Three Spartans were on the podium at the Lee Valley Half Marathon.
ABBIE PEZ won the under 20 category with 1 hour 44 minutes 11 seconds; MARK GOODWIN was second, only missing first by seven seconds, in his with 1:43:45 and CLAIRE PULLEN second in hers with 1:44:29.
TRACY PEZ finished in an excellent time of 1:45:46.
All on a two lap flat course from the Lee Valley white water centre, Waltham Cross.
In the Lee Valley 10K NICHOLA DURRENT teamed up with her running partner in crime STEPH BIGGAR to finish in 1 hour 23 minutes 35 seconds. JONATHAN JONES came in at 68 minutes 59 seconds and DZENANA TOPIC at 69 minutes 17 seconds. They said it was a lovely course.
TIM ROBINSON was at a similarly named Olympic venue but this was the Lee Valley Velopark in the Olympic Park. He was there on Saturday for the Velopark Ten.
He said poor pacing for the first three 1 mile laps meant the last five miles were too hard, especially as the sun came out on the hottest day of the year so far. Tim finished the ten miles in 1:38:14 for 15th place and first MV50 (men 50 plus).
Herts Veteran Cross Country Championships
ROGER HARDMAN was nearest to the medals in the Hertfordshire Veteran Cross Country Championships. He was fourth in the men over 70 race with 40 minutes 1 second for the 6.4 kilometres course.
This was the last cross country race of the season and run at Trent Park the reverse way to the Sunday League event. Women and men aged 60 and above ran 6.4 kilometre (four miles). Younger veteran men ran 9.6 kilometres (6 miles). The Spartan results were:
MARTIN WOOD was 15th in the men 50 plus race with 47 minutes 55 seconds for 9.6 kilometres. LINDA NOLAN sixth female 60 plus in 39:26 and SHARON CROWLEY 14th female 60 plus in 43:57 both over 6.4 kilometres.
NICK KLEANTHOUS was 16th male 60 in 36 minutes 15.
Sibling Fun
There was Sibling fun at the Bedford Autodrome Marathon. Ashley Pearson, GRANT RAMSAY’s sister, smashed it to win the ladies race. Her 3 hours 12 minutes 35 seconds (3:12:35) was a 12 minutes personal best and qualifies her for the London Marathon Championship race for the first time.
GRANT RAMSAY says he was well out of sorts and not race fit over 26 miles. Although he was averaging 45 to 50 miles a week in training, the lack of races over 5K and no speed work, (sciatic nerve issues) did show up. He did test positive for Covid 13 days ago, but can’t use that as an excuse, as the effects on him were minimal.
Only a week after the Great Yarmouth cycle sportive YUKO GORDON was also at Bedford Autdrome but for the half marathon.
She says she didn’t quite get the result she hoped for though she won her age group and was ninth out of all the women in race. Yuko says the temperature was cool and perfect but it was windier than last year. The smooth tarmac was wonderful but making pace and keeping concentration were the difficult part in this kind of venue and event. It was like a personal time trial, each runner was aiming for a different distance and knowing nobody to hang on, so the only way to go was to listen her breathing. Yuko said she felt better after half way when she caught up with another woman and changed her strides to match her rhythm. The other runner kept pushing against the head wind and left Yuko along the windy side of course. She might have paid the price for that as Yuko passed her at three miles to go. Yuko was two minutes slower than last year in 1:39:58 and was first woman 70 plus.
Orion 15
Spartan JOHN HARRIS completed the classic Orion 15 cross country race in 2 hours 12 minutes 22 seconds (2:12:22) finishing 52nd out of 148 .
It was a tough challenging 15 miles course through Epping forest with many hills (1500 feet of elevation), knee high mud pools, stiles and lots of twists and turns. John highly recommends the event.
Parkrun Highlights 26th March
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit we have a first female finisher at Stevenage, a fourth place finish at Cassiobury and some members running in university and castle grounds.
5th female and a new personal course pb of 24:09 for SUSAN McANENY at Stevenage parkrun this weekend.
Stevenage: Ashley Schoenwetter was first female runner home on Saturday with a time of 21-44, finishing 12th out of 251 runners. Other finishers: Tony Randfield 22-40 (28th), Susan McAneny 24-09 (51st – Parkrun PB), Steven Dobner 24-11 (52nd), Alison Shelley 25-03 (64th – Parkrun PB), Andy Jay 25-05 (65th), Jim Brown 27-00 (92nd), Nicola Andersson 28-12 (114th), Chloe Chapman 28-15 (116th), Vicky Archer 28-16 (117th), David Pattman 28-34 (124th), Mo Warrillow 28-34 (125th), Debbie Blantern 28-56 (130th), Toby Eccleshall 29-25 (140th), Luke Silver 31-06 (161st), Helen Harris 36-20 (209th), Samantha Sutton 36-44 (215th), Angie Waters 39-35 (230th), Roger Biggs 48-41 (240th).
Other away day results:
Cassiobury (Watford, Herts): Jonathan Parr finished fourth out of 405 runners on the two and half flat lap course. Jonathan finished with a time of 16-26, gaining a Parkrun PB in the process. Jonathan also finished thirteen seconds behind the first finisher, six seconds behind second and five seconds behind third. Very tight at the business end of the field.
Daventry (Northamptonshire): Darryl Stevens 39-05 (178 out of 192 runners).Fareham (Hampshire): Mike Reynolds 31-39 (146 out of 223 runners).
Millfield (North Yorkshire): Caroline Croft 32-08 (66 out of 107 runners).
Panshanger (Hertford): Jane Whitrow 52-51 (222nd out of 222 runners).