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SPARTANS TAKE ON BERLIN, BRIGHTON AND LONDON

Fairlands Valley Spartans ALEX SCOFIELD and JOE WASNOCK smashed their first marathons on Sunday at Brighton and both finished in 4:53, with Joe around 40 seconds behind Alex.  They ran together for 23 miles.  Their official times were Alex 4:53:00 and Joe 4:53:31.

TRICIA HOPPER ran the Brighton Marathon in 4 hours 59 minutes 39 seconds.

Berlin

SUE HAMER did Berlin half marathon on Sunday, the second of her super-half marathons, and got a personal best (PB) of 1:58:08, shaving 1 minute 50 seconds off her last PB at Bedford…

A great race, perfect conditions and a very enjoyable race 

London Landmarks

Unfortunately the London Landmarks half marathon was about 700 metres short due to an incident that delayed the start.  The 15-minute delay in the start time was due to a military wreath-laying ceremony near the traditional finish line exit, requiring a course reconfiguration and a 700-metre reduction in length. 

Spartan times for the approximately 20.4 kilometre race included: Danielle Ally: 1:58:55, Harry Newberry: 2:07:22 and Olivia Nation 2:08:09.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 5th April

Over 500 parkrunners again at Stevenage parkrun on Saturday morning and the fastest runner was from Fairlands Valley Spartans.  This was the Spartans stripey Saturday and 36 from the club were running the 5K.  A great number considering how many Spartans were at other events over the weekend.

JESSICA CLARKE was the red caped crusader as she completed her major milestone of 50 parkruns.  She finished in 29 minutes 55 seconds.

Spartan SIMON JACKSON was first of the 511 parkrunners at Saturday’s 395th parkrun in Stevenage.

Eight Spartans had an outing to the Great Denham parkrun which CHARLIE WHITE won in 17 minutes 16 seconds.  NICK GILL was six out of the 280 runners in 18:44 and ANNABELLE WHITE sixth woman in 23:23.

NICK KLEANTHOUS enjoyed some parkrun tourism with a 31:32 at Penistone.  ALISON WOOD ran the Clapham Common parkrun in 21:43.  PAUL SHELLEY 27:20 and ALISON SHELLEY 29:02 both ran at Bedford and PAUL JENNINGS had a good run at Barclay (Hoddesdon) with 27:39.

ALAN GOODWIN volunteered at Stevenage for the 100th time.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
11Simon JACKSON17:13
44David Harris-Cherguit18:26
1212Grant RAMSAY19:11
3128Tony RANDFIELD21:22
4037Matthew COOKE22:14
6458Toby ECCLESHALL23:13
8677Daniel VILJOEN24:10
8980Martin DUDLEY24:17
123109Pete COOK25:14
124110Martin JACOB25:15
148123Darren EMMERSON25:57
149124Ryan DUNNING26:00
173147Lee PICKERSGILL26:44
17520Lorraine HILL26:49
204172Mark BEASLEY27:30
20727Tracy PEZ27:37
210175Andy JAY27:43
23140Claire EMMERSON28:10
263204Kartik SHARMA28:58
293221Steve PLATT29:50
29666Jessica CLARKE29:55
297222Jay PAPA29:58
31175Sharon CROWLEY30:25
32179Penny SCHENKEL30:43
322233Jim BROWN30:45
33688Monica SMITHSON31:37
34996Debbie BLANTERN32:11
375109Pamela VILJOEN33:27
390259Peter SACH33:58
411132Jo MANSFIELD35:20
419138Caroline CROFT35:59
445156Tracy HAYGARTH38:47
447157Jane WADEY39:05
477278Roger BIGGS45:07
484179Nichola DURENT46:27
501190Chloe CHAPMAN52:14
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MORE 20s.  FAST 15s

Spartans were running from 1500 metres to 50,000 metres at the weekend.

50,000 – Ultra Gerry

GERRY ROSEN took part in London Lea Valley Ultra race on Saturday.

It’s a 50 kilometre race that starts in Welwyn Garden City and follows a disused railway line, the Cole Green Way over to Hertford, it then follows the River Lea all the way to finish by the Olympic Stadium in Hackney Wick.  It was Gerry’s first attempt at an Ultra.  There were three aid stations en route and glorious weather to be had and it proved to be successful as he finished the course in a respectable 7 hours 11 minutes 55 seconds (7:11:55).  It’s a perfect introduction into the world of Ultra Marathon running and he’ll be back next year.

32,206 – More 20s

Four Spartans recently ran the Oakley 20 mile race.

JAY PAPA was 39th out of the 569 finishers in 2 hours 18 minutes 32 seconds (2:18:32); and TERRY SAWYER 201st in 2:51:32.  JESS CLARKE took a huge chunk off her personal best with 2:55:07 and CHARLES ARNOLD was third man over 65 with 2:55:43.

5000 – Serpentine

It was sunny, mild with a light breeze by the Serpentine for the Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park.  After a slow first kilometre Spartan JIM BROWN was 225th in 27 minutes 56 seconds (27:56; 64.1%).

As usual there was a great range of runners in Hyde Park.  The winner finished in 16 minutes 16 seconds; the first woman in 18:39 and the last to come in was an 85 year old with 40:43.

SUE HAMER ran the recent Lee Valley 10K in a time of 54.47.  She was tenth in the 50-59 age category.

1500 – Peter Lee Memorial Open Meeting

Four Spartans ran 1500 metres at the Peter Lee Memorial Open race on Sunday.

In race A PAUL SHELLEY ran a new PB of 5 minutes 1 second (5:01:00) beating his best of last year by 21 seconds.

ANDREW PATTERSON was second in race B with a season’s best 4 minutes 22.8 seconds.

SIMON JACKSON came in with 5:23:28 and SHARON CROWLEY finished with a personal best 7 minutes 56 seconds.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 29th March

Spartan SIMON JACKSON was first of the 545 parkrunners were at Saturday’s 394th Stevenage parkrun which is finished in exactly 17 minutes.

34 Fairlands Valley Spartans ran at Stevenage.  GRANT RAMSAY was sub 20 with 19:28.  CRAIG BACON ran a new parkrun personal best of 21:23 and LINDA GEORGE a new PPB of 26:34.  Linda was also the fastest female from Fairlands.  PENNY SCHENKEL ran round in 28 minutes exactly, her fastest since 2018 and an improvement of 3:41 on her best time so far this year.  JIM BROWN was first man 70 plus with 28:40.  Altogether 46 Spartans were at parkruns across the country.  Those away from Stevenage included JOHN NELMS 24:55 and SUZY HAWKINS 25:46 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; THOMAS SAUKA among 194 at the new Oaklands College parkrun; and JESSICA CLARKE 28:22 at the Shrewsbury parkrun.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
11Simon JACKSON17:00
1313Grant RAMSAY19:28
3332Craig BACON21:23
3433Tony RANDFIELD21:26
4140David RIDDELL21:56
4645Matthew COOKE22:08
7772Toby ECCLESHALL23:54
8376Martin DUDLEY24:09
146130Ryan DUNNING26:05
149132Darren EMMERSON26:09
165145Martin JACOB26:23
17322Linda GEORGE26:34
177154Jay PAPA26:56
199171Mark BEASLEY27:16
20128Lorraine HILL27:19
203173Steve TINSLEY27:21
22335Penny SCHENKEL28:00
252204Jim BROWN28:40
265211Matt CLARKE29:04
27956Fiona CLARKE29:39
289227Kartik SHARMA29:56
30870Elizabeth CROWLEY30:49
317241Nick KLEANTHOUS31:03
31872Hannah MANTON31:05
32476Monica SMITHSON31:17
34490Debbie BLANTERN31:46
348249Paul JENNINGS31:53
387263Stephen SMITHSON33:03
455149Nicola HATHERLY37:18
456150Chloe CHAPMAN37:20
465290Lloyd DIAS37:35
470160Tracy HAYGARTH38:01
521302Roger BIGGS47:26
544212Sharon CROWLEY58:09
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GOLD AND BRONZE SPARTANS

Fairlands Valley Spartans brought home GOLD and BRONZE medals from Sunday’s County 20 mile championships.

SIMON JACKSON flew around the four lap Hillingdon course in 2 hours 2 minutes 8 seconds for the Hertfordshire County Bronze for men 40 plus.

JIM BROWN had a hard time of it in the second half with the trippy pavements, kerbs and generally not being in a good place but persisted getting a terrible time of 4:04:58 but holding on to win County Gold for men 70 plus.  He said seventy smiling marshals helped get home round and certainly, in minutes per pound, he got good value for his entry fee.

Barcelona Marathon

Kristian ATANASOV ran a fantastic sub three race at the Barcelona Marathon.  He finished in 2 hours 51 minutes 57 seconds (2:51:57).

Wymondham

Today Carol Paul ran the Wymondham 20 in Norfolk, just to the south/west of Norwich.
The race started in the Town and went 2 miles out of town through the country lanes where the competitors completed a 8 mile loop twice and then back to Wymondham. The course was undulating with a big hill in the last mile. Conditions were quite humid and Carol finished in 3:28:26, 5th in her age group F60-64 and 382nd out of 462. The race was really well organised with loads of marshals.

Twin Lakes

BRIAN WHITE ran the Twin Lakes 20 in 2 hours 42 minutes 1 second (2:42:01).  He was 87th out of the 572 finishers in the multi-terrain event.

Ashridge Sam

It was a first time for SAM TOPHILL at the Ashridge Boundary Run.  She said it was not her usual running terrain !! – but she went round the 17.5 miles in 3:09:06. 

TIM ROBINSON finished in 3:54:31.  The off road course with 1600ft of ascent took in Ivinghoe Beacon and a section of stairs through the woods!  Was a tough run with most of the trails dried out, exposed tree roots, and heavily rutted tracks.  The prize for completion was the traditional Beanie.

Classic Cross Country

Spartan MATTHEW NEWTON ran the classic cross country Orion 15 in the Epping Forest near Chingford.  He finished in 2 hours 33 minutes 38 seconds.

Lee Valley PB Matt

On Sunday morning, MATT TUTTON ran the 10K at the Lee Valley Run Fest with a few other Spartans.  It was a flat course starting and finishing at the Olympic White-Water centre venturing through the Lee Valley Country Park.  Conditions were decent and he managed a chip time of 51:37 which is now is new 10k PB.  He was very happy to take a chunk of time off my personal best!

DANNY SCANLON ran the same race in 44:57.Two Spartans ran the ATW Run Fest Half Marathon.  SIMON HAIGH with 1:43:30 and MARTIN HAIGH with 2:09:28.

Preparing for Spring Events

42 Spartans took part in the FVS club 5, 10, 15 and 20 mile training runs on Sunday.

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 22nd March

A total of 498 parkrunners were at the 393rd Stevenage parkrun and despite it being the start of a very busy weekend 23 were Spartans.  SIMON JACKSON was third in 18 minutes 30 seconds (18:30).  He was running his 60th parkrun.

Altogether 40 Spartans were at parkruns across the country.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
33Simon JACKSON18:30
1110Grant RAMSAY19:46
2723Tony RANDFIELD21:34
3729Matthew COOKE22:21
6753Martin JACOB23:33
8566Daniel VILJOEN24:15
161118Darren EMMERSON26:46
172125Matt CLARKE26:56
177128Ryan DUNNING27:05
184132Mark BEASLEY27:14
217150Jim BROWN28:26
23748Fiona CLARKE28:56
241163Peter SACH29:01
25253Claire EMMERSON29:17
254168Paul JENNINGS29:19
313193Steve PLATT30:41
33691Debbie BLANTERN31:36
368224Kartik SHARMA33:18
392109Pamela VILJOEN34:48
420125Chloe CHAPMAN36:12
421126Nicola HATHERLY36:16
451143Hannah MANTON38:49
488261Roger BIGGS47:05
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MARIE AND ANDREW CHAMPIONS

Fairlands Valley Spartans packed into Stevenage’s Cromwell Hotel on Friday to celebrate their champions for 2024.  For racing awards were centred around two big blocks of races.  The short series was based on 1500 metres, 5K, 5 miles and 10K races throughout the year and the ones that counted were the best three out of the four.  Then the long series was similar but based on 10 miles, half marathon, 20 miles and full marathon (42.2 kilometres or 26.2 miles).  Awards were made to the first three men and women purely based on speed and based on age related percentages.

So the female open short contest was won by ASHLEY JOHNSON with 76.8%, followed by MARIE COLUCCI on 62.9% and SALLY REEVE on 59.9%.

YUKO GORDON scored an incredible 101.3% in the female age graded table with JAYNE RIDDELL second on 69.0% and SHARON CROWLEY third with 66.1%.

Moving up the to the open long series for women.  SAMANTHA TOPHILL won with 54.2%.  Marie Colucci was also second in this series.  She scored 53.4%.  CHLOE CHAPMAN was third with 50.1%.

Onto the women’s Age Graded Long and this was also won by Yuko Gordon.  This time with 98.6%.  ALISON SHELLEY was second on 62.7% and SHARON CROWLEY third with 58.8%.

In the Male Open Short contest ANDREW PATTERSON was first with 79.7%; MIKE JEFFS second with 72.9% and JAY PAPA third with 67.5%.

Moving onto the Male Age Graded Short series SIMON JACKSON won with 84.1%; PAUL SHELLEY was second on 81.9% and GRANT RAMSAY third with 79.3%..

Andrew Patterson won the men’s “open long” with 79.8%;  DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT was second with 72.2% and MIKE JEFFS third on 68.4%.

In the Age Graded Long series for men SIMON JACKSON was first with 81.3%; PAUL SHELLEY second with 77.9% and STUART ARCHER third with 70.6%.

Looking through the open results it’s not surprising that ANDREW PATTERSON is the Spartans overall male champion and MARIE COLUCCI the overall female champion.  With two wins out of two Andrew becomes the Spartans club champion.

The club likes to recognise improvement the Most Improved Spartan – Male was Mike Jeffs and the Most Improved Spartan – Female was JUDY KING.  RunTogether Starter of the year was PETER SACH.

There were lots of prizes for running fast but there were also prizes for being incredibly helpful.

The Chair’s Award went to CALANTHA CHAPMAN; the Head Coach Award to ANDY PRIOR; the President’s Award to MICHAEL O’KEEFE and the “Cathy Craig Spartan of the Year” award, which is voted on by club members went to MIKE JEFFS.  Mike is the new men’s captain.

Twenty’s Plenty for Spartan Threesome

Three Spartans tackled the Essex 20 mile race on Sunday.  A little chilly and breezy on Debden Airfield but PENNY SCHENKEL set a new personal best for the distance.

DAVE COOK was first in with 2:13:47 and 95th out of the 466.  A careful JIM BROWN came in 396th with 3:15:23.  Last year Penny ran this distance in 3:50:16.  This year 3:45:52 so that’s a personal best by 4 minutes 24 seconds (4:24).

There are various 20 mile race options this weekend including the county championships which will be in Hillingdon.

In the Debden 10K Spartan SIMON HAIGH was first man 60 plus with 46 minutes 12 seconds (46:12).

Thirsk Pete

PETE SMITH ran the Thirsk 10 mile race in 1 hour 19 minutes 5 seconds (1:19:05).this morning.

Bath Half

And BECKY RAYNER ran the Bath Half Marathon on 16th March in 2 hours 57 minutes 58 seconds (2:57:58).

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 15th March

A total of 538 parkrunners were at the 392nd Stevenage parkrun and 36 were Spartans.  took part.  36 Spartans.

A special mention goes to Spartan PAUL JENNINGS who ran his double century, his 200th parkrun which he finished in 33:01.  That’s a significant mini or arbitrary milestone.  He should be running round the park with a 250 cape by the middle of next year.  TRACY HAYGARTH and DEBBIE BLANTERN ran their 160th parkruns, in 38:58 and 33:09 while STEVE WELLS ran his 150th in 22 minutes exactly.

Altogether 47 Spartans were at parkruns.  Spartans at other parkruns included WILLIAM MORLEY 18:51 at Storeys Field; PAUL MOULD 21:01 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; SIMON HAIGH 25:41 at Westmill; MARTIN JACOB 25:51 and LINDA GEORGE 31:26 at Barnsley; ANTON McCALLA 30:01 at Market Harborough; NICK GILL 30:14 in Letchworth; DANIEL SUTTON 30:32 at Rutland Water; JONATHAN JONES 36:23 and DZENANA TOPIC 36:47 at the Wimpole Estate.

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CAMBRIDGE JOY

A lovely sunny day and 29 Spartans ran the sell out Cambridge Half Marathon.  A few found it a bit warm but many got new personal bests or otherwise ran some really good times.

First in for FVS was ANDREW PATTERSON, 83rd out of 14,000 runners in just 1 hour 14 minutes 19 seconds (1:14:19).  Next in was SIMON JACKSON, 132nd in 1:16:06.  SIMON FRASER was also under 80 minutes at 245th with 1:19:09.

ASHLEY JOHNSON was Fairlands fastest female and she ran a fantastic 1:25:37.  She was second female 45 plus in the race.

This season, said MARTIN JACOB, I started doing some strength workouts.  Turns out it’s doing the trick.  On Sunday he ran the Cambridge Half marathon in 1:44:29.  This a PB by 1 minute 27 seconds.  He is super happy with the results.

LINDA GEORGE also ran in Cambridge. She finished in 02:00:23.  This was her second fastest half marathon.  She is very pleased with results considering it was a hot day.

Woo!  JESSICA CLARKE ran a new personal best of 1:49:24 and JAY PAPA cut his PB by nearly three minutes to 1:24:59.

Spartan MIKE JEFFS ran the Cambridge Half Marathon for the third year in a row and it was another PB (personal best) 1:20:22 shaving 2 minutes 50 seconds off his previous best.

PAUL SHELLEY went around in an impressive 1:24:13 with ALISON SHELLEY finishing in 2:09:37.

1:25:57 for NICK GILL on Sunday.  He was hoping to sneak under 1:25, but the warm weather took it out of him in the second half.  But still, his second fastest half marathon and the comeback from injury continues!  It was great to run with fellow Spartans Jay and Michael who both smashed their PBs (personal bests), and so much brilliant running all round.

Brian WHITE said it was great to be part of a large FVS team running the Cambridge Half marathon in some very nice sunshine.  A great tour of a few of the colleges and the surrounding countryside.  He finished in 1:44:49

SHARON CROWLEY said it was far too hot for her.  She finished in 2:51:32.

Seven Spartans averaged under 4 minutes per kilometre for all 21.1kilometres.

PositionNameTimeCategory
83Andrew Patterson1:14:19M40-44
132Simon Jackson1:16:06M45-49
245Simon Fraser1:19:09M35-39
293Mike Jeffs1:20:22M40-44
414Anthony Cahill1:22:19M40-44
503Stuart Mead1:23:40M40-44
540Paul Shelley1:24:13M55-59
573Michael Fisher1:24:48M35-39
592Jay Papa1:24:59M25-29
643Ashley Johnson1:25:37F45-49
670Nick Gill1:25:57M35-39
1188Ross Gallagher1:31:35M40-44
1389Mark Collins1:33:29M45-49
1893Matthew Newton1:37:20M40-44
2034Terry Sawyer1:38:31M40-44
2545Robert Wright1:41:56M40-44
2992Martin Jacob1:44:29M40-44
3057Brian White1:44:48M65-69
3968Jessica Clarke1:49:24F20-24
4024Andy Prior1:49:41M55-59
4559Keith Hooker1:52:34M45-49
6368Linda George2:00:23F40-44
8178Alison Shelley2:09:37F55-59
8737Megan Sutton2:12:43F25-29
11864Rose Sutton2:37:10F20-24
12269Samantha Sutton2:42:50F50-54
12362Emma Southerington2:44:10F50-54
12784Sharon Crowley2:51:32F65-69
13355Rebecca Rayner3:11:11F40-44

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 8th March

Many stayed away or kept the pace down in preparation for Sunday’s Cambridge Half Marathon but there were still over 500 runners, 504, at Stevenage parkrun and 29 were Spartans.  Altogether 42 from FVS ran parkruns on Saturday.

It was the special red cape for NIKI PLUMB who ran her 50 parkruns milestone in 38:14.  This week LORRAINE HILL was the fastest female from Fairlands with 26:43.  JIM BROWN ran his fastest parkrun this year with 27:52 and NICOLA HATHERLY ran her 60th with 38:12.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
99Grant RAMSAY19:26
3331Tony RANDFIELD22:02
8171Martin JACOB23:57
9382Martin DUDLEY24:33
144120Steve TINSLEY26:38
15118Lorraine HILL26:43
17023Sophie PARSONS27:18
17224Suzy HAWKINS27:22
176143Matt CLARKE27:29
190153Jim BROWN27:52
219168Darren EMMERSON28:27
233176Jay PAPA28:47
24749Fiona CLARKE29:21
292213Paul JENNINGS31:04
29866Claire EMMERSON31:10
303218Ryan DUNNING31:20
329229Nick KLEANTHOUS32:20
34893Linda GEORGE32:54
376242Stephen SMITHSON34:15
379244Paul HOLGATE34:28
397124Chloe CHAPMAN35:10
418136Hannah MANTON36:20
434146Karen PALMER37:08
443154Tracy HAYGARTH38:04
444155Nicola HATHERLY38:12
445156Niki PLUMB38:14
493187Rebecca RAYNER48:05
492186Nichola DURENT48:05
503194Callie CHAPMAN72:17
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20s PLENTY AT OUNDLE

SAMANTHA TOPHILL ran the Oundle 20 mile race on her birthday.  Sam finished in 3 hours 14 minutes 8 seconds (3:14:08) and was second in her age group.

Berko is not Flat

After a ceilidh on Saturday evening.  JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL’s long “easy” run turned out to be the Berkhamsted Half Marathon.  Not flat!  It was a lovely sunny morning but there was still some black ice on the course after the previous night’s low temperatures.  There were a record 1400 entries.  Jim finished in 2:03:56 and Penny ran her fastest recent half marathon with 2:20:54.

By the Seaside

Spartan ROBERT WRIGHT ran the Great Yarmouth Seafront Half Marathon in 1:37:25.

Burghley Seven

On Sunday morning MATT TUTTON ran the Burghley 7 mile Road Race in a chip time of 58:49 which he was very happy with.  He said conditions were perfect under the clear blue sky with the finish outside Burghley House.

John Harris Muddy in Letchworth

JOHN HARRIS was second in the muddy first Saturday in the month 5K race in Letchworth.  He finished in 22:24.

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month

It might have been frosty leaving Stevenage that morning but it was sunny, mild and with a light breeze in Hyde Park, London for Serpentine’s Last Friday of the Month 5K.  JIM BROWN finished in 28:26.

This was the first of Jim’s races in three days.

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 1st March – stripey Saturday

There were sixty Spartans at parkruns on Saturday 1st March – stripes day. 

39 from Fairlands Valley won at their local parkrun in Stevenage.  SIMON JACKSON was second in 17:21 and GRANT RAMSAY seventh in 19:05.

LINDA GEORGE and JUDY KING both ran new parkrun personal bests.  Linda in 27:03 and Judy in 29:13.

PETE COOK ran his 30th parkrun in 25:50.  HANNAH MANTON ran her 25th in 33:01; and PAUL HOLGATE his 80th in 35:49.

Despite a large turnout of 581 runners ALISON SHELLEY and JIM BROWN worked their way through and helped each other to their fastest parkruns so far this year.  Jim coming in with 28:14 and Alison with 28:29.

Spartans elsewhere included MATTHEW NEWTON at Ingrebourne Hill parkrun (Rainham) which he finished in 19:57; JESSICA CLARKE and JAY PAPA at England’s most easterly town, Lowestoft, where they finished in 22:30 and 23:31; ANDY JAY on Tooting Common in 28:51 and SAMANTHA SUTTON and MATTHEW PATTMAN were in Cheshire completing the Delamere parkrun in 42:11 and 53:03.

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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
News Race Results

SPARTAN NUMBERS JUMP AT WATFORD

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.

PositionNameTime
15ADRIAN BUSOLINI37:32
27MIKE JEFFS39:40
28NICK GILL39:41
52PAUL SHELLEY41:30*
65ADRIAN DONNELLY42:09
114STEVE MAYFIELD46:20
127MATT GIFFORD47:07
135CHARLIE ARNOLD47:31
145BRIAN WHITE47:57
156OLIVIA HAMILTON48:42
168SIMON HAIGH50:00
171GEORGIE HOOPER50:19
182ELLA CERAULO51:05
184DAVID RIDDELL50:59
262LLOYD DIAS56:34
271HAZEL SMITH57:33
286JANE RIDDELL58:38
294THOMAS SAUKA59:36
300DAVID ACKERY60:37
310KIRSTEN LIGHTBODY61:41
315MEGAN SUTTON62:03
316PENNY SCHENKEL62:13
320TIM ROBINSON62:52
328MARK FREEMAN64:23
332JUDY KING65:24
336JIM BROWN65:51
341NIKKI NATION67:29
348SHARON CROWLEY72:48
351SAM SUTTON73:25
352CALLIE CHAPMAN73:53
361BECKY RAYNER78:15
364SALLY PHILLIPS80:49
369NICHOLA DURRANT96:36
370NIKI PLUMB96:36

Love Welwyn 10K.

Meanwhile four Spartans were at the Love Welwyn 10K in Welwyn Garden City.

SUE HAMER ran 3 minutes 48 seconds faster than last year and set a new personal best of 54:27.  MICHAEL FISHER finished 20th in 40:21; TONY RANDFIELD in 45:36 and MARIE COLUCCI in 56:52.  There were 364 finishers.

PosBibNameChip Time
20296Michael FISHER40:21
61343Tony RANDFIELD45:36
163288Sue HAMER54:27
19639Marie COLUCCI56:52

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 15th February

There were at least 46 Spartans at 14 different parkruns on Saturday 15th February.  29 Spartans were among the 493 finishers at Stevenage.

ANDREW PATTERSON from FVS won the Stevenage run with 17 minutes 5 seconds (17:05) and ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER was second woman with 21:55.

Spartan ANNABELLE WHITE enjoyed herself at the Hunstanton Promenade parkrun.  Lovely and flat if a bit windy on the out and back course.  Her time of 22 minutes 43 seconds (22:43) will have boosted her enjoyment.

On a trip back to Edinburgh GRANT RAMSAY ran the Holyrood parkrun in 19:25.

More than seventeen Spartans have already entered the Baldock Beast Half Marathon which will be on Sunday 23rd February.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
11Andrew PATTERSON17:05
1919Simon JACKSON20:49
332Ashley SCHOENWETTER21:55
3634Tony RANDFIELD22:07
8578Daniel VILJOEN24:09
9183Martin DUDLEY24:18
123110Ryan DUNNING25:44
13816Karen ELLIS26:14
15423Lorraine HILL26:50
16728Sue HAMER27:13
173141Jay PAPA27:22
189154Matt CLARKE28:07
198159Maurice BALLARD28:22
21942Jessica CLARKE29:00
229179Jim BROWN29:12
287209Paul JENNINGS30:36
298217Thomas SAUKA30:53
300218Nick KLEANTHOUS30:57
31283Monica SMITHSON31:41
31788Debbie BLANTERN31:52
32794Pamela VILJOEN32:17
377244Lloyd DIAS34:17
405144Chloe CHAPMAN36:17
422155Hannah MANTON37:39
434165Tracy HAYGARTH38:34
445172Niki PLUMB39:17
446173Nicola HATHERLY39:22
461185Jane WADEY42:17
462186Rebecca RAYNER42:47
Categories
News Race Results

FARNBOROUGH IS REALLY COOL

Spartan SAM TOPHILL said the Farnborough Winter Half Marathon was a really well organised and popular event – 3000 capacity sell out!  Traffic free and reasonably flat.  Samantha beat two hours with a chip time of 1 hour 55 minutes 18 seconds – and the goody bag was pretty good.

Punchbowl Devil

The Punchbowl Marathon passes through some of the best of the Surrey countryside and Spartan THOMAS SAUKA completed the 30 mile option in 7 hours 32 minutes.


The event is a walk (or run) on the footpaths and bridleways of Surrey.  It is a challenge not a race.  Two routes were offered – 30 and 20 miles – both started in Tilford and passed around the scenic Devil’s Punchbowl with the 30 visiting Elstead, Frensham Ponds and Seale, passing over Crooksbury Hill and the commons of Hankley, Elstead, Puttenham, Ockley and Frensham.

It’s a bit different.  Participants are required to carry a cup/mug, compass, route description, map case & whistle, hat & gloves, waterproofs, good torch for those finishing after 5pm, and warm clothing.

Run for the Cake

Karen Liddle and Tricia Hopper completed the Run for the Cake Trail Marathon.  It was organised by Zig Zag Running and consisted of eight laps around Ferry Meadows in Peterborough.  The finished in a time of 5 hours and 46 minutes.

A lovely route around the lakes and by some woods.  They said it was very well organised and worth taking part, especially for the big slice of cake at the end.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 8th February

There were at least 40 Spartans at parkruns on Saturday.  27 Spartans among the 479 finishers at Stevenage.

GRANT RAMSAY was top ten with 19 minutes 1 second (19:01) and GAIL MACKIE a top ten woman at sixth with 23:26.

There were some quite high scoring mini milestones with DANIEL VILJOEN on 280 with 24:25; MARTIN DUDLEY on 230 with 25:00; CHLOE CHAPMAN on 170 with 34 minutes exactly; and JIM BROWN on 190 walking round in 47:02.  STEVE SMITHSON has one to go to a major milestone.  He completed his 99th in 34:38.

Spartans enjoying parkruns elsewhere included HARRIET SMITH with a bit of parkrun tourism at Donaupark, Austria which she finished in 26:26.  Meanwhile PAUL MOULD finished Bedford in 20:47; MATTHEW NEWTON Pymmes in 23:34; NICK GILL Letchworth in 24:49; PAUL SHELLEY Wimpole Estate in 26:44; MARIA SWIFT Bug Hunters in 26:49; LUCY FIELD University Parks in 27:19; JAY PAPA 27:58 and JESSICA CLARKE 29:58 at Milton Country, near Cambridge; and ANDREA WESTCOTT 34:48 in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
44Grant RAMSAY19:01
3731Tony RANDFIELD22:25
526Gail MACKIE23:26
7264Daniel VILJOEN24:25
8779Martin DUDLEY25:00
9686Ryan DUNNING25:25
10797Matt TUTTON25:51
13617Lorraine HILL26:34
204167Matt CLARKE29:08
23748Fiona CLARKE29:57
246191Mike REYNOLDS30:21
258196Steve PLATT30:47
259197Nick KLEANTHOUS30:49
273206Paul JENNINGS31:22
29274Pamela VILJOEN32:14
29979Penny SCHENKEL32:26
30785Debbie BLANTERN32:32
32093Monica SMITHSON33:00
349111Chloe CHAPMAN34:00
367238Stephen SMITHSON34:38
394140Nicola HATHERLY36:37
425160Tracy HAYGARTH39:11
445175Niki PLUMB41:24
466265Jim BROWN47:02
470266Roger BIGGS48:42
478196Sharon CROWLEY64:30
479197Elizabeth CROWLEY64:49
Categories
News Race Results

COOK WINS AT OLYMPIC PARK

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.

Categories
Club News Race Results

SIMON WINS ESSENDON

Spartan SIMON FRASER won the Essendon Country Club 10K on Sunday with an amazing 36 minutes 42 seconds (36:42) on what was a tough course, icy, muddy, lumpy paths and hilly.  He said it was fun.

Birthday Best in Bedford

MIKE JEFFS celebrated his birthday in his new shorts with a 25 seconds improvement to his personal best (PB) for ten miles at the Bedford 10.  His 1:00:05 was not quite the outcome he was after but he was over the moon with his time and seventh place overall.  Just six seconds to go.

Spartan DAVE COOK did beat the hour.  He was fourth with 58:48.

Nick GILL finished in 1:05:41.  He was aiming for more like 1:05 flat, but still pleased with nearly a minute improvement compared to the Buntingford 10 four weeks ago.  He said it was great to see a good lot of Spartans.

Third in his age group BRIAN WHITE finished in 1:19:34.  He said it was his first time doing a race alongside the Bedford Embankment.  He thoroughly enjoyed the whole race and the bonus was a very flat route.

