Tag: parkrun

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, 53^rd 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 27^th 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 26^th November 2022 – Penny in the Cape

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

In Stevenage PENNY SCHENKEL ran her 50^th 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 3^rd overall in 18:15 and GRANT RAMSAY 4^th 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:

Position	Name	Net Time	Open Category	Cat Pos	Gender	Gen Pos	Comments
53	Nick GILL	30:50	Senior	24	Male	49	PB (16:21)
86	Danny SCANLON	32:49	M40	30	Male	75	YB (year best)
106	Sam SIMMONS	33:40	Senior	37	Male	92	PB (4:13)
138	Peter SMITH	35:12	M60	8	Male	120	SB (3:05)
152	Mike JEFFS	35:32	Senior	50	Male	133	First 5 miles
153	Georgie HOOPER	35:32	Senior	4	Female	19	Team Bronze. PB (11:39)
181	Brian WHITE	36:51	M60	14	Male	151	YB
205	Marie COLUCCI	37:18	W40	10	Female	33	Team Bronze. SB (3:01)
210	Yuko GORDON	37:42	W70	1	Female	35	County Silver. Team Bronze. YB.
211	Marcus RIDLEY	37:34	Senior	61	Male	175	First five miles
213	Mark GOODWIN	37:34	M60	17	Male	177	SB (equal)
242	Harriet SMITH	38:59	Senior	12	Female	41	First five miles
266	Susan MCANENY	39:27	W40	17	Female	54	PB (0:05)
317	Nick KLEANTHOUS	42:19	M60	24	Male	230	PB (0:58)
334	Jim BROWN	42:39	M70	3	Male	239	County Gold. YB
354	Nicola ANDERSSON	43:38	W50	27	Female	105	PB (1:17)
414	Penny SCHENKEL	45:14	W50	36	Female	137	SB (1:42)
448	Matt TUTTON	46:46	Senior	80	Male	287	PB (0:37)
551	Jane WADEY	52:26	W50	65	Female	227	PB (1:48)
587	Sharon CROWLEY	55:03	W60	31	Female	257	SB (0:52)
596	Jonathan Clive JONES	56:55	M50	95	Male	331	YB
604	Dzenana TOPIC	57:40	W50	84	Female	271	YB

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

10 Spartans at the Bass Belle:

Position	Name	Time	Comments	BIB
27	PAUL SHELLEY	1:11:35	“SB” (2:50)	61
52	STEVEN DOBNER	1:15:04	“PB” (5:30)	19
56	DAVE PATTMAN	1:15:41	“PB” (1:50)	20
126	MATT CLARKE	1:25:11	“YB”	448
140	ALISON SHELLEY	1:27:41	“SB”	62
164	MO WARRILOW	1:29:38	“SB” (6:15)	84
206	MICHAEL O’KEEFE	1:35:00	First 10 miles	418
235	FIONA CLARKE	1:37:39	“YB”	447
236	CHLOE CHAPMAN	1:37:53	“PB” (6:19)	49
313	MONICA SMITHSON	1:51:24	“SB”	172

356 finishers

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

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
3	3	Adrian BUSOLINI	00:18:15	Top ten
4	4	Grant RAMSAY	00:18:58	Top ten
11	10	Matthew NEWTON	00:20:14
32	29	Paul SHELLEY	00:22:08
54	47	Martin DUDLEY	00:23:58
89	12	Gail MACKIE	00:25:43
90	75	Toby ECCLESHALL	00:25:44
95	78	Neal MUGGLETON	00:26:08
99	81	Michael O’KEEFE	00:26:15
100	82	Steven DOBNER	00:26:16
108	17	Mo WARRILLOW	00:26:41
109	87	David PATTMAN	00:26:42
134	107	Thomas SAUKA	00:27:47
161	121	Nick KLEANTHOUS	00:29:03
162	33	Alison SHELLEY	00:29:05
169	39	Chloe CHAPMAN	00:29:12
170	123	Sam SIMMONS	00:29:13
179	43	Nicola ANDERSSON	00:29:41
194	139	Jim BROWN	00:30:48
195	47	Penny SCHENKEL	00:30:49	50^th parkrun in the cape
203	53	Nikki Katherine NATION	00:31:08
234	71	Sheryl HANN	00:33:42
257	163	Stephen SMITHSON	00:34:55
264	84	Samantha SUTTON	00:35:56

314 finishers.

