in the County team championships for veteran men (over 40s) and veteran women (over 35s). 

The male winners were DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT (2:05:20), CRAIG BACON (3:39:10), PAUL SHELLEY (3:42:06) and MARTIN JACOB (3:57:30).  Silvers went to LIAM HERBERT (3:57:47), ROBERT WRIGHT (4:17:32), MATT GIFFORD (4:18:40) and MATT CLARKE (4:49:11) and Bronzes to MARTIN DUDLEY (4:53:19), JIM BROWN (4:55:05), TIM ROBINSON (5:02:06) and PAUL HOLGATE (6:10:35).  (Teams of four).

The women team winners were:

GOLD – SUZY HAWKINS (3:32:25); CLAIRE PULLEN (4:08:04) and SAM TOPHILL (4:19:44).  SILVER – ALISON SHELLEY (4:54:58); TRICIA HOPPER (4:57:06) and LINDA GEORGE (5:11:37).  BRONZE – KAREN LIDDLE (5:17:15); FIONA CLARKE (5:23:06) and SHARON CROWLEY (6:14:16).  (Teams of three).

Fairlands Valley Spartans are a local community running club in Stevenage and are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.  The half is organised every year but the full 26.2 miles marathon is a bit special.  It only takes place every ten years.

Apart from 68 finishers FVS organised the event including dozens of volunteers including marshals, lead bikes and finish funnel.

Big thanks to the Hertfordshire Sports Partnership and the University of Hertfordshire who brought 14 volunteers – mostly overseas students and UH staff.  Ten different nationalities.  John O’Callaghan from HSP said, “Great event despite at times, atrocious weather conditions.”  The Hertfordshire Sports and Active Recreation Partnership are one of the Mayor’s good causes this year.

ALL the proceeds from Sunday’s events will go to charity.  This year it is Pancreatic Cancer UK which was chosen by the club in memory of a much loved member.

There was huge Spartan success in the Hertfordshire County Marathon Championships. 

The Spartan men won GOLD and BRONZE in the male senior (over 18) team county championships.  The club’s women won GOLD and SILVER in the female senior team competition.

LINDA GEORGE (5:11:37) won BRONZE for women 35 plus; SUZY HAWKINS (3:32:25) for women 45 plus; CLAIRE PULLEN (4:08:04), Sam TOPHILL (4:19:44) and ALISON SHELLEY (4:54:58) GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE for women 55 plus; and KAREN LIDDLE (5:17:15) and SHARON CROWLEY (6:14:16) GOLD and SILVER for women 65 plus).

DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT (2:50:20) was GOLD for men 40 plus and JIM BROWN (4:55:05) GOLD for men 70 plus.

Civic Team

Irrespective of time JIM BROWN was delighted to finish the Stevenage Marathon.  It was his first marathon back in 1994 and this time he became the first Stevenage Mayor, as Mayor, to complete the Stevenage Marathon.  And he won a County GOLD medal for his age group.  Jim got round in 4:55:05.  He was lead bike in 2014.

The Mayoress, Penny Schenkel, was the lead bike this time.

Stevenage Half

There were 413 finishers in Sunday’s 40th anniversary Stevenage Half Marathon.  It was won by BEN TACEY in 1:13:48.  FREYA WEDDELL from St Albans was first woman with 1:20:02, more than ten minutes ahead of her nearest rival.

SIMON FRASER was the first Spartan finisher.  Sub 90 minutes with 1 hour 28 minutes 17 seconds (1:28:17) for 17th position.

YUKO GORDON was the fastest female from Fairlands.  She won her category and a county GOLD medal with 1:45:44.

There were new personal bests from DAVID ACKERY 2:01:52; JUDY KING 2:22:51; SAMANTHA SUTTON 2:46:29.

There were some great Spartan results in the county half marathon championships for veteran runners, part of the race.  The women’s team consisting of Yuko (above); JAYNE RIDDELL 1:57:51 and SUE HAMER 2:05:00 won SILVER only one point behind the gold medallists AND SARAH ILLINGWORTH 2:17:53; Judy (above) and JO COOKSLEY 2:27:25 won BRONZE in the female veterans’ team championship (women over 35, teams of three).

The Spartan veterans were also second in the veteran men’s championship with SILVER going to TERRY SAWYER (1:38:45), BRIAN WHITE (1:43:58), MATT TUTTON (2:02:17) and BEN TORREGIANI (2:03:12) (males over 40, teams of four).

Jayne won individual bronze for women 55 plus and BRIAN WHITE individual silver for men 60 plus with his 1:43:58.

303 finishers in marathon – 38 first claim Spartans; 413 finishers in half – 29 first claim FVS.

Super PB in Amsterdam

Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON ran a new marathon personal best in the Amsterdam Marathon.  A fantastic 2 hours 34 minutes 9 seconds.  A personal best by more than two minutes.  He was top 100, 95th out of 16,763 finishers.

SIMON JACKSON did 2.46.10 at the Amsterdam marathon on Sunday.  He finished sixth in his age group and said there was amazing crowd, nice course and a good weekend with friends.

Go Georgie at the Abingdon Marathon

Spartan GEORGIE HOOPER ran the Abingdon Marathon and broke her personal best by 43 minutes!!  She finished in 3:46:02.  CHARLES COOK ran the same race in 3:02:53.

