National Cross Country

NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY

A cross country on Parliament Hill is always tough. Usually muddy and the climbs start from the gun. Finishing there in a national championship is a major achievement and Fairlands Valley Spartans finished with complete teams in the men’s and women’s senior championship.

For the men it was a 12 kilometre test while the women ran 8 kilometres (about five miles).

JAYNE RIDDELL was first female for Fairlands. She finished in 56 minutes 38 seconds. HAZEL SMITH was next in 59:33 with SOPHIE PARSON not far behind her in 59:42.

MICHAEL FISHER was first Spartan in the men’s race with 1:01:57 and CHARLIE WHITE next in for FVS with 1:03:14.

Teams of four were needed in the women’s race, six in the men’s competition.

Taming the Baldock Beast

The Baldock Beast is a very demanding half marathon. Hills, off road sections and almost always a strong wind. Seventeen Spartans tamed the beast this year.

NICK GILL said 1:40:38 for me today in one of my favourite races – been doing the Beast since 2013! Completed the race as part of a 16.5-mile training run which included easy, steady and goal half marathon pace… which proved interesting in the uphill sections!

MARTIN JACOB and LINDA GEORGE tamed the beast — they felt strong. Martin had this run planned as part of his training for the South Downs Way 50 race, and Linda jumped in last minute, because she didn’t want to miss out. Linda said Martin ran ahead to take some of the head wind, making it just that little bit easier for me. They took it easy on the uphills, walking them, and ran the flats and downhills. They both finished with the same gun time which is 2:12:25

What can we say about TIM ROBINSON? He ran the national cross country championships on Saturday and then the Baldock Beast on Sunday. He finished in 2:24:09.

GERRY ROSEN finished in 2:24:05. He was totally surprised as he expected to finish nearer to 2 hours 40 minutes. He guesses good training pays off!!

PENNY SCHENKEL was another thinking 2:40 before the start so she was happy with her 2:27:14. The last hundred metres to the finish line was tough.

Place	Name	Category	Chip Time	Cat Pos
14	Melanie Bate	FV35	01:31:10	1
17	Paul Shelley	MV50	01:33:11	3
42	Adrian Donnelly	MV40	01:40:04	10
49	Nick Gill	Senior Men	01:40:38	24
67	Terry Sawyer	MV40	01:44:38	18
160	Chris Watling	Senior Men	02:00:35	60
164	Elliott White	Senior Men	02:01:09	62
177	Pete Cook	MV50	02:03:28	31
200	Yuko Gordon	FV55+	02:06:39	5
217	Martin Jacob	MV40	02:12:25	51
227	Simon Sypula	MV50	02:15:35	42
243	John Nelms	MV50	02:19:46	46
244	Samantha Tophill	FV55+	02:20:17	10
263	Gerry Rosen	MV50	02:24:05	50
264	Tim Robinson	MV50	02:24:06	51
269	Jim Brown	MV60	02:25:09	13
270	Penny Schenkel	FV55+	02:27:14	13

Bedford 10K

Olivia Hamilton had a great run in the Bedford 10K on Sunday. She was first women 23 – 35 in 46 minutes 16 seconds (46:16) and 39 out of the 285 finishers.

Sophie Parsons was the third female aged under 23 in 58:50. She was 140^th so top half overall.

Bedford Half Marathon

Spartan BRIAN WHITE was first veteran man (65-69) in the Bedford Half Marathon with 1 hour 44 minutes 19 seconds, which is a new hip PB! He was 85^th in the race. Brian said it was a very nice two lap course and the weather was kind. Bedford Half Marathon (23.02.2025).

JOSEPH WASNOCK finished in 1:48:45; ANNABELLE WHITE in 1:49:21 and ANN TRYSSESOONE in 1:58:18.

SHE HAMER ran the Bedford Half, in under 2 hours… just, by the skin of her teeth, in 1:59:58. That’s PB (personal best) for her. She’s on a roll. PBs so far this year 5K, 10K and now the half marathon.

Olympic Park Half Marathon

DANNY SCANLON ran his first half marathon in near on 18 months at the Olympic Park Half Marathon.

It was a twisting turning run taking in all of the main Olympic venues.

He managed a 1:38:05 and said it was great to be running a half again!

London Winter 10K

It was fun to run the 10th anniversary of the London Winter Run. PETER SACH did it in 1:04:45.

Royal Norwich

On Sunday Carol Paul ran the Royal Norwich half marathon which was from the royal Norwich golf course. The course was around the country lanes to the north west of Norwich. The course was very undulating and reminded Carol of the Watford half marathon. It was a very blustery day and Carol completed the course in 2:06:13, she was 516th out of 815 runners and was 3rd in the w60-64 age group.

Watford X/C Update

Two weeks after the Watford Half Marathon and it was still chilly and hilly in Cassiobury Park but Fairlands Valley Spartans had a great turnout for Sunday’s cross country league race.