Tags Cross Country, parkrun

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 39^th 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 13^th 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, 8^th female at Stevenage.

Other top ten finishers are Adrian DONNELLY at Malahide (6^th, 19:20), John HARRIS at Letchworth (5^th, 20:40), Claire PULLEN at Stevenage (9^th 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)
1	1	Simon JACKSON	17:13
11	11	Paul SHELLEY	20:56
12	12	Tony RANDFIELD	20:58
25	25	Thomas SAUKA	22:34
43	41	Toby ECCLESHALL	23:57
46	44	Martin DUDLEY	24:04:00
51	47	Matt CLARKE	24:40:00
73	8	Susan MCANENY	26:46:00
74	9	Claire PULLEN	26:46:00
80	12	Alison SHELLEY	26:58:00
81	13	Gail MACKIE	27:02:00
85	15	Ashley SCHOENWETTER	27:14:00
88	18	Fiona CLARKE	27:23:00
91	72	Mark BEASLEY	27:54:00
107	84	Jim BROWN	29:01:00
110	25	Debbie BLANTERN	29:15:00
115	88	Steven DOBNER	29:35:00
144	103	Tony ARGYROU	32:50:00
146	38	Jane WADEY	33:04:00
154	41	Hilary DAVIES	34:23:00
180	117	Roger BIGGS	48:12:00
Bedford parkrun
150	36	Chloe CHAPMAN	30:20:00
151	111	Sam SIMMONS	30:22:00
Malahide parkrun
6	5	Adrian DONNELLY	19:20
Blandford parkrun
99	23	Catherine CRAIG	30:40:00
Burnham and Highbridge parkrun
214	139	Darryl STEVENS	38:23:00
Rutland Water parkrun
108	83	Chris HOLLAND	29:55:00
Letchworth parkrun
5	5	John HARRIS	20:40
Hunstanton Promenade parkrun
1	1	Jonathan PARR	17:58
Oriam parkrun
13	13	Grant RAMSAY	20:31
100	27	Nikki Katherine NATION	31:22:00
Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun
43	36	Michael O’KEEFE	28:22:00

Tags parkrun, St Albans 10k

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.

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

(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. 

Parkrun Highlights 19^th 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. 

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).

Tags Cross Country, Lisa Potter, parkrun

Club News Race Results

BIG HILLS AND BIG PUDDLES AT WATFORD

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date February 6, 2022
No Comments on 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 5^th 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 90^th 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.

New Spartan JANE WADEY completed her 20^th 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 94^th 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 5^th February

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time	Comment
Endcliffe parkrun
340	218	Mike REYNOLDS	28:56
Stevenage parkrun (32 FVS)
1	1	Jonathan PARR	17:01	Winner
10	8	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
7	7	Nick GILL	22:21
32	6	Georgie HOOPER	28:34
Sandy Water (Wales) parkrun
6	6	John HARRIS	20:53

Tags parkrun, Watford Half

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.

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.

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 25^th 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.

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 29^th January.

Late January and it was amazingly mild and sunny for the 227^th 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 5^th February.

Tables

Spartans at parkruns Saturday 29^th January

Parkrun	Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
Stevenage (24 Spartans)	4	4	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	6	6	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

Tags Arc of Attrition, parkrun, Serpentine 5K, Yuko Breaks UK Record

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 99^th he led in the Spartan men’s team with JOHN HARRIS 135^th in 1:09:49; PETE SMITH 193^rd in 1:13:01; and MARK GOODWIN 293^rd 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 54^th and 62^nd 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 83^rd 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, 90^th 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 6^th 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 13^th February.

A WIN for Jonathan – RunThrough Olympic Park 5k

On Saturday morning Spartan JONATHAN PARR WON the Olympic Park 5K with a time of 16 minutes 9 seconds.

Ciaran At Peddars

CIARAN MCANENY got fifth place overall at the 48 mile Peddars Way Ultra in a time of 6 hours 52 minutes.