York 10 Miles

CHRIS WATLING ran the York 10 miler for the third year in a row. 1.24:24 

Results Out For Cross Country

The official results are now in for last week’s cross country, the first league race this season.  Only six clubs beat 1,000 points and FVS were sixth out of the 20 clubs with 880 making them the best club from Stevenage.  The Spartans three leading women were TRACY PEZ 19th in 38:14 for the 7.6 kilometres; ZOE JACKSON 37th in 40:42 and ELODIE MOAKES in 41:56.  The club’s leading three men were GRANT RAMSAY 25th in 30:33; JAY PAPA 40th in 31:46 and ADRIAN DONNELLY 53rd in 32:48.

The club were delighted to finish two complete teams in both the men’s and women’s races.

There were 288 finishers.  109 women and 178 men.  The next cross country league race will be near Royston on Sunday 27th October.

Ashley Beats 20 Year Record

Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON beat a 20 year record at the Great Eastern Run.  Her 1 hour 24 minutes 25 seconds beat the club record for women 35 plus and was a personal best by 33 seconds.

Chicago Extra

There was a big personal best (PB) of 10 minutes 6 seconds (10:06) achieved by PAUL SHELLEY at the Chicago Marathon. ALISON SHELLEY said it was definitely was Fairlands Fortitude for her – She said she couldn’t fuel enough and hit the wall but still super proud of the finish and time, coming back from injury, after a one year deferral.

Alison continued.  “An amazing experience and trip, having both qualified for ‘good for age’ entry  …and we wore our FVS stripes with pride!”

Paul went through half way in 1:31:42 and maintained that pace to finish in 3 hours 3 minutes 30 seconds (3:03:30).  Alison went through a half marathon in 2:08:12 and then demonstrated Fairlands fortitude to finish in 4:28:14.

Parkrun Highlights 19th October

Yuko beat 100%.  Yes Spartan YUKO GORDON beat an age related score of 100% at Saturday morning’s Stevenage parkrun.  Her 23:24 gave her a score of 100.07%.

The weather and the Stevenage marathon the following day kept the numbers down a bit but there were still 337 runners including 16 Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun. 

Categories
Events News Newsletter Race Results Races Racing Training

GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE

Hatfield 5 Wins

Fairlands Valley Spartans came home with GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE from the Hertfordshire County Five Mile Championships for veterans which were incorporated in the Hatfield Five on Sunday morning.

GEORGIE HOOPER (35:32 – a personal best PB by 11 minutes 39 seconds!); MARIE COLUCCI (37:18 – a season’s best SB by 3:01) and YUKO GORDON (37:42) won BRONZE in the women’s team competition.

Yuko took individual SILVER in the championship for women aged 65 plus.

The GOLD medal went to JIM BROWN who won the county championship for men aged 70 plus with exactly two minutes to spare in a year’s best (YB) time of 42 minutes 39 seconds.

Good fast five-mile races are pretty rare, and 22 Spartans took the opportunity.  There were some outstanding performances in the open race as well as the county event.  Every single Spartan that ran achieved a milestone.  NICK GILL was fastest from Fairlands, 53rd out of the 655 finishers in 30 minutes 50 seconds – an outstanding personal best by 16 minutes 21 seconds.

SAM SIMMONS improved his PB by 4:13 to 33:40. PETE SMITH took 3:05 off his SB to 35:12.  SUSAN McANENY reduced her PB by five seconds to 39:27 and NICK KLEANTHOUS by 58 seconds to 42:19.  NICOLA ANDERSSON sliced 1:17 off her life-time best with 43:38 and PENNY SCHENKEL improved her SB by 1:42 to 45:14.

MATT TUTTON took 37 seconds off his PB with 46:46 and JANE WADEY ran the PB bell with her new personal best of 52 minutes 26 seconds.  An improvement of 1:48.

SHARON CROWLEY took her season’s best down by 52 seconds to 55:03 and BRIAN WHITE, JONATHAN JONES and DZENANA TOPIC ran their best five-mile times this year with 36:51; 56:55 and 57:40.

Three Spartans were running their first ever five-mile races – MIKE JEFFS in 35:32; MARCUS RIDLEY in 37:34 and HARRIET SMITH 38:59.

MARK GOODWIN equalled his five-mile time with 37:34 and DANNY SCANLON was in the top 100 with a year’s best time of 32:49.

Bests At Bass Belle Ten

Another ten Spartans were at the Bass Belle Ten, a partly off-road event based in Bassingbourn.

STEVEN DOBNER said “Rain greeted us but luckily had passed through before the start.  After setting an unofficial PB in last week’s half marathon in Gosport I had a time to aim at and felt comfortable throughout.  Starting quickly to find some space and to try to get the best of the tricky 1.5miles muddy and slippery off-road section in road shoes, we settled into our rhythm ticking off the kilometers and judging the effort.  The little hill proved less of an obstacle this year and I was very happy to come home in a time of 1:15:05, knocking 5 minutes 31 off my previous best 10-mile race.”  

DAVE PATTMAN also came home with a new personal best of 1:15:41 shaving 2 minutes off his PB.  MO WARRILOW said she enjoyed the run, finished with a smile on her face and beat 90 minutes by 22 seconds.”

PAUL and ALISON SHELLEY ran Bass Belle again and said as always it was well organised and well supported.  The 1:5 mile off road section was a bit tricky but otherwise a nice route.  It was great to see so many Spartans.

