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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.

PlaceNameCategoryChip TimeCat Pos
14Melanie BateFV3501:31:101
17Paul ShelleyMV5001:33:113
42Adrian DonnellyMV4001:40:0410
49Nick GillSenior Men01:40:3824
67Terry SawyerMV4001:44:3818
160Chris WatlingSenior Men02:00:3560
164Elliott WhiteSenior Men02:01:0962
177Pete CookMV5002:03:2831
200Yuko GordonFV55+02:06:395
217Martin JacobMV4002:12:2551
227Simon SypulaMV5002:15:3542
243John NelmsMV5002:19:4646
244Samantha TophillFV55+02:20:1710
263Gerry RosenMV5002:24:0550
264Tim RobinsonMV5002:24:0651
269Jim BrownMV6002:25:0913
270Penny SchenkelFV55+02:27:1413

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 140th 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 85th 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 15th position.  It was tight between MIKE JEFFS 27th in 39:40 and NICK GILL 28th 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 (171st overall) and 51:05 (182nd).

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.NameOfficial
15ADRIAN BUSOLINI37:32
27MIKE JEFFS39:41
28NICK GILL39:42
52PAUL SHELLEY41:21
65ADRIAN DONNELLY42:14
114STEVE MAYFIELD46:21
127MATT GIFFORD47:09
135CHARLIE ARNOLD47:32
145BRIAN WHITE47:57
156OLIVIA HAMILTON48:46
168SIMON HAIGH49:57
171GEORGIE HOOPER50:21
182ELLA CERAULO51:00
184DAVID RIDDELL51:03
262LLOYD DIAS56:56
271HAZEL SMITH57:36
286JANE RIDDELL58:39
294THOMAS SAUKA59:39
300DAVID ACKERY1:00:38
310KIRSTEN LIGHTBODY1:01:39
315MEGAN SUTTON1:02:08
316PENNY SCHENKEL1:02:18
320TIM ROBINSON1:02:56
328MARK FREEMAN1:04:29
332JUDY KING1:05:28
336JIM BROWN1:05:54
341NIKKI NATION1:07:39
348SHARON CROWLEY1:12:41
351SAM SUTTON1:13:02
352CALLIE CHAPMAN1:13:57
361BECKY RAYNER1:18:27
364SALLY PHILLIPS1:20:53
369NICHOLA DURRANT1:36:38
370NIKI PLUMB1:36:39

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 22nd February

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

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
22Simon JACKSON17:32
4037Matthew COOKE22:16
5652Tony RANDFIELD23:18
8074Toby ECCLESHALL24:00
9385Martin DUDLEY24:34
10192Daniel VILJOEN24:44
142125Ryan DUNNING25:54
150133Matt TUTTON26:00
17922Megan SUTTON27:07
226184Jim BROWN28:52
230187Jay PAPA28:59
232189Nick KLEANTHOUS29:01
250199Mark BEASLEY29:27
25146Jessica CLARKE29:28
30065Lorraine HILL30:54
339244Steve PLATT32:04
34992Debbie BLANTERN32:21
35699Pamela VILJOEN32:42
385122Annabelle WHITE33:38
398131Samantha SUTTON34:24
423146Caroline CROFT35:12
452161Hannah MANTON36:21
473173Monica SMITHSON37:56
475175Beverley HARLOW38:04
490185Callie CHAPMAN39:26
491294Stephen SMITHSON39:28
492186Sally PHILLIPS39:29
494187Tracy HAYGARTH39:34
506194Karen PALMER40:03
532214Niki PLUMB44:15
538217Nichola DURENT44:48
545308Roger BIGGS48:17
559226Hayley PEACH55:09
Categories
Club News Race Results

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. 

Happy, Chatty Spartans

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. 

Runners aren’t always clad in lycra!

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). 

Everyone had a lovely evening

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). 

Smiling Spartans with their medals!

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 

A few Spartans in action.

(Detailed results for all the Spartans can be found near the end of this release). 

Baldock Beast 

The Spartans that tamed the 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. 

Mud, glorious mud!

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. 

Stevenage Parkrun

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 
David HARRIS-CHERGUIT 1:21:35 Ages 40 – 49 Male 75.58 3rd MV40 
30 Andrew VAUGHAN 1:31:48 Ages 50 – 59 Male 70.68 2nd MV50 
33 Suzy HAWKINS 1:32:46 Ages 45 – 54 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 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 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