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5K Series News Race Results Races

ASHLEY & ALISON SERIES WINNERS

Spartans ASHLEY JOHNSON and ALISON WOOD were series winners in the Hatfield 5K races.  Ashley won the women 35 plus category with a total time of exactly 57 minutes for the three 5K races.  Her third 5K was her fastest.  A new personal best of 18 minutes 46 seconds, an improvement of ten seconds.  Alison won the women 55 plus with a total of 1:03:29.  Her third race took 20:56.

21 Fairlands Valley Spartans ran in the final event and despite some great runs in race two they achieved four new personal bests.  MIKE JEFFS by 3 seconds to 17:34; ANDREA WESTCOTT by 10 seconds to 25:43; and MEGAN SUTTON by another 6 seconds to 26:42, and Ashley.

CALLIE CHAPMAN ran her best 5K this season by 2:19 with her 31:50; SAMANTHA SUTTON by 12 seconds to 33:03.  SHARON CROWLEY was delighted to get under 29 minutes with 28:53, her fastest this year by 15 seconds and JANE WADEY dipped under 35 minutes with 34:57, her fastest this year by 9 seconds.

ANDREW PATTERSON was the fastest Spartan in the race with his 16 minutes 18 seconds (16:18) which got him sixth overall in the race and second in his age group.

7 Spartan men and 8 women completed the whole series.  All three had to be completed to count.

PosNameCatTotalRace 1Race 2R ace 3Best 2Comments
5.Ashley JOHNSONFV3557:0019:1418:5918:4837:46Winner FV35
12.Alison WOODFV551:03:2921:1721:0821:0442:12Winner FV55
35.Andrea WESTCOTTFV451:19:3227:2226:1625:5552:109th FV45
37.Hazel SMITHFV451:25:0927:3225:2532:1352:5610th FV45
39.Megan SUTTONFS1:21:3927:3127:1126:5854:088th senior 
47.Sharon CROWLEYFV651:29:4030:5429:3329:1458:467th FV65
51.Samantha SUTTONFV451:42:0234:5633:4133:261:07:06 
54.Jane WADEYFV551:47:4336:5735:3235:141:10:46 
Hatfield Series Results – Spartan Women
PosNameCatTotalRace 1Race 2R ace 3Best 2Comments
15.Mike JEFFSMV4053:5818:3417:5117:3535:256th MV40
22.Ross GALLAGHERMV4056:0918:3617:5919:3536:3410th MV40
30.Paul SHELLEYMV5057:0418:4618:3719:4237:226th MV 50
43.Mark COLLINSMV4059:1720:0319:3719:3739:14 
61.Matt TUTTONMV401:12:0023:5923:1024:5247:09 
74.Jim BROWNMV701:24:1029:1527:1727:3954:554th MV70
Hatfield Series Results – Spartan Men

Stevenage 10K on 15th September

Eleven Spartans kept it local on Sunday and ran the Stevenage 10K.

MIKE JEFFS stormed round the undulating course in 37 minutes 28 seconds which WON his age group and got him fourth overall out of the 305 finishers.  BRIAN WHITE was second MV60 in 46:43 while JAY PAPA was ninth senior in 40:23.

Brian said there were ideal cool, sunny and still conditions for a picturesque run around some Stevenage cycle tracks.

Several other Spartans volunteered as marshals.

Runaway Racing

Spartans Ciaran and Su McAneny ran the Runaway Racing Suffolk Coastal 50km on Saturday. Running from Lowestoft to Aldeburgh on the coastal pathway, it was a beautiful, scenic route passing by all the summer beach hotspots!  It was Su’s first Ultra and she hit the wall sooner than expected, but dug herself out of it with Ciaran’s support.  They Crossed the line together to receive a medal from the mayoress! 

Win For Yuko

YUKO GORDON ran the picturesque Pleshey Half Marathon on Sunday in 1:42:02.  She won the women 70 plus category.  With around 380 finishers the course was mostly on quiet village roads.

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5K Series News Race Results Races

MEDALS FOR SPARTANS

There were medals of all colours for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the second in the series of Hatfield 5K races which included the county championships for veterans.  ASHLEY JOHNSON won GOLD in the women 35 plus category with 18:56; ALISON WOOD won GOLD in the women 55 plus with 20:53; YUKO GORDON won SILVER in the women 65 plus with 22:19 and the men’s team of JONATHAN PARR (16:40); MIKE JEFFS (17:49); ROSS GALLAGHER (17:56) and GRANT RAMSAY (18:27) won team BRONZE.

