Hyde Park 5k

Buntingford Ten

ROSS GALLAGHER was fastest of the seven from Fairlands with 63 minutes 58 seconds and 34^th out of the 437 who finished. Next came PAUL HEWETT 56^th in 66:51; then MARCUS RIDLEY in 84:12.

DANNY SCANLON ran the soggy but well organised Buntingford 10 on Friday. He finished in a time of 1hour 11 minutes which was exactly 3 minutes faster than his last visit in 2018!

Position	BiB	Name	Category	Category Position	Time
34	216	Ross Gallagher	MV35	5/26	1:03:58
56	272	Paul Hewett	MV35	8/26	1:06:51
77	490	Danny Scanlon	MV40	13/43	1:11:00
197	468	Marcus Ridley	MSEN	37/47	1:24:12
299	286	Tricia Hopper	FV55	14/32	1:34:58
418	154	Sharon Crowley	FV60	9/9	1:57:07
424	281	Paul Holgate	MV65	10/11	2:01:45

Witham Boxing Day Five

It was a last minute decision to run but Fairlands Valley Spartans YUKO GORDON won her category at the Boxing Day Five in Witham, Essex. Her time of 37 minutes 1 second placed her 100^th out of the 321 finishers.

Yuko said she just decided to run the race late on Christmas Day. She had run the race once before and responded to a reminder from the organisers. Without much running for a whole week she expected her fresh legs would do a good run. It was a sunny morning and the course was a quiet and beautiful on a rural undulating road. Yuko finished in 37:01 and 1st in 70-99 age category (they classified her as such, together with 99!)

Hyde Park 5k

JIM BROWN enjoyed the last Friday 5K of the year in Hyde Park which he ran in 28 minutes 5 seconds. He was 161 out of the 192 finishers.

Serpentine organise a 5K at the end of every month and Jim finished the event every month in 2022 – 12 out of 12.

Ely 10k

PAUL HOLGATE ran the last competitive race of 2022 on New Years Eve. He finished in 69 minutes 46 seconds.

Flitch Way Marathon

TIM ROBINSON ran the Flitch Way Marathon on New Years Eve. The marathon started in Felsted, Essex and followed the Flitch Way disused railway line. It first went east with a turn around at 4.5 miles and then west with a turn aroud at 16.6 miles. As usual for a winter trail Marathon, there was wind, rain and mud, but the route was fairly sheltered. Tim reached the 16.5 mile turnaround check point in around 3 hours and completed in 5:20:13, 46th overall and 6th in age. 

Parkruns – Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day

Christmas Eve

There were milestone runs for Claire EMMERSON and Hazel SMITH. Claire finished her 100th event in 38:10. Hazel her 50th time in 38 minutes and 10 seconds (38:10).

For the full results please click the link – Christmas Eve Parkrun Results

Claire and Hazel celebrating their milestones

On Christmas Day, Andrew PATTERSON won the race. He was the first to finish the Stevenage course in a parkrun PB time of 17 minutes and 7 seconds. Georgie HOOPER ran her 50th parkrun event in 28 minutes and 11 seconds.

At Lee-on-Solent, Sharon FLAHERTY ran a parkrun PB time of 36 minutes and 2 seconds.

For the full results please click the link – Christmas Day Round Up

New Years Day

PAUL HOLGATE was running his 50^th parkrun which he finished in 34 minutes 51 seconds.

For the full results please click the link – New Years Eve Parkrun Results

For the full results please click the link – New Years Day Round Up

SPARTANS WOW AT LONDON

Three Fairlands Valley Spartans beat the three hour barrier at Sunday’s London Marathon. ANDREW PATTERSON was 274^th out of more than 40,000 in just 2 hours 38 minutes 29 seconds and SIMON JACKSON also in the top 1,000 at 591^st in 2:46:18. The Spartans third sub three was ADRIAN BUSOLINI in 2:58:38.

Stuart and Adrian with their medals and goody bags!

The amazing YUKO GORDON won her age group, women 70 plus, in 3 hours 31 minutes 54 seconds.

Meanwhile ROBERT WRIGHT, dressed as a chicken, went round in 4:15:10.

ASHLEY KING finished in 4:19:54. ZOE JACKSON said that she received her place through a work ballot mid-July so she managed to condense a 16 week training plan into 12 weeks and went for it! Luckily her training went well with the help of some lovely Spartans and she stuck to the plan with no major injuries. Her target was to run it in 4 and a half hours. On the day everything came together, including the weather and the crowd were like nothing she’d ever experienced! She struggled after Canary Wharf but knew she had to keep going to get her target time. She realised at mile 25 that she had 14 minutes to spare and had plenty of time, but in her tired state completely forgot about the extra 0.2 mile at the end. The last half a mile was a push but she ran as quickly as she could and finished in a time of 4:29:08. It was such an amazing feeling crossing the finish line and great to see all the friendly Spartans faces at the end on the lorries!

Robert, Zoe, Cathy, Mark and Yuko with her name on the wall of fame at the expo!

Dozens of other Spartans volunteered to help in Pall Mall on the “baggage buses” – getting kit back to runners as they finished.

Here are the Spartan finishers:

Position	Name	Time	Comments
274	ANDREW PATTERSON	2:38:29
591	SIMON JACKSON	2:46:18
1689	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	2:58:38
3228	STUART HAYCROFT	3:13:39
6070	YUKO GORDON	3:31:54	1^st in age group
16383	ROBERT WRIGHT	4:15:10	Chicken
17517	ASHLEY KING	4:19:54
19956	ZOE JACKSON	4:29:08
28591	MARK MACDONALD	5:06:31
29582	GAVIN DAVIES	5:11:31
31606	KIM MARTIN (F)	5:22:37
36808	CATHERINE CRAIG	6:02:29
40391	KARL SHREEVE	7:53:17

In addition GERRY ROSEN (7:28:16) ran the London Marathon virtually.

Dorney Lakes Marathon

Spartan JIM BROWN did not have a place in the London Marathon and did not fully prepare but made a last limit decision to enter the Dorney Lakes Marathon which was on the same day. Jim ran well, all things considered to 22 miles, but then, not surprising, it became a grind to the finish. With 4 hours 32 minutes 51 seconds he was second in his age group, and this is important, he kept on target for a Good For Age qualifying time which he achieved with 27 minutes 9 seconds to spare and just in time for the midnight deadline.

Clarendon Way Off Road Marathon

DARRYL STEVENS completed the Clarendon Way Off Road Marathon in 7 hours 30 minutes 56 seconds.

Hyde Park 5K

Runners were very lucky to enjoy dry, mild but blustery conditions for the Serpentine Last Friday 5K before the downpour began.

JIM BROWN ran his fastest 5K this year with 26 minutes 20 seconds, more than a minute faster than the previous month and good enough for second in category.

The Serpentine race celebrates its thirtieth year on Friday 28^th October.

Parkrun – 1st October 2022

To view the consolidated Parkrun report for the weekend please click this link – Parkrun Results 02.10.2022