Paul was 27th 1:11:35 – 27th overall.  Alison finished in 1:27:41.

The other Spartans were MATT CLARKE 1:25:11; MICHAEL O’KEEFE 1:35:00 in his first ten-mile race; FIONA CLARKE 1:37:39; CHLOE CHAPMAN 1:37:53 and MONICA SMITHSON 1:51:24.

Serpentine

Runners were so lucky with the conditions again for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park, London.  It was sunny, mild and with a light breeze for the lunch-time event.  JIM BROWN ran his best 5K of the year with 26 minutes 8 seconds and second in his age category.

Canicross

TRACY PEZ (and her dog) enjoyed a Canicross event at Grafham Water which they completed in 1 hour 21 minutes 7 seconds.

Parkrun Highlights 26th November 2022 – Penny in the Cape

Numbers were back over 300 for the 266th Stevenage with 314 completing the 5K Saturday morning run in Fairlands Valley Park.  24 were Spartans.

In Stevenage PENNY SCHENKEL ran her 50th parkrun in the red celebration cape with a time of 30 minutes 49 seconds.  MATTHEW NEWTON ran new PB of 20:14. ADRIAN BUSOLINI was 3rd overall in 18:15 and GRANT RAMSAY 4th in 18:58.

Elsewhere DARRYL STEVENS continues his tour of many different parkruns.  He was a first timer at Eastville, Bristol and finished in 39:30.  MATT and FIONA CLARKE were first timers at Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire with 31:07 and 31:11.

JULIET FULLWOOD was a first timer at Alexandra, Moss Side in Manchester on her first parkrun.  She was fourth women in 21:59.

22 Spartans at the Hatfield Five:

PositionNameNet TimeOpen CategoryCat PosGenderGen PosComments
53Nick GILL30:50Senior24Male49PB (16:21)
86Danny SCANLON32:49M4030Male75YB (year best)
106Sam SIMMONS33:40Senior37Male92PB (4:13)
138Peter SMITH35:12M608Male120SB (3:05)
152Mike JEFFS35:32Senior50Male133First 5 miles
153Georgie HOOPER35:32Senior4Female19Team Bronze.  PB (11:39)
181Brian WHITE36:51M6014Male151YB
205Marie COLUCCI37:18W4010Female33Team Bronze.  SB (3:01)
210Yuko GORDON37:42W701Female35County Silver.  Team Bronze.  YB.
211Marcus RIDLEY37:34Senior61Male175First five miles
213Mark GOODWIN37:34M6017Male177SB (equal)
242Harriet SMITH38:59Senior12Female41First five miles
266Susan MCANENY39:27W4017Female54PB (0:05)
317Nick KLEANTHOUS42:19M6024Male230PB (0:58)
334Jim BROWN42:39M703Male239County Gold.  YB
354Nicola ANDERSSON43:38W5027Female105PB (1:17)
414Penny SCHENKEL45:14W5036Female137SB (1:42)
448Matt TUTTON46:46Senior80Male287PB (0:37)
551Jane WADEY52:26W5065Female227PB (1:48)
587Sharon CROWLEY55:03W6031Female257SB (0:52)
596Jonathan Clive JONES56:55M5095Male331YB
604Dzenana TOPIC57:40W5084Female271YB

PB = personal best (lifetime); SB = season’s best; YB = year’s best.  655 finishers.

10 Spartans at the Bass Belle:

PositionNameTimeCommentsBIB
27PAUL SHELLEY1:11:35“SB” (2:50)61
52STEVEN DOBNER1:15:04“PB” (5:30)19
56DAVE PATTMAN1:15:41“PB” (1:50)20
126MATT CLARKE1:25:11“YB”448
140ALISON SHELLEY1:27:41“SB”62
164MO WARRILOW1:29:38“SB” (6:15)84
206MICHAEL O’KEEFE1:35:00First 10 miles418
235FIONA CLARKE1:37:39“YB”447
236CHLOE CHAPMAN1:37:53“PB” (6:19)49
313MONICA SMITHSON1:51:24“SB”172

356 finishers

24 Spartans at the Stevenage parkruns on Saturday 26th November:

Position  Gender Position  parkrunner  Run Time   
33Adrian BUSOLINI00:18:15Top ten
44Grant RAMSAY00:18:58Top ten
1110Matthew NEWTON00:20:14 
3229Paul SHELLEY00:22:08 
5447Martin DUDLEY00:23:58 
8912Gail MACKIE00:25:43 
9075Toby ECCLESHALL00:25:44 
9578Neal MUGGLETON00:26:08 
9981Michael O’KEEFE00:26:15 
10082Steven DOBNER00:26:16 
10817Mo WARRILLOW00:26:41 
10987David PATTMAN00:26:42 
134107Thomas SAUKA00:27:47 
161121Nick KLEANTHOUS00:29:03 
16233Alison SHELLEY00:29:05 
16939Chloe CHAPMAN00:29:12 
170123Sam SIMMONS00:29:13 
17943Nicola ANDERSSON00:29:41 
194139Jim BROWN00:30:48 
19547Penny SCHENKEL00:30:4950th parkrun in the cape
20353Nikki Katherine NATION00:31:08 
23471Sheryl HANN00:33:42 
257163Stephen SMITHSON00:34:55 
26484Samantha SUTTON00:35:56 

314 finishers.