22 Spartans ran and there were five new personal bests (PBs) – ROSS GALLAGHER by 35 seconds; PAUL SHELLEY by 11 seconds to 18:31; ASHLEY JOHNSON by 14 seconds; MATT TUTTON by 47 seconds to 22:53 and MEGAN SUTTON took another 22 seconds off her PB from only a week earlier with 26:48.  ANDREA WESTCOTT equalled her previous PB of 25:53.

16 of the Spartans who ran in the first race of the series improved on those times including HAZEL SMITH by 2:08 to 25:02; JIM BROWN by 2:01 to 26:54; PAUL HOLGATE by 1:42 to 32:07; JANE WADEY by 1:27 to 35:06 and SHARON CROWLEY by 1:21 to 29:08.

The next Hatfield 5K race is this Wednesday evening 11th September.

PosMFAGBiBNameCatTimeGradeComments
111042200Jonathan PARRMV4016:4081.1 %Team Bronze 
3229123991Mike JEFFSMV4017:4975.8 %Team Bronze
3632144400Ross GALLAGHERMV4017:5675.8 %Team Bronze (PB 0:35)
555085129Grant RAMSAYMV5018:2780.1 %Team Bronze
585293985Paul SHELLEYMV5018:3181.7 %PB (0:11)
70713993Ashley JOHNSONFV3518:5681.9 %GOLD (F35; PB 0:14) 
8777344517Mark COLLINSMV4019:2872.1 % 
1142114464Alison WOODFV5520:5385.4 %GOLD (F55)
1423324249Yuko GORDONFV6522:1998.0 %SILVER (F65)
165123524354Matt TUTTONMV4022:5358.4 %PB (0:47)
16643105116Marie COLUCCIFV4522:5768.8 % 
180128272202John NELMSMV5023:4563.2 % 
20063164350Hazel SMITHFV4525:0264.8 %2:08 Imp.
210141175127Andy JAYMV6026:0460.5 % 
21270184383Andrea WESTCOTTFV4525:5364.9 %=PB
21672194495Megan SUTTONFS26:4854.2 %PB (0:22)
21814674396Jim BROWNMV7026:5465.6 %2:01 Imp
2378684570Sharon CROWLEYFV6529:0867.5 %1:21 Imp
24491222199Monica SMITHSONFV5530:5658.2 % 
246155204348Paul HOLGATEMV6032:0752.3 %1:42 Imp
25192214589Samantha SUTTONFV4533:1548.4 % 
25696244367Jane WADEYFV5535:0650.8 %1:21 Imp

Bedford Festival of Running

Several Spartans ran a half marathon or 20 miles at the Bedford Festival of Running.  Despite a thunderstorm and some long sections of cross country, particularly near the end of the race, many got some really good times.

ANDY PRIOR said, “Myself and Kerstin ran Bedford Half Marathon today, a mixture of Road and trail which was a bit treacherous in the last two miles.

Luckily they were giving alcohol free beer to all finishers which helped with the wait to get away from venue!!!”

Andy finished in 1:43:06 and Kerstin in 1:57:12.

JIM BROWN needed a 13 mile training run and he got it with 2:02:19 for the 13.1, good enough for third in category, and CONOR ECCLESTON came in with 2:41:41.

Half – 869 finishers

PositionNameTimeAgePaceComments
125ANDREW PRIOR1:43:0650-594:53 m / km 
346KERSTIN PRIOR1:57:1250-595:33 m /km 
450JIM BROWN2:02:1970-795:47 m / km3rd MV70
826CONOR ECCLESTON2:41:4120-297:39 m /km 

20 – 298 finishers

CRAIG BACON said “20 miles for me at Bedford and finished in 2:44:56.  This was a milestone run in preparation for the Stevenage Marathon in six weeks time.

The plan was to run the first seven miles at a steady 9 minute/mile pace, then run the next 7 at 8:30 pace and the final 6 miles at target marathon pace of 8 minutes/mile.  Loved the first 7 miles despite the thunderstorm.  Nice and easy.  Second 7 I discovered that I can’t run at 8:30 pace and ended up with most of it at 8:15 minutes/mile.  Last 6 was a slog, including a fair portion of it being off road and muddy due to the earlier rain.  However, I managed to be on pace or under for 5 or 6 miles.

