Tag: St Neots Half

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News Race Results

SPECIAL FOR SPARTANS AT ST NEOTS

A magnificent seven Spartans had a great time, or times, at the St Neots Half Marathon.

LINDA GEORGE from Fairlands Valley Spartans completed the St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday with a chip time of 1:57:15, which is a 2 minute 43 second personal best (PB) from her 2024 Cambridge Half.  This also marks her third consecutive PB in the last three weeks – starting with the cross country race, followed by the FVS 10 Mile Handicap, and now the half marathon.

Linda said a big shout-out to MARTIN JACOB, who paced her throughout the race and finished just behind her in 1:57:16.

Goodness said JIM BROWN.  I started further back but finished in 1 hour 57 minutes 6 seconds (1:57:06).

It took me twelve attempts this year to get under two hours now I’ve beaten last week’s time by another 1 minute 11 seconds and looking at the official result it looks like I’ve hit a magic round number age target of 70% which I thought was unachievable.

That’s a new season’s best (SB).  Jim’s fastest half in 2024 was 1:58:59 and until now his fastest half in 2025 was 1:58:17.  Certainly shows that the Wednesday daylight runs haven’t done any harm.  Jim said it was great to have Linda and Martin a few seconds ahead or behind for a lot of the race after the first climb through Abbotsley and me nearly stalling on Pitsdean Road after the brook.  To compensate for those climbs the last 5K was wonderful.  Despite being tired it took me 27:18 – faster than I’ve run a parkrun this year!

What’s happening?  Jim said it’s a pity the year is running out particularly for road races.  Maybe I should have lined up a second marathon (quiver, quiver) to make up a bit for the roasting experience in April……

It was BECKY RAYNER’s first time doing the St Neots Half Marathon.  She didn’t even remember entering it.  In fact she was certain that she hadn’t entered due to the 2.5 hour cut off, which would mean improving on her year’s best from the Stevenage Half just one month ago by over 20 minutes.  Imagine her surprise when she realised two weeks ago that she had obviously had a moment of madness and had actually entered.

After being reassured that they were not too strict on the cut off and checking previous years’ results Becky decided to give it a go and just try my best.

It was a lovely course, and not only did she beat her time at Stevenage by 26 minutes and 54 seconds, but she also beat her PB from 2023 by 11 minutes and 4 seconds!  Coming in under the cut off in 2:24:03.  Something she did not think was possible.  Absolutely over the moon 

JAY PAPA was the fastest Spartan with 1:26:31.  He was 62nd.  Jay said he had a very enjoyable morning.  That was his third year doing it.  He loves this race.  This was his fastest on this course by two minutes and his second quickest half marathon time overall.  He was really chuffed with how it went this morning.  Felt strong.

ROSS GALLAGHER included his race in a long 21 mile training run and finished 72nd with 1:27:04.  And KARL SHREEVE should be very pleased with his 2:11:43.

There were 1015 finishers.

PosBiBNameCat PosCategoryGun TimeChip Time
62879Jay Papa33.MS 17-391:26:361:26:31
721370Ross Gallagher1MV50-591:27:081:27:04
647458Linda George50.FV35 -441:57:471:57:15
648626Martin Jacob120.MV40-491:57:491:57:16
655171Jim Brown4.MV70+1:58:021:57:06
8681057Karl Shreeve144.MV50-592:12:522:11:43
956966Rebecca Rayner82.FV35 -442:25:322:24:03

Brighton 10K

JODIE KANTAS ran the popular Brighton 10K race in 45 minutes 37 seconds.  She was 831st out of the 2933 finishers.

Gerry Goes Ultra for Ultra

GERRY ROSEN had a 32 miles dress rehearsal for the Country to Capital on Saturday.  The full ultra marathon event will be 43 miles but he ran from Wendover to West Drayton via Chesham, Chorleywood and Uxbridge fortified with peanut butter sandwiches and sausage rolls with some mud to keep him entertained.

Wish him well for 10th January 2026.

Cross Country Update

Detailed results just released by the Sunday Cross Country League show that Fairlands Valley Spartans maintained their sixth out of 18 position after the second fixture.  Their men are sixth and women eighth.

240 men and 173 women ran in the second race.  The third race will be in Stevenage on Sunday 21st December.