Categories
Club News Race Results

CROSS COUNTRY LAUNCHES

The cross country league season started off surprisingly early in the year on what seemed like a summer’s day but thirty Spartans travelled to Cheshunt to enjoy the sunny conditions.  

The team results won’t be available for a while but the Spartan women’s “A” team consisted of ZOE JACKSON 251st overall in 41:44; KELLY McHALE 267th in 42:35; CLAIRE EMMERSON 347th in 48:13, VICKY ARCHER 348th in 48:15 and JANE WADEY 392nd in 55:17. 

The men’s teams consisted of eight runners.  First in for the Spartans was ADRIAN BUSOLINI 25th in 31 minute 9 seconds.  CHARLIE WHITE 30th in 31:40 and GRANT RAMSAY 38th in 32:21 were next in.  They were supported by PAUL HEWETT 65th in 33:27; STUART ARCHER 75th in 33:50; DANNY SCANLON 96th in 34:49; STEVEN DOBNER 151st in 37:11 and DAVID PATTMAN 152nd in 37:14. 

(All the Spartan times and the team results should be included in next weeks news!) 

A selection of our Cross Country Spartans in the sun!

International Selection and a Record for Yuko 

There was an amazing double for YUKO GORDON at the weekend. 

There was a selection race for the England Team for the Masters International Cross Country at Markeaton Park, Derby on Saturday afternoon.  YUKO GORDON won her age group and was selected to represent England for the forthcoming international championships to be held in Dublin in November. 
 
Returning from Derby late in the evening, she finished a quick pizza dinner and had a short sleep before heading south for another race, the Great South Run ten miles in Portsmouth on Sunday morning. 
 
Yuko said, “I anticipated a very exciting event by just looking at the number and colourful coffee coupons they sent me and it was as fantastic as I had expected.  Number 1 reason for that was the sheer number of loos, absolutely no queues!  Car parking space for any thousands of cars in the waterfront adjacent to start/finish area.  The course was truly flat, my racing form has been this season only around 8 minutes per mile pace even at Parkruns but the course tuned my legs into 7:20 minutes pace while I kept worrying if I’m over pacing but I managed the even pace till the end after all.  I went through 5K and 10K both in my season’s best time.  My 74 minutes 7 seconds (74:07) gives me the UK’s all time best record for a woman aged over 70. 
If I put more effort into Tuesday club sessions and had no selection race the day before, I might be able to improve more, hopefully. 
I’m glad to know that I am finally recovering from the lengthy distraction of a hamstring injury and Covid.” 

Spartan legend that is Yuko!

Great Eastern Run 

The Great Eastern Run is a popular half marathon in Peterborough which attracts over 2000 runners.  This year, its 30th year, 2301 finished 

DAN HUKIN said his confidence was a bit low as he had not run for 10 days prior to the race with a small injury but decided to go for it anyway, he suffered towards the end but hung in there for a new PB with an official chip time of 1:21:17.  He was 72nd overall. 

STEVE WELLS was 289th and fourth man 60 plus in 1:31:58. 

JIM BROWN decided to go into the sub two hour starting area and thought if he could maintain an average of nine minutes per mile he should come under the 2 hours.  He did with 1 hour 57 minutes 25 seconds and was second man 70 plus. 

Running the furthest distance that he’s done in a while was PAUL HOLGATE and he came in with 3:15.13. 

Paul enjoying his first half marathon in a while.

York Marathon  

Spartans NICK GILL and JOHN HARRIS ran the York Marathon. 

Nick Gill improved his marathon personal best (PB) by a massive 21 minutes with 3 hours 21 minutes 58 seconds.  His previous best was 3:43:27 at the Great Welsh Marathon in 2019. 

Nick ran with John Harris for the first half and then Adrian Sherwood from NHRR from mile 14 until mile 21… when he got cramp! 

He had been running at 3:15:00 pace and feeling good, but his legs had other ideas.  A painful finish after getting cramp in the other leg at mile 24 meant he had to walk, but was able to get going again and was super happy with the time. 

JOHN HARRIS said his York Marathon was a marathon of two halves.  He ran well for the first half then an ankle injury hampered him in the second half.  However he still finished in 3:37:08 which is a Good For Age qualifying time. 

Nick and John at York

Great South Run 

The Great South Run is a ten mile race in Portsmouth. 

In addition to YUKO GORDON’s record breaking 1:14:07, PHILIP POTTER finished in 1:20:29.  JUDY KING 2:08:31; NICOLA HATHERLY 2:08:43 and SALLY PICKLES 2:11:16 all three ladies had a fabulous day and love their new medals! 

Our Starter ladies proudly showing off their medals!

Birthday Half 

ABBIE WHITROW celebrated her 21st birthday by running her first half marathon in Amsterdam!  She finished in 3 hours and 37 seconds (3:00:37) with JANE WHITROW (3:00:36). 

International Spartans Jane and Abbie!

Parkrun

For all the Parkrun Spartan results from the weekend please follow this link – Parkrun 15th October 2022

Categories
Club News Race Results

CHRISTINE WINS

The individual results are out for the cross country league and Spartan CHRISTINE LATHWELL won the women 45 plus (45 to 54) category with just five points.  She won all but one of the races she ran, in the other one she was second.  TRACEY JACKSON was eighth with 51 points. 

Tracey Jackson

In the senior race (up to 39) JONATHAN PARR was fifth with 26 points and ADRIAN BUSOLINI eighth with 56. 

