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100 FOR JOHN AT THE STAMPEDE

Spartan JOHN NELMS has run one hundred marathons. That’s 100 full marathons of 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometres) or even longer Ultra Marathons. He ran his 100th at the St Albans Stampede on Saturday. John was escorted across the finish line by his wife Sharon and son Jacob then welcomed to the 100 Club reception by a large number of Spartans.

St Albans Stampede

Altogether twenty Spartans completed at least four four mile laps at the St Albans Stampede.

The Stampede was a 12 hour event around a four mile loop. Runners completed as many laps as they could within the time limit.

TRICIA HOPPER was the leading Spartan with an incredible 11 laps (44 miles).

ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran nine laps or 36 miles in 6 hours 16 minutes 34 seconds while KAREN LIDDLE and BARRY KING did eight (32 miles). Not surprisingly four Spartans did seven as that got them past the significant 26.2 miles. They were YUKO GORDON, JOHN NELMS, HAZEL SMITH and SHARON CROWLEY.

Six laps (24 miles) were completed by CLAIRE EMMERSON, NEAL MUGGLETON and JACQUELINE DOWNES. SUE HAMER, ERICA GRAYSON and DARREN EMMERSON did five (20 miles) while JENNY GARRETT and GERRY ROSEN did four (16 miles).

(Times for all the Fairlands Valley Spartans can be found in a table near the end of this release).

Fairlands Fantastic 4 at the Stampede

There was also a relay team, the Fairlands Fantastic Four at the St Albans Stampede. In the four person team relay event TRACY PEZ (4 laps), ANDY JAY (4), CHRIS HOLLAND (4) and TIM ROBINSON (5) came in 12th out of 28 teams. A total of 17 laps with a time of 11 hours 50 minutes 5 seconds.

The course was four mile lap over undulating off road terrain. Chris started the team off with his first lap under 36 minutes followed by Tim with another 36 minutes lap. Then Andy Jay, who is training for the Manchester Marathon ran four consecutive laps in just under three hours through the hottest part of the day. The team took a short break to greet John Nelms as he finished his 100th marathon, before resuming with more laps. Tim finished his last running lap at 7:50 and it was agreed that two more sub 40min laps would not be achievable to finish before 9pm. The decision was taken to walk one final lap all together as a team by torchlight. Tracy, Chris and Tim completed the lap to finish just inside the cut off – in time for pizza and beer refreshments. A superb local event, recommended.

Bedford Twenty and Half

In the Bedford Running Festival ALISON and PAUL SHELLEY ran their first official twenty mile race. Paul finished in 2 hours 49 minutes 43 seconds and Alison in 3:15:07. They said it was a tough, hot race. DANNY SCANLON was 28th in 2:23:21 and DAVID PATTMAN ran a new personal best (PB) of three hours and thirty seconds (3:00:30).

STEVEN DOBNER came in with 3:03:18; MATT CLARKE with 3:15:43 and FIONA CLARKE with 3:23:12.

In the Bedford “Spring” half marathon KAREN ELLIS said she started too fast but she was third in her age category with 2:07:54.

Spartan Ladies Finish On Top – East of England Track and Field

The Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team consisting of SUZY HAWKINS, CHRISTINE LATHWELL, STEPHANIE BIGGAR, CALLIE CHAPMAN, ASHLEY JOHNSON, NIKKI WILBY, MONICA BROWN, MARION MORLEY, ALISON WOOD, ANDREA WESTCOTT, TESSA STEPHENSON, CATHY CRAIG, JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS, KAREN DODSWORTH, SHERYL HANN, IRIS HORNSEY, SHARON CROWLEY and YUKO GORDON have WON their division in the East of England track and field league for veterans (35 plus, EMAC).

Spartan Ladies sealed victory in the EMAC Central Division on Wednesday by winning the last league fixture at Milton Keynes. It was a close run thing, but gutsy performances and the return of two stalwarts saw the team win on the evening by 4 points and take the division by a 77 point margin.

Christine Lathwell and Alison Wood both returned from injury to run the mile, with Christine finishing second woman 35 plus (W35) and Alison winning the W50. Cathy Craig won the W60 mile race after warming up with a victory in the W60 300 metres hurdles! Sharon Crowley also used the hurdles as a warm up, finishing second in the W50 before throwing the hammer and finishing third W60.

Joylyn Saunders-Mullins and Tessa Stephenson continue to dominate the sprint events, both winning the 200m and Joylyn once again dropping an age group to compete in the W50 category. Joylyn also scored points in the javelin, finishing 2nd in W60 with a throw that would have won the W50 category! 

Regular training sessions at the track are paying off for Stephanie Biggar, who threw personal bests (PBs) in both hammer (second place) and javelin (third place). Marion Morley also threw a new PB in the hammer (second place) and also finished second in the javelin.

Other individual points were won on the night by Nikki Wilby, who stayed true to form by winning the W35 high jump, and Callie Chapman, who finished second in the W35 200m. 

The ladies relay teams – Nikki, Callie, Cathy, Christine and Tessa, Sharon, Marian, Alison rounded off the evening in style, winning both races and setting us up nicely for the final on 25th September.

