Stevenage Half Marathon is an annual road race hosted by Fairlands Valley Spartans which was first held in 1984. All proceeds are donated to charities that support the Stevenage community.
On a sunny 22nd October, 325 people had entered and arrived to run the annual Stevenage Half marathon.
A two lap course, fully on cycle ways and paved footpaths, took in local areas of the town including the town centre and Fairlands Valley Park.
Race Director Andy Prior said “2023 has been a great year for the event and we have been able to present a cheque to the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance for £5,297, Chells Scout group and 5th Stevenage Scouts each receiving £300 and by hiring Hampson Park Community centre as Race HQ our runners increased takings in their coffee shop as most runners love cake.”
The cheque presentation took place recently.
Andy said “2024 sees Stevenage Half returning on the 20th October when we will also host a full marathon which is a once in a decade event and coincides with the 40th Anniversary of Fairlands Valley Spartans running club, so we are aiming to make this an even bigger event than normal.”
It took ten attempts but JIM BROWN beat two hours for a half marathon for the first time this year at the Remembrance Runs on Saturday morning. He improved by 12 minutes 8 seconds compared with a run last Sunday and his 1 hour 57 minutes 36 seconds was good enough to win the men 70 plus category by 26 minutes 7 seconds.
ROBERT WRIGHT ran the same race in 1:56:15 while PAUL SHELLEY ran the Remembrance 10K in 44:51. The races were at Debden Airfield, Carver Barracks, near Saffron Walden.
Asked what was the secret, Jim said “No idea but what actually happened was even though last Sunday’s half was disappointing it was still a 13.1 miles run; then no training Monday and Tuesday; a vigorous for me daylight run on Wednesday morning; leading a lovely three mile Spartan training run on Thursday evening; and short cycle ride to Rableyheath. On the day the aim was to run at a pace equivalent to 28 minutes for every 5K (roughly nine minute miles) all the way round.”
Rob was 48th in the half marathon and Jim 54th.
Parkrun – Saturday 11th November
New Spartan SOPHIE PARSONS ran a new parkrun personal best of 27 minutes 2 seconds (27:02).
It was a lovely sunny morning in Stevenage on Sunday and Fairlands Valley Spartans welcomed hundreds of runners to the Stevenage Half Marathon on their new route from Hampson Park.
Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick and Annabelle White
Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON won the race by 51 seconds with 1 hour 12 minutes 45 seconds and took GOLD in the Hertfordshire County Championship. ADRIAN BUSOLINI was third and won BRONZE in the county event with a new personal best of 1:15:46, an improvement by 10 minutes 40 seconds.
Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick and Annabelle White
In the women’s competition ASHLEY JOHNSON took BRONZE with 1 hour 32 minutes 49 seconds and was second in her category. That was a new personal best (PB) for Ashley by 4 minutes 43 seconds.
The females from Fairlands excelled in the County team competition. Ashley, GABRIELLE O’BRIEN (1:44:32) and PAULA McMAHON (1:53:09) won GOLD with 17 points which was five ahead of Garden City Runners who were on 22. Three runners for women’s teams. Paula improved her half marathon time by 4 minutes 49 seconds.
Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick
It was SILVER for the Spartan men with GRANT RAMSAY (1:28:57) and NICK GILL (1:29:17) joining Andrew and Adrian to score 25 points, just four behind the winners. Four runners for men’s teams.
Photo Credit – Keith Fenwick
MARTIN JACOB and LINDA GEORGE both ran new half marathon personal bests. Martin with 1:46:33 and Linda with 2:06:33. Martin said it was a wonderful day for a run. Well marshalled route!!! Six Hills Way was tough, but I managed to compensate for that in the down hills.
Martin was five minutes faster than his Cambridge half in 2020. Linda improved her time by two minutes.
An amazing finish for both Martin and Linda!
JIM BROWN was second male 70 plus with 2:03:26.
Photo Credit – Mike Jeffs and Annabelle White
21 Spartans were running and, as the event was organised by the club. Andy Prior was the Race Director and dozens more volunteered to make sure the race was a success – marshals, lead bike, water station, baggage, etc.
The event raised money for the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance.
Our amazing marshals and Paramedic Perry from Essex and Herts Air AmbulanceYou can always rely on our marshals for smiles, encouragement and a fab playlist!
Pos
Cat
M/F
Name
Cat
Time
Halfway
Comments
1
1
1
Andrew PATTERSON
MV40
1:12:45
36:01
Winner
3
1
3
Adrian BUSOLINI
MS
1:15:46
37:24
PB (10:40)
18
6
17
Grant RAMSAY
MV50
1:28:57
43:45
SB
20
10
19
Nick GILL
MS
1:29:15
45:07
31
2
3
Ashley JOHNSON
FV35
1:32:49
46:10
Third woman. PB (4:43)
37
17
34
Stuart ARCHER
MS
1:35:01
47:47
SB
49
10
46
Craig BACON
MV50
1:39:50
49:14
73
5
8
Gabrielle OBRIEN
FS
1:44:21
52:00
85
25
75
Martin JACOB
MV40
1:46:43
53:41
PB (4:57)
106
34
92
Liam HERBERT
MS
1:50:53
54:00
125
6
21
Paula McMAHON
FV35
1:52:30
56:27
PB (4:49)
162
9
131
Stephen HARRIS
MV60
1:59:14
58:05
182
11
147
Martin DUDLEY
MV60
2:02:56
56:33
185
2
148
Jim BROWN
MV70+
2:03:26
1:01:28
2nd MV70
189
50
152
Chris HOLLAND
MV40
2:04:30
59:02
SB
197
55
159
Jon SYPULA
MV40
2:06:19
1:00:53
SB
198
12
39
Linda GEORGE
FV35
2:06:33
1:02:33
PB (1:54)
225
12
175
Nick KLEANTHOUS
MV60
2:10:17
1:04:25
233
59
181
Dave ACKERY
MS
2:14:25
1:03:18
244
17
57
Wendy THARANI
FV45
2:20:25
1:05:58
268
51
201
Tim ROBINSON
MV50
2:40:15
1:17:10
Resolution 5K
Eight Spartans ran the Resolution Track 5K on a very wet Wednesday evening at Ridlins Track, Stevenage.
After the 12.5 laps SIMON JACKSON was second in 16 minutes 58 seconds and GEORGIE HOOPER first woman and 17th overall with 21 minutes 18 seconds, a new personal best (PB) by a massive 1 minute 55 seconds.