The race follows the Peddars Way Trail from Knettishall Heath, just north of Bury St Edmunds, to Holme-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast; on a mix of forest path, bridleways and road.

Beautiful, crisp, sunny weather kept the trails firm and the late morning sun was just warm enough to make for comfortable running temperatures.

All went to plan in terms of pacing and nutrition with Ciaran finishing 24 minutes faster than his previous outing on the course.

Ciaran was very happy and, after missing most of last year’s racing due to niggling injuries, it was great to be back on such a nice course and in a really well run and friendly event 

Ciaran still smiling after an impressive 48 miles!

Fast Five for Feetham

Three laps 33:40 52^nd 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 52^nd out of the 680 finishers.

Speedy Kieran with his well earned medal!

Parkrun Highlights 22^nd January 2022

Yet another record was set at Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun. This was the 27^th since parkrun restarted for the 200^th local run and this time there were 365 finishers. The highest number since lock down. Despite some holding back for a ten mile championship race on Sunday twenty five Spartans completed a Parkrun this week, on a cold, crisp, sunny morning.

GRACE COVENTRY ran a parkrun personal best (PB) of 24 minutes 22 seconds at Stevenage, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week. GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 19:24 at Stevenage.

DARRYL STEVENS ran at Great Salterns Parkrun, Portsmouth, for the first time finishing with a time of 40:00. Astonishingly, this was the 94^th 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, 5^th February.

Tables

Spartans at the Fred Hughes 10 (including a county championship).

Pos	Name	Time	Category	Cat Pos	Gender	Gen Pos	%	Comments
99	Adrian DONNELLY	1:07:16	40 – 49	28	Male	86	68.68
135	John HARRIS	1:09:46	50 – 59	13	Male	117	76.11
193	Peter SMITH	1:13:01	50 – 59	28	Male	159	72.29
235	Yuko GORDON	1:15:35	65 +	2	Female	54	95.00	Second in category
252	Ashley JOHNSON	1:16:37	35 – 44	22	Female	62	66.71
293	Mark GOODWIN	1:18:32	60 – 69	9	Male	214	70.55
299	Marie COLUCCI	1:18:45	35 – 44	33	Female	83	65.76
303	Abigail PEZ	1:18:53	Under 20	1	Female	85	62.91	PB (7:30). Under 20 winner.
313	Tracy PEZ	1:19:26	45 – 54	26	Female	90	67.76
547	Andy JAY	1:31:40	50 – 59	97	Male	340	56.29
555	Wendy THARANI	1:31:37	45 – 54	67	Female	211	58.79
586	Jim BROWN	1:33:48	60 – 69	19	Male	353	61.71
610	Carol PAUL	1:35:45	55 – 64	32	Female	252	64.76
702	Sue HAMER	1:42:37	45 – 54	109	Female	318	53.99
703	Erica GRAYSON	1:42:37	45 – 54	110	Female	319	54.63
762	Paul HOLGATE	1:49:26	60 – 69	35	Male	400	50.75
776	Sharon CROWLEY	1:51:10	55 – 64	64	Female	374	57.51	First ten mile race in 3 years.

These are chip times, the time from when the runner crosses the start line to when they cross the finish line. Gun times are “bang” to finish line and it can take those at the back several minutes to start.

Spartans at parkruns Saturday 22^nd January

Stevenage parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
9	9	Grant RAMSAY	19:24
78	72	Lee PICKERSGILL	24:22	70th
79	7	Grace COVENTRY	24:23	PB
152	125	Wills JENNINGS	27:47
166	136	David PATTMAN	28:17
168	137	Nick KLEANTHOUS	28:20
180	141	Jim BROWN	28:45	1^st in category
182	142	Matt CLARKE	28:46
183	143	Karl SHREEVE	28:47	YB
228	57	Caroline CROFT	30:37
232	59	Fiona CLARKE	30:53
234	60	Chloe CHAPMAN	30:58
235	165	Stephen SMITHSON	31:00
239	63	Claire EMMERSON	31:06
256	73	Tracy HAYGARTH	31:51	70th
344	196	Steven DOBNER	41:15
345	137	Mo WARRILLOW	41:15
362	202	Roger BIGGS	49:42
364	149	Helen HARRIS	52:44	70th
Gunpowder parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
175	67	Karen BROOM	39:54	First parkrun since 2019
Letchworth parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
10	9	Nick GILL	22:40
32	4	Georgie HOOPER	26:55
Squerryes Winery parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
89	49	Peter CARPENTER	44:29	First parkrun in 2022
Great Salterns parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
212	127	Darryl STEVENS	40:00	New venue (of 94)
Westmill parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time	Comments
7	7	Danny SCANLON	22:01
Market Harborough parkrun
Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
117	86	Anton MCCALLA	27:47	First parkrun in 2022