JIM BROWN and SOPHIE PARSONS finished in 1:36:07 and 1:36:34.

Nine Spartans ran the race.  The others were CRAIG BACON 1:17:32; SIMON HAIGH 1:19:57; MARTIN HAIGH 1:25:57.

There were 437 finishers.

PosBiBNameChip TimeCategoryAge Grade
4252Dave COOK58:48Ages 20-3474.35
7277Mike JEFFS1:00:05Ages 40 – 4475.79
1958Nick GILL1:05:41Ages 35 – 3967.16
9241Craig BACON1:17:32Ages 50 – 5465.31
10647Brian WHITE1:19:34Ages 65 – 6973.69
1184Simon HAIGH1:19:57Ages 55 – 5964.82
17024Martin HAIGH1:25:57Ages 35 – 3950.85
28112Jim BROWN1:36:07Ages 70 – 7461.65
29865Sophie PARSONS1:36:34Ages 20 – 3448.78

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 25th January

There were three Spartans in the top ten at Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun.

Over 500 again with 523 runners 27 of whom were from Fairlands Valley Spartans.

ANDREW PATTERSON was first with a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 16 minutes 25 seconds; SIMON JACKSON fifth in 17:46 and GRANT RAMSAY eighth in 18:54.

On Robert Burns birthday JIM BROWN was first kilt with 29:52 and MAURICE BALLARD ran a new PPB of 27:58.

NICK KLEANTHOUS was running his 230th parkrun and finished in 31:58; PAMELA VILJOEN her 260th which she completed in 31:37.

Elsewhere JOHN NELMS ran Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun in 24:55; SUZY HAWKINS Wendover in 25:32; MARIA SWIFT Bug Hunter Waters (Northstowe, Cambridgeshire) in 28:39; MICHAEL O’KEEFE Harlow in 32:38; NICK GILL Letchworth in 32:50; PAUL JENNINGS Panshanger in 34:09; Jonathan JONES 38:45 and DZENANA TOPIC 38:45 at the Wimpole Estate; NICOLA HATHERLY 41:01 at Jersey Farm (St Albans) and DARRYL STEVENS 57:58 in Brockenhurst.

PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
1Andrew PATTERSON16:25
5Simon JACKSON17:46
8Grant RAMSAY18:54
31Tony RANDFIELD22:41
75Daniel VILJOEN24:26
97Martin DUDLEY25:12
138Darren EMMERSON26:37
166Matt TUTTON27:16
179Karen ELLIS27:45
196Maurice BALLARD27:58
204Matt CLARKE28:11
214Fiona CLARKE28:12
220Mark BEASLEY28:34
231Claire EMMERSON28:57
257Steve TINSLEY29:36
269Jim BROWN29:52
324Pamela VILJOEN31:37
337Nick KLEANTHOUS31:58
356Monica SMITHSON32:56
372Stephen SMITHSON33:45
398Peter SACH34:36
416Jo MANSFIELD36:25
423Chloe CHAPMAN36:40
457Tracy HAYGARTH39:19
470Rebecca RAYNER40:37
471Sharon CROWLEY40:45
502Roger BIGGS47:06
Categories
Club News Race Results

ADRIAN ARRIVES

Amazing ADRIAN BUSOLINI has finished the Montane Winter Spine Race.  He finished in just over 134 hours (134:02:24) – so nearly 34 hours to spare.  Spartan Adrian was 42nd out of the 78 who finished.  82 others started but did not make it to the finish.

The Montane Winter Spine is widely regarded as Britain’s Most Brutal endurance race. It’s a non-stop, 268 mile (432 kilometres) race along the most iconic and demanding national trail in Britain; the Pennine Way.  Beginning from Edale in Derbyshire, runners have a time limit of 168 hours to reach the elusive village of Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.  They climb over 10,000 metres as the route crosses some of the most beautiful but difficult terrain found in England, including the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park, Hadrian’s Wall and the Cheviots.  It’s a truly epic challenge that will tests physical resilience and mental fortitude.  The up to 150 participants will experience the full intensity and ferocity of the British Winter including deep snow, storm force winds and driving rain.

Spartan Adrian started from Edale, Derbyshire at 0800 on Sunday 12th January and had to be finished at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders by 0800 on Sunday 19th.  He encountered daytime temperatures between zero and 10 degrees but night times between minus ten and plus degrees.

County Ten Championships

Eight Spartans, four women and four men, ran the Hertfordshire County 10 Mile Championships on an undulating course in St Albans on Sunday.  They were incorporated in the Fred Hughes 10 event.  Chilly but nothing like the freezing conditions at the Hatfield 10K last week.

Under the hour for ten miles is always a great achievement and Spartan SIMON FRASER did it with 58 minutes 13 seconds (58:13) which gave him 42nd place out of the 1,012 finishers.

Next came MICHAEL FISHER in 1:05:33 and MATTHEW NEWTON in 1:11:05. 

YUKO GORDON was second woman 70 plus with 1:18:40.

JIM BROWN ran what he called a “magic time.”  He couldn’t do it last year but wondered if he could beat 90 minutes.  It wasn’t looking good at five miles – 45:25 – but a big effort in the second half saw him cross the line in 1:29:59 for a season’s best.  Achieving a target by one second is a bit magic, one second the other way would be very disappointing.

Then there was ANNE TRYSSESOONE with 1:31:27.  PENNY SCHENKEL improved on her last attempt by more than two minutes to finish in 1:41:06.

SHARON CROWLEY was almost four minutes faster than the time she ran at Buntingford at the end of 2024 with her 1:53:18.

The next county championship will be the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd February 2025.  Includes the county championships for seniors (all adults, men and women).

PositionNameChip Time
42Simon FRASER58:13
125Michael FISHER1:05:33
217Matthew NEWTON1:11:05
354Yuko GORDON1:18:40
603Jim BROWN1:29:59
653Ann TRYSSESOONE1:31:27
844Penny SCHENKEL1:41:06
970Sharon CROWLEY1:53:18

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 18th January

A small increase ion temperature saw attendance jump up by nearly seventy at Saturday’s parkrun in Stevenage.  There were 544 finishers including 24 Spartans.  CAROLINE CROFT ran her 100th parkrun in 33 minutes 15 seconds.  GRANT RAMSAY was top ten with 18:52 and ASHLEY JOHNSON was a top ten woman with 23:13.

There were 22 Spartans at other parkruns including a first visit to the Oaklands College parkrun for JANE WADEY.  She definitely recommends trail shoes for this one.  It was a two lap course which Jane reckons was 60% mud.  She finished in 39:21.

Jane added, “As I’m a member of the deaf park run runners, I knew that there would be BSL (British Sign Language) at Oaklands college park run this weekend.  I offered to volunteer but as they said they had enough I decided to run instead.  It was the inaugural event and was opened by the High Sheriff Annie Brewster JP and we were welcomed by the Principal of Oaklands College.There were 254 in attendance with various local clubs represented.  The course was quite muddy in places so trail shoes might be a good idea.  It is two laps, some of it is on paved paths but then you run around the edge of the rugby fields and through the woods but on the whole it is pretty flat.”

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
87Grant RAMSAY18:52
7365Tony RANDFIELD23:04
7768Toby ECCLESHALL23:10
808Ashley JOHNSON23:13
8373Craig BACON23:18
10390Daniel VILJOEN24:12
10794Martin DUDLEY24:37
135116Ryan DUNNING25:25
156133Mark BEASLEY26:13
16420Lorraine HILL26:44
188155Matt CLARKE27:34
19328Fiona CLARKE27:43
224178Jim BROWN28:36
247191Paul JENNINGS29:25
25548Claire EMMERSON29:35
268203Nick KLEANTHOUS29:56
31679Pamela VILJOEN31:22
32988Monica SMITHSON31:49
367109Caroline CROFT33:15
380118Nikki NATION34:09
393124Chloe CHAPMAN34:47
401252Stephen SMITHSON35:07
501198Tracy HAYGARTH42:51
517284Roger BIGGS46:47
Categories
News Race Results Races

ADRIAN IS ON THE SPINE

Amazing ADRIAN BUSOLINI is tackling the Montane Winter Spine Race.

The Montane Winter Spine is widely regarded as Britain’s Most Brutal endurance race. It’s a non-stop, 268 mile (432 kilometres) race along the most iconic and demanding national trail in Britain; the Pennine Way.  Beginning from Edale in Derbyshire, runners have a time limit of 168 hours to reach the elusive village of Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.  They climb over 10,000 metres as the route crosses some of the most beautiful but difficult terrain found in England, including the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park, Hadrian’s Wall and the Cheviots.  It’s a truly epic challenge that will tests physical resilience and mental fortitude.  The up to 150 participants will experience the full intensity and ferocity of the British Winter including deep snow, storm force winds and driving rain.

Spartan Adrian started from Edale, Derbyshire at 0800 on Sunday 12th January and has to be finished at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders by 0800 on Sunday 19th.  He will encounter daytime temperatures between zero and 10 degrees but night times between minus ten and plus degrees.

After 8 hours 51 minutes and 31 miles (50K) Adrian crossed the M62 near Green Withers reservoir.  By 6p.m. Sunday he was on Chelburn Moor, not far from Todmorden and heading for the first check point at Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire which he got to at 8.01p.m. with 42 miles (68K) completed.

Wearing number 122 Adrian can be tracked here

Hybrid Hatfield 10K

It was seriously cold Saturday night and into Sunday morning and the only way the Hatfield 10K went ahead was with a course change to avoid a section of the Alban Way that had flooded and then frozen.  That introduced a 500 metre cross country section on each of the new two laps.

Spartan NICK GILL was 18th out of the 374 finishers with 38 minutes 44 seconds (38:44); new member LORRAINE HILL 202nd with 55:11; CONOR ECCLESTON 229th with 56:43; JIM BROWN 259th with 57:59 and JUDY KING 294th with 62:18.

Nick’s goal for Sunday’s Hatfield 10k was sub-40, so he was very pleased to get round in 38:44.  Yes the course had to be changed and cut short due to the wintry conditions, but getting this time when running in trail shoes felt fantastic.  Well done to the organisers for getting the race on.

Jim said it felt bitterly cold arriving at the event and it stayed significantly below zero for the whole race.  With the course change runners were advised to use trail shoes but after studying the new course map I tried an old pair of marathon trainers.  Actually it was fine.  The only significant challenge was a frozen puddle right across the track just before getting back on tarmac though wow my lungs weren’t wild about heavy breathing that cold air.  I set out with stiff legs complaining about the temperature for the first kilometre and doubting that under an hour was likely but did that so content.

Lorraine enjoyed her first race in a Spartan vest.

Back in the USA

ALISON SHELLEY was back in the USA and ran the San Diego Resolution Run Half Marathon in California on Saturday 11 January.

She had originally booked to run it two years ago but was unable to travel due to a skiing accident injury.

Alison said, “I had to cancel this race and the Chicago Marathon, and rehab for a year.  So it was really good to finally get to run it! (And to wear my stripes in the US for the second time in 6 months!).  It was a very cold start at 07:15 am but once the sun came up it was beautiful conditions and lovely route around the waters edge.  I had a chatty run and was very happy with my time of 2:09:30.”

Doughnut Dash

Only four days before GERRY ROSEN was in the Caribbean and 30° heat, by Sunday morning he was taking part in the Phoenix running doughnut dash and it was -5° (minus five).

Although he wasn’t sure how he was going do after a week of inactivity, it went surprisingly well, half marathon done in 2 hours 31 minutes 30 seconds (2:31:30), and his just reward was two doughnuts afterwards and a giant medal

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 11th January

Minus three degrees but that didn’t stop 476 turning up for Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun.  32 were from Fairlands Valley Spartans.

The birds were sitting on ice in the middle of the lake but the light was fantastic and the company good.

Spartan SIMON JACKSON was second overall in 18 minutes 12 seconds.  While the two fastest females from Fairlands this week were GAIL MACKIE in 23:07 and new member ELLA CERAULO in 23:43.  Another new member, LORAINE HILL came in with 30:06.

SUSAN MCANENY ran her 25th parkrun in 31:42; SHARON CROWLEY her 80th in 40:09 and MARK BEASLEY his 140th in 27:30.

Altogether 42 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday.  Those away from Stevenage included GRANT RAMSAY fifth at Wimpole Estate in 19:49; MATT NEWTON 25:20 at Pymmes; MATT TUTTON 26:38 at Panshanger; SUZY HAWKINS 27:33 at Wendover Woods; MAURICE BALLARD 27:45 at Castle Park; NICK GILL 28:30 at Letchworth and MICHAEL O’KEEFE 31:37 at Leavesden Country.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTimeComments
22Simon JACKSON18:12Second overall
486Gail MACKIE23:07Fastest FVS female
5852Tony RANDFIELD23:32 
6557Jay PAPA23:52 
8171Martin DUDLEY24:30 
8373Daniel VILJOEN24:34 
11811Ella CERAULO25:43New member
136116Ryan DUNNING26:21 
145123Darren EMMERSON26:54 
152127Matt CLARKE27:08 
16224Fiona CLARKE27:24 
164135Mark BEASLEY27:30140 parkruns
16726Andrea WESTCOTT27:35 
21841Claire EMMERSON29:33 
25156Lorraine HILL30:06New member.  340 parkruns
266193Jim BROWN30:35 
280200Ciaran MCANENY31:01 
29576Susan MCANENY31:4225 parkruns
30984Elizabeth CROWLEY32:18 
310215Nick KLEANTHOUS32:19 
313216Paul JENNINGS32:21 
31788Jessica CLARKE32:31 
32090Monica SMITHSON32:38 
32191Pamela VILJOEN32:40 
330221Jonathan JONES33:07 
354117Caroline CROFT33:56 
358121Annabelle WHITE34:01 
391140Hilary DAVIES35:48 
435171Sharon CROWLEY40:0980 parkruns
434170Nicola HATHERLY40:09 
438172Tracy HAYGARTH40:28 
474261Stephen SMITHSON62:57 
Categories
News Race Results

NEW YEAR BREEZES IN

Five brave Spartans tackled the county cross country championships for seniors on Saturday 4th January.  Men ran 11.75 kilometres and women 8 kilometres.  All before the snow landed.

In the women’s race JAYNE RIDDELL was 42nd in 45 minutes exactly.  First Spartan in the men’s race was ADRIAN BUSOLINI at 24th in 41:29.  Then came MIKE JEFFS 46th in 43:25; PETER GENTLE 61st in 48:23 and DAVID ACKERY 78th in 1:08:01.

Senior means runners age 20 or over.  There will be a cross country championships for veterans in a few weeks.  Date to be announced.

First Ultra of the Year

Spartan John NELMS joined 300 other runners and completed the 43 mile country to capital ultra marathon on Saturday.  Starting in Wendover on top of the Chilterns, the course winds down 20 miles through the hills to Denham where it picks up the grand union canal.  Runners then have a further 23 miles to get to the finish near Paddington in central London.

The weather was kind this year with a light frost meaning minimal mud on the hills and John completed the 43 mile route in 9 hours 25 minutes.

This is his eighth appearance at this event and his 108th marathon (or longer event) overall.

Regent’s Park 10K

In horrible conditions Spartan SIMON FRASER ran Sunday’s Regent’s Park 10K by Mornington Chasers in 36 minutes 57 seconds (36:57).

New Year’s Eve 10K

The New Year’s Eve 10K in St Albans was a lovely way to end the year.

The event was over before the wind and the deluge.  Spartan JAY PAPA beat 40 minutes when he finished 42nd in 39:57.

TIM ROBINSON was 453rd in 56:46 and PAUL HOLGATE 679th in 1:09:22.

All 802 finishers were offered a free glass of Prosecco to celebrate.

By Wednesday the New Year’s Day 10K in Hyde Park was postponed due to the conditions but the Stevenage parkrun went ahead.

Parkrun Highlights New Year’s Day and Saturday 4th January

There were an amazing 2,686 runs including more than 166 by Spartans at the five Stevenage parkruns held over the Christmas and New Year period.  A big thank you to all the volunteers.

Will the weather stop it?  Won’t it?  The go ahead was not given until 8a.m. and still 509 people turned up to run the New Year’s Day special parkrun in Stevenage.  33 of them were from Fairlands Valley Spartans.

ADRIAN BUSOLINI has a good win at Stevenage parkrun with his 17:18.  MEGAN SUTTON set a new parkrun personal best of 27:14.

SAMANTHA SUTTON ran her 100th Stevenage parkrun in 34:15.  So far she’s run 174 parkruns altogether.

Elsewhere in Letchworth Spartan JOHN HARRIS was 12th in 24:10 and SUZY HAWKINS 22nd and second woman with 26:04.  There were 102 finishers in Letchworth.

Then on Saturday 4th January another 530 runners turned out for Stevenage pasrkrun. 

SIMON JACKSON and GRANT RAMSAY were both in the top ten with Simon second in 17:59 and GRANT RAMSAY fourth in 18:41.

New member LORRAINE HILL was the fastest female from Fairlands with her 27:05.

KEITH HOOKER ran his 30th in 27:25; CLAIRE EMMERSON her 170th in 29:25; MAURICE BALLARD his 30th in 29:48; TRACY HAYGARTH her 150th in 29:48; REBECCA RAYNER her 10th in 45:29 and ROGER BIGGS his 190th in 48:36.

PENNY SCHENKEL two days away from starting her marathon training ran her 100th Stevenage parkrun, her 111th overall, in 31 minutes 41 seconds.

Elsewhere ROSE and SAM SUTTON enjoyed some parkrun tourism at Hove Promenade.  Rose finished in 31:20 and Sam in 32:15.  MONICA and STEVE SMITHSON were at Luton Wardown.  Monica finished in 32:46 and Steve in 36:05.

Altogether 45 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday.  Some others were NICOLA KENNEDY 24:12 at Hunstanton Promenade; SUZY HAWKINS 25:43 and NICK GILL 31:12 at Letchworth; JAY PAPA 30:16 at Huntingdon; TIM ROBINSON 31:42 at Westmill; MICHAEL O’KEEFE 32:31 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; CHRIS HOLLAND 34:57 and DAVID SUTTON 39:09 at Rutland Water; and MATTHEW NEWTON 36:15 at Grovelands (Enfield).

Cross Country

The team results are in and as predicted by the much greater Spartan participation and performance the club did much better in the recent cross country league race.  On the day the men’s “A” team were third out of 20 clubs and the “B” team were also third in that category.  The men’s masters (veterans) were second.  In the series the FVS men have moved up to fifth and the male masters up to third.

The women’s team were ninth out of 20 clubs on the day helping to give the club a combined fifth that morning.

Categories
Club News

SPARTANS END YEAR WITH BUNTINGFORD TEN

New Fairlands Valley Spartans club captain MIKE JEFFS ran a new personal best of one hour and just 31 seconds (1:00:31) in Sunday’s Buntingford 10.  He was fourth man 40 plus and 38th out of the 524 finishers.  Mike said he took on the very difficult hilly End of Year 10, beat his ten mile personal best (PB) by 1 minute 28 seconds with a start line to finish off the year beating PBs in 1500 metres; 5k; 10k; 10 miles; half marathon and full marathon.

A great turnout of 27 Spartans tackled the race on a chilly, misty but calm and dry morning.

DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT said his time on Sunday was 1:05:22 which had to be dug deep for and it was great to see so many Spartans racing.

PAUL SHELLEY was third man 55 plus with his 1:03:57 and NICK GILL came in with 1:06:34.  Nick said he was very happy with a season’s best and getting closer to his 1:03:59 PB at the 2023 Buntingford 10… maybe he can beat that in 2025!

YUKO GORDON was second woman 70 plus with 1:18:09 and a 96.55% age score.

The race incorporated the British Masters Athletics Federation championships and the Hertfordshire championships for seniors (18 plus).

Fairlands Valley did well amongst those running in the county championships.  Paul Shelley was fastest man 55 plus with his 1:03:57; Jo Cooksley fastest woman 35 plus with her 1:28:37 and Jim Brown fastest man 70 plus with 1:32:02.  Also Mike Jeffs was second fastest 40 plus with 1:00:31 and Wendy Tharani third fastest woman 50 plus with 1:34:07.

There were five Spartan personal bests (Mike Jeffs, Paul Shelley, Charlie Arnold 1:17:11, Keith Hooker 1:18:50 and Annabelle White 1:25:20) and three season’s bests (Sam Tophill 1:28:06, Tim Robinson 1:31:33 and Penny Schenkel 1:43:22) in the race.

PositionFirst nameLast nameNet timecategory
38MikeJeffs1:00:31MV40
66PaulShelley1:03:57MV55
77DavidHarris-Cherguit1:05:22MV45
90NickGill1:06:34MV35
97AdrianDonnelly1:07:43MV45
170JayPapa1:15:01MSEN
189CharlesArnold1:17:11MV65
204YukoGordon1:18:09FV70
217KeithHooker1:18:50MV45
290AnnabelleWhite1:25:20FSEN
317SamanthaTophill1:28:06FV55
322JoCooksley1:28:37FV35
353TimRobinson1:31:33MV55
355JimBrown1:32:02MV70
369WendyTharani1:34:07FV50
376AnnTryssesoone1:34:34FV55
379ThomasSauka1:34:27MV45
399AlisonShelley1:37:18FV55
420KarenLiddle1:39:57FV65
439MeganSutton1:42:15FSEN
451PennySchenkel1:43:22FV55
504SharonCrowley1:57:00FV65
505PaulHolgate1:58:20MV65
510RoseSutton2:01:46FSEN
511SamanthaSutton2:01:47FV45
517RebeccaRayner2:08:25FV40
525NicholaDurent2:27:01FV45

Gerry’s Frozen Phoenix

On Sunday Spartan GERRY ROSEN took part in the ‘Frozen Phoenix’ a running event organised by Phoenix Running

Gerry said it was his sort of event.  Low key, turn up, grab your ‘ankle’ timing chip and away you go.  It was an out and back of 1.6 miles each way alongside the River Thames, totally pan flat, he completed six laps and a bit more for a total of 20 miles in a respectable time of 3 hours 48 minutes.

He said you can take your own supplies or use what’s provided and Gerry said it was very well stocked, all those household sweets we love and know, right up his street, and they know their runner.  ‘Would you like some crisps’ he was asked after he finished, very welcome.

Gerry will be back there after his holiday for the annual doughnut dash on the 12th January and as you might guess there’s doughnuts which he guesses can be eaten during the run……

50 Plus Spartans At Record Breaking Christmas Day Parkrun

We said watch out for the special on Christmas Day and wow.  The record for Stevenage parkrun was broken by 107 as 750 enjoyed the festive fun on Wednesday morning.

The 750 included more than 53 Spartans including PAUL SHELLEY who achieved a major milestone with his 100th parkrun which he ran in a celebratory 34 minutes 51 seconds.

THOMAS SAUKA ran his 160th in 26:13 and WILLIAM MORLEY his 30th in 19:42.  He was 15th in the race.

ANNABELLE WHITE was the fastest female from Spartans with her 23:37.

Misty, Mild and Still at the Serpentine

It was misty, mild and still in Hyde Park as Spartan JIM BROWN tried to up his pace a little for the first time in weeks at the Last Friday of the Month 5K.  He was reasonably successful for the first 3K and finished third man 70 plus in 28:30.  Jim was keen to take part and finish as he became one of only three runners to do all of the twelve races in the Serpentine series this year.  The lunch-time event continues to amaze in many ways.  The winner finished in 14 minutes 56 seconds and the first woman in 17:04!

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 28th December

After a wonderful record breaking Christmas Day 467 ran parkrun on a grey Saturday morning 28th December.

41 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday 28th.  The majority, 26, were at Stevenage.

ASHLEY JOHNSON was second woman and first Spartan in 20:01, just eighteen seconds behind the first woman.  They were 11th and 12th in the race.  That was Ashley’s 25th parkrun.

Other mini-milestones included MIKE REYNOLDS running his 220th parkrun in 28:57; PAUL JENNINGS his 190th in 29:46 and HILARY DAVIES her 60th in 36:20.

Elsewhere TIM ROBINSON was at Panshanger running his 190th parkrun in 33:24 and ANDY JAY at Westmill for his 160th parkrun which he ran in 30:24.

Santa Canta

Some Spartans including Mike Jeffs as The Grinch, Callie Chapman, Nick Gill, Ross Gallagher and Georgie Hopper ran the postponed Santa Canta in Letchworth.  The storm got in the way the previous weekend.

Spartans Star in Herts Annual Runners Awards

Fairlands Valley Spartans did well in the Herts Annual Runners Awards with someone nominated in every category.

Mike Jeffs won male runner of the year.  The Stevenage Marathon, organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans, was second in race of the year.  Keith Fenwick was second in volunteer of the year.  Yuko Gordon was second and Ashley Johnson third in female runner of the year.

Cross Country

The team results are in and as predicted by the much greater Spartan participation and performance the club did much better in the recent cross country league race.  On the day the men’s “A” team were third out of 20 clubs and the “B” team were also third in that category.  The men’s masters (veterans) were second.  In the series the FVS men have moved up to fifth and the male masters up to third.

The women’s team were ninth out of 20 clubs on the day helping to give the club a combined fifth that morning.

Categories
News

RUNNING TO THE CHAPEL

Dozens of Spartans enjoyed their traditional pre-Christmas off road run to the Minsden Chapel near Preston in North Hertfordshire.  A very chilly morning but about fifty ran.

Runners had a choice – start in the Old Stevenage High Street to run about 11 miles, start at the Meadway for about 8 miles and start at the Rusty Gun for about 4.5 miles.

Parkrun Highlights 21st December – Islands North and South

34 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday 21st.  The majority, 24, were at Stevenage.

On Saturday Spartan SIMON JACKSON achieved his 50th parkrun milestone and was second in the race with 17 minutes 59 seconds.

430 ran Stevenage.  That’s comparable with the 421 last week but watch out for the extra on Christmas Day!

Spartans elsewhere included two who went north and south to run on islands.  ROS INGRAM was on Orkney finishing the Kirkwall parkrun in 27:10 and JUDY KING ran the Guernsey parkrun in 31:56.…..

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTimeComments
22Simon JACKSON00:17:5950th parkrun.  Second
54Grant RAMSAY00:18:40 
109Jay PAPA00:19:42 
3225Tony RANDFIELD00:22:22 
618Tracy PEZ00:23:26 
8975Martin DUDLEY00:24:40 
10688Daniel VILJOEN00:25:14 
137113Darren EMMERSON00:26:16 
166139Andy JAY00:27:20 
17523Ann TRYSSESOONE00:27:29 
197158Matt CLARKE00:28:28 
215168Thomas SAUKA00:29:05 
224176Steve PLATT00:29:27 
23643Claire EMMERSON00:29:53 
248187Paul JENNINGS00:30:20 
25955Pamela VILJOEN00:30:43 
268197Michael O’KEEFE00:31:16 
28768Samantha SUTTON00:32:18 
31084Caroline CROFT00:33:47 
348228Paul HOLGATE00:36:23 
367115Hilary DAVIES00:38:01 
416148Penny SCHENKEL00:50:11 
417254Jim BROWN00:50:12 
430158Sharon CROWLEY01:02:48Tailwalker

Santa Canta

Some Spartans including Mike Jeffs as The Grinch, Callie Chapman, Nick Gill, Ross Gallagher and Georgie Hopper ran the postponed Santa Canta in Letchworth.  The storm got in the way the previous weekend.

Categories
News

SIXTY TURNOUT FOR FAIRLANDS CROSS COUNTRY

The temperature reached double figures and the sun came out for the cross country league fixture in Fairlands Valley on Sunday morning.  And it was Fairlands Valley Spartans enjoying themselves in Fairlands Valley Park as about 60 from the club ran the race and many others volunteered to make it a success.

ANDREW PATTERSON from FVS was second in the race in 27 minutes 42 seconds (27:42).  ADRIAN BUSOLINI also beat 30 minutes for the almost five miles.  He was eleventh in 29:29.  CHARLIE WHITE, BRIAN BRACKSTONE and SIMON JACKSON chased each other in at 22nd, 23rd and 24th with 30:15; 30:20 and 30:23.  New club captain MIKE JEFFS was 31st in 31:01.

MARIE COLUCCI led in the Spartan women with 40:08.  TRACY PEZ 41:47; YUKO GORDON 42:12; JESS CLARKE 43:47 and JAYNE RIDDELL 46:07 completed the FVS women’s “A” team.

A fantastic turnout and wonderful running by Fairlands Valley Spartans which will no doubt boost them in the team standings when they are published.

Altogether about 400 runners from 20 clubs ran three laps, a total of 7.8 kilometres, around the south field.

The full accurate results including team results should be available from the league organisers in the next day or two.

The next cross country league race will be in Watford on Sunday 16th February.

PositionNameTimeCategoryComments
2ANDREW PATTERSON27:42M40M team “A”
11ADRIAN BUSOLINI29:29MSM team “A”
22CHARLIE WHITE30:15MSM team “A”
23BRIAN BRACKSTONE30:20M50M team “A”
24SIMON JACKSON30:23M40M team “A”
31MIKE JEFFS31:01M40M team “A”
33CHRIS WESTCOTT31:09M50M team “A”
35DECLAN TRAYNOR31:21M40M team “A”
44PAUL SHELLEY31:39M50M team “B”
73NICK GILL33:58MSM team “B”
81ROSS GALLAGHER34:21M40M team “B”
87ADRIAN DONNELLY34:47M40M team “B”
89STUART ARCHER34:37MSM team “B”
99JAY PAPA35:13MSM team “B”
125TERRY SAWYER36:44M40M team “B”
126JOHN HARRIS36:50M60M team “B”
147STEVE MAYFIELD37:30M50M team “C”
155BRIAN WHITE39:03M60M team “C”
177MELVIN AUBURN39:27MSM team “C”
180DANNY SCANLON39:38M40M team “C”
213JOE WASNOCK41:17*MSM team “C”
214ALEX SCOFIELD41:20*MSM team “C”
235MARTIN WOOD42:23M60M team “C”
241TONY VICKERS42:30M50M team “C”
244DARREN EMMERSON42:58M50 
250THOMAS SAUKA43:10M40 
266DAVID RIDDELL44:03M50 
276DAVID ACKERY44:30MS 
286LLOYD DIAS45:32MS 
319JIM BROWN47:43M70 
329STEVE TINSLEY48:43*M40 
333SIMON SYPULA49:09M40 
334ROBERT WRIGHT49:09M40 
353ANDY JAY49:24*M50 
357MARK FREEMAN49:27M60 
364STEVE PLATT51:46M50 
367TIM ROBINSON52:09M50 
384NICK KLEANTHOUS59:25M60 
387PAUL HOLGATE64:00M60 
Fairland Cross Country Results (Men)
PositionNameTimeCategoryComments
190MARIE COLUCCI40:08W45W team “A”
 TRACY PEZ41:47W45W team “A”
227YUKO GORDON42:12W65W team “A”
 JESS CLARKE43:47 W team “A”
294JAYNE RIDDELL46:07W55W team “A”
 TRACEY JACKSON46:35 W team “B”
 HAZEL SMITH46:39 W team “B”
 ANNABELLE WHITE46:44 W team “B”
 GEORGIE HOOPER46:44 W team “B”
325PENNY SCHENKEL48:40*W55W team “B”
331KIRSTEN LIGHTBODY49:11W45W team “C”
341MEGAN SUTTON49:33WSW team “C”
354LIZ CROWLEY50:42W35W team “C”
357CLAIRE EMMERSON50:36W45W team “C”
365JUDY KING51:09W55W team “C”
379SHARON CROWLEY56:26W65 
380SAM SUTTON57:04W45 
382CALLIE CHAPMAN58:09W35 
388BECKY RAYNER64:00W35 
396NICHOLA DURENT76:01W45 
Fairlands Cross Country Results (Women)

Parkrun Highlights 14th December

With less crazy weather participation in the Stevenage parkrun jumped up to 421 and this Saturday 27 Spartans were running.

Spartan JAY PAPA got to wear the bright red milestone cape as he was running his 50th parkrun.  He celebrated in 31 minutes 21 seconds.

CRAIG BACON achieved a new parkrun personal best with 21 minutes 58 seconds and GRANT RAMSAY was in the top five at fourth with 18:31.