A slightly depleted men’s team battled bravely, finishing fourth on the night and fourth overall in the Central Division. Wins on the night came from DAVE STEPHENSON (M50 200m) and TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS (M60 hammer). Other points were scored by ANTON McCALLA (third placed in M35 200m, javelin, and triple jump), GRANT RAMSAY (4th placed M35 mile), BARRY OSBORNE (3rd placed M60 mile), PAUL HOLGATE (5th placed M60 200m and 4th placed M60 mile), STEVE GOUGH (4th placed M50 javelin).  The relay team finished 4th.

Parkrun Highlight 4th September 2021

Thirty three Spartans headed out to run at seven different Parkrun venues.

Congratulations to SUZY HAWKINS who got a new PB at Stevenage with a time of 19:38. Suzy also claimed the titles of the Fastest Lady at Stevenage and the Fastest Spartan of the week.

DARRYL STEVENS was in Rosliston (Swadlincote) to try out Parkrun at a new venue to him.

There were no official Parkrun milestones this week but JOHN HARRIS has reached an unofficial milestone of 60 Parkruns at Letchworth.

PETE SMITH was sixth at the East Brighton parkrun in 23:34 and STEVE WELLS won the Ferry Meadows parkrun in 19:49.

Well done and congratulations to all.

Fly 5k

JIM BROWN ran his 50th Fly 5K on Saturday. This was the 69th Fly 5K. There were 147 runners from 38 clubs. He was second in his category and 53rd overall in 26 minutes exactly

PENNY SCHENKEL was 79th in 28:54 and PAUL HOLGATE 103rd in 31:04.

Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon

Only just over two months to go to the Stevenage Half Marathon it’s time to start getting ready and entered. This year the race will be on Sunday 21st November

Entries are open and so please follow the link to enter: Stevenage Half Marathon

Tables

Spartans at the Stampede

PosRace NoNameLapsDist DoneTimeFastest LapSlowest LapAverage LapStart
1827Tricia HOPPER114411:14:1400:44:4601:39:5801:01:1708:59:59
2936Adrian BUSOLINI93606:16:3400:27:2501:15:5200:41:5008:59:59
4028Karen LIDDLE83211:14:1400:49:2702:38:2601:24:1608:59:59
4126Barry KING83211:14:1600:49:2802:38:2701:24:1708:59:59
4350Yuko GORDON72804:35:5300:37:5700:41:4800:39:2408:59:59
5458John NELMS72806:16:5800:38:4401:13:5400:53:5108:59:59
5552Hazel SMITH72806:17:0000:39:5101:11:5000:53:5108:59:59
5916Sharon CROWLEY72806:57:0700:49:2801:09:0700:59:3508:59:59
6537Claire EMMERSON62406:17:0000:40:0601:29:1201:02:5008:59:59
6629Neal MUGGLETON62406:17:0100:40:0801:28:5801:02:5008:59:59
6954Jacqueline DOWNES62407:03:4600:39:4903:05:0901:10:3708:59:59
7649Sue HAMER52004:27:0200:47:4001:07:1200:53:2408:59:59
7748Erica GRAYSON52004:27:0300:47:4001:07:1100:53:2408:59:59
7938Darren EMMERSON52004:39:2000:39:5301:16:1500:55:5208:59:59
8256Jenny GARRETT41604:47:4700:40:0602:10:2301:11:5608:59:59
8341Gerry ROSEN41605:12:5200:46:4702:10:3001:18:1308:59:59

There was also a four person relay team consisting of CHRIS HOLLAND (4); ANDY JAY (4); TRACY PEZ (4) and TIM ROBINSON (5) who completed a total of 17 laps in 11:50:05.

Spartans at Parkruns, 4th September


PositionGender PositionParkrunnerTime
Rosliston





16495Darryl STEVENS00:41:40New Venue






Stevenage





91Suzy HAWKINS00:19:38PB

5346Andrew MCGUINNESS00:23:24

6152Barry OSBORNE00:23:45

6756James MCSWEENEY00:24:05

7059Clive CANNON00:24:20

9374Toby ECCLESHALL00:25:40

9677Thomas SAUKA00:25:55

9879Jim BROWN00:26:00

10787Nick KLEANTHOUS00:26:34

11618Caroline BARTER00:27:07

14125Penny SCHENKEL00:28:33

15131Gail MACKIE00:29:28

15533Debbie BLANTERN00:29:42

16339Fiona CLARKE00:30:12

164117Matt CLARKE00:30:13

21767Georgie HOOPER00:33:06

218142Nick GILL00:33:07

25572Beth FOLEY00:33:28

24484Carole SHELDRICK00:34:31

24585Caroline CROFT00:34:32

24686Karen PALMER00:34:33

26999Shelbe MOONBEAM00:37:00






Houghton Hall





8367Michael O’KEEFE00:27:55






Wimpole Estate





25965Sally PHILLIPS00:34:59






Letchworth





8458John Harris00:30:4260th

12044Caren THAIN00:36:53