ALEX ZHERDEV improved his PB by 21 seconds to 21:20.
The other Spartan times were MATT TUTTON 25:03; SHARON CROWLEY 28:19; KARL REEVE 31:24; ROGER BIGGS 38:35 and PAUL HOLGATE 40:23. Simon got the highest age score with 84.0% followed by Georgie on 70% exactly and Sharon on 69.5%.
A fantastic half marathon organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans. A wet morning but hundreds ran the 13.1 miles around Stevenage and 35 of them were Spartans. The club provided dozens of voluntary helpers including marshals, lead bikes, water stations and refreshments. Others helped out including the Rotary Club of Stevenage, Grange Rotary Club, Stevenage Scouts, Stevenage Air Cadets and the Garden House Hospice giving their time freely to make the event a huge success.
This year the Stevenage Half Marathon raised funds for the Garden House Hospice, the Spartans Charity of the Year.
A few of the amazing Spartan volunteers who smiled all day through the rain!
The event hosted the Hertfordshire County Half Marathon Championships for veteran runners.
FVS had individual success in two categories. YUKO GORDON won GOLD for women aged 65 plus in 1 hour 44 minutes 59 seconds and JIM BROWN won GOLD for men aged 70 plus with 1 hour 57 minutes 23 seconds.
The Spartans women’s team took the GOLD team medals with GEORGIE HOOPER (1:41:17), YUKO GORDON (1:44:59) and PAULA DUNNE (1:57:19) (teams of three and runners aged 35 plus). In the process Georgie ran a PB which was 7 minutes and 41 seconds quicker than her last half at Stafford earlier in the year and Paula reduced her PB (personal best) by 4 minutes 41 seconds.
Georgie, Yuko and Paula
The FVS men won SILVER with DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT (1:17:57), ANDREW PATTERSON (1:18:10), GRANT RAMSAY (1:29:04) and PAUL SHELLEY (1:40:02) (teams of four and runners aged 40 plus).
David, Andrew, Grant and Paul
GABRIELLE O’BRIEN and HARRIET SMITH were both running their first half marathons and both did brilliantly. Gabbie was the fifth senior (i.e. young adult 18 – 34) woman in the race with 1:44:04 and was 89th overall. Harriet came in with 1:51:27.
NICK GILL and ROSS GALLAGHER ran together encouraging each other. They finished 30th and 31st in 1:31:05 a personal best (PB) improvement of 2:56 for Nick and 1:35 for Ross.
Nick and Ross with their awesome medals!
ROB WRIGHT enjoyed a chicken run in fancy dress but still finished in 1:47:01 and was presented with a custom made chicken medal! He was even asked for selfies with other runners. Next year he plans on giving out autographs! DEREK CORNELIUS was exactly 100th in his first half with 1:46:31.
The Spartan chicken and his custom made medal! (He did get a normal one as well)
While WENDY THARANI had a brilliant run and managed a season’s best (SB) with 1:59:22 coming fourth in her county category, TIM ROBINSON said that he enjoyed the local support from the many volunteers. Unfortunately the Beachy Head Marathon from two weeks previously was still in his legs and together with the rain and long incline at 7miles faded badly through miles 8 and 9. At mile 10 he found some motivation and kicked on for three sub 9 minute miles to finish a touch over 2 hours which was a year best result.
Relatively new Spartan JANE WADEY ran her first ever half marathon distance in (2:34:11) and had the following to say – I just wanted to say, it was my first time of running a half marathon and the support of the marshals and everyone on the route was amazing. I was happy with my time as I had not even thought what time to aim for. Thanks especially to Sharon and Tony as they escorted me on the last 2 miles, and the ladies at the finish who gave me water and then Pete and the ladies who gave me flapjacks and a brilliant cup of tea at the end!
The biggest PB was by JUDY KING who took 23 minutes 48 seconds off her time with 2:52:44. Judy ran with JANE WHITROW who accomplished a SB in 2.52.27.
Wendy, Judy and Jane who even had time to pose for their photo!
The overall winners were both from Ware Joggers. Kevin Francis was first man in 1 hour 15 minutes 29 seconds and Katy Woodward first woman in 1:25:19.
A selection of our happy Spartans!
New York Marathon
JACKIE DOWNES finished the New York Marathon with a chip time of 5:02:02. An amazing time for what was said to be the hottest New York Marathon ever!
CHRIS HOLLAND had an incident with his heart rate after an insect bite at mile 5, but after help from the medical tent, he finished in a chip time of 4:56:38.
Sunday’s Stevenage Half Marathon was a huge success and Fairlands Valley Spartans took first and second in the 13.1 miles races.
Spartan ANDREW PATTERSON won the event overall in a new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 12 minutes 53 seconds and also took GOLD in the Hertfordshire County Championships. SIMON JACKSON was second in 1 hour 15 minutes 48 seconds and took SILVER in the county champs. Together with DAVID HARRIS CHERGUIT (PB 1:19:25) and STUART ARCHER (PB 1:26:27) they won GOLD in the County team competition and won the team contest in the race.
Mens Gold County team winners!
The Spartans won GOLD in the county team competition with LIZ SMITH after a rapid acceleration in the last five miles finishing with 1 hour 53 minutes 59 seconds; ALISON SHELLEY (PB 1:57:22) and WENDY THARANI (1:57:50). Three to count in the women’s competition.
Our smiling Ladies Gold County team winners!
And Bronze for Women and Men
Then there were County team BRONZE medals for the women’s team of ANN TRYSSESOONE (2:01:14), CHLOE CHAPMAN (improving her PB by more than nine minutes to 2:01:39) and KERSTIN WEINER (2:04:07) and the men’s team of GRANT RAMSEY (1:27:32); DANNY SCANLON (1:28:56); TONY RANDFIELD (1:33:34) and PAUL SHELLEY (1:36:57).
Ladies Bronze County team winners!Mens Bronze County team winners!
David Harris Cherguit was first man aged 40 plus in the race and Tony Randfield, running his first half as a Spartan, was first man aged 60 plus.
The Spartans topped and tailed the event with a total of 38 runners. Dozens more Spartans and their friends marshaled, rode lead and sweep bikes, provided water stations, supervised the shuttle buses and did the other jobs that made it a success.
A handful of our wonderful marshals, chief marshal, lead bike and yummy cakes that were for sale (there were lots more!)
