Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the team prize at Sunday’s Hitchin 10K road race plus ANDREW PATTERSON was second man and ASHLEY JOHNSON second woman overall.
Only a week after an outstanding run in the London Marathon Andrew was second in the race with 34 minutes 26 seconds, a new season’s best by 1 minute 22 seconds.
Ashley was second woman overall, first in her age category and ran a new 10K personal best (PB) by 38 seconds with 41 minutes 59 seconds (41:59).
The other Spartan team counters were DAN HUKIN 13th overall in 38:05, his best this year, and fourth in age category, and DANNY SCANLON 41st in 41:05, a season’s best by 2 seconds. The FVS team won by 1 minute and 1 second.
PENNY SCHENKEL expected she was going to take 70 minutes but took 1 minute 48 seconds off her season’s best time when she finished in 1:00:27.
JIM BROWN said he was pleased to finish the Hitchin 10K only 28 seconds outside his best time of the year with 56:06.
MICHAEL O’KEEFE was another Spartan who ran at London. He maintained a sensible 10 minutes per mile pace and finished the 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in 1:00:06.
JANE WADEY said she was pleased with her results. 65:40 was just 38 seconds short of her PB despite running with a sore ankle.
(Photo Credit, Main Photo – Marie Colucci)
County Track and Field Championships
There were eight members of the club at the County Track and Field Championships for veterans at Ridlins on bank holiday Monday.
In the 1500 metres MO WARILLOW won GOLD in the women 45 plus race with 6 minutes 57.56 seconds (6:57.56); SHARON CROWLEY won GOLD in the women 55 plus event with 8:06.10; PAUL HOLGATE won GOLD in the men’s 60 plus category with 8:23.88 and JIM BROWN won GOLD in the 70 plus race with 7:47.26.
DAVID PATTMAN won 1500 metre SILVER in the MV40 category race with 5:37.81 and STEVEN DOBNER MV40 BRONZE with 5:43.94. THOMAS SAUKA just missed out on the medals with 5:50.56.
In the sprints DAVE STEPHENSON won the men 60 plus 100 metres in 14.2 seconds and the men 60 plus 200 metres in 29.45 seconds.
SHARON CROWLEY took SILVER in the hammer with 16.32 metres.
Photo Credit -Dave Stephenson
Serpentine
Jim Brown ran Friday’s Serpentine 5K in 27 minutes 54 seconds (27:54). He was second MV70.
Trent Park Cross Country – Three Top Tens for Spartans and Women Move Up
Despite trees being blown down by strong winds a few days ago the cross country league fixture in Trent Park, near Cockfosters went ahead. This was the second race in this season’s series and Fairlands Valley Spartans increased their turnout compared with race one. This time 34 Spartans, 19 men and 15 women, enjoyed the mud. A total of 492 including 212 women from 21 clubs competed.
Three Spartans achieved three top ten positions. SIMON JACKSON 10th overall for the five miles in 28:23 – he was also second man 40 plus; CHRISTINE LATHWELL second woman in 30:34 – and first woman 45 plus and MICHELLE REEVES eighth in 32:16. YUKO GORDON was first woman 65 plus and 48th woman in 38:16.
A stronger turnout this time meant the Spartan women moved up from 11th to sixth place. Their “A” team was completed by GEORGIE HOOPER 49th woman in 38:18 and TRACEY JACKSON 60th in 39:42. The “B” team was led in by KELLY McHALE, 61st in 39:47 with HARRIET SMITH 82nd in 41:19 and PAULA DUNNE 85th in 41:25 not far behind.
The men were 12th this time. Next in after Simon were GRANT RAMSAY 66th overall in 31:49; DANNY SCANLON 115th in 33:53; PETE SMITH 167th in 36:11 and NICK GILL 168th in 36:15.
