There was clapping, eating and dancing on Friday evening as 88 Spartans enjoyed their presentation evening the first that’s been possible for two years.
This was a fantastic celebration of two years of achievements and an opportunity to enjoy each others’ company after so long.
YUKO GORDON’s achievements at national and international level are well known and she is the club’s overall champion for 2021. She scored 96.7% in the short distance championship and 98.9% in the long. She was also voted Spartan of the Year.
SIMON JACKSON won the men’s championship.
As well as 27 awards based on the long and short distance championships the evening recognised the most improved Spartans – SAM SIMMONS and FIONA CLARKE; the Lisa Potter Starter of the Year SUSAN MURPHY and many of the club members whose voluntary efforts have made the club possible over a difficult period. They included WENDY THARANI (Chair’s Award); MARK FREEMAN (President’s Award; PETE SMITH (Head Coach’s Award) and SHARON and MIKE CROWLEY (Captains’ Awards).
A great night at the Cromwell Hotel, Old Stevenage which finished with some very energetic dancing.
(All the presentation evening winners can be found near the end of this release).
Welwyn Half
The Welwyn Half Marathon is a bit of a hybrid with 1.5 miles of trail including some quite slippery sections and narrow footpath and pavement which caused some delays in the busy middle third of the field. However the cold start turned into a pleasant sunny morning with a tailwind finish and there were some massive efforts from the thirteen Spartans.
For a flattish course SUZY HAWKINS was surprised how hard the Welwyn Half Marathon felt with off road sections and narrow bumpy pavements that seemed busy with non runners. She said she was disappointed with her time, but collecting third placed female was nice. Suzy finished in 1 hour 32 minutes 46 seconds (1:32:46).
DAVID HARRIS – CHERGUIT said it was great to see so many smiling Spartans out Sunday morning. He was sixth overall out of the 387 finishers in the race and third man 40 plus with 1 hour 21 minutes 35 seconds.
ANDREW VAUGHAN was second male 50 plus in 1:31:38. ASHLEY KING took a third place in the women 35 plus contest with 1:45:40.
There was a personal best (PB) of 1 hour 37 minutes 59 seconds for ROBERT WRIGHT. A great achievement on a tricky course.
JIM BROWN said it was a good quality Sunday 13 mile training run and although a little disappointed he improved his 2022 half marathon time by ten minutes to 2:02:51.
Thirteen Spartans ran. Others were MIKE JEFFS 1:34:39; JOHN NELMS 1:46:21; MARK GOODWIN 1:47:10; LUKE SILVER 1:54:45; NEIL ROBINSON 2:07:31; SIMON SYPULA 2:17:08 and ELLIE McDERMOTT 2:43:04
(Detailed results for all the Spartans can be found near the end of this release).
Baldock Beast
Six Spartans raced the Baldock Beast Multi-Terrain and Spartan JOHN HARRIS excelled by winning the male 50 plus category with 1 hour 34 minutes 53 seconds. He was 13th out of the 154 finishers.
John said six Spartans tamed the beast, which included 14 hills and 856 feet of ascent. It was definitely a run of two halves with negative splits, on a cold but sunny morning that warmed up during the race. He said he faded over the last mile and was passed by three quicker runners but very happy with a trophy at the end.
NICK GILL came in 25th with 1:40:38 and SUSAN McANENY comfortably beat the two hour barrier with 1:57:45. GEORGIE HOOPER and SUE HAMER came in with 2:04:49 and 2:11:47.
Despite running the National Cross Country the previous day TIM ROBINSON went round in 2 hours 11 minutes 47 seconds.
National Cross Country
Four Spartans went to Parliament Hill Fields, London for the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday. In the ladies race SHARON CROWLEY covered the eight kilometres (8K) in 59 minutes 18 seconds.
The men ran 12K with CIARAN McANENY taking 59 minutes 47 seconds; ANDY JAY 1:25:42 and TIM ROBINSON 1:28:05.
The usual generous helpings of liquid mud on that course.
Battersea Park Chase the Sun
JONATHAN PARR came third overall and first man 35 plus in the RunThrough Battersea Park Chase The Moon 5K event on Wednesday. His time was 16 minutes 26 seconds.
Sunny Serpentine
It was mild, dry and sunny for Friday lunch-time’s Serpentine 5K run in Hyde Park and thinking about Sunday Spartan JIM BROWN was happy going round the two lap course in about nine minutes per mile to finish in 27 minutes 17 seconds. The winner took 15:27!
Parkrun Highlights 26th February
Eunice cancelled last Saturday’s race but there were 320 runners at this week’s Stevenage parkrun. Spartan GRANT RAMSAY was sub 20 and in the Top Ten again with 19 minutes 18 seconds and 6th Place.