Mini-milestones were run by DANIEL VILJOEN 270th parkrun in 25:20; JIM BROWN 180th parkrun and category winner in 27:34; and MATT CLARKE 150th parkrun in 28:35.

A total of 421 parkrunners took part in the Stevenage race.Many other Spartans were running parkruns elsewhere including MATT NEWTON 20:47 at Gunpowder; KEITH HOOKER 25:35 at Edgbaston Reservoir; MARTIN WOOD 27:40 at St. Albans; TIM ROBINSON 29:22 at Panshanger; CHLOE CHAPMAN 30:30 at Great Denham

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTimeComments
44Grant RAMSAY18:31Top Five
3432Craig BACON21:58New PPB
5953Tony RANDFIELD23:13 
6255David RIDDELL23:19 
8171Martin JACOB24:22 
10593Daniel VILJOEN25:20270th parkrun
11097Ryan DUNNING25:33 
13615Jayne RIDDELL26:55Fastest female from Fairlands
153128Jim BROWN27:34180th parkrun.  1st MV70.
178142Matt CLARKE28:35150th parkrun
17929Fiona CLARKE28:36 
184146Toby ECCLESHALL28:45 
18531Gail MACKIE28:46 
226169Maurice BALLARD30:35 
23353Annabelle WHITE30:49 
23555Penny SCHENKEL30:52 
241175Nick KLEANTHOUS31:14 
24259Monica SMITHSON31:15 
246178Jay PAPA31:2150th parkrun – milestone!
253182Paul JENNINGS31:47 
255183Michael O’KEEFE31:56 
267189Peter SACH32:19 
304201Stephen SMITHSON33:58 
31397Caroline CROFT34:42 
377138Hilary DAVIES39:56 
391147Pamela VILJOEN41:48 
401234Roger BIGGS48:19 
Categories
News

STORMY DARRAGH BUT SPARTANS KEEP ON RUNNING

Festive Five

Despite Stormy Darragh 30 Fairlands Valley Spartans ran the Festive Five in Welwyn Garden City and ANDREW PATTERSON won it!  His 27 minutes 5 seconds (27:05) was more than two minutes quicker than the next runner.

SAM GENTRY said despite it being harder with the rain and wind, she still really enjoyed it and was pleased with her time.  She finished in 51:35.

Spartan MIKE JEFFS was third man 40 plus and fourth overall with 30:12; ANNABELLE WHITE third senior woman (i.e. 18 plus) with 39:54 and VICKY ARCHER third woman 35 plus with 41:56.

BRIAN WHITE commented on the stormy conditions but still finished in exactly 38 minutes.

Fantastic to see so many Fairlands on a trip to a race.

PosCat PosMFBiBNameCategoryTimeComments
111462Andrew PATTERSONMV4027:05Winner
43441Mike JEFFSMV4030:123rd MV40
14814213Terry SAWYERMV4035:35 
32428523Brian WHITEMV6038:00 
45310120Annabelle WHITEFS39:543rd FS
47837245Dave STEPHENSONMV6040:13 
64317529Vicky ARCHERFV3541:563rd FV35
65718241Marie COLUCCIFV4541:56 
811560497Pete COOKMV5044:47 
911427505Tracy PEZFV4545:58 
921528548Hazel SMITHFV4545:58 
95630164Megan SUTTONFS46:12 
1091472447Andy JAYMV6048:53 
121154411Judy KINGFV5550:36 
122164598Nikki NATIONFV5550:38 
1251747525Monica SMITHSONFV5551:18 
1282149451Sam GENTRYFV4551:35 
1291850149Tessa STEPHENSONFV5552:06 
133653445Liz CROWLEYFV3553:02 
136188136Michael O’KEEFEMV6054:20 
1372456513Samantha SUTTONFV4554:24 
141760254Callie CHAPMANFV3555:07 
1432162506Liz CARVELLFV5555:19 
1552687553Peter SACHMS57:22 
1712784446Marleen VAN ZWIETENFV551:02:56 
1723685516Donna SEALY-BELLFV451:02:57 
1731286452Jo COOKFV351:02:56 
1833996508Nichola DURENTFV451:11:56 
184597448Sharon CROWLEYFV651:11:56 
1851598184Rebecca RAYNERFV351:11:55 

Winter Half

Four Spartans ran the Stevenage Winter Half.  SIMON JACKSON was fifth out of the 312 finishers and first man 40 plus in 1:20:23.  JAY PAPA was 27th in 1:32:15; MATT GIFFORD finished in 1:39:33 and LLOYD DIAS in 2:29:08.

Simon said “After many months of minimal training, Kieran somehow got me out racing.  Conditions were horrendous, with rain, wind and hills.”  There were 312 finishers.

Cross Country Coming Up

The next Sunday cross country league race will be in Fairlands Valley Park, Stevenage on Sunday morning 15th December.

Parkrun Highlights 7th December

Stormy Darragh did its worst and participation at the 376th Stevenage Parkrun was half many recent totals.  Windy, raining and generally unpleasant but there were still 234 who ran the Saturday morning 5K including ten Spartans including CAROLYN LINSELL and SHARON CROWLEY who were there as volunteer tailwalkers.

GRANT RAMSAY was top ten again with his 19 minutes 30 seconds. 

Altogether 14 Spartans ran parkruns which reflects the conditions and the cancellation of some events due to the conditions.  That didn’t stop NICK GILL who ran Letchworth in 24:58.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTimeComments
99Grant RAMSAY19:30Top Ten
2927Jay PAPA22:32 
6358Martin JACOB25:03 
8775Ryan DUNNING27:00 
158115Paul JENNINGS31:50 
165118Nick KLEANTHOUS32:40 
21368Tracy HAYGARTH41:17 
232147Tony RANDFIELD55:32 
23382Carolyn LINSELL55:34Tail walker
23483Sharon CROWLEY55:35Tail walker
Categories
News Race Results

YUKO’S A WINNER

Spartan YUKO GORDON won in the British Masters 5K Championships at Battersea Park Sunday morning.  She won GOLD in for women 70 plus, just a stride – one second – ahead of the second W70 lady.  Yuko’s finish time was 22:45.

Trail 50K PB

MARTIN JACOB did the St Edmund’s Trail 50K ultra marathon on Sunday.  The course was slightly more than 50k.  He ran just a bit more than 52k and finished in 5:42:18.  That’s a huge PB (personal best) improvement of 1:52:20 from last year’s Lea Valley 50k ultra.

Simon Haigh Lanzarotte

SIMON HAIGH ran the 50K Lanzarotte International Running Challenge in 4 hours 27 minutes 10 seconds and was 88th out of the 380 male participants.  His time included the Vince Regan Memorial Classic 10K run in 56:04 and La Vuelta de Tinajo 21K in 1:46:29.

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month

JIM BROWN ran his fastest road 5K this year on Friday lunchtime.

Enjoying the sunny, mild with a light breeze, conditions he ran 27:05 at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park.  That have Jim a pretty good age score which moved him up the series championship table but was only good enough for fifth man 70 plus which demonstrates what an amazing event the “Last Friday” can be.  The next event is on Friday 27th December and they have a New Year’s Day 10K on Wednesday 1st January.

Hot in Valencia

Valencia Marathon for ROBERT WRIGHT in a time of 3:41:26.  He said it was a busy hot marathon.

Grant Ramsay

GRANT RAMSAY ran the Goodwood Marathon in 3 hours 10 minutes 58 seconds.  It was on the Motor Racing circuit.

He finished in 42nd overall out of 150 finishers.

After 25 years, Grant  decided to make event his last Marathon and focus on shorter distance events.

Cross Country Coming Up

The next Sunday cross country league race will be in Stevenage on 15th December.

Parkrun Highlights 30th November

It was a misty morning for the 375th Stevenage parkrun.  21 Spartans were there including KIRK NDUGU who was a brilliant second overall in just 17 minutes 55 seconds.

There were 428 runners at Stevenage including 166 women.

Spartans elsewhere included SUZY HAWKINS who ran the Wendover Woods parkrun in 25:26.

Categories
News Race Results Races

SPARTANS BEAT BERT AT HATFIELD FIVE

Storm Bert did his best to confound them but Fairlands Valley Spartans had a good team at Sunday’s Hatfield Five and several ran new lifetime best times (PBs) and season’s bests (SB) for the five miles (8.05 kilometres).

MIKE JEFFS was 25th out of the 735 finishers and third in his race category with a new personal best of 29 minutes 6 seconds, an improvement of 2 minutes 46.  Under 30 minutes and a PB in those tricky conditions.  Amazing.

At exactly 30 minutes DAN HUKIN was next in at 36th position.  PAUL SHELLEY continues to knock chunks off his PBs.  This time it was 21 seconds off his five miles with 30:10.  He was second in his category.

ASHLEY JOHNSON was the fastest female from Fairlands with her 31:59 and in the top ten women.

CRAIG BACON took 1:31 of his PB with 35:09.

Altogether three new personal bests and nine new season’s bests for Fairlands Valley Spartans.

735 finishers.  20 Spartans.

PosNameTimeCategoryCat PosGenderGen PosComments
25MIKE JEFFS29:06Ages 40 – 443Male24PB (2:46).  3VM40
36Dan HUKIN30:00Ages 45 – 494Male34SB (0:36)
39Paul SHELLEY30:10Ages 55 – 592Male37PB (0:21).  2VM55
60Ross GALLAGHER31:24Ages 40 – 4411Male54 
74Ashley JOHNSON31:59Ages 40 – 442Female102VW40
101Nick GILL33:35Seniors35Male89 
104Mark COLLINS33:41Ages 45 – 4915Male92 
147Craig BACON35:09Ages 50 – 5412Male130PB (1:31)
161Danny SCANLON35:50Ages 40 – 4426Male141SB (0:19)
192Charles ARNOLD37:19Ages 65 – 696Male167PB (5:34)
239Marie COLUCCI39:00Ages 45 – 498Female43SB
251Brian WHITE39:36Ages 65 – 698Male204SB
335Matthew NEWTON42:07Ages 40 – 4440Male255SB
372Jackie PERRY43:18Ages 60 – 648Female100 
444Jim BROWN45:25Ages 70 +7Male297SB (0:20)
570Penny SCHENKEL50:18Ages 55 – 5932Female218 
576Nikki NATION51:01Ages 55 – 5933Female223SB (9:03)
634Sharon CROWLEY53:52Ages 65 – 698Female262SB (1:11)
685Callie CHAPMAN58:34Ages 40 – 4434Female302SB (4:01)
696Rebecca RAYNER59:49Ages 40 – 4437Female312 

Parkrun Highlights 23rd November

Storm Bert was largely responsible for reducing the turnout at Stevenage parkrun from 510 the previous week to 357 but despite some fights into the wind alongside the large lake in Fairlands Valley Park the 26 Spartans enjoyed some good runs.

YUKO GORDON was fourth woman and won her category with 24 minutes 19 seconds.  KAREN ELLIS was ninth woman and won her category with 25:38.  JIM BROWN won his with 31:36 and ROGER HEAD his with 34:43.Meanwhile MARTIN DUDLEY was running his 220th parkrun in 25:03; CHLOE CHAPMAN her 160th in 31:35; SAMANTHA SUTTON her 170th in 32:49 and CAROLYN LINSELL volunteering as a walker on the day her 130th with 56:53

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTimeComments
4543Toby ECCLESHALL23:51 
534Yuko GORDON24:194th woman.  First in category.
5551Daniel VILJOEN24:21 
5752Chris WATLING24:29 
6862Martin DUDLEY25:03220 parkruns
829Karen ELLIS25:389th woman.  First in category.
8573Tony RANDFIELD25:39 
8674Darren EMMERSON25:40 
10693Martin JACOB26:13 
18433Claire EMMERSON29:03 
21246Pamela VILJOEN30:01 
220161Steve PLATT30:17 
224165Paul JENNINGS30:25 
241175Thomas SAUKA31:05 
242176Nick KLEANTHOUS31:09 
25562Chloe CHAPMAN31:35160 parkruns
256182Jim BROWN31:36First in category
25763Penny SCHENKEL31:38 
270189Michael O’KEEFE32:23 
274192Stephen SMITHSON32:32 
28174Samantha SUTTON32:49170 parkruns
301202Roger HEAD34:43First in category
325104Hannah MANTON38:24 
350218Roger BIGGS47:53 
353123Carolyn LINSELL56:53130 parkruns
357127Sharon CROWLEY59:18 
Categories
News Race Results

SAMANTHA AND MIKE WIN HANDICAP

33 Fairlands Valley Spartans ran the club’s handicap races in Stevenage on Sunday Morning.  They had a choice of Bryan Moore Ten or the Paul Maguire Five.  All were raising funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Winner of the 5m race was Samantha Sutton in a personal best (PB) time of 53:42, with Karl Shreeve first man (2nd overall) in a season’s best (SB) 46:18. Tracy Pez was second lady in a SB 38:38 and Megan Sutton third lady in a PB 44:43.  Paul Shelley was second man in a PB 30:31 and Mark Freeman third with a 45:24 SB.

Fastest runner in the 5 mile event was Simon Jackson in 29:05 with Paul Shelley’s 30:31 second quickest and Grant Ramsay third fastest with 31:21.  Tracy Pez’s 38:38 was the fastest female time  with Jayne Riddell 2nd quickest with a PB time 44:12 and Megan Sutton 3rd quickest with a PB of 44:43.

Mike Jeffs was the winner of the 10 mile race in a PB time of 1:01:59 with Andrew Patterson 2nd with a SB 55:44 and Nick Gill 3rd in 1:08:55.  First lady was Jo Cooksley in a SB 1:26:23 with Samantha Tophill 2nd lady in a SB 1:28:36 and Annabelle White 3rd lady in 1:36:00.

Andrew Patterson’s 55:44 was the fastest time and Mike Jeffs’ 1:01:59 2nd quickest with Ralph Dadswell 3rd fastest in 1:08:15. Jo Cooksley’s 1:26:23, Sam Tophill’s 1:28:36 and Annabelle White’s 1:36:00 were also the three fastest female times.

19 of the 33 finishers beat their handicap time, they improved, and there were also 19 finishers within 2 minutes of the handicap set.

In handicap races the slower runners start first and others follow at intervals based on recent performances.  If everyone runs as their handicap predicts they would all finish together.  Thus the winner is the person who improves the most, not necessarily the fastest runner on the day.

Best for Martin at St Neots

On Sunday Spartan MARTIN JACOB ran the St Neots half in 1:45:56.  There were a couple of steep hills along the route, but the last 6k was a smooth downhill and ideal for a fast finish.  Martin took 47 seconds off his personal best (PB).

JAY PAPA was under 90 minutes with 1 hour 28 minutes 42 seconds for 109 out of the 1111 finishers and WENDY THARANI came in with in 2:07:39.

Shillington Shuffle

It was a sunny Sunday start for the Shillington Shuffle from Barton Le Clay.  The route went straight up the Barton hills!  Then through the villages of Lilley, Pirton, Howell, Lower Stondon, Meppershall, Shillington, Hexton and back to Barton.

Spartans Sharon and Mike Crowley finished in 8 hours 29 minutes; Paul Holgate in 8:53 and Mike Newbitt in 9:45.

Both Sharon and Mike were awarded their S-S-S Triple Challenge, for completing the Shillington Shuffle, Steppingley Step and Sundon Saunter.

Parkrun Highlights 16th November

30 of the 510 at the 373rd Stevenage parkrun were Spartans.  This week FVS had two in the top five with GRANT RAMSAY who ran his 150th parkrun and was fourth with 18:43 and KIRK NDUGU fifth with 18:57.

KAREN ELLIS was fastest female from Fairlands with 25:29.

A major parkrun was achieved by PAMELA VILJOEN who ran her 250th parkrun in 29 minutes 58 seconds (29:58).  FIONA CLARKE ran her 201st in 27:53.

STEPHANIE MAYFIELD ran a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 29:13 for the 5K and ELIZABETH CROWLEY a new PPB of 29:37.

Recording his 80th parkrun STEVE PLATT finished in 29:53.

JIM BROWN was aiming for sub 28 and despite congestion in the last 800 metres made it with three seconds to spare.  27:57 and 200th position.

Spartans elsewhere included MATT GIFFORD 20:49 at Great Denham; JOHN HARRIS with 21:23 at Sandy water, Llanelli; SUZY HAWKINS 22:27 and second woman at Watermeadows, Towcester; MAURICE BALLARD 28:00 at Castle Park, Bishops Stortford; MIKE REYNOLDS 28:16 at Panshanger; LUCY FIELD 28:20 at University Parks; MARIA SWIFT 28:42 at Bug Hunter Waters, Cambridge; NICK KLEANTHOUS 29:07 at Preston Park, Brighton; ANNABELLE WHITE with 30:03 at St Albans; CHRIS HOLLAND 30:41 at Rutland Water; CHLOE CHAPMAN 31:38 at Ifield Mill Pond near Crawley; NICK GILL 32:24 at Letchworth; JONATHAN JONES 35:46 and DZENANA TOPIC 35:57 at Wimpole Estate.

Categories
News Race Results

PAUL EXCELS AT DEBDEN

It was three laps for four Spartans on Saturday morning and PAUL SHELLEY was an amazing third overall in the Remembrance Runs Half Marathon at Carver Barracks near Debden in Essex.

He finished in 1 hour 23 minutes 18 seconds, a new personal best (PB) by three minutes, and WON his category.  JIM BROWN won his category beating his nearest rival by three minutes.  His 1 hour 56 minutes exactly (1:56:00) was his best this year by 2 minutes 59 seconds.

SAM TOPHILL ran an excellent 1:53:12 and DAVE ACKERY ran a well paced event to beat two hours with 1:59:43.

Jim said it was a bit chilly but no wind and no rain.  Almost ideal.  He was quite pleased to put it mildly.  Jim’s recent parkruns have been 28:42 and 28:12.  On Saturday his 5Ks were 27:36; 27:26; 27:22 and 27:34 taking him to 20K and the last 1.1K was at the same rate.  And only six days after running a half at Knebworth in 2:02:15.

Gran Canaria Night Run

JAY PAPA ran the Night Run 10K at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.  He finished in 56:40.  There were a huge number of runners.

Spartan Sam’s Achievement

SAM GENTRY started with the Fairlands Valley Spartans run together group at the end of August and started her Spartans membership in September this year.  Last Sunday she ran her first ever race, a 10K.  It was the Hertfordshire race at Knebworth House.  Her chip time result was 1 hour 7 minutes 15 seconds.  As her aim was to do it in 1 hour 10 minutes she was very happy with her result.

Cross Country Update

28 Fairlands Valley Spartans – eleven women and 17 men – turned out for the third cross country league race in four weeks on Sunday 3rd November.  That’s a much stronger women’s team than last time and helped the club’s performance.  The race was in Trent Park.  The detailed results showed that FVS have moved up to sixth out of 20 in the combined score and fifth in the men’s competition.

At Trent Park DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT ran 19 seconds faster than seven days earlier and moved up from 10th to sixth overall.  This time ADRIAN BUSOLINI was one second faster with his 29:12 and he was 15th.

TRACEY JACKSON led in the Spartan women with her 39:33 for 40th woman with YUKO GORDON second Spartan and 45th in 40:40.

It seemed warmer and drier in Trent Park than previous years when the event has been a bit of a mudfest.  There were 405 finishers including 152 women.

The next Cross Country League race, race four, will be in Stevenage on Sunday 15th December.

Parkrun Highlights 9th November

26 of the 449 at the 372nd Stevenage parkrun were Spartans.  GRANT RAMSAY moved up to second, only missing out on the top sport by nine seconds, with his 18:30.

KAREN ELLIS ran her 30th parkrun and was the fastest female from Fairlands with 25:30.  PAUL JENNINGS ran his 90th in 30:34 but PAMELA VILJOEN is only one away from a very special milestone.  She ran her 249th in 29:24.

Elsewhere at Henlow Bridge Lakes JOHN HARRIS finished in 22:45 and SUZY HAWKINS in 28:23; YUKO GORDON ran Letchworth in 26:02; MEGAN SUTTON 27:54 and SAMANTHA SUTTON 34:09 at Panshanger; CHRIS HOLLAND 28:14 at Rutland Water; JONATHAN JONES 36:30 and DZENANA TOPIC 36:33 were at the Wimpole Estate and DARRYL STEVENS was in Cranleigh with 39:03.

Categories
News Race Results

BOOST AT TRENT PARK CROSS COUNTRY

28 Fairlands Valley Spartans – eleven women and 17 men – turned out for the third cross country league race in four weeks.  That’s a much stronger women’s team than last time and helped the club’s performance.  The race was in Trent Park.

This Sunday DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT ran 19 seconds faster than seven days earlier and moved up from 10th to sixth overall.  This time ADRIAN BUSOLINI was one second faster with his 29:12 and he was 15th.

TRACEY JACKSON led in the Spartan women with her 39:33 with YUKO GORDON second in 40:40.

It seemed warmer and drier in Trent Park than previous years.

The Spartan men improved to fourth out of 20 in the men’s race at Barley only a week ago.

The next Cross Country League race, race four, will be in Stevenage on Sunday 15th December.

Spartan One Two At Bedford

Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON was first female in Sunday’s Bedford 10K with a brilliant sub 40 time of 39:50 chip time and Spartan MARIE COLUCCI was sixth with 48:52.

Ashley and Marie were first and second in the women 40 plus category and 11th and 34th out of all the 263 finishers.

Ashley said, “It was a twisty, turny course.  Some muddy, cross country parts.  So not as fast as I’d hoped but a win is a win.”

Knebworth – A Win by 15 seconds and Penny was Early

Six Spartans ran the Hertfordshire Half Marathon from Knebworth House.

Spartan KRISTIAN ATANASOV had a top ten run finishing in 1:20:33.  He was ninth out of 1,362 finishers and second senior male.

CHRIS WATLING said it was a tough course, very undulating.  He didn’t feel overly prepared for today coming off the back of two injuries and only two x 5km treadmill runs during recovery over the last two weeks, but he was very happy with his time!  1:53:45.

Chris added it was good preparation for the Baldock Beast in Feb!  Great event and support. Good to see a few Spartans out there today too! 

JIM BROWN reckons he’s still trying to get out of marathon mode and didn’t think there was a sensible chance of getting under two hours on the rolling course but, but with a reasonable last four kilometres he got sight of the leading runner in his category, caught him after going through the gate into the grounds of Knebworth House and dug in to be first man 70 plus by a margin of 15 seconds.

PENNY SCHENKEL was early.  Clearly delighted she beat her predicted time by more than 28 minutes and finished in 2 hours 31 minutes 55 seconds (2:31:55).  The London plan is clicking in.

MARK COLLINS was 80th in 1:33:47 and CLAIRE EMMERSON finished in 2:15:05.

New York Marathon – a Spartan in the Big Apple

Spartan ROSS GALLAGHER ran the New York Marathon in 3 hours 2 minutes 43 seconds (3:02:43).

He ran on Sunday to complete his Abbott World Marathon Majors 6 Stars. 

Ross said it was a fantastic race and up there with some of the best crowds at any race with the Bronx a personal favourite.  The bridges were just as tough as people say… and he thought parks were flat… Central Park isn’t. 

Resolution Track 5K

Five Spartans were among the 39 runners who went 12.5 times round Ridlins Track on Wednesday evening.  This was the Resolution 5K, a guaranteed no hills event.

After spinning around for 19 minutes 15 seconds JAY PAPA was the first Spartan to finish.  SIMON JACKSON wasn’t far behind in 19:27 then MATT GIFFORD 20:49; BRIAN WHITE 22:31 and KARL SHREEVE in 27:12.

PosMFCatPosNameCatTimeAge Gd
773Jay PAPAMS19:1566.7 %
10104Simon JACKSONMV4019:2773.9 %
19196Matt GIFFORDMV5020:4972.5 %
26241Brian WHITEMV6022:3176.5 %
353010Karl SHREEVEMV5027:1256.4 %

39 ran.

Parkrun Highlights 2nd November

Exactly the same number of runners, 527, finished the award winning Stevenage parkrun this week as the previous Saturday.  There were 227 women and 300 men.

This time Spartan GRANT RAMSAY was well in the top ten at fourth with his 18:33.  KAREN ELLIS was fastest female from Spartans with 25:38.

PAUL SHELLEY has just one parkrun to go before a major milestone.  He finished his 99th in 24:49.  MARTIN JACOB ran his 20th in 26:20.

So far there have been 117,694 finishes by 15,674 different people at the 371 Stevenage parkruns.  They won the top award at the Recent Stevenage Together awards.

Spartans running parkrun 5Ks elsewhere included SIMON JACKSON 19:59 at Great Denham; ADRIAN DONNELLY tenth at Henlow Bridge Lakes in 22:15; YUKO GORDON 23:09 at Storey’s Field; SUZY HAWKINS was first woman at Wendover Woods in 23:34; MEGAN SUTTON 27:07 and SAM SUTTON 32:45 at Bedford; LUCY FIELD 27:43 at Sandhurst Memorial; CHRIS HOLLAND 30:20 at Rutland Water; CHLOE CHAPMAN 30:57 at the Pocket parkrun; and STEVE SMITHSON who was the lonesome Spartan at Panshanger.  He said he had a slightly slippy and challenging powerwalk.  He finished in 255th place out of a field of 317 parkrunners in 34:13

Recently Spartans ASHLEY JOHNSON and NIKKI NATION ran the South Norwood parkrun.

South Norwood parkrun ran an event for Black History Month and one of the local running groups called Emancipated Run Crew did a take over. 

Ashley was first woman out of 82 in 20:47 and NIKKI NATION 28th in 30:03.  215 ran and Ashley as fifth overall!

An official ParkRun film crew were there and they interviewed both Nikki and I.

It’s on Facebook if you want to watch it: 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/4Q61SH4SanLStP7y/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Categories
Half Marathon News Race Results Races

WET, WINDY, WONDERFUL STEVENAGE MARATHON

Despite strong winds and rain more than 700 runners completed Sunday 40th anniversary Stevenage Marathon and Half organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.

From the start at the corner of Grace Way and Martins Way to the finish in Hampson Park it was a windswept run, particularly going south with some black numbers in the wind speeds in the weather forecast, and undulating but there were some fantastic runs.

The marathon was won by Stephen Buckle from St Albans in 2 hours 40 minutes 32 seconds (2:40:32) but, by 14 seconds, Fairlands Valley Spartans’ Suzy Hawkins was first woman in 3:32:21.

And the Spartans were third and fourth in the men’s race.  David Harris-Cherguit third in 2:50:20 and Adrian Busolini fourth and first senior (over 18) in 2:55:17.

There were 303 finishers in the marathon and 413 in the half.  The Spartans were wearing their stripes with pride – 38 first claim Spartans finished the full 26.2 miles marathon and 30 the half marathon.

ALISON and PAUL SHELLEY were incredible.  They ran the Chicago Marathon last week and came home to run Stevenage this week.  Just home so sending our results although pretty sure you will have them all.

Alison said, “That was pretty brutal today – tough course and tough conditions on tired legs.  But we are super proud to have both completed the decennial FVS Stevenage Marathon as a ‘Chicago Chaser’!!!”

Paul’s time was 3:42:06 and Alison 4:54:22. 

Despite the conditions there were marathon personal bests by CRAIG BACON 3:39:10; MARTIN JACOB 3:57:30 and GERRY ROSEN 5:33:36

There was a clean sweep GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE for Fairlands Valley Spartans in the County team championships for veteran men (over 40s) and veteran women (over 35s). 

The male winners were DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT (2:05:20), CRAIG BACON (3:39:10), PAUL SHELLEY (3:42:06) and MARTIN JACOB (3:57:30).  Silvers went to LIAM HERBERT (3:57:47), ROBERT WRIGHT (4:17:32), MATT GIFFORD (4:18:40) and MATT CLARKE (4:49:11) and Bronzes to MARTIN DUDLEY (4:53:19), JIM BROWN (4:55:05), TIM ROBINSON (5:02:06) and PAUL HOLGATE (6:10:35).  (Teams of four).

The women team winners were:

GOLD – SUZY HAWKINS (3:32:25); CLAIRE PULLEN (4:08:04) and SAM TOPHILL (4:19:44).  SILVER – ALISON SHELLEY (4:54:58); TRICIA HOPPER (4:57:06) and LINDA GEORGE (5:11:37).  BRONZE – KAREN LIDDLE (5:17:15); FIONA CLARKE (5:23:06) and SHARON CROWLEY (6:14:16).  (Teams of three).

Fairlands Valley Spartans are a local community running club in Stevenage and are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.  The half is organised every year but the full 26.2 miles marathon is a bit special.  It only takes place every ten years.

Apart from 68 finishers FVS organised the event including dozens of volunteers including marshals, lead bikes and finish funnel.

Big thanks to the Hertfordshire Sports Partnership and the University of Hertfordshire who brought 14 volunteers – mostly overseas students and UH staff.  Ten different nationalities.  John O’Callaghan from HSP said, “Great event despite at times, atrocious weather conditions.”  The Hertfordshire Sports and Active Recreation Partnership are one of the Mayor’s good causes this year.

ALL the proceeds from Sunday’s events will go to charity.  This year it is Pancreatic Cancer UK which was chosen by the club in memory of a much loved member.

There was huge Spartan success in the Hertfordshire County Marathon Championships. 

The Spartan men won GOLD and BRONZE in the male senior (over 18) team county championships.  The club’s women won GOLD and SILVER in the female senior team competition.

LINDA GEORGE (5:11:37) won BRONZE for women 35 plus; SUZY HAWKINS (3:32:25) for women 45 plus; CLAIRE PULLEN (4:08:04), Sam TOPHILL (4:19:44) and ALISON SHELLEY (4:54:58) GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE for women 55 plus; and KAREN LIDDLE (5:17:15) and SHARON CROWLEY (6:14:16) GOLD and SILVER for women 65 plus).

DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT (2:50:20) was GOLD for men 40 plus and JIM BROWN (4:55:05) GOLD for men 70 plus.

Civic Team

Irrespective of time JIM BROWN was delighted to finish the Stevenage Marathon.  It was his first marathon back in 1994 and this time he became the first Stevenage Mayor, as Mayor, to complete the Stevenage Marathon.  And he won a County GOLD medal for his age group.  Jim got round in 4:55:05.  He was lead bike in 2014.

The Mayoress, Penny Schenkel, was the lead bike this time.

Stevenage Half

There were 413 finishers in Sunday’s 40th anniversary Stevenage Half Marathon.  It was won by BEN TACEY in 1:13:48.  FREYA WEDDELL from St Albans was first woman with 1:20:02, more than ten minutes ahead of her nearest rival.

SIMON FRASER was the first Spartan finisher.  Sub 90 minutes with 1 hour 28 minutes 17 seconds (1:28:17) for 17th position.

YUKO GORDON was the fastest female from Fairlands.  She won her category and a county GOLD medal with 1:45:44.

There were new personal bests from DAVID ACKERY 2:01:52; JUDY KING 2:22:51; SAMANTHA SUTTON 2:46:29.

There were some great Spartan results in the county half marathon championships for veteran runners, part of the race.  The women’s team consisting of Yuko (above); JAYNE RIDDELL 1:57:51 and SUE HAMER 2:05:00 won SILVER only one point behind the gold medallists AND SARAH ILLINGWORTH 2:17:53; Judy (above) and JO COOKSLEY 2:27:25 won BRONZE in the female veterans’ team championship (women over 35, teams of three).

The Spartan veterans were also second in the veteran men’s championship with SILVER going to TERRY SAWYER (1:38:45), BRIAN WHITE (1:43:58), MATT TUTTON (2:02:17) and BEN TORREGIANI (2:03:12) (males over 40, teams of four).

Jayne won individual bronze for women 55 plus and BRIAN WHITE individual silver for men 60 plus with his 1:43:58.

303 finishers in marathon – 38 first claim Spartans; 413 finishers in half – 29 first claim FVS.

Super PB in Amsterdam

Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON ran a new marathon personal best in the Amsterdam Marathon.  A fantastic 2 hours 34 minutes 9 seconds.  A personal best by more than two minutes.  He was top 100, 95th out of 16,763 finishers.

SIMON JACKSON did 2.46.10 at the Amsterdam marathon on Sunday.  He finished sixth in his age group and said there was amazing crowd, nice course and a good weekend with friends.