Final result was a 13 minute PB (although I’ve only run 1 other 20 mile race, which was 13 years ago).  Very happy.  Two more big weeks of training and then it’s downhill all the way to marathon day.”

ROSS GALLAGHER was the fastest from Fairlands at 28th out of the 298 finishers, top ten per cent, and pretty much spot on three hour marathon pace with 6:52 per min.

He was followed by PAUL SHELLEY 2:39:30; Craig, SAMANTH TOPHILL 3:05:57 and ALISON SHELLEY 3:33:53.

PositionNameTimePaceComments
28ROSS GALLAGHER2:17:246:52 min/mile 
78PAUL SHELLEY2:39:307:58 min/mile 
98CRAIG BACON2:44:568:14 min/milePB
154SAMANTHA TOPHILL3:05:579:17 min/mile 
246ALISON SHELLEY3:33:5310:41 min/mile 

5K / 10K

On Saturday JAY PAPA ran the Bedford 5K race in 19:07 and was 11th out of the 350 finishers.  CHARLES ARNOLD ran the Bedford Twilight 10k in 47:22.

Tremendous Trio at the Great North Run.

The biggest half marathon and three Spartans were at the Great North Run with MIKE JEFFS running an excellent 1 hour 23 minutes 54 seconds (1:23:54 and 587th); CHRIS WATLING 1:57:20 (13,305th) and SARAH ILLINGWORTH 2:14:24 (23,856th).  There were 60,000 runners.  Mike said, ”The crowds, the atmosphere was electric throughout the whole race even with it hammering it down with rain.”

St Albans Stampede

Karen Liddle and Tricia Hopper took part in the St Albans Stampede 2024; a 12 hour endurance challenge on Saturday 7 September 2024, starting at 9am.

The route is 4.01 miles around Heartwood Forest, Wheathampstead, over varying off road terrain.  Karen completed 9 laps (36 miles – 1st female in her age category) and Tricia completed 11 laps (44 miles – 2nd female in her age category) in 10 hrs.56 mins.

A thoroughly enjoyable day with perfect weather conditions, great support from the volunteers and friendly atmosphere

Inter Area Championships

YUKO GORDON represented Eastern Masters at the England Masters Athletics Association Inter Area Championships at Corby on Saturday 7th.  She ran 400m, 800m and 1500m and came second in all of them.  Eastern Masters won overall championship along with women’s and men’s trophies.  Teams came from nine regions including Scotland and Wales.

Round The Garden

JOHN HARRIS did the Run around the Garden 5K in Letchworth.

He was second man 60 plus and 24th in the race with 21:21.

NIKKI NATION won her category with 31:25.  There were three other Spartans – BRIAN WHITE 22:58; KEITH ABRAHAM 27:27 and NICK GILL 31:26.

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5K Series News Race Results Races

VICKY AND MEGAN PB AT HATFIELD

Twenty two Spartans raced in the County 5K open road championships at Hatfield on Wednesday evening.  Eight were rewarded with new personal bests (PBs) so well worth the trip.  ASHLEY JOHNSON was eighth woman in the county and first in her category in the open race with a new PB of 19 minutes 10 seconds (19:10).  ALISON WOOD was also a Spartan category winner with 21:10 and YUKO GORDON was second in hers with 22:39.

VICKY ARCHER took a huge chunk, three minutes, off her 5K personal best when she finished in 23:38.  Meanwhile MEGAN SUTTON wanted to get under 28 minutes and did it with something to spare with her new 27:10 PB, an improvement by 1:19.

The fastest Spartan was MIKE JEFFS 57th out of the 258 finishers in 18:29 with ROSS GALLAGHER close behind in 18:31, a PB by three seconds, and PAUL SHELLEY chasing in with 18:42, a new PB by 21 seconds.

TERRY SAWYER improved by 2:20 to 19:44; ANDY PRIOR by five seconds to 22:42; and MATT TUTTON by 19 to 23:40.

The next Hatfield 5K race is this Wednesday evening 4th September.

