Tag: EMAC

HOT SPARTANS ON THE GREENWAY

Post author By Peter Sach
Post date May 11, 2025
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It was seriously hot for the Greenway Challenge in Letchworth. Several of the 17 Spartans grouped up in the sun as they tackled the 13.1 miles multi-terrain event.

Spartan ADRIAN DONNELLY was a bit of a star. He won the men 40 plus category and was fifth overall with 1 hour 38 minutes 41 seconds (1:38:41). NICK GILL and PETE GENTLE came in 36^th and 37^th in 1:52:59. SUZY HAWKINS was the fastest female from Fairlands in 1:53:59 with TOBY ECCLESHALL not far behind in 1:54:17.

Next came a Spartan quadruplet. ANNABELLE WHITE and ALEX SCOFIELD in 2:08:06 then MARIE COLUCCI and GEORGIE HOOPER in 2:08:17.

FVS club chair TIM ROBINSON was back in 2:43:39 a little in front of another Spartan pair TRICIA HOPPER in 2:45:01 and KAREN LIDDLE in 2:45:04.

A famous Fairlands Five rounded it off for FVS. VICKY ARCHER 126^th in 2:51:16 then CLAIRE EMMERSON 127^th; HAZEL SMITH 128^th; TRACY PEZ 129^th and PENNY SCHENKEL 130^th all in 2:51:17.

There were 145 finishers.

Pos	Cat Pos	Name	Time
5	1	Adrian DONNELLY	1:38:41
36	7	Nick GILL	1:52:59
37	11	Pete GENTLE	1:52:59
43	4	Suzy HAWKINS	1:53:49
45	8	Toby ECCLESHALL	1:54:17
78	9	Annabelle WHITE	2:08:06
79	15	Alex SCOFIELD	2:08:06
81	7	Marie COLUCCI	2:08:17
82	12	Georgie HOOPER	2:08:17
118	26	Tim ROBINSON	2:43:39
119	3	Tricia HOPPER	2:45:01
121	4	Karen LIDDLE	2:45:04
126	21	Vicky ARCHER	2:51:16
127	18	Claire EMMERSON	2:51:17
128	19	Hazel SMITH	2:51:17
129	20	Tracy PEZ	2:51:17
130	6	Penny SCHENKEL	2:51:17

Five Miles Frazzle but some Spartans top threes.

Some like it hot. Others were not quite so sure at the Phoenix Five mile race in Stevenage. Thirteen Spartans ran. Pretty warm with little shade but a straightforward course from Shephalbury Park to Fairlands Valley Park and back.

MIKE JEFFS and PAUL SHELLEY excelled. Mike was first man 40 plus and fourth out of the 272 finishers in 29 minutes 55 seconds; Paul second man 50 plus and seventh in 31:06.

JESS CLARKE was second senior woman (18-39) and tenth woman overall in 40:44 and LORRAINE HILL third woman 55 plus in 43 minutes exactly.

Lots of room for improvement but JIM BROWN completed a full set of both club championships for this year with 46:20.

Pos	Cat Pos	Name	Chip Time
4	1	Mike JEFFS	29:55
7	2	Paul SHELLEY	31:06
10	5	Jay PAPA	31:43
74	2	Jess CLARKE	40:44
95	3	Lorraine HILL	43:00
123	38	Lloyd DIAS	45:19
129	5	Jim BROWN	46:20
163	15	Sarah ILLINGWORTH	50:17
164	15	Nick KLEANTHOUS	50:12
171	27	Karl SHREEVE	51:41
197	13	Monica SMITHSON	54:53
211	27	Callie CHAPMAN	56:34
229	17	Alice WELCH	59:15

Spartans On Track

Fairlands Valley Spartan sent a team of nineteen to the first fixture in the EMAC track and field series this year.

The FVS women’s team of SHARON CROWLEY, YUKO GORDON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, NIKKI NATION, JOYLYN SANDERS-MULLINS, TESSA STEPHENSON and ALISON WOOD won with 74.0 points compared with 49.0 for second placed Bedford & County.

CHARLES ARNOLD, JIM BROWN, MARK COLLINS, MARK FREEMAN, STEVE FEELY, MIKE JEFFS, STEVE MAYFIELD, ANDREW PATTERSON, GRANT RAMSAY, TIMOTHY SAUNDERS-MULLINS, PAUL SHELLEY and DAVID STEPHENSON were third in the men’s competition with 73.0.

The track was very busy with a number of 1500 metre races. The 1500 features in the Spartans short distance championships. ANDREW PATTERSON won the men 35 to 49 race in 4:23.1; ALISON WOOD won the women 50-59 in 5:56.6; SHARON CROWLEY the women 60 plus in 7:46.0 and YUKO GORDON the women 70 plus in 6:45.7.

There were useful placings by GRANT RAMSAY second man 50 plus 5:21.6; CHARLES ARNOLD second man 60 plus in 6:06.6; CHRISTINE LATHWELL second woman 35 plus in 5:33.5 and JIM BROWN third man 70 plus in 8:11.8. The event was in Sandy on Wednesday evening.

The next two EMAC fixtures will be in Bedford on Wednesday 4^th June and in Corby on Wednesday 2^nd July. EMAC, Eastern Masters Athletics Club, is for East of England veterans aged 35 plus.

Semington Slog 10K

PETE COOK said the Semington Slog 10K was a lovely sunny outing in the Wiltshire Countryside undulating to start with then a nice flat path along the Kennet and Avon Canal followed by the reason it’s called a slog for the last 5K. He took more than a minute off his personal best (PB) when he finished in 56:35.

MK Marathon Weekend

At about 12 degrees conditions were relatively kind for marathon running in Milton Keynes on May Day Holiday Monday.

A bit of a breeze but TONY RANDFIELD went through 10K in 49:40 and half marathon in 1:45:51 and reached the finish line in 3 hours 45 minutes 29 seconds. JESSICA CLARKE was through 10K in 1:00:12 and halfway in 2:06:51 and the finish line in 4:34:33. With a much better run than in Brighton a few weeks ago HANNAH MANTON in was at 10K in 1:23:45; halfway in 2:41:19 and finished in 5:27:05. There were 1,934 finishers.

Hannah said “It didn’t quite go to plan despite feeling strong, blisters definitely got the better of me! Multiple stops were needed to change plasters, and even swap trainers at the halfway point, but I’ll take it as lessons learned and more training towards my ultra in June!”

JOHN NELMS was running the half marathon. He went through 10K in 1:02:45 and finished in 2:02:15. There were 2,316 finishers in the half marathon.

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 10^th May – including the 400^th parkrun in Stevenege

Stevenage parkrun celebrated a major milestone on Saturday morning 10^th May. It was be the 400^th Stevenage parkrun. So far there have been 132,505 finishes in just under nine years with an average time of 30 minutes 11 seconds.

There was another huge turnout – 653 runners – and 30 of them were Spartans.

Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI won the event by a good margin. He ran the 5K in 17 minutes 52 seconds (17:52). That was 54 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

GRANT RAMSAY was back in the top five at fourth with 19:15.

It was a double century for JIM BROWN. His 200^th parkrun on the 400^th parkrun. He finished in 28:56. DANIEL VILJOEN ran his 290^th in 25:14; MARK BEASLEY his 150^th in 25:43 and JAYNE RIDDELL her 110^th in 27:03.Yuko Gordon was second woman and 27^th overall in the Letchworth parkrun with 25:04.

Position	Gender Position	FVS parkrunner	Time
1	1	Adrian BUSOLINI	17:52
4	4	Grant RAMSAY	19:15
20	17	Perri GENTRY	21:04
26	23	David RIDDELL	21:39
59	54	Matthew COOKE	23:14
99	92	Paul MAGUIRE	24:37
101	94	Lee PICKERSGILL	24:38
118	107	Darren EMMERSON	25:14
119	108	Daniel VILJOEN	25:14
141	126	Mark BEASLEY	25:43
160	138	Ryan DUNNING	26:07
169	145	Matt TUTTON	26:22
195	162	Steve TINSLEY	27:03
193	22	Jayne RIDDELL	27:03
221	26	Lorraine HILL	27:27
287	221	Jim BROWN	28:56
301	228	Matt CLARKE	29:18
300	60	Sharon CROWLEY	29:18
343	251	Kartik SHARMA	30:34
382	99	Debbie BLANTERN	31:20
423	273	Ahaan SHARMA	32:17
448	142	Penny SCHENKEL	33:08
472	297	Stephen SMITHSON	34:21
500	169	Hilary DAVIES	35:19
528	313	Lloyd DIAS	36:30
550	200	Hannah MANTON	37:46
574	217	Nicola HATHERLY	39:12
630	341	Roger BIGGS	47:03
649	350	Tony RANDFIELD	56:56
652	263	Claire EMMERSON	1:02:57

Tags EMAC, Greenway Challenge, Milton Keynes Marathon, parkrun, Pheonix Five, Semington Slog 10k

Club News Race Results

TRENT PARK – MIDWEEK LEAGUE

Post author By Peter Sach
Post date July 7, 2024
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There was a lot on in the world on Thursday 4^th July but 30 Spartans – 19 men and 11 women made it to the final counting event in this summer’s Mid Week League race.

Run in Trent Park, Cockfosters this was a largely off tarmac event with some grinding climbs in the woods. It was dry!

On the night the fastest from Fairlands was KIRK NDUGU with 36:47 for 25^th place out of the 194 male finishers. ADRIAN BUSOLINI 38^th in 37:56; JONATHAN PARR 41^st in 38:02; BRIAN BRACKSTONE 43^rd in 38:14 and third man over 50 were also under 40 minutes on the tough course.

108 women finished. SUZY HAWKINS was the fastest female from Fairlands, 26^th woman in 46:56. YUKO GORDON won her age group with 51:14. She was 47^th woman overall.

The “Mob Match” will be in Welwyn Garden City on Wednesday 10^th July.

Race	Cat	Vet	No.	Time	Name	Surname	Cat.	M/F	Female Pos.
143	10	17	1020	46:56	Suzy	Hawkins	V 45	F	26
193	1	34	1100	51:14	Yuko	Gordon	V 65	F	47
217	18	44	1073	53:19	Jo	Cooksley	V 35	F	59
248			1090	56:55	Sophie	Parsons	S	F	77
259	28	64	1075	58:37	Wendy	Tharani	V 45	F	82
275	32	72	1091	1:02:36	Claire	Emmerson	V 45	F	92
280	16	76	1085	1:03:36	Judy	King	V 55	F	96
293	20	84	1078	1:08:06	Liz	Carvell	V 55	F	104
295	21	86	1099	1:10:32	Monica	Smithson	V 55	F	106
299	24	87	1086	1:13:19	Callie	Chapman	V 35	F	107
301	22	88	1079	1:17:08	Jane	Wadey	V 55	F	108

Race	Cat	Vet	No.	Time	First Name	Last Name	Cat.	M/F	Male Pos
25			1014	36:47	Kirk	Ndugu	S	M	25
38			1028	37:56	Adrian	Busolini	S	M	38
41	16	18	988	38:02	Jonathan	Parr	V 40	M	41
43	3	19	1027	38:14	Brian	Brackstone	V 50	M	43
74			1002	41:16	Jay	Papa	S	M	72
127	22	64	996	45:51	Matt	Gifford	V 50	M	107
131	43	68	997	46:19	Alexey	Zherdev	V 40	M	111
136	46	71	1010	46:41	Robert	Wright	V 40	M	114
145	4	75	987	47:11	Brian	White	V 60	M	119
180	8	94	990	50:25	Charlie	Arnold	V 60	M	140
211	38	110	992	52:42	Simon	Haigh	V 50	M	156
226	63	115	1011	54:31	Matt	Tutton	V 40	M	162
249			1022	56:55	Ryan	Riddell	S	M	172
262	45	130	1016	58:58	Pete	Cook	V 50	M	178
269	6	132	999	1:00:20	Jim	Brown	V 70	M	180
271	46	133	1024	1:01:05	Tim	Robinson	V 50	M	182
274	18	134	1021	1:02:14	Nick	Kleanthous	V 60	M	183
291			1026	1:07:37	Peter	Sach	S	M	188
298	20	142	986	1:11:37	Paul	Holgate	V 60	M	192

A Win For Yuko at the Newport Pagnell Carnival 5K

YUKO GORDON won her age group F70 (and 60 & 65 as well) at Newport Pagnell Carnival 5K, near Milton Keynes in 22:20 on Saturday 6th July. It was a flat fast course over traffic free main road with 500 plus runners. Crowds were surprisingly big along the course.

