Spartan DAVE COOK WON the Olympic Park 5K in 16:56.
A Champion at Watford.
First thing there were worries there would be ice patches on the course of the Watford Half Marathon but no, apart from a short section at the second water station, it was fine. Although it was never warm runners enjoyed start to finish sun shine.
Fairlands Valley Spartans have a new county champion. JIM BROWN won GOLD in the men 70 plus with his 2 hours 3 minutes 53 seconds (2:03:53). Jim aimed to be back in Cassiobury Park in less than two hours and he did that with a bit to spare. The gold medal was a good bit of icing on the cake.
This, to put it politely, was a lumpy course and NICK GILL did well with his 1:31:01 which got him 150th position out of the 1552 who finished so top 10%. Nick said, “I did the Watford Half Marathon Sunday morning, finishing in 1:31:01. After doing the event for the first time last year, I knew it was a tough course so decided to turn it into a training run/workout instead. I started steady and got faster by 15 seconds each mile until I got to my goal half marathon pace, which I then remained at for the entire second half… and it worked out perfectly! My only regret was a bit of a sprint finish – if I’d been 16 seconds slower to cross the line I would have bagged the random £2,000 spot prize!”
PENNY SCHENKEL continued her London Marathon preparations beating 2:30 with her 2:27:41.
Last Friday of the Month 5K
Sometimes the days fall like that as two days before the Watford Half JIM BROWN was racing the Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park. After a slow start he was happy with his 27 minutes 20 seconds (27:20). The next one will be at 12.30p.m. on Friday 28th February. These are measured and timed races and cost £6.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 1st February
There were at least 50 Spartans at parkruns on Saturday. This week it was stripey Saturday and there were 37 Spartans among the 578 finishers at Stevenage.
NICK KLEANTHOUS celebrated his birthday with 30:51 for the five kilometres. This week there were two Spartans in the top ten with MIKE JEFFS fourth in 18:24 and JAY PAPA sixth in 18:43.
There were two parkrun milestones. RYAN DUNNING ran his 100th in 25:09 and MATTHEW NEWTON his 50th in 28:58. SUE HAMER ran a new parkrun personal best of 26 minutes 5 seconds (26:05). There were mini-milestones for TOBY ECCLESHALL and DAVID RIDDELL. Toby is 170th in 23:54 and David is 160th in 23:31.
Spartans elsewhere included ELIZABETH and SHARON CROWLEY Mile End parkrun. Elizabeth finished in 29:47 and Sharon in 34.16.
Fairlands Valley Spartans sent men’s and women’s teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans on Sunday. Veterans start at age 35 for women and 40 for men with age category breaks every ten years. The championships were incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race.
There were 415 women and 410 men in the race.
Clearly ABIGAIL PEZ could not count towards a veterans’ team but she did WIN the race for women under 20 with a new personal best (PB) of 1 hours 18 minutes 53 seconds. That’s seven and a half minutes faster than her previous ten miles PB!
The fastest Spartan was ADRIAN DONNELLY in the first 100 of the 825 finishers with 67 minutes 16 seconds. At 99th he led in the Spartan men’s team with JOHN HARRIS 135th in 1:09:49; PETE SMITH 193rd in 1:13:01; and MARK GOODWIN 293rd in 1:18:32.
It was teams of three in the women’s race and YUKO GORDON and ASHLEY JOHNSON were well up there at 54th and 62nd out of 415 women. Yuko, running against people several years younger than her, was second in the 65 plus category in 1 hour 15 minutes 35 seconds and took SILVER in the County Championships. She had a higher age related score which was 95.00%! MARIE COLUCCI impressed at 83rd woman and was the Spartans third counter with 1:18:45.
A selection of our 10 milers with Abi winning in the first square!
Ten women were running for the Spartans. The others were TRACY PEZ, 90th woman in 1:19:26; WENDY THARANI 1:31:37; CAROL PAUL 1:35:45; SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON both in 1:42:37 and SHARON CROWLEY 1:51:10.
The other three men were ANDY JAY 1:31:40; JIM BROWN happy to get round “steady state” in 1:33:48 and recovering after recent mishaps and PAUL HOLGATE 1:49:26.
In addition ANN TRYSSESOONE was not eligible for the Spartan teams but finished in 1 hour 26 minutes 40 seconds.
