NATALIE BROWNE won Thursday evening’s Handicap 5K race in Stevenage and she was the fastest female with her new personal best (PB) of 26 minutes 1 second (26:01).
Natalie was 3:29 ahead of handicap, with newcomer Jen Naisbitt second, supported around by Sally Phillips, both finishing in 41:46, 3:14 better than handicap. Marleen Van Zwieten was third lady in 39:21, 2:09 faster than handicap.
Mark Goodwin was second man in a year’s best (YB) 28:31, 2:29 ahead of handicap, with Brian White second man in 25:16, 0:47 faster than his previous Handicap 5k, and Mike Reynolds third man in a season’s best (SB) 27:03.
Adrian Busolini was fastest on the night in 20:33 with newcomer Richard Pratt second fastest in a YB 21:27. Brian White was third quickest. Fastest lady was Natalie Browne with Lucy Paul second quickest in 26:44 and Judy King third fastest in 30:43.
21 finished in this month’s Handicap 5K. Excellently organised by Paul Holgate with thank yous to Sharon Crowley, Mike Crowley and Pete Cook for their assistance with the start and finish, and to supporters on the evening: Martin Jacob and Linda George.
Quicker runners get longer handicaps, they have to wait longer before they start. If the handicap times are accurate and everyone runs to form they will, in theory, all finish together. The winner of the event is the best improver.
The final Handicap 5k of the year is on Thursday evening 24th September.
| P | FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | TIME | ELAPSED TIME | COMP HCAP |
| 1 | NATALIE | BROWNE | 26:01 | 41:31 | 3:29 |
| 2= | JEN | NAISBITT | 41:46 | 41:46 | 3:14 |
| 2= | SALLY | PHILLIPS | 41:46 | 41:46 | 3:14 |
| 4 | MARK | GOODWIN | 28:31 | 42:31 | 2:29 |
| 5 | MARLEEN | VAN ZWIETEN | 39:21 | 42:51 | 2:09 |
| 6 | JUDY | KING | 30:43 | 42:58 | 2:02 |
| 7 | JANE | WADEY | 35:31 | 43:16 | 1:44 |
| 8 | BRIAN | WHITE | 25:16 | 43:16 | 1:44 |
| 9 | MIKE | REYNOLDS | 27:03 | 43:18 | 1:42 |
| 10 | RICHARD | PRATT | 21:27 | 43:27 | 1:33 |
| 11 | SIMON | SYPULA | 28:11 | 43:56 | 1:04 |
| 12 | LUCY | PAUL | 26:44 | 43:59 | 1:01 |
| 13 | JIM | BROWN | 29:40 | 44:25 | 0:35 |
| 14 | MARTIN | DUDLEY | 26:12 | 44:57 | 0:03 |
| 15 | JADE | JENKINS | 31:47 | 45:17 | (0:17) |
| 16 | MICHAEL | O’KEEFE | 39:35 | 45:20 | (0:20) |
| 17 | ADRIAN | BUSOLINI | 20:33 | 45:33 | (0:33) |
| 18 | CRAIG | BACON | 25:22 | 46:07 | (1:07) |
| 19 | HAYLEY | PEACH | 35:04 | 46:34 | (1:34) |
| 20 | TIM | ROBINSON | 33:46 | 48:31 | (3:31) |
| 21 | NICK | KLEANTHOUS | 38:20 | 52:50 | (7:50) |
Norfolk on a Friday
Spartan DAVID BENNETT-HALLIDAY was in Norfolk Friday evening for the North Walsham 5K. He had a good run finishing in 19:08 and was 26th out of the 481 finishers.
Then the next day, 14 hours later, he ran the North Walsham parkrun in 23:46.
Parkrun Highlights – Tutus on the 22.
Another win and another personal best for SAMUEL PAUL at Stevenage parkrun. 16:26.
KELLY McHALE was the third fastest woman at Stevenage with a new parkrun personal best of 22:25. The second fastest female from Fairlands was ALISON SHELLEY in 27:41 and SALLY PICKLES was third in 28:29. SARAH ILLINGWORTH celebrated her milestone 250th parkrun with 29:15.
