Hitchin 5k
Nine Spartans raced round Hitchin in the town’s 5K race. Only a week after running a fast time in the London Marathon it was won by FVS own ANDREW PATTERSON in 16 minutes 2 seconds.
HARRIET SMITH was the second woman 20 plus and fastest female from Fairlands in 23 minutes 51 seconds.
ADRIAN DONNELLY was 15th in 20:01. The other Spartans were SAM SIMMONS 21:06; MARC RIDLEY 23:06; DAVID KENNEDY 23:23 NICK KLEANTHOUS 26:54; MATT TUTTON 27:24 and MONICA SMITHSON 30:32. There were 228 finishers.
Willow 10K
Spartans DANNY SCANLON, JIM BROWN and JUDY KING made the short trip to Hatfield for a 10K race. This was a friendly multi-terrain charity event for the Willow Foundation in the picturesque grounds of Hatfield House. Danny was 10th in 44 minutes 3 seconds, Jim finished 60th in 55:37 and Judy came in 184th with 1:16:10. There were 211 finishers. Judy said her run has really boosted her confidence for future races including the Great South Run (10 miles) and the Stevenage Half Marathon on 6th November. Willow organises special days for seriously ill young adults.
Royal Parks Half
CRAIG BACON finished the Royal Parks Half Marathon in less than 1 hour 40 minutes with 1:39:23.
VISHAL SHAH did the run round London in 2:13:52 and CALLIE CHAPMAN finished in 2:47:19.
Chicago Marathon
Spartans DUNCAN FLOUNDERS and ROSS GALLAGHER were in Chicago for the marathon. Duncan ran a couple of events for the first time in a long time this weekend.
He finished the Chicago 5K in 26 minutes 29 seconds (26:29) and then the full Chicago Marathon in 3 hours 53 minutes 14 seconds (3:53:14).
Duncan said, “The marathon was an awesome experience despite being two years late. Crowds lined the course for pretty much every step of the way and they were all amazing. The whole city heats up for this for days beforehand and it didn’t disappoint. Lots of fun, the inevitable pain around 30k but managed to work through that and actually enjoyed the last few kilometres. Great event.
ROSS GALLAGHER completed the Chicago marathon in a time of 3:08:43.
Target was a sub 3:10 so he was delighted to walk away with 3:08 and a 15 minute PB from London 2022.
Ross said, “After a chilly start the sun came up for what were perfect running conditions. Great crowd and support which were particularly needed for the last three miles ‘these felt much longer than just a park run’.
Tring Ridgeway Run
On Sunday 9th October Tim Robinson ran the 40th Tring Ridgeway Run. A 15km trail run in the Chilterns organised by Tring Running Club who organise several very good races throughout the year in the Chiltern Hills. The race starts in Tring and heads up to the Bridgwater Monument on the Ashridge Estate before winding through the woods down to Steps Hill and over Pitstone Hill back to Tring for a total ascent of around 750ft. The ascent to the Bridgewater Monument was fairly steady going but once into the woods the constant up and down meant several walk breaks and there was a strong headwind on Pitstone Hill despite the sun. Tim took advantage of the long downhills to make up for lost time and finished 256th in a time of 1:35:45.
Maverick Lincolnshire
JANE WHITROW and her dog Rufus had a day trip out to do a 10k…actually a 10.5k Canicross run at the beautiful Grimsthorpe Castle park. It was the first Maverick event for them – they loved it and the alcohol free cold beer at the finish was very welcome!
Official time was 1 hour 17 minutes on a beautiful and “undulating” course.
Parkrun
For all the Spartan Parkrun results from the 8th October 2022 please click the link – Parkrun Consolidated Results 8th October