After Mount Chingford and the Trent Park Woods recently, she felt this was too good to be true. However, a fast course is one thing but she said my legs had a problem adjusting to the speed this time. Still, she was happy with the season’s best.

The Carnival 5K is a uniquely fast and flat 5k road race through the historic market town of Newport Pagnell. On closed roads in front of thousands, it’s run ahead of the annual town Carnival Parade. The race finishes on the carnival meadow in the show arena where there’s a day of entertainment and fun. For the 4th consecutive year, there were two different runs. One to suit all abilities: The ‘Serious’ 5K and the family fun 5K.

Ware 10 + 10 – PB for Paul

GERRY ROSEN took part in the Ware 10 (miles). It was a two lap affair with a nasty uphill first mile. A tough little cookie. Gerry was hoping to beat 2hrs and well and truly did it, his time was 1 hour 52 minutes 10 seconds.

The fastest of the eight Spartans was PAUL SHELLEY 20^th of the 269 finishers with 1:07:25; third in his age group and a new personal best (PB) by eight seconds. ALISON SHELLEY was first female from Fairlands at 190^th with 1:33:06; ANNABELLE WHITE was 198^th with 1:35:09 and FIONA CLARKE 212^th with 37:47.

MATT DUTTON took part in the 10 mile race at the Ware festival of running with a chip time of 1:32:56. His first ever 10 mile race. Matt said he managed to miss the heavy rain showers but large puddles were an obstacle at mile 1 and 6 guaranteeing wet feet!!

CHRIS WATLING was 112^th in 1:21:51 and ROBERT WRIGHT 65^th with 1:15:30.

269 finishers.

JANE WHITROW ran the Ware 10K. She said the event was really well organised with lots of water stations and friendly marshals. Jane finished 239^th in 1:21:17.

Pos	MF	CatPos	Bib	Name	Cat	Gun	Chip
20.	19	3	8901	Paul SHELLEY	MV50	1:07:27	1:07:25
65.	55	23	2178	Robert WRIGHT	MV40	1:15:48	1:15:30
112.	91	36	2127	Chris WATLING	MS	1:22:09	1:21:51
188.	134	45	8942	Matt TUTTON	MV40	1:33:19	1:32:56
190.	55	9	8902	Alison SHELLEY	FV55	1:33:28	1:33:06
198.	60	15	8896	Annabelle WHITE	FS	1:35:30	1:35:09
212.	67	20	8906	Fiona CLARKE	FV45	1:38:09	1:37:47
254.	160	43	8829	Gerry ROSEN	MV50	1:52:32	1:52:10

Race for Life

Some Spartans including JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL ran the Stevenage Race for Life. Jim’s event was lucky but Penny’s finished in a downpour.

EMAC – Spartans 2 and 3.

Fairlands Valley Spartans were second and third in the latest Eastern Masters track and field league event.

The FVS women including SHARON CROWLEY, CHRISTINE LATHWELL; MARIAN MORLEY; JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS; TESSA STEPHENSON and ANDREA WESTCOTT were second with 118 points, just 19 behind the winners.

The men were third in their match with 86. Their team included CHARLES ARNOLD; MARK FREEMAN; NICK KLEANTHOUS; STEVE MAYFIELD; TIMOTHY SAUNDERS-MULLINS and DAVID STEPHENSON.

The event included running from 100 metres to one mile (1609 metres); walking 2 kilometres; throwing and jumping. The league is for male and female veteran athletes aged from 35 upwards divided in various age categories.

The next EMAC track and field fixture is in Sandy on Wednesday evening 31^st July.

Parkrun Highlights 6^th July

DANIEL VILJOEN achieved a major parkrun milestone on Saturday morning. His run at Stevenage was his 250^th which he finished in 24 minutes 4 seconds (24:04). There were 19 Spartans among the 363 finishers of the very wet 354^th Stevenage parkrun including SIMON JACKSON second in 17:40 and GRANT RAMSAY sixth in 18:57.

ANNABELLE WHITE ran her 150^th parkrun in 31:32.

19 of the 363 finishers at a very wet Stevenage parkrun were Spartans.

Spartans elsewhere included SUZY HAWKINS 25:03 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; NICK KLEANTHOUS 33:11 at Tamar Lakes near Bude and CHLOE CHAPMAN 34:05 at Lanhydrock, Bodmin.

Tags EMAC, Mid Week League, MWL, Race for Life, Trent Park, Ware Ten

Club News Race Results

RACE FOR LIFE, REMEMBERING CATHY

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date July 9, 2023
No Comments on RACE FOR LIFE, REMEMBERING CATHY

Lots of Spartans took part in Race for Life on Sunday as part of the Cancer Research fundraising event.

It is usual to see a lot of Spartans at this event as those that don’t take part offer their marshalling skills to encourage and support others.

This year saw a larger than normal amount of Spartans take part as they were honouring a beloved Spartan member who we sadly lost earlier this year. The family were out supporting the wonderful charity and so our members also took to the course to support and remember Cathy.

Cathy Craig was a true inspiration to so many of us. From 5k up to Ultra’s and back down to EMAC, you name it Cathy did it. She was a renowned trophy winner at our annual Presentation Evening and we believe that she may of achieved the whole collection of awards available including the much sought after award of Spartan of the Year at this years ceremony.

Cathy would always greet everybody with a warm, infectious smile and would always be supportive and encouraging offering lots of runners tips where she could.

The Race for Life event would have been a day that Cathy loved! Dressing up in tutu’s, coloured wigs and head boppers, she would have been at the front of the queue!

#bemorecathy

EMAC

The FVS women’s team finished in third place in the EMAC league central division at Bedford on Wednesday. EMAC run a track and field league for veteran athletes in the East of England. Cambridge & Coleridge were out in force after their narrow defeat last month, winning on the night with 141 points with Marshall Milton Keynes placed second with 110 points and FVS with 106. FVS remain top points scorers with 393 points, but it all comes down to the last match in Sandy next month.

Spartan Women – SHARON CROWLEY, ASHLEY JOHNSON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, PAULA McMAHON, MARIAN MORLEY, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS and ANDREA WESTCOTT

Wins on the night came from Sharon Crowley in the 2km A string walk and W60 hammer throw. Sharon also placed 4^th in the W50 100m and 5^th in the W60 1500m. Other points came from Christine Lathwell, who placed 5^th in the W35 100m after sprinting to the start line having placed 4^th in the 2km B string walk. Christine also covered the W35 triple jump, finishing 4^th. Joylyn Saunders-Mullins secured 2^nd place in the W60+ 100m, 3^rd in the W60+ 400m, and 2^nd in the W60+ shot put.  Paula McMahon made a mad dash from her car straight to the start line for the W35 400m, changing in to her spikes while the other women were lining up! Despite the lack of a warm up, Paula finished in a very respectable 3^rd place. Andrea Westcott placed 2^nd in the W50 400m, 4^th in the W35 hammer, and 6^th in the W35 shot put. Marian Morley started the evening with a new PB in the W50 shot put, finishing 3^rd and also placed 3^rd in the W50 hammer. Ashley Johnson made a welcome return to the team, running a great W35 1500m and finishing 2^nd.

The W35 relay team of Paula McMahon, Christine Lathwell, Ashley Johnson, and Joylyn Saunders-Mullins finished 3^rd in the 4 x 200m

The men’s team conststing of CHARLIE ARNOLD, ANTON McCALLA, NICK KLEANTHOUS, STEVE MAYFIELD, MICHAEL O’KEEFE, ANDREW PATTERSON, TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS and CHRIS WESTCOTT did themselves proud, finishing fourth on the night, just 8 points behind third placed Cambridge & Coleridge.

Wins from Andy Patterson in the M35 1500m and Tim Saunders-Mullins in the M60+ hammer throw combined with points scored by Anton McCalla, Nick Kleanthous, Chris Westcott, Charlie Arnold, Steve Mayfield, and Michael O’Keefe so the Spartans team remain in fourth place overall.

Mid Week League Round Up

Not only did Fairlands Valley Spartans get promoted to the top division in the Mid Week League (see last week’s release) but they had some great individual prize winners.

SAM PRETTY was second woman in the open competition; ASHLEY JOHNSON second in the women 35 plus category; SIMON FRASER third man in the open competition; ANDREW PATERSON WON the men 40 plus category with RICHARD BATE third.

AND Fairlands Valley Spartans were overall winners in the veterans contest.

Ultra 5k

MIKE JEFFS took on the ultra 5k challenge at Box End Bedford. This was a gruelling challenge running a 5k on the hour every hour for five hours. He managed to keep his times consistent which helped him achieve a third place finish. Mike’s first ever podium finish for a running event.

Wendover Woods 100 Miles

Adrian Busolini WON the Centurion Wendover Woods 100 mile event in 20 hours 24 minutes 59 seconds.

With 600m of climb and a mix of terrains, just one lap of this Wendover course is quite punchy. So 10 laps, in conditions only slightly cooler than SDW100, was always going to be a challenge for the 30 souls who toed the start line.

13 of them made it to the end, and Adrian was glad to be the first – not just because that meant he got to take home an almost life-sized Centurion trophy, but because he could catch an hour of rest and a few pretty awesome crepes before the Wendover Weekender kicked off, with Allie talking crewing and The Green Runners demonstrating how to repair shoe uppers. 

It was the first time Centurion had run a camping, talks and general fun & games weekend like this, and they put on a really good show, with the volunteers standing out as usual being the ultra awesome folks they are. Good times, good conversations, and a weekend well spent.

Adrian looking like he’s just taken a stroll in the park rather than running 100 miles…

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 8^th July 2023

For the full Consolidated Results please click the link

Personal Best Achievements

ASHLEY JOHNSON was first female at Stevenage in a new parkrun personal best of 20 minutes 21 seconds for her 10^th parkrun.

NICK GILL ran his 100^th parkrun at Stevenage and did it with a new parkrun personal best of 18 minutes 40 seconds (18:40) which got him a top ten sixth place out of the 406 finishers.

NICOLA ANNDERSSON ran a new parkrun PB of 26:22 in Ballina, Ireland

Tags EMAC, Mid Week League, Race for Life, Ultra 5K, Wendover Woods 100 Miles

Club News Race Results

EMAC SPARTANS CONTINUE TO SOAR!

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date June 11, 2023
No Comments on EMAC SPARTANS CONTINUE TO SOAR!

The FVS women’s track and field team continued their winning streak in the EMAC (East of England Masters’ Athletics Club) league central division on Wednesday, narrowly beating hosts Cambridge & Coleridge AC by just 3 points! The team were missing a few key people, so everyone stepped up and competed in more events than originally planned, some for the first time! 

FVS took maximum points in the sprint hurdles, with wins from Paula Dunne (W35 – women aged 35 plus) , Monica Brown (W50), and Sharon Crowley (W60+). Paula also won the W35 200 metres, clinching the win in the last few metres, finished 4^th W35 800m, and placed 3^rdin the W35 discus.  Monica Brown won the W50 long jump and W50 high jump, finished 3^rd in W50 javelin, and placed 3^rd in the W50 discus. 