Two Mikes and a Sharon at Sundon

Sharon Crowley, Mike Crowley and Mike Newbitt, took part in the Sundon Saunter, starting and finishing from Barton -le-Clay.  They were pleasantly surprised how firm the ground was after all the rain!

They all completed the long route of 27.89 miles.  Sharon and Mike Crowley in 8 hours 35 minutes.  Mike Mewbitt in 9 hours 36 minutes.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 15th November 2025

Thirty Spartans ran the Stevenage parkrun.  After Saturday CLAIRE EMMERSON is only one short of her century so a 100 milestone celebration will be along very soon.  JOSHUA WELCH was a first timer with 30:17 and ALICE WELCH also 30:17 ran a new parkrun personal best (PPB).  JULIE SHADBOLT ran her 20th parkrun in 36:27.


Julie Manton ran a new Parkrun PPB on Saturday at Stevenage 38.03 with the help of Hannah Manton 38:04 keeping her going!  Together with Keith (35:48) it was a family outing.  And she said she had loads of support from the lovely FVS Run Together Group too!

Suttons in Hove

Megan, Rose and Samantha Sutton all ran at Hove Promenade parkrun.  Both Megan and Samantha got a parkrun 5K PB.  Samantha’s was a 58 second PB with a time of 27.37 and Megan’s around 1 and a half minutes with a time of 23.13.  Rose ran an excellent time of 32.34 having not run for a couple of months.

HAYLEY PEACH was in Wales running the Aberystwyth parkrun.  She was visiting her son at university.  This was her second park run here.  It’s a pancake flat course on tarmac.  She first did the course on 13 September 2025 with a time of 37.35.  This week it was a park run pb of 32.10, an improvement of 5 minutes 25 seconds.  MICHAEL O’KEEFE pushed the parkrun tourism a little further with 33:34 at the Zuiderpark event in Den Haag.

Altogether there were 57 Spartans running parkruns in the UK and in the Netherlands.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
3534Tony RANDFIELD21:59
6459Stuart ARCHER23:19
8981Daniel VILJOEN24:19
110101Martin DUDLEY24:48
115104Charles ARNOLD24:58
144130Darren EMMERSON26:18
14915Annabelle WHITE26:23
153135Martin JACOB26:28
19227Lorraine HILL27:33
20331Fiona CLARKE27:47
212174Ryan DUNNING28:00
224181Matt CLARKE28:24
26862Elizabeth CROWLEY30:01
26963Claire EMMERSON30:02
278206Joshua WELCH30:17
27969Alice WELCH30:17
33799Ada JANUSIENE31:44
373121Caroline CROFT32:52
390132Erica GRAYSON33:09
391250Ahaan SHARMA33:11
392251Kartik SHARMA33:12
394133Pamela VILJOEN33:19
399136Lindsay PATEMAN33:32
443269Keith MANTON35:48
447270Stephen SMITHSON36:14
449271Jim BROWN36:25
450170Julie SHADBOLT36:27
451171Penny SCHENKEL36:28
479186Julie MANTON38:03
480187Hannah MANTON38:04
Categories
News Race Results

SAMANTHA AND MIKE WIN HANDICAP

33 Fairlands Valley Spartans ran the club’s handicap races in Stevenage on Sunday Morning.  They had a choice of Bryan Moore Ten or the Paul Maguire Five.  All were raising funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Winner of the 5m race was Samantha Sutton in a personal best (PB) time of 53:42, with Karl Shreeve first man (2nd overall) in a season’s best (SB) 46:18. Tracy Pez was second lady in a SB 38:38 and Megan Sutton third lady in a PB 44:43.  Paul Shelley was second man in a PB 30:31 and Mark Freeman third with a 45:24 SB.

Fastest runner in the 5 mile event was Simon Jackson in 29:05 with Paul Shelley’s 30:31 second quickest and Grant Ramsay third fastest with 31:21.  Tracy Pez’s 38:38 was the fastest female time  with Jayne Riddell 2nd quickest with a PB time 44:12 and Megan Sutton 3rd quickest with a PB of 44:43.

