LUKE GURNEY thoroughly enjoyed his first marathon which was at Brighton. He said it was a difficult final few miles but the gorgeous sea views and the mass crowds kept him going. He finished in 4 hours 28 minutes 6 seconds.
Tom Happy in the New Forest
Spartan THOMAS SAUKA said “I’ll have that” after running the off road New Forest Marathon in 5 hours 41 minutes 53 seconds. He added, “43.13 kilometres of beautiful New Forest trails, well happy and they even had beer at the finish line.”
Great North Run Half Marathon
STEVEN DOBNER said the Great North Run was an awesome race. He loved every second and really enjoyed this year’s out and back course. He ran at his planned marathon pace but kicked on as he felt good and finished in 1 hour 54 minutes 47 seconds.
ADRIAN DONNELLY ran 1:28:01 in the Great North Run, and was thrilled to beat my personal best (PB) by four minutes. The route was changed to an out and back finishing back in Newcastle so we had the added bonus of crossing the iconic Tyne bridge twice. He said, “It was great to get also get unexpected cheer from another Spartan going in the opposite direction.”
Baldock Rat Run 5K
Spartan JOHN HARRIS ran the Baldock Rat Run 5K in 21 minutes 59 seconds. He was 11th overall whilst TIM ROBINSON completed in 30:27.
SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON also did the Baldock Rat Run.
Sue finished in 29 minutes and 32 seconds and Erica in 29:35.
Sue said it was an interesting run, the dark tunnel being an interesting challenge, especially if you were still wearing sunglasses!!
Richmond Run Festival
FIONA CLARKE ran her second road marathon finishing in 5:48:55 whilst SAM SIMMONS finished in 3:41:58.
MATT CLARKE and CHLOE CHAPMAN completed the half marathon in 1:31:58 and 2:13:38 respectively.
Parkrun Highlights
Thirty Fairlands Valley Spartans ran in Parkrun Events across the UK this week. A total of 324 people ran at Stevenage.
ANDREW PATTERSON dominated the Hove Promenade event coming first overall in a time of 16 minutes 18 seconds. While JONATHAN PARR demonstrated similar flair coming second, in 17 mins 13 secs, at the Cassiobury run. Finishing in the top 20 on the Sandy water course, CRAIG BACON ran a time of 21 mins and 33 secs (16th).
In Stevenage, four Spartans finished in the top 40 females, GAIL MACKIE was 13th in 25 minutes 51 seconds closely followed by JULIE SIMMONS (17th) in 26 minutes and 14 seconds, DEBBIE BLANTERN (28:45) and PENNY SCHENKEL (29:34).
NICK KLEANTHOUS ran his 90th parkrun.
(You can find all the Spartan parkrunners in a table near the end of this release).
The 70th Fly 5K
Four Spartans enjoyed the 70th Fly 5K on Saturday. They were NICK KLEANTHOUS 70th in 28:02; JIM BROWN 84th in 29:30; PENNY SCHENKEL 85th in 29:34 and PAUL HOLGATE 87th in 29:50.
Fly 5K was one of the stars of lockdown keeping runners moving and in touch during the restrictions. The first virtual race was in June 2020.
Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon
Only just over two months to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon and it’s time to start getting ready and entered. This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November (a couple of weeks later than usual). You can enter here: Stevenage Half Marathon
Each Year the Spartans nominate a charity to support and the chosen charity for 2021 is Feed Up Warm Up.
Tables
Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.
Spartans at Parkruns on Saturday 11th September.
| Position | Gender Position | Parkrunner | Time | ||
| Stevenage parkrun | |||||
| 51 | 48 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 00:23:11 | ||
| 55 | 52 | Barry OSBORNE | 00:23:18 | ||
| 67 | 61 | James MCSWEENEY | 00:24:12 | ||
| 70 | 63 | Clive CANNON | 00:24:22 | ||
| 83 | 73 | Darren EMMERSON | 00:24:57 | ||
| 98 | 85 | Mark BEASLEY | 00:25:43 | ||
| 102 | 13 | Gail MACKIE | 00:25:51 | ||
| 114 | 17 | Julie SIMMONS | 00:26:14 | ||
| 150 | 119 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 00:28:01 | ||
| 160 | 125 | Mike GREEN | 00:28:29 | ||
| 165 | 32 | Debbie BLANTERN | 00:28:45 | ||
| 182 | 137 | Jim BROWN | 00:29:33 | ||
| 183 | 38 | Penny SCHENKEL | 00:29:34 | ||
| 197 | 149 | Paul SHELLEY | 00:29:53 | ||
| 199 | 150 | David PATTMAN | 00:29:56 | ||
| 200 | 151 | Edward HARE | 00:29:57 | ||
| 201 | 152 | Steven DOBNER | 00:29:58 | ||
| 224 | 50 | Chloe CHAPMAN | 00:31:21 | ||
| 231 | 56 | Fiona CLARKE | 00:31:35 | ||
| 232 | 166 | Matt CLARKE | 00:31:36 | ||
| 254 | 69 | Beth FOLEY | 00:33:20 | ||
| 303 | 189 | Paul JENNINGS | 00:38:53 | ||
| Brockenhurst parkrun | |||||
| 112 | 68 | Darryl STEVENS | 00:41:35 | ||
| Wimpole Estate parkrun | |||||
| 286 | 101 | Sally PHILLIPS | 00:35:00 | ||
| Cassiobury parkrun | |||||
| 2 | 2 | Jonathan PARR | 00:17:13 | ||
| Hove Promenade parkrun | |||||
| 1 | 1 | Andrew PATTERSON | 00:16:18 | ||
| Dunstable Downs parkrun | |||||
| 44 | 32 | Michael O’KEEFE | 00:28:59 | ||
| Sandy Water parkrun | |||||
| 16 | 16 | Craig BACON | 00:21:33 |