Jonathan and Adrian

(In these league events those with the lowest scores are the winners as your positions in your four best counting events are added up). 

In Memory Of Lisa 

Fairlands Valley Spartans past and present walked ten kilometres on Sunday in memory of Lisa Potter. 

Lisa Potter was a very kind hearted Spartans who sadly lost her battle with cancer last year. 

The starters award which will be given out at Friday’s presentation evening has been renamed The Lisa Potter Starters Award in her memory.  Lisa attended the very first Spartan starters session and was a keen to be there every week.  She was always friendly and very welcoming with new members.  

Team Lisa!

Parkrun Highlights 19th February 

The aftermath of Storm Eunice cancelled the Stevenage parkrun as there just wasn’t time to clear and check the course. 

So this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit consists of a few stripes on tour. The biggest result comes from South Africa as STUART HAYCROFT took on the Grey Goose course at the Grey Goose Game Lodge in the North-East of the country.  Stuart completed the 5km course in 20-33 finishing first out of 126 runners.  

St Albans Parkrunners

Other away day results: 

St Albans (Hertfordshire): DAVID PATTMAN 25-06 (52nd out of 207 runners), MO WARRILLOW 33-33 (170th) and STEVEN DOBNER 33-34 (171st). 

Letchworth (Hertfordshire); GEORGIE HOOPER 30-38 (65th out of 108 runners), NICK GILL 30-39 (66th). 

Panshanger (Hertford, Hertfordshire): TONY RANDFIELD 42-13 (184th out of 193 runners). 

Westmill (Ware, Hertfordshire): ANDY JAY 26-13 (14th out of 76 runners). 

Ifield Mill Pond (Crawley, East Sussex): DARRYL STEVENS 383-9 (108th out of 117 runners). 

Categories
Club News Race Results

ABI WINS AT FRED HUGHES

Fairlands Valley Spartans sent men’s and women’s teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans on Sunday.  Veterans start at age 35 for women and 40 for men with age category breaks every ten years.  The championships were incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race. 

There were 415 women and 410 men in the race. 

Clearly ABIGAIL PEZ could not count towards a veterans’ team but she did WIN the race for women under 20 with a new personal best (PB) of 1 hours 18 minutes 53 seconds.  That’s seven and a half minutes faster than her previous ten miles PB! 

The fastest Spartan was ADRIAN DONNELLY in the first 100 of the 825 finishers with 67 minutes 16 seconds.  At 99th he led in the Spartan men’s team with JOHN HARRIS 135th in 1:09:49; PETE SMITH 193rd in 1:13:01; and MARK GOODWIN 293rd in 1:18:32. 

It was teams of three in the women’s race and YUKO GORDON and ASHLEY JOHNSON were well up there at 54th and 62nd out of 415 women.  Yuko, running against people several years younger than her, was second in the 65 plus category in 1 hour 15 minutes 35 seconds and took SILVER in the County Championships.  She had a higher age related score which was 95.00%!  MARIE COLUCCI impressed at 83rd woman and was the Spartans third counter with 1:18:45. 

A selection of our 10 milers with Abi winning in the first square!

Ten women were running for the Spartans.  The others were TRACY PEZ, 90th woman in 1:19:26; WENDY THARANI 1:31:37; CAROL PAUL 1:35:45; SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON both in 1:42:37 and SHARON CROWLEY 1:51:10. 

The other three men were ANDY JAY 1:31:40; JIM BROWN happy to get round “steady state” in 1:33:48 and recovering after recent mishaps and PAUL HOLGATE 1:49:26. 

In addition ANN TRYSSESOONE was not eligible for the Spartan teams but finished in 1 hour 26 minutes 40 seconds. 

All this on the undulating roads and lanes to the south west of St. Albans including Potters Crouch, Chiswell Green and a favourite climb up past mile six to the edge of Bedmond.  So good to see this classic club organised race back. 

These were the mildest conditions many veterans of the Fred Hughes Ten could remember.  It’s usually notorious for icy patches, snowing during the event, freezing winds or just chucking down large amounts of very cold rain. 

The next county road championships will be at the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 6th February. 

(The Spartans results table can be found near the end of this release). 

Spartan Women Jump In Cross Country 

Much greater participation helped boost the Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team to fourth out of nineteen clubs in the latest cross country league race which was at Watford.  They won the veteran women’s team race. 

This time there were five Spartan women in the top fifty and eighteen running.  They were twelfth, eleventh and eleventh in the first three races so this is a tremendous improvement.  The women’s “A” team were CHRIS LATHWELL, SUZY HAWKINS, TRACEY JACKSON, YUKO GORDON and HAZEL SMITH. 

The Spartan men were seventh at Watford with JONATHAN PARR in the top ten out of 405 finishers.  In the combined scores over the series so far the Spartans are seventh.  The final event will be on Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13th February. 

A WIN for Jonathan – RunThrough Olympic Park 5k 

On Saturday morning Spartan JONATHAN PARR WON the Olympic Park 5K with a time of 16 minutes 9 seconds. 

Another great win for Jonathan!

Ciaran At Peddars 

CIARAN MCANENY got fifth place overall at the 48 mile Peddars Way Ultra in a time of 6 hours 52 minutes. 

The race follows the Peddars Way Trail from Knettishall Heath, just north of Bury St Edmunds, to Holme-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast; on a mix of forest path, bridleways and road. 