Mike Jeffs was the winner of the 10 mile race in a PB time of 1:01:59 with Andrew Patterson 2nd with a SB 55:44 and Nick Gill 3rd in 1:08:55.  First lady was Jo Cooksley in a SB 1:26:23 with Samantha Tophill 2nd lady in a SB 1:28:36 and Annabelle White 3rd lady in 1:36:00.

Andrew Patterson’s 55:44 was the fastest time and Mike Jeffs’ 1:01:59 2nd quickest with Ralph Dadswell 3rd fastest in 1:08:15. Jo Cooksley’s 1:26:23, Sam Tophill’s 1:28:36 and Annabelle White’s 1:36:00 were also the three fastest female times.

19 of the 33 finishers beat their handicap time, they improved, and there were also 19 finishers within 2 minutes of the handicap set.

In handicap races the slower runners start first and others follow at intervals based on recent performances.  If everyone runs as their handicap predicts they would all finish together.  Thus the winner is the person who improves the most, not necessarily the fastest runner on the day.

Best for Martin at St Neots

On Sunday Spartan MARTIN JACOB ran the St Neots half in 1:45:56.  There were a couple of steep hills along the route, but the last 6k was a smooth downhill and ideal for a fast finish.  Martin took 47 seconds off his personal best (PB).

JAY PAPA was under 90 minutes with 1 hour 28 minutes 42 seconds for 109 out of the 1111 finishers and WENDY THARANI came in with in 2:07:39.

Shillington Shuffle

It was a sunny Sunday start for the Shillington Shuffle from Barton Le Clay.  The route went straight up the Barton hills!  Then through the villages of Lilley, Pirton, Howell, Lower Stondon, Meppershall, Shillington, Hexton and back to Barton.

Spartans Sharon and Mike Crowley finished in 8 hours 29 minutes; Paul Holgate in 8:53 and Mike Newbitt in 9:45.

Both Sharon and Mike were awarded their S-S-S Triple Challenge, for completing the Shillington Shuffle, Steppingley Step and Sundon Saunter.

Parkrun Highlights 16th November

30 of the 510 at the 373rd Stevenage parkrun were Spartans.  This week FVS had two in the top five with GRANT RAMSAY who ran his 150th parkrun and was fourth with 18:43 and KIRK NDUGU fifth with 18:57.

KAREN ELLIS was fastest female from Fairlands with 25:29.

A major parkrun was achieved by PAMELA VILJOEN who ran her 250th parkrun in 29 minutes 58 seconds (29:58).  FIONA CLARKE ran her 201st in 27:53.

STEPHANIE MAYFIELD ran a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 29:13 for the 5K and ELIZABETH CROWLEY a new PPB of 29:37.

Recording his 80th parkrun STEVE PLATT finished in 29:53.

JIM BROWN was aiming for sub 28 and despite congestion in the last 800 metres made it with three seconds to spare.  27:57 and 200th position.

Spartans elsewhere included MATT GIFFORD 20:49 at Great Denham; JOHN HARRIS with 21:23 at Sandy water, Llanelli; SUZY HAWKINS 22:27 and second woman at Watermeadows, Towcester; MAURICE BALLARD 28:00 at Castle Park, Bishops Stortford; MIKE REYNOLDS 28:16 at Panshanger; LUCY FIELD 28:20 at University Parks; MARIA SWIFT 28:42 at Bug Hunter Waters, Cambridge; NICK KLEANTHOUS 29:07 at Preston Park, Brighton; ANNABELLE WHITE with 30:03 at St Albans; CHRIS HOLLAND 30:41 at Rutland Water; CHLOE CHAPMAN 31:38 at Ifield Mill Pond near Crawley; NICK GILL 32:24 at Letchworth; JONATHAN JONES 35:46 and DZENANA TOPIC 35:57 at Wimpole Estate.

Categories
Club News Race Results

LOTS OF SMILES AT OUR HANDICAP RACES

42 Spartans took part in the two memorial handicap races in Stevenage on Sunday morning.  They were on an undulating course with the highest point being near the Oval Community Centre. 