Sharon Crowley dropped down an age group to cover the W50 200m, finishing in 4^th place.  Sharon also finished 2^nd in the A string 1.5km walk. Other points on the night were won by Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (2^nd in the W60 200m, W60 javelin, and W60 discus), Yuko Gordon (2^nd place B string 1.5km walk and 4^th W60 800m), Andrea Westcott (4^th placed W50 800m, 4^th W35 javelin, 4^th W35 long jump, and 2^nd W35 high jump). Sharon Crowley, Yuko Gordon, Paula Dunne, and Andrea Westcott finished the evening 4^th in the W35 4x400m relay.

The men saw an improved performance from last month, with more events covered, and finished in fourth place. Andrew Patterson won the M35 800m and also finished 4^th M35 javelin, managing to get a valid throw at his last attempt.  Anton McCalla returned to the squad, finishing second in M35 long jump, 5^th in M35 200m, and 4^th M35 discus.  Nick Kleanthous finished 5^th M60+ 200m, 3^rd B string 1.5km walk, and 5^th M60+ discus.  Charlie Arnold finished 4^th in the M60+ 800m and M60 javelin.  Michael O’Keefe finished 5th in the A string 1.5km walk, 6^th M50 javelin, 4^th M50 discus, and 5^th M50 long jump.  The men’s relay team finished 5^th.

St Albans Half Marathon

It was approaching 30 degrees as four from Fairlands Valley Spartans tackled the hot and hilly St Albans Half Marathon on Sunday morning.

Jim Brown said, “It’s a good event but a challenging course in the best conditions. This was not the day for running a new fast time. I finished in 2 hours 8 minutes 14 seconds and top half with 810^th out of the 1692 finishers which is not bad considering I was also third veteran aged over 70. Almost 27 minutes quicker than 2022.”

Nicola Andersson said, “The race was hot and hilly.” Nicola came in with 2:28:37.

Spartans LINDA GEORGE and MARTIN JACOB finished in 2:19:43 and 2:20:14.

100 Miles On The South Downs Way

ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran the South Downs Way 100 mile trail event at the weekend. That’s the entire South Downs Way national trail from Winchester to Eastbourne. He was fifth in 18 hours 12 minutes 41 seconds.

Parkrun Saturday 10th June 2023

Please click the link for the Consolidated Results for the 10th June 2023 for all Spartan runners

Tags EMAC, St Albans Half, The South Downs Way

Club News Race Results

SPARTANS MASTER TRACK & FIELD

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date May 14, 2023
No Comments on SPARTANS MASTER TRACK & FIELD

The Spartans women’s team smashed it at the first EMAC fixture of the year which was at Milton Keynes on Wednesday evening. They scored 143 points way ahead of the home club Milton Keynes with 88.

The FVS team of six men came a very creditable fifth with several taking part for the first time.

13 Spartans travelled to Milton Keynes on Wednesday evening to compete in the first EMAC league match of the season. A minute silence was held before the competition began, and the team wore ribbons to remember Cathy Craig who was a much loved member of the team.

In fitting tribute to Cathy, the women’s team romped to victory on the night, beating arch rivals Marshall Milton Keynes by nearly 60 points. The team welcomed newbie Paula McMahon, who covered the women 35 plus 100 metres ( with 4^th place) and WON the W35 400 metres! Other wins on the night came from Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (WON W60 100m by a massive margin, and also took second place in W60 shot put), Christine Lathwell (WON W35 3k, also 2^nd place W35 triple jump), Andrea Westcott (WON W50 400m, WON W50 high jump, and WON W50 triple jump, and was also 4^th place W35 hammer, and 4^th place W35 shot put), Yuko Gordon (WON W60 3k and B string 1m walk), Sharon Crowley (WON W60 hammer, and was also 3^rd place W60 400m, 2^nd place A string 1m walk, and 2^nd place W60 triple jump), Marian Morley (WON W50 shot put – just missing out on a PB (personal best) by 4cm, also 2^nd place W50 hammer).

Following a tactical decision by the captain, Joylyn, Yuko, Sharon, and Andrea ran unopposed in the W50 4 x 100m relay to gain maximum points.

The men finished in a respectable fifth position, with newbies Michael O’Keefe and Charlie Arnold covering multiple events, but points went begging due to a lack of throwers and jumpers this time. Wins on the night came in the M60 hammer and the M35 3k, with other points scored in M50 100m, M60 100m, M35 400m, M60 400m, M60 3k, A string and B string 1m walk, M35 hammer, M50 shot put, and the 4 x 100m relay.

Parkrun Results

Please click this link for the Consolidated Results for the 13th May 2023

Tags EMAC

Club News Race Results

LOTS OF SPARTAN ACHIEVEMENTS!

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date September 11, 2022
No Comments on LOTS OF SPARTAN ACHIEVEMENTS!

Seventeen Spartans enjoyed the first in the series of 5K races at Hatfield on Wednesday evening and five of them came away with new personal bests (PB) for the distance. Three achieved new season’s bests (SB) and one ran his fastest time this year.

SIMON JACKSON was third veteran runner and sixth overall taking six seconds of his lifetime best with 16 minutes 34 seconds. KELVIN BEYIOKU took a significant 44 seconds of his PB with 17:37. PAULA DUNNE took a 55 seconds chunk off her best time with 23:16; NICK KLEANTHOUS 39 seconds off his with 24:13 and JANE WADEY improved her PB by six seconds to 31 minutes 28 seconds.

RICHARD BATE ran a new season’s best of 18:21; ANDREA WESTCOTT of 27:32 and CATHY CRAIG was delighted to get under 30 minutes with 29:15.

Steadily coming back from injury BRIAN WHITE finished in 22 minutes 34 seconds.

YUKO GORDON was the race winner based on age grade. She scored a massive 92.7%. She was also first woman aged over 70 with her 22 minutes 56 seconds.

EMAC (Eastern Masters)

Last week we announced that the Fairlands Valley Spartans women came third in the East of England (EMAC) final. Here’s the full story:

Thirteen FVS women travelled to Bedford on Sunday (4th) to compete in the Eastern Masters Athletic Club final. Despite injuries, illness, and absences, brilliant team spirit meant all events were covered and resulted in an unexpected third place behind Peterborough/Nene Valley (1st place) and Chelmsford AC (2nd place). Medal positions changed throughout the day, and FVS were originally awarded joint second, only to discover the following day that the scores were incorrect.

Yuko Gordon won an individual award for her outstanding 99.5% age graded 1st place performance in the women 60 plus (W60) 3k race and she also won the W60 800m.

Christine Lathwell dominated the W35 distance events, winning the 800m, 500m, and the 3k!  Monica Brown excelled in the W50 jumps, winning long jump, triple jump, and high jump.  Monica also dropped down to cover W35 shot put, finishing in third place.

The other win on the day came from Nikki Wilby (W35 high jump, also 5th place 400m hurdles, and 2nd place pole vault).  With some team changes needed along the way, other points on the day were scored by Fiona Clarke (W35 5th place 100m, 6th place 200m – PB!, 4th place long jump – PB!, and 3rd place triple jump), Callie Chapman (W35 5th place 400m – PB!, 5th place hammer throw, and 6th place discus), Andrea Westcott (W50 4th place 100m, 2nd place 200m, 8th place 1500m, 3rd place 300m hurdles, and 5th place shot put), Carolyn Linsell dropped down to W50 (8th place 400m and 7th place 800m), Marion Morley (W50 8th place 3k, 6th place hammer throw, and 4th place discus), Karen Dodsworth (W60 6th place 100m, 2nd place discus, 4th place long jump, and 4th place triple jump), Sharon Crowley (W60 6th place 200m, 5th place A string 2k walk, 3rd place 300m hurdles, 4th place hammer throw), Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (W60 3rd place shot put and W50 2nd place javelin), Cathy Craig (a brave 3rd place B string 2k walk).

The W35 relay team finished in 5th place, with W50 team finishing 3rd in their race.  The team enjoyed thoroughly well deserved bubbles and cake at the end of a very long day.

Great North Run

Six Spartans ran the biggest half marathon in the world. They were in Newcastle for the Great North Run. ADRIAN DONNELLY excelled with 1 hour 26 minutes 7 seconds which gave him 691^st out of more than 35,000 finishers. STEVE DOBNER came in with 1:48:17; DAVID PATTMAN 1:49:09; MO WARRILOW 2:05:33; ROGER HARDMAN 2:14:31 and SUE HAMER 2:43:06.

Dave, Mo and Steve with the Angel of the North

Budapest Half Marathon

ROB WRIGHT went international at the weekend and enjoyed the Budapest Half Marathon which he completed in 2:17:08.

Sandy 10

Several Spartans kept it more local and ran the Sandy 10 (miles) race.

SAMANTHA PRETTY-CONNORS who sped round in 71 minutes exactly won the women 35 plus award. CLAIRE PULLEN came in fast with 77:37 followed by BRIAN WHITE 79:19; and ANN TRYSSESOONE 88:23. JIM BROWN was second 70 plus in a year’s best 88:56 with JACKE DOWNES in 1:30:49; TRICIA HOPPER in 1:31:09 and CAROL PAUL 1:41:21.

Montane Dragon’s Back Race

Six days running 380 kilometres off road down the spine of Wales. Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI was running the Montane Dragon’s Back Race from Conway Castle to Cardiff Castle.

Adrian was 69^th out of the 102 finishers with a total time of 79 hours 8 minutes 14 seconds. His longest day was 15 hours 21 minutes 43 seconds. Many starters of this incredibly tough event did not finish.

Adrian said, “Six days. Trods, bogs, and bushwhacking, over some of the toughest peaks and ridges in Wales.

Scrambling, high exposure and fear. Self management, injuries and fatigue. Downpours, hail and high winds. Isolation. Dejection. Self doubt.

Cameraderie, friendship and community. Encouragement, assistance and a shared goal. Learning, growth and transformation. Fresh perspectives. Stoicism. Self confidence.

What an extraordinary group of people – participants, volunteers and staff – to invest a week with. Words can’t do it justice, but this truly was time well spent. There was also some running.”

Milton Keynes Marathon Prep 20 Miles

Two Spartans, WENDY THARANI and YUKO GORDON ran the new format of events organised by Marshall Milton Keynes Athletics Club. This was a 20 mile marathon preparation event consisting of 4 laps each of 5 miles around Willen Lake, its surrounding village roads and towpath along the Grand Union Canal. It wasn’t totally flat as it was a mixture of usual MK undulations but it was pretty and interesting.
Yuko finished 26 seconds outside of the women 70 plus (W70) UK all time best time of 20 miles in 2:46:12 but she ran only to check her present fitness and wanted to build up some mileage this week before the London Marathon, so didn’t taper.

Wendy came 174^th in 3:52:07 and after a summer of wonderful adventures consisting of epic bike rides and climbing mountains (alongside running) she was very pleased to complete the race.

Tables

Spartans at the Hatfield 5K race (race 1 in a series of 3).

Place	Name	Time	Cat	M/F	Cat Pos	Grade	Comments
6.	Simon JACKSON	16:34	MV40	6	3	85.3%	3^rd Vet. PB (0:06)
16.	Oluwatobi Kelvin BEYIOKU	17:37	MS	15	9	72.8 %	PB (0:44)
31.	Richard BATE	18:21	MV40	29	10	73.6 %	SB
41.	Grant RAMSAY	19:03	MV50	39	11	76.5 %
62.	Tony RANDFIELD	20:29	MV60	55	3	79.9 %	3^rd V60
84.	Brian WHITE	22:34	MV60	73	5	74.5 %	YB (0:44)
88.	Yuko GORDON	22:56	FV65	12	1	92.7 %	% winner
89.	Mark GOODWIN	22:58	MV60	77	7	71.3 %
98.	Paula DUNNE	23:16	FV35	19	6	63.6 %	PB (0:55)
111.	Nick KLEANTHOUS	24:13	MV60	84	10	65.1 %	PB (0:39)
153.	Jim BROWN	27:04	MV70	98	5	63.8 %
156.	Andrea WESTCOTT	27:32	FV45	57	17	60.0 %	SB (0:45)
164.	Catherine CRAIG	29:15	FV65	61	5	70.3 %	SB (1:14) Sub 30
165.	Nikki NATION	29:44	FV55	62	12	59.7 %
170.	Sharon CROWLEY	30:24	FV55	66	14	63.3 %
171.	Jane WADEY	31:28	FV55	67	15	55.8 %	PB (0:03)
178.	Roger BIGGS	43:38	MV70	107	9	41.9%

Parkrun – 10th September

For the consolidated Parkrun results please follow this link – Parkrun Results

Tags Budapest, Dragons Back Race, EMAC, GNR, Hatfield 5K, MK 20, Sandy 10

Club News Race Results

STRIPES GALORE!