Beautiful, crisp, sunny weather kept the trails firm and the late morning sun was just warm enough to make for comfortable running temperatures. 

All went to plan in terms of pacing and nutrition with Ciaran finishing 24 minutes faster than his previous outing on the course. 

Ciaran was very happy and, after missing most of last year’s racing due to niggling injuries, it was great to be back on such a nice course and in a really well run and friendly event  

Ciaran still smiling after an impressive 48 miles!

Fast Five for Feetham 

Three laps 33:40 52nd out of 680. 

KIERAN FEETHAM did the Romsey 5 mile race on Sunday.  Although it’s classed as multi-terrain with a 700 metres non-tarmac section for each of the three laps it’s flat and fast. 

The race was delayed by 15 minutes and Kieran had to warm up again as it was cold.  He said he found a good group to stay with for the first three miles but then unfortunately got held up trying to pick his way through some back markers and lost that group.  So he ended up on his own into a headwind.  The last mile marker was in the wrong place so Kieran was slightly panicking why it was taking so long to complete it but he was happy to hold on for a new PB (personal best) of 33 minutes 40 seconds.  An improvement of 1 minute 42 seconds.   He was 52nd out of the 680 finishers. 

Speedy Kieran with his well earned medal!

Parkrun Highlights 22nd January 2022 

Yet another record was set at Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun.  This was the 27th since parkrun restarted for the 200th local run and this time there were 365 finishers.  The highest number since lock down.  Despite some holding back for a ten mile championship race on Sunday twenty five Spartans completed a Parkrun this week, on a cold, crisp, sunny morning. 

GRACE COVENTRY ran a parkrun personal best (PB) of 24 minutes 22 seconds at Stevenage, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week.  GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 19:24 at Stevenage. 

Some of our Stevenage Parkrunners.

DARRYL STEVENS ran at Great Salterns Parkrun, Portsmouth, for the first time finishing with a time of 40:00.  Astonishingly, this was the 94th venue he has tried out! 

ANTON McCALLA (27:46 at Market Harborough) and PETER CARPENTER (44:29, Squerryes Winery) completed their first parkruns of the year. 

JIM BROWN (28:45) won his category and KARL SHREEVE (28:47) achieved a year best at Stevenage. 

Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, three Spartans have reached 70 runs at Stevenage with LEE PICKERSGILL finishing at 24:23, TRACY HAYGARTH at 31:51 and HELEN HARRIS finishing at 52:44. 

It’s stripy Saturday on Saturday, 5th February. 

Tables 

Spartans at the Fred Hughes 10 (including a county championship). 

Pos Name Time Category Cat Pos Gender Gen Pos Comments 
99 Adrian DONNELLY 1:07:16 40 – 49 28 Male 86 68.68  
135 John HARRIS 1:09:46 50 – 59 13 Male 117 76.11  
193 Peter SMITH 1:13:01 50 – 59 28 Male 159 72.29  
235 Yuko GORDON 1:15:35 65 + Female 54 95.00 Second in category 
252 Ashley JOHNSON 1:16:37 35 – 44 22 Female 62 66.71  
293 Mark GOODWIN 1:18:32 60 – 69 Male 214 70.55  
299 Marie COLUCCI 1:18:45 35 – 44 33 Female 83 65.76  
303 Abigail PEZ 1:18:53 Under 20 Female 85 62.91 PB (7:30).  Under 20 winner. 
313 Tracy PEZ 1:19:26 45 – 54 26 Female 90 67.76  
547 Andy JAY 1:31:40 50 – 59 97 Male 340 56.29  
555 Wendy THARANI 1:31:37 45 – 54 67 Female 211 58.79  
586 Jim BROWN 1:33:48 60 – 69 19 Male 353 61.71  
610 Carol PAUL 1:35:45 55 – 64 32 Female 252 64.76  
702 Sue HAMER 1:42:37 45 – 54 109 Female 318 53.99  
703 Erica GRAYSON 1:42:37 45 – 54 110 Female 319 54.63  
762 Paul HOLGATE 1:49:26 60 – 69 35 Male 400 50.75  
776 Sharon CROWLEY 1:51:10 55 – 64 64 Female 374 57.51 First ten mile race in 3 years. 

These are chip times, the time from when the runner crosses the start line to when they cross the finish line.  Gun times are “bang” to finish line and it can take those at the back several minutes to start. 

Spartans at parkruns Saturday 22nd January 

Stevenage parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time     
Grant RAMSAY 19:24   
78 72 Lee PICKERSGILL 24:22 70th 
79 Grace COVENTRY 24:23 PB 
152 125 Wills JENNINGS 27:47   
166 136 David PATTMAN 28:17   
168 137 Nick KLEANTHOUS 28:20   
180 141 Jim BROWN 28:45 1st in category 
182 142 Matt CLARKE 28:46   
183 143 Karl SHREEVE 28:47 YB 
228 57 Caroline CROFT 30:37   
232 59 Fiona CLARKE 30:53   
234 60 Chloe CHAPMAN 30:58   
235 165 Stephen SMITHSON 31:00   
239 63 Claire EMMERSON 31:06   
256 73 Tracy HAYGARTH 31:51 70th 
344 196 Steven DOBNER 41:15   
345 137 Mo WARRILLOW 41:15   
362 202 Roger BIGGS 49:42   
364 149 Helen HARRIS 52:44 70th 
Gunpowder parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time     
175 67 Karen BROOM 39:54 First parkrun since 2019 
Letchworth parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time     
10 Nick GILL 22:40   
32 Georgie HOOPER 26:55   
Squerryes Winery parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time     
89 49 Peter CARPENTER 44:29 First parkrun in 2022 
Great Salterns parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time     
212 127 Darryl STEVENS 40:00 New venue (of 94) 
Westmill parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   Comments 
Danny SCANLON 22:01   
Market Harborough parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time     
117 86 Anton MCCALLA 27:47 First parkrun in 2022 

  

Categories
Club News Race Results

ONE AND TWO ON CHRISTMAS DAY

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.  