BRYAN MOORE SHIELD HANDICAP 10 MILES 

The Bryan Moore Handicap ten mile event was brilliantly won by Andrew Patterson in a new personal best (PB) time of 55:21.  He crossed the finish line 42 seconds ahead of Nick Gill second who smashed his PB by more than 25 minutes to finish in 67:03 and Simon Jackson third man (4th overall) in 59:32.  Marie Colucci was the winning female and third overall, finishing in 79:15, 3:45 better than handicap, with Zoe Jackson second female in 1:27:00 (87:00) in her first ever 10 mile race and Harriet Smith third with 1:23:25 (83:25) also in her first ever 10 miles. 

The leading two women both ran negative splits.  Marie was 15 seconds in her second half (39:44 to 39:31) and Zoe a significant 1 minute 30 seconds (44:15 to 42:45).   

Andrew was also quickest runner of the day with Simon second quickest and Nick (Gill) third fastest.  Marie was also quickest lady with Harriet second (1:23:25) fastest and Zoe third (1:27:00) quickest. 

Wendy Tharani improved her season’s best by 1 minute 20 seconds and Jim Brown his year’s best by three seconds!  Vicky Archer took 2:44 off her ten mile handicap time. 

Bryan Moore was a founding member of Fairlands Valley Spartans in 1984. 

PAUL MAGUIRE MEMORIAL HANDICAP 5 MILES 

The winner of the Paul Maguire Memorial Five was Nicola Andersson in a new PB time of 44:55 with Steve Mayfield second (winning man) in a SB time of 37:39 and Tony Vickers third (second man) with 44:08 in his first 5 mile race. Alison Shelley was second lady in 42:54 and Carolyn Linsell third lady with 54:52. 

Twenty seven Spartans tackled the five mile event. 

Paul Shelley was quickest runner of the day in 34:17, with Steve (Mayfield) second quickest and Charlie White third quickest in 38:51.  Alison (Shelley) was fastest lady with Ann Tryssesoone second fastest in 43:34 and Nicola third quickest. 

There were also five mile PB improvements for Nick Kleanthous (43:17) and Jane Whitrow (57:53), while Jon Sypula (41:33), Simon Sypula (46:12) and Penny Schenkel (46:56) improved their Season Best times. 

Paul Maguire was an inspirational Spartan, a former Spartan of the Year, who passed away in 2008.  He lost a long battle with cancer, still running for several years following his diagnosis, at the age of 42. 

Overall no less than 24 other times were the first recorded at that distance this year. 

All handicap photo credits go to the amazing Chloe Emmerson!

Gosport Half Marathon 

There were two fantastic Spartan personal bests in the Gosport Half Marathon. 

Steve Dobner said, “It was another fabulous day for running down on the south coast as Dave Pattman and I ventured down to Gosport to run the half with our good friend and ex Spartan Ed Hare.  We were due to run it last year but Dave was out injured and I was unable to walk 100 metres due to covid.  This year was a different story. 

Setting off with a time in mind we built into the race with Dave overtaking me at around 4K and upping the pace. The course is two laps and a lovely tail wind helped me accelerate on the way back into town. 

Settling into a good pace the turn round into the wind for the second lap needed us to dig in. The race was extremely well supported and the encouragement from the spectators and our families was fabulous. 

In the final 3-4K I managed to close the 20-25 second gap to Dave and we entered into the home straight together giving each other plenty of encouragement. 
I managed to finish in 1:41:41 with Dave coming home in 1:41:44. Both of us setting new PBs and I somehow knocked over 5 minutes off my previous best with Dave improving his by 2 minutes.  Ed came home in 1:44:53 for his second best ever time.” 

SAM PRETTY finished in 1 hour 35 minutes 3 seconds.  She was 306th out of the 1216 finishers. 

Dave and Steve with Ed at the finish.

St Neots 

PETE SMITH enjoyed the St Neots Half Marathon where he was third man 60 plus in 1 hour 38 minutes 5 seconds. 

SAM SIMMONS and MARCUS RIDLEY also completed the course in 1.42.59 and 1.48.13 respectively. 

Sundon Saunter 

The sun shone for the Sundon Saunter on Sunday for Spartan Sharon Crowley, although after all the recent rain it was 27.8 miles and 9 hours of slip sliding around Bedfordshire! 

Sharon’s feet proving exactly how slippy the event was!

