What a fantastic day for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the London Marathon. Two Spartans under 2 hours 40 minutes – that’s championship level, a third close to a world record, 17 runners and 44 helpers.
ANDREW PATTERSON and SIMON FRASER both swept under 2 hours 40 minutes with Andrew 505th out of about 50,000 finishers in 2 hours 38 minutes 37 seconds and Simon 545th in a tremendous new personal best (PB) by 7 minutes 15 seconds with 2:39:10.
YUKO GORDON won her age group by more than 35 minutes and came close to a world record for a woman aged 70 plus with 3 hours 28 minutes 20 seconds (3:28:20).
Spartan TANYA BRAZIER took exactly 29 minutes off her marathon personal best when she finished in 4 hours 10 minutes 1 second and FIONA CLARKE took 8:47 off hers with 4:21:00.
Three were running their first marathons – CHARLOTTE BRAZIER with 4:30:26; SAM MAIDENS with 4:32:57; and MICHAEL O’KEEFE with 4:34:10.
There were season’s bests by CHRIS HOLLAND 4:44:36; TRUDIE KING 5:15:17; BARRY KING 5:38:07 and MARIA THORNE 5:43:41.
JIM BROWN could be running next year as he qualified Good For Age with 4 hours 50 minutes 5 seconds (4:50:05).
MIKE JEFFS completed his second marathon at London with 3 hours 29 minutes 22 seconds. He said it was tough work but the atmosphere and crowd got him over the line.
An eighteenth Spartan ROBERT WRIGHT ran the London Marathon virtually in 4:24:52.
The Spartans organised a huge number of volunteers to provide helpers on three baggage lorries just after the finish on The Mall. Something FVS have done very efficiently for many years and vital so that runners get their kit back after their 26.2 miles.
Boston Marathon
Spartan PETE SMITH ran the 127th Boston Marathon the 17th April in 3 hours 35 minutes 20 seconds (3:35:20). He said it was a hilly course and now knows why it’s called Heartbreak Hill! It was a tad wet but he thoroughly enjoyed it!
Centurion Track 100
On Saturday, Spartan CIARAN MCANENY competed in the Centurion Track 100 mile race at Bedford Athletics Stadium.
This is an IAU Gold elite level event, designed for runners to compete under the fastest possible conditions and with a focus on record setting. The main focus is on the 100 mile distance, but official records are also taken at 50km, 50 mile, 100km, 6hr and 12hrs en-route.
Ciaran was crewed by fellow Spartans Adrian Busolini and Susan McAneny, who gave amazing support for every lap and made sure he was sticking to his pacing and nutrition plan.
The race saw multiple national records fall and a V50 100 mile World Record set. Amongst all of this, Ciaran set a PB completing 100 miles in 16:17:20 (including a 100km PB of 9:25:32 and a 12hr PB of 124.226km).
Endurance Pembrokeshire Half
Spartan NICK GILL ran the Pembrokeshire Half in Wales on the 22nd April. It is part of the Endurancelife coastal trail series.
The route goes along the stunning Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Nick said that he really wanted to enjoy it so wasn’t pushing too hard, but had a great second half and somehow ended up finishing 7th out of 180 finishers in 1:52:14!
Parkrun Highlights
For the consolidated results please click the link – Consolidated Parkrun Results 22nd April 2023