Go Georgie at the Abingdon Marathon

Spartan GEORGIE HOOPER ran the Abingdon Marathon and broke her personal best by 43 minutes!!  She finished in 3:46:02.  CHARLES COOK ran the same race in 3:02:53.

York 10 Miles

CHRIS WATLING ran the York 10 miler for the third year in a row. 1.24:24 

Results Out For Cross Country

The official results are now in for last week’s cross country, the first league race this season.  Only six clubs beat 1,000 points and FVS were sixth out of the 20 clubs with 880 making them the best club from Stevenage.  The Spartans three leading women were TRACY PEZ 19th in 38:14 for the 7.6 kilometres; ZOE JACKSON 37th in 40:42 and ELODIE MOAKES in 41:56.  The club’s leading three men were GRANT RAMSAY 25th in 30:33; JAY PAPA 40th in 31:46 and ADRIAN DONNELLY 53rd in 32:48.

The club were delighted to finish two complete teams in both the men’s and women’s races.

There were 288 finishers.  109 women and 178 men.  The next cross country league race will be near Royston on Sunday 27th October.

Ashley Beats 20 Year Record

Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON beat a 20 year record at the Great Eastern Run.  Her 1 hour 24 minutes 25 seconds beat the club record for women 35 plus and was a personal best by 33 seconds.

Chicago Extra

There was a big personal best (PB) of 10 minutes 6 seconds (10:06) achieved by PAUL SHELLEY at the Chicago Marathon. ALISON SHELLEY said it was definitely was Fairlands Fortitude for her – She said she couldn’t fuel enough and hit the wall but still super proud of the finish and time, coming back from injury, after a one year deferral.

Alison continued.  “An amazing experience and trip, having both qualified for ‘good for age’ entry  …and we wore our FVS stripes with pride!”

Paul went through half way in 1:31:42 and maintained that pace to finish in 3 hours 3 minutes 30 seconds (3:03:30).  Alison went through a half marathon in 2:08:12 and then demonstrated Fairlands fortitude to finish in 4:28:14.

Parkrun Highlights 19th October

Yuko beat 100%.  Yes Spartan YUKO GORDON beat an age related score of 100% at Saturday morning’s Stevenage parkrun.  Her 23:24 gave her a score of 100.07%.

The weather and the Stevenage marathon the following day kept the numbers down a bit but there were still 337 runners including 16 Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun. 

Categories
Club News Newsletter Race Results Races

GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE AT STANDALONE

Gold, silvers, bronzes and five new personal bests were among the rewards for the 34 Fairlands Valley Spartans who ran Sunday’s Standalone 10K in Letchworth. 

Spartan SIMON JACKSON was the fastest from FVS.  He was the quickest man 40 plus, won GOLD in the County veteran championships and was 14th overall out of 1294 finishers in 35 minutes 20 seconds.  Suzy won silver as SUZY HAWKINS was second woman 45 plus in 43:06 and CLAIRE PULLEN took bronze in the same category with 49:11.

There were two bronze teams – Simon; ADRIAN DONNELLY (40:54); MATT GIFFORD (43:36) and DANNY SCANLON (44:07) for the men (teams of four) and Suzy, Claire and TRACY PEZ (52:25) for the women (teams of three).

SALLY REEVE was first of the brand new personal bests with 51:28, an improvement of 29 seconds.  Then came PETE COOK 53:11; ANDREA WESTCOTT 54:22; MEGAN SUTTON 60:24 and ROSE SUTTON 69:49.

Birthday girl PENNY SCHENKEL enjoyed lots of birthday greetings around the course and a good 10K run taking 64:42, her best this year.

PosNameCat5K time10K time*AG%Comments
14Simon JACKSONMV4017:2135:2083.5%GOLD & Bronze Team
16Simon FRASERMS18:0235:3576.8%YB
82Adrian DONNELLYMV4020:2140:5470.8%Bronze Team.  SB
143Suzy HAWKINSFV4521:1943:0677.4%SILVER Bronze Team.  SB
155Matt GIFFORDMV5021:5943:3671.0%Bronze Team
171Danny SCANLONMV4022:1244:0764.0%Bronze Team.  YB
219Brian WHITEMV6022:4745:5077.9% 
243Charles ARNOLDMV6023:4846:2475.6%YB
343Claire PULLENFV5525:1849:1176.1%BRONZE Bronze Team.  YB
356John HARRISMV6025:1349:3066.9% 
357Paul SHELLEYMV5025:1349:3062.7% 
360Nick GILLMS25:1849:3154.1% 
452Sally REEVEFV4526:3351:2868.0%PB (0:29)
463Martin DUDLEYMV6026:3651:3463.1%YB
488Tracy PEZFV4526:2352:2565.4%Bronze Team
489Hazel SMITHFV4526:2352:2665.4%SB
521Nikki WILBYFV3526:4052:5758.2% 
531Pete COOKMV5026:5153:1159.4%PB (0:47)
567Jon SYPULAMV4028:0654:0453.9%SB
595Andrea WESTCOTTFV4528:2654:2264.3%PB (0:51)
645Ann TRYSSESOONEFV5528:3755:3067.3%SB
660Marie COLUCCIFV4528:0256:0058.5% 
871Megan SUTTONFS29:121:00:2449.6%PB (2:05)
968Alison SHELLEYFV5532:011:03:1157.1% 
990Jo COOKSLEYFV3533:261:03:0148.0% 
1050Monica SMITHSONFV5532:001:05:3457.8% 
1052Jim BROWNMV70+34:511:04:4155.7% 
1053Penny SCHENKELFV5534:521:04:4254.8%Birthday.  YB
1147Rose SUTTONFU2035:041:09:4943.0%PB (39:25)
1172Callie CHAPMANFV3536:351:10:1143.6%SB
1186Samantha SUTTONFV4535:071:12:1346.3%SB
1225Paul HOLGATEMV6038:141:14:2745.9% 
1248Jan FRYFV6539:511:17:2159.8%SB
1249Hannah SYPULAFV4539:511:17:2242.5%SB

20 Years of Parkrun – Parkrun Highlights 5th October

Parkrun celebrated its 20th birthday on Saturday and 44 Spartans joined in the celebrations.

There were 465 finishers at Stevenage parkrun and 31 of them were Spartans.  They included GRANT RAMSAY fourth in 18:55 and KAREN ELLIS fastest from Fairlands in 26:08.

Spartans running other parkruns included GAIL MACKIE 21:37 at Storeys Field; PETE SMITH 22:59 at North Yorkshire Water Park; KELLY McHALE third woman and only missing her PB by five seconds with 23:34 and MIKE REYNOLDS 30:18 at Panshanger; CHLOE CHAPMAN 33:13 and ANNABELLE WHITE 33:14 at Castle Park (Bishops Stortford).

From a start with just 13 runners and five volunteers in Bushy Park on 2 October 2004 there are now more than 10 million parkrunners around the world.

PositionGender PositionparkrunnerTimeComments
44Grant RAMSAY18:55Top Ten
1716Simon JACKSON20:40 
4644Martin JACOB22:45parkrun PB
4846Paul SHELLEY22:59 
6259Daniel VILJOEN23:39 
8477Martin DUDLEY24:41 
8679Matt CLARKE24:51 
11299Toby ECCLESHALL26:01 
11610Karen ELLIS26:08Fastest FVS female
117103Ryan DUNNING26:10 
15017Fiona CLARKE27:04 
200160Paul JENNINGS28:51 
203163Nick KLEANTHOUS28:56 
218169Jim BROWN29:15 
224173Ryan RIDDELL29:28 
23149Sophie PARSONS29:41 
23250Pamela VILJOEN29:42 
246183Maurice BALLARD30:05 
25960Alison SHELLEY30:27 
31185Debbie BLANTERN32:53 
318218Paul HOLGATE33:14 
32995Megan SUTTON34:01 
336101Samantha SUTTON34:37 
343106Linda GEORGE35:02 
365119Tracy HAYGARTH36:27140 parkruns
385240Lloyd DIAS38:10 
443261Roger BIGGS48:28 
454266James SOUTH53:13 
455173Helen HARRIS53:39 
458268Tony RANDFIELD56:47 
460176Carolyn LINSELL60:48 
Categories
5K Series News Race Results Races

VICKY AND MEGAN PB AT HATFIELD

Twenty two Spartans raced in the County 5K open road championships at Hatfield on Wednesday evening.  Eight were rewarded with new personal bests (PBs) so well worth the trip.  ASHLEY JOHNSON was eighth woman in the county and first in her category in the open race with a new PB of 19 minutes 10 seconds (19:10).  ALISON WOOD was also a Spartan category winner with 21:10 and YUKO GORDON was second in hers with 22:39.

VICKY ARCHER took a huge chunk, three minutes, off her 5K personal best when she finished in 23:38.  Meanwhile MEGAN SUTTON wanted to get under 28 minutes and did it with something to spare with her new 27:10 PB, an improvement by 1:19.

The fastest Spartan was MIKE JEFFS 57th out of the 258 finishers in 18:29 with ROSS GALLAGHER close behind in 18:31, a PB by three seconds, and PAUL SHELLEY chasing in with 18:42, a new PB by 21 seconds.

TERRY SAWYER improved by 2:20 to 19:44; ANDY PRIOR by five seconds to 22:42; and MATT TUTTON by 19 to 23:40.

The next Hatfield 5K race is this Wednesday evening 4th September.

Pos.GenCat PosNameCategoryTimeGradeComments
575214Mike JEFFSMV4018:2972.9 % 
595416Ross GALLAGHERMV4018:3173.3 %PB 0:03
66609Paul SHELLEYMV5018:4281.0 %PB 0:21
7991Ashley JOHNSONFV3519:1080.8 %1st FV35.  PB 0:08
928130Terry SAWYERMV4019:4469.3 %PB 2:20
1028732Mark COLLINSMV4019:5370.6 % 
120211Alison WOODFV5521:1084.8 %1st FV55
150332Yuko GORDONFV6522:3996.3 %2nd FV65
15812225Andy PRIORMV5022:4266.7 %PB 0:05
15912311Brian WHITEMV6022:5474.6 % 
1734511Vicky ARCHERFV3523:3864.9 %PB 2:58
17412947Matt TUTTONMV4023:4056.4 %PB 0:19
1915412Kerstin PRIORFV4525:1967.2 %SB 1:07
2096315Andrea WESTCOTTFV4527:0362.2 %SB ?
2126521Megan SUTTONFS27:1053.5 %PB 1:19
2136616Hazel SMITHFV4527:1059.9 %YB 10:45
2321526Jim BROWNMV7028:5561.1 % 
242879Sharon CROWLEYFV6530:2964.6 % 
24816023Paul HOLGATEMV6033:4949.5 % 
2498918Samantha SUTTONFV4534:3246.6 %SB 0:19
2549226Jane WADEYFV5536:3348.8 % 
2569427Jane WHITROWFV5537:3547.5 %SB 2:05

FVS Handicap 5K 29th August

The next evening, Thursday, the club held a 5K handicap race and 17 Spartans took part.

The winners were new members Sam & Perry Gentry, six and a half minutes ahead of handicap in 38:28 followed by Marleen Van Zwieten, beating her handicap by 4:36 in 40:24.  Steve Tinsley finished second man in a year best time of 28:21 with Rose Sutton third lady in a new personal best time of 29:53 and Peter Sach third man in 29:54.

The fastest runner on the night was Nathan Kirley in a new personal best of 19:22, 1:53 quicker than his previous handicap 5k, with new member Michael Fisher second quickest in 21:03 and Craig Bacon third fastest in 22:41.  Judy King was quickest woman in 29:27, 42 seconds faster than her previous handicap 5k, with Rose Sutton second quickest and Liz Carvell third fastest in a year best time of 31:23.

Handicap races are won by the best improvers.  The slower runners, based on previous recent performances, start first and others at intervals based on their results try to catch them before the finish.

Next month’s final evening Handicap 5k of the year will be on Thursday 19th September.

PosFirst NAMELast NAMETimeRFPBImprH’CAPAdjTimeH’Cap
1SAMGENTRY38:2815New0:0038:286:32
2PERRYGENTRY38:29167New0:0038:296:31
3MARLEENVAN ZWIETEN40:241780:00(0:01)40:234:36
4STEVETINSLEY28:217YB1:4412:450:0341:093:54
5ROSESUTTON29:5392PB1:0912:150:0942:172:52
6JUDYKING29:27810:4213:000:0142:282:33
7PETERSACH29:54100:5312:45(0:02)42:372:21
8SALLYPHILLIPS37:57146YB4:4542:422:18
9LIZCARVELL31:23113YB0:0611:30(0:02)42:512:07
10NATHANKIRLEY19:221PB0:1523:45(0:05)43:021:53
11MICHAELFISHER21:032New22:000:0543:081:57
12CHARLESARNOLD22:55420:1543:101:50
13SALLYPICKLES37:051246:4543:501:10
14PETECOOK26:5460:0817:000:0143:551:06
15CRAIGBACON22:41321:150:0143:571:04
16JANEWADEY37:241357:45(0:01)45:08(0:09)
17DANNYSCANLON22:59522:150:0145:15(0:14)

Fairlands Five at Big Half

The heat in London made the race that bit harder but a famous five from Fairlands made a really good job of Sunday’s “Big Half.”  STUART MEAD was 958th out of nearly 17,000 runners in 1:30:09; TERRY SAWYER 1,650th in 1:36:26, ROBERT WRIGHT 8,453rd in 2:07:53 and running her first half marathon race MEGAN SUTTON was 10,537th in 2:17:53.  SAMANTHA SUTTON came in with 3:03:41.

Serpentine 30th August

It was warm, sunny with a light breeze and excellent visibility in Hyde Park on Friday.  That enabled JIM BROWN to run his fastest road 5K this year.  27 minutes 23 seconds (27:23) in the Last Friday of the Month event.

Dorney for Alison and Paul

On a warm day ALISON and PAUL SHELLEY ran Sunday’s Dorney Lake Half Marathon and both won their age groups.  Paul in 1:30:46 and Alison in 2 hours 5 minutes 52 seconds.

Speeding Up

MIKE JEFFS is getting his speed back.  He finished the hot sweaty and gruelling Cambridge Biomedical Centre 10K in 39:28.

Parkrun Highlights 31st August Hawaii Five – O

In case of adversity go with the flow, or maybe the wave.  Stevenage parkrun had a hacking attack and found themselves temporarily named Hawaii 5 – O.  They decided to own it and had a theme of Hawaiian wear.  Lots of Spartans joined in with that fun and dug out those shirts, shorts and Hawaiian leis.

24 Spartans ran and three of the top five females were from FVS.  ASHLEY KING first in 20:52; SUZY HAWKINS third in 21:28 and GAIL MACKIE fifth in 22:26.

GRANT RAMSAY maintains his record as a top ten finisher.  This time he was fifth in 18:49.  There were 439 finishers at Stevenage including 174 women.  Local event #362.  Up considerably on the previous week.

Parkrun started at Bushy Park in 2004.  That event ran for the 1,000th time on Saturday and there were thousands of runners.   The 20th anniversary of parkruns will be in October.

Spartans elsewhere included YUKO GORDON with a season’s best 22:18 – that’s 105.01% – at Storeys Field; JOHN HARRIS 23:15; RYAN RIDELL 29:34; GEORGIE HOOPER 30:19 and NICK GILL 30:29 at Letchworth; MATTHEW NEWTON 26:18 at Pymmes; PETE SMITH 26:37 at North Yorkshire Water; DANIEL SUTTON 27:22 at Rutland Water; ANDY JAY 27:42 at Hunstanton Promenade; ANNABELLE WHITE 35:11 and CHLOE CHAPMAN 35:12 at Aldenham; NICOLA PATTMAN 33:25 at Gorleston Cliffs; JONATHAN JONES 37:24 and DZENANA TOPIC 37:25 at Wimpole Estate; and DARRYL STEVENS 44:44 at Banstead Woods.

PositionGender PositionparkrunnerTimeComments
55Grant RAMSAY18:49Top Ten
171Ashley SCHOENWETTER20:52First woman.  40th Parkr.
263Suzy HAWKINS21:28Third woman
415Gail MACKIE22:26Fifth woman
5849Daniel VILJOEN23:45 
8571Lee PICKERSGILL24:52 
8773Toby ECCLESHALL24:55 
9780Darren EMMERSON25:32 
15530Hazel SMITH27:58 
170127Jay PAPA28:14 
198148Tony RANDFIELD29:02 
226160Nick KLEANTHOUS30:07 
23060Claire EMMERSON30:17 
235164Maurice BALLARD30:28 
28485Monica SMITHSON32:48 
288189Paul JENNINGS33:02 
30897Jenny GARRETT33:54 
31099Penny SCHENKEL33:57 
311198Jim BROWN33:57 
318199Paul HOLGATE34:51 
339119Pamela VILJOEN36:07 
348209James SOUTH36:28 
350210Stephen SMITHSON36:41 
437174Sharon CROWLEY01:02:37Volunteer.  70th Parkrun.
Categories
Club News Race Results Races

ANDREW IS A WORLD MASTER

Fairlands Valley Spartans ANDREW PATTERSON competed for Great Britain in the World Masters Athletics Championships this week in Gothenburg.  He was ranked 25th going into the heats of the 1500 metres for men 40 plus on Friday.  The conditions were horrid with heavy winds and rain.  He managed to finish fourth in his heat in 4.19.  The top two from each heat went through to the final and the next 10 fastest runners.  Andrew sneaked into the final as the 10th fastest. The only Brit to qualify for the final.

Sunday was the final and it was delayed 30 minutes due to thunder and the conditions were still windy when we started.  Making the final was a bonus and the aim was to not finish last, and finished in a season’s best 4.17 and 13th.  The championship style racing of slowly starting was tough going and Andrew who runs fantastic half and full marathons says he didn’t have the track speed to match his competitors.  Overall he said it was a great experience.

Rolling Around A Velopark…

On Saturday 24th August CHRIS WATLING ran the Lee Valley Velo Park half marathon at the Olympic Park in Stratford.

He said it was 13 times one mile laps around a hilly course, with heavy rain from the offset.  It was tough, but Chris enjoyed it and finished in 1 hour 53 minutes 46 seconds (1:53:46) exactly half way with 76th out of 152.

Got a few shout-outs from the race organisers in his Spartan vest!

Parkrun Highlights 24th August

It was third again for Spartan GRANT RAMSAY as he finished the Stevenage parkrun in 19:02.  Miserable weather and the late summer public holiday probably contributed to keeping the total number of finishers to 327 and that included 22 from FVS.

At Stevenage STEVE PLATT ran his 75th parkrun in 28:44; ALISON SHELLEY her 150th in 30:30; PAMELA VILJOEN her 240th in 38:45 and TREVOR BROOM his 25th in 55:16.

Eleven of the 22 Spartans were under 30 minutes.

Altogether 46 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday.  Spartans elsewhere included JONATHAN PARR who won the Sandringham parkrun in 17 minutes 52 seconds (17:52).  JOHN HARRIS was third man at Letchworth in 21:48 with MEGAN SUTTON coming in at 28:35 and GEORGIE HOOPER at 29:33; SUZY HAWKINS was fourth woman at Milton Keynes with 24:44; SIMON HAIGH finished the Gunpowder parkrun in 25:56; LIZ CROWLEY 30:36 at Mile End (London) and SHARON CROWLEY 31:31 at Boston (Lincolnshire); SAMANTHA SUTTON 35:17 and MATTHEW PATTMAN 37:49 at Holkham; and DARRYL STEVENS at Brockenhurst in 47:15.

PositionGender PositionparkrunnerTimeComments
33Grant RAMSAY19:02Third overall
2926Paul SHELLEY22:05 
4743Toby ECCLESHALL23:05 
6459Daniel VILJOEN23:57 
8980Darren EMMERSON25:13 
9888Ryan DUNNING25:37 
10696Keith HOOKER26:07 
14720Gail MACKIE27:42 
168136Steve PLATT28:4475th parkrun
191147Jay PAPA29:27 
195151Jim BROWN29:35 
20946Alison SHELLEY30:30150th parkrun
211157Pete COOK30:33 
21548Annabelle WHITE30:42 
21951Claire EMMERSON30:59 
22354Ashley JOHNSON31:05 
22253Nikki Katherine NATION31:05 
24870Caroline CROFT32:57 
26380Chloe CHAPMAN34:29 
278179Paul JENNINGS36:21 
28894Pamela VILJOEN38:45240th parkrun
324191Trevor BROOM55:1625th parkrun
Spartans at Stevenage parkrun #361

STOOP

And four Spartans did the STOOP (Stevenage Outer Orbital Path) walk.  All 44 kilometres, or 27 miles, of it.

Categories
Club Half Marathon News Race Results Races

CHALLENGING BURNHAM

Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT was third overall in Sunday’s Burnham Beeches Half Marathon with a superb time of 1 hour 17 minutes 33 seconds (1:17:33). 

He said the course was scenic, well marshalled and supported and with a couple of challenging hills at mile 6 and 10.  It was great to get racing in the new stripes off to a flying start!  Great also to see another Spartan at the race.

WENDY THARANI finished in 2:15:36.  She said it was the usual undulating and scenic course which she has enjoyed before, two laps, through the woods.  Great organisation and lots of great stalls in the race village.

World Masters Athletics Championships, 3000m Steeplechase

Spartan Grant Ramsay represented Team GB in the 3000 metres steeplechase, at the World Masters Athletics Championships, in Gothenburg, Sweden.  Ramsay both ran and hurdled well to achieve a season’s best time of 12:30.  This also happened to be his best time for well over two years.  It was a very strong field and Ramsay had to settle for 18th, which was all in his age category of M50 (men over 50).

Ramsay was pleased with his performance, which involved running at 4:10 per kilometre and to fluently leap hurdles at his age.

Parkrun Highlights 17th August

Two Fairlands Valley Spartans in the top ten and first woman as 27 Spartans were among the 444 finishers of Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun.  GRANT RAMSAY was third in 18:32 and PAUL SHELLEY tenth in 20:19.  SUZY HAWKINS was first woman with 21:14.

Also at Stevenage MATT TUTTON ran a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 23:59; JAY PAPA ran his 40th parkrun in 27:48; JIM BROWN won his age group with 27:55; MEGAN SUTTON ran her 20th in a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 28:29; MATT CLARKE ran his 140th in 29:16 and LLOYD DIAS his 25th in 40:05.

Spartans elsewhere included JONATHAN PARR fourth in 17:23 at Teignmouth promenade parkrun; ADRIAN DONNELLY in 21:08 and MATT GIFFORD 28:16 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; JOHN HARRIS 21:19 and JACKIE PERRY 28:41 at Letchworth; DAVID RIDDELL 25:35 and JAYNE RIDDELL 27:27 at Holkham (Norfolk); GRAHAM BLACKBURN 28:40 at Medina, Isle of Wight in 28:40; ANDY JAY 28:57 at Westmill (Ware); CHLOE CHAPMAN 31:43 at Jersey Farm (St Albans); PAUL JENNINGS 31:48 at Watergrove, Rochdale; JANE WADEY 36:16 at Penrose (Cornwall); DARRYL STEVENS at Brockenhurst (New Forest) in 49:32 and TREVOR BROOM 1:06:13 in the Roding Valley.

PositionGender PositionNameTime
33Grant RAMSAY18:32
1010Paul SHELLEY20:19
221Suzy HAWKINS21:14
2926Matthew NEWTON22:00
5651Daniel VILJOEN23:27
6661Matt TUTTON23:59
10190Darren EMMERSON25:22
10594Lee PICKERSGILL25:30
10796Mark BEASLEY25:41
118106Ryan DUNNING26:16
172143Jay PAPA27:48
176145Jim BROWN27:55
189154Steve PLATT28:25
19032Megan SUTTON28:29
21243Fiona CLARKE29:12
214167Matt CLARKE29:16
25663Alison SHELLEY30:51
27373Claire EMMERSON31:37
29686Caroline CROFT32:45
336109Samantha SUTTON35:05
352120Tracy HAYGARTH36:14
385144Pamela VILJOEN38:55
396230Lloyd DIAS40:05
403232Nick KLEANTHOUS41:49
435246Tony RANDFIELD52:54
443180Monica SMITHSON59:16
444247Stephen SMITHSON59:17
FVS Parkrun Results – 17th August
Categories
Club Midweek League News Race Results

SPARTANS PARKRUN TAKE OVER

Co-ordinated by JANE WADEY Fairlands Valley Spartans organized another really successful take over of the Stevenage parkrun on Saturday.  Take overs are when one organisation takes on most of the volunteer roles at a parkrun.

There were 477 finishers including 39 Spartans.  The Spartan pacers helped to get 25 people to new parkrun personal bests.  They included CHRIS WATLING with a new PPB of 23:01 and DAVID ACKERY with 24:44. ASHLEY JOHNSON one of the pacers celebrated her 20th parkrun with 23:52.  MARK BEASLEY ran his 130th in 25:46; MARIE COLUCCI, another pacer, her tenth with 27:41; and new member Rosemary ONABAWORIN her first in 42:24.

There were 477 finishers including 39 Spartans.  Many other Spartans were marshals, helping to set up the event, volunteering in all sorts of ways.

Jim and Yuko win in League

YUKO GORDON and JIM BROWN were prizewinners in Division One of the Mid Week League.  Proving that Fairlands Valley Spartans just keep going they both won the oldest categories with Yuko winning the series for women aged 65 and over and Jim winning for men aged 70 plus.  There were 14 MV70s.

The awards were made after the “Mob Match” 10K in Welwyn Garden City in which 21 Spartans raced.

The fastest Spartan in the mob match was KIRK NDUGU, 17th in 36:13; with ADRIAN BUSOLINI and BRIAN BRACKSTONE not far behind with 36:59 (24th) and 37:23 (27th).  WENDY THARANI was the fastest female from Fairlands with 59:35 chased in by CLAIRE EMMERSON who finished in 59:39.

RaceFirst NameLast NameTimeGen PosCatVetCat.M/FImproveTeam
17KIRKNDUGU 36:1317SM0:191
24ADRIANBUSOLINI 36:5923SM0:572
27BRIANBRACKSTONE 37:2325312V 50M0:513
71JAYPAPA 41:4764SM4
99ROBERTWRIGHT 44:07833149V 40M2:345
158CHARLIEARNOLD 48:271221278V 60M0:326
186SIMONHAIGH 50:191342590V 50M2:237
210DAVIDACKERY 52:12150SM0:248
236MARTINDUDLEY 54:0416121114V 60M0:099
240DARRENEMMERSON 54:1916332116V 50M10
253PETECOOK 55:2716934121V 50M3:3111
262JIMBROWN 56:281745125V 70M3:4912
282WENDYTHARANI 59:35983270V 45F 
283CLAIREEMMERSON 59:39993371V 45F2:57 
284TIMROBINSON 59:4018342134V 50M0:36 
300NICKKLEANTHOUS 1:01:0718625137V 60M1:07 
306JUDYKING 1:02:141161981V 55F1:22 
323LIZCARVELL 1:05:441262390V 55F2:22 
329SHARONCROWLEY 1:08:48131995V 65F 
335JANEWADEY 1:15:121342598V 55F1:56 
Mob Match 10k Results

Parkrun Highlights 13th July (#355)

Altogether 59 Spartans ran parkruns on Saturday.  Spartans at parkruns elsewhere included JAY PAPA 19:49 at Congleton; CHLOE CHAPMAN 27:07 at Kings Lynn; PETE SMITH 28:15 at North Yorkshire Water Park; DZENANA TOPIC 37:38 and DARRYL STEVENS 46:05 at the Wimpole Estate; and TRACY HAYGARTH 40:31 at Westmill.

PositionGender PositionparkrunnerTimeComments
1111Grant RAMSAY19:51Pacing (20)
2725Charlie WHITE20:53Pacing (21)
4947David RIDDELL22:11 
6561Chris WATLING23:01New PPB
6662Graham HOARE23:03 
805Ashley JOHNSON23:52Pacing (24).  20 parkruns.
10295David ACKERY24:44New PPB
1119Georgie HOOPER24:57Pacing (25)
131119Lee PICKERSGILL25:36 
137124Mark BEASLEY25:46130 parkruns
14213Annabelle WHITE25:53Pacing (26)
144129Ryan DUNNING25:58 
145130Martin DUDLEY26:00 
153135Charles ARNOLD26:14Pacing (27)
173147Toby ECCLESHALL26:45 
17425Gail MACKIE26:45 
21139Marie COLUCCI27:41Pacing (28).  10 parkruns.
248192Andy JAY28:57Pacing (29)
257196Matt CLARKE29:14 
269203Peter SACH29:26100 parkruns
281207Keith HOOKER29:47Pacing (30)
296215Jim BROWN30:44Pacing (31)
31382Monica SMITHSON31:28 
326229Nick KLEANTHOUS32:00Pacing (32)
347103Yuko GORDON32:49Pacing (33)
357241Paul JENNINGS33:21 
374120Penny SCHENKEL34:22 
375248Matthew NEWTON34:23 
381124Hilary DAVIES34:42 
385128Jane WADEY34:58Take over co-ordinator
396134Jo MANSFIELD35:53 
397256Stuart ARCHER35:57 
414147Sally PICKLES37:18 
425156Samantha SUTTON37:48 
456275Andy PRIOR41:57 
459173Rosemary ONABAWORIN42:24First parkrun
460174Kerstin WEINER42:47 
476185Nichola DURENT50:54Tail end
477186Sharon CROWLEY51:40Tail end
Parkrun Results
Categories
Events News Newsletter Race Results Races Racing Training

GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE

Hatfield 5 Wins

Fairlands Valley Spartans came home with GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE from the Hertfordshire County Five Mile Championships for veterans which were incorporated in the Hatfield Five on Sunday morning.

GEORGIE HOOPER (35:32 – a personal best PB by 11 minutes 39 seconds!); MARIE COLUCCI (37:18 – a season’s best SB by 3:01) and YUKO GORDON (37:42) won BRONZE in the women’s team competition.

Yuko took individual SILVER in the championship for women aged 65 plus.

The GOLD medal went to JIM BROWN who won the county championship for men aged 70 plus with exactly two minutes to spare in a year’s best (YB) time of 42 minutes 39 seconds.

Good fast five-mile races are pretty rare, and 22 Spartans took the opportunity.  There were some outstanding performances in the open race as well as the county event.  Every single Spartan that ran achieved a milestone.  NICK GILL was fastest from Fairlands, 53rd out of the 655 finishers in 30 minutes 50 seconds – an outstanding personal best by 16 minutes 21 seconds.

SAM SIMMONS improved his PB by 4:13 to 33:40. PETE SMITH took 3:05 off his SB to 35:12.  SUSAN McANENY reduced her PB by five seconds to 39:27 and NICK KLEANTHOUS by 58 seconds to 42:19.  NICOLA ANDERSSON sliced 1:17 off her life-time best with 43:38 and PENNY SCHENKEL improved her SB by 1:42 to 45:14.

MATT TUTTON took 37 seconds off his PB with 46:46 and JANE WADEY ran the PB bell with her new personal best of 52 minutes 26 seconds.  An improvement of 1:48.

SHARON CROWLEY took her season’s best down by 52 seconds to 55:03 and BRIAN WHITE, JONATHAN JONES and DZENANA TOPIC ran their best five-mile times this year with 36:51; 56:55 and 57:40.

Three Spartans were running their first ever five-mile races – MIKE JEFFS in 35:32; MARCUS RIDLEY in 37:34 and HARRIET SMITH 38:59.

MARK GOODWIN equalled his five-mile time with 37:34 and DANNY SCANLON was in the top 100 with a year’s best time of 32:49.

Bests At Bass Belle Ten

Another ten Spartans were at the Bass Belle Ten, a partly off-road event based in Bassingbourn.

STEVEN DOBNER said “Rain greeted us but luckily had passed through before the start.  After setting an unofficial PB in last week’s half marathon in Gosport I had a time to aim at and felt comfortable throughout.  Starting quickly to find some space and to try to get the best of the tricky 1.5miles muddy and slippery off-road section in road shoes, we settled into our rhythm ticking off the kilometers and judging the effort.  The little hill proved less of an obstacle this year and I was very happy to come home in a time of 1:15:05, knocking 5 minutes 31 off my previous best 10-mile race.”  

