Tag: Greenway Challenge

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HOT SPARTANS ON THE GREENWAY

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 36th and 37th 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 126th in 2:51:16 then CLAIRE EMMERSON 127th; HAZEL SMITH 128th; TRACY PEZ 129th and PENNY SCHENKEL 130th all in 2:51:17.

There were 145 finishers.

PosCat PosNameTime
51Adrian DONNELLY1:38:41
367Nick GILL1:52:59
3711Pete GENTLE1:52:59
434Suzy HAWKINS1:53:49
458Toby ECCLESHALL1:54:17
789Annabelle WHITE2:08:06
7915Alex SCOFIELD2:08:06
817Marie COLUCCI2:08:17
8212Georgie HOOPER2:08:17
11826Tim ROBINSON2:43:39
1193Tricia HOPPER2:45:01
1214Karen LIDDLE2:45:04
12621Vicky ARCHER2:51:16
12718Claire EMMERSON2:51:17
12819Hazel SMITH2:51:17
12920Tracy PEZ2:51:17
1306Penny SCHENKEL2:51:17

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.

PosCat PosNameChip Time
41Mike JEFFS29:55
72Paul SHELLEY31:06
105Jay PAPA31:43
742Jess CLARKE40:44
953Lorraine HILL43:00
12338Lloyd DIAS45:19
1295Jim BROWN46:20
16315Sarah ILLINGWORTH50:17
16415Nick KLEANTHOUS50:12
17127Karl SHREEVE51:41
19713Monica SMITHSON54:53
21127Callie CHAPMAN56:34
22917Alice WELCH59:15

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 4th June and in Corby on Wednesday 2nd 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 10th May – including the 400th parkrun in Stevenege

Stevenage parkrun celebrated a major milestone on Saturday morning 10th May.  It was be the 400th 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 200th parkrun on the 400th parkrun.  He finished in 28:56.  DANIEL VILJOEN ran his 290th in 25:14; MARK BEASLEY his 150th in 25:43 and JAYNE RIDDELL her 110th in 27:03.Yuko Gordon was second woman and 27th overall in the Letchworth parkrun with 25:04.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
11Adrian BUSOLINI17:52
44Grant RAMSAY19:15
2017Perri GENTRY21:04
2623David RIDDELL21:39
5954Matthew COOKE23:14
9992Paul MAGUIRE24:37
10194Lee PICKERSGILL24:38
118107Darren EMMERSON25:14
119108Daniel VILJOEN25:14
141126Mark BEASLEY25:43
160138Ryan DUNNING26:07
169145Matt TUTTON26:22
195162Steve TINSLEY27:03
19322Jayne RIDDELL27:03
22126Lorraine HILL27:27
287221Jim BROWN28:56
301228Matt CLARKE29:18
30060Sharon CROWLEY29:18
343251Kartik SHARMA30:34
38299Debbie BLANTERN31:20
423273Ahaan SHARMA32:17
448142Penny SCHENKEL33:08
472297Stephen SMITHSON34:21
500169Hilary DAVIES35:19
528313Lloyd DIAS36:30
550200Hannah MANTON37:46
574217Nicola HATHERLY39:12
630341Roger BIGGS47:03
649350Tony RANDFIELD56:56
652263Claire EMMERSON1:02:57
Categories
Club News Race Results

SPARTANS AT THE GREENWAY CHALLENGE 

14 Spartans enjoyed the 13.1 miles of the Greenway Challenge which is a largely trail event around Letchworth on Sunday. 

Several members have recently ran marathons and so took the opportunity to relax a bit and enjoy this unique event. 

There were some good performances including Nick Gill 12th overall in 1:52:47; John Harris 13th overall and first man over 60 also in 1:52:47 and Kim Tyler beating two hours with 1:59:35.  She was fourth woman 35 plus. 

Steve Dobner and Mo Warrilow came in together at 2:05:34. 

Jim Brown finished in 2:10:35. He was third man over 60.  Michael O’Keefe came in with 2:12:26. 

Tim Robinson, Vicky Archer, Claire Emmerson, Linda George and Martin Jacob all had a wonderful time at the Greenway Challenge. They ran, walked and skipped their way around the half marathon course enjoying chatting with each other and seeing the scenery.  