2022 was the 37th running of the popular Snowdon Marathon, considered to be one of the best marathons in the UK despite the difficulty of the course with three BIG climbs and a very technical off-road section between 22 – 25 miles that sees many runners lose their footing and cross the finish line covered in mud. Heavy rain at the beginning and finish together with strong winds ensured this year’s race was as tricky as usual if not trickier but that did not prevent the two Spartans taking part continuing to add to their long runs of consecutive finishes in the years that the race has gone ahead. SHARON CROWLEY who has run more Snowdon marathons than any other female finished her 29th Snowdon marathon in 6 hours 32 minutes 25 seconds (6:32:25) for 1520th position while PAUL HOLGATE finished 1591st with 7:17:44 in his 32nd Snowdon marathon. (He’s run every year that the race has taken place since 1988).
There were 1,601 finishers from the 2,500 runners that entered.
Sharon with her 29th medal for Snowdon Marathon!
John Harris Selected for England
On the strength of his performance in the recent York Marathon Spartan JOHN HARRIS has been selected for England.
Next year he will be running in the England Masters Marathon Team based on his recent marathon qualifying time and top three placing. He has trained all year for this and is so pleased to make the team. The representative race will be at the Chester Marathon next October.
Well done John!!
Serpentine Thirtieth Anniversary 5K
There have been lunch-time 5Ks in Hyde Park, London since October 1992 and the thirtieth anniversary fell on Friday. Spartan PENNY SCHENKEL was delighted to improve her 5K time to 27 minutes 52 seconds (27:52). JIM BROWN went round in 27:10.
Well done on your PB Penny!
Cockbain’s Track 100
ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran the Cockbain’s Track 100. He said he was running in circles for no particular reason. Due to lack of fitness, he had planned to DNS (not start), but at the last minute decided to show up to ‘run for a few hours’. A few turned into 23.
Adrian ran 100 miles, that’s 403 laps of the 400 metre track, in 23 hours 8 minutes 59 seconds. He was 14th out of the 21 that finished, 51 started.
Adrian back out doing what he does best… long distances, although in circles this time!
Hertfordshire Half and 10K
Spartan JOHN NELMS ran the Hertfordshire Half Marathon, starting and finishing at Knebworth House, in 2 hours 8 minutes 54 seconds. He was 538th out of 900 finishers.
JANE McFARLANE was encouraging a friend to a new personal best in the Hertfordshire 10K and was 333rd out of the 501 finishers in 61 minutes 42 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 29th October 2022
Alison SHELLEY and Jim BROWN reached their 100 Parkrun milestones on the Stevenage course in 32 minutes and 46 seconds and 32 minutes and 47 seconds respectively. They enjoyed running around in their “100” capes on what was the nearest Saturday to Halloween. At the same location, Matt TUTTON ran a PB time of 27 minutes and 23 seconds.
The FVS Ladies continued their winning streak in the Eastern Masters Athletics league meeting in perfect conditions at Cambridge on Wednesday evening. The team of 14 greatly outnumbered the opposition, allowing everyone to focus on one or two events instead of having to cope with multiple shoe changes! FVS had a clean sweep in the high jump competition, with Nikki Wilby (W35), Monica Brown (W50 – also second place shot put), and Karen Dodsworth (W60) all winning maximum points for the team. Karen also claimed first place in W50 400 metres and placed second in W50 triple jump. Other wins on the night came from Andrea Westcott in the W50 100m (also second place hammer throw with a PB!), Tessa Stephenson W60 100m, and Wendy Tharani W50 1500m. Having such a large contingent ensured every event was covered. Important points were scored by Callie Chapman (fourth place in both W35 100m and 400m), Carolyn Linsell (second place W60 400m), Fiona Clarke (second place in both W35 1500m and her first ever triple jump competition!), Cathy Craig (third place W60 1500m), Sharon Crowley (fourth place 2k walk ‘A’ and second place W60 hammer), Yuko Gordon (third place 2k walk ‘B’), Stephanie Biggar (third place W35 hammer and fourth place shot put), and Joylyn Saunders-Mullins finished in second place in a hotly contested W60 shot put. As always, the relays rounded off the evening with W35 team of Monica Brown, Callie Chapman, Fiona Clarke, and Nikki Wilby finishing in third place. The W50 team of Carolyn Linsell, Andrea Westcott, Tessa Stephenson, and Wendy Tharani were unopposed, finishing in first place.