On a cold but mainly sunny morning the race started on Ridlins Athletics track then followed two equal laps on cycleway and footpaths via Gresley Way, Six Hills Way, Fairlands Valley Park north and south, football club, Broadhall Way to cross Woodcock Road and into the second lap before finishing on the track.
This time there was a welcome tailwind in the south part of Fairlands Valley Park. After a one year gap due to Covid it was back and it was great.
There were several half marathon first timers including MIKE JEFFS (1:31:22); NICK KLEANTHOUS (1:57:45); CHRIS SAUNDERS (2:12:32); NICHOLA DURENT (3:16:32) and JUDY KING (3:18:39). LEE PICKERGILL ran a new PB of 1:47:45; NIGEL STRONGITHARM ran a new PB of 1:48:08, and NICHOLA ANDERSSON a new PB of 2:04:48. STEPH BIGGAR ran her first ever real race, everything else has been virtual, and finished in 3:16:32.
TIM ROBINSON was aiming for sub 2 hours and managed to improve on his target and achieve 1:54:33 in his fastest half since 2017. The long incline at mile 8 was hard going, sapped a lot of energy and lost some time but was the only part of the course that presented any real difficulty.
JIM BROWN was apprehensive after two recent disaster half marathons including a DNF (did not finish) but improved his time from August (2:04:05) by 5 minutes 56 seconds to 1:58:09 to get under two hours by maintaining almost exactly nine minute miles all the way round.
The first woman in the race was ELIZABETH PARRY from Garden City Runners in 1 hour 22 minutes 45 seconds with KERRIE HAMLIN from Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers second in 1:26:38 and JUSTINE LYNCH from Belgrave Harriers third in 1:26:50.
The Last Fly
Fairlands Valley Spartans were represented in the last Fly 5K in the current series on Saturday. This virtual free run anywhere event on a Saturday morning helped to get a lot of people through lockdown when all in person events were cancelled. More than 15,000 Fly 5K runs have been recorded since the series was launched. This was race 80.
In the MARIAN MORLEY was 55th and first woman aged 55 plus in 26 minutes 41 seconds; NICOLA ANDERSSON was 71st in 29:02 and PENNY SCHENKEL and JIM BROWN went round together to finish 100th equal in 30:56. This was Jim’s 58th Fly 5K and he received a special not (virtual) T-shirt for running at least fifty.
There will be a Christmas edition and a real reunion in 2022.
St Neots
CRAIG BACON said, “Sunday at the St Neots Half Marathon was my first mass event since February 2020. There have been months of solo running and virtual events since the last time I lined up at the start of a race with over 1000 people ready to complete the 13.1 miles.
There was a chill in the air as I made my way to the start and so I was glad that I had put my woolly hat and gloves in my kit bag. We gathered at the line and at 10 o’clock we were sent on our way out of St Neots and along the Huntingdonshire country roads. The route was a figure of eight course with a rise at about 3 miles, another before half way and then a final hill at 9 miles. The hills did mean there was an opportunity to go downhill too, so every cloud has a silver lining.
I finished in a time of 1 hour 41 minutes 16 seconds, which is 2 minutes 19 seconds faster than my pre-pandemic Half in 2020. It was also my fastest Half since May 2016. I finished 303rd overall, 233rd male and 54th male vet 50.”
Fellow Spartan John Harding finished in 2:11:10 to finish 823rd overall and 535th male.
Parkrun Highlights
This week 30 Spartans participated across 8 different parkrun venues.
A couple of first timer mentions: KIERAN FEETHAM at Plymvalley in 23:18 and EVA RAMSEY at Cassiobury in 23:21.
PETER CARPENTER was at Squerryes Winery parkrun at Westerham running a new PB of 44:19. GRAHAM HOARE also got himself a new PB 23:29 at Southsea parkrun and YUKO GORDON was second female at Letchworth in 23:50.
GRANT RAMSAY was first Spartan home out of the 21 Spartans at Stevenage in 19:06. KEN JUDE was running his 99th parkrun at Stevenage. MARK GOODWIN was the sole Spartan at Panshanger this week clocking 23:43.
Tables
Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.
Spartan Gun Times At The Stevenage Half Marathon
Pos
Race No
Name
GunTime
Category
Cat Pos
Gender
Gen Pos
1
321
Andrew PATTERSON
01:12:55
Top3
1
Male
1
PB
2
218
Simon JACKSON
01:15:50
Top3
2
Male
2
YB
8
179
David HARRIS-CHERGUIT
01:19:30
Ages 40 – 49
1
Male
8
PB
26
13
Stuart ARCHER
01:26:33
Ages 20 – 39
12
Male
25
PB
29
346
Grant RAMSAY
01:27:35
Ages 40 – 49
8
Male
26
31
369
Danny SCANLON
01:29:00
Ages 40 – 49
10
Male
28
37
224
Mike JEFFS
01:31:22
Ages 20 – 39
15
Male
33
New
46
347
Tony RANDFIELD
01:33:39
Ages 60 – 69
1
Male
42
New
79
375
Paul SHELLEY
01:37:02
Ages 50 – 59
17
Male
69
YB
82
384
Peter SMITH
01:37:07
Ages 50 – 59
18
Male
71
SB
87
178
John HARRIS
01:37:29
Ages 50 – 59
20
Male
75
SB
100
277
Reece McCULLAGH
01:40:42
Ages 20 – 39
32
Male
65
SB
121
140
Nick GILL
01:44:47
Ages 20 – 39
33
Male
102
SB
135
110
Toby ECCLESHALL
01:48:06
Ages 20 – 39
36
Male
112
YB
136
399
Nigel STRONGITHARM
01:48:08
Ages 50 – 59
31
Male
113
PB
137
329
Lee PICKERSGILL
01:48:08
Ages 20 – 39
37
Male
114
PB
184
387
Liz SMITH
01:54:30
Ages 40 – 49
16
Female
38
YB
189
357
Tim ROBINSON
01:54:56
Ages 50 – 59
38
Male
150
SB
206
376
Alison SHELLEY
01:57:42
Ages 50 – 59
7
Female
47
PB
211
241
Nick KLEANTHOUS
01:58:10
Ages 50 – 59
41
Male
163
New
218
411
Wendy THARANI
01:58:26
Ages 40 – 49
20
Female
50
SB
219
50
Jim BROWN
01:58:27
Ages 60 – 69
9
Male
169
222
118
Robert EVANS
01:58:37
Ages 40 – 49
59
Male
170
SB
243
419
Ann TRYSSESOONE
02:01:30
Ages 50 – 59
8
Female
59
YB
244
62
Chloe CHAPMAN
02:02:15
Ages 20 – 39
20
Female
60
PB
254
437
Kerstin WEINER
02:04:30
Ages 50 – 59
9
Female
67
SB
257
406
Jon SYPULA
02:05:10
Ages 40 – 49
66
Male
189
SB
259
12
Nicola ANDERSSON
02:05:23
Ages 50 – 59
11
Female
70
PB
270
323
Carol PAUL
02:07:41
Ages 50 – 59
13
Female
75
SB
288
367
Chris SAUNDERS
02:13:02
Ages 20 – 39
59
Male
207
New
309
202
Paul HOLGATE
02:23:16
Ages 60 – 69
15
Male
216
SB
312
362
Gerry ROSEN
02:27:19
Ages 50 – 59
60
Male
218
SB
313
458
Robert WRIGHT
02:27:19
Ages 20 – 39
62
Male
219
320
378
Karl SHREEVE
02:32:46
Ages 50 – 59
62
Male
223
SB
334
444
Jane WHITROW
03:17:05
Ages 50 – 59
22
Female
109
SB
335
36
Steph BIGGAR
03:17:09
Ages 40 – 49
49
Female
110
336
107
Nichola DURENT
03:17:10
Ages 40 – 49
50
Female
111
New
337
236
Judy KING
03:18:39
Ages 50 – 59
23
Female
112
New
Chip times were not available at the time of writing.