The Paignton parkrun was right next to where YUKO GORDON was staying for the weekend so she popped out to join. This was her first ever park run outside Hertfordshire. The course was supposed to be a mixture of velo park and the adjacent grass field which was boggy and swampy. So, Yuko was surprised to see many of the runners come in squeaky clean Nike alphafly. She was in Inova8 Mudcrow XC shoes. They changed the course just to three laps of the velo park and gravel path, no field. Yuko was first woman 70 plus, eighth woman and 61st overall out of 258 in 23 minutes 49 seconds.
Tables
All the winners at the FVS Presentation Evening:
Female Open Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Suzy Hawkins 73.0%
2nd Tracy Pez 61.4%
3rd Hazel Smith 59.0%
Female Age Graded Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Yuko Gordon 96.7%
2nd Cathy Craig 70.5%
3rd Alison Shelley 68.6%
Female Open Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Suzy Hawkins 72.3%
2nd Marie Colucci 62.1%
3rd Fiona Clarke 56.0%
Female Age Graded Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Yuko Gordon 98.9%
2nd Cathy Craig 65.1%
3rd Alison Shelley 63.8%
Male Open Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Andrew Patterson 80.3%
2nd Adrian Busolini72.8%
3rd Grant Ramsay 71.6%
Male Age Graded Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Simon Jackson 84.1%
2nd Brian White 82.2%
3rd Barry Osbourne 81.5%
Male Open Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Andrew Patterson 79.4%
2nd Danny Scanlon 66.6%
3rd Paul Shelley 63.5%
Male Age Graded Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
1st Simon Jackson 82.2%
2nd Grant Ramsay 75.0%
3rd Pete Smith 72.2%
Overall Champion – Male
Simon Jackson
Overall Champion – Female
Yuko Gordon
Overall Club Champion
Yuko Gordon
Most Improved Spartan – Male – Sam Simmons
Most Improved Spartan – Female – Fiona Clarke
Lisa Potter Starter of the Year Award- Susan Murphy
Chairs Award – Wendy Tharani
Presidents Award – Mark Freeman
Head Coaches Award – Pete Smith
Captains Awards – Sharon Crowley and Mike Crowley
Spartan of the Year – Yuko Gordon
Spartans at the Welwyn Half Marathon (27th February):
| Position | Name | Time | Category | Cat Pos | Gender | % | Comments |
| 6 | David HARRIS-CHERGUIT | 1:21:35 | Ages 40 – 49 | 3 | Male | 75.58 | 3rd MV40 |
| 30 | Andrew VAUGHAN | 1:31:48 | Ages 50 – 59 | 2 | Male | 70.68 | 2nd MV50 |
| 33 | Suzy HAWKINS | 1:32:46 | Ages 45 – 54 | 2 | Female | 75.73 | 2nd and 3rd woman |
| 42 | Mike JEFFS | 1:34:39 | Ages 20 – 39 | 22 | Male | 62.26 | |
| 67 | Robert WRIGHT | 1:37:59 | Ages 20 – 39 | 27 | Male | 60.33 | PB |
| 120 | Ashley KING | 1:45:40 | Ages 35 – 44 | 3 | Female | 61.83 | 3rd FV35 |
| 123 | John NELMS | 1:46:21 | Ages 50 – 59 | 12 | Male | 62.05 | |
| 130 | Mark GOODWIN | 1:47:10 | Ages 60 – 69 | 5 | Male | 68.91 | |
| 193 | Luke SILVER | 1:54:45 | Ages 20 – 39 | 69 | Male | 50.36 | |
| 249 | Jim BROWN | 2:02:51 | Ages 60 – 69 | 10 | Male | 63.13 | |
| 273 | Neil ROBINSON | 2:07:31 | Ages 40 – 49 | 72 | Male | 47.52 | |
| 322 | Simon SYPULA | 2:17:08 | Ages 40 – 49 | 82 | Male | 46.30 | |
| 380 | Eleanor MCDERMOTT | 2:43:04 | Ages 20 – 34 | 36 | Female | 39.72 |
Spartans at the Baldock Beast
| Position | Name | Time | Category | Comments |
| 13 | JOHN HARRIS | 1:34:53 | MV50 | First MV50 |
| 25 | NICK GILL | 1:40:38 | Senior man | |
| 88 | SUSAN McANENY | 1:57:45 | Woman 35 plus | |
| 111 | GEORGIE HOOPER | 2:04:49 | Senior woman | |
| 130 | SUE HAMER | 2:11:47 | Woman 45 plus | |
| 132 | TIM ROBINSON | 2:12:41 | MV50 |