Tag: Hitchin 10K

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News Race Results

GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE FOR SPARTANS

There were silver and bronze county medals for Fairlands Valley Spartans on Sunday morning.  24 ran the Hitchin 10K which included the Hertfordshire championships for veteran runners.

In the open race Spartan CHARLIE WHITE was 12th out of the 893 finishers in a new personal best (PB) of 36 minutes 5 seconds.  Charlie’s PB was 11 seconds quicker than the St Albans 10K two weeks ago and a 1 minute 17 second improvement since last year.

The fastest female from Fairlands was ASHLEY KING who was in the top 90 runners and in the County championships won a BRONZE medal with 42 minutes 29 seconds (42:29). 

Spartan JIM BROWN was very pleased with himself.  Despite a hard time in the London Marathon heat last Sunday afternoon he won SILVER in the County championships with a reasonable time of 55 minutes 57 seconds.  That’s second man 70 plus.

There were many great achievements including MEGAN SUTTON improving her personal best by 2 minutes 4 seconds to 56:20 and SAM GENTRY with a new PB of 1:01:08, a reduction of 1 minute 10 seconds.  JUDY KING got under one hour for the first time with her new PB of 27:43. 

SAMANTHA SUTTON ran her fastest 10K since 2021 with 1:19:21.  PENNY SCHENKEL and BECKY RAYNER were other London Marathon finishers who had a good run.  Penny came in with 1:02:42 and Becky with 1:19:21.

The Spartans second woman JO COOKSLEY beat 50 minutes with 49:39.

JACKIE PERRY was second in the women 60 plus age group.  Her chip time was 52 minutes 46 seconds.

To participate in the county championships runners had to be eligible by birth or place of residence.

PosCatPosMFBiBNameCatChip TimeAge Gd
125124409Charles WHITEMV3036:0574.1%
4913453836Adrian DONNELLYMV4040:3171.5%
8815773386Mike GUESTMV5042:3474.2%
895124799Ashley KINGFV3042:2972.8%
117310326Charles ARNOLDMV6044:0880.8%
123431083803Toby ECCLESHALLMV3044:2360.7%
187401633224Danny SCANLONMV4046:4060.6%
237792037296Joseph WASNOCKMV3048:1155.3%
27520477119Jo COOKSLEYFV3049:3961.9%
3902813700Jackie PERRYFV6052:4676.6%
412773253563Matt TUTTONMV4052:5552.1%
48471359883Tim ROBINSONMV5055:0956.6%
50733703663Jim BROWNMV70+55:5765.8%
537221522338Megan SUTTONF2056:2053.1%
57081704142Judy KINGFV6057:4367.0%
605691921605Amy SAWYERFV3058:1551.6%
615324167303Andy JAYMV6059:0155.8%
68469246857Sam GENTRYFV401:01:0854.1%
72242274625Penny SCHENKELFV501:02:4257.4%
723432754944Hazel SMITHFV501:02:4254.7%
72991451196Karl SHREEVEMV501:02:5750..1%
817563433710Samantha SUTTONFV501:08:1849.6%
8811043951589Rebecca RAYNERFV401:19:2139.7%
893104894758Roger BIGGSMV70+1:42:1538.3%

Resolution 5000

Eleven Spartans ran in the Resolution 5000 at Ridlins Track in Stevenage.

Only days after running a full marathon in Manchester SIMON JACKSON was racing round 12.5 laps of the track to be second in the event with 17 minutes 2 seconds.  NICK GILL was fifth with 17:50 and PAUL SHELLEY sixth in 18:05.

GEORGIE HOOPER was the fastest female from Fairlands third woman in the event with 21:15, a new personal best by three seconds.  ANNABELLE WHITE was not far behind in 22:42.

The other Spartans were ROSS GALLAGHER 19:13; PAUL MOULD 19:24; MATT TUTTON in 24:24; MARTIN DUDLEY in 24:32; SHARON CROWLEY in 29:11 and PAUL HOLGATE in 33:12.  There were 58 runners.

Nick Gill.  17:50 for me at the Resolution 5k – my third fastest over the distance and my quickest on the track. I was aiming for sub-18, so really pleased with the run and how I paced it. Thanks to everyone for the fantastic support!

