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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
| Pos | Name | Time | Category | Cat Pos | Gender | Gen Pos | % | Comments |
| 99 | Adrian DONNELLY | 1:07:16 | 40 – 49 | 28 | Male | 86 | 68.68 | |
| 135 | John HARRIS | 1:09:46 | 50 – 59 | 13 | Male | 117 | 76.11 | |
| 193 | Peter SMITH | 1:13:01 | 50 – 59 | 28 | Male | 159 | 72.29 | |
| 235 | Yuko GORDON | 1:15:35 | 65 + | 2 | Female | 54 | 95.00 | Second in category |
| 252 | Ashley JOHNSON | 1:16:37 | 35 – 44 | 22 | Female | 62 | 66.71 | |
| 293 | Mark GOODWIN | 1:18:32 | 60 – 69 | 9 | Male | 214 | 70.55 | |
| 299 | Marie COLUCCI | 1:18:45 | 35 – 44 | 33 | Female | 83 | 65.76 | |
| 303 | Abigail PEZ | 1:18:53 | Under 20 | 1 | Female | 85 | 62.91 | PB (7:30). Under 20 winner. |
| 313 | Tracy PEZ | 1:19:26 | 45 – 54 | 26 | Female | 90 | 67.76 | |
| 547 | Andy JAY | 1:31:40 | 50 – 59 | 97 | Male | 340 | 56.29 | |
| 555 | Wendy THARANI | 1:31:37 | 45 – 54 | 67 | Female | 211 | 58.79 | |
| 586 | Jim BROWN | 1:33:48 | 60 – 69 | 19 | Male | 353 | 61.71 | |
| 610 | Carol PAUL | 1:35:45 | 55 – 64 | 32 | Female | 252 | 64.76 | |
| 702 | Sue HAMER | 1:42:37 | 45 – 54 | 109 | Female | 318 | 53.99 | |
| 703 | Erica GRAYSON | 1:42:37 | 45 – 54 | 110 | Female | 319 | 54.63 | |
| 762 | Paul HOLGATE | 1:49:26 | 60 – 69 | 35 | Male | 400 | 50.75 | |
| 776 | Sharon CROWLEY | 1:51:10 | 55 – 64 | 64 | Female | 374 | 57.51 | First ten mile race in 3 years. |
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.
Spartans at parkruns Saturday 22nd January
| Stevenage parkrun | ||||
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | |
| 9 | 9 | Grant RAMSAY | 19:24 | |
| 78 | 72 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 24:22 | 70th |
| 79 | 7 | Grace COVENTRY | 24:23 | PB |
| 152 | 125 | Wills JENNINGS | 27:47 | |
| 166 | 136 | David PATTMAN | 28:17 | |
| 168 | 137 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 28:20 | |
| 180 | 141 | Jim BROWN | 28:45 | 1st in category |
| 182 | 142 | Matt CLARKE | 28:46 | |
| 183 | 143 | Karl SHREEVE | 28:47 | YB |
| 228 | 57 | Caroline CROFT | 30:37 | |
| 232 | 59 | Fiona CLARKE | 30:53 | |
| 234 | 60 | Chloe CHAPMAN | 30:58 | |
| 235 | 165 | Stephen SMITHSON | 31:00 | |
| 239 | 63 | Claire EMMERSON | 31:06 | |
| 256 | 73 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 31:51 | 70th |
| 344 | 196 | Steven DOBNER | 41:15 | |
| 345 | 137 | Mo WARRILLOW | 41:15 | |
| 362 | 202 | Roger BIGGS | 49:42 | |
| 364 | 149 | Helen HARRIS | 52:44 | 70th |
| Gunpowder parkrun | ||||
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | |
| 175 | 67 | Karen BROOM | 39:54 | First parkrun since 2019 |
| Letchworth parkrun | ||||
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | |
| 10 | 9 | Nick GILL | 22:40 | |
| 32 | 4 | Georgie HOOPER | 26:55 | |
| Squerryes Winery parkrun | ||||
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | |
| 89 | 49 | Peter CARPENTER | 44:29 | First parkrun in 2022 |
| Great Salterns parkrun | ||||
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | |
| 212 | 127 | Darryl STEVENS | 40:00 | New venue (of 94) |
| Westmill parkrun | ||||
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | Comments |
| 7 | 7 | Danny SCANLON | 22:01 | |
| Market Harborough parkrun | ||||
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | |
| 117 | 86 | Anton MCCALLA | 27:47 | First parkrun in 2022 |