Spartans at parkrun
Stevenage parkrun
A total of 291 runners took part including 21 Spartans.
Fairlands Valley Spartans woke up to sunshine but a moderate breeze from the west for their Bryan Moore Shield and Paul Maguire Memorial 10 and 5 mile handicap road race events in Stevenage on Sunday morning.
48 Spartans took part. 28 in the 10 and 20 in the five mile race. 21 women recorded a time. There were some close finishes between people who may have started more than half an hour apart.
ROBERT EVANS beat his handicap time by a substantial 6 minutes 36 seconds to win the 10 mile Bryan Moore event just 18 seconds ahead of his nearest rival with a net time of 1 hour 30 minutes 24 seconds.
In the five mile race VICKY ARCHER beat her handicap by 2 minutes 14 seconds to win the Paul Maguire trophy. She beat second placed PAUL SHELLEY by just 28 seconds. Vicky completed her run in 45 minutes 46 seconds.
In the ten CHARLIE WHITE came in second with a 6:18 improvement and a total time of 68 minutes 42 seconds. Two others were less than two minutes behind – ANDREW PATTERSON with a fantastic time of 55 minutes 33 seconds, the fastest on the day and an improvement of 5 minutes 27 seconds, 1 minute 9 seconds behind the winner and JIM BROWN improving by 4:41 to 1:26:19 and 1:55 behind Robert.
KELLY EVANS was first woman in the ten and eighth overall. She improved by 1 minute 18 seconds to 1:31:12. TRACY PEZ was second female and tenth overall almost matching her handicap time of 1:22:30 with 1:22:27. SUZY HAWKINS was third and 14th overall but went round in a rapid 1 hour 11 minutes 21 seconds.
Bryan Moore was a founding, in 1984, and life member of Fairlands Valley Spartans.
First Ten in Ten – Bryan Moore Shield
Position
Name
1st lap
2nd lap
Total
Behind Winner
1
ROBERT EVANS
45:01
45:23
1:30:24
Zero
2
CHARLIE WHITE
35:28
33:14
1:08:42
@ 18 seconds
3
ANDREW PATTERSON
27:48
27:45
55:33
@ 1:09
4
JIM BROWN
42:52
43:27
1:26:19
@ 1:55
5
ADRIAN DONNELLY
32:32
34:59
1:07:31
@ 2:07
6
SIMON JACKSON
28:14
29:02
57:16
@ 2:52
7
ADRIAN BUSOLINI
30:00
31:10
1:01:10
@ 4:16
8.
KELLY EVANS (1st F)
46:46
44:26
1:31:12
@ 5:18
9.
JON SYPULA
46:27
46:36
1:33:03
@ 6:19
10.
TRACY PEZ (2nd F)
41:50
40:37
1:22:27
@ 6:43
14.
SUZY HAWKINS (3rd F)
35:23
35:58
1:11:21
@ 7:57
Paul Shelley’s time in the five was 32 minutes 14 seconds. Three others were less than a minute behind the winner – THOMAS SAUKA at 36 seconds with 36:52; STUART ARCHER at 42 seconds in 32:28 and STEVE MAYFIELD at 58 seconds in 38:44.
ALISON SHELLEY was second woman and seventh to finish. She was 2 minutes 17 seconds behind the winner in 41:03. The third woman and tenth overall was PENNY SCHENKEL at 3:03 with 48 minutes 19 seconds.
First Ten in Five – Paul Maguire Memorial Five
Position
Name
Time
Behind Winner
Comments
1.
VICKY ARCHER (1st F)
45:46
Zero
1st woman
2.
PAUL SHELLEY
32:14
@ 28 seconds
3.
THOMAS SAUKA
36:52
@ 36 seconds
4.
STUART ARCHER
32:28
@ 42 seconds
5.
STEVE MAYFIELD
38:44
@ 58 seconds
6.
BARRY OSBORNE
35:31
@ 1:15
7.
ALISON SHELLEY (2nd F)
41:03
@ 2:17
2nd woman
8.
VISHAL SHAH
46:11
@ 2:25
9.
MICHAEL O’KEEFE
47:35
@ 2:49
10.
PENNY SCHENKEL (3rd F)
48:19
@ 3:03
3rd woman
In handicap events estimated times are based on recent performances. The slowest runners start first with others following at intervals that should, in theory, get everyone over the finish line together. First over the line, the best improver, is the winner even if they weren’t the fastest in the race.
This is not an easy event to organise. A huge thanks to STEFFAN FORD and the event team for making it happen. And it raised hundreds of pounds for Feed Up, Warm Up.
Paul Maguire was an inspirational Spartan, a former Spartan of the Year, who passed away a few years ago. He lost a long battle with cancer, still running for several years following his diagnosis, in 2008 at the age of 42.