Tags Cross Country, Fred Hughes 10, Olympic park 5K, parkrun, Peddars Way Ultra, Romsey 5 mile

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, 45^th overall in 40 minutes 22 seconds. She was fifth woman out of 169. Next came SUZY HAWKINS, 124^th in 45:17 and TRACEY JACKSON, 186^th in 49:31. YUKO GORDON was 198^th in 50:12 and HAZEL SMITH fifth counter for the women’s “A” team in 225^th 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 17^th in 37:58; KELVIN BEYOKU 39^th in 39:47; GRANT RAMSAY 61^st in 41:48; STEVE WELLS 104^th in 44:10; DANNY SCANLON 106^th in 44:17; STUART ARCHER 121^st 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 15^th 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 15^th 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.”

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 16^th January.

Position	Name	Official Time	Gender / Cat	Comments
7	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. 5^th 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..18^th 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. 34^th woman.
198	YUKO GORDON	50:12	W65	FA. 41^st woman.
216	DAVID KENNEDY	51:25	MS	MB
218	MARK GOODWIN	51:31	M60	MB
225	HAZEL SMITH	51:57	W45	FA. 49^th 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
5	5	Grant RAMSAY	19:13
26	2	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	5	Grace COVENTRY	25:05
96	84	Vishal SHAH	25:44
115	9	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

Tags parkrun, Watford Cross Country

Club News Race Results

COUNTY CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date January 9, 2022
No Comments on 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 53^rd place. Next came LINDA NOLAN 67^th in 51:45. SHARON CROWLEY came in 71^st with 55:23; CATHY CRAIG 73^rd with 57:23 and NIKKI NATION 74^th in 60:43. Women’s teams consisted of the four fastest runners.

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 13^th.

PAUL HEWETT was 58^th in 53:45 and STUART ARCHER 69^th in 55:16. The other “counters” were JOHN HARRIS 90^th in 58:57; MARK WILLIAMS 99^th in 60:13 and MARTIN WOOD 111^th 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 16^th 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 8^th 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 10^th 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.

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 (61^st, 5^th female and 1^st 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
8	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. 13^th team.

Tags County Cross Country, Essex Run Fest, parkrun, Victoria Park Half

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 60^th overall in 41 minutes 40 seconds; JOHN HARRIS 97^th and fourth male 55 plus in 44:15; MARIA SWIFT 439^th overall in 58:22 and PAUL HOLGATE 670^th in 1:06:00.

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

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.

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.

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 43^rd 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 31^st 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	1	1	Jonathan PARR	00:16:59
	4	4	Grant RAMSAY	00:19:41
	9	9	Danny SCANLON	00:20:08
	25	2	Ashley SCHOENWETTER	00:21:39
	28	25	Thomas SAUKA	00:22:10
	34	30	Sam SIMMONS	00:22:58
	43	3	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	9	6	Barry OSBORNE	00:25:57

Teignmouth Promenade	50	41	Andy JAY	00:24:03

Hunstanton Promenade	10	2	Nicola KENNEDY	00:22:30

Tags Coasts and Borders, Flitch Way, parkrun, Peterborough 10K

Club News Race Results

MOVING UP AT CROSS COUNTRY

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date December 19, 2021
No Comments on 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.

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

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 46^th at 30:54; KELVIN BEYOKU 57^th at 31:40; STUART ARCHER 70^th at 32:27; STEVE WELLS 99^th at 33:23 and DANNY SCANLON 104^th at 33:33.

