Fairlands Valley Spartans brought home GOLD and BRONZE medals from Sunday’s County 20 mile championships.
SIMON JACKSON flew around the four lap Hillingdon course in 2 hours 2 minutes 8 seconds for the Hertfordshire County Bronze for men 40 plus.
JIM BROWN had a hard time of it in the second half with the trippy pavements, kerbs and generally not being in a good place but persisted getting a terrible time of 4:04:58 but holding on to win County Gold for men 70 plus. He said seventy smiling marshals helped get home round and certainly, in minutes per pound, he got good value for his entry fee.
Barcelona Marathon
Kristian ATANASOV ran a fantastic sub three race at the Barcelona Marathon. He finished in 2 hours 51 minutes 57 seconds (2:51:57).
Wymondham
Today Carol Paul ran the Wymondham 20 in Norfolk, just to the south/west of Norwich.
The race started in the Town and went 2 miles out of town through the country lanes where the competitors completed a 8 mile loop twice and then back to Wymondham. The course was undulating with a big hill in the last mile. Conditions were quite humid and Carol finished in 3:28:26, 5th in her age group F60-64 and 382nd out of 462. The race was really well organised with loads of marshals.
Twin Lakes
BRIAN WHITE ran the Twin Lakes 20 in 2 hours 42 minutes 1 second (2:42:01). He was 87th out of the 572 finishers in the multi-terrain event.
Ashridge Sam
It was a first time for SAM TOPHILL at the Ashridge Boundary Run. She said it was not her usual running terrain !! – but she went round the 17.5 miles in 3:09:06.
TIM ROBINSON finished in 3:54:31. The off road course with 1600ft of ascent took in Ivinghoe Beacon and a section of stairs through the woods! Was a tough run with most of the trails dried out, exposed tree roots, and heavily rutted tracks. The prize for completion was the traditional Beanie.
Classic Cross Country
Spartan MATTHEW NEWTON ran the classic cross country Orion 15 in the Epping Forest near Chingford. He finished in 2 hours 33 minutes 38 seconds.
Lee Valley PB Matt
On Sunday morning, MATT TUTTON ran the 10K at the Lee Valley Run Fest with a few other Spartans. It was a flat course starting and finishing at the Olympic White-Water centre venturing through the Lee Valley Country Park. Conditions were decent and he managed a chip time of 51:37 which is now is new 10k PB. He was very happy to take a chunk of time off my personal best!
DANNY SCANLON ran the same race in 44:57.Two Spartans ran the ATW Run Fest Half Marathon. SIMON HAIGH with 1:43:30 and MARTIN HAIGH with 2:09:28.
Preparing for Spring Events
42 Spartans took part in the FVS club 5, 10, 15 and 20 mile training runs on Sunday.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 22nd March
A total of 498 parkrunners were at the 393rd Stevenage parkrun and despite it being the start of a very busy weekend 23 were Spartans. SIMON JACKSON was third in 18 minutes 30 seconds (18:30). He was running his 60th parkrun.
Altogether 40 Spartans were at parkruns across the country.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 3 | 3 | Simon JACKSON | 18:30 |
| 11 | 10 | Grant RAMSAY | 19:46 |
| 27 | 23 | Tony RANDFIELD | 21:34 |
| 37 | 29 | Matthew COOKE | 22:21 |
| 67 | 53 | Martin JACOB | 23:33 |
| 85 | 66 | Daniel VILJOEN | 24:15 |
| 161 | 118 | Darren EMMERSON | 26:46 |
| 172 | 125 | Matt CLARKE | 26:56 |
| 177 | 128 | Ryan DUNNING | 27:05 |
| 184 | 132 | Mark BEASLEY | 27:14 |
| 217 | 150 | Jim BROWN | 28:26 |
| 237 | 48 | Fiona CLARKE | 28:56 |
| 241 | 163 | Peter SACH | 29:01 |
| 252 | 53 | Claire EMMERSON | 29:17 |
| 254 | 168 | Paul JENNINGS | 29:19 |
| 313 | 193 | Steve PLATT | 30:41 |
| 336 | 91 | Debbie BLANTERN | 31:36 |
| 368 | 224 | Kartik SHARMA | 33:18 |
| 392 | 109 | Pamela VILJOEN | 34:48 |
| 420 | 125 | Chloe CHAPMAN | 36:12 |
| 421 | 126 | Nicola HATHERLY | 36:16 |
| 451 | 143 | Hannah MANTON | 38:49 |
| 488 | 261 | Roger BIGGS | 47:05 |