A Fab Four from Fairlands tackled the hilly but popular Watford Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
It was one of those days when everything seemed to be damp, though during the race there was no more than drizzle, but that didn’t stop Spartan JAY PAPA pacing a group to squeeze under the key 1:30 barrier with 1 hour 29 minutes 25 seconds. WAYNE SIMMONS was under two with 1:59:01.
Not yet risking 100% but getting back into it JIM BROWN was content with his 2:07:37 and LUCY PAUL looked very comfortable going round in 2:10:54.
Position
Name
Time
Percentage
112
JAY PAPA
1:29:25
64.71%
870
WAYNE SIMMONS
1:59:01
60.06%
1115
JIM BROWN
2:07:37
62.14%
1159
LUCY PAUL
2:10:54
52.67%
1589 finishers.
Peddars Way Ultra 2026
Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI loves a trail run and this time it was the 76 kilometres of the Peddars Way starting from Knettishall, near Thetford and heading for the coast.
He was fourth in 7 hours 11 minutes 45 seconds.
Serpie
It was like a Spring morning in Hyde Park for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K. Spartan JIM BROWN enjoyed his lunch-time run in 29:01.
Parkrun Highlights
Nudging 600 again there were 582 finishers in Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun. That included 229 women and 38 Spartans. This was the 439th Stevenage parkrun.
LINDA GEORGE set a new parkrun PB of 25:37 of 25:37 and was the fastest female from Fairlands. It was a century for JAMES SOUTH. A new major milestone of 100 parkruns. This one in 25:48.
ANDREW JORDAN achieved a new parkrun PB of 27:33.
Spartans elsewhere included CHARLIE WHITE; GEORGIE HOOPER; JAY PAPA; NICK GILL and CHARLES ARNOLD who were all at the Great Denham parkrun. Charlie was second overall in 17:31; Georgie third woman and under 20 with 19:54 finishing with Jay 19:54 and Nick 19:55. Charles came in with 22:43.
PETER SACH ran the Peel parkrun, Salford in 27:27. There were three at Letchworth – LEWIS GREEN 24:55; TONY RANDFIELD 28:21 and SUZY HAWKINS 29:31.
No doubt warming up part of the course for the following day’s Watford half marathon JESSICA CLARKE ran the Cassiobury parkrun in 29:18.
Fairlands Valley Spartans sent men’s and women’s teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans on Sunday. Veterans start at age 35 for women and 40 for men with age category breaks every ten years. The championships were incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race.
There were 415 women and 410 men in the race.
Clearly ABIGAIL PEZ could not count towards a veterans’ team but she did WIN the race for women under 20 with a new personal best (PB) of 1 hours 18 minutes 53 seconds. That’s seven and a half minutes faster than her previous ten miles PB!
The fastest Spartan was ADRIAN DONNELLY in the first 100 of the 825 finishers with 67 minutes 16 seconds. At 99th he led in the Spartan men’s team with JOHN HARRIS 135th in 1:09:49; PETE SMITH 193rd in 1:13:01; and MARK GOODWIN 293rd in 1:18:32.
It was teams of three in the women’s race and YUKO GORDON and ASHLEY JOHNSON were well up there at 54th and 62nd out of 415 women. Yuko, running against people several years younger than her, was second in the 65 plus category in 1 hour 15 minutes 35 seconds and took SILVER in the County Championships. She had a higher age related score which was 95.00%! MARIE COLUCCI impressed at 83rd woman and was the Spartans third counter with 1:18:45.
A selection of our 10 milers with Abi winning in the first square!
Ten women were running for the Spartans. The others were TRACY PEZ, 90th woman in 1:19:26; WENDY THARANI 1:31:37; CAROL PAUL 1:35:45; SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON both in 1:42:37 and SHARON CROWLEY 1:51:10.
The other three men were ANDY JAY 1:31:40; JIM BROWN happy to get round “steady state” in 1:33:48 and recovering after recent mishaps and PAUL HOLGATE 1:49:26.
In addition ANN TRYSSESOONE was not eligible for the Spartan teams but finished in 1 hour 26 minutes 40 seconds.
All this on the undulating roads and lanes to the south west of St. Albans including Potters Crouch, Chiswell Green and a favourite climb up past mile six to the edge of Bedmond. So good to see this classic club organised race back.