Big London Half

Several Spartans ran the Big Half Marathon in London on Sunday.

Among them were TONY RANDFIELD and ROB WRIGHT who ran together. Tony finished in 1:52:13 and Rob in 1:52:19. They said it was a good race, fairly flat and it’s always great running across Tower Bridge.

There were nearly 12,400 finishers.

EMAC Ladies

The Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team won BRONZE in the East of England final for track and field athletes aged over 35 (EMAC). The team included CAROLYN LINSELL, NICKY WILBY, CALLIE CHAPMAN, MARIAN MORLEY, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, FIONA CLARKE, KAREN DODSWORTH, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS, YUKO GORDON, ANDREA WESTCOTT and SHARON CROWLEY.

Andrea Westcott said, “The FVS Women were in the medals at the Eastern Masters final in Bedford on Sunday, finishing third behind Peterborough and Chelmsford in a hotly contested match. The medal positions changed frequently throughout the day, but the Spartans fought bravely and finished strong.”

Yuko Gordon won Woman of the Meeting 2022!

Oakley 20

There were two Spartans running 20 mile races on Sunday. JOHN HARRIS was second man 60 plus at the Oakley 20 with 2 hours 30 minutes 39 seconds and 36^th overall.

JIM BROWN took advantage of a late transfer to run the Bedford Festival 20. He was third man over 70 and 208^th out of the 393 finishers in 3 hours 22 minutes 46 seconds.

Bedford Festival

ROSS GALLAGHER ran the Half Marathon at the Bedford Festival. He ran it in 1:32:50. It was a good race on mixed terrain which he used for some marathon pace training ahead of his run in Chicago on 9^th October.

THOMAS SAUKA ran the Bedford Festival 5K in 21 minutes 49 seconds and was 19^th out of 319. CHRIS WATLING was 49^th in 24:24.

Meanwhile FIONA and MATT CLARKE ran the Festival 10K. Fiona was 184^th in 56 minutes 1 second and Matt 95^th in 48:44. There were 655 finishers. Fiona said she was very keen to get one of the pink finisher T shirts.

Fiona and Matt with their medals and Matt modelling the pink t-shirt!

Baldock Rat Run

The Baldock 5 kilometre Rat Run is a multi terrain run around Baldock, including steps, a low tree to climb under and a dark tunnel to navigate. It is held in aid of the Garden House Hospice and is a regular event for Spartan Tim Robinson. The Rat Run is a very friendly, family orientated fun race with many children taking part and loads of activities for the younger children to do while waiting for the runners to finish.

MATT TUTTON was 68^th with a gun time of 31 minutes 6 seconds and TIM ROBINSON 71^st with 31:10. Their chip times were 30:57 and 30:56.

FVS Club 5K Handicap

Hazel (Smith), Abbie (Pez), Mark (Freeman) and Charlie (White) were winners in Thursday’s club 5K at twilight.

There were 39 finishers in Thursday evening’s Handicap 5k and thank you to Mike Crowley and Jim Brown for their assistance with the start and finish. The winner on the night was Hazel Smith recovering superbly from her recent injury with an impressive 26:12. Caroline Zverev finished 2nd lady (3rd overall), 2:32 better than handicap in 37:28 and Penny Schenkel was 3rd lady, 2:28 quicker than her July Handicap 5K time in 31:52.

Spartans after finishing their handicap 5k runs.

Mark Freeman was first man (2nd overall), 2:14 quicker than July in 25:30, with Chris Watling second man in a new PB time of 23:12, 42 seconds quicker than July, and Steve Tinsley third man in a new PB time 25:48. Charlie White was quickest runner on the night in 20:03, with Paul Shelley 2nd quickest in a year best time of 20:41, and David Pattman third quickest with 21:34.

There were only six seconds between the three fastest females. Abbie Pez was quickest female in 24:05, with Marie Colucci 2nd quickest just 1 second behind in 24:06 and Paula Dunne 3rd quickest with 24:11.

There were also new PBs for Grant Murphy (28:21), Luke Gurney (23:02) and Derek Cornelius (23:38), while Simon Sypula improved his season best time by 2:45 to 28:18, and Karen Ellis, Tracy Pez, Craig Bacon, Jane Wadey & Martin Dudley were all others to improve on their July 5k times. Total time difference between 4th – 32nd position was just 2:14 and 32 finishers were within 2 minutes of their calculated handicap time. Full results are attached. The next Handicap 5k will be on the 22nd September.

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 3^rd September

First Saturday of the month is Stripey Saturday, and twenty four Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelled to 6 different Parkrun venues across the country wearing the Club Stripey vest with pride.

Congratulations and well done to Grant RAMSAY who claimed top spot at Stevenage with a time of 18:46, 12 years and 8 months since his first ever Parkrun win at Finsbury Park. Top spots were achieved through his 30s, 40s and now 50s!

The fastest female Spartan was Gail MACKIE with a time of 22:34, third female at Stevenage. Adrian DONNELLY achieved a personal best (PB) at Letchworth (3^rd, 19:51) completing the Spartans line-up of top ten finishers this week.

Luke GURNEY also achieved a PB, finishing with a time of 23:00 at Stevenage.

Tables

FVS Handicap 5K on Thursday 1^st September.

Own

Finish

Comp

Pos

NAME

SURNAME

Time

H’CAP

Time

H’cap

Impr

HAZEL

SMITH

26:12

12:30

38:42

6:18

MARK

FREEMAN

25:30

16:00

41:30

3:30

2:14

CAROLINE

ZVEREV

37:28

5:00

42:28

2:32

New

PENNY

SCHENKEL

31:52

11:00

42:52

2:08

2:28

JANE

WHITROW

35:49

7:03

42:52

2:11

CHRIS

WATLING

23:12

20:00

43:12

1:48

0:42

DAVID

KENNEDY

23:33

19:45

43:18

1:42

STEVE

TINSLEY

25:48

17:30

43:18

1:42

0:20

ALISON

SHELLEY

26:28

17:00

43:28

1:32

GRANT

MURPHY

28:21

15:00

43:21

1:39

1:19

PAUL

SHELLEY

20:41

22:45

43:26

1:34

0:03

JUDY

KING

36:44

6:45

43:29

1:16

SALLY

PICKLES

36:50

6:45

43:35

1:10

CRAIG

BACON

22:54

20:45

43:39

1:21

0:08

KAREN

ELLIS

24:55

18:45

43:40

1:20

0:16

ANNA

SWANEPOEL

27:56

15:45

43:41

1:19

LUKE

GURNEY

23:02

20:40

43:42

1:28

0:39

DARREN

EMMERSON

25:17

18:30

43:47

1:13

JANE

WADEY

31:48

12:00

43:48

1:12

0:57

ABIGAIL

PEZ

24:05

19:45

43:50

1:10

TRACY

PEZ

24:14

19:45

43:59

1:01

0:01

MARK

GOODWIN

23:44

20:15

43:59

1:01

DAVID

PATTMAN

21:34

22:30

44:04

0:56

YUKO

GORDON

24:24

19:45

44:09

0:51

NICK

KLEANTHOUS

25:36

18:45

44:21

0:39

SIMON

SYPULA

28:18

16:03

44:21

0:42

2:45

DEREK

CORNELIUS

23:38

20:45

44:23

1:07

3:35

PAULA

DUNN

24:11

20:15

44:26

0:34

New

STEVEN

DOBNER

22:36

22:10

44:46

0:09

CHARLIE

WHITE

20:03

24:43

44:46

0:12

MARTIN

DUDLEY

24:46

20:00

44:46

0:14

0:20

MARIE

COLUCCI

24:06

21:00

45:06

(0:06)

MONICA

SMITHSON

31:18

14:15

45:33

(0:33)

DZENANA

TOPIC

34:30

12:00

46:30

(1:30)

JONATHAN

JONES

32:51

13:40

46:31

(1:21)

SUSAN

MURPHY

46:45

0:00

46:45

(1:45)

SHARON

CROWLEY

46:45

0:00

46:45

(1:45)

CHRISTINE

ZVEREV

32:45

15:30

48:15

(3:15)

ROGER

BIGGS

50:11

1:15

51:26

(6:26)

Spartans at parkrun on Saturday 3^rd September

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
Stevenage parkrun
1	1	Grant RAMSAY	18:46	Winner
16	15	Tony RANDFIELD	21:18	1^st VM60
31	3	Gail MACKIE	22:34	3^rd woman
36	33	Luke GURNEY	23:00	PB
46	41	Toby ECCLESHALL	24:26
55	50	Danik BATES	25:03
65	59	Darren EMMERSON	25:37
67	61	Sam SIMMONS	25:47
68	62	Steven DOBNER	25:48
82	73	Jim BROWN	26:51	1^st VM70
104	16	Alison SHELLEY	27:57
120	22	Claire EMMERSON	29:20
121	97	David PATTMAN	29:21
122	23	Mo WARRILLOW	29:21
128	25	Debbie BLANTERN	29:44
156	41	Monica SMITHSON	31:41
163	45	Fiona CLARKE	32:27
221	81	Helen HARRIS	52:11
Ferry Meadows parkrun
46	39	Steve WELLS	22:33
Brockenhurst parkrun
122	67	Darryl STEVENS	45:54
Rutland Water parkrun
136	94	Chris HOLLAND	32:43
Letchworth parkrun
3	3	Adrian DONNELLY	19:51	PB
16	16	Nick GILL	23:13
Squerryes Winery parkrun
154	87	Peter CARPENTER	41:49

Tags Baldock Rat Run, Bedford Festival, Big Half, Club 5k Handicap, EMAC, Oakley 20

Club News Race Results

RETURN OF THE 5K

The Spartans club handicap 5K returned on Thursday evening and there were 41 runners.

Running round the Fairlands, Grace, Martins, Verity, Fairlands Ways course the winner on the night was a very quick SIMON FRASER in a new PB (personal best) time of 16:48, with CHRIS WATLING second in 23:54 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI third in 17:52.

ANNA SWANEPOEL won the women’s handicap with a new personal best (PB) of 27 minutes 48 seconds. PENNY SCHENKEL was second across the line with a year’s best 34:20 and KAREN ELLIS just two seconds behind third with a year’s best (YB) 25:11 which was 1:42 quicker than her previous fastest 5K time this year.

Fastest runner on the night was Simon Fraser with Adrian Busolini second quickest in 17:52 and Charlie White third quickest (19:18). GRANT RAMSAY continued his return to form at fourth fastest with 19:22. Tracy Pez was quickest female (24:15) with Karen Ellis second quickest and Nikki Wilby, 25:41, third quickest.

In handicap races the slower runners, on recent performance, start first and if everyone runs exactly to form they will all finish together. So a pursuit race and the best improver wins.

Thus SIMON FRASER was first across the line 36 seconds of CHRIS WATLING. Chris finished 12 seconds ahead of ADRIAN BUSOLINI in third even though Chris’ net time was 23:54 and Adrian’s 17:52

The next handicap 5K will be on Thursday 1^st September 2022 and it would be fantastic if the Spartans can get even more than 41 taking part next time.