Chilly looking Spartans at the end of the Handicap races – The sun shone and the wind even helped drive them up the hills!
Here Comes The Stevenage Half! It’s on 21st November
The Stevenage Half Marathon is almost full.
Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open but going fast! To secure your place please follow this link to enter Stevenage Half Marathon
Fast Parr At Dorney Lake
JONATHAN PARR came second at the Dorney Lake 5K Sunday morning with a time of 16 minutes 20 seconds.
The Last Fly
The last Fly 5K in the current series will be the 80th on Saturday 20th November. This virtual free run anywhere event on a Saturday morning helped to get a lot of people through lockdown when all events were cancelled. More than 15,000 Fly 5K runs have been recorded since the series was launched. There will be a Christmas edition and a real reunion in 2022.
This time JIM BROWN was third in his age category with 26 minutes 43 seconds. Wonder how many people will register with Fly 5K and run on the 20th.
Knebworth House
Five Spartans were at the Knebworth House events.
Luke casually showing us all how a PB is achieved!
ROBERT WRIGHT; LUKE GURNEY, MARK WILLIAMS and new member TONY RANDFIELD ran the Hertfordshire Half Marathon. Tony was 80th out of the 1,065 runners with a new personal best (PB) of 1 hour 35 minutes 54 seconds. He was second man 60 plus. Robert was 190th in a new course best 1 hour 43 minutes 55 seconds and Luke was 477th in a new PB of 1:56:08. Mark Williams ran round the half at what he called a gentle pace for 1:58:46 and was 559th but then he had run the Thames Meander Marathon the previous day, Saturday, which he finished in a new personal best of 3 hours 46 minutes 1 second.
JANE McFARLANE was encouraging friends new to running and ran the 10K in 68 minutes 20 seconds. The Stevenage Half Marathon is on Sunday 21st November.
Tony and Robert proudly showing off their medals after both getting a PB!
Parkrun Highlights
On Spartan stripey Saturday, the first Saturday of November, thirty Fairlands Valley Spartans ventured out to represent their club at Parkrun events around the country.
EVA RAMSEY was the first female to finish the Stevenage course in 22 minutes and 42 seconds, closely followed by ASHLEY JOHNSON, running her second Parkrun, who was the fourth in a time of 23 minutes and 2 seconds. ANDREW MCGUINNESS was the fastest of the 23 Spartans, finishing in 22 minutes and 18 seconds.
Continuing the trend, in Letchworth GEORGIE HOOPER was the third female to finish with a time of 26 minutes and 22 seconds. A Top 20 finish was also recorded by TIM SABAN in 23 minutes and 48 seconds on the Bideford course (19th male).
CATHY CRAIG did the Brockenhurst parkrun, a New Forest trail which is described as undulating. Although there were lots of horses hanging around at the start, luckily none were actually on the gravel path route. Since she was on my holidays, she just walked up the hills, and finished first in her age group in 32 minutes exactly.
(You can find all the Spartan parkrun times near the end of this release).
It was brutal for the beast on Sunday. Fairlands Valley Spartans NEIL ROBINSON, KAREN ELLIS, TIM ROBINSON, MICHAEL O’KEEFE, TRISH HOPPER and KAREN LIDDLE ran the Baldock Beast half marathon.
Weather conditions were terrible with a yellow warning issue by the Met office, the organisers were considering cancelling the event but the forecast was for it to clear at around 11am and with five minutes to go, the runners were called to the start line.
The first mile and a half are up hill and the runners were exposed to horizontal rain and high winds, with ankle deep water, but once over the brow of the hill and into Wallington the conditions improved and running was easier.
Tim still had the Beachy Head Marathon in his legs and adopted a strategy of walking up the steep hills.
The last couple of miles the sun came out and the rain stopped but the wind still made running very difficult.
Tim said it was another superbly organised event by local runners.
Neil Robinson was first back for the Spartans with 1 hour 58 minutes 58 seconds. The first female from Fairlands was Karen Ellis in 2:05:23. Tim Robinson came in with 2:07:35 and Michael O’Keefe with 2:20:28. Tricia Hopper and Karen Liddle finished together in 2:31:47 and 2:31:48. Not a race for personal bests!
“Actually the hardest things I’ve ever done” said WENDY THARANI about Sunday’s Lulworth Cove Marathon. This was off road either going steeply uphill or steeply downhill for almost 30 miles. She said there was typical coastal changeable weather weather but some lovely sunshine and stunning scenery including Lulworth’s Cove and Durdle Door. Wendy completed the 29.41 miles in 8 hours 58 minutes 20 seconds.
Amazing Wendy at Lulworth Cove!
Serpentine
There were two Spartans at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park.
Spartan YUKO GORDON scored the highest age graded score in the race 94.2% with 22 minutes 25 seconds.
The fastest woman raced round in 18:28. She was an FV50 but that ONLY scored 93.5%.
The fastest man went round in 15:26 but that was only good enough for 85.5%.
The Last Friday 5K can be an amazing event at the top end but also a great way to spend a Friday lunch-time. Of course several went for coffee in the Serpentine Kitchen afterwards.
Conditions were described by the organisers as mild, dry but wet underfoot and windy.
Compared with recently JIM BROWN made a marginal gain of seven seconds to finish with 26 minutes 44 seconds. A bit disappointing but his quickest “real” 5K for a long time (real in the sense of an accurately measured and properly timed race with other people).
Position
Name
Time
Comments
75
YUKO GORDON
22:25
Best age graded
115
JIM BROWN
26:44
Seven second improvement
Two Weeks To Go! Here Comes The Stevenage Half! It’s on 21st November.
Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons? Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open. This year the race is a couple of weeks later than usual.
Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open but are going fast! To make sure that you secure your place visit the following link to enter the race! Go to https://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/
This years medal is awesome!
Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 30th October 2021
Twenty two Spartans headed out to run at seven different Parkrun venues on Saturday.
Congratulations to JONATHAN PARR who came first at Stevenage with a time of 17 minutes 7 seconds. This was Jonathan’s 16th win. He is currently at third place for the most first place finishes at Stevenage.
There were four other top ten gender positions this week with GRANT RAMSAY third (19:20, Stevenage), KELLY EVANS 6th (26:34, Erddig, near Wrexham), DAVID PATTMAN 10th (19:58, Gunpowder, Waltham Abbey) and GAIL MACKIE 10th (26:30 , Stevenage).There were no official Parkrun milestones this week but MONICA SMITHSON and BETH FOLEY have both reached an unofficial milestone of 40 Parkruns at Stevenage.Well done and congratulations to all.(You can find all the Spartan parkrun times near the end of this release).