Parkrun Highlights 

Nick KLEANTHOUS achieved a new parkrun PB (personal best) of 24 minutes 45 seconds at the Preston Park event in Brighton.  Obviously good preparation for the Spartan five mile race the following day where he also achieved a new PB. Well done Nick! 

For all remaining results for Parkrun please click the link – Spartan Parkrun results 19th November 2022 

Tables 

FVS BRIAN MOORE HANDICAP 10 MILE          
Position F NAME SURNAME Split 1 to 5m Split 2 to 10m Total Time Speed Pos Speed Fem PB Impr Comp  H’cap 
1   ANDREW PATTERSON 27:37 27:44 55:21 1   PB 0:12 6:54 
2   NICK GILL 33:28 33:35 1:07:03 3   PB 25:47 6:12 
3 1 MARIE COLUCCI 39:44 39:31 1:19:15 5 1     3:45 
4   SIMON JACKSON 29:44 29:48 59:32 2   YB New 2:58 
5   STUART ARCHER 30:51 37:58 1:08:49 4   SB New 1:26 
6 2 ZOE JACKSON 44:15 42:45 1:27:00 8 3 PB New 1:00 
7   MARK GOODWIN 40:00 40:46 1:20:46 6       0:44 
8   ROBERT WRIGHT 44:15 44:25 1:28:40 9       (0:40) 
9   MATT CLARKE 44:15 44:25 1:28:40 10   YB New (0:40) 
10   JIM BROWN 44:15 44:38 1:28:53 11   YB 0:03 (0:53) 
11 3 HARRIET SMITH 40:27 42:58 1:23:25 7 2 PB New (1:25) 
12 4 WENDY THARANI 44:19 45:58 1:30:17 12 4 SB 1:20 (1:47) 
13 5 VICKY ARCHER 51:26 50:10 1:41:36 13 5 PB 2:44 (4:06) 
14 6 CLAIRE EMMERSON 51:26 50:12 1:41:38 14 6 YB New (4:08) 
15 7 FIONA CLARKE 51:26 50:34 1:42:00 15 7 YB New (4:30) 
FVS PAUL MAGUIRE 5 MILE         
Position F NAME SURNAME Time Speed Pos Speed Fem PB Impr Comp H’cap 
1 1 NICOLA ANDERSSON 44:55 11 3 PB 2:13 7:05 
2   STEVE MAYFIELD 37:39 2   SB 1:05 3:06 
3   TONY VICKERS 44:08 10   PB New 2:37 
4   PAUL SHELLEY 34:17 1   YB New 2:28 
5   JON SYPULA 41:33 6   SB 4:54 2:27 
6   NICK KLEANTHOUS 43:17 8   PB 0:30 1:28 
7   CHARLIE WHITE 38:51 3       1:09 
8   SIMON SYPULA 46:12 13   SB 1:06 1:03 
9 2 ALISON SHELLEY 42:54 7 1 YB New 0:51 
10 3 CAROLYN LINSELL 54:52 21 9 PB New 0:53 
11   DARREN EMMERSON 41:22 5       0:23 
12   CHRIS WATLING 39:47 4   PB New 0:13 
13 4 ANN TRYSSESOONE 43:34 9 2 SB 0:41 0:11 
14 5 PENNY SCHENKEL 46:56 14 4 SB 0:59 (0:11) 
15 6 JANE WHITROW 57:53 22 10 PB 0:13 (0:23) 
16 7 JUDY KING 58:04 23 11 PB New (0:34) 
17 8 JANE WADEY 54:04 20 8 PB New (0:34) 
18 9 MONICA SMITHSON 50:21 17 5 YB New (1:21) 
19   ANDY JAY 48:35 16   YB New (1:20) 
20   MATT TUTTON 47:23 15   PB New (1:23) 
21 10 NICOLA HATHERLY 59:38 24 12 SB New (2:08) 
22   VISHAL SHAH 45:19 12   YB New (3:04) 
23 11 CHLOE CHAPMAN 51:25 19 7 PB New (3:55) 
24 12 HAZEL SMITH 50:30 18 6 YB New (4:15) 
25 13 CALLIE CHAPMAN 1:02:35 25 13 YB New (10:35) 
26 14 HANNAH SYPULA 1:04:10 26 14 SB New (13:40) 
27   ROGER BIGGS 1:29:06 27   SB New (14:21)