DAVE PATTMAN also came home with a new personal best of 1:15:41 shaving 2 minutes off his PB.  MO WARRILOW said she enjoyed the run, finished with a smile on her face and beat 90 minutes by 22 seconds.”

PAUL and ALISON SHELLEY ran Bass Belle again and said as always it was well organised and well supported.  The 1:5 mile off road section was a bit tricky but otherwise a nice route.  It was great to see so many Spartans.

Paul was 27th 1:11:35 – 27th overall.  Alison finished in 1:27:41.

The other Spartans were MATT CLARKE 1:25:11; MICHAEL O’KEEFE 1:35:00 in his first ten-mile race; FIONA CLARKE 1:37:39; CHLOE CHAPMAN 1:37:53 and MONICA SMITHSON 1:51:24.

Serpentine

Runners were so lucky with the conditions again for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park, London.  It was sunny, mild and with a light breeze for the lunch-time event.  JIM BROWN ran his best 5K of the year with 26 minutes 8 seconds and second in his age category.

Canicross

TRACY PEZ (and her dog) enjoyed a Canicross event at Grafham Water which they completed in 1 hour 21 minutes 7 seconds.

Parkrun Highlights 26th November 2022 – Penny in the Cape

Numbers were back over 300 for the 266th Stevenage with 314 completing the 5K Saturday morning run in Fairlands Valley Park.  24 were Spartans.

In Stevenage PENNY SCHENKEL ran her 50th parkrun in the red celebration cape with a time of 30 minutes 49 seconds.  MATTHEW NEWTON ran new PB of 20:14. ADRIAN BUSOLINI was 3rd overall in 18:15 and GRANT RAMSAY 4th in 18:58.

Elsewhere DARRYL STEVENS continues his tour of many different parkruns.  He was a first timer at Eastville, Bristol and finished in 39:30.  MATT and FIONA CLARKE were first timers at Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire with 31:07 and 31:11.

JULIET FULLWOOD was a first timer at Alexandra, Moss Side in Manchester on her first parkrun.  She was fourth women in 21:59.

22 Spartans at the Hatfield Five:

PositionNameNet TimeOpen CategoryCat PosGenderGen PosComments
53Nick GILL30:50Senior24Male49PB (16:21)
86Danny SCANLON32:49M4030Male75YB (year best)
106Sam SIMMONS33:40Senior37Male92PB (4:13)
138Peter SMITH35:12M608Male120SB (3:05)
152Mike JEFFS35:32Senior50Male133First 5 miles
153Georgie HOOPER35:32Senior4Female19Team Bronze.  PB (11:39)
181Brian WHITE36:51M6014Male151YB
205Marie COLUCCI37:18W4010Female33Team Bronze.  SB (3:01)
210Yuko GORDON37:42W701Female35County Silver.  Team Bronze.  YB.
211Marcus RIDLEY37:34Senior61Male175First five miles
213Mark GOODWIN37:34M6017Male177SB (equal)
242Harriet SMITH38:59Senior12Female41First five miles
266Susan MCANENY39:27W4017Female54PB (0:05)
317Nick KLEANTHOUS42:19M6024Male230PB (0:58)
334Jim BROWN42:39M703Male239County Gold.  YB
354Nicola ANDERSSON43:38W5027Female105PB (1:17)
414Penny SCHENKEL45:14W5036Female137SB (1:42)
448Matt TUTTON46:46Senior80Male287PB (0:37)
551Jane WADEY52:26W5065Female227PB (1:48)
587Sharon CROWLEY55:03W6031Female257SB (0:52)
596Jonathan Clive JONES56:55M5095Male331YB
604Dzenana TOPIC57:40W5084Female271YB

PB = personal best (lifetime); SB = season’s best; YB = year’s best.  655 finishers.

10 Spartans at the Bass Belle:

PositionNameTimeCommentsBIB
27PAUL SHELLEY1:11:35“SB” (2:50)61
52STEVEN DOBNER1:15:04“PB” (5:30)19
56DAVE PATTMAN1:15:41“PB” (1:50)20
126MATT CLARKE1:25:11“YB”448
140ALISON SHELLEY1:27:41“SB”62
164MO WARRILOW1:29:38“SB” (6:15)84
206MICHAEL O’KEEFE1:35:00First 10 miles418
235FIONA CLARKE1:37:39“YB”447
236CHLOE CHAPMAN1:37:53“PB” (6:19)49
313MONICA SMITHSON1:51:24“SB”172

356 finishers

24 Spartans at the Stevenage parkruns on Saturday 26th November:

Position  Gender Position  parkrunner  Run Time   
33Adrian BUSOLINI00:18:15Top ten
44Grant RAMSAY00:18:58Top ten
1110Matthew NEWTON00:20:14 
3229Paul SHELLEY00:22:08 
5447Martin DUDLEY00:23:58 
8912Gail MACKIE00:25:43 
9075Toby ECCLESHALL00:25:44 
9578Neal MUGGLETON00:26:08 
9981Michael O’KEEFE00:26:15 
10082Steven DOBNER00:26:16 
10817Mo WARRILLOW00:26:41 
10987David PATTMAN00:26:42 
134107Thomas SAUKA00:27:47 
161121Nick KLEANTHOUS00:29:03 
16233Alison SHELLEY00:29:05 
16939Chloe CHAPMAN00:29:12 
170123Sam SIMMONS00:29:13 
17943Nicola ANDERSSON00:29:41 
194139Jim BROWN00:30:48 
19547Penny SCHENKEL00:30:4950th parkrun in the cape
20353Nikki Katherine NATION00:31:08 
23471Sheryl HANN00:33:42 
257163Stephen SMITHSON00:34:55 
26484Samantha SUTTON00:35:56 

314 finishers.

Categories
Club Events Race Results Races Racing

SCORCHA AT ST ALBANS

It was seriously hot, an estimated 30 degrees at the finish line, for the St. Albans Summer 10K but Danny SCANLON ran it in a quick 42 minutes 57 seconds for 39th place overall.   At Saturday’s parkrun Jim BROWN was nervous about the heat but come Sunday he won his age category by more than thirteen minutes with 56:38.  Michael O’KEEFE was close to his personal best with 58:22.

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 13th August

The summer holiday period saw thirty two Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelled to 10 different parkrun venues across the country.

Simon JACKSON took first place at Stevenage and was the fastest Spartan this week finishing in 17:13. Jonathan PARR took first place at Hunstanton promenade finishing at 17:59 and Susan MCANENY was the fastest female Spartan with a time of 26:46, 8th female at Stevenage.

Other top ten finishers are Adrian DONNELLY at Malahide (6th, 19:20), John HARRIS at Letchworth (5th, 20:40), Claire PULLEN at Stevenage (9th female, 26:46).

Cathy CRAIG travelled to Blandford park run and achieved a new seasons best in 25C heat of 30:40.

Position  Gender Position  Parkrunner  Run Time  
Stevenage parkrun (21 FVS)   
11Simon JACKSON17:13
1111Paul SHELLEY20:56
1212Tony RANDFIELD20:58
2525Thomas SAUKA22:34
4341Toby ECCLESHALL23:57
4644Martin DUDLEY24:04:00
5147Matt CLARKE24:40:00
738Susan MCANENY26:46:00
749Claire PULLEN26:46:00
8012Alison SHELLEY26:58:00
8113Gail MACKIE27:02:00
8515Ashley SCHOENWETTER27:14:00
8818Fiona CLARKE27:23:00
9172Mark BEASLEY27:54:00
10784Jim BROWN29:01:00
11025Debbie BLANTERN29:15:00
11588Steven DOBNER29:35:00
144103Tony ARGYROU32:50:00
14638Jane WADEY33:04:00
15441Hilary DAVIES34:23:00
180117Roger BIGGS48:12:00
Bedford parkrun   
15036Chloe CHAPMAN30:20:00
151111Sam SIMMONS30:22:00
Malahide parkrun   
65Adrian DONNELLY19:20
Blandford parkrun   
9923Catherine CRAIG30:40:00
Burnham and Highbridge parkrun   
214139Darryl STEVENS38:23:00
Rutland Water parkrun   
10883Chris HOLLAND29:55:00
Letchworth parkrun   
55John HARRIS20:40
Hunstanton Promenade parkrun   
11Jonathan PARR17:58
Oriam parkrun   
1313Grant RAMSAY20:31
10027Nikki Katherine NATION31:22:00
Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun   
4336Michael O’KEEFE28:22:00
Categories
Club News Race Results

CHRISTINE WINS

The individual results are out for the cross country league and Spartan CHRISTINE LATHWELL won the women 45 plus (45 to 54) category with just five points.  She won all but one of the races she ran, in the other one she was second.  TRACEY JACKSON was eighth with 51 points. 

Tracey Jackson

In the senior race (up to 39) JONATHAN PARR was fifth with 26 points and ADRIAN BUSOLINI eighth with 56. 

Jonathan and Adrian

(In these league events those with the lowest scores are the winners as your positions in your four best counting events are added up). 

In Memory Of Lisa 

Fairlands Valley Spartans past and present walked ten kilometres on Sunday in memory of Lisa Potter. 

Lisa Potter was a very kind hearted Spartans who sadly lost her battle with cancer last year. 

The starters award which will be given out at Friday’s presentation evening has been renamed The Lisa Potter Starters Award in her memory.  Lisa attended the very first Spartan starters session and was a keen to be there every week.  She was always friendly and very welcoming with new members.  

Team Lisa!

Parkrun Highlights 19th February 

The aftermath of Storm Eunice cancelled the Stevenage parkrun as there just wasn’t time to clear and check the course. 

So this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit consists of a few stripes on tour. The biggest result comes from South Africa as STUART HAYCROFT took on the Grey Goose course at the Grey Goose Game Lodge in the North-East of the country.  Stuart completed the 5km course in 20-33 finishing first out of 126 runners.  

St Albans Parkrunners

Other away day results: 

St Albans (Hertfordshire): DAVID PATTMAN 25-06 (52nd out of 207 runners), MO WARRILLOW 33-33 (170th) and STEVEN DOBNER 33-34 (171st). 

Letchworth (Hertfordshire); GEORGIE HOOPER 30-38 (65th out of 108 runners), NICK GILL 30-39 (66th). 

Panshanger (Hertford, Hertfordshire): TONY RANDFIELD 42-13 (184th out of 193 runners). 

Westmill (Ware, Hertfordshire): ANDY JAY 26-13 (14th out of 76 runners). 

Ifield Mill Pond (Crawley, East Sussex): DARRYL STEVENS 383-9 (108th out of 117 runners). 

Categories
Club News Race Results

BIG HILLS AND BIG PUDDLES AT WATFORD

Big hills and big puddles faced the seven Spartans who ran the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday.  They splashed through to the finish. 

On that course and in those conditions ROBERT WRIGHT ran an excellent 1 hour 42 minutes 27 minutes for the lumpy 13.1 miles.  Five minutes later MATT CLARKE came in with 1:47:58. 

FIONA CLARKE ran a well judged event to get close to two hours with 2:03:36.  JIM BROWN said he had a terrible day in his running office but was in the middle of a little cluster with SUE HAMER 2:11:18; Jim at 2:12:23 and WENDY THARANI at 2:13:18. 

SHARON CROWLEY ran a good steady half marathon and came in smiling with 2:33:30.  There were 1,083 finishers. 

Stripy smiles at Watford Half despite the big puddles!

Parkrun Highlights 5th February. 

Fairlands Valley Spartan members were out in force on the first Parkrun of the month, aka Stripey Saturday. Forty four members took part at seven different venue across the country. 

NICOLA ANDERSSON ran a Personal best of 26:01 at Stevenage in her 90th Parkrun, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week. JONATHAN PARR was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 17:01 at Stevenage and was first in the event. 

Happy Spartans on Saturday morning!

New Spartan JANE WADEY completed her 20th Parkrun in 34:19, a new PB! 

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! 

Special mention to TONY RANDFIELD who achieved the highest age grade percentage this week with 80.26%, getting into national class level. 

Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, CHLOE CHAPMAN has reached 70 runs at Stevenage. 

At least 32 out of another great total of 346 finishers at Stevenage were Spartans.  Well done all! 

Tables 

Spartans at the Watford Half Marathon 

Pos BIB Name Time Cat  
329 339 Robert WRIGHT 1:42:27 Unknown  
431 1183 Matt CLARKE 1:47:58 40-49  
754 1184 Fiona CLARKE 2:03:36 35-44  
866 988 Sue HAMER 2:11:18 45-54  
870 1181 Jim BROWN 2:12:23 60-69  
882 913 Wendy THARANI 2:13:18 45-54  
1028 908 Sharon CROWLEY 2:33:30 55-64  

Spartans at parkruns Saturday 5th February 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   Comment 
Endcliffe parkrun         
340 218 Mike REYNOLDS 28:56   
Stevenage parkrun (32 FVS)         
Jonathan PARR 17:01 Winner 
10 Grant RAMSAY 19:20   
17 15 Tony RANDFIELD 20:31 80.26% age grade 
21 19 Stuart ARCHER 21:00   
27 25 Paul SHELLEY 21:32   
66 55 Sam SIMMONS 23:48   
70 59 Martin DUDLEY 24:04   
86 72 Darren EMMERSON 25:01   
107 11 Nicola ANDERSSON 26:01 PB, 90th 
111 92 Nick KLEANTHOUS 26:11   
112 12 Alison SHELLEY 26:12   
133 103 Mark BEASLEY 26:55   
170 130 Tim ROBINSON 28:08   
187 34 Debbie BLANTERN 28:36   
190 143 Jim BROWN 28:38   
203 42 Chloe CHAPMAN 29:19 70th 
204 151 Matt CLARKE 29:19   
212 43 Monica SMITHSON 29:38   
219 47 Fiona CLARKE 29:49   
235 167 Karl SHREEVE 30:44   
237 57 Caroline CROFT 30:46   
250 64 Tracy HAYGARTH 31:41   
259 69 Claire EMMERSON 32:15   
265 180 Jonathan JONES 32:39   
268 75 Dzenana TOPIC 32:51   
274 184 Steven DOBNER 33:10   
275 79 Mo WARRILLOW 33:12   
276 185 David PATTMAN 33:12   
295 92 Jane WADEY 34:19 PB, 20th 
343 124 Helen HARRIS 47:08   
344 204 Roger BIGGS 48:53   
Tilgate parkrun         
350 218 Darryl STEVENS 39:22   
Lee-on-the-Solent parkrun         
69 61 Edward HARE 24:32   
Letchworth parkrun         
Nick GILL 22:21   
32 Georgie HOOPER 28:34   
Sandy Water (Wales) parkrun         
John HARRIS 20:53   
Categories
Club News Race Results

YUKO BREAKS UK RECORD

PB FOR ASHELY * BUSOLINI’S ACT OF ATTRITION

Spartan YUKO GORDON broke the British road 5 kilometres age record for women on Friday.  Running at the Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park she finished in 21 minutes 53 seconds beating the previous record for women aged 70 plus of 22:08 set by Angela Copson by 15 seconds.   It was also a race record.  While many runners would be happy with an age related score around 70% Yuko achieved 96.5%! 

There was also a good run by new Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON who won her category and got a new personal best (PB) of 21 minutes 5 seconds. 

Speedy Spartan Ashley Johnson.

Completely outshone by the two Spartan women JIM BROWN was nevertheless pleased to get under 28 minutes for the first time in what seemed like ages.  In fact with a dash for the line he beat 27 minutes with 26:58.  

Jim was pleased with his time.

The Serpentine 5K is a long established running club event.  Great to enjoy on a Friday lunchtime or if you are after a personal best or even a record it’s accurately measured and properly timed. 

It was a good day to run – mild, dry and with a modest breeze.  The next Serpentine 5K will be on Friday 25th February. 

Adrian’s Arc of Attrition 

Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI completed the 100 miles Cornish Coastal Path “Arc of Attrition” ultra marathon in 28 hours 12 minutes 31 seconds. 

Adrian’s amazing weekend in Cornwall!

Here’s his story: 

“I didn’t even know what the Arc was when I added my name to its waiting list sometime last year; it was just “some legendary race” that I should probably run at some point.  So it wasn’t until I was offered a place in November, that I read the website and learned the basics.  January, 100 mile, Cornwall, coast path.  I’d already run part of the route in the 70k Classic Quarter back in May.  I rated that as one of the toughest runs I’d done, and for some reason I assumed I’d likely experienced the worst bits of the coastal path. 

I learned a bit more about it in the weeks preceding the race; notably the infamous Pendeen-St Ives section, and consequently bought an awful lot of new kit. Also, only having 4 aid stations, and 1 drop bag, presented some real challenges for an uncrewed runner like me.  The most kit I’d carried before was during the CCC; but even there, I hadn’t needed to carry 5kg of supplies in a 12l pack.  Water resupply was an open question. 

The weather conditions were described as unusually favourable, and we joked about course PBs on the start line, before the drums rang out and the blue smoke was deployed to signal the start of the Arc. 

The Arc is a bit of a beast.  The section through Lizard to Marazion is technical, tough coastal running. In May, when I ran the Classic Quarter, it was slippery. In January, it’s more slippery. And it’s pretty relentless up-and-down stuff. The downs in particular are awkward; you can’t easily use them to regenerate, as their awkwardness means you’re usually having to break, and thus pummel your quads, which you know you’ll pay for later. 

Marazion to Mousehole (via Penzance) is flat and easy, a nice period to recover & pile on the miles.  But Mousehole to Land’s End is extremely technical.  It’s only runnable in very short bursts.  It was tough in the Classic Quarter, and it’s tougher in the Arc when it’s at night.  In places, one’s foot and entire lower leg disappear into mud. When the shining lights of Land’s End Hotel rise like the sun over the crest of the hills, they act like a beacon of hope in the loneliness of the mizzley night.  At this point, my shoes were full of water, mud, sand, and stones; so my drop bag, and fresh pair of shoes and socks, at Land’s End made the world of difference. 

Pendeen to St Ives is a borderline ridiculous race section.  There’s about 20km of night-time rock-hopping, mud-wading, clambering, scrambling, slipping and sliding.  In places, my knees were swallowed up by the mud. Progress was painfully slow. Meanwhile, time ticks away. 

Arriving into St Ives was a huge relief, where I did my best to dust the worst of the debris from my socks (a lost cause), before getting back to the job of polishing off the last 35km.  An easier section; initially road, then back to the coastal path, interrupted by the infamous “Dunes of Doom”, before I finally focussed back on my finishing time and place, and began to rein in those ahead of me.  I must have gained 5-10 places in the final 10km. 

The finish through Porthtowan, ending with a brilliant hill climb up to the Eco Park, was a thoroughly enjoyable end to what was an extremely tough race.  I got a gold buckle for a sub-30 hour finish, which I’ll take with pleasure.  It was a race I was simply happy to finish uninjured. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my two pairs of socks:  I fear they are both ‘beyond economical repair’. 

I finished in 28:12:31, putting me around 31st place.” 

Parkrun Highlights 29th January. 

Late January and it was amazingly mild and sunny for the 227th Stevenage parkrun.  Many runners were in shorts and running vests without the extra layers that might be expected at this time of the year.  326 finishers this time including 24 Spartans. 

Altogether thirty-nine Fairlands Valley Spartans ran at Parkrun events around England. 

PB times were recorded at the Westmill course for Danny SCANLON. Danny completed the event in 21 minutes and 36 seconds, finishing sixth overall. 

Also hitting milestones were both MATT CLARKE and TONY RANDFIELD who ran in Stevenage.  Here they completed their 80th and 90th Parkruns respectively, in times of 26 minutes and 47 seconds and 21 minutes and 6 seconds.  MIKE REYNOLDS also hit 80 runs with a time of 26 minutes and 8 seconds at the Panshanger event. 

GRANT RAMSAY was fourth overall in Stevenage in a time of 19 minutes and 15 seconds. 

The next stripy Saturday will be this Saturday 5th February. 

Tables 

Spartans at parkruns Saturday 29th January 

Parkrun Position Gender Position Parkrunner Time 
Stevenage (24 Spartans) Grant RAMSAY 00:19:15 
  14 14 Tony RANDFIELD 00:21:06 
  17 17 Martin BLACKBURN 00:21:31 
  56 48 Martin DUDLEY 00:24:18 
  63 54 Graham BLACKBURN 00:24:43 
  95 76 Danik BATES 00:26:12 
  98 79 David PATTMAN 00:26:19 
  110 88 Matt CLARKE 00:26:47 
  131 102 Nick KLEANTHOUS 00:27:32 
  147 31 Debbie BLANTERN 00:28:28 
  165 125 Jim BROWN 00:29:12 
  167 127 Karl SHREEVE 00:29:17 
  228 70 Chloe CHAPMAN 00:32:39 
  229 71 Fiona CLARKE 00:32:39 
  233 74 Tracy HAYGARTH 00:33:04 
  281 105 Mo WARRILLOW 00:36:30 
  282 160 Steven DOBNER 00:36:30 
  309 123 Bonnie BRAZIL 00:40:40 
  323 172 Roger BIGGS 00:51:54 
  325 132 Helen HARRIS 00:55:04 
          
Westmill Danny SCANLON 00:21:36 
  32 29 Andy JAY 00:26:41 
          
Dulwich 13 13 Jonathan PARR 00:16:27 
          
Panshanger 72 64 Mike REYNOLDS 00:26:08 
          
Letchworth 15 13 Nick GILL 00:26:08 
          
Kingdom (Penshurst) 82 55 Michael O’KEEFE 00:50:52 
          
Henlow Bridge 14 11 John NELMS 00:22:32 
          
Southall 99 67 Darryl STEVENS 00:38:16 
Categories
Club News Race Results

ABI WINS AT FRED HUGHES

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). 

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 + 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 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 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     
Grant RAMSAY 19:24   
78 72 Lee PICKERSGILL 24:22 70th 
79 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 Nick GILL 22:40   
32 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 
Danny SCANLON 22:01   
Market Harborough parkrun         
Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time     
117 86 Anton MCCALLA 27:47 First parkrun in 2022 

  

Categories
Club News Race Results

SPARTANS IN CASSIOBURY

Fairlands Valley Spartan JONATHAN PARR was in the top ten for a cross country race for the second week in a row.  Last week he was eighth in the county championships.  This time he was seventh in the cross country league fixture in Cassiobury Park, Watford covering the six undulating miles in 36 minutes 12 seconds. 

The club had a good turnout of 24 men and 18 women in the race of nineteen clubs and 405 runners.  That meant they had three men’s and three women’s teams finish the race.  League teams consist of eight men and five women. 

Their fastest woman was CHRIS LATHWELL, 45th overall in 40 minutes 22 seconds.  She was fifth woman out of 169.  Next came SUZY HAWKINS, 124th in 45:17 and TRACEY JACKSON, 186th in 49:31.  YUKO GORDON was 198th in 50:12 and HAZEL SMITH fifth counter for the women’s “A” team in 225th with 51:57.  This time the Spartans had five women in the top fifty female runners. 

In addition to Jonathan Parr the Spartan men had a strong team this time with ADRIAN BUSOLINI 17th in 37:58; KELVIN BEYOKU 39th in 39:47; GRANT RAMSAY 61st in 41:48; STEVE WELLS 104th in 44:10; DANNY SCANLON 106th in 44:17; STUART ARCHER 121st in 45:13 and NICK GILL in 46:48. 

(All 42 Spartan times are near the end of this release.  The team scores will be released by the league later this week). 

Parkrun report for 15th January 

34 Spartans took part across nine different parkuns including the Spartans’ homebase of Stevenage. 

Grant and Ashley both clocking fantastic times!

Numbers at Stevenage were still high with 27 Spartans contributing to a new post lockdown record of 353 people taking part.  GRANT RAMSAY was fifth overall in 19 minutes 13 seconds; ASHLEY JOHNSON was second woman and got a new parkrun personal best (PB) of 21:48 as did NICOLA ANDERSSON with 26:34.  MO WARRILLOW was absent from her marshal position of “Mo’s corner” as she was running her second parkrun after returning from injury.  She finished in 46:52 which was great after such a long absence from running.  JIM BROWN reached an unofficial milestone of 70 parkruns.  

It may of been damp and foggy but the weather doesn’t put the Spartans off from what they do best!

MARTIN WOOD was a “first timer” in Sheffield at Endcliffe parkrun (22:53) for his 15th parkrun.  Another first timer, CATHY CRAIG joined a large field of 546 runners at Bournemouth parkrun (31:04).  Cathy said, “I was second in the WV65 age group with a time of 31:04.  Due to temporary works on the path, the course had been changed this week to a mainly off road one which had teething problems – a long bottleneck after half a mile.  They are likely to reroute again to avoid this problem.” 

Smiles all round at Stevenage Parkrun.

DARRYL STEVENS was “tail walker” at Brockenhurst (47:09).  MIKE REYNOLDS was at Panshanger (29:37); JOHN HARRIS was fifth at Letchworth (22:41),   

Fred for the Championship 

Fairlands Valley Spartans will be sending mens and womens teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans this Sunday.  Veterans start at age 35 with category breaks every ten years.  The championships are incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race. 

Tables 

All 42 Spartans at the cross country league race in Watford on Sunday 16th January. 

Position Name Official Time Gender / Cat Comments 
JONATHAN PARR 36:12 MS MA 
17 ADRIAN BUSOLINI 37:58 MS MA 
39 KELVIN BEYOKU 39:47 MS MA 
45 CHRIS LATHWELL 40:22 W45 FA.  5th woman. 
61 GRANT RAMSAY 41:48 M40 MA 
104 STEVE WELLS 44:10 M50 MA 
106 DANNY SCANLON 44:17 M40 MA 
121 STUART ARCHER 45:13 MS MA 
124 SUZY HAWKINS 45:17 W45 FA..18th woman. 
141 NICK GILL 46:48 MS MA 
142 WILLIAM MORLEY 46:57 MS MB 
182 MARTIN WOOD 49:14 M50 MB 
186 TRACEY JACKSON 49:31 W45 FA.  34th woman. 
198 YUKO GORDON 50:12 W65 FA.  41st woman. 
216 DAVID KENNEDY 51:25 MS MB 
218 MARK GOODWIN 51:31 M60 MB 
225 HAZEL SMITH 51:57 W45 FA.  49th woman. 
228 DANIEL BATES 52:16 MS MB 
232 MATT CLARKE 52:29 M40 MB. 
254 LUKE GURNEY 54:00 MS MB 
261 DARREN EMMERSON 54:23 M50 MB 
293 TIM ROBINSON 56:34 M50 MC 
304 NICK KLEANTHOUS 57:15 M50 MC 
306 CAROLE SHELDRICK 57:22 W45 FB 
307 MARK FREEMAN 57:35 M60 MC 
319 WENDY THARANI 58:27 W45 FB 
330 FIONA CLARKE 60:05 W35 FB 
337 NICOLA ANDERSSON 61:14 W45 FB 
359 MARIAN MORLEY 64:33 W55 FB 
360 JIM BROWN 64:36 M60 MC 
361 JENNY GARRETT 65:20 W45 FC 
362 VICKY ARCHER 65:20 W35 FC 
371 KEN JUDE 66:21 M50 MC 
374 JONATHAN JONES 66:59 M50 MC 
380 SHARON CROWLEY 68:38 W55 FC 
381 JAMES KILROY 68:52 M40 MC 
384 PAUL HOLGATE 69:29 M60 MC 
392 CHRISTINE ZVEREV 73:03 W35 FC 
393 SHERYL HANN 73:04 W55 FC 
395 MONICA SMITHSON 73:25 W55  
398 CALLIE CHAPMAN 74:24 W35  
403 NICOLA HATHERLY 78:41 W45  

24 Spartan men.  18 Spartan women.  405 finishers.  169 women.  FA means women’s (female) “A” team and so on. 

Fairlands Valley Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun 

A total of 353 runners took part.  27 Spartans. 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
Grant RAMSAY 19:13 
26 Ashley JOHNSON 21:48 
37 32 Tony RANDFIELD 22:48 
66 60 Martin DUDLEY 24:28 
80 72 Nigel STRONGITHARM 25:02 
81 73 Lee PICKERSGILL 25:03 
82 Grace COVENTRY 25:05 
96 84 Vishal SHAH 25:44 
115 Nicola ANDERSSON 26:34 
130 14 Ann TRYSSESOONE 27:06 
134 111 Matt CLARKE 27:09 
139 114 David PATTMAN 27:14 
144 119 Tim ROBINSON 27:22 
150 121 Nick KLEANTHOUS 27:35 
161 131 Jim BROWN 28:02 
188 35 Fiona CLARKE 29:19 
206 40 Chloe CHAPMAN 30:08 
207 156 Karl SHREEVE 30:12 
213 45 Charlotte KEARNEY 30:48 
215 159 Stephen SMITHSON 31:02 
222 48 Caroline CROFT 31:29 
226 51 Tracy HAYGARTH 31:39 
281 83 Bonnie BRAZIL 35:38 
336 121 Mo WARRILLOW 46:52 
337 199 Steven DOBNER 46:52 
    
345 202 Roger BIGGS 49:07 
Categories
Club News Race Results

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Spartan JONATHAN PARR was a top ten finisher in Sunday’s Hertfordshire County Cross Country Championships for seniors (aged 20 and over).  Fifteen Fairlands Valley Spartans tackled the championships which were at Stanborough Park, Welwyn Garden City.   

Our County Men’s runners looking fresh before the race.

The county championships are a real step up in standard and this was a chance for Spartans to test themselves against many of the best in Hertfordshire. 

First the women went on an eight kilometres (about five miles) course.  NICOLA ANDERSSON was the fastest female from Fairlands with 43 minutes 38 seconds and in 53rd place.  Next came LINDA NOLAN 67th in 51:45.  SHARON CROWLEY came in 71st with 55:23; CATHY CRAIG 73rd with 57:23 and NIKKI NATION 74th in 60:43.  Women’s teams consisted of the four fastest runners. 

Our county lady runners having fun!

The men raced 11.25 kilometres (about seven miles) over five full laps.  Jonathan Parr came in eighth in 46 minutes 48 seconds.  Six men counted towards the team championships.  Despite missing some of their faster runners the Spartans men’s team were 13th

PAUL HEWETT was 58th in 53:45 and STUART ARCHER 69th in 55:16.  The other “counters” were JOHN HARRIS 90th in 58:57; MARK WILLIAMS 99th in 60:13 and MARTIN WOOD 111th in 63:25.  There were 127 finishers. 

A selection of the stripy men in action!

(Result tables towards the end of this release). 

There’s another opportunity to try cross country this weekend.  The league race at Watford on Sunday morning 16th January. 

Victoria Park Half 

Both GERRY ROSEN and ROB WRIGHT competed in the Victoria Park Half Marathon on Sunday.  Gerry said it wasn’t pretty. Rob helped get him round after a non existent few weeks running.  They both finished in 2 hours 39 minutes 26 seconds. 

Tony at the Essex Run Fest 

New member TONY RANDFIELD ran the 5K at the Essex Runfest at Carver Barracks, Debden near Saffron Walden.  He was fourth on chip time with 21 minutes 50 seconds and first in the men 60 plus category.  There were 27 finishers.  Tony said icy conditions prevented a really fast time but it is a flattish and fast course normally. 

Parkrun report for 8th January 

In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, two Spartans get a top ten place finish at Stevenage – GRANT RAMSAY fifth in 19 minutes 35 seconds and DANNY SCANLON 10th in 20:10.  ASHLEY JOHNSON was third woman at Stevenage in a course PB (personal best) of 22:06.  STEVE WELLS just missed out on a sub-20 minute time at Poole.  

A few Spartans enjoying a damp Parkrun!