A selection of our fab ladies at EMAC!
The men’s team had fewer competitors, seven, available but TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS, STEVE MAYFIELD, DAVE STEPHENSON, NICK KLEANTHOUS, CHRIS WESTCOTT, GRANT RAMSAY and PETE SMITH still managed a credible fourth place finish. Tim Saunders-Mullins won the M60 hammer throw by a huge margin, with other points from Steve Mayfield (4th place in M35 100m, shot put, triple jump, and high jump then moving to his own age group to finish 4th in M50 hammer!), Dave Stephenson (3rd place in both M50 100m and 400m), Nick Kleanthous (5th place M60 100m, 2nd place 2k walk ‘A’, and 4th place M60 shot put), Chris Westcott (3rd place in both M35 400m and 1500m), Grant Ramsay (2nd place in his new age group M50 1500m), and Pete Smith (2nd place M60 1500m, 5th place M50 triple jump, 2nd place M60 high jump). The relay team finished in 4th place, just pipped to the line by 0.3 seconds!
Not forgetting our amazing men!
The ladies team have now secured their place in the final but will still be aiming for another victory in Bedford net month on Wednesday 20th July!
Two Wins At Welwyn
There were eleven Spartans and two wins at the Welwyn 10K.
MARK GOODWIN was really pleased and surprised by achieving first place in his age category. He managed a negative split, rare for him, due to the challenging hill in the first half of the race. Mark WON the Vet 60 competition with 48 minutes 1 second.
JIM BROWN’s second half was 1 minute 39 seconds faster than his first, so another negative split, and he WON the 70 plus category by three minutes with 56 minutes 56 seconds.
VISH SHAH came in with 53 minutes 53 seconds and new member HARRIET SMITH raced round in an excellent 54 minutes 27 seconds. She was in the top half of the field, 160th out of 355.
Smiles at Welwyn!
There was a new personal best (PB) for MICHAEL O’KEEFE – 61:42.
JANE WADEY said it was tough but pleased to complete her first ever measured and chip timed 10K race in 67:09.
It was a very hot run at the Welwyn 10K said CHRISTINE ZVEREV. Sadly not the sub 60 she was hoping for but Christine said it was beautiful nonetheless. She came in with 67:47.
JANE WATT, 68:26, thought it was a lovely course. Bit hot in places but it is June.
LUKE GURNEY 63:01; NICOLA HATHERLY 74:00 and JUDY KING 74:55 completed the Spartan eleven.
Hitchin Hard Half
ROBERT WRIGHT took the Hitchin Hard Half Marathon at an easy pace and finished in 2.06.10. There were 149 finishers.
Race To The Tower
SHARON CROWLEY ran a 52 mile Ultra, the Race to the Tower, which she finished in 19 hours 57 minutes 7 seconds at 4:30am. It’s a tough and very hilly event in the Cotswolds, some of it quite steep. She kept a good pace throughout and only slowed down a little near the end when it was dark. She said she needed her poles for both up and down the hills. She was supported by Mike, who was a great help, especially close to the end. An amazing achievement.
Sharon said it was one of the hardest things she’s ever done!
Amazing Sharon has done it again!
Serpentine
It was bright dry and windy for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park where runners were entertained by the warm up for the BST festival. Jim Brown was 105th and second in his category with 27:20. He is twelfth in the year long series.
Windy maybe but it was quite neat as it was headwind where there was shelter but tailwind out in the open on the back straight. The race was won in an eye watering 14 minutes 58 seconds! The Serpentine 5K is now in its 30th year with a celebration to come in October.
Run Orwell
DAVE SCOTT took part in the Run Orwell event near Royston today, and although he’d planned for the 10k, because of the heat he made the decision to do the 5k distance instead.