All this on the undulating roads and lanes to the south west of St. Albans including Potters Crouch, Chiswell Green and a favourite climb up past mile six to the edge of Bedmond. So good to see this classic club organised race back.
These were the mildest conditions many veterans of the Fred Hughes Ten could remember. It’s usually notorious for icy patches, snowing during the event, freezing winds or just chucking down large amounts of very cold rain.
The next county road championships will be at the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 6th February.
(The Spartans results table can be found near the end of this release).
Spartan Women Jump In Cross Country
Much greater participation helped boost the Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team to fourth out of nineteen clubs in the latest cross country league race which was at Watford. They won the veteran women’s team race.
This time there were five Spartan women in the top fifty and eighteen running. They were twelfth, eleventh and eleventh in the first three races so this is a tremendous improvement. The women’s “A” team were CHRIS LATHWELL, SUZY HAWKINS, TRACEY JACKSON, YUKO GORDON and HAZEL SMITH.
The Spartan men were seventh at Watford with JONATHAN PARR in the top ten out of 405 finishers. In the combined scores over the series so far the Spartans are seventh. The final event will be on Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13th February.
A WIN for Jonathan – RunThrough Olympic Park 5k
On Saturday morning Spartan JONATHAN PARR WON the Olympic Park 5K with a time of 16 minutes 9 seconds.
Another great win for Jonathan!
Ciaran At Peddars
CIARAN MCANENY got fifth place overall at the 48 mile Peddars Way Ultra in a time of 6 hours 52 minutes.
The race follows the Peddars Way Trail from Knettishall Heath, just north of Bury St Edmunds, to Holme-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast; on a mix of forest path, bridleways and road.
Beautiful, crisp, sunny weather kept the trails firm and the late morning sun was just warm enough to make for comfortable running temperatures.
All went to plan in terms of pacing and nutrition with Ciaran finishing 24 minutes faster than his previous outing on the course.
Ciaran was very happy and, after missing most of last year’s racing due to niggling injuries, it was great to be back on such a nice course and in a really well run and friendly event
Ciaran still smiling after an impressive 48 miles!
Fast Five for Feetham
Three laps 33:40 52nd out of 680.
KIERAN FEETHAM did the Romsey 5 mile race on Sunday. Although it’s classed as multi-terrain with a 700 metres non-tarmac section for each of the three laps it’s flat and fast.
The race was delayed by 15 minutes and Kieran had to warm up again as it was cold. He said he found a good group to stay with for the first three miles but then unfortunately got held up trying to pick his way through some back markers and lost that group. So he ended up on his own into a headwind. The last mile marker was in the wrong place so Kieran was slightly panicking why it was taking so long to complete it but he was happy to hold on for a new PB (personal best) of 33 minutes 40 seconds. An improvement of 1 minute 42 seconds. He was 52nd out of the 680 finishers.
Speedy Kieran with his well earned medal!
Parkrun Highlights 22nd January 2022
Yet another record was set at Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun. This was the 27th since parkrun restarted for the 200th local run and this time there were 365 finishers. The highest number since lock down. Despite some holding back for a ten mile championship race on Sunday twenty five Spartans completed a Parkrun this week, on a cold, crisp, sunny morning.
GRACE COVENTRY ran a parkrun personal best (PB) of 24 minutes 22 seconds at Stevenage, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week. GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 19:24 at Stevenage.
Some of our Stevenage Parkrunners.
DARRYL STEVENS ran at Great Salterns Parkrun, Portsmouth, for the first time finishing with a time of 40:00. Astonishingly, this was the 94th venue he has tried out!
ANTON McCALLA (27:46 at Market Harborough) and PETER CARPENTER (44:29, Squerryes Winery) completed their first parkruns of the year.
JIM BROWN (28:45) won his category and KARL SHREEVE (28:47) achieved a year best at Stevenage.
Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, three Spartans have reached 70 runs at Stevenage with LEE PICKERSGILL finishing at 24:23, TRACY HAYGARTH at 31:51 and HELEN HARRIS finishing at 52:44.
It’s stripy Saturday on Saturday, 5th February.
Tables
Spartans at the Fred Hughes 10 (including a county championship).
These are chip times, the time from when the runner crosses the start line to when they cross the finish line. Gun times are “bang” to finish line and it can take those at the back several minutes to start.