Ross Gallagher said his 19:13 was a good marker to build on. 

PosNameTimeMFCatPosCatAge Gd
2Simon JACKSON17:0221MV4085.1 %
5Nick GILL17:5053MS73.7 %
6Paul SHELLEY18:0562MV5084.8 %
13Ross GALLAGHER19:13134MV4070.9 %
17Paul MOULD19:24176MV4070.2 %
27Georgie HOOPER21:1533FS70.5 %
35Annabelle WHITE22:4265FS64.9 %
43Matt TUTTON24:243514MV4055.8 %
46Martin DUDLEY24:32382MV6065.8 %
56Sharon CROWLEY29:11111FV6068.3 %
57Paul HOLGATE33:12464MV6051.3 %

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.

Medals at Track Championships

Fairlands Valley Spartans came away from the Hertfordshire track championships for veterans with a good crop of medals.  SHARON CROWLEY won GOLD for women 60 plus in the 1500 metres with 7 minutes 44 seconds (4:53.85), a recent improvement of 12 seconds, and SILVER in the hammer with 16.19 metres.

It was GOLD for SIMON JACKSON in the men 40 plus 1500.  It took him just 4 minutes 34 seconds (4:34.25).

PAUL SHELLEY won GOLD in the men 50 plus 1500 metres with a personal best of 4:53.85 and CRAIG BACON took the SILVER with 5:33.86.  That was Craig’s first 1500 since 2019.

ANNABELLE WHITE won GOLD in the senior women’s 1500 with 6:13.53.

Moving carefully after the road 10K championships the previous day JIM BROWN won 1500 metres GOLD for men 70 plus.  However it was a bit of a journey.  It took him 8:37.67.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 3rd May – 400th parkrun coming up

The FVS “takeover” of Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun resulted in a large turnout of 598 runners completing the five kilometres around Fairlands Valley Park.  Some were proudly wearing their London Marathon finishers T shirts from six days earlier.

The Spartans provided nearly all the officials, the marshals, all the pacers and the tailwalkers – and 45 Spartans ran.  PAUL MOULD a first timer was seventh in 19:47 and MIKE JEFFS, also top ten, was eighth in 19:50.  MARTIN JACOB ran a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 21:52 and MARIE COLUCCI was a top ten woman with 23:41.

LEE PICKERSGILL celebrated a milestone with his 100th parkrun which he finished in 25:23.  There were also PPBs for PETER SACH 27:31 and JUDY KING 28:37.  Judy improved by 36 seconds.

Altogether 75 Spartans were running a parkrun on Saturday morning.  One was enjoying a really memorable run along the city walls at Lucca in Italy.  The Mura di Lucca parkrun.  JACKIE DOWNES finished in 29 minutes 46 seconds.  There were 115 finishers.

Stevenage parkrun celebrates a major milestone on Saturday morning 10th May.  It will be the 400th Stevenage parkrun.  So far there have been 131,852 finishes with an average time of 30 minutes 11 seconds.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
77Paul MOULD19:47
88Mike JEFFS19:50
4239Martin JACOB21:52
4441Jay PAPA21:58
5047David RIDDELL22:09
9180Tony RANDFIELD23:23
9886Ross GALLACHER23:29
10710Marie COLUCCI23:41
11397Charlie WHITE24:17
118101Martin DUDLEY24:25
135115Daniel VILJOEN25:03
146125Lee PICKERSGILL25:23
149127Darren EMMERSON25:25
158135Mark BEASLEY25:36
167144Matthew COOKE25:56
172149Ryan DUNNING26:01
218183Steve TINSLEY27:27
222186Peter SACH27:31
234192Charles ARNOLD27:45
26948Judy KING28:37
278218Vishal SHAH28:43
29859Claire EMMERSON29:16
30362Carole SHELDRICK29:29
30866Jessica CLARKE29:35
33676Sophie PARSONS30:47
339251Ryan RIDDELL30:52
35086Pamela VILJOEN31:10
35589Debbie BLANTERN31:15
361258Steve PLATT31:23
36697Nikki NATION31:30
376105Annabelle WHITE31:45
385265Nick KLEANTHOUS32:11
386111Elizabeth CROWLEY32:13
426275Paul HOLGATE33:35
435141Yuko GORDON33:58
478171Hazel SMITH36:00
482172Hannah MANTON36:08
498298Maurice BALLARD37:24
526307Lloyd DIAS40:02
552216Melody BROWN42:50
581235Emma CHAPMAN49:20
583325Roger BIGGS50:02
590242Rebecca RAYNER54:56
597248Alison SHELLEY62:10
598249Sharon CROWLEY62:12
Categories
Club News Race Results