Adrian in his stripes had Jonathan’s green elf vest in his sights

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. 

Tracey leading the pack of Christmas cheer!

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. 

Spartans two good 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. 

All smiles for Grant after a sub 20 in Edinburgh!

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. 

Speedy Spartan Andrew never ceases to amaze us!

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       
Jonathan PARR 16:51 
Adrian BUSOLINI 18:16 
20 18 Steve WELLS 20:27 
60 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 
ANDREW PATTERSON 27:33 40 MA 
SIMON JACKSON 28:30 40 MA 
10 JONATHAN PARR 28:32 MA 
46 CHARLIE WHITE 30:56 MA 
57 KELVIN BEYOKU 31:32 MA 
70 STUART ARCHER 32:27 MA 
99 STEVE WELLS 33:30 50 MA 
104 DANNY SCANLON 33:34 40 MA 
142 MARK COLLINS 35:23 40 MB 
146 JOHN HARRIS 35:30 50 MB 
150 PETE SMITH 35:37 50 MB 
164 THOMAS SAUKA 36:33 40 MB 
186 STEVE MAYFIELD 37:27 50 MB 
201 MARTIN WOOD 38:00 50 MB 
210 YUKO GORDON 38:20 65 FA 
218 TRACEY JACKSON 38:34 45 FA 
226 CRAIG BACON 38:56 50 MB 
236 MARK GOODWIN 39:15 60 MB 
249 ANNABELLE WHITE 39:38 FA 
273 MATT CLARKE 40:50 40 MC 
276 TIM ROBINSON 41:02 50 MC 
280 LUKE GURNEY 41:07 MC 
284 TRACEY PEZ 41:16 45 FA 
291 DAVID KENNEDY 42:02 MC 
300 ZOE JACKSON 42:27 35 FA 
301 DARREN EMMERSON 42:28 50 MC 
306 ANDY JAY 42:44 50 MC 
319 CAROLE SHELDRICK 43:47 45 FB 
325 JON SYPULA 44:02 40 MC 
326 MARK FREEMAN 44:04 60 MC 
335 NICK KLEANTHOUS 44:55 50  
338 FIONA CLARKE 45:12 35 FB 
345 MARIAN MORLEY 45:49 55 FB 
346 NICOLA ANDERSSON 45:50 45 FB 
360 SIMON SYPULA 47:04 40  
368 ROGER HARDMAN 48:01 70  
382 MICHAEL O’KEEFE 49:43 50  
396 CATHY CRAIG 52:11 65 FB 
399 SHARON CROWLEY 53:07 55 FC 
400 PAUL HOLGATE 53:18 60  
411 JENNY GARRETT 56:03 45 FC 
412 CALLIE CHAPMAN 56:12 35 FC 
418 CHRISTINE ZVEREV 57:05 35 FC 
419 HAZEL SMITH 57:05 45 FC 
420 CLAIRE EMMERSON 57:06 45  

16 women and 29 men.  There were 421 finishers, 165 women and 256 men, altogether. 

Categories
Club News Race Results

CROSS COUNTRY IS BACK !

 

Cross Country is back and despite many other races elsewhere 27 Spartans, 15 men and 12 women, ran the first Sunday League fixture of 2021 at Cheshunt on Sunday morning.  A little bit of rain loosened up what is usually a very dry event at the start of the season. 

The fastest Spartan, eleventh of about 400 runners, was JONATHAN PARR who raced around the just under five miles event in 28 minutes 48 seconds.  Four other Spartans were in the top one hundred overall.  They were ADRIAN BUSOLINI (25th in 30:31); STEVE WELLS (81st in 32:53); DANNY SCANLON (88th in 33:18); and GRANT RAMSAY (98th in 33:41).  The men’s “A” team of eight was completed by JOHN HARRIS (36:04); TOM SAUKA (37:03) and TOBY ECCLESHALL (37:50). 

It was teams of five for the women’s race and the Spartans “A” team were CHRISTINE LATHWELL (32:30); TRACEY JACKSON (38:19); WENDY THARANI (43:44); NICOLA ANDERSSON (45:06) and PENNY SCHENKEL (47:47). 

FVS men at cross country (teams of eight): 

Overall Position Name Time Comments 
11 JON PARR 28:48 A team 
25 ADRIAN BUSOLINI 30:31 A team 
81 STEVE WELLS 32:53 A team 
88 DANNY SCANLON 33:18 A team 
98 GRANT RAMSAY 33:41 A team 
145 JOHN HARRIS 36:04 A team 
164 TOM SAUKA 37:03 A team 
178 TOBY ECCLESHALL 37:50 A team 
213 DAVE PATTMAN 39:35  
214 STEVE DOBNER 39:36  
290 ANDY JAY 43:19  
303 NICK KLEANTHOUS 44:26  
336 JIM BROWN 47:36  
351 KEN JUDE 48:29  
368 SIMON SYPULA 51:30*  
Steve and Dave enjoying the mud!