It was a small event, with around 120 participants across both distances. It was mixed terrain, including some sections across private farm land which were scenic but tough! It was very much a social run for Dave, so he took it relatively easy and finished in 34:17.
Parkrun Highlights
The purple start and finish signs made a welcome return to Stevenage parkrun for the first time since March 2020. There were 238 runners including 14 Spartans.
It was a busy week for Spartans participating across 11 different venues including home base at Stevenage. JONATHAN PARR was first at Stevenage (17:16). He was exactly one minute ahead of his nearest rival.
JIM BROWN won the category by three seconds with a little scamper to the line ahead of a Garden City Runner with the two of them 105th and 107th out of 238 in the race. Jim’s time was 27:14, slightly faster than the Serpentine 5K the day before.
Lots of “First timers” this week: ROGER BIGGS at Eastbourne (44:51), the Pattmans ran in Lowestoft (David 23:04 and Nicola 35:03), MO WARRILOW and STEVE DOBNER ran together at Jersey Farm (Mo 29:27) (Steve 29:28) and YUKO GORDON was at Henlow Bridge Lakes (25:11).
There were new parkrun course PBs for PAUL MAGUIRE at Exmouth (23:48), MICHAEL O’KEEFE at Henlow Bridge Lakes (28:35) and NIKKI NATION at Stevenage (32:29),
ANDY JAY was at Westmill (28:32), JAMES MCSWEENEY at Littleport (25:04) and DARRYL STEVENS at Brockenhurst (35:46).
CATHY CRAIG ran a virtual parkrun in 31:51 to help celebrate her son’s 100th.
Tables
Spartans at the Welwyn 10K
Pos
Gender
Cat Pos
Name
Category
Chip
Age Grade
Comments
82.
74
1
Mark GOODWIN
MV60
48:01
70.1%
1st V60
157.
137
44
Vishal SHAH
MS
53:53
49.7 %
160.
21
8
Harriet SMITH
FS
54:27
54.4%
New
197.
164
1
Jim BROWN
MV70
56:56
62.4 %
1st V70
255.
197
56
Michael O’KEEFE
MV50
1:01:42
51.5 %
PB
266.
203
62
Luke GURNEY
MS
1:03:01
41.7 %
299.
88
17
Jane WADEY
FV55
1:07:09
52.9 %
First 10K race
304.
93
35
Christine ZVEREV
FV35
1:07:47
44.8 %
313.
100
37
Jane MCFARLANE
FV35
1:08:26
45.5 %
338.
117
30
Nicola HATHERLY
FV45
1:14:00
43.9 %
342.
120
23
Judy KING
FV55
1:14:55
49.2 %
Number of records: 355
The full Spartan result for Stevenage parkrun is below:
Sixty seven Spartans made the trip to St Albans on Wednesday evening for the second Mid Week League race of the season. There were 447 finishers with 25 women and 42 men from FVS.
Some of the notable performances included TONY RANDFIELD first man 60 plus (MV60) in 43:01; PETE SMITH second MV60 in 43:07. CAROLYN LINSELL second FV65 in 61:37 and SUZY HAWKINS in a fantastic 40:58, a personal best (PB) by 18 seconds, for third woman 45 plus.
Suzy was the fastest female from Fairlands at 13th out of 176 women with GABRIELLE O’BRIEN second from the club and 28th in 43:20 and MICHELLE REEVES third and 33rd woman in 44:06.
Happy chatting Spartans before the race.
ABBIE (daughter) and TRACY (mother) came in together with 48:31.
KELLY McHALE continues to improve. She made it into the “A” team with a sub fifty 49 minutes 16 seconds cutting 1:41 off her personal best. GEORGIE HOOPER also beat fifty with 49:56.
The quickest Spartan was SIMON JACKSON in 34:08 for 16th out of 271 men with SIMON FRASER not far behind at 23rd in 34:58 and ANDREW PATTERSON 31st in 35:48.