Eight Spartans In Manchester! Entries are open for our own Stevenage Half Marathon!
Eight Spartans excelled themselves by finishing the Manchester Marathon on Sunday.
For PAUL and ALISON SHELLEY it was their second ever marathon. It was warmer than they’d expected it to be and they both gave it their all. Paul improved his personal best by 14 minutes and finished in 3 hours 13 minutes 36 seconds. He was 1,098 out of the 9,473 men and 61st out of 929 men aged 50 plus. Alison took 23 minutes off her personal best (PB) with 4 hours 13 minutes 16 seconds and was 84th out of the 415 women aged 50 plus.
MATT CLARKE was pleased to get under four hours, 3:58:01, despite disruptions to his preparation. For FIONA CLARKE it was an emotional run but she completed her target of three marathons this year with 4 hours 52 minutes 21 seconds. Fiona was raising money for the East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust. She said that for her it was an ugly race, very scrappy, the hardest of the three but she did it!
WENDY THARANI ran the London Marathon only a week earlier but she still finished Manchester in 4 hours 38 minutes 55 seconds. DAVID PATTMAN came in with 4:01:07 and STEVEN DOBNER with 4:12:53.
Wendy and Fiona are all smiles at the Manchester finish line!
For LIZ SMITH it was an experiment to see if her prodigious cycling fitness could get her round a marathon. It did. She finished with a smile in 5 hours 10 minutes 34 seconds.
Position
Name
Time
Comments
1148
PAUL SHELLEY
3:13:36
PB (13 minutes)
4948
MATT CLARKE
3:58:01
5366
DAVID PATTMAN
4:01.07
6476
STEVEN DOBNER
4:12:53
6527
ALISON SHELLEY
4:13:16
PB (23 minutes)
9036
WENDY THARANI
4:38:55
Ran London
10130
FIONA CLARKE
4:52:21
Three Done
11402
LIZ SMITH
5:10:34
Metropolis
On Sunday, ADRIAN BUSOLINI participated in the inaugural running of Metropolis, a story-driven night time ultra experience through central London. Starting with some properly engaging & atmospheric immersive theatre, runners were given new identities and tasked with completing a range of mandatory and optional missions to help the RUN resistance network.
Guided by What 3 Words locations, they had to devise optimised route choices on the fly, accounting for factors such as time windows, deadlines, water supply, and the practicalities of navigating around London on a Saturday night; all the while evading ‘The Eyes’ who were trying to hunt us down with the help of GPS tracking. Ultimately we had to connect with a resistance leader to learn of our extraction location, and make it to the rendezvous point before ‘the last transport from Metropolis’. Billed as a 50 kilometres race, Adrian ended up exceeding 75 from targeting a number of the bonus missions.
The race directors Richard and Mark put a lot of effort into devising this experience, crafting the backstory, preparing the theatrical elements & actor roles, the technological live tracking for the missions, and practicalities of the Eyes hunting participants; down to the details such as the witty mission locations, origami birds, and the extraction location embedded in a fortune cookie. If you fancy a memorable, immersive experience that also happens to involve a fair amount of running, then keep an eye out for what Richand and Mark come up with next.
Results are yet to be finalised, but according to the current state of the leaderboard I finished in second, somehow…
Adrian taking on Metropolis
Jonathan Second At Windsor
Spartan JONATHAN PARR was second at the Windsor Autumn 5K around Dorney Lake in 16 minutes 7 seconds.
Yuko Is World Champion
YUKO GORDON from Fairlands Valley Spartans is a marathon world champion. She won the World Age Group Championships which were incorporated in the London Marathon. Her time was 3 hours 25 minutes 30 seconds. She was 6 minutes 54 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Sharon Smith (3:32:24) and 13 minutes 8 seconds ahead of third placed Jeannie Rice from the USA 3:38:380.
Having cleaned up Yuko went straight back into London for the WANDA age group marathon party.
(Yuko’s victory was confirmed after last week’s release had been distributed. Twenty Spartans finished the race).
Yuko, our very proud World Champion celebrating in style!
Royal Parks Half
GERRY ROSEN has had a really difficult year with Covid and other issues but he beat his half marathon personal best by seven minutes with 2 hours 35 minutes 30 seconds at the Royal Parks Half Marathon.
Run With Willow
Two Spartans CAROLYN LINSELL and JIM BROWN ran the Willow Foundation 10K at Hatfield House on Sunday. Jim said it was a really relaxed and friendly wind down after the previous week’s London Marathon though he was woken up by a cattle grid at about five kilometres. Carolyn finished in 55 minutes 26 seconds, her third fastest 10K, and Jim in 58:20. Carolyn was 39th and Jim 51st out of the 131 runners. This was a mixed terrain event with the start very close to Hatfield Station.
Carolyn & Jim at the Willow 10K
Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons? Here Comes The Stevenage Half!
Inspired by the London and Manchester Marathons? Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open.
With only six weeks 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 (a couple of weeks later than usual).
Although many were enjoying an England Athletics track training session at Ridlins or preparing for races the next day a warm October morning saw twenty two Fairlands Valley Spartans attend Parkrun events.
In Stevenage, CHARLOTTE KEARNEY ran a personal best (PB) time of 29 minutes and 44 secondss, completing the course in the top 40 females. On her 75th Parkrun outing, GAIL MACKIE finished as the 8th female in 25 mins and 32 secs closely followed by ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER in 25 mins and 33 secs (9th female). TOBY ECCLESHALL was the first male Spartan to complete the course in 22 minutes and 13 seconds.
Elsewhere MICHAEL O’KEEFE and JAMES McSWEENY respectively ran the Henlow Bridge Lakes and Hillsborough Forest routes for the first time in 28 mins and 48 secs and 24 mins and 08 secs.
HELEN HARRIS and JIM BROWN were both running their 60th parkruns.
(All the Spartans running parkruns on Saturday are included near the end of this release).
Time To Get Muddy
The cross country season starts this Sunday 17th October with a Sunday League race at Cheshunt.
Tables
Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.
After an absence of 889 days the massed start London Marathon returned to the streets of London on Sunday and dozens of Fairlands Valley Spartans were there either running or helping as volunteers in the finish area. The Spartan finish line volunteers were still handing out bags at 6.45p.m!