Pos.GenCat PosNameCategoryTimeGradeComments
575214Mike JEFFSMV4018:2972.9 % 
595416Ross GALLAGHERMV4018:3173.3 %PB 0:03
66609Paul SHELLEYMV5018:4281.0 %PB 0:21
7991Ashley JOHNSONFV3519:1080.8 %1st FV35.  PB 0:08
928130Terry SAWYERMV4019:4469.3 %PB 2:20
1028732Mark COLLINSMV4019:5370.6 % 
120211Alison WOODFV5521:1084.8 %1st FV55
150332Yuko GORDONFV6522:3996.3 %2nd FV65
15812225Andy PRIORMV5022:4266.7 %PB 0:05
15912311Brian WHITEMV6022:5474.6 % 
1734511Vicky ARCHERFV3523:3864.9 %PB 2:58
17412947Matt TUTTONMV4023:4056.4 %PB 0:19
1915412Kerstin PRIORFV4525:1967.2 %SB 1:07
2096315Andrea WESTCOTTFV4527:0362.2 %SB ?
2126521Megan SUTTONFS27:1053.5 %PB 1:19
2136616Hazel SMITHFV4527:1059.9 %YB 10:45
2321526Jim BROWNMV7028:5561.1 % 
242879Sharon CROWLEYFV6530:2964.6 % 
24816023Paul HOLGATEMV6033:4949.5 % 
2498918Samantha SUTTONFV4534:3246.6 %SB 0:19
2549226Jane WADEYFV5536:3348.8 % 
2569427Jane WHITROWFV5537:3547.5 %SB 2:05

FVS Handicap 5K 29th August

The next evening, Thursday, the club held a 5K handicap race and 17 Spartans took part.

The winners were new members Sam & Perry Gentry, six and a half minutes ahead of handicap in 38:28 followed by Marleen Van Zwieten, beating her handicap by 4:36 in 40:24.  Steve Tinsley finished second man in a year best time of 28:21 with Rose Sutton third lady in a new personal best time of 29:53 and Peter Sach third man in 29:54.

The fastest runner on the night was Nathan Kirley in a new personal best of 19:22, 1:53 quicker than his previous handicap 5k, with new member Michael Fisher second quickest in 21:03 and Craig Bacon third fastest in 22:41.  Judy King was quickest woman in 29:27, 42 seconds faster than her previous handicap 5k, with Rose Sutton second quickest and Liz Carvell third fastest in a year best time of 31:23.

Handicap races are won by the best improvers.  The slower runners, based on previous recent performances, start first and others at intervals based on their results try to catch them before the finish.

Next month’s final evening Handicap 5k of the year will be on Thursday 19th September.

PosFirst NAMELast NAMETimeRFPBImprH’CAPAdjTimeH’Cap
1SAMGENTRY38:2815New0:0038:286:32
2PERRYGENTRY38:29167New0:0038:296:31
3MARLEENVAN ZWIETEN40:241780:00(0:01)40:234:36
4STEVETINSLEY28:217YB1:4412:450:0341:093:54
5ROSESUTTON29:5392PB1:0912:150:0942:172:52
6JUDYKING29:27810:4213:000:0142:282:33
7PETERSACH29:54100:5312:45(0:02)42:372:21
8SALLYPHILLIPS37:57146YB4:4542:422:18
9LIZCARVELL31:23113YB0:0611:30(0:02)42:512:07
10NATHANKIRLEY19:221PB0:1523:45(0:05)43:021:53
11MICHAELFISHER21:032New22:000:0543:081:57
12CHARLESARNOLD22:55420:1543:101:50
13SALLYPICKLES37:051246:4543:501:10
14PETECOOK26:5460:0817:000:0143:551:06
15CRAIGBACON22:41321:150:0143:571:04
16JANEWADEY37:241357:45(0:01)45:08(0:09)
17DANNYSCANLON22:59522:150:0145:15(0:14)

Fairlands Five at Big Half

The heat in London made the race that bit harder but a famous five from Fairlands made a really good job of Sunday’s “Big Half.”  STUART MEAD was 958th out of nearly 17,000 runners in 1:30:09; TERRY SAWYER 1,650th in 1:36:26, ROBERT WRIGHT 8,453rd in 2:07:53 and running her first half marathon race MEGAN SUTTON was 10,537th in 2:17:53.  SAMANTHA SUTTON came in with 3:03:41.

Serpentine 30th August

It was warm, sunny with a light breeze and excellent visibility in Hyde Park on Friday.  That enabled JIM BROWN to run his fastest road 5K this year.  27 minutes 23 seconds (27:23) in the Last Friday of the Month event.

Dorney for Alison and Paul

On a warm day ALISON and PAUL SHELLEY ran Sunday’s Dorney Lake Half Marathon and both won their age groups.  Paul in 1:30:46 and Alison in 2 hours 5 minutes 52 seconds.