Seventeen Spartans smashed their personal bests (PB) for 10K and ten were running their first ever 10K race. The personal bests included ADRIAN BUSOLINI taking his 10K down to 36:05; KELVIN BEYIOKU down to 36:23; DANNY HUKIN down to 37:08; ROSS GALLAGHER down to 39:07 and STUART ARCHER down below 40 for the first time with 39:29. The table at the end of the release notes all the PB details along with everyone else’s results.
Getting ready for our group photo!
The Spartans had more than enough for three men’s teams of 12 runners and three women’s teams of eight runners. Everyone of the 67 Spartans contributed.
The next mid week race will be in Epping Forest, near Chingford on Wednesday evening 8th June.
Smiling on the start line – Always time for a quick photo!
Edinburgh Marathon and Half Marathon
What an emotional rollercoaster the past few months have been said Spartan MIKE JEFFS. What started out as a way just to keep fit grew legs quite rapidly with him entering his first race doing the Hertfordshire 10K 18 months ago all the way to doing his first ever marathon at Edinburgh in 3:24:02.
DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT got a great result in the Edinburgh Half Marathon with a new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 16 minutes 25 seconds for 51st overall and 8th in the 40 to 44 age group.
There was also a PB for CRAIG MARTIN who ran the Edinburgh Half in 1:36:29. His previous PB was 1 hour 43 minutes.
MARIE COLUCCI smashed the Half in 1 hour 43 minutes 03 seconds! After what she admitted was a grumpy start to the day this was a much better run than she was expecting and came in the top 5% of her age group!
Amazing Eddie runners!
Buxton Half
Eighth place in 1:23:58 was SIMON FRASER’s reward for battling some really tough hills, up and down, in the Buxton Half Marathon. He said there were lots of beautiful running miles.
Simon in action and still smiling!
Serpentine
JIM BROWN ran the Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park (Serpentine) for the last time before going up an age group. He was delighted to finish in his best time (YB) this year – 26 minutes 26 seconds.
Once again the top end standard was very high. Jim was 165th out of 194. It was dry, sunny, mild, with a medium breeze and the race followed with a lunch-time ice cream by the lake.
The Coaching Team Gets Even Stronger
Another boost to an already fantastic Fairlands coaching team. After six months of studying, JOHN HARRIS has qualified as a UKA Endurance Level 4 Coach. That’s the highest possible UKA Coach qualification. Well done John!!
Super Coach John!
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 28th May
Stevenage parkrun’s sixth birthday brought out several Spartans in fancy dress. There was a total of 253 runners. The 21 Spartans included GRANT RAMSAY fifth in 18 minutes 21 seconds and ALISON SHELLEY ninth woman in 25:52.
Stevenage Parkrun including the standard active wear of Where’s Wally and a Chicken!
PAUL MAGUIRE said he had a great run in Liverpool. He ran the Princes parkrun, appropriately alongside many Penny Lane Striders, in 24 minutes 22 seconds and was 140th out of 451. He said it was a lovely route around the park and by the lake and that he kept it steady and felt strong.
ANY JAY was 62nd out of 99 at Westmill, Ware in 30:55.
Away day Parkrun fun for the Evolve team!
Tables
Midweek Road Race League Race 2. St Albans 10km. Wednesday 25th May 2022
Fairlands Valley Spartans WON the team award at Sunday’s Hitchin 10K. They had 25 out of the 518 finishers with several top twenty positions.
JONATHAN PARR was second overall and first in his category with a fantastic 34 minutes 24 seconds. KELVIN BEYIOKU was fifth in 36:42.
In her first ever 10K race ASHLEY JOHNSON won her category and was fourth woman overall in 42 minutes 37 seconds.
NICK GILL took eight seconds off his 10K personal best finishing in 41 minutes 28 seconds and he was 18 seconds quicker than the same race last year.
ADRIAN DONNELLY was 13th man in 39:33; MARIE COLUCCI 18th woman in 47:51 and GEORGIE HOOPER was twentieth woman in 48:28.