A big thank you to helpers and supporters: Vicky and Stuart Archer and boys; Sharon and Mike Crowley; Jan and Nick Fry; Tony Randfield; Hannah Sypula and Tony Willson.

EMAC – East of England track and field hit by downpour

The last Eastern Masters central division competition at Bedford on 20^th July was cut short due to a downpour which left the track and field completely flooded and unsafe. Some events took place before the heavens opened, with our women’s team completing another clean sweep, this time in the distance hurdles – W35 400m Nikki Wilby, W50 300m Andrea Westcott, and W60 300m Sharon Crowley.

Stephanie Biggar won the W35 javelin competition, marking her last appearance for the team with a new PB! Christine Lathwell also scored top points, winning the W35 mile in horrendous conditions with race bibs disintegrating before crossing the line! Monica Brown won the W50 long jump, making a brave return to the event that caused her injury last year. Other points scored on the evening – Wendy Tharani (third W50 mile), Carolyn Linsell (third W60 mile), Marian Morley (second W50 javelin), Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (second W60 javelin), Fiona Clarke (fourth W35 long jump and a new PB!), and Karen Dodsworth (second W50 long jump). Tracey Jackson was due to make her debut for the team, but the weather had other ideas! 

The men’s team had wins from Chris Westcott (M35 mile) and Grant Ramsay (M50 mile) with other points from Pete Smith (second M60 mile and second M60 300m hurdles), Anton McCalla (third M35 discus), Nick Kleanthous (fifth M50 discus), Ron Westcott (third M60 discus)

The final will be held at the Bedford International stadium on Sunday 4^th September. The Spartans women’s team will be attempting to retain their championship title.

Three in Three for Jim

It was three 5K races in three days for JIM BROWN. His second was at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park on a dry, sunny, warm with a light breeze Friday lunch time. He finished in a reasonable 27 minutes 8 seconds and was second in his age group. His first was the Spartans handicap 5K on Thursday evening and his third in the Stevenage parkrun where his previous exploits came to haunt him a bit in the last 1.5 kilometres.

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 30^th July

GRANT RAMSAY wearing his Team GB top from the recent world masters championships WON the Stevenage parkrun in 18 minutes 21 seconds.

Fairlands Valley Spartan members were out in force on Saturday with thirty seven members taking part at ten different parkrun venues across the country. It was a bumper weekend of achievements with personal bests, year bests, first finishes and top tens.

Stevenage Parkrun winner Grant and Sam celebrating coming 50th in his 50th Parkrun!

Congratulations to Sam SIMMONS running his 50^th Parkrun at Stevenage, coincidently finishing at 50^th place with a time of 23:45. Congratulations also go to Adrian DONNELLY (19:58 at Stevenage) and Michael O’KEEFE (27:18 at Henlow Bridge Lakes) who both achieved personal bests this weekend.

Grant RAMSAY was fastest at Stevenage, coming first with a year best (YB) time of 18:21. Alison WOOD and Sam PRETTY (who made her debut at Stevenage Parkrun) took home first and second lady with times of 21:42 (YB) and 21:55 respectively.

There were three other top ten finishers this week, with Adrian DONNELLY fifth, Ashley KING eighth lady both at Stevenage (25:15) and Karen ELLIS sixth lady at Sheringham (26:41 YB).

Four more year bests were achieved with Chloe CHAPMAN (27:15) and Claire EMMERSON (27:20) both running at Stevenage, Peter CARPENTER (43:17) at Squerryes Winery and Maria SWIFT (29:13) at Sandringham.

Stevenage Parkrunners (part photo credit to Keith Fenwick)

25 of the 229 finishers at Stevenage were Spartans. Last but not least, five Spartans reached unofficial milestones with Nicola PATTMAN completing her 20^th Parkrun, Jonathan JONES (80^th), Alison SHELLEY (90^th), Thomas SAUKA (110^th) and Martin DUDLEY (150^th) all at Stevenage.

Tables

All the Spartan handicap 5K runners in finish line order

Pos	NAME	SURNAME	Time	Fem. Pos	Comments	Speed Pos	F. Speed Pos
1	SIMON	FRASER	16:48		PB (0:03)	1
2	CHRIS	WATLING	23:54		First 10K	10
3	ADRIAN	BUSOLINI	17:52		YB (New)	2
4	ROGER	HARDMAN	28:30		SB (0:01)	24
5	ANNA	SWANEPOEL	27:48	1	First 10K	22	5
6	GRANT	RAMSAY	19:22			4
7	JOHN	NELMS	24:05			11
8	JIM	BROWN	34:20			36
9	PENNY	SCHENKEL	34:20	2	YB (New)	37	12
10	KAREN	ELLIS	25:11	3	YB (1:42)	16	2
11	JON	SYPULA	26:17		SB (New)	19
12	BRIAN	WHITE	23:18		YB (1:04)	7
13	MICHAEL	O’KEEFE	28:24			23
14	LUKE	GURNEY	23:41		PB (2:41)	8
15	MARK	GOODWIN	23:43			9
16	CRAIG	BACON	23:02			6
17	CHARLIE	WHITE	19:18			3
18	NICOLA	NATION	29:30	4	SB (0:31)	26	6
19	TIM	ROBINSON	24:54		SB (0:15)	14
20	NIKKI	WILBY	25:41	5	SB (1:50)	18	3
21	TRACY	PEZ	24:15	6	YB (New)	13	1
22	STEVE	PIKE	29:32		SB (New)	27
23	GRANT	MURPHY	29:40		First 10K	29
24	JANE	WADEY	32:45	7		34	10
25	MARK	FREEMAN	27:44		SB (New)	20
26	CHLOE	CHAPMAN	27:45	8	YB (0:30)	21	4
27	MARTIN	DUDLEY	25:06			15
28	NICK	GILL	21:52			5
29	AMANDA	VICKERS	39:34	9	SB (New)	39	14
30	VISHAL	SHAH	25:12			17
31	SALLY	PHILLIPS	34:59	10		38	13
32	DAVID	KENNEDY	24:13			12
33	MONICA	SMITHSON	30:32	11		31
34	ANNABELLE	WHITE	33:53	12		35	11
35	JONATHAN	JONES	31:57			32
36	TONY	ARGYROU	32:07		SB (New)	33	9
37	KELLY	EVANS	29:55	13	YB (New)	30	8
38	YUKO	GORDON	29:36	14		28	7
39	ANDY	JAY	28:56			25
40	SUSAN	MURPHY	45:20	15	First 10K	41	15
41	ROGER	BIGGS	43:47			40

All the Spartan parkrun results

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Time	Comments
Stevenage parkrun (25 FVS)
1	1	Grant RAMSAY	18:21	YB
5	5	Adrian DONNELLY	19:58	PB
12	12	Tony RANDFIELD	20:26	1^st in age group
15	1	Alison WOOD	21:42	First woman and YB
20	19	William MORLEY	21:53	First SM 18 – 19
21	2	Sam PRETTY	21:55	First visit to Stevenage PR
28	25	David PATTMAN	22:49
30	27	Steven DOBNER	22:58
42	38	Thomas SAUKA	23:35	110th
48	43	Martin DUDLEY	23:49	150th
50	45	Sam SIMMONS	23:54	50th
66	8	Ashley KING	25:15
70	60	Toby ECCLESHALL	25:32
75	65	Nick KLEANTHOUS	25:47
79	67	Darren EMMERSON	26:03
88	74	Simon JACKSON	26:31
89	15	Alison SHELLEY	26:42	90th
95	17	Chloe CHAPMAN	27:15	YB
96	18	Claire EMMERSON	27:20	YB
99	81	Jim BROWN	27:34	1^st in age group
130	33	Debbie BLANTERN	29:29
159	113	Jonathan JONES	31:27	80th
177	54	Marian MORLEY	33:29
187	60	Nicola PATTMAN	35:04	20th
227	87	Helen HARRIS	54:36
Sheringham parkrun
64	6	Karen ELLIS	26:41	YB
Clair parkrun (W. Sussex)
116	77	Darryl STEVENS	37:15
Panshanger parkrun
67	57	Mike REYNOLDS	25:20
Rutland Water parkrun
62	48	Chris HOLLAND	25:33
Squerryes Winery parkrun
152	91	Peter CARPENTER	41:37	YB
Land’s End parkrun
83	23	Mo WARRILLOW	29:35
Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun
62	54	Michael O’KEEFE	27:18	PB
102	26	Monica SMITHSON	32:49
121	40	Tracy HAYGARTH	37:08
Sandringham parkrun
87	19	Maria SWIFT	29:13	YB
Southport parkrun
45	39	Matt CLARKE	24:14
91	19	Fiona CLARKE	27:18

Tags 5K Handicap, EMAC

Club News Race Results

SPARTAN EMAC WOMEN WIN AGAIN!

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date June 26, 2022
No Comments on SPARTAN EMAC WOMEN WIN AGAIN!

The FVS Ladies continued their winning streak in the Eastern Masters Athletics league meeting in perfect conditions at Cambridge on Wednesday evening. The team of 14 greatly outnumbered the opposition, allowing everyone to focus on one or two events instead of having to cope with multiple shoe changes! FVS had a clean sweep in the high jump competition, with Nikki Wilby (W35), Monica Brown (W50 – also second place shot put), and Karen Dodsworth (W60) all winning maximum points for the team. Karen also claimed first place in W50 400 metres and placed second in W50 triple jump. Other wins on the night came from Andrea Westcott in the W50 100m (also second place hammer throw with a PB!), Tessa Stephenson W60 100m, and Wendy Tharani W50 1500m. Having such a large contingent ensured every event was covered. Important points were scored by Callie Chapman (fourth place in both W35 100m and 400m), Carolyn Linsell (second place W60 400m), Fiona Clarke (second place in both W35 1500m and her first ever triple jump competition!), Cathy Craig (third place W60 1500m), Sharon Crowley (fourth place 2k walk ‘A’ and second place W60 hammer), Yuko Gordon (third place 2k walk ‘B’), Stephanie Biggar (third place W35 hammer and fourth place shot put), and Joylyn Saunders-Mullins finished in second place in a hotly contested W60 shot put.  As always, the relays rounded off the evening with W35 team of Monica Brown, Callie Chapman, Fiona Clarke, and Nikki Wilby finishing in third place. The W50 team of Carolyn Linsell, Andrea Westcott, Tessa Stephenson, and Wendy Tharani were unopposed, finishing in first place.

The men’s team had fewer competitors, seven, available but TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS, STEVE MAYFIELD, DAVE STEPHENSON, NICK KLEANTHOUS, CHRIS WESTCOTT, GRANT RAMSAY and PETE SMITH still managed a credible fourth place finish. Tim Saunders-Mullins won the M60 hammer throw by a huge margin, with other points from Steve Mayfield (4^th place in M35 100m, shot put, triple jump, and high jump then moving to his own age group to finish 4^th in M50 hammer!), Dave Stephenson (3^rd place in both M50 100m and 400m), Nick Kleanthous (5^th place M60 100m, 2^nd place 2k walk ‘A’, and 4^th place M60 shot put), Chris Westcott (3^rd place in both M35 400m and 1500m), Grant Ramsay (2^nd place in his new age group M50 1500m), and Pete Smith (2^nd place M60 1500m, 5^th place M50 triple jump, 2^nd place M60 high jump).  The relay team finished in 4^th place, just pipped to the line by 0.3 seconds!

The ladies team have now secured their place in the final but will still be aiming for another victory in Bedford net month on Wednesday 20^th July!

Two Wins At Welwyn

There were eleven Spartans and two wins at the Welwyn 10K.

MARK GOODWIN was really pleased and surprised by achieving first place in his age category. He managed a negative split, rare for him, due to the challenging hill in the first half of the race. Mark WON the Vet 60 competition with 48 minutes 1 second.