They have all either ran marathons and/or trained hard in the past few weeks and so they enjoyed running for fun and even more, they enjoyed the cakes at the end! 

Milton Keynes Marathon  

Adrian Busolini paced the sub three hour group at the Milton Keynes Marathon.  A job well done as they crossed the line in 2 hours 59 minutes 42 seconds (2:59:42). 

Adrian Busolini said: 

“I was peppered with questions about my race strategy in the starting pen, which was a slightly daunting experience for a first-time pacer.  I explained we’d be running mostly even splits, while aiming for consistent effort on the ascents and descents; and given the race started atop a hill, this meant we’d be subject to a slightly faster start.  Questions continued into the first few kilometres of the race, most concerningly from a couple of runners who expressed some anxiety over the starting pace.  If they couldn’t briefly handle some 10 seconds/km under target over a descent, I thought, then I seriously feared for their chances at sub-3.  I quietly wondered how many would still be with me at the end of the race. 

Down on the flat, to avoid any more unnecessary congestion at bottlenecks, I eased forward to put a little distance between us and the half marathon 1h 30m pacer.  Now I could more clearly see that quite a sizable group had gathered around me.  We comfortably settled into the 4:15 target pace, and I began my Milton Keynes running tour commentary.  Kudos to everyone who tolerated that with good humour. 

My group remained fairly consistent until the second lap of the course, when despite warnings about maintaining fluid/electrolyte balance in the warmer conditions, numbers rapidly started to dwindle.  I tried my best to keep various people going, even slightly losing track of pace on a couple of occasions as I tried to coax individuals along.  Once a small pack broke away in the last 7km to push on for PBs, and the last few runners I’d been desperately trying to encourage dropped off, I found myself entirely alone for a kilometre or two, briefly pondering why I was here today, casually trotting past Woughton on the Green with a blue flag flying from my back.  

Near the finish, I picked up a few more struggling souls, until we hit that final hilly kilometre, where I found myself maniacally screaming at tiring runners on the ascent, demanding more and more effort from them, to assure their sub 3 finish.  Being right there when they achieved their goals was a fantastic experience, one that’ll stick long in my memory.  No doubt partially aided by the sight of a runner in the background dressed in a cow suit, who was going by the name of ‘Moosain Bolt’.  

Parkrun Highlights

Consolidated Results for FVS members on the 6th May 2023

Categories
Club News Race Results

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 3rd 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 2nd place W50 100m and 2nd place W50 Hammer Throw), Karen Dodsworth (W60 Triple Jump, also 2nd place W50 400m), Nikki Wilby (W35 High Jump, also 3rd place W35 Triple Jump).  Valuable points were also picked up by Callie Chapman (4th placed W35 100m), Yuko Gordon (1st 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 4th place M35 100m, 5th place M35 Shot Put).  Points were also scored by newbie Nick Kleanthous (5th place M60 100m and 400m, 3rd place 1mile B string walk, 4th M60 Shot Put), Chris Westcott (2nd place M35 400m and M35 3k), Pete Smith (2nd place M60 3k and M60 Triple Jump, 3rd place M60 High Jump), John Harris (3rd place 1m A string walk, 4th place M35 High Jump), Steve Mayfield (3rd place M50 Hammer Throw, 4th place M50 Shot Put, and 4th place M50 Triple Jump).  The men’s relay team finished 4th. 

EMAC in action!

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. 

Super speedy’s – Kelvin and David.

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 11th 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 87th and 88th 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 109th in 39 minutes 59 seconds and Claire 151st 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. 

Fun in the sun – Steve and Dave.

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. 

The girls finally with their medals!

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 7th 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 90th and TIM ROBINSON his 170th Parkrun at Stevenage. 

Parkrunners.

Tables

Spartans at the Greenway Challenge 

Position Name Time  
4 ADRIAN DONNELLY 1:28:29 3rd MV40 
11 JOHN HARRIS 1:33:16 2nd MV50 
31 NICK GILL 1:42:27  
45 TONY RANDFIELD 1:48:01 1st 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.