Hitchin 10K speedy’s
SHARON CROWLEY ran her first official 10k in a very long time! She finished in 1 hour 5 minutes 21 seconds. JIM BROWN improved his St Albans 10K time by exactly one minute when he finished in 56:29. He said it was great seeing so many Spartans at an event again.
The 25 Spartans were JONATHAN PARR 34:23; KELVIN BEYIOKU 36:41; ADRIAN DONNELLY 39:33; ROSS GALLACHER 40:19; NICK GILL 41:28; ASHLEY JOHNSON (F) 42:37; MARIE COLUCCI (F) 47:51; GEORGIE HOOPER (F) 48:28; ANDY JAY 50:28; VISH SHAH 50:49; LUKE GURNEY 51:29; ZOE JACKSON (F) 51:43; NIKKI WILBY (F) 51:51; KARK SHREEVE 54:46; SARAH ILLINGWORTH (F) 55:52; STEVE PIKE 55:54; JIM BROWN 56:29; MONICA SMITHSON (F) 1:02:01; CHRISTINE ZVEREV (F) 1:03:27; NICOLA PATTMAN (F) 1:04:13; STEVEN DOBNER 1:04:14; SHARON CROWLEY (F) 1:05:21; JONATHAN JONES 1:09:38; DZENANA TOPIC (F) 1:10:10 and SAMANTHA SUTTON (F) 1:12:40.
Lots of stripes at the Hitchin 10K
Milton Keynes Sub Four and PBs (Personal Bests for Hazel and Rob)
TIM ROBINSON and HAZEL SMITH ran the Milton Keynes marathon which was hotter than expected and had some sneaky hills towards the end. Both were very pleased with their times, Tim 4:35:22 and Hazel 3 hours 59 minutes 40 seconds. It was a massive PB (personal best) of around 24 minutes from Hazel’s last marathon in October. Hazel says that joining the Spartans peak performance group and following the training plan from Steffan Ford has improved her overall fitness and pace. Hazel was over the moon to dip under 4 hours for the first time ever.
Our amazing Hazel and superb Tim!
Also TRICIA HOPPER, KAREN LIDDLE and BARRY KING ran and completed the Milton Keynes Marathon. As with many people/runners this was their first marathon since Covid.
Tricia Hopper ran the 26.2 miles in 4:28:30, this was her 87th marathon.
Karen and Barry ran together in 5.55.34. Karen has now completed 76 marathons and Barry 56.
Happy Spartans pleased to be back racing again.
Spartan ROB WRIGHT ran a new personal best (PB) of 1:35:31 at the Milton Keynes Half Marathon 2022.
Rob being very cool with his medal.
Belfast
CATHY CRAIG ran the Belfast Marathon on a cold dull day. All went well until around mile 17 when she was a bit sick and the queasiness never really left her. Still, she managed a watch time of 5:29:47, which was just within her second target time of 5:30.
This lady never ceases to amaze us!
Vitality London 10k
DEBBIE BLANTERN ran the Vitality London 10K, her first race since December 2019. She was super happy with her time of 58 minutes 41 seconds.
She said this will give her a big confidence boost to get more races booked this year.
Having run the Hitchin 10K in 1:12:40 on Sunday SAMANTHA SUTTON ran the Vitality 10000 in a time of 1 hour 11 minutes 55 seconds.
Also in the London 10000 CHARLIE WHITE ran a new personal best (PB) of 38 minutes 46 seconds and ANNABELLE WHITE a “pregnant best” of 55:41.
A well earned medal by Debbie!
Serpentine
JIM BROWN was at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K. Some amazing runners show up for these lunch-time races. Jim was 146th out of 166 with 27 minutes 46 seconds. Slowly knocking off a few seconds since coming back from illness. It was dry but cold and breezy.
Good News for YUKO
YUKO GORDON is out of action at the moment but received some good news from British Masters last week. Her half marathon record has been ratified as a new British record for women over 70.
She ran a gun time of 1:40:02 (chip time 1:39:58) at Bedford on 27th March this year. Yuko did run 1:37:50 last summer but it was a chip time (and not ratified) as a gun time was not available with Covid restrictions. The previous record was 1:40:43 (chip time 1:40:33) held by Angela Copson.