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 16^th January.

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

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 18^th 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 177^th 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 80^th 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 (19^th December):

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

16 women and 29 men.

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

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

Spartan men fifth out of 19.

Tags parkrun, Stevenage Cross Country

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.

Next in was JOHN HARRIS at 23^rd 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 45^th 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.

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.

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 4^th 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 19^th 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 6^th November.

Brian White, head coach, added that despite the interruptions caused by COVID Fairlands Valley Spartans still organised 384 free coached sessions between 1^st January and 30^th 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	%
1	Simon JACKSON	MV40	1	1	27:56	82.7%
23	John HARRIS	MV50	5	20	35:05	73.9%
45	Andy JAY	MV50	10	37	39:54	63.7%
59	Hazel SMITH	FV45	4	13	42:20	62.7%
67	Nick KLEANTHOUS	MV50	14	51	43:47	59.1%
88	Erica GRAYSON	FV45	8	28	48:25	57.4%
90	Sue HAMER	FV45	10	30	48:30	56.7%
107	Catherine CRAIG	FV55+	7	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+	8	48	51:56	55.6%

Spartans at parkruns on Saturday 4^th December.

Parkrun	Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
Stevenage parkrun	25	1	Ashley JOHNSON	22:22	1^st 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	1^st 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	99^th 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	99^th PR
	227	84	Helen HARRIS	56:49
	228	127	Roger BIGGS	58:04

Endcliffe parkrun (Sheffield)	239	154	Mike REYNOLDS	27:58	75^th PR

Houghton Hall parkrun	60	49	Michael O’KEEFE	28:40

Evesham parkrun	24	21	Nigel STRONGITHARM	24:37

Letchworth parkrun	2	2	Grant RAMSAY	20:22	2^nd in race

Littleport parkrun	16	15	James MCSWEENEY	24:23	80^th PR

Lancing Beach Green parkrun	62	34	Darryl STEVENS	37:14	175^thPR

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

Tags Festive 5, Goodwood Marathon, Minsden Chapel, parkrun, Santa Canta, Valencia Marathon

Club News Race Results

SUNDAY BESTS FOR SPARTANS

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date November 28, 2021
No Comments on 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 40^th 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 209^th overall.

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

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.

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 25^th 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.

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 27^th 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 5^th 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 43^rd in 24:44.

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

Tables

Spartans at the Hatfield Five (Sunday 28^th):

Pos	Name	Gun	Chip	Category	Cat Pos	Gender	Gender Position	Comments
40	Dan HUKIN	29:33	29:28	Ages 40 – 49	9	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 28^th November):

Pos	First Name	Last Name	Time	Comments
25	Grant	Ramsay	1:07:25	SB
57	Yuko	Gordon	1:15:09	SB. 8^th 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	x
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 27^th November

Spartans (17) at Stevenage Parkrun

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
3	3	Grant RAMSAY	00:19:14
6	1	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	5	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

Tags Bass Belle, Hatfield 5, parkrun

Club News Race Results

GOLD AND SILVER FOR SPARTANS

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date November 21, 2021
No Comments on 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.

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).

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 55^th and first woman aged 55 plus in 26 minutes 41 seconds; NICOLA ANDERSSON was 71^st in 29:02 and PENNY SCHENKEL and JIM BROWN went round together to finish 100^th equal in 30:56. This was Jim’s 58^th 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
1	321	Andrew PATTERSON	01:12:55	Top3	1	Male	1	PB
2	218	Simon JACKSON	01:15:50	Top3	2	Male	2	YB
8	179	David HARRIS-CHERGUIT	01:19:30	Ages 40 – 49	1	Male	8	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	8	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	1	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	7	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	9	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	8	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	9	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
5	4	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
9	8	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	7	Eva RAMSEY	00:23:21

Letchworth parkrun

A total of 97 runners took part.

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
17	2	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

Tags County Championships, parkrun, St Neots, Stevenage half marathon

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.

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 21^st November.

Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons? Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21^st 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/

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 30^th 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 16^th 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 6^th(26:34, Erddig, near Wrexham), DAVID PATTMAN 10^th(19:58, Gunpowder, Waltham Abbey) and GAIL MACKIE 10^th (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 30^th October:

Position	Gender position		Time	Comments
Stevenage parkrun
1	1	Jonathan PARR	17:07
3	3	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	6	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

Tags Baldock Beast, Lulworth Cove Marathon, parkrun, Serpentine 5K, Stevenage half marathon

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 61^st 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 84^th 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…

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 39^th and Jim 51^st out of the 131 runners. This was a mixed terrain event with the start very close to Hatfield Station.

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 21^st 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 21^st 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 9^th 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 60^th 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 17^th 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	8	Gail MACKIE	00:25:32
	73	9	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

Tags Manchester Marathon, Metropolis, parkrun, Royal Parks Half, Stevenage half marathon, Willow 10k, Windsor, World Champion, Yuko Gordon

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 21^st 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 21^st 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 2^nd 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 89^th at the Lee-on-the Solent parkrun in 26 minutes 7 seconds.

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

Tags Dorney Marathon, parkrun, Stevenage half marathon, Virtual VLM, VLM London Marathon

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 100^th out of 747 overall (including seniors) in 44 minutes 10 seconds; JON FILBY 110^th in 45:06; MARK GOODWIN 157^th in 47:19 and ANDY JAY 227^th in 50:21.

Yuko Gordon led in the Spartan women in 120^th in 45:53 with Claire Pullen 153^rd in 47:12; TRACY PEZ 171^st 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 326^th and 327^th in 53 minutes 31 seconds and completed by CAROL PAUL 401^st 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 123^rd. 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 72^nd Fly 5K – Saturday 25^th September.

Lots of “real” races going on including the London Marathon this Sunday (3^rd) but the virtual Fly 5K races continue and two Spartans were in the action. NICOLA ANDERSSON was 65^th in 28:34 and PAUL HOLGATE 78^th in 30:27. He was third veteran man 60 plus and this was his 70^th 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 21^st 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	1^st 65+
153	00:47:30	CLAIRE PULLEN	47:12	Vet Ladies 55-64	677	1^st 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	1^st 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

6	6	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

Tags Bedford Autodrome, Fly 5K, Ladies win EMAC, parkrun, Robin Hood Half Marathon, Serpentine 5K, Standalone 10K, Stevenage half marathon

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 2^nd male in 23:02 with DANNY HUKIN 3^rd male in 18:34 and STUART ARCHER 4^th 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 23^rd out of the 393 finishers. Luke said it was hilly but worth it for the cake and was 100^th. James was 118^th and Jim 171^st.

NICOLA ANDERSSON was the fastest female from Fairlands. She was 168^th in 55 minutes 11 seconds. CAROLYN LINSELL was second woman aged 65 plus and 177^th with her 56 minutes 8 seconds. SARAH ILLINGWORTH was third Spartan woman and 188^th 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 262^nd, 263^rd and 264^th.

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 71^st Fly 5K – Saturday 18^th September.

Four regular Spartans competed in the 71^st run anywhere Fly 5K on Saturday. JIM BROWN was 70^th in 27 minutes 41 seconds; NICK KLEANTHOUS 79^th in 28:23; NICOLA ANDERSSON 86^th in 29:05 and PAUL HOLGATE 97^th 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 21^st 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 16^th September

