London Marathon

SMILES, MEDALS & ACHIEVEMENTS IN LONDON!

What a fantastic day for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the London Marathon. Two Spartans under 2 hours 40 minutes – that’s championship level, a third close to a world record, 17 runners and 44 helpers.

ANDREW PATTERSON and SIMON FRASER both swept under 2 hours 40 minutes with Andrew 505^th out of about 50,000 finishers in 2 hours 38 minutes 37 seconds and Simon 545^th in a tremendous new personal best (PB) by 7 minutes 15 seconds with 2:39:10.

YUKO GORDON won her age group by more than 35 minutes and came close to a world record for a woman aged 70 plus with 3 hours 28 minutes 20 seconds (3:28:20).

Andrew and Yuko looking relaxed after smashing 26.2 miles!

Spartan TANYA BRAZIER took exactly 29 minutes off her marathon personal best when she finished in 4 hours 10 minutes 1 second and FIONA CLARKE took 8:47 off hers with 4:21:00.

Three were running their first marathons – CHARLOTTE BRAZIER with 4:30:26; SAM MAIDENS with 4:32:57; and MICHAEL O’KEEFE with 4:34:10.

There were season’s bests by CHRIS HOLLAND 4:44:36; TRUDIE KING 5:15:17; BARRY KING 5:38:07 and MARIA THORNE 5:43:41.

JIM BROWN could be running next year as he qualified Good For Age with 4 hours 50 minutes 5 seconds (4:50:05).

MIKE JEFFS completed his second marathon at London with 3 hours 29 minutes 22 seconds. He said it was tough work but the atmosphere and crowd got him over the line.

An eighteenth Spartan ROBERT WRIGHT ran the London Marathon virtually in 4:24:52.

The Spartans organised a huge number of volunteers to provide helpers on three baggage lorries just after the finish on The Mall. Something FVS have done very efficiently for many years and vital so that runners get their kit back after their 26.2 miles.

Boston Marathon

Spartan PETE SMITH ran the 127^th Boston Marathon the 17th April in 3 hours 35 minutes 20 seconds (3:35:20). He said it was a hilly course and now knows why it’s called Heartbreak Hill! It was a tad wet but he thoroughly enjoyed it!

Centurion Track 100

On Saturday, Spartan CIARAN MCANENY competed in the Centurion Track 100 mile race at Bedford Athletics Stadium.

This is an IAU Gold elite level event, designed for runners to compete under the fastest possible conditions and with a focus on record setting. The main focus is on the 100 mile distance, but official records are also taken at 50km, 50 mile, 100km, 6hr and 12hrs en-route.

Ciaran was crewed by fellow Spartans Adrian Busolini and Susan McAneny, who gave amazing support for every lap and made sure he was sticking to his pacing and nutrition plan.

The race saw multiple national records fall and a V50 100 mile World Record set. Amongst all of this, Ciaran set a PB completing 100 miles in 16:17:20 (including a 100km PB of 9:25:32 and a 12hr PB of 124.226km).

Ciaran and his support crew! What an amazing run!

Endurance Pembrokeshire Half

Spartan NICK GILL ran the Pembrokeshire Half in Wales on the 22nd April. It is part of the Endurancelife coastal trail series.

The route goes along the stunning Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Nick said that he really wanted to enjoy it so wasn’t pushing too hard, but had a great second half and somehow ended up finishing 7th out of 180 finishers in 1:52:14!

Parkrun Highlights

For the consolidated results please click the link – Consolidated Parkrun Results 22nd April 2023

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