SPARTANS WIN AT HITCHIN 

Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the team prize at Sunday’s Hitchin 10K road race plus ANDREW PATTERSON was second man and ASHLEY JOHNSON second woman overall. 

Only a week after an outstanding run in the London Marathon Andrew was second in the race with 34 minutes 26 seconds, a new season’s best by 1 minute 22 seconds. 

Ashley was second woman overall, first in her age category and ran a new 10K personal best (PB) by 38 seconds with 41 minutes 59 seconds (41:59). 

The other Spartan team counters were DAN HUKIN 13th overall in 38:05, his best this year, and fourth in age category, and DANNY SCANLON 41st in 41:05, a season’s best by 2 seconds.  The FVS team won by 1 minute and 1 second. 

PENNY SCHENKEL expected she was going to take 70 minutes but took 1 minute 48 seconds off her season’s best time when she finished in 1:00:27. 

JIM BROWN said he was pleased to finish the Hitchin 10K only 28 seconds outside his best time of the year with 56:06. 

MICHAEL O’KEEFE was another Spartan who ran at London.  He maintained a sensible 10 minutes per mile pace and finished the 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in 1:00:06. 

JANE WADEY said she was pleased with her results.  65:40 was just 38 seconds short of her PB despite running with a sore ankle. 

(Photo Credit, Main Photo – Marie Colucci)

County Track and Field Championships 

There were eight members of the club at the County Track and Field Championships for veterans at Ridlins on bank holiday Monday. 

In the 1500 metres MO WARILLOW won GOLD in the women 45 plus race with 6 minutes 57.56 seconds (6:57.56); SHARON CROWLEY won GOLD in the women 55 plus event with 8:06.10; PAUL HOLGATE won GOLD in the men’s 60 plus category with 8:23.88 and JIM BROWN won GOLD in the 70 plus race with 7:47.26. 

DAVID PATTMAN won 1500 metre SILVER in the MV40 category race with 5:37.81 and STEVEN DOBNER MV40 BRONZE with 5:43.94.  THOMAS SAUKA just missed out on the medals with 5:50.56. 

In the sprints DAVE STEPHENSON won the men 60 plus 100 metres in 14.2 seconds and the men 60 plus 200 metres in 29.45 seconds. 

SHARON CROWLEY took SILVER in the hammer with 16.32 metres. 

Photo Credit -Dave Stephenson

Serpentine 

Jim Brown ran Friday’s Serpentine 5K in 27 minutes 54 seconds (27:54).  He was second MV70. 

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 29th April 2023 

For the Consolidated Results from last Saturdays Parkrun please click the link.

Categories
Club News Race Results

TEAM WINNERS AT HITCHIN 10K

Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the team award at Sunday’s Hitchin 10K.  They had 25 out of the 518 finishers with several top twenty positions. 

JONATHAN PARR was second overall and first in his category with a fantastic 34 minutes 24 seconds.  KELVIN BEYIOKU was fifth in 36:42. 

In her first ever 10K race ASHLEY JOHNSON won her category and was fourth woman overall in 42 minutes 37 seconds. 

NICK GILL took eight seconds off his 10K personal best finishing in 41 minutes 28 seconds and he was 18 seconds quicker than the same race last year. 

ADRIAN DONNELLY was 13th man in 39:33; MARIE COLUCCI 18th woman in 47:51 and GEORGIE HOOPER was twentieth woman in 48:28. 