Speeding Up

MIKE JEFFS is getting his speed back.  He finished the hot sweaty and gruelling Cambridge Biomedical Centre 10K in 39:28.

Parkrun Highlights 31st August Hawaii Five – O

In case of adversity go with the flow, or maybe the wave.  Stevenage parkrun had a hacking attack and found themselves temporarily named Hawaii 5 – O.  They decided to own it and had a theme of Hawaiian wear.  Lots of Spartans joined in with that fun and dug out those shirts, shorts and Hawaiian leis.

24 Spartans ran and three of the top five females were from FVS.  ASHLEY KING first in 20:52; SUZY HAWKINS third in 21:28 and GAIL MACKIE fifth in 22:26.

GRANT RAMSAY maintains his record as a top ten finisher.  This time he was fifth in 18:49.  There were 439 finishers at Stevenage including 174 women.  Local event #362.  Up considerably on the previous week.

Parkrun started at Bushy Park in 2004.  That event ran for the 1,000th time on Saturday and there were thousands of runners.   The 20th anniversary of parkruns will be in October.

Spartans elsewhere included YUKO GORDON with a season’s best 22:18 – that’s 105.01% – at Storeys Field; JOHN HARRIS 23:15; RYAN RIDELL 29:34; GEORGIE HOOPER 30:19 and NICK GILL 30:29 at Letchworth; MATTHEW NEWTON 26:18 at Pymmes; PETE SMITH 26:37 at North Yorkshire Water; DANIEL SUTTON 27:22 at Rutland Water; ANDY JAY 27:42 at Hunstanton Promenade; ANNABELLE WHITE 35:11 and CHLOE CHAPMAN 35:12 at Aldenham; NICOLA PATTMAN 33:25 at Gorleston Cliffs; JONATHAN JONES 37:24 and DZENANA TOPIC 37:25 at Wimpole Estate; and DARRYL STEVENS 44:44 at Banstead Woods.

PositionGender PositionparkrunnerTimeComments
55Grant RAMSAY18:49Top Ten
171Ashley SCHOENWETTER20:52First woman.  40th Parkr.
263Suzy HAWKINS21:28Third woman
415Gail MACKIE22:26Fifth woman
5849Daniel VILJOEN23:45 
8571Lee PICKERSGILL24:52 
8773Toby ECCLESHALL24:55 
9780Darren EMMERSON25:32 
15530Hazel SMITH27:58 
170127Jay PAPA28:14 
198148Tony RANDFIELD29:02 
226160Nick KLEANTHOUS30:07 
23060Claire EMMERSON30:17 
235164Maurice BALLARD30:28 
28485Monica SMITHSON32:48 
288189Paul JENNINGS33:02 
30897Jenny GARRETT33:54 
31099Penny SCHENKEL33:57 
311198Jim BROWN33:57 
318199Paul HOLGATE34:51 
339119Pamela VILJOEN36:07 
348209James SOUTH36:28 
350210Stephen SMITHSON36:41 
437174Sharon CROWLEY01:02:37Volunteer.  70th Parkrun.
Categories
Club News Race Results

JONATHAN WINS HATFIELD SERIES 

JONATHAN PARR WON the Hatfield 5K series of Wednesday evening races with an average of 16 minutes 20 seconds, that’s ten seconds quicker than his nearest rival.  There were three races on consecutive weeks. 

Jonathan with his trophy! – Photo Credit Sharon Crowly

NICK GILL ran another fantastic personal best (PB).  This time it was 17 minutes 25 seconds which got him in the top twenty in Wednesday’s race.  ALISON WOOD was first woman 55 plus with 21 minutes 3 seconds. 

Ten Spartans finished the race.  The others in the club’s first four were SIMON JACKSON 12th in 16:39 and MIKE JEFFS 25th in 17:37. 

SHARON CROWLEY was fourth in the series for her category and ran the final race in 28 minutes 53 seconds. 

Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick

The other Spartans were NICK KLEANTHOUS 25:04; JIM BROWN 26:37; MICHAEL O’KEEFE 26:56 and ROGER BIGGS 46:50. 