Stevenage Parkrun Results where 326 runners including 31 Spartans took part.   GRANT RAMSAY 19 minutes 35 seconds (5th), DANNY SCANLON 20-10 (10th), ASHLEY JOHNSON 22-06 (32nd and third female finisher, plus course PB), TONY RANDFIELD 22-52 (38th), SAM SIMMONS 24-13 (60th), HAZEL SMITH 24-14 (61st, 5th female and 1st in her age category), MARTIN DUDLEY 24-30 (70th), DARREN EMMERSON 24-40 (72nd), MARIAN MORLEY 26-23 (106th and course PB), NICK KLEANTHOUS 26-39 (111th), MATT CLARKE 26-55 (114th), LEE PICKERSGILL 27-21 (124th), NICOLA ANDERSSON 28-18 (138th), DEBBIE BLANTERN 28-46 (154th), GRACE COVENTRY 29-00 (167th), SUSAN MCANENY 29-08 (168th), ZOE JACKSON 29-08 (169th), JIM BROWN 29-30 (175th), MIKE REYNOLDS 29-32 (176th), CLAIRE EMMERSON 31-08 (212nd), DAVID SCOTT 31-08 (213th), CAROLE SHELDRICK 31-43 (224th), CAROLINE CROFT 31-46 (226th), CHARLOTTE KEARNEY 32-42 (240th), PAUL JENNINGS 32-59 (243rd), CALLIE CHAPMAN 34-11 (255th), MO WARRILLOW 39-39 (302nd), STEVEN DOBNER 48-48 (322nd), DAVID PATTMAN 48-48 (323rd) and ROGER BIGGS 49-42 (324th). 

Smiles and concentration all the way for the Spartans – was good to see some returning for the first time since injury.

Away days:  

Poole (Dorset): STEVE WELLS 20-08 (26th out of 508 runners).  Brockenhurst (Hampshire): DARRYL STEVENS 46-56 (124th out of 124th runners).    

Tables 

Hertfordshire Cross Country Championships 

Women (8 kilometres – 5 miles).  Teams of four. 

Position BiB Name Unofficial Time 
53 621 NICOLA ANDERSSON 43:38 
67 626 LINDA NOLAN 51:45 
71 623 SHARON CROWLEY 55:23 
73 622 CATHY CRAIG 57:23 
74 625 NIKKI NATION 60:43 

74 finishers 

Men (11.25 kilometres – 7 miles).  Teams of six. 

Position BiB Name Unofficial Time 
448 JON PARR 46:48 
58 444 PAUL HEWETT 53:45 
69 439 STUART ARCHER 55:16 
90 443 JOHN HARRIS 58:57 
99 454 MARK WILLIAMS 60:13 
111 455 MARTIN WOOD 63:25 
112 451 TOM SAUKA 64:08 
125 450 TIM ROBINSON 73:35 
126 446 ANDY JAY 73:54 
127 450 JONATHAN JONES 74:46 

127 finishers.  13th team. 

Categories
Club News Race Results

RUNNING INTO 2022

Four Fairlands Valley Spartans took on the New Year’s Eve 10K race at Peterborough.  A congested start and muddy course slowed times but STEVE WELLS was second male 60 plus and 60th overall in 41 minutes 40 seconds; JOHN HARRIS 97th and fourth male 55 plus in 44:15; MARIA SWIFT 439th overall in 58:22 and PAUL HOLGATE 670th in 1:06:00. 

There were 875 finishers.  John Harris ran 2001 miles in the year 2021. 

Steve crossing the finishing line!

Parkrun Highlights on New Year’s Day 1st January 2022 

New Year’s Day 2022 and a lovely morning brought forty-five Fairlands Valley Spartans out to the first Parkrun events of the year. 

JONATHAN PARR was first overall to finish the Stevenage course in a time of 16 minutes and 59 seconds, closely followed by GRANT RAMSAY and DANNY SCANLON with times of 19 minutes and 41 seconds and 20 minutes 8 seconds respectively.  ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER was the second female at the event in 21 minutes and 39 seconds, and YUKO GORDON third woman in 23 minutes and 33 seconds. 

Parkrun winner Jonathan!

Yuko won her age category as did CATHY CRAIG with her 34 minutes 16 seconds and JIM BROWN with his careful return to racing 29 minutes 56 seconds. 

A few of our Spartan parkrunners

The 39 Spartans at Stevenage contributed to a post lockdown record of 351 parkrunners in Fairlands Valley Park. 

Festive holidays meant a first time visit to Thetford for JAMES MCSWEENEY who completed the run in 25 minutes and 50 seconds, and to Haverhill for BARRY OSBORNE who ran the course in 25 minutes and 57 seconds. 

The first Saturday of the month meant that the club stripes were out in force!

(Parkrun times for all 45 Spartans can be found near the end of this release). 

Flitch Way for Tim 

On New Year’s Eve TIM ROBINSON took part in the Flitch Way Marathon.  The trail Marathon followed the Flitch Way from Felsted Eastwards to Rayne, then west as far as Takeley Street and back to Felsted.  Following a lot of rain the old railway track was extremely boggy in parts, particularly miles 13 to 20.  Although the warmest New Year’s Eve on record meant less layers the track seems flat but rises and falls continuously and is very wearing on the legs.  Tim finished in 43rd place with a time of 5:25:07. 

Tim looking as fresh as a daisy after his marathon!

Magnificent Seven Spartans Complete the Coasts and Borders 

By the deadline of 31st December seven Spartans had completed the virtual challenge to run the coasts and borders of England, a total of 2,970 kilometres “starting” and “finishing” in Bristol. 

They were PENNY SCHENKEL who finished in a moving time of 170 hours 51 minutes 5 seconds; JIM BROWN; BRIAN WHITE; PAUL HOLGATE; CATHY CRAIG: LIZ CROWLEY and SHARON CROWLEY. 

This was one of the virtual events that kept Spartans going during the pandemic restrictions. 

The Spartans of the Month for December were VICKY ARCHER and HAZEL SMITH.  Vicky, FVS Vice-Chair, for all her work on Spartan social media and Hazel for encouraging so many people during training sessions and at cross country. 

Tables 

Spartans at parkruns on New Year’s Day: 

Parkrun Position Gender Position Parkrunner Time 
Stevenage Jonathan PARR 00:16:59 
  Grant RAMSAY 00:19:41 
  Danny SCANLON 00:20:08 
  25 Ashley SCHOENWETTER 00:21:39 
  28 25 Thomas SAUKA 00:22:10 
  34 30 Sam SIMMONS 00:22:58 
  43 Yuko GORDON 00:23:23 
  58 50 Nigel STRONGITHARM 00:24:15 
  60 52 Martin DUDLEY 00:24:26 
  67 59 Darren EMMERSON 00:24:53 
  85 69 Danik BATES 00:25:30 
  119 22 Ann TRYSSESOONE 00:27:00 
  134 27 Nikki WILBY 00:27:31 
  138 105 Vishal SHAH 00:27:38 
  156 115 Nick KLEANTHOUS 00:28:39 
  174 46 Fiona CLARKE 00:29:40 
  175 122 Matt CLARKE 00:29:41 
  177 47 Andrea WESTCOTT 00:29:44 
  178 124 Jonathan JONES 00:29:45 
  179 48 Debbie BLANTERN 00:29:46 
  185 127 Jim BROWN 00:29:56 
  187 52 Nicola ANDERSSON 00:30:10 
  193 132 James SOUTH 00:30:20 
  197 57 Chloe CHAPMAN 00:30:24 
  198 134 Tim ROBINSON 00:30:27 
  202 60 Hazel SMITH 00:30:39 
  203 61 Claire EMMERSON 00:30:41 
  204 62 Jenny GARRETT 00:30:42 
  229 75 Harriet PACE 00:31:51 
  233 148 Paul HOLGATE 00:32:12 
  238 151 Paul JENNINGS 00:32:40 
  242 83 Monica SMITHSON 00:33:07 
  243 153 Stephen SMITHSON 00:33:12 
  258 94 Karen PALMER 00:33:54 
  265 98 Catherine CRAIG 00:34:16 
  266 99 Sharon CROWLEY 00:34:18 
  337 146 Helen HARRIS 00:44:49 
  348 185 Roger BIGGS 00:49:42 
  349 186 Steven DOBNER 00:49:53 
          
Houghton Hall 84 57 Michael O’KEEFE 00:30:50 
     
Lymington Woodside 128 76 Darryl STEVENS 00:42:03 
          
Thetford 16 12 James MCSWEENEY 00:24:50 
          
Haverhill Barry OSBORNE 00:25:57 
          
Teignmouth Promenade  50 41 Andy JAY 00:24:03 
          
Hunstanton Promenade 10 Nicola KENNEDY 00:22:30 
Categories
Club News Race Results

MOVING UP AT CROSS COUNTRY

It was a murky and misty morning on Sunday but that didn’t stop more than 400 people enjoying five miles of cross country running around Fairlands Valley Park in a race organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans. 

Increased participation by club members between races one and two in the Sunday cross country league lifted Fairlands Valley Spartans from tenth to seventh out of the 19 clubs taking part.  Then on Sunday at the third race, in Stevenage, there was a season’s record of 45 Spartans finishing the race and dozens of others helping. 

With well over 400 finishers it was easily the biggest turnout so far in this season’s league as well the biggest for the Spartans. 

Stripes in the mist.

This time there were three Spartans in the top ten – ANDREW PATTERSON fourth in 27 minutes 32 seconds; SIMON JACKSON ninth in 28 minutes 29 seconds and JONATHAN PARR tenth in 28:36.  Their eighth counter for the men’s “A” team was only just outside the top one hundred. 

The Fairlands women put in a good performance with YUKO GORDON 210th overall (women and men) at 38 minutes 17 seconds; TRACEY JACKSON 218th at 38:21; ANNABELLE WHITE 249th at 39:35; TRACEY PEZ 284th at 41:12 and ZOE JACKSON completing the women’s “A” team of five in 300th at 42:26. 

Spartans in action!

A good women’s “B” team is coming together as there was CAROLE SHELDRICK at 43:38; FIONA CLARKE at 45:00; NICOLA ANDERSSON at 45:40; and MARIAN MORLEY at 45:44.  Others were helping with the event. 

The other counters in the men’s “A” team were CHARLIE WHITE 46th at 30:54; KELVIN BEYOKU 57th at 31:40; STUART ARCHER 70th at 32:27; STEVE WELLS 99th at 33:23 and DANNY SCANLON 104th at 33:33. 

Happy stripy runners having fun!

Not everyone can be in the “A” team but the way the league works having a good turnout means many Spartan runners can push other clubs back by getting in front of their slower “A” runners. 

With the start and finish near the showground the eight kilometre race consisted of three laps of the southern part of Fairlands Valley Park.  Not the liquid mud of the previous week but by hugging the park boundary runners found some tough climbs to test them. 

It was good to welcome some new members trying their first cross country.  A great event organised by race director WENDY THARANI and a good team of volunteers.  

Our fantastic race director Wendy and her megaphone!

(All the Spartan finishers can be found in a table near the end of this release). 

It’s unfortunate there is a delay waiting for the team results to be published but at Trent Park the combined Spartans jumped from tenth to seventh and their women from twelfth to eleventh (though only two points off tenth) while the men leapt from tenth to fifth.  Let’s see what Sunday’s results bring and what the club can do at the next league fixture which will be in Watford on Sunday 16th January. 

The county cross country championships are in Welwyn Garden City on 9th January. 

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 18th December 2021 

It was a relatively quiet week for Spartans at Saturday’s parkrun the day before the cross country league race and as we approach Christmas and the end of 2021.   

DARRYL STEVENS was a first timer at Bath Skyline parkrun (with a challenging uphill flight of 37 steps to negotiate!) in his 177th parkrun which he finished in 39:05.  PAUL MAGUIRE was another first timer, this time at Exmouth parkrun completing the course in 26:01. 

ED HARE was at his “home” parkrun of Lee-on-the Solent finished in 23:07.  Just one Spartan representing FVS at Panshanger: MIKE REYNOLDS clocking 26:28. 

Stevenage parkrun (14 Spartans; 221 runners) 

There were 14 Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun.  GRANT RAMSAY won a top ten place at sixth, and fifth man, with 20 minutes 33 seconds.

A selection of our Stevenage Parkrunners

  The others were: 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
30 27 Sam SIMMONS 00:23:37 
38 34 Martin DUDLEY 00:24:17 
54 47 Nick KLEANTHOUS 00:25:37 
94 77 Matt CLARKE 00:28:11 
101 13 Fiona CLARKE 00:28:37 
103 14 Nicola ANDERSSON 00:28:46 
131 29 Debbie BLANTERN 00:30:13 
159 41 Chloe CHAPMAN 00:32:19 
160 42 Vicky ARCHER 00:32:19 
170 49 Tracy HAYGARTH 00:32:59 
171 112 Stephen SMITHSON 00:33:15 
218 77 Helen HARRIS 00:49:28 
220 131 Roger BIGGS 00:58:59 

MIKE REYNOLDS ran the Panshanger parkrun in 26 minutes 28 seconds.  He was 80th out of the 210 finishers. 

There will be parkruns on Christmas Day including Stevenage.  No doubt there will be a good turnout of Santas, elves, reindeers…… 

Tables  

All 45 Spartan finishers at the Stevenage cross country (19th December): 

Position Name Est. Time Gender Category Team 
ANDREW PATTERSON 27:32 40 MA 
SIMON JACKSON 28:29 40 MA 
10 JONATHAN PARR 28:36 MA 
46 CHARLIE WHITE 30:54 MA 
57 KELVIN BEYOKU 31:40 MA 
70 STUART ARCHER 32:27 MA 
99 STEVE WELLS (33:23) 50 MA 
104 DANNY SCANLON 33:33 40 MA 
142 MARK COLLINS 35:29 40 MB 
146 JOHN HARRIS 35:27 50 MB 
150 PETE SMITH 35:35 50 MB 
164 THOMAS SAUKA 36:32 40 MB 
186 STEVE MAYFIELD 37:25 50 MB 
201 MARTIN WOOD (37:59) 50 MB 
210 YUKO GORDON 38:17 65 FA 
218 TRACEY JACKSON 38:21 45 FA 
226 CRAIG BACON 38:53 50 MB 
236 MARK GOODWIN 39:12 60 MB 
249 ANNABELLE WHITE 39:35 FA 
273 MATT CLARKE 40:47 40 MC 
276 TIM ROBINSON 41:02 50 MC 
280 LUKE GURNEY 41:02 MC 
284 TRACEY PEZ 41:12 45 FA 
291 DAVID KENNEDY 40:57 MC 
300 ZOE JACKSON (42:26) 35 FA 
301 DARREN EMMERSON 42:28 50 MC 
306 ANDY JAY 42:33 50 MC 
319 CAROLE SHELDRICK 43:38 45 FB 
325 JON SYPULA 43:59 40 MC 
326 MARK FREEMAN 43:30 60 MC 
335 NICK KLEANTHOUS 44:47 50  
338 FIONA CLARKE 45:00 35 FB 
345 MARIAN MORLEY 45:44 55 FB 
346 NICOLA ANDERSSON 45:40 45 FB 
360 SIMON SYPULA 47:03 40  
368 ROGER HARDMAN 47:47 70  
382 MICHAEL O’KEEFE 49:42 50  
396 CATHY CRAIG 52:08 65 FB 
399 SHARON CROWLEY (52:58) 55 FC 
400 PAUL HOLGATE 53:07 60 FC 
411 JENNY GARRETT 55:51 45 FC 
412 CALLIE CHAPMAN 56:00 35 FC 
418 CHRISTINE ZVEREV 57:01 35 FC 
419 HAZEL SMITH 57:01 45  
420 CLAIRE EMMERSON 57:01 45  

16 women and 29 men. 

All 37 Spartans at the Trent Park cross country (12th December): 

Position Name Official Time Gender Category Team 
16 SIMON JACKSON 28:24 40 MA 
25 JONATHAN PARR 29:19 MA 
26 ADRIAN BUSOLINI 29:28 MA 
52 KELVIN BEYOKU 31:22 MA 
54 PAUL HEWETT 31:25 MA 
74 CHRIS LATHWELL 32:08 45 FA 
79 STUART ARCHER 32:29 MA 
88 STEVE WELLS 33:08 60 MA 
123 DANNY SCANLON 34:33 40 MA 
138 PETE SMITH 35:16 50 MB 
142 THOMAS SAUKA 35:32 40 MB 
150 JOHN HARRIS 35:47 50 MB 
203 TRACEY JACKSON 38:10 45 FA 
206 YUKO GORDON 38:14 65 FA 
255 MATT CLARKE 41:16 40 MB 
266 LUKE GURNEY 41:31 MB 
292 ANDY JAY 43:27 50 MB 
298 TIM ROBINSON 44:30 50 MB 
306 WENDY THARANI 45:19 45 FA 
320 FIONA CLARKE 46:08 35 FA 
329 NICK KLEANTHOUS 46:56 50 MB 
338 MARK FREEMAN 47:47 60  
339 CHLOE CHAPMAN 47:49 FB 
340 VICKY ARCHER 47:49 35 FB 
357 MARIAN MORLEY 49:53 55 FB 
358 TAHER THARANI 50:04 50  
366 JIM BROWN 51:11 60  
371 LIZ CROWLEY 52:40 FB 
375 MICHAEL O’KEEFE 53:45 50  
381 SHARON CROWLEY 56:00 55 FB 
385 JONATHAN JONES 56:29 50  
386 CATHY CRAIG 56:33 65 FC 
389 JUDY KING 57:55 55 FC 
390 MONICA SMITHSON 58:48 55 FC 
391 JANE WHITROW 59:26 55 FC 
396 SALLY PHILLIPS 1:02:39 55 FC 
397 STEPH BIGGAR 1:02:50 35  

Spartan men fifth out of 19. 

Categories
Club News Race Results

TWO WINS FOR FAIRLANDS

Spartan SIMON JACKSON won the Festive Five road race at Welwyn Garden City on Sunday morning.  He took just 27 minutes 56 minutes, a new personal best, to get round the tricky two lap course and finished nine seconds ahead of his nearest rival. 

Simon Jackson at the Festive 5

Next in was JOHN HARRIS at 23rd with 35:05. 

NICK KLEANTHOUS was one of many in fancy dress.  He said it was a very well organised event with great marshalling.  He finished in 43:47, that’s just over three minutes faster than last time, then enjoyed a lovely cake stall at end and the a box of chocolates handed out at the finish line. 

ANDY JAY was delighted to maintain an average of eight minutes per mile and finished 45th with 39 minutes 54 seconds. 

The fastest female from Fairlands was HAZEL SMITH in 42 minutes 20 seconds.  ERICA GRAYSON and SUE HAMER went round in 48:25 and 48:30.  Then there was a little Spartan procession of three with CATHY CRAIG in 50:40; PENNY SCHENKEL smiling in 50:50 and JIM BROWN in 50:51.  Soon along came JONATHAN JONES in 51:54 and DZENANA TOPIC in 51:56.  Twelve Spartans ran the event. 

Nick, Hazel and Andy looking pleased with their winning choclates!

Pretty miserable and damp on the way to the start but the rain held off during the race itself and only started again on the way home. 

(The full result for all twelve Spartans is near the end of this release). 

Andrew Wins At Goodwood 

Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON raced and WON the Goodwood Marathon on Sunday.  It consisted of a short out and back followed by 11 laps of the motor racing circuit.  

The wind was 18mph, whilst it was Glorious Goodwood with it behind him, the cross winds and facing the wind was tough going. The first nine laps were consistent at 13:59 to 14 minutes 12 seconds. But the last couple of laps were a slog.  He could feel his legs cramping so it wasn’t until the final mile that he knew he would finish with a new personal best (PB).  

The first half Andrew was in fourth place, but in the second half he moved up on to the podium and on the penultimate lap moved in to first.  He took the race victory in 2 hours 37 minutes 26 seconds (2:37:26) beating his previous best marathon time by 4 minutes 20 seconds. 

It was a great end to the race year for Andrew with PBs at 1500, 3000, 5K, 10K, 10 miles, half and marathon.  He won the Stevenage Half Marathon two weeks ago. 

Triumphant Andrew after his big win!

Yuko In Spain 

YUKO GORDON ran the Valencia marathon.  The course was flat, nice and warm but windier later in the morning.  She managed an amazing time of 3:29:02. 

Yuko had to run under 3 hours 48 minutes to claim the points she needed to qualify for next year’s Age Group World Championships, so she’s OK with 3:29.  Yuko says she will rest from marathons till next spring, hopefully have a good rest from the distance and back to basic conditioning over this winter.  

Three Canta With Santa 

JOHN HARRIS and deer friend took part in the Santa Canta 5K in Letchworth and ran it in 26:06. 

John and his friend Rudolph!

CAROLE SHELDRICK and new FVS member DAVID KENNEDY also enjoyed some festive fun at the NHRR Santa Canta 5K.  David ran as a Christmas cowboy with a time of 25:56 and Carole as a Christmas Elf with a time of 33:25. 

They said it was such a fun event and topped off with a medal and mince pie to finish. 

Spartans getting into the festive spirit!

Running in the Chapel 

A bit earlier than some years due to running calendar complications but many other Spartans enjoyed a festive Sunday trail run to Minsden Chapel.  There were three choices of distance – 11 miles; 8 miles or 4.5 miles. 

The annual Spartans ‘bench shot’ whilst running Minsden Chapel.

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 4th December 2021 

As we head towards the end of another year, the first Saturday of December saw twenty-four Fairlands Valley Spartans head out to represent the club at Parkrun events. 

New personal best times were set by two runners on the Stevenage course.  ASHLEY JOHNSON finished as the first female, at only her third Parkrun, with a new parkrun personal best (PPB) time of 22 minutes and 22 seconds; and CHLOE CHAPMAN was the 12th female to complete the run in her new PPB of 26 minutes and 39 seconds. 

Also in Stevenage, both MARK BEASLEY and KAREN PALMER edged ever closer to attending 100 events with their 99th runs in times of 28 minutes and 47 seconds and 34 minutes and 31 seconds respectively. 

Other milestone runs saw JAMES MCSWEENEY complete the Littleport parkrun and his 80th event in 24 minutes and 23 seconds; MIKE REYNOLDS finish his 75th Parkrun in 27 minutes and 58 seconds on the Endcliffe, Sheffield course; MICHAEL O’KEEFE ran at Houghton Hall in 28 minutes and 40 seconds to complete 125 events; and, DARRYL STEVENS reached his 175th run at Lancing Beach Green, West Sussex in 37 minutes and 14 seconds. 

(You can find all the Spartan parkrun times near the end of this release). 

Spartans Committee for 2021 / 2022 

Fairlands Valley Spartans held their Annual General Meeting on Tuesday.  There was a tremendous enthusiastic turnout at Stevenage Hockey and Cricket Club.  The club’s chair David Scott reported that the Spartans recovery from the Covid period was good with 48 new members in just the last few months. 

It was possible to organise a very successful Stevenage Half Marathon and the club’s five and ten mile handicap races.  Now the Spartans are looking forward to two cross country leagues races before Christmas including the one they are hosting in Stevenage on 19th December.  Then next year they are already planning for the return of the mid week 10K league; the 3K Relays in the Park; the off road challenge; the remaining fixtures in the 21/22 cross country league and they already have a date for the 2022 Stevenage Half Marathon – Sunday 6th November. 

Brian White, head coach, added that despite the interruptions caused by COVID Fairlands Valley Spartans still organised 384 free coached sessions between 1st January and 30th November 2021.  The Spartans train at 7p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays with up to five groups going out.  Then there is the Spartan Starter group on Mondays; track based sessions on Saturday mornings and longer steady runs (typically about 10K and 10 miles) from various locations on Sunday mornings.  Plus access to a host of events including county championships some of which are free and many where club membership brings a discount. 

The new Fairlands Valley Spartans committee is Chair David Scott; Vice Chair Vicky Archer; Secretary Wendy Tharani; Treasurer Andrew Patterson; Head Coach Brian White; Men’s Team Captain & Committee Mark Freeman; Ladies’ Team Captain & Committee Callie Chapman; Press Officer & Committee Jim Brown (0793 968 7509); Membership Secretary Debbie Blantern; President Sophie Cowan with the additional committee members Steffan Ford, Sue Hamer, Paul Holgate, Tim Robinson, Hazel Smith, Tessa Stephenson and Hannah Sypula. 

Tables 

Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.   

Spartans at the Festive Five 

Pos Name Cat Cat Pos Gen Pos Chip Time 
Simon JACKSON MV40 27:56 82.7% 
23 John HARRIS MV50 20 35:05 73.9% 
45 Andy JAY MV50 10 37 39:54 63.7% 
59 Hazel SMITH FV45 13 42:20 62.7% 
67 Nick KLEANTHOUS MV50 14 51 43:47 59.1% 
88 Erica GRAYSON FV45 28 48:25 57.4% 
90 Sue HAMER FV45 10 30 48:30 56.7% 
107 Catherine CRAIG FV55+ 44 50:40 68.7% 
108 Penny SCHENKEL FV45 19 45 50:50 54.7% 
109 Jim BROWN MV60+ 12 64 50:51 55.8% 
112 Jonathan JONES MV50 18 65 51:54 48.6% 
114 Dzenana TOPIC FV55+ 48 51:56 55.6% 

Spartans at parkruns on Saturday 4th December. 

  

Parkrun Position Gender Position Parkrunner Time  
Stevenage parkrun 25 Ashley JOHNSON 22:22 1st Fem. PPB 
 (18 Spartans) 27 24 Barry OSBORNE 22:46  
  33 30 Toby ECCLESHALL 22:59  
  42 37 Martin DUDLEY 24:16  
  48 42 Lee PICKERSGILL 24:43  
  87 12 Chloe CHAPMAN 26:39 PPB 
  88 70 Jim BROWN 26:42 1st Age 
  91 14 Gail MACKIE 26:57  
  101 18 Fiona CLARKE 27:11  
  119 87 Mark BEASLEY 28:47  
  121 88 Matt CLARKE 28:51 99th PR 
  132 32 Debbie BLANTERN 30:15  
  163 49 Sharon CROWLEY 32:12  
  168 109 Stephen SMITHSON 32:53  
  169 52 Judy KING 33:01  
  185 60 Karen PALMER 34:31 99th PR   
  227 84 Helen HARRIS 56:49  
  228 127 Roger BIGGS 58:04  
           
Endcliffe parkrun (Sheffield) 239 154 Mike REYNOLDS 27:58 75th PR  
           
Houghton Hall parkrun 60 49 Michael O’KEEFE 28:40  
           
Evesham parkrun 24 21 Nigel STRONGITHARM 24:37  
           
Letchworth parkrun Grant RAMSAY 20:22 2nd in race 
           
Littleport parkrun 16 15 James MCSWEENEY 24:23 80th PR  
           
Lancing Beach Green parkrun 62 34 Darryl STEVENS 37:14 175th PR  

(PPB = Parkrun personal best; 175th PR = 175th parkrun). 

Categories
Club News Race Results

SUNDAY BESTS FOR SPARTANS

21 Fairlands Valley Spartans competed in two races on Sunday.  Despite the cold three ran new personal bests (PB) and 16 ran new season’s bests (SB). 

Hatfield Five 

At the Hatfield Five which started and finished at the University of Hertfordshire’s College Lane site DAN HUKIN ran well under thirty minutes to finish 40th out of the 545 with 29 minutes 28 seconds.  MARK GOODWIN was well up in the men 60 plus category with 37 minutes 34 seconds and 209th overall. 

VISH SHAH was pleased how fast his race was and his 42:26 finish time. 

Image courtesy of ATW

PENNY SCHENKEL improved her season’s best time to 47:55; MONICA SMITHSON to 48:45; and SHARON CROWLEY to 55:55 but DZENANA TOPIC took the limelight with a brand new personal best of 53 minutes 4 seconds.  There were four Spartan women and four Spartan men. 

There were 545 finishers who also included JIM BROWN with 47:55. 

Image courtesy of ATW

Five mile races are quite rare these days but there will be another one in Welwyn Garden City this Sunday – the Festive Five. 

Bassingbourn Bass Belle 

Thirteen Spartans ran the Bass Belle Ten.  Two DARREN EMMERSON and JACKIE DOWNES ran new personal bests and ten others ran new season’s bests. 

GRANT RAMSAY was first finisher for the club with 67 minutes 25 seconds (SB).  He was 25th out of the 331 finishers.  YUKO GORDON was eighth women with 1:15:09 (SB). 

Darren Emmerson’s new personal best is 1 hour 22 minutes 51 seconds and Jackie Downe’s new PB stands at 1:27:20. 

HAZEL SMITH said, “It was bitterly cold with patches of ice.  I’m super pleased with my time as it was my first long run in a few weeks.   

KAREN ELLIS ran a season’s best (SB) of 1:28:53 and Hazel a SB of 1:28:54. 

1:43:52 was good enough for PAUL HOLGATE to beat his Ware Ten time by 19 seconds to set a new season’s best.  He said it was a bitterly cold bright day with lots of ice on the 1.5 miles off-road section so very pleased. 

The others with new season’s bests for ten miles were CLAIRE EMMERSON 1:36:22; CATHY CRAIG 1:44:19; ERICA GRAYSON 1:45:08; SUE HAMER also 1:45:08 and JONATHAN JONES 1:52:51. 

The 331 finishers also included JENNY GARRETT in 1:36:23. 

Warming up after a chilly run.

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 27th November 2021 

Storm Arwen caused havoc around the UK but it didn’t stop 19 Spartans completing their Parkruns.  All their parkrun milestones and best positions were achieved at Stevenage on Saturday. 

NIC PATTMAN and HARRIET PACE both achieved personal bests with 28:23 and 29:56 respectively.  SUZY HAWKINS was first lady in the race finishing with a time of 20:05.  

GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest of the 17 Spartans, completing in 19:14 and finishing third overall. 

GRACE COVENTRY finished in 25:02 and was 5th lady, achieving her best time this year (YB).  THOMAS SAUKA (21:26) and CAROLE SHELDRICK (27:20) also ran year’s bests. 

DEBBIE BLANTERN achieved an unofficial milestone of 70 Parkruns. 

MIKE REYNOLDS was the only Spartan at Panshanger this time.  He finished 43rd in 24:44. 

At the Kingdom Parkrun in Penshurst, Kent MICHAEL O’KEEFE was 48th in 31:52. 

Tables 

Spartans at the Hatfield Five (Sunday 28th): 

Pos Name Gun Chip Category Cat Pos Gender Gender Position Comments 
40 Dan HUKIN 29:33 29:28 Ages 40 – 49 Male 36 SB 
209 Mark GOODWIN 38:02 37:34 Ages 60 – 69 11 Male 160 SB 
304 Vishal SHAH 43:20 42:26 Ages 30 – 39 42 Male 213 SB 
408 Jim BROWN 49:25 47:55 Ages 60 – 69 24 Male 238  
409 Penny SCHENKEL 49:26 47:55 Ages 50 – 59 46 Female 162 SB 
417 Monica SMITHSON 49:52 48:45 Ages 50 – 59 48 Female 168 SB 
470 Dzenana TOPIC 54:22 53:04 Ages 50 – 59 65 Female 207 PB 
500 Sharon CROWLEY 57:27 55:55 Ages 60 – 69 22 Female 233 SB 

There were 545 finishers. 

Spartans at the Bass Belle 10 Sunday 28th November): 

Pos First Name Last Name Time Comments 
25 Grant Ramsay 1:07:25 SB 
57 Yuko Gordon 1:15:09 SB.  8th woman. 
114 Darren Emmerson 1:22:51 PB 
161 Jackie Downes 1:27:20 PB 
177 Karen Ellis 1:28:53 SB 
178 Hazel Smith 1:28:54 SB 
237 Claire Emmerson 1:36:22 SB 
238 Jenny Garrett 1:36:23 
267 Paul Holgate 1:43:52 SB 
283 Cathy Craig 1:44:19 SB 
285 Erica Grayson 1:45:08 SB 
286 Sue Hamer 1:45:08 SB 
314 Jonathan Jones 1:52:51 SB 

There were 331 finishers. 

Spartans at parkrun on Saturday 27th November 

Spartans (17) at Stevenage Parkrun 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time    
Grant RAMSAY 00:19:14  
Suzy HAWKINS 00:20:05  
13 12 Thomas SAUKA 00:21:26 YB 
24 22 Andrew MCGUINNESS 00:22:21  
39 36 Toby ECCLESHALL 00:23:27  
57 51 James MCSWEENEY 00:24:39  
63 Grace COVENTRY 00:25:02 YB 
74 63 Nick KLEANTHOUS 00:26:07  
88 14 Carole SHELDRICK 00:27:20 YB 
90 15 Gail MACKIE 00:27:35  
101 79 Sam SIMMONS 00:27:59  
102 20 Chloe CHAPMAN 00:28:00  
110 25 Nicola PATTMAN 00:28:23 PB 
123 30 Harriet PACE 00:29:56 PB 
128 34 Debbie BLANTERN 00:30:07 70th 
146 41 Caroline CROFT 00:31:23  
171 51 Hilary DAVIES 00:33:55  
Categories
Club News Race Results

GOLD AND SILVER FOR SPARTANS

Sunday’s Stevenage Half Marathon was a huge success and Fairlands Valley Spartans took first and second in the 13.1 miles races. 

Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON won the event overall in a new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 12 minutes 53 seconds and also took GOLD in the Hertfordshire County Championships.  SIMON JACKSON was second in 1 hour 15 minutes 48 seconds and took SILVER in the county champs.  Together with DAVID HARRIS CHERGUIT (PB 1:19:25) and STUART ARCHER (PB 1:26:27) they won GOLD in the County team competition and won the team contest in the race. 

Mens Gold County team winners!

The Spartans won GOLD in the county team competition with LIZ SMITH after a rapid acceleration in the last five miles finishing with 1 hour 53 minutes 59 seconds; ALISON SHELLEY (PB 1:57:22) and WENDY THARANI (1:57:50).  Three to count in the women’s competition. 

Our smiling Ladies Gold County team winners!

And Bronze for Women and Men 

Then there were County team BRONZE medals for the women’s team of ANN TRYSSESOONE (2:01:14), CHLOE CHAPMAN (improving her PB by more than nine minutes to 2:01:39) and KERSTIN WEINER (2:04:07) and the men’s team of GRANT RAMSEY (1:27:32); DANNY SCANLON (1:28:56); TONY RANDFIELD (1:33:34) and PAUL SHELLEY (1:36:57). 

Ladies Bronze County team winners!
Mens Bronze County team winners!

David Harris Cherguit was first man aged 40 plus in the race and Tony Randfield, running his first half as a Spartan, was first man aged 60 plus. 

The Spartans topped and tailed the event with a total of 38 runners.  Dozens more Spartans and their friends marshaled, rode lead and sweep bikes, provided water stations, supervised the shuttle buses and did the other jobs that made it a success. 

A handful of our wonderful marshals, chief marshal, lead bike and yummy cakes that were for sale (there were lots more!)

On a cold but mainly sunny morning the race started on Ridlins Athletics track then followed two equal laps on cycleway and footpaths via Gresley Way, Six Hills Way, Fairlands Valley Park north and south, football club, Broadhall Way to cross Woodcock Road and into the second lap before finishing on the track. 

This time there was a welcome tailwind in the south part of Fairlands Valley Park.  After a one year gap due to Covid it was back and it was great. 

There were several half marathon first timers including MIKE JEFFS (1:31:22); NICK KLEANTHOUS (1:57:45); CHRIS SAUNDERS (2:12:32); NICHOLA DURENT (3:16:32) and JUDY KING (3:18:39).  LEE PICKERGILL ran a new PB of 1:47:45; NIGEL STRONGITHARM ran a new PB of 1:48:08, and NICHOLA ANDERSSON a new PB of 2:04:48.  STEPH BIGGAR ran her first ever real race, everything else has been virtual, and finished in 3:16:32. 

TIM ROBINSON was aiming for sub 2 hours and managed to improve on his target and achieve 1:54:33 in his fastest half since 2017. The long incline at mile 8 was hard going, sapped a lot of energy and lost some time but was the only part of the course that presented any real difficulty. 

JIM BROWN was apprehensive after two recent disaster half marathons including a DNF (did not finish) but improved his time from August (2:04:05) by 5 minutes 56 seconds to 1:58:09 to get under two hours by maintaining almost exactly nine minute miles all the way round. 

The first woman in the race was ELIZABETH PARRY from Garden City Runners in 1 hour 22 minutes 45 seconds with KERRIE HAMLIN from Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers second in 1:26:38 and JUSTINE LYNCH from Belgrave Harriers third in 1:26:50. 

The Last Fly 

Fairlands Valley Spartans were represented in the last Fly 5K in the current series on Saturday.  This virtual free run anywhere event on a Saturday morning helped to get a lot of people through lockdown when all in person events were cancelled.  More than 15,000 Fly 5K runs have been recorded since the series was launched.  This was race 80. 

In the MARIAN MORLEY was 55th and first woman aged 55 plus in 26 minutes 41 seconds; NICOLA ANDERSSON was 71st in 29:02 and PENNY SCHENKEL and JIM BROWN went round together to finish 100th equal in 30:56.  This was Jim’s 58th Fly 5K and he received a special not (virtual) T-shirt for running at least fifty. 

There will be a Christmas edition and a real reunion in 2022. 

St Neots 

CRAIG BACON said, “Sunday at the St Neots Half Marathon was my first mass event since February 2020.  There have been months of solo running and virtual events since the last time I lined up at the start of a race with over 1000 people ready to complete the 13.1 miles. 

There was a chill in the air as I made my way to the start and so I was glad that I had put my woolly hat and gloves in my kit bag.  We gathered at the line and at 10 o’clock we were sent on our way out of St Neots and along the Huntingdonshire country roads.  The route was a figure of eight course with a rise at about 3 miles, another before half way and then a final hill at 9 miles.  The hills did mean there was an opportunity to go downhill too, so every cloud has a silver lining. 

I finished in a time of 1 hour 41 minutes 16 seconds, which is 2 minutes 19 seconds faster than my pre-pandemic Half in 2020.  It was also my fastest Half since May 2016.  I finished 303rd overall, 233rd male and 54th male vet 50.” 

Fellow Spartan John Harding finished in 2:11:10 to finish 823rd overall and 535th male. 

Parkrun Highlights 

This week 30 Spartans participated across 8 different parkrun venues. 

A couple of first timer mentions:  KIERAN FEETHAM at Plymvalley in 23:18 and EVA RAMSEY at Cassiobury in 23:21.  

PETER CARPENTER was at Squerryes Winery parkrun at Westerham running a new PB of 44:19.  GRAHAM HOARE also got himself a new PB 23:29 at Southsea parkrun and YUKO GORDON was second female at Letchworth in 23:50. 

GRANT RAMSAY was first Spartan home out of the 21 Spartans at Stevenage in 19:06.  KEN JUDE was running his 99th parkrun at Stevenage.  MARK GOODWIN was the sole Spartan at Panshanger this week clocking 23:43. 

Tables 

Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.   

Spartan Gun Times At The Stevenage Half Marathon 

Pos Race No Name GunTime Category Cat Pos Gender Gen Pos  
321 Andrew PATTERSON 01:12:55 Top3 Male PB 
218 Simon JACKSON 01:15:50 Top3 Male YB 
179 David HARRIS-CHERGUIT 01:19:30 Ages 40 – 49 Male PB 
26 13 Stuart ARCHER 01:26:33 Ages 20 – 39 12 Male 25 PB 
29 346 Grant RAMSAY 01:27:35 Ages 40 – 49 Male 26  
31 369 Danny SCANLON 01:29:00 Ages 40 – 49 10 Male 28  
37 224 Mike JEFFS 01:31:22 Ages 20 – 39 15 Male 33 New 
46 347 Tony RANDFIELD 01:33:39 Ages 60 – 69 Male 42 New 
79 375 Paul SHELLEY 01:37:02 Ages 50 – 59 17 Male 69 YB 
82 384 Peter SMITH 01:37:07 Ages 50 – 59 18 Male 71 SB 
87 178 John HARRIS 01:37:29 Ages 50 – 59 20 Male 75 SB 
100 277 Reece McCULLAGH 01:40:42 Ages 20 – 39 32 Male 65 SB 
121 140 Nick GILL 01:44:47 Ages 20 – 39 33 Male 102 SB 
135 110 Toby ECCLESHALL 01:48:06 Ages 20 – 39 36 Male 112 YB 
136 399 Nigel STRONGITHARM 01:48:08 Ages 50 – 59 31 Male 113 PB 
137 329 Lee PICKERSGILL 01:48:08 Ages 20 – 39 37 Male 114 PB 
184 387 Liz SMITH 01:54:30 Ages 40 – 49 16 Female 38 YB 
189 357 Tim ROBINSON 01:54:56 Ages 50 – 59 38 Male 150 SB 
206 376 Alison SHELLEY 01:57:42 Ages 50 – 59 Female 47 PB 
211 241 Nick KLEANTHOUS 01:58:10 Ages 50 – 59 41 Male 163 New 
218 411 Wendy THARANI 01:58:26 Ages 40 – 49 20 Female 50 SB 
219 50 Jim BROWN 01:58:27 Ages 60 – 69 Male 169  
222 118 Robert EVANS 01:58:37 Ages 40 – 49 59 Male 170 SB 
243 419 Ann TRYSSESOONE 02:01:30 Ages 50 – 59 Female 59 YB 
244 62 Chloe CHAPMAN 02:02:15 Ages 20 – 39 20 Female 60 PB 
254 437 Kerstin WEINER 02:04:30 Ages 50 – 59 Female 67 SB 
257 406 Jon SYPULA 02:05:10 Ages 40 – 49 66 Male 189 SB 
259 12 Nicola ANDERSSON 02:05:23 Ages 50 – 59 11 Female 70 PB 
270 323 Carol PAUL 02:07:41 Ages 50 – 59 13 Female 75 SB 
288 367 Chris SAUNDERS 02:13:02 Ages 20 – 39 59 Male 207 New 
309 202 Paul HOLGATE 02:23:16 Ages 60 – 69 15 Male 216 SB 
312 362 Gerry ROSEN 02:27:19 Ages 50 – 59 60 Male 218 SB 
313 458 Robert WRIGHT 02:27:19 Ages 20 – 39 62 Male 219  
320 378 Karl SHREEVE 02:32:46 Ages 50 – 59 62 Male 223 SB 
334 444 Jane WHITROW 03:17:05 Ages 50 – 59 22 Female 109 SB 
335 36 Steph BIGGAR 03:17:09 Ages 40 – 49 49 Female 110  
336 107 Nichola DURENT 03:17:10 Ages 40 – 49 50 Female 111 New 
337 236 Judy KING 03:18:39 Ages 50 – 59 23 Female 112 New 

Chip times were not available at the time of writing. 

Spartans at parkrun   

Stevenage parkrun 

A total of 291 runners took part including 21 Spartans. 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
Grant RAMSAY 00:19:06 
21 20 Andrew MCGUINNESS 00:21:53 
68 59 James MCSWEENEY 00:24:33 
80 68 Darren EMMERSON 00:25:04 
118 21 Fiona CLARKE 00:27:11 
127 101 Ken JUDE 00:27:37 
156 117 Matt CLARKE 00:28:57 
159 37 Nicola ANDERSSON 00:29:00 
169 41 Debbie BLANTERN 00:29:36 
175 128 Toby ECCLESHALL 00:30:10 
176 44 Gail MACKIE 00:30:14 
177 45 Ashley SCHOENWETTER 00:30:17 
180 47 Catherine CRAIG 00:30:29 
190 131 Jim BROWN 00:30:55 
191 54 Penny SCHENKEL 00:30:56 
201 60 Tracy HAYGARTH 00:31:54 
210 66 Karen PALMER 00:32:55 
215 69 Beth FOLEY 00:33:43 
226 142 Stephen SMITHSON 00:34:37 
289 113 Helen HARRIS 00:53:51 
290 166 Roger BIGGS 00:59:19 

Plymvalley parkrun 

A total of 110 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
Kieran FEETHAM 00:23:18 

Southsea parkrun 

A total of 357 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
86 76 Graham HOARE 00:23:29 

Brockenhurst parkrun 

A total of 138 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
138 62 Darryl STEVENS 00:45:09 

Panshanger parkrun 

A total of 247 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
34 32 Mark GOODWIN 00:23:43 

Cassiobury parkrun 

A total of 407 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
77 Eva RAMSEY 00:23:21 

Letchworth parkrun 

A total of 97 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
17 Yuko GORDON 00:23:50 

Squerryes Winery parkrun (Westerham) 

A total of 86 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
84 47 Peter CARPENTER 00:44:19 

  

Categories
Club News Race Results

BRUTAL BALDOCK BEAST

Baldock Beast Half Marathon 

It was brutal for the beast on Sunday.  Fairlands Valley Spartans NEIL ROBINSON, KAREN ELLIS, TIM ROBINSON, MICHAEL O’KEEFE, TRISH HOPPER and KAREN LIDDLE ran the Baldock Beast half marathon. 

Weather conditions were terrible with a yellow warning issue by the Met office, the organisers were considering cancelling the event but the forecast was for it to clear at around 11am and with five minutes to go, the runners were called to the start line. 

The first mile and a half are up hill and the runners were exposed to horizontal rain and high winds, with ankle deep water, but once over the brow of the hill and into Wallington the conditions improved and running was easier. 

Tim still had the Beachy Head Marathon in his legs and adopted a strategy of walking up the steep hills. 

The last couple of miles the sun came out and the rain stopped but the wind still made running very difficult. 

Tim said it was another superbly organised event by local runners. 

Neil Robinson was first back for the Spartans with 1 hour 58 minutes 58 seconds.  The first female from Fairlands was Karen Ellis in 2:05:23.  Tim Robinson came in with 2:07:35 and Michael O’Keefe with 2:20:28.  Tricia Hopper and Karen Liddle finished together in 2:31:47 and 2:31:48.  Not a race for personal bests! 

     
Place Name Category Chip Time Grading 
     
119 NEIL ROBINSON MV40 1:58:58 51.60 
150 KAREN ELLIS FV45 2:05:23 60.75 
160 TIM ROBINSON MV50 2:07:35 52.38 
191 MICHAEL O’KEEFE MV50 2:20:28 49.67 
211 TRICIA HOPPER FV45 2:31:47 50.75 
212 KAREN LIDDLE FV55+ 2:31:48 55.85 
Baldock Beast Half results

Lulworth Cove Marathon – and a bit 

“Actually the hardest things I’ve ever done” said WENDY THARANI about Sunday’s Lulworth Cove Marathon.  This was off road either going steeply uphill or steeply downhill for almost 30 miles.  She said there was typical coastal changeable weather weather but some lovely sunshine and stunning scenery including Lulworth’s Cove and Durdle Door.  Wendy completed the 29.41 miles in 8 hours 58 minutes 20 seconds. 

Amazing Wendy at Lulworth Cove!

Serpentine  

There were two Spartans at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park. 

Spartan YUKO GORDON scored the highest age graded score in the race 94.2% with 22 minutes 25 seconds. 

The fastest woman raced round in 18:28.  She was an FV50 but that ONLY scored 93.5%. 

The fastest man went round in 15:26 but that was only good enough for 85.5%. 

The Last Friday 5K can be an amazing event at the top end but also a great way to spend a Friday lunch-time.  Of course several went for coffee in the Serpentine Kitchen afterwards. 

Conditions were described by the organisers as mild, dry but wet underfoot and windy. 

Compared with recently JIM BROWN made a marginal gain of seven seconds to finish with 26 minutes 44 seconds.  A bit disappointing but his quickest “real” 5K for a long time (real in the sense of an accurately measured and properly timed race with other people). 

Position Name Time Comments 
75 YUKO GORDON 22:25 Best age graded 
115 JIM BROWN 26:44 Seven second improvement 

Two Weeks To Go!  Here Comes The Stevenage Half!  It’s on 21st November. 

Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons?  Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open.  This year the race is a couple of weeks later than usual.   

Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open but are going fast!  To make sure that you secure your place visit the following link to enter the race!  Go to https://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/   

This years medal is awesome!

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 30th October 2021 

Twenty two Spartans headed out to run at seven different Parkrun venues on Saturday. 

Congratulations to JONATHAN PARR who came first at Stevenage with a time of 17 minutes 7 seconds. This was Jonathan’s 16th win.  He is currently at third place for the most first place finishes at Stevenage. 

There were four other top ten gender positions this week with GRANT RAMSAY third (19:20, Stevenage), KELLY EVANS 6th (26:34, Erddig, near Wrexham), DAVID PATTMAN 10th (19:58, Gunpowder, Waltham Abbey) and GAIL MACKIE 10th (26:30 , Stevenage).There were no official Parkrun milestones this week but MONICA SMITHSON and BETH FOLEY have both reached an unofficial milestone of 40 Parkruns at Stevenage.Well done and congratulations to all.(You can find all the Spartan parkrun times near the end of this release). 

The rain doesn’t stop play at Stevenage Parkrun.

Tables    

Spartans at parkrun on Saturday 30th October: 

Position Gender position   Time Comments 
Stevenage parkrun         
Jonathan PARR 17:07   
Grant RAMSAY 19:20   
17 17 Thomas SAUKA 21:38   
28 28 Toby ECCLESHALL 23:06   
35 33 Andrew MCGUINNESS 23:37   
78 10 Gail MACKIE 26:30   
79 11 Ashley SCHOENWETTER 26:30   
111 87 Nick KLEANTHOUS 28:41   
140 31 Monica SMITHSON 30:15 40th 
154 39 Caroline CROFT 31:28   
178 53 Beth FOLEY 34:07 40th 
Gunpowder parkrun         
11 10 David PATTMAN 19:58   
74 22 Nicola PATTMAN 28:16   
Houghton Hall parkrun         
73 51 Michael O’KEEFE 28:36   
Erddig parkrun (Wrexham)         
46 Kelly EVANS 26:34   
Higginson parkrun, Marlow         
76 20 Tracy HAYGARTH 33:34   
The Great Field parkrun         
336 174 Darryl STEVENS 41:26   
Westmill parkrun         
19 16 Andy JAY 25:37   
Ferry Meadows parkrun         
75 61 Steve WELLS 23:44   
Categories
Club News Race Results

MAGNIFICENT MANCHESTER

Eight Spartans In Manchester!  Entries are open for our own Stevenage Half Marathon! 

Eight Spartans excelled themselves by finishing the Manchester Marathon on Sunday. 

For PAUL and ALISON SHELLEY it was their second ever marathon.  It was warmer than they’d expected it to be and they both gave it their all.  Paul improved his personal best by 14 minutes and finished in 3 hours 13 minutes 36 seconds.  He was 1,098 out of the 9,473 men and 61st out of 929 men aged 50 plus.  Alison took 23 minutes off her personal best (PB) with 4 hours 13 minutes 16 seconds and was 84th out of the 415 women aged 50 plus. 

MATT CLARKE was pleased to get under four hours, 3:58:01, despite disruptions to his preparation.  For FIONA CLARKE it was an emotional run but she completed her target of three marathons this year with 4 hours 52 minutes 21 seconds.  Fiona was raising money for the East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust.  She said that for her it was an ugly race, very scrappy, the hardest of the three but she did it! 

WENDY THARANI ran the London Marathon only a week earlier but she still finished Manchester in 4 hours 38 minutes 55 seconds.  DAVID PATTMAN came in with 4:01:07 and STEVEN DOBNER with 4:12:53. 

Wendy and Fiona are all smiles at the Manchester finish line!

For LIZ SMITH it was an experiment to see if her prodigious cycling fitness could get her round a marathon.  It did. She finished with a smile in 5 hours 10 minutes 34 seconds. 

Position Name Time Comments 
1148 PAUL SHELLEY 3:13:36 PB (13 minutes) 
4948 MATT CLARKE 3:58:01  
5366 DAVID PATTMAN 4:01.07  
6476 STEVEN DOBNER 4:12:53  
6527 ALISON SHELLEY 4:13:16 PB (23 minutes) 
9036 WENDY THARANI 4:38:55 Ran London 
10130 FIONA CLARKE 4:52:21 Three Done 
11402 LIZ SMITH 5:10:34  

Metropolis 

On Sunday, ADRIAN BUSOLINI participated in the inaugural running of Metropolis, a story-driven night time ultra experience through central London.  Starting with some properly engaging & atmospheric immersive theatre, runners were given new identities and tasked with completing a range of mandatory and optional missions to help the RUN resistance network.  

Guided by What 3 Words locations, they had to devise optimised route choices on the fly, accounting for factors such as time windows, deadlines, water supply, and the practicalities of navigating around London on a Saturday night; all the while evading ‘The Eyes’ who were trying to hunt us down with the help of GPS tracking. Ultimately we had to connect with a resistance leader to learn of our extraction location, and make it to the rendezvous point before ‘the last transport from Metropolis’. Billed as a 50 kilometres race, Adrian ended up exceeding 75 from targeting a number of the bonus missions. 

The race directors Richard and Mark put a lot of effort into devising this experience, crafting the backstory, preparing the theatrical elements & actor roles, the technological live tracking for the missions, and practicalities of the Eyes hunting participants; down to the details such as the witty mission locations, origami birds, and the extraction location embedded in a fortune cookie. If you fancy a memorable, immersive experience that also happens to involve a fair amount of running, then keep an eye out for what Richand and Mark come up with next. 

Results are yet to be finalised, but according to the current state of the leaderboard I finished in second, somehow… 

Adrian taking on Metropolis

Jonathan Second At Windsor 

Spartan JONATHAN PARR was second at the Windsor Autumn 5K around Dorney Lake in 16 minutes 7 seconds. 

Yuko Is World Champion 

YUKO GORDON from Fairlands Valley Spartans is a marathon world champion.  She won the World Age Group Championships which were incorporated in the London Marathon.  Her time was 3 hours 25 minutes 30 seconds.  She was 6 minutes 54 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Sharon Smith (3:32:24) and 13 minutes 8 seconds ahead of third placed Jeannie Rice from the USA 3:38:380.  

Having cleaned up Yuko went straight back into London for the WANDA age group marathon party. 

(Yuko’s victory was confirmed after last week’s release had been distributed.  Twenty Spartans finished the race). 

Yuko, our very proud World Champion celebrating in style!

Royal Parks Half 

GERRY ROSEN has had a really difficult year with Covid and other issues but he beat his half marathon personal best by seven minutes with 2 hours 35 minutes 30 seconds at the Royal Parks Half Marathon. 

Run With Willow 

Two Spartans CAROLYN LINSELL and JIM BROWN ran the Willow Foundation 10K at Hatfield House on Sunday.  Jim said it was a really relaxed and friendly wind down after the previous week’s London Marathon though he was woken up by a cattle grid at about five kilometres.  Carolyn finished in 55 minutes 26 seconds, her third fastest 10K, and Jim in 58:20.  Carolyn was 39th and Jim 51st out of the 131 runners.  This was a mixed terrain event with the start very close to Hatfield Station. 

Carolyn & Jim at the Willow 10K

Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons?  Here Comes The Stevenage Half! 

Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons?  Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open. 

With only six weeks to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered.  This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual). 

Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open.  Go to https://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/   

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 9th Oct 2021 

Although many were enjoying an England Athletics track training session at Ridlins or preparing for races the next day a warm October morning saw twenty two Fairlands Valley Spartans attend Parkrun events. 

In Stevenage, CHARLOTTE KEARNEY ran a personal best (PB) time of 29 minutes and 44 secondss, completing the course in the top 40 females.  On her 75th Parkrun outing, GAIL MACKIE finished as the 8th female in 25 mins and 32 secs closely followed by ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER in 25 mins and 33 secs (9th female).  TOBY ECCLESHALL was the first male Spartan to complete the course in 22 minutes and 13 seconds. 

Elsewhere MICHAEL O’KEEFE and JAMES McSWEENY respectively ran the Henlow Bridge Lakes and Hillsborough Forest routes for the first time in 28 mins and 48 secs and 24 mins and 08 secs. 

HELEN HARRIS and JIM BROWN were both running their 60th parkruns. 

(All the Spartans running parkruns on Saturday are included near the end of this release). 

Time To Get Muddy 

The cross country season starts this Sunday 17th October with a Sunday League race at Cheshunt. 

Tables 

Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.   

Spartan Parkrun Results: 

  Position Gender Position Parkrunner Time   
Stevenage parkrun 27 24 Toby ECCLESHALL 00:22:13   
  72 Gail MACKIE 00:25:32   
  73 Ashley SCHOENWETTER 00:25:33   
  94 81 Jim BROWN 00:26:37   
  97 83 Mark BEASLEY 00:26:43   
  119 96 Matt CLARKE 00:27:47   
  133 24 Nicola ANDERSSON 00:28:31   
  145 112 Paul JENNINGS 00:29:04   
  146 28 Penny SCHENKEL 00:29:08   
  149 31 Fiona CLARKE 00:29:17   
  159 117 Danik BATES 00:29:41   
  160 37 Charlotte KEARNEY 00:29:44 PB! 
  161 38 Chloe CHAPMAN 00:29:44   
  218 62 Theresa KEAST 00:32:58   
  221 65 Beth FOLEY 00:33:15   
  284 102 Helen HARRIS 00:51:01   
  286 163 Roger BIGGS 01:06:49   
            
Wimpole Estate parkrun 233 87 Sally PHILLIPS 00:35:21   
            
Canons Park parkrun 18 15 Tim SABAN 00:22:27   
            
Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun 83 66 Michael O’KEEFE 00:28:48   
            
Hillsborough Forest parkrun 22 18 James MCSWEENEY 00:24:08   
      
Westmill parkrun 23 17 Andy JAY 00:26:06   

www.fvspartans.org.uk 

Categories
Club News Race Results

SPARTANS IN LONDON

Inspired by London?  Now run in Stevenage! 

After an absence of 889 days the massed start London Marathon returned to the streets of London on Sunday and dozens of Fairlands Valley Spartans were there either running or helping as volunteers in the finish area.  The Spartan finish line volunteers were still handing out bags at 6.45p.m! 

Twenty Spartans finished the 26.2 miles race. 

Among them was YUKO GORDON who missed a world record by less than a minute.  Yuko’s time was 3:25:30 and she beat the current world W70 record holder Jeannie Rice (USA) who was also running.  She missed the world record by 43 seconds but she said the London course is not easy particularly from the red start which is hillier.  Having cleaned up Yuko went straight back into London for the marathon party. 

SUZY HAWKINS enjoyed her run.  She set a new record of 3 hours 11 minutes 36 seconds for women over 45 and has qualified for another championship place.  Her mum Eileen said… “This amazing young woman has just completed the London Marathon in 3 hours 11 minutes even though she said she was not fit having completed a ¾ Ironman triathlon two weeks ago and a full Ironman just a few weeks before that.  We are so proud of you.  You are truly awesome Suzy Hawkins.” 

New Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON was delighted to beat her 3 hours 40 minutes target with 3:39:09 in her first “real” marathon.  She ran the virtual London Marathon in the rain last year. 

DANNY SCANLON ran 3 hours 6 minutes 22 seconds in his first ever marathon. 

There was a new personal best (PB) by 23 seconds for HAZEL SMITH with 4 hours 23 minutes 24 seconds.  It’s unusual for a mother and daughter to come out of the same London Marathon ballot but Hazel’s mum CATHY CRAIG went round in 5 hours 40 minutes 21 seconds. 

JIM BROWN also qualified for the Age Group World Championships but after some running setbacks in the last few weeks he adopted a “sensible” get round strategy.  He was determined to get round his twentieth London Marathon. 

ADA JANUSIENE said her first London Marathon was a truly wonderful experience.  She finished in 5 hours 3 minutes 5 seconds. 

Three Spartans beat the three hour barrier – SIMON JACKSON in 2:44:54; ANDREW PATTERSON in 2:47:58 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI in 2:48:52. 

This was a different London Marathon with changed starting and finish arrangements and many entries dating back to 2019 but it was great to see the thousands back to running the usual course from Blackheath, past the Cutty Sark, over Tower Bridge, around East London, then back passing the Tower of London to finish on the Mall.  All the Spartan runner were extremely grateful to the volunteers, many from running clubs, that worked for many hours to make the event possible. 

ADA JANUSIENE 5.03.05, ADRIAN BUSOLINI 2.48.52, ANDREW PATTERSON 2.47.48, ASHLEY JOHNSON 3.39.09, CATHY CRAIG 5.40.21, DANNY SCANLON 3.06.22, DAVID PRICE 4:38:32 , HAZEL SMITH 4.23.24, JAN FRY 5.49.14, JIM BROWN 4.44.11, JOHN NELMS 4.19.57, JON SYPULA 4.19.20, MARTIN DUDLEY 4.40.50, PAUL JENNINGS 5:32:59, SIMON JACKSON 2.44.54, STUART HAYCROFT 3.01.44, SUE HAMER 4.40.38, SUZY HAWKINS 3.11.36, WENDY THARANI 5.00.22, YUKO GORDON 3.25.30 

(A table of all the Spartan finishers can be found near the end of this release). 

Inspired by the London Marathon?  Here Comes The Stevenage Half! 

Inspired by the London Marathon?  Thousands running round London.  Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open. 

With only seven weeks to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered.  This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual). 

Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open.  Go to https://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/   

Dorney Marathon 

Three Spartan ran the Dorney Marathon on Sunday.   

SUSAN and CIARAN McANENY ran Dorney Lakes Marathon together, coming in pretty much bang on the 4 hour mark; 4:00:08.  Annoyingly close to that attractive sub 4 hour for Susan (Ciaran is usually a sub 3 when he’s not keeping his wife company on a course!!) but still a 36 minute PB (personal best) for her! 

It’s well organised and a great spectator course.  They said it was good to see friendly Spartan Ken Jude working there for the event too!  

ROBERT WRIGHT ran the same event in 3 hours 47 minutes 11 seconds. 

Virtual Carolyn and Marian 

CAROLYN LINSELL and MARIAN MORLEY ran Sunday’s virtual London Marathon nearer home.  Despite some problems with the tracking app Carolyn and Marian both completed the 42.2 kilometres. 

Marian Morley ran her virtual London Marathon at a 5.3k laps event run by ZigZag at Hinchingbrooke Country Park.  She said, “The course was mostly trail and in parts was very muddy.  I could have done with trail shoes as some areas very slippery after the rain.  The London Marathon App didn’t work properly.  The GPS was faulty and my time was filed as 4 hours 12 minutes.  The more realistic reality was 5 hours 30 minutes – I’m not sure I could have done better as I’ve had a bad cold all week, although at the half way point I was on track for a sub 5 hour run but faded in the second half – the glitching with the Marathon App was not emotionally helpful once I’d realised it was faulty. 

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 2nd Oct 2021 

This week saw a less than usual number of Spartans running at various Parkrun likely due to a packed Autumn racing calendar, with the London Marathon and many others taking place on Sunday3rd October.  Despite the reduced number, the enthusiasm for the ones who turned up was as high as usual. 

NIC and DAVID PATTMAN were tourists at Sizewell Norfolk, taking on this scenic seaside parkrun finishing in 22:55 and 31:37 respectively. 

MICHAEL O’KEEFE tried out Banbury parkrun for the first time (30:36), having tried out 35 different venues previously. 

The fastest Spartan was STEVE WELLS finishing with a time of 19:44 (10th male) at Stevenage.  The fastest Spartan lady was ASHLEY KING (4th female) also at Stevenage, completing in 22:27. 

(All the Spartans running parkruns on Saturday are included near the end of this release). 

Tables 

Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.   

Spartans at the London Marathon 

First Name Last Name Time Position 
SIMON JACKSON 02:44:54 631 
ANDREW PATTERSON 02:47:48 791 
ADRIAN BUSOLINI 02:48:52 3,574 
STUART HAYCROFT 03:01:44 2,163 
DANNY SCANLON 03:06:22 2,586 
SUZY HAWKINS 03:11:36 299 
YUKO GORDON 03:25:30 766 
ASHLEY JOHNSON 03:39:09 1,539 
JON SYPULA 04:19:20 12,084 
JOHN NELMS 04:19:57 12,174 
HAZEL SMITH 04:23:24 5,093 
DAVID PRICE 04:38:32 14,670 
SUE HAMER 04:40:38 6,679 
MARTIN DUDLEY 04:40:50 14,968 
JIM BROWN 04:44:11 15,375 
WENDY THARANI 05:00:22 8,625 
ADA JANUSIENE 05:03:05 8,884 
PAUL JENNINGS 05:32:59 49,353 
CATHY CRAIG 05:40:21 11,552 
JAN FRY 05:49:14 11,995 

(Women’s positions are gender positions) 

Spartan Parkrun Results: 

There were eighteen Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun. 