These were the mildest conditions many veterans of the Fred Hughes Ten could remember. It’s usually notorious for icy patches, snowing during the event, freezing winds or just chucking down large amounts of very cold rain.
The next county road championships will be at the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday 6th February.
(The Spartans results table can be found near the end of this release).
Spartan Women Jump In Cross Country
Much greater participation helped boost the Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team to fourth out of nineteen clubs in the latest cross country league race which was at Watford. They won the veteran women’s team race.
This time there were five Spartan women in the top fifty and eighteen running. They were twelfth, eleventh and eleventh in the first three races so this is a tremendous improvement. The women’s “A” team were CHRIS LATHWELL, SUZY HAWKINS, TRACEY JACKSON, YUKO GORDON and HAZEL SMITH.
The Spartan men were seventh at Watford with JONATHAN PARR in the top ten out of 405 finishers. In the combined scores over the series so far the Spartans are seventh. The final event will be on Therfield Heath, Royston on Sunday 13th February.
A WIN for Jonathan – RunThrough Olympic Park 5k
On Saturday morning Spartan JONATHAN PARR WON the Olympic Park 5K with a time of 16 minutes 9 seconds.
Another great win for Jonathan!
Ciaran At Peddars
CIARAN MCANENY got fifth place overall at the 48 mile Peddars Way Ultra in a time of 6 hours 52 minutes.
The race follows the Peddars Way Trail from Knettishall Heath, just north of Bury St Edmunds, to Holme-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast; on a mix of forest path, bridleways and road.
Beautiful, crisp, sunny weather kept the trails firm and the late morning sun was just warm enough to make for comfortable running temperatures.
All went to plan in terms of pacing and nutrition with Ciaran finishing 24 minutes faster than his previous outing on the course.
Ciaran was very happy and, after missing most of last year’s racing due to niggling injuries, it was great to be back on such a nice course and in a really well run and friendly event
Ciaran still smiling after an impressive 48 miles!
Fast Five for Feetham
Three laps 33:40 52nd out of 680.
KIERAN FEETHAM did the Romsey 5 mile race on Sunday. Although it’s classed as multi-terrain with a 700 metres non-tarmac section for each of the three laps it’s flat and fast.
The race was delayed by 15 minutes and Kieran had to warm up again as it was cold. He said he found a good group to stay with for the first three miles but then unfortunately got held up trying to pick his way through some back markers and lost that group. So he ended up on his own into a headwind. The last mile marker was in the wrong place so Kieran was slightly panicking why it was taking so long to complete it but he was happy to hold on for a new PB (personal best) of 33 minutes 40 seconds. An improvement of 1 minute 42 seconds. He was 52nd out of the 680 finishers.
Speedy Kieran with his well earned medal!
Parkrun Highlights 22nd January 2022
Yet another record was set at Saturday’s Stevenage parkrun. This was the 27th since parkrun restarted for the 200th local run and this time there were 365 finishers. The highest number since lock down. Despite some holding back for a ten mile championship race on Sunday twenty five Spartans completed a Parkrun this week, on a cold, crisp, sunny morning.
GRACE COVENTRY ran a parkrun personal best (PB) of 24 minutes 22 seconds at Stevenage, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week. GRANT RAMSAY was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 19:24 at Stevenage.
Some of our Stevenage Parkrunners.
DARRYL STEVENS ran at Great Salterns Parkrun, Portsmouth, for the first time finishing with a time of 40:00. Astonishingly, this was the 94th venue he has tried out!
ANTON McCALLA (27:46 at Market Harborough) and PETER CARPENTER (44:29, Squerryes Winery) completed their first parkruns of the year.
JIM BROWN (28:45) won his category and KARL SHREEVE (28:47) achieved a year best at Stevenage.
Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, three Spartans have reached 70 runs at Stevenage with LEE PICKERSGILL finishing at 24:23, TRACY HAYGARTH at 31:51 and HELEN HARRIS finishing at 52:44.
It’s stripy Saturday on Saturday, 5th February.
Tables
Spartans at the Fred Hughes 10 (including a county championship).
These are chip times, the time from when the runner crosses the start line to when they cross the finish line. Gun times are “bang” to finish line and it can take those at the back several minutes to start.