Pos Bib Name Time Cat M/F Cat Pos Age Gd Comments 
5692 Jonathan PARR 16:21 MS 82.1 % Series winner 
12 5959 Simon JACKSON 16:39 MV40 12 85.6 %  
19 5353 Nick GILL 17:25 MS 19 14 74.8 % PB 
25 5542 Mike JEFFS 17:37 MS 25 18 76.0 %  
106 2944 Alison WOOD 21:03 FV55 17 84.3 % 1st FV55 
173 5636 Nick KLEANTHOUS 25:04 MV60 127 17 63.2 %  
187 2909 Jim BROWN 26:37 MV70 135 65.7 %  
192 5504 Michael O’KEEFE 26:56 MV50 136 35 57.9 %  
198 3015 Sharon CROWLEY 28:53 FV65 58 67.4 %  
215 1844 Roger BIGGS 46:50 MV70 148 39.6 %  

Stevenage 10k 

In the Stevenage 10K Spartan SIMON JACKSON was second overall and first man 40 plus with 35 minutes 33 seconds.  KIM JURY was seventh in her category with 54:36 and JIM BROWN third in his with 56:44. 

DAVE ACKERY said “I really pushed hard for a sub 60 but the hills were proving a bit of a hard slog in the heat especially the final big push!”  He finished with 60:57. 

Seven Spartans ran and there were 273 finishers.  The other Spartans were GRANT RAMSAY 40:35; ROBERT WRIGHT 53:53 and ROGER BIGGS 1:38:52.   

Pos MF Cat Pos Bib Name Cat 5K Gun Chip Age Gd 
2. 7031 Simon JACKSON MV40 17:03 35:34 35:33 81.4 % 
15 15 7040 Grant RAMSAY MV50 19:21 40:37 40:35 73.7% 
104. 91 28 7183 Robert WRIGHT MV40 26:58 54:01 53:53 51.1 % 
110. 15 7002 Kim JURY FV35 26:08 54:47 54:36 55.5 % 
146. 120 6914 Jim BROWN MV70+ 28:44 57:44 56:54 62.5 % 
172. 136 57 7166 David ACKERY MS 28:32 1:01:06 1:00:57 43.2 % 
273. 176 6971 Roger BIGGS MV70+   1:39:24 1:38:52 38.3 % 

Parkrun Saturday 16th September 2023 

For the Consolidated Results please click the link 

Categories
Club News Race Results

HATFIELD 5K SERIES RACE TWO 

Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON won Wednesday’s Hatfield 5K race in a new personal best (PB) of just 15 minutes 55 seconds AND took GOLD in the County Championships. 

Samantha and Andrew with their County medals!

SAMANTHA PRETTY-CONNORS won BRONZE with 19 minutes 25 seconds, a PB by 5 seconds, and YUKO GORDON won GOLD in the women 65 plus race with 22 minutes 25 seconds (22:25). 

JONATHAN PARR was third senior in 16:35. 

Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick

There was a year’s best time for SIMON JACKSON improving by 30 seconds to 16:50. 

MATT TUTTON ran another PB this week this time trimming another five seconds off to 24:32 and JIM BROWN improved his time for the year by one second to 26:34. 

Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick
Position First Name Last Name Time PB Imp Race 1 Comp 
Andrew Patterson 15:55 PB 0:03 15:59 0:04 
Jonathan Parr 16:35  16:18 (0:17) 
10 Simon Jackson 16:50 YB 0:30     
33 Mike Jeffs 18:09  18:02 (0:07) 
65 Samantha Pretty-Connors 19:25 PB 0:05     
71 Grant Ramsay 19:40  19:34 0:09 
105 Peter Orton 21:07 23      
127 Yuko Gordon 22:25      
166 Matt Tutton 24:32 PB 0:05 24:37 0:05 
189 Andy Jay 25:41  24:49 (0:52) 
193 Nick Kleanthous 25:52  24:49 (1:03) 
202 Jim Brown 26:34 YB 0:01 27:09 0:35 
203 Michael O’Keefe 26:38  26:35 (0:03) 
216 Sharon Crowley 30:00  28:59 (1:01) 
235 Paul Holgate 36:29  39:29 3:00 
238 Roger Biggs 42:44  42:37 (0:07) 

Parkrun Saturday 9th September 2023 

For the Consolidated Results please click the link 

Categories
Club News Race Results

HATFIELD 5K SERIES, RUNNING RATS AND DASHING DUCKS!

Fairlands Valley Spartans won SILVER medals in the team competition at the Hertfordshire County 5K championships for senior men on Wednesday 30th August. 

The medal winning team was ANDREW PATTERSON (15:59); JONATHAN PARR (16:18); KIRK NDUGU (16:31) and NICK GILL (17:46).  With 52 they were only four points behind the gold medal winners. 

Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick

It was a season’s best (SB) for Andrew and Kirk, a year’s best (YB) for Jonathan and a personal best for Nick. 

The championships were included in the Hatfield 5K which was completed by 14 Spartans. 

Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick

MIKE JEFFS came in with a new PB of 18:02; MATT TUTTON with a new PB of 24:37; ANDY JAY with a season’s best 24:49 and SHARON CROWLEY with a season’s best of 28:59. 

Jonathon and Nick receiving their County medals! – Photo credit Sharon Crowley
Place Name M/F Cat Pos Cat Time Age Grade Comments 
5. Andrew PATTERSON MV40 15:59 85.2 % Team silver SB 
8. Jonathan PARR MS 16:18 82.3 % Team silver YB 
11. Kirk NDUGU 11 10 MS 16:31 80.0 % Team silver SB 
35. Nick GILL 33 25 MS 17:46 73.3 % Team silver PB 
43. Mike JEFFS 40 29 MS 18:02 74.2 % PB 
79. Grant RAMSAY 69 12 MV50 19:34 75.1 %  
174. Matt TUTTON 130 51 MS 24:37 54.0 % PB 
177. Andy JAY 131 34 MV50 24:49 62.7 % SB 
178. Nick KLEANTHOUS 132 14 MV60 24:49 63.8 %  
199. Michael O’KEEFE 141 37 MV50 26:35 58.6 %  
209. Jim BROWN 145 MV70 27:09 64.4 %  
226. Sharon CROWLEY 78 FV65 28:59 67.0 % SB 
243. Paul HOLGATE 155 22 MV60 39:29 42.1 %  
244. Roger BIGGS 156 10 MV70 42:37 43.4 %  
Results for all Spartan finishers at the Hatfield 5k

Bedford Running Festival 

In the half marathon JIM BROWN was 307th out of the 684 finishers with 2 hours 1 minute 34 seconds.  He was second in his category just 27 seconds behind the winner. 

In the Bedford 20 DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT was ninth overall and seventh in the 40-49 category in 2 hours 8 minutes 13 seconds. 

He said the weather was hot! Great support on route and it was good to see Stevenage being represented by Spartans, Striders and Phoenix running clubs. 

David and Jim after their run.

Baldock Rat Run 

Tim Robinson took part in the fifth Baldock 5k Rat Run, an off road fun run raising fund for Garden House Hospice.  He finished 64th out of 88 finishers in a time of 29:21.  He has run in all 5 events now and is a regular but difficult to spot. 

The Baldock rat!

UTMB (Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc) 

ADRIAN BUSOLINI said “My journey to UTMB started in 2019 with my running a section of the UTMB course, and falling in love with the Chamonix Valley.  In 2021, I ran the UTMB CCC, which is more or less the second half of the UTMB course.  I finally obtained my UTMB spot in 2022 based on my category placing in Val d’Aran.  

For us based in Hertfordshire, training for something like UTMB is not easy, as we have no comparable terrain nearby.  My lack of specific training is probably what held me back in this race. 

Regardless of my result, the experience of participating in a race as famous and competitive as UTMB is extraordinary.  Between bumping into many friends and acquaintances in Chamonix, experiencing the otherworldly level of support in St Gervais les Bains and Les Contamines, or just soaking up the sight of Mont Blanc from every angle.  The UTMB is a tough, technical race, but one to savour.” Adrian took 30 hours 21 minutes 21 seconds for the 160 kilometres. 

Duck and Dash 

NICK KLEANTHOUS said it was a great weather for Sunday’s Duck n Dash involving 400 metres of Letchworth outdoor pool followed by a 5K hilly trail run around Norton Common.  Tracy Haygarth found me before the start and we talked while waiting for our swim as swimmers went off at 15 second intervals.  It was Tracy’s first event and without her Garmin on did amazing.  It was very well organised and the support was fantastic. Hope to be back next year! 

Nick and Tracey with their medals!

Summer Nuts Challenge 

STEVE PLATT tackled the two muddy, wet and obstacle filled laps of the Summer Nuts Challenge on Saturday 2nd September.  The 15.69 kilometres OCR (British Obstacle Sports) event took 3 hours 39 minutes 21 seconds. 

Steve looking as though he’s just completed a walk in the park and not muddy obstacles!

Parkrun Saturday 2nd September 2023 

Click the link for the Consolidated Results