JIM BROWN’s second half was 1 minute 39 seconds faster than his first, so another negative split, and he WON the 70 plus category by three minutes with 56 minutes 56 seconds.

VISH SHAH came in with 53 minutes 53 seconds and new member HARRIET SMITH raced round in an excellent 54 minutes 27 seconds. She was in the top half of the field, 160^th out of 355.

There was a new personal best (PB) for MICHAEL O’KEEFE – 61:42.

JANE WADEY said it was tough but pleased to complete her first ever measured and chip timed 10K race in 67:09.

It was a very hot run at the Welwyn 10K said CHRISTINE ZVEREV. Sadly not the sub 60 she was hoping for but Christine said it was beautiful nonetheless. She came in with 67:47.

JANE WATT, 68:26, thought it was a lovely course. Bit hot in places but it is June.

LUKE GURNEY 63:01; NICOLA HATHERLY 74:00 and JUDY KING 74:55 completed the Spartan eleven.

Hitchin Hard Half

ROBERT WRIGHT took the Hitchin Hard Half Marathon at an easy pace and finished in 2.06.10. There were 149 finishers.

Race To The Tower

SHARON CROWLEY ran a 52 mile Ultra, the Race to the Tower, which she finished in 19 hours 57 minutes 7 seconds at 4:30am. It’s a tough and very hilly event in the Cotswolds, some of it quite steep. She kept a good pace throughout and only slowed down a little near the end when it was dark. She said she needed her poles for both up and down the hills. She was supported by Mike, who was a great help, especially close to the end. An amazing achievement.

Sharon said it was one of the hardest things she’s ever done!

Serpentine

It was bright dry and windy for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park where runners were entertained by the warm up for the BST festival. Jim Brown was 105th and second in his category with 27:20. He is twelfth in the year long series.

Windy maybe but it was quite neat as it was headwind where there was shelter but tailwind out in the open on the back straight. The race was won in an eye watering 14 minutes 58 seconds! The Serpentine 5K is now in its 30^th year with a celebration to come in October.

Run Orwell

DAVE SCOTT took part in the Run Orwell event near Royston today, and although he’d planned for the 10k, because of the heat he made the decision to do the 5k distance instead.

It was a small event, with around 120 participants across both distances. It was mixed terrain, including some sections across private farm land which were scenic but tough! It was very much a social run for Dave, so he took it relatively easy and finished in 34:17.

Parkrun Highlights

The purple start and finish signs made a welcome return to Stevenage parkrun for the first time since March 2020. There were 238 runners including 14 Spartans.

It was a busy week for Spartans participating across 11 different venues including home base at Stevenage. JONATHAN PARR was first at Stevenage (17:16). He was exactly one minute ahead of his nearest rival.

JIM BROWN won the category by three seconds with a little scamper to the line ahead of a Garden City Runner with the two of them 105th and 107th out of 238 in the race. Jim’s time was 27:14, slightly faster than the Serpentine 5K the day before.

Lots of “First timers” this week: ROGER BIGGS at Eastbourne (44:51), the Pattmans ran in Lowestoft (David 23:04 and Nicola 35:03), MO WARRILOW and STEVE DOBNER ran together at Jersey Farm (Mo 29:27) (Steve 29:28) and YUKO GORDON was at Henlow Bridge Lakes (25:11).

There were new parkrun course PBs for PAUL MAGUIRE at Exmouth (23:48), MICHAEL O’KEEFE at Henlow Bridge Lakes (28:35) and NIKKI NATION at Stevenage (32:29),

ANDY JAY was at Westmill (28:32), JAMES MCSWEENEY at Littleport (25:04) and DARRYL STEVENS at Brockenhurst (35:46).

CATHY CRAIG ran a virtual parkrun in 31:51 to help celebrate her son’s 100^th.

Tables

Spartans at the Welwyn 10K

Pos	Gender	Cat Pos	Name	Category	Chip	Age Grade	Comments
82.	74	1	Mark GOODWIN	MV60	48:01	70.1%	1^st V60
157.	137	44	Vishal SHAH	MS	53:53	49.7 %
160.	21	8	Harriet SMITH	FS	54:27	54.4%	New
197.	164	1	Jim BROWN	MV70	56:56	62.4 %	1^st V70
255.	197	56	Michael O’KEEFE	MV50	1:01:42	51.5 %	PB
266.	203	62	Luke GURNEY	MS	1:03:01	41.7 %
299.	88	17	Jane WADEY	FV55	1:07:09	52.9 %	First 10K race
304.	93	35	Christine ZVEREV	FV35	1:07:47	44.8 %
313.	100	37	Jane MCFARLANE	FV35	1:08:26	45.5 %
338.	117	30	Nicola HATHERLY	FV45	1:14:00	43.9 %
342.	120	23	Judy KING	FV55	1:14:55	49.2 %

Number of records: 355

The full Spartan result for Stevenage parkrun is below:

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
1	1	Jonathan PARR	00:17:16
42	39	Sam SIMMONS	00:23:29
53	48	Toby ECCLESHALL	00:24:09
57	51	Matt CLARKE	00:24:13
62	54	Brian WHITE	00:24:32
105	87	Jim BROWN	00:27:14
116	22	Ashley SCHOENWETTER	00:27:49
132	28	Fiona CLARKE	00:28:45
139	31	Debbie BLANTERN	00:29:04
153	41	Monica SMITHSON	00:30:20
180	60	Nikki Katherine NATION	00:32:29
197	67	Samantha SUTTON	00:33:37
203	133	Stephen SMITHSON	00:34:56
230	138	Paul HOLGATE	00:42:04

Tags EMAC, Hitchin Hard Half, Race to the Tower, Run Orwell, Serpentine, Welwyn 10k

Club News Race Results

ADRIAN TOP TEN AT BROAD OAK

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date June 5, 2022
No Comments on ADRIAN TOP TEN AT BROAD OAK

Hatfield Broad Oak

In a time of 36 minutes 35 seconds Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI was tenth out of 989 in the Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on Friday. He was sixth senior (17 to 39).

GRANT RAMSAY was 23^rd in 38:09 and MATTHEW NEWTON 101^st in 44:11.

The Hatfield Broad Oak 10K is back for the first time since 2019. Not in its usual Bank Holiday Monday slot the change of date to a Saturday and then a Friday may have reduced participation a little but pre-Covid this was a very popular event for Fairlands Valley Spartans including the opportunity to get a 10K time on a measured fairly fast course.

The County 10K championships will be in Welwyn on Sunday 26^th June.

Women Win at Milton Keynes

The FVS ladies track and field team continued to dominate the central EMAC (Eastern Veterans) division with another impressive win on Wednesday evening at Milton Keynes. Two more new joiners, and near perfect competition conditions, helped the team beat rivals Marshall Milton Keynes by an impressive 15 points. Newbies Michelle Reeves (3^rd place W35 800 metres) and Fiona Clarke (3^rd place W35 long jump and 4^th place 200 metres) really enjoyed their return to track competition after a number of years. Wins on the night came from Tessa Stephenson W60 200m (by a massive margin!), Monica Brown W50 80mH and javelin, Sharon Crowley W60 80mH (also 2^nd place A string 1k walk), Nikki Wilby W35 pole vault, and Andrea Westcott W50 long jump (also 2^nd place 800m).  Helping the team to victory with all important points were Marian Morley with a superb sprint finish to clinch 2^nd place W50 200m (also 2^nd place discus), Cathy Craig 3^rd placed W60 800m and finished 1^st place B string 1k walk, Stephanie Biggar 2^nd place W35 javelin with a new massive PB! also 2^nd place discus throw, Joylyn Saunders-Mullins 2^nd place W60 javelin, Karen Dodsworth 2^nd place W60 discus and 2^nd place long jump.  Both Cathy and Sharon were competing in new events for the first time (800m and 80mH respectively), showing that it’s never too late to try new things.

The evening was rounded off by 4x400m relays, with W35 team of Nikki, Fiona, Andrea, and Michelle finishing in second place and W50 team winners Tessa, Joylyn, Karen, and Cathy.

The men’s team finished fourth in a highly competitive league fixture with another decent turnout and a new joiner to the squad. Steve Feely dropped down an age group to compete in the M35 javelin (4^th place) and discus (3^rd place), while Pete Smith and Steve Mayfield were vying for the busiest man on the night award, covering 11 events between them!  Points were earned by Anton McCalla – 4^th place M35 200m and 2^nd place long jump; Steve Mayfield – 2^nd place M50 200m, 4^th place in javelin, discus, long jump, and M35 pole vault; Nick Kleanthous – 5^th place M60 200m, 4^th place discus, and 4^th place 1k A string walk; Chris Westcott – 2^nd place M35 800m; Pete Smith – 2^nd place M60 800m, 3^rd place in 100mH, javelin, long jump, and 4^th place pole vault.

The 4x400m relay team of Grant, Anton, Pete, and Chris finished in fourth place.

Stockholm

JOHN HARRIS ran the Stockholm Adidas 3 Mile Race. This was on a scenic undulating course in the heart of Stockholm, finishing on the track in the Olympic stadium. He was 13^th on 20:02 (20 minutes 2 seconds).

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 4^th June

Jubilee weekend has seen Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelling far and wide, with 35 members running at 11 different venues across the country. It was also the first Parkrun of the month, with all the Stripes out in force for Stripey Saturday.

Adrian DONNELLY ran a Personal best of 20:24, coming 5^th at Oldbridge, Ireland.

Three other runners achieved top 10 positions, with Grant RAMSAY 3^rd at Stevenage (18:41), Nick GILL 5^th at Letchworth (20:58) and Kelly McHALE 8^th lady at Whitehaven, Cumbria (25:14).

A special mention goes to Darryl Stevens who has completed 200 Parkruns, astonishingly running in 105 different venues over 6 years. He achieved this milestone at Somerdale Pavilion with a time of 36:45 at this parkrun in Keynsham near Bristol.

Tables

Spartan parkrunners on Saturday 4^th June:

Stevenage parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time	Comments
3	3	Grant RAMSAY	18:41
19	18	Tony RANDFIELD	21:20
31	27	Paul SHELLEY	22:47
39	34	Danik BATES	23:04
53	47	Toby ECCLESHALL	24:05
54	48	John NELMS	24:18
56	50	Ryan DUNNING	24:26
73	62	Martin DUDLEY	25:46
82	70	Nick KLEANTHOUS	26:02
84	72	David PATTMAN	26:08
86	73	Steven DOBNER	26:09
109	18	Alison SHELLEY	28:00
111	93	Matt CLARKE	28:15
113	19	Mo WARRILLOW	28:21
119	21	Fiona CLARKE	28:44
122	23	Debbie BLANTERN	28:49
127	103	Jim BROWN	29:08
139	30	Monica SMITHSON	30:18
152	38	Chloe CHAPMAN	31:30
151	37	Annabelle WHITE	31:30
158	43	Jane WADEY	32:01
177	52	Samantha SUTTON	33:56
181	124	Stephen SMITHSON	34:19
204	132	Simon SYPULA	38:59
212	133	Roger BIGGS	45:59
Darlington South Park parkrun
233	73	Tracy HAYGARTH	32:20
Edinburgh parkrun
306	192	Kartik SHARMA	30:15
Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun
69	51	Michael O’KEEFE	30:43
Holkham parkrun
176	97	Paul JENNINGS	32:40
Letchworth parkrun
5	5	Nick GILL	20:58
Littleport parkrun
33	27	James MCSWEENEY	25:33
Nant y Pandy parkrun
28	24	Paul MAGUIRE	24:22
Oldbridge parkrun
5	4	Adrian DONNELLY	20:24	PB
Somerdale Pavilion parkrun
103	66	Darryl STEVENS	36:45	200th, 105 venues
Whitehaven parkrun
34	8	Kelly MCHALE	25:14

Tags EMAC, Hatfield Broad Oak, Stockholm

Club News Race Results

WOMEN’S TEAM WIN AT MK TRACK

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date May 8, 2022
No Comments on WOMEN’S TEAM WIN AT MK TRACK

Thirteen Spartans STEPHANIE BIGGAR, MONICA BROWN, CALLIE CHAPMAN, SHARON CROWLEY, KAREN DODSWORTH, YUKO GORDON, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, CAROLYN LINSELL, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS, TESSA STEPHENSON,WENDY THARANI, ANDREA WESTCOTT and NIKKI WILBY started the track and field season by WINNING at the first league event on Wednesday.