Parkrun Highlights 30th April
First Spartan home at Stevenage parkrun was TONY RANDFIELD on his 98th parkrun in 20.59.
SAM SIMMONS took a trip to Bedford and ran 25:51 on his first outing there. Sam may have clocked the longest “parkrun” this week running just over 16 miles with parkrun included.
A parkrun “first timer” event for JAMES MCSWEENEY at Letchworth (25:55)
MIKE REYNOLDS was at Panshanger (25:12) and ED HARE was at Lee on the Solent (23:25). DARRYL STEVENS was at Brockenhurst running 45.34.
There was clapping, eating and dancing on Friday evening as 88 Spartans enjoyed their presentation evening the first that’s been possible for two years.
This was a fantastic celebration of two years of achievements and an opportunity to enjoy each others’ company after so long.
Happy, Chatty Spartans
YUKO GORDON’s achievements at national and international level are well known and she is the club’s overall champion for 2021. She scored 96.7% in the short distance championship and 98.9% in the long. She was also voted Spartan of the Year.
SIMON JACKSON won the men’s championship.
Runners aren’t always clad in lycra!
As well as 27 awards based on the long and short distance championships the evening recognised the most improved Spartans – SAM SIMMONS and FIONA CLARKE; the Lisa Potter Starter of the Year SUSAN MURPHY and many of the club members whose voluntary efforts have made the club possible over a difficult period. They included WENDY THARANI (Chair’s Award); MARK FREEMAN (President’s Award; PETE SMITH (Head Coach’s Award) and SHARON and MIKE CROWLEY (Captains’ Awards).
Everyone had a lovely evening
A great night at the Cromwell Hotel, Old Stevenage which finished with some very energetic dancing.
(All the presentation evening winners can be found near the end of this release).
Welwyn Half
The Welwyn Half Marathon is a bit of a hybrid with 1.5 miles of trail including some quite slippery sections and narrow footpath and pavement which caused some delays in the busy middle third of the field. However the cold start turned into a pleasant sunny morning with a tailwind finish and there were some massive efforts from the thirteen Spartans.
For a flattish course SUZY HAWKINS was surprised how hard the Welwyn Half Marathon felt with off road sections and narrow bumpy pavements that seemed busy with non runners. She said she was disappointed with her time, but collecting third placed female was nice. Suzy finished in 1 hour 32 minutes 46 seconds (1:32:46).
Smiling Spartans with their medals!
DAVID HARRIS – CHERGUIT said it was great to see so many smiling Spartans out Sunday morning. He was sixth overall out of the 387 finishers in the race and third man 40 plus with 1 hour 21 minutes 35 seconds.
ANDREW VAUGHAN was second male 50 plus in 1:31:38. ASHLEY KING took a third place in the women 35 plus contest with 1:45:40.
There was a personal best (PB) of 1 hour 37 minutes 59 seconds for ROBERT WRIGHT. A great achievement on a tricky course.
JIM BROWN said it was a good quality Sunday 13 mile training run and although a little disappointed he improved his 2022 half marathon time by ten minutes to 2:02:51.
Thirteen Spartans ran. Others were MIKE JEFFS 1:34:39; JOHN NELMS 1:46:21; MARK GOODWIN 1:47:10; LUKE SILVER 1:54:45; NEIL ROBINSON 2:07:31; SIMON SYPULA 2:17:08 and ELLIE McDERMOTT 2:43:04
A few Spartans in action.
(Detailed results for all the Spartans can be found near the end of this release).
Baldock Beast
The Spartans that tamed the Baldock Beast
Six Spartans raced the Baldock Beast Multi-Terrain and Spartan JOHN HARRIS excelled by winning the male 50 plus category with 1 hour 34 minutes 53 seconds. He was 13th out of the 154 finishers.