Twenty Spartans finished the 26.2 miles race.
Among them was YUKO GORDON who missed a world record by less than a minute. Yuko’s time was 3:25:30 and she beat the current world W70 record holder Jeannie Rice (USA) who was also running. She missed the world record by 43 seconds but she said the London course is not easy particularly from the red start which is hillier. Having cleaned up Yuko went straight back into London for the marathon party.
SUZY HAWKINS enjoyed her run. She set a new record of 3 hours 11 minutes 36 seconds for women over 45 and has qualified for another championship place. Her mum Eileen said… “This amazing young woman has just completed the London Marathon in 3 hours 11 minutes even though she said she was not fit having completed a ¾ Ironman triathlon two weeks ago and a full Ironman just a few weeks before that. We are so proud of you. You are truly awesome Suzy Hawkins.”
New Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON was delighted to beat her 3 hours 40 minutes target with 3:39:09 in her first “real” marathon. She ran the virtual London Marathon in the rain last year.
DANNY SCANLON ran 3 hours 6 minutes 22 seconds in his first ever marathon.
There was a new personal best (PB) by 23 seconds for HAZEL SMITH with 4 hours 23 minutes 24 seconds. It’s unusual for a mother and daughter to come out of the same London Marathon ballot but Hazel’s mum CATHY CRAIG went round in 5 hours 40 minutes 21 seconds.
JIM BROWN also qualified for the Age Group World Championships but after some running setbacks in the last few weeks he adopted a “sensible” get round strategy. He was determined to get round his twentieth London Marathon.
ADA JANUSIENE said her first London Marathon was a truly wonderful experience. She finished in 5 hours 3 minutes 5 seconds.
Three Spartans beat the three hour barrier – SIMON JACKSON in 2:44:54; ANDREW PATTERSON in 2:47:58 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI in 2:48:52.
This was a different London Marathon with changed starting and finish arrangements and many entries dating back to 2019 but it was great to see the thousands back to running the usual course from Blackheath, past the Cutty Sark, over Tower Bridge, around East London, then back passing the Tower of London to finish on the Mall. All the Spartan runner were extremely grateful to the volunteers, many from running clubs, that worked for many hours to make the event possible.
ADA JANUSIENE 5.03.05, ADRIAN BUSOLINI 2.48.52, ANDREW PATTERSON 2.47.48, ASHLEY JOHNSON 3.39.09, CATHY CRAIG 5.40.21, DANNY SCANLON 3.06.22, DAVID PRICE 4:38:32 , HAZEL SMITH 4.23.24, JAN FRY 5.49.14, JIM BROWN 4.44.11, JOHN NELMS 4.19.57, JON SYPULA 4.19.20, MARTIN DUDLEY 4.40.50, PAUL JENNINGS 5:32:59, SIMON JACKSON 2.44.54, STUART HAYCROFT 3.01.44, SUE HAMER 4.40.38, SUZY HAWKINS 3.11.36, WENDY THARANI 5.00.22, YUKO GORDON 3.25.30
(A table of all the Spartan finishers can be found near the end of this release).
Inspired by the London Marathon? Here Comes The Stevenage Half!
Inspired by the London Marathon? Thousands running round London. Now you can be one of hundreds running in Stevenage on Sunday 21st November as entries for the town’s half marathon are open.
With only seven weeks 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 (a couple of weeks later than usual).
SUSAN and CIARAN McANENY ran Dorney Lakes Marathon together, coming in pretty much bang on the 4 hour mark; 4:00:08. Annoyingly close to that attractive sub 4 hour for Susan (Ciaran is usually a sub 3 when he’s not keeping his wife company on a course!!) but still a 36 minute PB (personal best) for her!
It’s well organised and a great spectator course. They said it was good to see friendly Spartan Ken Jude working there for the event too!
ROBERT WRIGHT ran the same event in 3 hours 47 minutes 11 seconds.
Virtual Carolyn and Marian
CAROLYN LINSELL and MARIAN MORLEY ran Sunday’s virtual London Marathon nearer home. Despite some problems with the tracking app Carolyn and Marian both completed the 42.2 kilometres.
Marian Morley ran her virtual London Marathon at a 5.3k laps event run by ZigZag at Hinchingbrooke Country Park. She said, “The course was mostly trail and in parts was very muddy. I could have done with trail shoes as some areas very slippery after the rain. The London Marathon App didn’t work properly. The GPS was faulty and my time was filed as 4 hours 12 minutes. The more realistic reality was 5 hours 30 minutes – I’m not sure I could have done better as I’ve had a bad cold all week, although at the half way point I was on track for a sub 5 hour run but faded in the second half – the glitching with the Marathon App was not emotionally helpful once I’d realised it was faulty.
Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 2nd Oct 2021
This week saw a less than usual number of Spartans running at various Parkrun likely due to a packed Autumn racing calendar, with the London Marathon and many others taking place on Sunday3rd October. Despite the reduced number, the enthusiasm for the ones who turned up was as high as usual.
NIC and DAVID PATTMAN were tourists at Sizewell Norfolk, taking on this scenic seaside parkrun finishing in 22:55 and 31:37 respectively.
MICHAEL O’KEEFE tried out Banbury parkrun for the first time (30:36), having tried out 35 different venues previously.
The fastest Spartan was STEVE WELLS finishing with a time of 19:44 (10th male) at Stevenage. The fastest Spartan lady was ASHLEY KING (4th female) also at Stevenage, completing in 22:27.
(All the Spartans running parkruns on Saturday are included near the end of this release).
Tables
Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.
Spartans at the London Marathon
First Name
Last Name
Time
Position
SIMON
JACKSON
02:44:54
631
ANDREW
PATTERSON
02:47:48
791
ADRIAN
BUSOLINI
02:48:52
3,574
STUART
HAYCROFT
03:01:44
2,163
DANNY
SCANLON
03:06:22
2,586
SUZY
HAWKINS
03:11:36
299
YUKO
GORDON
03:25:30
766
ASHLEY
JOHNSON
03:39:09
1,539
JON
SYPULA
04:19:20
12,084
JOHN
NELMS
04:19:57
12,174
HAZEL
SMITH
04:23:24
5,093
DAVID
PRICE
04:38:32
14,670
SUE
HAMER
04:40:38
6,679
MARTIN
DUDLEY
04:40:50
14,968
JIM
BROWN
04:44:11
15,375
WENDY
THARANI
05:00:22
8,625
ADA
JANUSIENE
05:03:05
8,884
PAUL
JENNINGS
05:32:59
49,353
CATHY
CRAIG
05:40:21
11,552
JAN
FRY
05:49:14
11,995
(Women’s positions are gender positions)
Spartan Parkrun Results:
There were eighteen Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun.