The FVS Ladies track and field team kicked off their defence of the EMAC (East of England) title in style on Wednesday night. Thirteen team members travelled to Milton Keynes and won the competition, beating rivals Marshall Milton Keynes by an amazing 13 points. Other teams in the division struggled to field full teams on the night, but that does not detract from the brilliant performances of FVS. The team welcomed newcomers Wendy Tharani (second place W50 3k) and Carolyn Linsell (third place W60 3k). Wins on the night came from Tessa Stephenson (W60 100m and 400m), Christine Lathwell (W35 3k, also 3^rd place W35 400m), Sharon Crowley (W60 Hammer Throw, also second place 1 mile walk A string), Monica Brown (W50 Shot Put and W50 High Jump), Joylyn Saunders-Mullins (W60 Shot Put), Andrea Westcott (W50 Triple Jump, also 2^nd place W50 100m and 2^nd place W50 Hammer Throw), Karen Dodsworth (W60 Triple Jump, also 2^nd place W50 400m), Nikki Wilby (W35 High Jump, also 3^rd place W35 Triple Jump).  Valuable points were also picked up by Callie Chapman (4^th placed W35 100m), Yuko Gordon (1^st place 1m walk B string), Stephanie Biggar (3rd place in both W35 Hammer Throw and W35 Shot Put).

An exciting 4x100m relay event rounded off the evening with Carolyn, Sharon, Karen and an excellent last leg by Monica just pipping Milton Keynes to the finish line by 0.2 seconds in the W50+ race. The W35 team of Nikki, Tessa, Callie, and Christine finished second in the W35 event.

The FVS Men’s team were bolstered by newcomers and returners, finishing in a very respectable fourth place on the night. Wins from Tim Saunders-Mullins (M60 Hammer Throw) and Anton McCalla (M35 Triple Jump, also 4^th place M35 100m, 5^th place M35 Shot Put).  Points were also scored by newbie Nick Kleanthous (5^th place M60 100m and 400m, 3^rd place 1mile B string walk, 4^th M60 Shot Put), Chris Westcott (2^ndplace M35 400m and M35 3k), Pete Smith (2^nd place M60 3k and M60 Triple Jump, 3^rd place M60 High Jump), John Harris (3^rd place 1m A string walk, 4^th place M35 High Jump), Steve Mayfield (3^rd place M50 Hammer Throw, 4^th place M50 Shot Put, and 4^th place M50 Triple Jump).  The men’s relay team finished 4^th.

Bedford 10K

Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT WON the Run Bedford Super Fast 10 kilometre race in 35 minutes 7 seconds, a new 10K PB (personal best)and a first place result for Spartans.

He says his training is clearly paying off and looking good for the Edinburgh Half Marathon at the end of the month and that it was great to see fellow Spartan KELVIN BEYIOKU, who had another great run after the Hitchin 10km last week. Kelvin was third in 37:04.

Greenway Challenge

Fifteen Spartans ran the Greenway Challenge Half Marathon from Standalone Farm, Letchworth on Sunday. Nearly all the 13.1 miles were off road.

Their fastest was ADRIAN DONNELLY fourth overall in 1 hour 28 minutes 29 seconds.

Next in was JOHN HARRIS, second male 50 plus in 1 hour 33 minutes 16 seconds for 11^th place. NICK GILL came in with 1:42:27 then TONY RANDFIELD who was first man 60 plus with 1:48:01.

TRICIA HOPPER and CLAIRE PULLEN were Fairlands first females in 2:17:00.

SAM SIMMONS and MARCUS RIDLEY came in 87^th and 88^th with 1:56:51 and 1:56:53.

Attempting his first long run after an encounter with Omnicron at the start of April JIM BROWN carefully paced himself round in 2 hours 9 minutes 17 seconds.
CLAIRE EMMERSON, WENDY THARANI, TIM ROBINSON, SIMON SYPULA and VICKY ARCHER all ‘skipped’ around the greenway in about 2 hours 20 minutes.

Vicky said, “We never set out to ‘race’ today. The aim of the game was to be chatty and have some fun which we achieved beautifully! The sun shone and we had a lovely morning out with cake at the end.”

SAMANTHA SUTTON enjoyed a lovely morning with 2:53:15.

Wendy, Claire, Tim, Simon and Vicky enjoyed the sun!

Pednor

DARREN and CLAIRE EMMERSON took part in the Pednor Five road race on Holiday Monday. In the Chilterns and not flat Darren was 109^th in 39 minutes 59 seconds and Claire 151^st in 43:27. There were 197 finishers.

Darren and Claire leaving the Chiltern hills behind them on Bank Holiday Monday.

Stort Five

DAVE PATTMAN and STEVE DOBNER ran the Stort5 on Sunday. Dave finished sixth overall and second in his age category in 39:39 and Steve was ninth and fourth in his age category in 41:36.
The course is almost completely off-road and luckily the farmer had kindly rolled a section after the rain this week to take away the worst of the ruts. Beautiful morning but you cannot really takes your eyes off the ground as it was so uneven so Steve said he had I no idea what the countryside looked like. A brilliant relatively local event.

Blesma 11K

After a delay of six months NICOLA ANDERSSON, CAROLYN LINSELL and KAREN ELLIS ran their 11K for the Blesma charity on Saturday morning. Their total time, they ran together, was 1 hour 8mins and 56 seconds for the 6.81 miles.

Saturday morning’s stripey running at Stevenage parkrun concluded the Blesma 11k with Nicola, Carolyn, and Karen incorporating parkrun (no.95 for Nicola) with medal presentation at the finish. lt’s a first having medals at parkrun…

The charity run was last November for Remembrance Sunday but Carolyn unfortunately broke her foot a few days beforehand. Karen then kindly stepped up to run this with Nicola instead. When Blesma heard about Carolyn’s accident etc. they kindly sent a third medal for Karen back in December.

Several months on with Carolyn fully recovered and still improving on her stamina and strength they chose Saturday… They raised a total of £151 for Blesma The Limbless Veteran’s and want to thank those again who donated. After all this time it was lovely to give Karen her medal for running the 11K a second time with us, a total of two and a bit parkruns runn in one.

John runs another 100

JOHN NELMS finished his fifth 100 mile event Sunday on the Centurion running Thames Path 100. Starting in Richmond, London at 0930 Saturday morning, John ran / walked through the day and night to finish in Oxford at 1100 Sunday morning.

Amazing John still smiling after 100 miles!

Parkrun Highlights 7^th May

Fairlands Valley Spartan members were out in force wearing their club vests on the first Parkrun of the month, aka Stripey Saturday. Thirty two members took part at six different venues across the country.

JANE WADEY ran a personal best (PB) of 32:28 at Stevenage after joining FVS in January this year. She has improved her 5K time by 8 minutes since her first Parkrun in August 2021, crediting track training and Monday starters sessions which helped her achieve this amazing improvement.

There were a few Year Best achieved this weekend, including MARTIN DUDLEY (23:49), SALLY PHILLIPS (34:01), SAMANTHA SUTTON (34:27), JAMES MCSWEENEY(24:04) and MICHAEL O’KEEFE (32:19) having ran their best times for this year.

The title of fastest Spartan in Stevenage went to GRANT RAMSAY, crossing the line at 18:59 at Stevenage and fastest female Spartan of the week was ALISON SHELLEY (26:54) both at Stevenage. The fastest Spartan anywhere was CHRIS WESTCOTT running in Bangor, Northern Ireland with 18:26. Also running in Bangor ANDREA WESTCOTT finished in 28:35.

Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, MATT CLARKE has completed his 90^th and TIM ROBINSON his 170^th Parkrun at Stevenage.

Tables

Spartans at the Greenway Challenge

Position	Name	Time
4	ADRIAN DONNELLY	1:28:29	3^rd MV40
11	JOHN HARRIS	1:33:16	2^nd MV50
31	NICK GILL	1:42:27
45	TONY RANDFIELD	1:48:01	1^st MV60
87	SAM SIMMONS	1:56:51
88	MARCUS RIDLEY	1:56:53
127	JIM BROWN	2:09:17
145	TRICIA HOPPER	2:17:00
146	CLAIRE PULLEN	2:17:00
157	VICKY ARCHER	2:21:15
158	CLAIRE EMMERSON	2:21:15
159	WENDY THARANI	2:21:15
160	TIM ROBINSON	2:21:16
161	SIMON SYPULA	2:21:16
186	SAMANTHA SUTTON	2:53:15

Spartans at parkruns

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time	Comments
Stevenage parkrun (26 Spartans)
5	4	Grant RAMSAY	18:59
49	44	Martin DUDLEY	23:49	YB
65	58	Sam SIMMONS	24:34
101	87	Tim ROBINSON	26:06	170th
116	18	Alison SHELLEY	26:54
119	98	Matt CLARKE	27:03	90th
126	103	David PATTMAN	27:15
127	104	Jim BROWN	27:19	2MV65
140	111	Mark BEASLEY	28:16
152	32	Debbie BLANTERN	29:00
153	33	Fiona CLARKE	29:01
159	119	Steven DOBNER	29:35
160	37	Mo WARRILLOW	29:37
181	130	Stephen SMITHSON	31:32
184	50	Carolyn LINSELL	31:58
185	51	Nicola ANDERSSON	31:59
186	52	Karen ELLIS	31:59
190	56	Tracy HAYGARTH	32:14
194	58	Chloe CHAPMAN	32:26
195	59	Jane WADEY	32:28	PB
199	62	Caroline CROFT	32:55
214	71	Sally PHILLIPS	34:01	YB
217	72	Samantha SUTTON	34:27	YB
243	149	Tony RANDFIELD	42:54
249	151	Roger BIGGS	47:13
264	103	Helen HARRIS	56:01
Brockenhurst parkrun
84	55	Darryl STEVENS	43:01
Bangor parkrun
4	4	Christopher WESTCOTT	18:26
110	23	Andrea WESTCOTT	28:35
Littleport parkrun
36	30	James MCSWEENEY	24:04	YB
Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun
56	35	Michael O’KEEFE	32:19	YB
Westmill parkrun
24	22	Andy JAY	26:01

26 Spartans out of 268 at Stevenage.

Tags Bedford 10K, Blesma, EMAC, Greenway Challenge, John Runs 100, Pednor, Strort 5

Club News Race Results

100 FOR JOHN AT THE STAMPEDE

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date September 5, 2021
No Comments on 100 FOR JOHN AT THE STAMPEDE

Spartan JOHN NELMS has run one hundred marathons. That’s 100 full marathons of 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometres) or even longer Ultra Marathons. He ran his 100^th at the St Albans Stampede on Saturday. John was escorted across the finish line by his wife Sharon and son Jacob then welcomed to the 100 Club reception by a large number of Spartans.

St Albans Stampede

Altogether twenty Spartans completed at least four four mile laps at the St Albans Stampede.

The Stampede was a 12 hour event around a four mile loop. Runners completed as many laps as they could within the time limit.

TRICIA HOPPER was the leading Spartan with an incredible 11 laps (44 miles).

ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran nine laps or 36 miles in 6 hours 16 minutes 34 seconds while KAREN LIDDLE and BARRY KING did eight (32 miles). Not surprisingly four Spartans did seven as that got them past the significant 26.2 miles. They were YUKO GORDON, JOHN NELMS, HAZEL SMITH and SHARON CROWLEY.