Hitchin 10K speedy’s

SHARON CROWLEY ran her first official 10k in a very long time!  She finished in 1 hour 5 minutes 21 seconds.  JIM BROWN improved his St Albans 10K time by exactly one minute when he finished in 56:29.  He said it was great seeing so many Spartans at an event again. 

The 25 Spartans were JONATHAN PARR 34:23; KELVIN BEYIOKU 36:41; ADRIAN DONNELLY 39:33; ROSS GALLACHER 40:19; NICK GILL 41:28; ASHLEY JOHNSON (F) 42:37; MARIE COLUCCI (F) 47:51; GEORGIE HOOPER (F) 48:28; ANDY JAY 50:28; VISH SHAH 50:49; LUKE GURNEY 51:29; ZOE JACKSON (F) 51:43; NIKKI WILBY (F) 51:51; KARK SHREEVE 54:46; SARAH ILLINGWORTH (F) 55:52; STEVE PIKE 55:54; JIM BROWN 56:29; MONICA SMITHSON (F) 1:02:01; CHRISTINE ZVEREV (F) 1:03:27; NICOLA PATTMAN (F) 1:04:13; STEVEN DOBNER 1:04:14; SHARON CROWLEY (F) 1:05:21; JONATHAN JONES 1:09:38; DZENANA TOPIC (F) 1:10:10 and SAMANTHA SUTTON (F) 1:12:40. 

Lots of stripes at the Hitchin 10K

Milton Keynes Sub Four and PBs (Personal Bests for Hazel and Rob) 

TIM ROBINSON and HAZEL SMITH ran the Milton Keynes marathon which was hotter than expected and had some sneaky hills towards the end. 
Both were very pleased with their times, Tim 4:35:22 and Hazel 3 hours 59 minutes 40 seconds.  It was a massive PB (personal best) of around 24 minutes from Hazel’s last marathon in October.  Hazel says that joining the Spartans peak performance group and following the training plan from Steffan Ford has improved her overall fitness and pace.  Hazel was over the moon to dip under 4 hours for the first time ever. 

Our amazing Hazel and superb Tim!

Also TRICIA HOPPER, KAREN LIDDLE and BARRY KING ran and completed the Milton Keynes Marathon.  As with many people/runners this was their first marathon since Covid. 

Tricia Hopper ran the 26.2 miles in 4:28:30, this was her 87th marathon. 

Karen and Barry ran together in 5.55.34.  Karen has now completed 76 marathons and Barry 56. 

Happy Spartans pleased to be back racing again.

Spartan ROB WRIGHT ran a new personal best (PB) of 1:35:31 at the Milton Keynes Half Marathon 2022. 

Rob being very cool with his medal.

Belfast 

CATHY CRAIG ran the Belfast Marathon on a cold dull day. 
All went well until around mile 17 when she was a bit sick and the queasiness never really left her.  Still, she managed a watch time of 5:29:47, which was just within her second target time of 5:30. 

This lady never ceases to amaze us!

Vitality London 10k 

DEBBIE BLANTERN ran the Vitality London 10K, her first race since December 2019. She was super happy with her time of 58 minutes 41 seconds. 

She said this will give her a big confidence boost to get more races booked this year. 

Having run the Hitchin 10K in 1:12:40 on Sunday SAMANTHA SUTTON ran the Vitality 10000 in a time of 1 hour 11 minutes 55 seconds. 

Also in the London 10000 CHARLIE WHITE ran a new personal best (PB) of 38 minutes 46 seconds and ANNABELLE WHITE a “pregnant best” of 55:41. 

A well earned medal by Debbie!

Serpentine 

JIM BROWN was at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K.  Some amazing runners show up for these lunch-time races.  Jim was 146th out of 166 with 27 minutes 46 seconds.  Slowly knocking off a few seconds since coming back from illness.  It was dry but cold and breezy. 

Good News for YUKO 

YUKO GORDON is out of action at the moment but received some good news from British Masters last week.  Her half marathon record has been ratified as a new British record for women over 70. 

She ran a gun time of 1:40:02 (chip time 1:39:58) at Bedford on 27th March this year.  Yuko did run 1:37:50 last summer but it was a chip time (and not ratified) as a gun time was not available with Covid restrictions.  The previous record was 1:40:43 (chip time 1:40:33) held by Angela Copson. 