11 10 Steve WELLS 19:44 

29 4 Ashley KING 22:27 

48 39 Mike REYNOLDS 23:52 

59 48 James MCSWEENEY 24:20 

87 70 Barry OSBORNE 25:47 

88 71 Steven DOBNER 25:48 

133 106 Nick KLEANTHOUS 27:57 

142 23 Fiona CLARKE 28:13 

158 29 Chloe CHAPMAN 29:20 

179 36 Erica GRAYSON 30:12 

182 138 Tim ROBINSON 30:25 

185 140 Toby ECCLESHALL 30:31 

187 141 Stephen SMITHSON 30:33 

188 39 Gail MACKIE 30:39 

189 40 Monica SMITHSON 30:41 

203 48 Tracy HAYGARTH 31:31 

231 67 Karen PALMER 33:04 

239 72 Beth FOLEY 34:14 

MICHAEL O’KEEFE completed the Banbury parkrun in 30 minutes 36 seconds which gave him 113rd place. 

Ed HARE was 89th at the Lee-on-the Solent parkrun in 26 minutes 7 seconds. 

In Sizewell DAVID PATTMAN was eighth in 22:55 and NICOLA PATTMAN 47th (and eighth woman) in 31:37 and at the Charlton parkrun DARRYL STEVENS was 320th in 44 minutes 14 seconds. 

Categories
Club News Race Results

SPARTANS AT STANDALONE

Women Win EMAC * Here Comes London 

Twenty two Spartans raced around the Standalone 10K in Letchworth on Sunday and their women won prizes at opposite ends of the age spectrum.  ABBIE PEZ was first junior lady (under 20) with 50 minutes 2 seconds and YUKO GORDON was first woman over 65 with 45 minutes 53 seconds.  CLAIRE PULLEN was first woman over 55 with 47:12. 

The Standalone 10K included the Hertfordshire County Championships for veteran runners and the Fairlands Valley Spartans first team of four consisted of DEAN CARPENTER 100th out of 747 overall (including seniors) in 44 minutes 10 seconds; JON FILBY 110th in 45:06; MARK GOODWIN 157th in 47:19 and ANDY JAY 227th in 50:21. 

Yuko Gordon led in the Spartan women in 120th in 45:53 with Claire Pullen 153rd in 47:12; TRACY PEZ 171st in 47:47.  It was teams of three for the women’s event.  A second women’s team was brought in by KAREN ELLIS and NICOLA ANDERSSON 326th and 327th in 53 minutes 31 seconds and completed by CAROL PAUL 401st in 56:29. 

(All the Fairlands Valley Spartan times can be found in a table towards the end of this release). 

Spartan Women Win In The East 

The ladies track and field team saw off competition from the best athletics clubs across the East of England to regain the masters (veterans) championship trophy they last won in 2017.  The team dominated from start to finish, cruising to victory with 255 points.  Second placed Peterborough/Nene Valley AC scored 235.5 points, and Marshal Milton Keynes AC placed third with 232.5 points. 

The team were out in force, fourteen Spartan women, and really enjoyed the competition and great conditions. 

Wins came from JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS (once again dropping down an age group) – W50 (women aged 50 plus) 100 metres and W50 javelin throw (also finishing a very close second in the W50 200m).  TESSA STEPHENSON – W60 200 metres (also finished 2nd placed W60 100m and W60 shot put).  ALISON WOOD – W50 800m (also 2nd placed W50 in the 1500m).  CHRISTINE LATHWELL – winning both W35 1500m and W35 3k.  NIKKI WILBY – W35 high jump (also 2nd W35 pole vault, 2nd W35 triple jump, and 2nd W35 400mH).  ANDREA WESTCOTT – W50 triple jump (also 4th place W50 high jump and 6th place W50 long jump). 

YUKO GORDON won an additional trophy having clocked an amazing age graded 99.5% in the W60 3km and also easily won the W60 800m. 

The team’s strength in depth meant that all events were covered, earning vital points.  

Team members bolstering the tally were CALLIE ‘Cocktail’ CHAPMAN – third place W35 long jump, 5th placed W35 100m, and 6th place W35 200m.  SUZY HAWKINS – 3rd place in both W35 400m and W35 800m.  KAREN DODSWORTH – dropping down an age group to cover W50 400m and finishing 5th, also placed 5th in W60 discus throw and W60 long jump, and 4th place in W60 triple jump.  SHERYL HANN – also dropped down to cover W50 3km and placed 7th.  SHARON CROWLEY – first place B string 2km walk and 6th placed W60 hammer throw.  CATHY CRAIG – fourth place in the A string 2km walk (also bravely covered the W50 300mH, finishing in 5th place).  STEPHANIE BIGGAR – 2nd place W35 hammer throw, 3rd place W35 shot put, 4th place W35 javelin throw, and 5th place W35 discus throw.  MARIAN MORLEY – 2nd place in both W50 shot put and discus throw, and 4th place W50 hammer throw. 

A full day of events, which started at 10:30 am, finished with the (usually) all important relay races.  In reality, victory had already been sealed!  The W35 team (Suzy Hawkins, Cocktail Chapman, Nikki Wilby, and Christine Lathwell) still battled well and finished second.  The W50 team (Joylyn Saunders-Mullins, Sharon Crowley, Karen Dodsworth, and Tessa Stephenson) finished third. 

It was a truly excellent day, with great team spirit and support throughout.  Mike Crowley and Chris Westcott should also get a mention for their help and support during a very long day. 

Jonathan Second In Surrey 

JONATHAN PARR finished 2nd in the Mercer Surrey 5k at Woking on Sunday morning with a time of 16 minutes 18 seconds. 

Happy Spartan at Bedford Autodrome 

CAROLE SHELDRICK was the solo Spartan at the Bedford Autodrome 10K on Sunday. 

She said, “What an amazing event they put on.  I have got to say, I wasn’t too sure how this run would go for me.  I felt under trained, so was just hoping I’d manage to get round in one piece so I was very happy with my time of 56:28.  One happy Spartan.” 

Running Through The Glen 

ZOE JACKSON was celebrating in the sun after completing the Robin Hood Half Marathon.  Pacing someone with a target time of 125 minutes she finished, on target, in 2 hours 3 minutes 16 seconds.  Zoe said it was a great course with fantastic support the whole way round the city, and we were very lucky with the weather!  

Serpentine 5K 

Sunny, warm, light breeze, the odd parakeet and a cafe near the finish.  “What’s not to like?” said JIM BROWN after finishing the second of the revived Last Friday of the Month 5Ks – the Serpentine 5K? 

Jim achieved a marginal improvement on last month in this lunch-time race in Hyde Park. 

His official time was 26:53 and 123rd.  Last month was 26:58.  Both on the two lap version of the Serpentine course. 

Jim commented it was very enjoyable, more should try it, but I seem to be the wrong sort of consistent at the moment. 

Parkrun Highlights 25th September 2021  

Members of Fairlands Valley Spartans took part across 10 different UK parkruns this week.  There were PBs for ANTON McCALLA on his second appearance at Market Harborough (26:30).  It was PB o’clock for ED HARE at Lee-on-the-Solent (23:03) in his fourth run at that venue. 

 In Stevenage ADRIAN DONNELLY clocked a new PB of 20:26.  Eighteen Spartans were running in Stevenage while several others were helping this week. 

 (The full list of Spartan parkrun times will be near the end). 

The 72nd Fly 5K – Saturday 25th September. 

Lots of “real” races going on including the London Marathon this Sunday (3rd) but the virtual Fly 5K races continue and two Spartans were in the action.  NICOLA ANDERSSON was 65th in 28:34 and PAUL HOLGATE 78th in 30:27.  He was third veteran man 60 plus and this was his 70th Fly 5K. 

Fly 5K was one of the stars of lockdown keeping runners moving and in touch during the restrictions.  The first of the free virtual races was in June 2020. 

Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon 

With only eight weeks to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered.  This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual). 

Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open.  You can enter by following this link:  Stevenage Half Marathon 

Tables 

Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.   

Spartans at Standalone: 

       
Place Gun Time Name Chip Time Category Number Comments 
       
100 00:44:28 DEAN CARPENTER 44:10 Vet Men 40-49 781  
110 00:45:24 JON FILBY 45:06 Vet Men 40-49 68  
120 00:45:56 YUKO GORDON 45:53 Vet Ladies 65+ 379 1st 65+ 
153 00:47:30 CLAIRE PULLEN 47:12 Vet Ladies 55-64 677 1st 55+ 
157 00:47:37 MARK GOODWIN 47:19 Vet Men 60-69 58  
171 00:48:06 TRACY PEZ 47:47 Vet Ladies 45-54 864  
219 00:50:21 ABBIE PEZ 50:02 Junior Ladies U20 872 1st U20 
227 00:50:40 ANDY JAY 50:21 Vet Men 50-59 767  
291 00:52:57 MARTIN DUDLEY 52:06 Vet Men 50-59 782  
326 00:54:26 KAREN ELLIS 53:31 Vet Ladies 45-54 512  
327 00:54:26 NICOLA ANDERSSON 53:31 Vet Ladies 45-54 403  
401 00:57:12 CAROL PAUL 56:29 Vet Ladies 55-64 432  
443 00:58:18 JIM BROWN 57:27 Vet Men 60-69 111  
473 00:59:36 BARRY KING 58:36 Vet Men 50-59 139  
483 00:59:56 ERICA GRAYSON 57:49 Vet Ladies 45-54 106  
501 01:00:43 MICHAEL O’KEEFE 60:02 Vet Men 50-59 67  
539 01:02:59 SELVAN NAICKER 62:17 Vet Men 50-59 717  
549 01:03:43 PAUL HOLGATE 63:01 Vet Men 60-69 735  
620 01:08:01 MARIAN MORLEY 66:45 Vet Ladies 55-64 333  
744 01:33:15 HAYLEY PEACH 90:58 Vet Ladies 35-44 127  
745 1:34:24 NICHOLA DURENT 92:07 VL 35-44 104  
746 1:34:24 SHARON CROWLEY 92:08 VL 55-64 661  

  

Other Spartans ran but did not count in the county veteran championships (e.g. too young or do not live in Hertfordshire). 

Spartan Parkrun Results: 

Stevenage parkrun 

A total of 307 runners took part. 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
     
Steve WELLS Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:19:43 
10 10 Adrian DONNELLY Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:20:26 
51 47 Barry OSBORNE Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:23:07 
67 58 Sam SIMMONS Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:24:13 
116 96 Danik BATES Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:26:33 
118 98 Nick KLEANTHOUS Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:26:41 
121 17 Julie SIMMONS Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:26:52 
155 29 Nicola ANDERSSON Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:28:32 
170 131 Matt CLARKE Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:29:01 
185 40 Natalie WHITE Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:29:33 
197 45 Debbie BLANTERN Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:30:14 
202 148 Paul JENNINGS Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:30:38 
233 61 Carole SHELDRICK Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:32:14 
236 63 Dzenana TOPIC Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:32:22 
239 66 Caroline CROFT Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:32:37 
257 75 Beth FOLEY Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:33:47 
270 80 Fiona CLARKE Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:34:37 
274 83 Theresa KEAST Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:35:23 

Houghton Hall parkrun 

A total of 158 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
73 49 Michael O’KEEFE Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:28:43 

Brockenhurst parkrun 

A total of 141 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
141 77 Darryl STEVENS Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 01:02:16 

  

Market Harborough parkrun 

A total of 276 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
108 80 Anton MCCALLA Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:26:30 

Wimpole Estate parkrun 

A total of 276 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
99 17 Trudie MOLLOY Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:28:13 
258 147 Barry KING Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:42:47 

Lee-on-the-Solent parkrun 

A total of 383 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
61 51 Edward HARE Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:23:03 

Letchworth parkrun 

A total of 101 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
87 22 Caren THAIN Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:37:21 

  

Littleport parkrun 

A total of 115 runners took part. 

  

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Club   Run Time   
19 17 James MCSWEENEY Fairlands Valley Spartans RC 00:23:38 
Categories
Club News Race Results

SPARTAN IMPROVERS

Team Medals * Handicap 5K

28 Spartans took part in Thursday evening’s Handicap 5K around Stevenage.

Winner on the night was DAVID PRICE in a time of 24 minutes 34 seconds 3:26 better than handicap with FIONA CLARKE firstfemale in 26:14, 2:46 better than handicap.  NICOLA HATHERLY was second female in 34:44 and CAROLYN LINSELL third female in 26:24, while CHLOE CHAPMAN was fourth female in 26:58.  MATT CLARKE was 2nd male in 23:02 with DANNY HUKIN 3rd male in 18:34 and STUART ARCHER 4th male in 19:27.

The winners are, in effect, the best improvers.  In a handicap event the slowest go off first with the faster ones following according to recent performances.  In theory if everyone runs to form they will all finish together.  In practice the first ones over the finish line will be those that have improved the most, or those that have slowed down the least.

DANNY HUKIN was fastest on the night with his 18:34 and STUART ARCHER second quickest with his 19:27, while BRIAN WHITE was third quickest in 21:15 and PETE SMITH fourth fastest in 21:40.  MARIE COLUCCI was quickest female in 22:56, with TRACEY JACKSON & TRACY PEZ second and third fastest in 23:32 and FIONA CLARKE fourth quickest with her 26:14.

There were Season Best times for Chloe Chapman, Matt Clarke, Danny Hukin, Andy Jay, Marie Colucci, Jane McFarlane, Tracey Jackson, Tracy Pez, Peter Smith, Nigel Strongitharm and Sharon Crowley, and Year Best times for Fiona Clarke, Nicola Hatherly, Stuart Archer, Dean Carpenter, Mark Beasley, Sally Pickles, Nick Kleanthous, Kelly Evans and Dzenana Topic.

The race was in Stevenage on the Fairlands, Verity, Martins, Grace and back to Fairlands Way course with the start near Webb Rise and the finish under Douglas Drive.

The club thanked Paul Holgate, Cathy Craig, Mark Freeman, Angie Keeling and Adrian Busolini for their much appreciated support, assistance and photos which made the event a success.

Spartans at the Stevenage 10K

After months of cancellations and postponements it was great to enjoy the company of others at a “real” race in Stevenage.  Twenty Spartans ran the Stevenage 10K on Sunday.

The Spartan men’s team of four consisted of BRIAN WHITE in 42 minutes 21 seconds; LUKE GURNEY 50:12; JAMES McSWEENEY 51:19 and, to his surprise, JIM BROWN in 55:21.

Brian was third runner aged 60 plus and 23rd out of the 393 finishers.  Luke said it was hilly but worth it for the cake and was 100th.  James was 118th and Jim 171st.

NICOLA ANDERSSON was the fastest female from Fairlands.  She was 168th in 55 minutes 11 seconds.  CAROLYN LINSELL was second woman aged 65 plus and 177th with her 56 minutes 8 seconds.  SARAH ILLINGWORTH was third Spartan woman and 188th overall with 56:59.  Sarah said “It was certainly not a PB (personal best) but given the lack of races over the last 17 months and sporadic training not too bad.  Great race, well organised, friendly and only five minutes from my front door.  Post race cake is always a bonus!”  PENNY SCHENKEL was fourth female from Spartans in 1:02:15.  Penny, SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON were 262nd, 263rd and 264th.

CHRISTINE ZVEREV recorded a chip time of 1 hour 8 minutes 40 seconds for the Stevenage 10K.  She said, “The course was a bit hilly in places but I still kept the time under 1 hour 10minutes and I did manage a 5K PB of 29 minutes 5 seconds on the way round.  That’s a win in my book.”

The County Championships for veteran runners (those aged 35 and over will be in the Standalone 10K this Sunday.

(All the Spartan results from the Stevenage 10K can be found near the end of this release.

Adrian’s Century Run

ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran the Cotswold Way Century, finishing in 25 hours, in ninth place. The Cotswold Way Century is a 102 miler along the Cotswold Way walking path, which runs north to south through the hills and villages of the Cotswolds, finishing outside the Abbey in Bath.  It’s incessantly hilly, and navigation requires constant vigilance; however, weather conditions were favourable, there was great camaraderie out on the course, and the vegan chili at Painswick aid station was awesome.

Swansea 10K

Spartan ROBERT EVANS had a good run in the Swansea 10K with 52 minutes 54 seconds. 

Parkrun Highlights 18th September 2021

In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, there was a first finisher (event winner) at Exmouth in Devon where Jonathan Parr powered home in a time of 16-46 whilst Steve Wells took on the Great Notley course near Braintree, Essex and tackled the ‘big hill’ twice to finish in third with a time of 20-11 

Stevenage Parkrun Results: SAM SIMMONS 21-50 (31st) – Parkrun PB, EVA RAMSEY 23-02 (49th), PAUL SHELLEY 23-14 (56th), ASHLEY KING 23-16 (57th), CLIVE CANNON 23-40 (65th), DARREN EMMERSON 24-44 (83rd), GAIL MACKIE 25-23 (98th), JULIE SIMMONS 26-10 (117th), DAVID PATTMAN 26-52 (137th), STEVE DOBNER 26-52 (138th), JIM BROWN 27-41 (157th), MATT CLARKE 29-00 (183rd), CHLOE CHAPMAN 29-05 (187th), NICOLA ANDERSSON 29-07 (192nd), DEBBIE BLANTERN 29-31 (202nd), STEPHEN SMITHSON 31-51 (254th), FIONA CLARKE 33-28 (281st) and BETH FOLEY 33-34 (286th).  In its ninth week back Stevenage parkrun was up to 358 runners.

The Spartans on parkrun away days were: 

Brockenhurst (Dorset): DARRYL STEVENS 53-47 (156th out of 156 runners).

Canons Park (North London): TIM SABAN 24-46 (37th out of 192 runners).

Exmouth (Devon): JONATHAN PARR 16-46 (1st out of 313 runners). 

Great Notley (Essex): STEVE WELLS 20-11 (3rd out of 221 runners). 

Lee-on-the Solent (Hampshire): ED HARE 27-39 (175th out of 418 runners). 

Letchworth (Hertfordshire): NICK GILL 21-49 (14th out of 128 runners), GEORGIE HOOPER 25-11 (33rd), CAREN THAIN 38-31 (113th). 

Luton Wardown (Bedfordshire): MICHAEL O’KEEFE 28-18 (94th out of 280 runners). 

Medina (Isle of Wight), NICK KLEANTHOUS 28-29 (83rd out of 199 runners). 

University of Stirling (Stirlingshire, Scotland): STUART STABLES 22-31 (18th out of 131 runners).

The 71st Fly 5K – Saturday 18th September.

Four regular Spartans competed in the 71st run anywhere Fly 5K on Saturday.  JIM BROWN was 70th in 27 minutes 41 seconds; NICK KLEANTHOUS 79th in 28:23; NICOLA ANDERSSON 86th in 29:05 and PAUL HOLGATE 97th in 30:55.

Fly 5K was one of the stars of lockdown keeping runners moving and in touch during the restrictions.  The first of the free virtual races was in June 2020.

Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon

With only two months to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered.  This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual).

Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open and you can enter by clicking this link: Stevenage Half Marathon.  This club and community event has a history going back 37 years and is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.  With a break due to Covid 19 in 2020 it’s back for 2021. 

Each Year the Spartans nominate a charity to support and the chosen charity for 2021 is Feed Up Warm Up.

Tables

Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 16th September

PosFIRST NAMELAST NAMEOWN TIMERFH’CAPTIMECOMP H’CAPPBImpr
1DAVIDPRICE24:3412 17:0041:323:26PB 
2FIONACLARKE26:1415416:0042:172:46YB1:52
3NICOLAHATHERLY34:4426137:3042:202:46YB 
4CAROLYNLINSELL26:2417616:1542:332:21  
5CHLOECHAPMAN26:5819815:4542:432:17SB0:33
6MATTCLARKE23:027 19:4542:452:13SB0:13
7DANNYHUKIN18:341 24:1542:512:11SB 
8STUARTARCHER19:272 23:3042:592:03YB0:22
9ANDYJAY23:4610 19:3043:191:44SB1:40
10DEANCARPENTER21:535 21:3043:231:37YB 
11MARKBEASLEY25:3913 18:0043:411:21YB0:04
12MARIECOLUCCI22:566120:4543:421:19SB 
13SALLYPICKLES36:1227147:3043:431:18YB 
14JANEMcFARLANE27:4221916:0043:451:18SB 
15TRACEYJACKSON23:328220:1543:471:13SB 
16TRACYPEZ23:329320:1543:481:13SB1:09
17PETERSMITH21:404 22:1543:561:05SB0:54
18NICKKLEANTHOUS25:5814 18:0043:581:02YB0:04
19BRIANWHITE21:153 22:4544:001:00  
20VISHALSHAH27:2620 16:3044:191:04  
21NICOLAANDERSSON26:2116518:0044:220:39  
22NIGELSTRONGITHARM24:0711 20:1544:220:38SB0:33
23STEPHANIEBIGGAR36:4528 7:4544:300:30  
24JUDYKING33:29251211:3045:050:01  
25KELLYEVANS26:5418718:3045:24(0:24)YB 
26DZENANATOPIC31:52231014:4546:37(1:37)YB 
27SHARONCROWLEY32:20241114:4546:53(2:05)SB2:21
28TIMROBINSON28:2922 18:4547:13(2:14)  

Stevenage 10K – Sunday 19th September (394 finishers)

PostCatNameCatGun TimeChip TimeAGradeComments
23.3Brian WHITEMV600:42:220:42:2181.9%3MV60  3rd Team
100.29Luke GURNEYMS0:50:450:50:1252.6%3rd Team
109.25Nigel STRONGITHARMMV5051:2050:0362.7% 
118.33James MCSWEENEYMS0:52:000:51:1951.8%3rd Team
168.19Nicola ANDERSSONFV450:55:340:55:1162.4% 
171.11Jim BROWNMV600:55:450:55:2161.6%3rd Team
177.2Carolyn LINSELLFV650:56:310:56:0873.7%2FV65
188.21Sarah ILLINGWORTHFV450:57:120:56:5959.9% 
219.51John HARDINGMS0:59:380:58:2444.8% 
255.19Paul HOLGATEMV601:02:301:01:5654.4% 
262.36Penny SCHENKELFV451:02:591:02:1555.0% 
263.37Sue HAMERFV451:03:011:01:5054.3% 
264.38Erica GRAYSONFV451:03:011:01:4955.7% 
296.19Monica SMITHSONFV551:06:141:05:3055.7% 
313.23Angie KEELINGFV351:07:541:06:4046.2% 
320.26Toni NICHOLSFV351:08:351:07:2045.2% 
326.27Christine ZVEREVFV351:09:121:08:4044.4% 
337.54Tracy HAYGARTHFV451:11:151:10:3149.2% 
342.56Carole SHELDRICKFV451:12:031:10:4945.9% 
344.24Karen PALMERFV551:12:031:10:5050.5% 
Categories
Club News Race Results

100 FOR JOHN AT THE STAMPEDE

Spartan JOHN NELMS has run one hundred marathons. That’s 100 full marathons of 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometres) or even longer Ultra Marathons. He ran his 100th at the St Albans Stampede on Saturday. John was escorted across the finish line by his wife Sharon and son Jacob then welcomed to the 100 Club reception by a large number of Spartans.

St Albans Stampede

Altogether twenty Spartans completed at least four four mile laps at the St Albans Stampede.

The Stampede was a 12 hour event around a four mile loop. Runners completed as many laps as they could within the time limit.

TRICIA HOPPER was the leading Spartan with an incredible 11 laps (44 miles).

ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran nine laps or 36 miles in 6 hours 16 minutes 34 seconds while KAREN LIDDLE and BARRY KING did eight (32 miles). Not surprisingly four Spartans did seven as that got them past the significant 26.2 miles. They were YUKO GORDON, JOHN NELMS, HAZEL SMITH and SHARON CROWLEY.

Six laps (24 miles) were completed by CLAIRE EMMERSON, NEAL MUGGLETON and JACQUELINE DOWNES. SUE HAMER, ERICA GRAYSON and DARREN EMMERSON did five (20 miles) while JENNY GARRETT and GERRY ROSEN did four (16 miles).

(Times for all the Fairlands Valley Spartans can be found in a table near the end of this release).

Fairlands Fantastic 4 at the Stampede

There was also a relay team, the Fairlands Fantastic Four at the St Albans Stampede. In the four person team relay event TRACY PEZ (4 laps), ANDY JAY (4), CHRIS HOLLAND (4) and TIM ROBINSON (5) came in 12th out of 28 teams. A total of 17 laps with a time of 11 hours 50 minutes 5 seconds.

The course was four mile lap over undulating off road terrain. Chris started the team off with his first lap under 36 minutes followed by Tim with another 36 minutes lap. Then Andy Jay, who is training for the Manchester Marathon ran four consecutive laps in just under three hours through the hottest part of the day. The team took a short break to greet John Nelms as he finished his 100th marathon, before resuming with more laps. Tim finished his last running lap at 7:50 and it was agreed that two more sub 40min laps would not be achievable to finish before 9pm. The decision was taken to walk one final lap all together as a team by torchlight. Tracy, Chris and Tim completed the lap to finish just inside the cut off – in time for pizza and beer refreshments. A superb local event, recommended.

Bedford Twenty and Half

In the Bedford Running Festival ALISON and PAUL SHELLEY ran their first official twenty mile race. Paul finished in 2 hours 49 minutes 43 seconds and Alison in 3:15:07. They said it was a tough, hot race. DANNY SCANLON was 28th in 2:23:21 and DAVID PATTMAN ran a new personal best (PB) of three hours and thirty seconds (3:00:30).

STEVEN DOBNER came in with 3:03:18; MATT CLARKE with 3:15:43 and FIONA CLARKE with 3:23:12.

In the Bedford “Spring” half marathon KAREN ELLIS said she started too fast but she was third in her age category with 2:07:54.

Spartan Ladies Finish On Top – East of England Track and Field

The Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team consisting of SUZY HAWKINS, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, STEPHANIE BIGGAR, CALLIE CHAPMAN, ASHLEY JOHNSON, NIKKI WILBY, MONICA BROWN, MARION MORLEY, ALISON WOOD, ANDREA WESTCOTT, TESSA STEPHENSON, CATHY CRAIG, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS, KAREN DODSWORTH, SHERYL HANN, IRIS HORNSEY, SHARON CROWLEY and YUKO GORDON have WON their division in the East of England track and field league for veterans (35 plus, EMAC).

Spartan Ladies sealed victory in the EMAC Central Division on Wednesday by winning the last league fixture at Milton Keynes. It was a close run thing, but gutsy performances and the return of two stalwarts saw the team win on the evening by 4 points and take the division by a 77 point margin.

Christine Lathwell and Alison Wood both returned from injury to run the mile, with Christine finishing second woman 35 plus (W35) and Alison winning the W50. Cathy Craig won the W60 mile race after warming up with a victory in the W60 300 metres hurdles! Sharon Crowley also used the hurdles as a warm up, finishing second in the W50 before throwing the hammer and finishing third W60.

Joylyn Saunders-Mullins and Tessa Stephenson continue to dominate the sprint events, both winning the 200m and Joylyn once again dropping an age group to compete in the W50 category. Joylyn also scored points in the javelin, finishing 2nd in W60 with a throw that would have won the W50 category! 

Regular training sessions at the track are paying off for Stephanie Biggar, who threw personal bests (PBs) in both hammer (second place) and javelin (third place). Marion Morley also threw a new PB in the hammer (second place) and also finished second in the javelin.

Other individual points were won on the night by Nikki Wilby, who stayed true to form by winning the W35 high jump, and Callie Chapman, who finished second in the W35 200m. 

The ladies relay teams – Nikki, Callie, Cathy, Christine and Tessa, Sharon, Marian, Alison rounded off the evening in style, winning both races and setting us up nicely for the final on 25th September.

A slightly depleted men’s team battled bravely, finishing fourth on the night and fourth overall in the Central Division. Wins on the night came from DAVE STEPHENSON (M50 200m) and TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS (M60 hammer). Other points were scored by ANTON McCALLA (third placed in M35 200m, javelin, and triple jump), GRANT RAMSAY (4th placed M35 mile), BARRY OSBORNE (3rd placed M60 mile), PAUL HOLGATE (5th placed M60 200m and 4th placed M60 mile), STEVE GOUGH (4th placed M50 javelin).  The relay team finished 4th.

Parkrun Highlight 4th September 2021

Thirty three Spartans headed out to run at seven different Parkrun venues.

Congratulations to SUZY HAWKINS who got a new PB at Stevenage with a time of 19:38. Suzy also claimed the titles of the Fastest Lady at Stevenage and the Fastest Spartan of the week.

DARRYL STEVENS was in Rosliston (Swadlincote) to try out Parkrun at a new venue to him.

There were no official Parkrun milestones this week but JOHN HARRIS has reached an unofficial milestone of 60 Parkruns at Letchworth.

PETE SMITH was sixth at the East Brighton parkrun in 23:34 and STEVE WELLS won the Ferry Meadows parkrun in 19:49.

Well done and congratulations to all.

Fly 5k

JIM BROWN ran his 50th Fly 5K on Saturday. This was the 69th Fly 5K. There were 147 runners from 38 clubs. He was second in his category and 53rd overall in 26 minutes exactly

PENNY SCHENKEL was 79th in 28:54 and PAUL HOLGATE 103rd in 31:04.

Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon

Only just over two months to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered. This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November

Entries are open and so please follow the link to enter: Stevenage Half Marathon

Tables

Spartans at the Stampede

PosRace NoNameLapsDist DoneTimeFastest LapSlowest LapAverage LapStart
1827Tricia HOPPER114411:14:1400:44:4601:39:5801:01:1708:59:59
2936Adrian BUSOLINI93606:16:3400:27:2501:15:5200:41:5008:59:59
4028Karen LIDDLE83211:14:1400:49:2702:38:2601:24:1608:59:59
4126Barry KING83211:14:1600:49:2802:38:2701:24:1708:59:59
4350Yuko GORDON72804:35:5300:37:5700:41:4800:39:2408:59:59
5458John NELMS72806:16:5800:38:4401:13:5400:53:5108:59:59
5552Hazel SMITH72806:17:0000:39:5101:11:5000:53:5108:59:59
5916Sharon CROWLEY72806:57:0700:49:2801:09:0700:59:3508:59:59
6537Claire EMMERSON62406:17:0000:40:0601:29:1201:02:5008:59:59
6629Neal MUGGLETON62406:17:0100:40:0801:28:5801:02:5008:59:59
6954Jacqueline DOWNES62407:03:4600:39:4903:05:0901:10:3708:59:59
7649Sue HAMER52004:27:0200:47:4001:07:1200:53:2408:59:59
7748Erica GRAYSON52004:27:0300:47:4001:07:1100:53:2408:59:59
7938Darren EMMERSON52004:39:2000:39:5301:16:1500:55:5208:59:59
8256Jenny GARRETT41604:47:4700:40:0602:10:2301:11:5608:59:59
8341Gerry ROSEN41605:12:5200:46:4702:10:3001:18:1308:59:59

There was also a four person relay team consisting of CHRIS HOLLAND (4); ANDY JAY (4); TRACY PEZ (4) and TIM ROBINSON (5) who completed a total of 17 laps in 11:50:05.

Spartans at Parkruns, 4th September


PositionGender PositionParkrunnerTime
Rosliston





16495Darryl STEVENS00:41:40New Venue






Stevenage





91Suzy HAWKINS00:19:38PB

5346Andrew MCGUINNESS00:23:24

6152Barry OSBORNE00:23:45

6756James MCSWEENEY00:24:05

7059Clive CANNON00:24:20

9374Toby ECCLESHALL00:25:40

9677Thomas SAUKA00:25:55

9879Jim BROWN00:26:00

10787Nick KLEANTHOUS00:26:34

11618Caroline BARTER00:27:07

14125Penny SCHENKEL00:28:33

15131Gail MACKIE00:29:28

15533Debbie BLANTERN00:29:42

16339Fiona CLARKE00:30:12

164117Matt CLARKE00:30:13

21767Georgie HOOPER00:33:06

218142Nick GILL00:33:07

25572Beth FOLEY00:33:28

24484Carole SHELDRICK00:34:31

24585Caroline CROFT00:34:32

24686Karen PALMER00:34:33

26999Shelbe MOONBEAM00:37:00






Houghton Hall





8367Michael O’KEEFE00:27:55






Wimpole Estate





25965Sally PHILLIPS00:34:59






Letchworth





8458John Harris00:30:4260th

12044Caren THAIN00:36:53