Six laps (24 miles) were completed by CLAIRE EMMERSON, NEAL MUGGLETON and JACQUELINE DOWNES. SUE HAMER, ERICA GRAYSON and DARREN EMMERSON did five (20 miles) while JENNY GARRETT and GERRY ROSEN did four (16 miles).

(Times for all the Fairlands Valley Spartans can be found in a table near the end of this release).

Fairlands Fantastic 4 at the Stampede

There was also a relay team, the Fairlands Fantastic Four at the St Albans Stampede. In the four person team relay event TRACY PEZ (4 laps), ANDY JAY (4), CHRIS HOLLAND (4) and TIM ROBINSON (5) came in 12th out of 28 teams. A total of 17 laps with a time of 11 hours 50 minutes 5 seconds.

The course was four mile lap over undulating off road terrain. Chris started the team off with his first lap under 36 minutes followed by Tim with another 36 minutes lap. Then Andy Jay, who is training for the Manchester Marathon ran four consecutive laps in just under three hours through the hottest part of the day. The team took a short break to greet John Nelms as he finished his 100th marathon, before resuming with more laps. Tim finished his last running lap at 7:50 and it was agreed that two more sub 40min laps would not be achievable to finish before 9pm. The decision was taken to walk one final lap all together as a team by torchlight. Tracy, Chris and Tim completed the lap to finish just inside the cut off – in time for pizza and beer refreshments. A superb local event, recommended.

Bedford Twenty and Half

In the Bedford Running Festival ALISON and PAUL SHELLEY ran their first official twenty mile race. Paul finished in 2 hours 49 minutes 43 seconds and Alison in 3:15:07. They said it was a tough, hot race. DANNY SCANLON was 28^th in 2:23:21 and DAVID PATTMAN ran a new personal best (PB) of three hours and thirty seconds (3:00:30).

STEVEN DOBNER came in with 3:03:18; MATT CLARKE with 3:15:43 and FIONA CLARKE with 3:23:12.

In the Bedford “Spring” half marathon KAREN ELLIS said she started too fast but she was third in her age category with 2:07:54.

Spartan Ladies Finish On Top – East of England Track and Field

The Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team consisting of SUZY HAWKINS, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, STEPHANIE BIGGAR, CALLIE CHAPMAN, ASHLEY JOHNSON, NIKKI WILBY, MONICA BROWN, MARION MORLEY, ALISON WOOD, ANDREA WESTCOTT, TESSA STEPHENSON, CATHY CRAIG, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS, KAREN DODSWORTH, SHERYL HANN, IRIS HORNSEY, SHARON CROWLEY and YUKO GORDON have WON their division in the East of England track and field league for veterans (35 plus, EMAC).

Spartan Ladies sealed victory in the EMAC Central Division on Wednesday by winning the last league fixture at Milton Keynes. It was a close run thing, but gutsy performances and the return of two stalwarts saw the team win on the evening by 4 points and take the division by a 77 point margin.

Christine Lathwell and Alison Wood both returned from injury to run the mile, with Christine finishing second woman 35 plus (W35) and Alison winning the W50. Cathy Craig won the W60 mile race after warming up with a victory in the W60 300 metres hurdles! Sharon Crowley also used the hurdles as a warm up, finishing second in the W50 before throwing the hammer and finishing third W60.

Joylyn Saunders-Mullins and Tessa Stephenson continue to dominate the sprint events, both winning the 200m and Joylyn once again dropping an age group to compete in the W50 category. Joylyn also scored points in the javelin, finishing 2nd in W60 with a throw that would have won the W50 category!

Regular training sessions at the track are paying off for Stephanie Biggar, who threw personal bests (PBs) in both hammer (second place) and javelin (third place). Marion Morley also threw a new PB in the hammer (second place) and also finished second in the javelin.

Other individual points were won on the night by Nikki Wilby, who stayed true to form by winning the W35 high jump, and Callie Chapman, who finished second in the W35 200m.

The ladies relay teams – Nikki, Callie, Cathy, Christine and Tessa, Sharon, Marian, Alison rounded off the evening in style, winning both races and setting us up nicely for the final on 25th September.

A slightly depleted men’s team battled bravely, finishing fourth on the night and fourth overall in the Central Division. Wins on the night came from DAVE STEPHENSON (M50 200m) and TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS (M60 hammer). Other points were scored by ANTON McCALLA (third placed in M35 200m, javelin, and triple jump), GRANT RAMSAY (4th placed M35 mile), BARRY OSBORNE (3rd placed M60 mile), PAUL HOLGATE (5th placed M60 200m and 4th placed M60 mile), STEVE GOUGH (4th placed M50 javelin). The relay team finished 4th.

Parkrun Highlight 4^th September 2021

Thirty three Spartans headed out to run at seven different Parkrun venues.

Congratulations to SUZY HAWKINS who got a new PB at Stevenage with a time of 19:38. Suzy also claimed the titles of the Fastest Lady at Stevenage and the Fastest Spartan of the week.

DARRYL STEVENS was in Rosliston (Swadlincote) to try out Parkrun at a new venue to him.

There were no official Parkrun milestones this week but JOHN HARRIS has reached an unofficial milestone of 60 Parkruns at Letchworth.

PETE SMITH was sixth at the East Brighton parkrun in 23:34 and STEVE WELLS won the Ferry Meadows parkrun in 19:49.

Well done and congratulations to all.

Fly 5k

JIM BROWN ran his 50^th Fly 5K on Saturday. This was the 69^th Fly 5K. There were 147 runners from 38 clubs. He was second in his category and 53^rd overall in 26 minutes exactly

PENNY SCHENKEL was 79^th in 28:54 and PAUL HOLGATE 103^rd in 31:04.

Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon

Only just over two months to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered. This year the race will be on Sunday 21^st November

Entries are open and so please follow the link to enter: Stevenage Half Marathon

Tables

Spartans at the Stampede

Pos	Race No	Name	Laps	Dist Done	Time	Fastest Lap	Slowest Lap	Average Lap	Start
18	27	Tricia HOPPER	11	44	11:14:14	00:44:46	01:39:58	01:01:17	08:59:59
29	36	Adrian BUSOLINI	9	36	06:16:34	00:27:25	01:15:52	00:41:50	08:59:59
40	28	Karen LIDDLE	8	32	11:14:14	00:49:27	02:38:26	01:24:16	08:59:59
41	26	Barry KING	8	32	11:14:16	00:49:28	02:38:27	01:24:17	08:59:59
43	50	Yuko GORDON	7	28	04:35:53	00:37:57	00:41:48	00:39:24	08:59:59
54	58	John NELMS	7	28	06:16:58	00:38:44	01:13:54	00:53:51	08:59:59
55	52	Hazel SMITH	7	28	06:17:00	00:39:51	01:11:50	00:53:51	08:59:59
59	16	Sharon CROWLEY	7	28	06:57:07	00:49:28	01:09:07	00:59:35	08:59:59
65	37	Claire EMMERSON	6	24	06:17:00	00:40:06	01:29:12	01:02:50	08:59:59
66	29	Neal MUGGLETON	6	24	06:17:01	00:40:08	01:28:58	01:02:50	08:59:59
69	54	Jacqueline DOWNES	6	24	07:03:46	00:39:49	03:05:09	01:10:37	08:59:59
76	49	Sue HAMER	5	20	04:27:02	00:47:40	01:07:12	00:53:24	08:59:59
77	48	Erica GRAYSON	5	20	04:27:03	00:47:40	01:07:11	00:53:24	08:59:59
79	38	Darren EMMERSON	5	20	04:39:20	00:39:53	01:16:15	00:55:52	08:59:59
82	56	Jenny GARRETT	4	16	04:47:47	00:40:06	02:10:23	01:11:56	08:59:59
83	41	Gerry ROSEN	4	16	05:12:52	00:46:47	02:10:30	01:18:13	08:59:59

There was also a four person relay team consisting of CHRIS HOLLAND (4); ANDY JAY (4); TRACY PEZ (4) and TIM ROBINSON (5) who completed a total of 17 laps in 11:50:05.

Spartans at Parkruns, 4^th September

	Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
Rosliston
	164	95	Darryl STEVENS	00:41:40	New Venue

Stevenage
	9	1	Suzy HAWKINS	00:19:38	PB
	53	46	Andrew MCGUINNESS	00:23:24
	61	52	Barry OSBORNE	00:23:45
	67	56	James MCSWEENEY	00:24:05
	70	59	Clive CANNON	00:24:20
	93	74	Toby ECCLESHALL	00:25:40
	96	77	Thomas SAUKA	00:25:55
	98	79	Jim BROWN	00:26:00
	107	87	Nick KLEANTHOUS	00:26:34
	116	18	Caroline BARTER	00:27:07
	141	25	Penny SCHENKEL	00:28:33
	151	31	Gail MACKIE	00:29:28
	155	33	Debbie BLANTERN	00:29:42
	163	39	Fiona CLARKE	00:30:12
	164	117	Matt CLARKE	00:30:13
	217	67	Georgie HOOPER	00:33:06
	218	142	Nick GILL	00:33:07
	255	72	Beth FOLEY	00:33:28
	244	84	Carole SHELDRICK	00:34:31
	245	85	Caroline CROFT	00:34:32
	246	86	Karen PALMER	00:34:33
	269	99	Shelbe MOONBEAM	00:37:00

Houghton Hall
	83	67	Michael O’KEEFE	00:27:55

Wimpole Estate
	259	65	Sally PHILLIPS	00:34:59

Letchworth
	84	58	John Harris	00:30:42	60th
	120	44	Caren THAIN	00:36:53

Tags Bedford 20, EMAC, Fly 5K, parkrun, stampede

Five Miles Frazzle but some Spartans top threes.

Spartans On Track

Semington Slog 10K

MK Marathon Weekend

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 10th May – including the 400th parkrun in Stevenege

A Win For Yuko at the Newport Pagnell Carnival 5K

Ware 10 + 10 – PB for Paul

Race for Life

EMAC – Spartans 2 and 3.

Parkrun Highlights 6th July

EMAC

Mid Week League Round Up

Ultra 5k

Wendover Woods 100 Miles

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 8th July 2023

St Albans Half Marathon

100 Miles On The South Downs Way

Parkrun Saturday 10th June 2023

Parkrun Results

EMAC (Eastern Masters)

Great North Run

Budapest Half Marathon

Sandy 10

Montane Dragon’s Back Race

Milton Keynes Marathon Prep 20 Miles

Tables

Parkrun – 10th September

Big London Half

EMAC Ladies

Oakley 20

Bedford Festival

Baldock Rat Run

FVS Club 5K Handicap

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 3rd September

Tables

EMAC – East of England track and field hit by downpour

Three in Three for Jim

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 30th July

Tables

Two Wins At Welwyn

Hitchin Hard Half

Race To The Tower

Serpentine

Run Orwell

Parkrun Highlights

Tables

Hatfield Broad Oak

Women Win at Milton Keynes

Stockholm

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 4th June

Tables

Bedford 10K

Greenway Challenge

Pednor

Stort Five

Blesma 11K

John runs another 100

Parkrun Highlights 7th May

Tables

St Albans Stampede

Fairlands Fantastic 4 at the Stampede

Bedford Twenty and Half

Spartan Ladies Finish On Top – East of England Track and Field

Parkrun Highlight 4th September 2021

Fly 5k

Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon

Spartans at the Stampede

Spartans at Parkruns, 4th September

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 10^th May – including the 400^th parkrun in Stevenege

Parkrun Highlights 6^th July

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 8^th July 2023

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 3^rd September

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 30^th July

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 4^th June

Parkrun Highlights 7^th May

Parkrun Highlight 4^th September 2021

Spartans at Parkruns, 4^th September