Parkrun Highlights 30th April 

First Spartan home at Stevenage parkrun was TONY RANDFIELD on his 98th parkrun in 20.59.  

SAM SIMMONS took a trip to Bedford and ran 25:51 on his first outing there.  Sam may have clocked the longest “parkrun” this week running just over 16 miles with parkrun included. 

A parkrun “first timer” event for JAMES MCSWEENEY at Letchworth (25:55)   

MIKE REYNOLDS was at Panshanger (25:12) and ED HARE was at Lee on the Solent (23:25).  DARRYL STEVENS was at Brockenhurst running 45.34. 

Stevenage Parkrunners.

Other parkrun results are below. 

Stevenage parkrun 

A total of 225 runners took part. 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
12 11 Tony RANDFIELD 00:20:59 
16 15 Thomas SAUKA 00:21:15 
33 29 Matt CLARKE 00:23:14 
92 75 Nick KLEANTHOUS 00:27:06 
106 20 Claire EMMERSON 00:27:57 
110 87 Jim BROWN 00:28:05 
111 22 Debbie BLANTERN 00:28:08 
112 88 Steven DOBNER 00:28:08 
116 24 Mo WARRILLOW 00:28:21 
117 91 David PATTMAN 00:28:22 
131 34 Fiona CLARKE 00:29:37 
165 49 Caroline CROFT 00:32:01 
182 56 Samantha SUTTON 00:35:06 

Tables. 

Spartans at the Hitchin 10K. 

Pos Cat MF BiB Name Category Time Chip Grade Comments 
2 1 2 435 Jonathan PARR MV30 34:24 34:23 79.5% 2nd overall.  1st M30. 
5 2 4 48 Kelvin BEYIOKU M20 36:42 36:41 72.8% 5th overall.  2nd M20. 
13 5 12 159 Adrian DONNELLY MV40 39:38 39:33 71.5%  
23 11 22 228 Ross GALLAGHER MV30 40:23 40:19 67.7%  
35 17 34 204 Nick GILL MV30 41:33 41:28 64.5% PB 
42 1 4 203 Ashley JOHNSON FV40 42:42 42:37 74.1% Winner F40.  4th woman. 
117 4 18 116 Marie COLUCCI FV40 48:05 47:51 66.8%  
125 9 20 270 Georgie HOOPER FV30 48:35 48:28 62.8%  
167 16 139 629 Andy JAY MV50 50:43 50:28 63.5%  
172 66 143 579 Vishal SHAH MV30 51:03 50:49 53.2%  
187 68 156 221 Luke GURNEY MV30 51:57 51:29 51.4%  
191 14 33 284 Zoe JACKSON FV30 52:12 51:43 59.5%  
195 15 36 603 Nikki WILBY FV30 52:20 51:51 58.7%  
259 34 201 524 Karl SHREEVE MV50 55:26 54:46 56.0%  
283 7 70 281 Sarah ILLINGWORTH FV50 56:33 55:52 61.3%  
286 6 215 448 Stephen PIKE MV60 56:35 55:54 59.6%  
303 8 224 70 Jim BROWN MV60 57:03 56:29 62.6% PCPB 
401 16 132 541 Monica SMITHSON FV50 1:02:46 1:02:01 58.7%  
413 52 140 625 Christine ZVEREV FV30 1:03:55 1:03:27 48.3%  
432 56 155 436 Nicola PATTMAN FV40 1:05:02 1:04:13 49.0%  
433 86 278 157 Steven DOBNER MV40 1:05:03 1:04:14 45.4%  
446 7 167 128 Sharon CROWLEY FV60 1:06:06 1:05:21 61.3%  
471 52 287 294 Jonathan JONES MV50 1:10:23 1:09:38 45.3%  
476 32 186 573 Dzenana TOPIC FV50 1:10:55 1:10:10 51.3%  
488 69 193 560 Samantha SUTTON FV40 1:13:28 1:12:40 45.0%  

518 finishers.  25 Spartans.