John said six Spartans tamed the beast, which included 14 hills and 856 feet of ascent. It was definitely a run of two halves with negative splits, on a cold but sunny morning that warmed up during the race. He said he faded over the last mile and was passed by three quicker runners but very happy with a trophy at the end.
NICK GILL came in 25th with 1:40:38 and SUSAN McANENY comfortably beat the two hour barrier with 1:57:45. GEORGIE HOOPER and SUE HAMER came in with 2:04:49 and 2:11:47.
Despite running the National Cross Country the previous day TIM ROBINSON went round in 2 hours 11 minutes 47 seconds.
National Cross Country
Four Spartans went to Parliament Hill Fields, London for the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday. In the ladies race SHARON CROWLEY covered the eight kilometres (8K) in 59 minutes 18 seconds.
The men ran 12K with CIARAN McANENY taking 59 minutes 47 seconds; ANDY JAY 1:25:42 and TIM ROBINSON 1:28:05.
The usual generous helpings of liquid mud on that course.
Mud, glorious mud!
Battersea Park Chase the Sun
JONATHAN PARR came third overall and first man 35 plus in the RunThrough Battersea Park Chase The Moon 5K event on Wednesday. His time was 16 minutes 26 seconds.
Sunny Serpentine
It was mild, dry and sunny for Friday lunch-time’s Serpentine 5K run in Hyde Park and thinking about Sunday Spartan JIM BROWN was happy going round the two lap course in about nine minutes per mile to finish in 27 minutes 17 seconds. The winner took 15:27!
Parkrun Highlights 26th February
Eunice cancelled last Saturday’s race but there were 320 runners at this week’s Stevenage parkrun. Spartan GRANT RAMSAY was sub 20 and in the Top Ten again with 19 minutes 18 seconds and 6th Place.
Stevenage Parkrun
The Paignton parkrun was right next to where YUKO GORDON was staying for the weekend so she popped out to join. This was her first ever park run outside Hertfordshire. The course was supposed to be a mixture of velo park and the adjacent grass field which was boggy and swampy. So, Yuko was surprised to see many of the runners come in squeaky clean Nike alphafly. She was in Inova8 Mudcrow XC shoes. They changed the course just to three laps of the velo park and gravel path, no field. Yuko was first woman 70 plus, eighth woman and 61st overall out of 258 in 23 minutes 49 seconds.
Tables
All the winners at the FVS Presentation Evening:
Female Open Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Suzy Hawkins 73.0% 2nd Tracy Pez 61.4% 3rd Hazel Smith 59.0%
Female Age Graded Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Yuko Gordon 96.7% 2nd Cathy Craig 70.5% 3rd Alison Shelley 68.6%
Female Open Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Suzy Hawkins 72.3% 2nd Marie Colucci 62.1% 3rd Fiona Clarke 56.0%
Female Age Graded Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Yuko Gordon 98.9% 2nd Cathy Craig 65.1% 3rd Alison Shelley 63.8%
Male Open Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Andrew Patterson 80.3% 2nd Adrian Busolini72.8% 3rd Grant Ramsay 71.6%
Male Age Graded Short – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Simon Jackson 84.1% 2nd Brian White 82.2% 3rd Barry Osbourne 81.5%
Male Open Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Andrew Patterson 79.4% 2nd Danny Scanlon 66.6% 3rd Paul Shelley 63.5%
Male Age Graded Long – 1st, 2nd and 3rd 1st Simon Jackson 82.2% 2nd Grant Ramsay 75.0% 3rd Pete Smith 72.2%
Overall Champion – Male Simon Jackson
Overall Champion – Female Yuko Gordon
Overall Club Champion Yuko Gordon
Most Improved Spartan – Male – Sam Simmons Most Improved Spartan – Female – Fiona Clarke Lisa Potter Starter of the Year Award- Susan Murphy Chairs Award – Wendy Tharani Presidents Award – Mark Freeman Head Coaches Award – Pete Smith Captains Awards – Sharon Crowley and Mike Crowley Spartan of the Year – Yuko Gordon
Spartans at the Welwyn Half Marathon (27th February):