Pos	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	OWN TIME	R	F	H’CAP	TIME	COMP H’CAP	PB	Impr
1	DAVID	PRICE	24:34	12		17:00	41:32	3:26	PB
2	FIONA	CLARKE	26:14	15	4	16:00	42:17	2:46	YB	1:52
3	NICOLA	HATHERLY	34:44	26	13	7:30	42:20	2:46	YB
4	CAROLYN	LINSELL	26:24	17	6	16:15	42:33	2:21
5	CHLOE	CHAPMAN	26:58	19	8	15:45	42:43	2:17	SB	0:33
6	MATT	CLARKE	23:02	7		19:45	42:45	2:13	SB	0:13
7	DANNY	HUKIN	18:34	1		24:15	42:51	2:11	SB
8	STUART	ARCHER	19:27	2		23:30	42:59	2:03	YB	0:22
9	ANDY	JAY	23:46	10		19:30	43:19	1:44	SB	1:40
10	DEAN	CARPENTER	21:53	5		21:30	43:23	1:37	YB
11	MARK	BEASLEY	25:39	13		18:00	43:41	1:21	YB	0:04
12	MARIE	COLUCCI	22:56	6	1	20:45	43:42	1:19	SB
13	SALLY	PICKLES	36:12	27	14	7:30	43:43	1:18	YB
14	JANE	McFARLANE	27:42	21	9	16:00	43:45	1:18	SB
15	TRACEY	JACKSON	23:32	8	2	20:15	43:47	1:13	SB
16	TRACY	PEZ	23:32	9	3	20:15	43:48	1:13	SB	1:09
17	PETER	SMITH	21:40	4		22:15	43:56	1:05	SB	0:54
18	NICK	KLEANTHOUS	25:58	14		18:00	43:58	1:02	YB	0:04
19	BRIAN	WHITE	21:15	3		22:45	44:00	1:00
20	VISHAL	SHAH	27:26	20		16:30	44:19	1:04
21	NICOLA	ANDERSSON	26:21	16	5	18:00	44:22	0:39
22	NIGEL	STRONGITHARM	24:07	11		20:15	44:22	0:38	SB	0:33
23	STEPHANIE	BIGGAR	36:45	28		7:45	44:30	0:30
24	JUDY	KING	33:29	25	12	11:30	45:05	0:01
25	KELLY	EVANS	26:54	18	7	18:30	45:24	(0:24)	YB
26	DZENANA	TOPIC	31:52	23	10	14:45	46:37	(1:37)	YB
27	SHARON	CROWLEY	32:20	24	11	14:45	46:53	(2:05)	SB	2:21
28	TIM	ROBINSON	28:29	22		18:45	47:13	(2:14)

Stevenage 10K – Sunday 19^th September (394 finishers)

Post	Cat	Name	Cat	Gun Time	Chip Time	AGrade	Comments
23.	3	Brian WHITE	MV60	0:42:22	0:42:21	81.9%	3MV60 3^rd Team
100.	29	Luke GURNEY	MS	0:50:45	0:50:12	52.6%	3^rd Team
109.	25	Nigel STRONGITHARM	MV50	51:20	50:03	62.7%
118.	33	James MCSWEENEY	MS	0:52:00	0:51:19	51.8%	3^rd Team
168.	19	Nicola ANDERSSON	FV45	0:55:34	0:55:11	62.4%
171.	11	Jim BROWN	MV60	0:55:45	0:55:21	61.6%	3^rd Team
177.	2	Carolyn LINSELL	FV65	0:56:31	0:56:08	73.7%	2FV65
188.	21	Sarah ILLINGWORTH	FV45	0:57:12	0:56:59	59.9%
219.	51	John HARDING	MS	0:59:38	0:58:24	44.8%
255.	19	Paul HOLGATE	MV60	1:02:30	1:01:56	54.4%
262.	36	Penny SCHENKEL	FV45	1:02:59	1:02:15	55.0%
263.	37	Sue HAMER	FV45	1:03:01	1:01:50	54.3%
264.	38	Erica GRAYSON	FV45	1:03:01	1:01:49	55.7%
296.	19	Monica SMITHSON	FV55	1:06:14	1:05:30	55.7%
313.	23	Angie KEELING	FV35	1:07:54	1:06:40	46.2%
320.	26	Toni NICHOLS	FV35	1:08:35	1:07:20	45.2%
326.	27	Christine ZVEREV	FV35	1:09:12	1:08:40	44.4%
337.	54	Tracy HAYGARTH	FV45	1:11:15	1:10:31	49.2%
342.	56	Carole SHELDRICK	FV45	1:12:03	1:10:49	45.9%
344.	24	Karen PALMER	FV55	1:12:03	1:10:50	50.5%

Tags Handicap 5k, parkrun, Stevenage 10K, Stevenage half marathon

Club News Race Results

100 FOR JOHN AT THE STAMPEDE

Post author By Vicky Archer
Post date September 5, 2021
No Comments on 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 100^th 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 28^th 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 4^th 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 50^th Fly 5K on Saturday. This was the 69^th Fly 5K. There were 147 runners from 38 clubs. He was second in his category and 53^rd overall in 26 minutes exactly