FVS women at cross country (teams of five): 

Overall Position Name Time Comments 
74 CHRISTINE LATHWELL 32:30 A team 
195 TRACEY JACKSON 38:19 A team 
293 WENDY THARANI 43:44 A team 
309 NICHOLA ANDERSSON 45:06 A team 
341 PENNY SCHENKEL 47:47 A team 
371 CATHY CRAIG 53:19 B team 
375 SHARON CROWLEY 54:33 B team 
384 CALLIE CHAPMAN 57:11 B team 
385 KAREN ELLIS 57:11 B team 
386 HAZEL SMITH 57:11 B team 
387 BETH FOLEY 57:11  
390 JANE WHITROW 59:27  
Callie, Hazel & Karen are all smiles as usual!
  • The next cross country league race will be in Trent Park, North London on Sunday 12th December. 

Chelmsford Marathon 

PETE SMITH said the Chelmsford Marathon was a well organised race, great marshals (like ours) a touch undulating and with a few tight turns, but generally a good course.  Pete was well happy with his 3 hours 26 minutes 24 seconds.  MARIE COLUCCI just wanted to get round but got a brilliant 4:03:10. 

Marie & Pete both ran a fabulous marathon!

Paris Marathon 

JOHN NELMS travelled to Paris to run his 102nd lifetime marathon and his 16th and probably last of 2021. 

Hot, sunny and surprisingly humid conditions slowed the times and he finished in a comfortable 4 hours 19 minutes.  A beautiful course passing most of the famous Parisian sights and a VIP tent at the finish line (thank you Tom Robinson ) 
 

Bedford Autodrome 

STUART ARCHER ran Bedford Autodrome on Sunday.  He did the half marathon distance in 1:29:15, under one and a half hours.  He said that it was a breezy course but he enjoyed it and even got a picture with the Stig afterwards. 

Stuart was all smiles after meeting The Stig!

Oxford Half 

Spartan RICHARD COWLISHAW completed the Oxford Half on Sunday in 1 hour 33 minutes and 32 seconds.  That’s his fastest ever competitive half marathon.  He was 491st out of 12932 runners. 

Richard said, “This is one of the best half marathons I have run.  It was flat, perfect weather, great crowds and a good wide route, with a park run towards the end.  I would recommend this event to anyone.” 

Cambridge Half 

CAROLYN LINSELL ran the Cambridge Half Marathon in 2 hours 26 minutes 12 seconds.  Carolyn said, “On Sunday I ran my fourth Cambridge Half Marathon with my friend Hannah Morgan Gray (we ran the virtual VLM – Virtual London Marathon together  two weeks ago).  We were going well when Hannah felt a niggle in her ankle/foot & we had to slow right down & she had to walk several times.  I kept running & zig zagging as I promised we would run this together & I would not leave her.” 

Great South Run 

JENNY GARRETT ran the Great South Run ten miles event in 1 hour 31 minutes 33 seconds. 

She said there were perfect running conditions on Sunday with lots of support around the whole course and it was nice to be out showing off the Spartan stripes.  ED HARE finished in 1 hour 26 minutes 17 seconds and JONATHAN JONES in 2:00:51. 

Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons?  Here Comes The Stevenage Half! 

Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons?  Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open. 

With only five weeks to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered.  This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual). 

Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open.  Go to https://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/  This club and community event has a history going back 37 years and is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.  With a break due to Covid 19 in 2020 it’s back for 2021.   

Parkrun report for Saturday 9th October 2021 

In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, SUZY HAWKINS just missed out on a sub-20 minute at Stevenage and was second female to finish (finishing eight seconds behind the first female runner). 

Stevenage Parkrun Results where 327 runners took part.  SUZY HAWKINS 20-05 (8th), ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER 22-14 (24th and 4th female), CRAIG BACON 23-38 (47th), MARTIN DUDLEY 23-48 (51st), HAZEL SMITH 24-22 (63rd), DANIK BATES 25-14 (83rd and with a buggy), MATT CLARKE 26-46 (126th), NICK KLEANTHOUS 27-34 (137th), JIM BROWN 28-01 (141st), PENNY SCHENKEL 28-11 (142nd), TOBY ECCLESHALL 28-35 (150th), CHLOE CHAPMAN 28-42 (155th), ERICA GRAYSON 29-13 (172nd), JO BOWDERY 29-18 (176th), STEVE SMITHSON 29-34 (184th), PAUL JENNINGS 30-16 (195th), TRACEY HAYGRATH 31-34 (231st), CAROLINE CROFT 31-41 (237th) and BETH FOLEY 33-53 (266th).  

Parkrun Away days:  

Gunpowder (Waltham Abbey): STEVEN DOBNER 23-34 (40th out of 152 runners), DAVID PATTMAN 23-34 (41st).  

Letchworth (Hertfordshire): NICK GILL 21-48 (12th out of 94 runners), GEORGIE HOOPER 26-01 (38th). 

Panshanger (Hertford): MIKE REYNOLDS 25-06 (62nd out of 207 runners).  

Rushmere (Bedfordshire): MICHAEL O’KEEFE 29-31 (73rd out of 141 runners).  

Rutland Water (Rutland): DARRYL STEVENS 41-39 (210th).