Racing over six miles ADRIAN BUSOLINI was first in for FVS and top 5% in the race with his 37 minutes 32 seconds (37:32) for 15^th position. It was tight between MIKE JEFFS 27^th in 39:40 and NICK GILL 28^th in 39:41.

OLIVIA HAMILTON was first woman for the club in 48:42 with GEORGIE HOOPER and ELLA CERAULO not far behind in 50:19 (171^st overall) and 51:05 (182^nd).

Olivia was running her first cross country for FVS and it was great to see Ella back.

17 women and 17 men ran for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the event, one of the highest totals for any of the twenty clubs participating.

Their greater numbers and some good performances mean the club has moved up various tables in the league after a slow start.

On the day their combined team was fifth out of 20.

Pos.	Name	Official
15	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	37:32
27	MIKE JEFFS	39:41
28	NICK GILL	39:42
52	PAUL SHELLEY	41:21
65	ADRIAN DONNELLY	42:14
114	STEVE MAYFIELD	46:21
127	MATT GIFFORD	47:09
135	CHARLIE ARNOLD	47:32
145	BRIAN WHITE	47:57
156	OLIVIA HAMILTON	48:46
168	SIMON HAIGH	49:57
171	GEORGIE HOOPER	50:21
182	ELLA CERAULO	51:00
184	DAVID RIDDELL	51:03
262	LLOYD DIAS	56:56
271	HAZEL SMITH	57:36
286	JANE RIDDELL	58:39
294	THOMAS SAUKA	59:39
300	DAVID ACKERY	1:00:38
310	KIRSTEN LIGHTBODY	1:01:39
315	MEGAN SUTTON	1:02:08
316	PENNY SCHENKEL	1:02:18
320	TIM ROBINSON	1:02:56
328	MARK FREEMAN	1:04:29
332	JUDY KING	1:05:28
336	JIM BROWN	1:05:54
341	NIKKI NATION	1:07:39
348	SHARON CROWLEY	1:12:41
351	SAM SUTTON	1:13:02
352	CALLIE CHAPMAN	1:13:57
361	BECKY RAYNER	1:18:27
364	SALLY PHILLIPS	1:20:53
369	NICHOLA DURRANT	1:36:38
370	NIKI PLUMB	1:36:39

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 22^nd February

Despite all the other attractions there were fifty Spartans at parkruns on Saturday 22^nd February. 33 were among the 564 parkrunners in Stevenage where SIMON JACKSON was second with 17:32 and STEVE SMITHSON completed his 100^th in 39:28.

There was a bit of parkrun tourism with Spartan KIRK NDUGU. He WON the Caffarella run in Rome with 17:10.

YUKO GORDON was first woman in the Great Denham parkrun with 22:47.

Position	Gender Position	FVS parkrunner	Time
2	2	Simon JACKSON	17:32
40	37	Matthew COOKE	22:16
56	52	Tony RANDFIELD	23:18
80	74	Toby ECCLESHALL	24:00
93	85	Martin DUDLEY	24:34
101	92	Daniel VILJOEN	24:44
142	125	Ryan DUNNING	25:54
150	133	Matt TUTTON	26:00
179	22	Megan SUTTON	27:07
226	184	Jim BROWN	28:52
230	187	Jay PAPA	28:59
232	189	Nick KLEANTHOUS	29:01
250	199	Mark BEASLEY	29:27
251	46	Jessica CLARKE	29:28
300	65	Lorraine HILL	30:54
339	244	Steve PLATT	32:04
349	92	Debbie BLANTERN	32:21
356	99	Pamela VILJOEN	32:42
385	122	Annabelle WHITE	33:38
398	131	Samantha SUTTON	34:24
423	146	Caroline CROFT	35:12
452	161	Hannah MANTON	36:21
473	173	Monica SMITHSON	37:56
475	175	Beverley HARLOW	38:04
490	185	Callie CHAPMAN	39:26
491	294	Stephen SMITHSON	39:28
492	186	Sally PHILLIPS	39:29
494	187	Tracy HAYGARTH	39:34
506	194	Karen PALMER	40:03
532	214	Niki PLUMB	44:15
538	217	Nichola DURENT	44:48
545	308	Roger BIGGS	48:17
559	226	Hayley PEACH	55:09

CELEBRATIONS AT THE PRESENTATION EVENING

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 13^th 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 25^th 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.

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 26^th 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 6^th 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 61^st 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 (27^th February):

Position	Name	Time	Category	Cat Pos	Gender	%	Comments
6	David HARRIS-CHERGUIT	1:21:35	Ages 40 – 49	3	Male	75.58	3^rd MV40
30	Andrew VAUGHAN	1:31:48	Ages 50 – 59	2	Male	70.68	2^nd MV50
33	Suzy HAWKINS	1:32:46	Ages 45 – 54	2	Female	75.73	2^nd and 3^rd 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	3^rd 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