Fairlands Valley Spartans get around. They were represented at three marathons – Brighton, Paris and Boston; a half marathon – London Landmarks; and two 10Ks – Guernsey and Flitwick – recently.
Coming Close at the Paris Marathon
MARTIN JACOB and LINDA GEORGE ran the Paris Marathon on Sunday and are super happy with the results.
Linda finished in 4:06:08 and Martin in 4:06:13.
Sub-4 was Linda’s A goal / dream goal, but with flu during marathon week, she wasn’t very hopeful. 4:05 became the next target, and she got pretty close to it. Martin was her pacer and water boy (as the water stations didn’t have bottles or cups, he was responsible for filling the flask and catching up with me).
The second half was absolute madness – lots of tunnels, uphills, and narrow running space with spectators spilling onto the course.
All in all, a tough but memorable race!
Brighton
Five Fairlands Valley Spartans were among about 14,000 runners who finished the Brighton Marathon. SHAUNA LAWLESS was 72nd out of the 9,213 women in a great time of 3 hours 24 minutes 58 seconds. She was in the top ten per cent of all finishers.
BECKY RAYNER slipped under five hours with 4:59:36; LLOYD DIAS was close with 5:01:23 and HANNAH MANTON came in with 6:21:36.
Becky said it was a PB for her at Brighton marathon, 4:59:36. It was my first time doing this marathon, fantastic support all round the course and hit my target of under 5 hours. So happy.
LUCY PAUL had a great day running the Brighton marathon with her two eldest children. She was helping Holly round her first ever marathon and we finished in 5 hours 42 minutes (5:42:33). Lovely day for running by the sea!
Boston Fastest For Years
Spartans tackled the flat but rather windy Boston UK Marathon. Advertised as the flattest marathon in the UK. SHARON CROWLEY finished in 4 hours 48 minutes 17 seconds and was first in her age group! Sharon thinks it was her fastest marathon in 16 years.
TONY VICKERS ran the marathon in 4:23:11 and AMANDA VICKERS the half marathon in 2:39:29. There were 1020 finishers of the full marathon and 487 of the half.
London Landmarks
Not really “tapering” but JIM BROWN was happy to run the London Landmarks Half Marathon to raise funds for the Stevenage Community Trust. He was 7,237th out of the 19,870 finishers in 2 hours 6 minutes 54 seconds.
He said it was quite a complex course with a lot of switch backs and zig zags but it visited many of the sights of London including Downing Street, the Tower of London and Trafalgar Square.
The timing was superb. Finished in sunshine, collected kit from a double decker bus, then heavy cold rain a retreat to a nearby warm café. Next Jim is down to run the Manchester Marathon only seven days later. That, said Jim, could be a struggle. Donations still welcome!
Flitwick
Not travelling quite so far as some other members, nor doing the distance but CHARLES ARNOLD ran the Flitwick 10k put on by Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers. An undulating course with steep uphills at km 7 and 8 but a lovely decline finish past spectators who were out in force as usual. Intermittent sunshine with a gusting, cool wind made for difficult conditions. Suffering with a knee problem which, thankfully, eased off after the first km, he was pleased to finish sub 50 minutes with a chip time of 49:22 and second in his age category.
Judy in Guernsey
JUDY KING ran the Guernsey Easter Running Festival 10K in 1:02:37
Not a personal best but she went on to run another 10 miles for her long run before the London Marathon, followed by a 30 minute sea swim to cool off her tired legs! It was mostly around the coast with beautiful views and lovely to run with her sister.
Bedfordshire – Feisty Phoenix
LEE POTTER covered 16.4 miles in the Bedford Feisty Phoenix event. He said he hit a wall but it was an improvement on the half marathon distance.
Less Than Five Minutes
At the opposite end of the distance scale SIMON JACKSON was fourth overall and first over 20 years in the Peter Lee Memorial 1500 metres at Ridlins with a time of 4 minutes 38.4 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights
Two parkrun milestones for Spartans at Stevenage. 50 parkruns for MATT TUTTON and MAURICE BALLARD. Matt finished in 29:29 and Maurice in 30:08. And there were new parkrun personal bests (PPB) for LEE POTTER 33:36 and ANDREW JORDAN 26:09.
CLAIRE EMMERSON was the fastest female from Spartans with her 27:13 and JAY PAPA fourth fastest in the event with 18:30.
There were 496 finishers at Stevenage’s parkrun including 32 Spartans despite many other running attractions over the weekend.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 4 | 4 | Jay PAPA | 18:30 |
| 23 | 22 | Steve WELLS | 21:24 |
| 42 | 40 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 22:30 |
| 67 | 62 | Matthew COOKE | 23:55 |
| 90 | 79 | Daniel VILJOEN | 24:52 |
| 102 | 88 | Paul MAGUIRE | 25:12 |
| 116 | 100 | Martin DUDLEY | 25:53 |
| 127 | 110 | Andrew JORDAN | 26:09 |
| 170 | 31 | Claire EMMERSON | 27:13 |
| 183 | 143 | Darren EMMERSON | 27:48 |
| 193 | 150 | Brian WHITE | 28:07 |
| 204 | 41 | Sarah ILLINGWORTH | 28:32 |
| 205 | 158 | Ryan DUNNING | 28:36 |
| 217 | 46 | Alison SHELLEY | 29:00 |
| 233 | 175 | Matt TUTTON | 29:29 |
| 250 | 184 | Maurice BALLARD | 30:08 |
| 256 | 61 | Monica SMITHSON | 30:22 |
| 257 | 62 | Lindsay PATEMAN | 30:25 |
| 288 | 205 | Steve PLATT | 31:37 |
| 292 | 78 | Fiona CLARKE | 31:44 |
| 309 | 87 | Debbie BLANTERN | 32:17 |
| 313 | 215 | Jim BROWN | 32:24 |
| 326 | 94 | Penny SCHENKEL | 32:38 |
| 332 | 97 | Annabelle WHITE | 32:45 |
| 334 | 99 | Pamela VILJOEN | 32:46 |
| 341 | 228 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 32:55 |
| 357 | 110 | Caroline CROFT | 33:29 |
| 361 | 235 | Lee POTTER | 33:36 |
| 365 | 236 | Stephen SMITHSON | 33:49 |
| 386 | 130 | Karen PALMER | 34:45 |
| 425 | 254 | Paul SHELLEY | 38:02 |
| 440 | 163 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 39:39 |