The quickest man 60 plus was RALPH DADSWELL with 20:41 giving him an impressive age related score of 78.89%.
New Spartan SOPHIE KEEBLE finished in 30:07.
JIM BROWN was first man 70 plus by just one second at Stevenage. He was happy to get under 30 minutes for the first time in several weeks with his 29:24 – despite the tutu.
HAYLEY PEACH ran a new parkrun PB of 31:42 while JANE WADEY and TRACEY TOMLIN both completed their 80th parkruns with 35:47 and 46:21.
The theme for the run was tutus on the 22. 22nd August. Several Spartans joined in that part of the fun. Total runners increased to 580 more than one hundred more than the previous week (476). There were 39 Spartans.
Meanwhile BRONYA BROWN was in the Scottish Borders. She ran the Wallaceneuk parkrun in 27 minutes 53 seconds. Her first Scottish parkrun. It was on a disused railway near Kelso.
ANDY and KERSTIN PRIOR were not far from Scunthorpe at the Vermuyden Way parkrun. Andy finished in 25:06 and Kerstin second woman with 26:37.
Comfortably under thirty KARL SHREEVE ran the Bracknell parkrun in 29:06.
ADRIAN DONNELLY gets around. Despite the gravel he ran the three lap Fælledparken parkrun in Copenhagen, Denmark in 29 minutes 7 seconds.
And JONATHAN PARR was third in the Minehead parkrun with 17 minutes 59 seconds.
There were nearly a thousand finishers, 979, on Hove Promenade. LEWIS GREEN was there getting round in 21:46. Altogether there were 57 Spartans at parkruns in and outside the UK.
| Position | Gender Position | FVS parkrunner | Time |
| 1 | 1 | Samuel PAUL | 16:26 |
| 35 | 34 | Ralph DADSWELL | 20:41 |
| 57 | 3 | Kelly MCHALE | 22:25 |
| 68 | 63 | Paul SHELLEY | 22:53 |
| 71 | 66 | Matt WALTON | 22:58 |
| 116 | 104 | Daniel VILJOEN | 24:23 |
| 143 | 127 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 25:16 |
| 207 | 173 | Matt TUTTON | 27:04 |
| 208 | 174 | Matt CLARKE | 27:08 |
| 218 | 182 | Nick GILL | 27:17 |
| 235 | 40 | Alison SHELLEY | 27:41 |
| 258 | 47 | Sally PICKLES | 28:29 |
| 296 | 61 | Sarah ILLINGWORTH | 29:15 |
| 303 | 230 | Jim BROWN | 29:24 |
| 310 | 237 | Ryan DUNNING | 29:36 |
| 311 | 238 | Steve PLATT | 29:37 |
| 329 | 76 | Samantha SUTTON | 30:05 |
| 330 | 77 | Sophie KEEBLE | 30:07 |
| 365 | 92 | Alice WELCH | 31:15 |
| 367 | 93 | Linda GEORGE | 31:21 |
| 376 | 96 | Hayley PEACH | 31:42 |
| 382 | 99 | Monica SMITHSON | 32:01 |
| 419 | 120 | Pamela VILJOEN | 33:36 |
| 424 | 124 | Penny SCHENKEL | 33:48 |
| 433 | 131 | Debbie BLANTERN | 34:07 |
| 451 | 297 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 34:49 |
| 453 | 298 | Stephen SMITHSON | 34:59 |
| 463 | 146 | Angie KEELING | 35:40 |
| 465 | 148 | Jane WADEY | 35:47 |
| 466 | 149 | Sharon CROWLEY | 35:48 |
| 474 | 156 | Liz CARVELL | 36:20 |
| 477 | 158 | Rebecca RAYNER | 36:34 |
| 492 | 170 | Zoe NEWELL | 37:30 |
| 511 | 184 | Jayne DYMOKE | 39:31 |
| 535 | 318 | James SOUTH | 43:05 |
| 551 | 208 | Tracey TOMLIN | 46:21 |
| 552 | 209 | Nichola DURENT | 46:36 |
| 555 | 325 | Thomas SAUKA | 47:43 |
| 563 | 330 | Tony RANDFIELD | 51:00 |