Baldock Beast Half Marathon
It was brutal for the beast on Sunday. Fairlands Valley Spartans NEIL ROBINSON, KAREN ELLIS, TIM ROBINSON, MICHAEL O’KEEFE, TRISH HOPPER and KAREN LIDDLE ran the Baldock Beast half marathon.
Weather conditions were terrible with a yellow warning issue by the Met office, the organisers were considering cancelling the event but the forecast was for it to clear at around 11am and with five minutes to go, the runners were called to the start line.
The first mile and a half are up hill and the runners were exposed to horizontal rain and high winds, with ankle deep water, but once over the brow of the hill and into Wallington the conditions improved and running was easier.
Tim still had the Beachy Head Marathon in his legs and adopted a strategy of walking up the steep hills.
The last couple of miles the sun came out and the rain stopped but the wind still made running very difficult.
Tim said it was another superbly organised event by local runners.
Neil Robinson was first back for the Spartans with 1 hour 58 minutes 58 seconds. The first female from Fairlands was Karen Ellis in 2:05:23. Tim Robinson came in with 2:07:35 and Michael O’Keefe with 2:20:28. Tricia Hopper and Karen Liddle finished together in 2:31:47 and 2:31:48. Not a race for personal bests!
| Place | Name | Category | Chip Time | Grading |
| 119 | NEIL ROBINSON | MV40 | 1:58:58 | 51.60 |
| 150 | KAREN ELLIS | FV45 | 2:05:23 | 60.75 |
| 160 | TIM ROBINSON | MV50 | 2:07:35 | 52.38 |
| 191 | MICHAEL O’KEEFE | MV50 | 2:20:28 | 49.67 |
| 211 | TRICIA HOPPER | FV45 | 2:31:47 | 50.75 |
| 212 | KAREN LIDDLE | FV55+ | 2:31:48 | 55.85 |
Lulworth Cove Marathon – and a bit
“Actually the hardest things I’ve ever done” said WENDY THARANI about Sunday’s Lulworth Cove Marathon. This was off road either going steeply uphill or steeply downhill for almost 30 miles. She said there was typical coastal changeable weather weather but some lovely sunshine and stunning scenery including Lulworth’s Cove and Durdle Door. Wendy completed the 29.41 miles in 8 hours 58 minutes 20 seconds.
Serpentine
There were two Spartans at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park.
Spartan YUKO GORDON scored the highest age graded score in the race 94.2% with 22 minutes 25 seconds.
The fastest woman raced round in 18:28. She was an FV50 but that ONLY scored 93.5%.
The fastest man went round in 15:26 but that was only good enough for 85.5%.
The Last Friday 5K can be an amazing event at the top end but also a great way to spend a Friday lunch-time. Of course several went for coffee in the Serpentine Kitchen afterwards.
Conditions were described by the organisers as mild, dry but wet underfoot and windy.
Compared with recently JIM BROWN made a marginal gain of seven seconds to finish with 26 minutes 44 seconds. A bit disappointing but his quickest “real” 5K for a long time (real in the sense of an accurately measured and properly timed race with other people).
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 75 | YUKO GORDON | 22:25 | Best age graded |
| 115 | JIM BROWN | 26:44 | Seven second improvement |
Two Weeks To Go! Here Comes The Stevenage Half! It’s on 21st November.
Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons? Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open. This year the race is a couple of weeks later than usual.
Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open but are going fast! To make sure that you secure your place visit the following link to enter the race! Go to https://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/
Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 30th October 2021
Twenty two Spartans headed out to run at seven different Parkrun venues on Saturday.
Congratulations to JONATHAN PARR who came first at Stevenage with a time of 17 minutes 7 seconds. This was Jonathan’s 16th win. He is currently at third place for the most first place finishes at Stevenage.
There were four other top ten gender positions this week with GRANT RAMSAY third (19:20, Stevenage), KELLY EVANS 6th (26:34, Erddig, near Wrexham), DAVID PATTMAN 10th (19:58, Gunpowder, Waltham Abbey) and GAIL MACKIE 10th (26:30 , Stevenage).There were no official Parkrun milestones this week but MONICA SMITHSON and BETH FOLEY have both reached an unofficial milestone of 40 Parkruns at Stevenage.Well done and congratulations to all.(You can find all the Spartan parkrun times near the end of this release).
Tables
Spartans at parkrun on Saturday 30th October:
| Position | Gender position | Time | Comments | |
| Stevenage parkrun | ||||
| 1 | 1 | Jonathan PARR | 17:07 | |
| 3 | 3 | Grant RAMSAY | 19:20 | |
| 17 | 17 | Thomas SAUKA | 21:38 | |
| 28 | 28 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 23:06 | |
| 35 | 33 | Andrew MCGUINNESS | 23:37 | |
| 78 | 10 | Gail MACKIE | 26:30 | |
| 79 | 11 | Ashley SCHOENWETTER | 26:30 | |
| 111 | 87 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 28:41 | |
| 140 | 31 | Monica SMITHSON | 30:15 | 40th |
| 154 | 39 | Caroline CROFT | 31:28 | |
| 178 | 53 | Beth FOLEY | 34:07 | 40th |
| Gunpowder parkrun | ||||
| 11 | 10 | David PATTMAN | 19:58 | |
| 74 | 22 | Nicola PATTMAN | 28:16 | |
| Houghton Hall parkrun | ||||
| 73 | 51 | Michael O’KEEFE | 28:36 | |
| Erddig parkrun (Wrexham) | ||||
| 46 | 6 | Kelly EVANS | 26:34 | |
| Higginson parkrun, Marlow | ||||
| 76 | 20 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 33:34 | |
| The Great Field parkrun | ||||
| 336 | 174 | Darryl STEVENS | 41:26 | |
| Westmill parkrun | ||||
| 19 | 16 | Andy JAY | 25:37 | |
| Ferry Meadows parkrun | ||||
| 75 | 61 | Steve WELLS | 23:44 |