PENNY SCHENKEL was 79^th in 28:54 and PAUL HOLGATE 103^rd 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 21^st November

Entries are open and so please follow the link to enter: Stevenage Half Marathon

Tables

Spartans at the Stampede

Pos	Race No	Name	Laps	Dist Done	Time	Fastest Lap	Slowest Lap	Average Lap	Start
18	27	Tricia HOPPER	11	44	11:14:14	00:44:46	01:39:58	01:01:17	08:59:59
29	36	Adrian BUSOLINI	9	36	06:16:34	00:27:25	01:15:52	00:41:50	08:59:59
40	28	Karen LIDDLE	8	32	11:14:14	00:49:27	02:38:26	01:24:16	08:59:59
41	26	Barry KING	8	32	11:14:16	00:49:28	02:38:27	01:24:17	08:59:59
43	50	Yuko GORDON	7	28	04:35:53	00:37:57	00:41:48	00:39:24	08:59:59
54	58	John NELMS	7	28	06:16:58	00:38:44	01:13:54	00:53:51	08:59:59
55	52	Hazel SMITH	7	28	06:17:00	00:39:51	01:11:50	00:53:51	08:59:59
59	16	Sharon CROWLEY	7	28	06:57:07	00:49:28	01:09:07	00:59:35	08:59:59
65	37	Claire EMMERSON	6	24	06:17:00	00:40:06	01:29:12	01:02:50	08:59:59
66	29	Neal MUGGLETON	6	24	06:17:01	00:40:08	01:28:58	01:02:50	08:59:59
69	54	Jacqueline DOWNES	6	24	07:03:46	00:39:49	03:05:09	01:10:37	08:59:59
76	49	Sue HAMER	5	20	04:27:02	00:47:40	01:07:12	00:53:24	08:59:59
77	48	Erica GRAYSON	5	20	04:27:03	00:47:40	01:07:11	00:53:24	08:59:59
79	38	Darren EMMERSON	5	20	04:39:20	00:39:53	01:16:15	00:55:52	08:59:59
82	56	Jenny GARRETT	4	16	04:47:47	00:40:06	02:10:23	01:11:56	08:59:59
83	41	Gerry ROSEN	4	16	05:12:52	00:46:47	02:10:30	01:18:13	08:59:59

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, 4^th September

	Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
Rosliston
	164	95	Darryl STEVENS	00:41:40	New Venue

Stevenage
	9	1	Suzy HAWKINS	00:19:38	PB
	53	46	Andrew MCGUINNESS	00:23:24
	61	52	Barry OSBORNE	00:23:45
	67	56	James MCSWEENEY	00:24:05
	70	59	Clive CANNON	00:24:20
	93	74	Toby ECCLESHALL	00:25:40
	96	77	Thomas SAUKA	00:25:55
	98	79	Jim BROWN	00:26:00
	107	87	Nick KLEANTHOUS	00:26:34
	116	18	Caroline BARTER	00:27:07
	141	25	Penny SCHENKEL	00:28:33
	151	31	Gail MACKIE	00:29:28
	155	33	Debbie BLANTERN	00:29:42
	163	39	Fiona CLARKE	00:30:12
	164	117	Matt CLARKE	00:30:13
	217	67	Georgie HOOPER	00:33:06
	218	142	Nick GILL	00:33:07
	255	72	Beth FOLEY	00:33:28
	244	84	Carole SHELDRICK	00:34:31
	245	85	Caroline CROFT	00:34:32
	246	86	Karen PALMER	00:34:33
	269	99	Shelbe MOONBEAM	00:37:00

Houghton Hall
	83	67	Michael O’KEEFE	00:27:55

Wimpole Estate
	259	65	Sally PHILLIPS	00:34:59

Letchworth
	84	58	John Harris	00:30:42	60th
	120	44	Caren THAIN	00:36:53

Tags Bedford 20, EMAC, Fly 5K, parkrun, stampede

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