London Landmarks Half Marathon

SPARTANS TAKE ON BERLIN, BRIGHTON AND LONDON

Fairlands Valley Spartans ALEX SCOFIELD and JOE WASNOCK smashed their first marathons on Sunday at Brighton and both finished in 4:53, with Joe around 40 seconds behind Alex. They ran together for 23 miles. Their official times were Alex 4:53:00 and Joe 4:53:31.

TRICIA HOPPER ran the Brighton Marathon in 4 hours 59 minutes 39 seconds.

Berlin

SUE HAMER did Berlin half marathon on Sunday, the second of her super-half marathons, and got a personal best (PB) of 1:58:08, shaving 1 minute 50 seconds off her last PB at Bedford…

A great race, perfect conditions and a very enjoyable race

London Landmarks

Unfortunately the London Landmarks half marathon was about 700 metres short due to an incident that delayed the start. The 15-minute delay in the start time was due to a military wreath-laying ceremony near the traditional finish line exit, requiring a course reconfiguration and a 700-metre reduction in length.

Spartan times for the approximately 20.4 kilometre race included: Danielle Ally: 1:58:55, Harry Newberry: 2:07:22 and Olivia Nation 2:08:09.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 5^th April

Over 500 parkrunners again at Stevenage parkrun on Saturday morning and the fastest runner was from Fairlands Valley Spartans. This was the Spartans stripey Saturday and 36 from the club were running the 5K. A great number considering how many Spartans were at other events over the weekend.

JESSICA CLARKE was the red caped crusader as she completed her major milestone of 50 parkruns. She finished in 29 minutes 55 seconds.

Spartan SIMON JACKSON was first of the 511 parkrunners at Saturday’s 395^th parkrun in Stevenage.

Eight Spartans had an outing to the Great Denham parkrun which CHARLIE WHITE won in 17 minutes 16 seconds. NICK GILL was six out of the 280 runners in 18:44 and ANNABELLE WHITE sixth woman in 23:23.

NICK KLEANTHOUS enjoyed some parkrun tourism with a 31:32 at Penistone. ALISON WOOD ran the Clapham Common parkrun in 21:43. PAUL SHELLEY 27:20 and ALISON SHELLEY 29:02 both ran at Bedford and PAUL JENNINGS had a good run at Barclay (Hoddesdon) with 27:39.

ALAN GOODWIN volunteered at Stevenage for the 100^th time.

Position	Gender Position	FVS parkrunner	Time
1	1	Simon JACKSON	17:13
4	4	David Harris-Cherguit	18:26
12	12	Grant RAMSAY	19:11
31	28	Tony RANDFIELD	21:22
40	37	Matthew COOKE	22:14
64	58	Toby ECCLESHALL	23:13
86	77	Daniel VILJOEN	24:10
89	80	Martin DUDLEY	24:17
123	109	Pete COOK	25:14
124	110	Martin JACOB	25:15
148	123	Darren EMMERSON	25:57
149	124	Ryan DUNNING	26:00
173	147	Lee PICKERSGILL	26:44
175	20	Lorraine HILL	26:49
204	172	Mark BEASLEY	27:30
207	27	Tracy PEZ	27:37
210	175	Andy JAY	27:43
231	40	Claire EMMERSON	28:10
263	204	Kartik SHARMA	28:58
293	221	Steve PLATT	29:50
296	66	Jessica CLARKE	29:55
297	222	Jay PAPA	29:58
311	75	Sharon CROWLEY	30:25
321	79	Penny SCHENKEL	30:43
322	233	Jim BROWN	30:45
336	88	Monica SMITHSON	31:37
349	96	Debbie BLANTERN	32:11
375	109	Pamela VILJOEN	33:27
390	259	Peter SACH	33:58
411	132	Jo MANSFIELD	35:20
419	138	Caroline CROFT	35:59
445	156	Tracy HAYGARTH	38:47
447	157	Jane WADEY	39:05
477	278	Roger BIGGS	45:07
484	179	Nichola DURENT	46:27
501	190	Chloe CHAPMAN	52:14

1500m, BRIGHTON MARATHON AND LLHM!

Six Fairlands Valley Spartans accepted an invitation from Stevenage and North Herts Athletics Club to join them at their open track event.

Spartan SIMON JACKSON won the men’s 1500 metres race at the SNHAC Track Open event at Ridlins on Saturday afternoon. He finished in 4 minutes 38.61 seconds. NICK GILL was next in for Fairlands Valley with 5 minutes 3 seconds exactly.

PETER ORTON came in with 5:49.93; NICK KLEANTHOUS, running his first 1500, with 6:34.47 and JIM BROWN was first in his category with 8:08.62.

In the women’s race JANE WADEY, also running her first 1500, was sixth with 9:12.89.

Jane said that it was her first attempt at 1500m and although it was hard, she was pleased in the end as she managed my best pace yet.

Brighton Marathon Weekend

Spartans STEVE DOBNER and DAVE PATTMAN ran the Brighton Marathon on Sunday.

Steve said it was pretty chilly on arrival but the sun came out to warm the day. Lots of hairpin turns and hillier than they anticipated.

He was really pleased to complete it in 3:47:33 for a 25 minute PB and achieving a sub 4 after struggling for the last 3 or 4 miles.

Dave Pattman came home in 3:52 and said with his sub 4 he is retiring from marathons – well until he runs Beachy Head in October.

Paris Marathon

MIKE JEFFS took part in the Paris marathon on Sunday. He said that the event was incredible, really well supported and organised.

He completed the course in 3:13:18 taking 11 mins off his PB. Leading up to the day he had struggled with his knee but on the day it played ball and he was able to take in the sites and keep a good pace. He now has 3 weeks to rest before doing it all again in London!

Spartan CHRIS WATLING finished the London Landmarks Half Marathon in (what he called) a respectable 1.55:02

He said it’s a race he’s always wanted to do and he thoroughly enjoyed it!

Danny Scanlon finished the Landmarks in 1:30:21.

Sandy 10

CLAIRE PULLEN finished in 1 hour 18 minutes 18 seconds for 84^th place. JIM BROWN and TRICIA HOPPER raced together over the last mile with Jim finishing 172 in 1:31:15 and Tricia 173^rd in 1:31:17. SHARON CROWLEY came in with 1:47:55 and PAUL HOLGATE with 1:49:50.

Serpentine 5k

Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park, London. Spartan JIM BROWN was first man 70 plus in 28 minutes 29 seconds (28:29).

Parkrun Highlights

For all the Spartan Parkrun results from the weekend please click the link – Consolidated Parkrun Results 1st April 2023