11 10 Steve WELLS 19:44
29 4 Ashley KING 22:27
48 39 Mike REYNOLDS 23:52
59 48 James MCSWEENEY 24:20
87 70 Barry OSBORNE 25:47
88 71 Steven DOBNER 25:48
133 106 Nick KLEANTHOUS 27:57
142 23 Fiona CLARKE 28:13
158 29 Chloe CHAPMAN 29:20
179 36 Erica GRAYSON 30:12
182 138 Tim ROBINSON 30:25
185 140 Toby ECCLESHALL 30:31
187 141 Stephen SMITHSON 30:33
188 39 Gail MACKIE 30:39
189 40 Monica SMITHSON 30:41
203 48 Tracy HAYGARTH 31:31
231 67 Karen PALMER 33:04
239 72 Beth FOLEY 34:14
MICHAEL O’KEEFE completed the Banbury parkrun in 30 minutes 36 seconds which gave him 113rd place.
Ed HARE was 89th at the Lee-on-the Solent parkrun in 26 minutes 7 seconds.
In Sizewell DAVID PATTMAN was eighth in 22:55 and NICOLA PATTMAN 47th (and eighth woman) in 31:37 and at the Charlton parkrun DARRYL STEVENS was 320th in 44 minutes 14 seconds.
Twenty two Spartans raced around the Standalone 10K in Letchworth on Sunday and their women won prizes at opposite ends of the age spectrum. ABBIE PEZ was first junior lady (under 20) with 50 minutes 2 seconds and YUKO GORDON was first woman over 65 with 45 minutes 53 seconds. CLAIRE PULLEN was first woman over 55 with 47:12.
The Standalone 10K included the Hertfordshire County Championships for veteran runners and the Fairlands Valley Spartans first team of four consisted of DEAN CARPENTER 100th out of 747 overall (including seniors) in 44 minutes 10 seconds; JON FILBY 110th in 45:06; MARK GOODWIN 157th in 47:19 and ANDY JAY 227th in 50:21.
Yuko Gordon led in the Spartan women in 120th in 45:53 with Claire Pullen 153rd in 47:12; TRACY PEZ 171st in 47:47. It was teams of three for the women’s event. A second women’s team was brought in by KAREN ELLIS and NICOLA ANDERSSON 326th and 327th in 53 minutes 31 seconds and completed by CAROL PAUL 401st in 56:29.
(All the Fairlands Valley Spartan times can be found in a table towards the end of this release).
Spartan Women Win In The East
The ladies track and field team saw off competition from the best athletics clubs across the East of England to regain the masters (veterans) championship trophy they last won in 2017. The team dominated from start to finish, cruising to victory with 255 points. Second placed Peterborough/Nene Valley AC scored 235.5 points, and Marshal Milton Keynes AC placed third with 232.5 points.
The team were out in force, fourteen Spartan women, and really enjoyed the competition and great conditions.
Wins came from JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS (once again dropping down an age group) – W50 (women aged 50 plus) 100 metres and W50 javelin throw (also finishing a very close second in the W50 200m). TESSA STEPHENSON – W60 200 metres (also finished 2nd placed W60 100m and W60 shot put). ALISON WOOD – W50 800m (also 2nd placed W50 in the 1500m). CHRISTINE LATHWELL – winning both W35 1500m and W35 3k. NIKKI WILBY – W35 high jump (also 2nd W35 pole vault, 2nd W35 triple jump, and 2nd W35 400mH). ANDREA WESTCOTT – W50 triple jump (also 4th place W50 high jump and 6th place W50 long jump).
YUKO GORDON won an additional trophy having clocked an amazing age graded 99.5% in the W60 3km and also easily won the W60 800m.
The team’s strength in depth meant that all events were covered, earning vital points.
Team members bolstering the tally were CALLIE ‘Cocktail’ CHAPMAN – third place W35 long jump, 5th placed W35 100m, and 6th place W35 200m. SUZY HAWKINS – 3rd place in both W35 400m and W35 800m. KAREN DODSWORTH – dropping down an age group to cover W50 400m and finishing 5th, also placed 5th in W60 discus throw and W60 long jump, and 4th place in W60 triple jump. SHERYL HANN – also dropped down to cover W50 3km and placed 7th. SHARON CROWLEY – first place B string 2km walk and 6th placed W60 hammer throw. CATHY CRAIG – fourth place in the A string 2km walk (also bravely covered the W50 300mH, finishing in 5th place). STEPHANIE BIGGAR – 2nd place W35 hammer throw, 3rd place W35 shot put, 4th place W35 javelin throw, and 5th place W35 discus throw. MARIAN MORLEY – 2nd place in both W50 shot put and discus throw, and 4th place W50 hammer throw.
A full day of events, which started at 10:30 am, finished with the (usually) all important relay races. In reality, victory had already been sealed! The W35 team (Suzy Hawkins, Cocktail Chapman, Nikki Wilby, and Christine Lathwell) still battled well and finished second. The W50 team (Joylyn Saunders-Mullins, Sharon Crowley, Karen Dodsworth, and Tessa Stephenson) finished third.
It was a truly excellent day, with great team spirit and support throughout. Mike Crowley and Chris Westcott should also get a mention for their help and support during a very long day.
Jonathan Second In Surrey
JONATHAN PARR finished 2nd in the Mercer Surrey 5k at Woking on Sunday morning with a time of 16 minutes 18 seconds.
Happy Spartan at Bedford Autodrome
CAROLE SHELDRICK was the solo Spartan at the Bedford Autodrome 10K on Sunday.
She said, “What an amazing event they put on. I have got to say, I wasn’t too sure how this run would go for me. I felt under trained, so was just hoping I’d manage to get round in one piece so I was very happy with my time of 56:28. One happy Spartan.”
Running Through The Glen
ZOE JACKSON was celebrating in the sun after completing the Robin Hood Half Marathon. Pacing someone with a target time of 125 minutes she finished, on target, in 2 hours 3 minutes 16 seconds. Zoe said it was a great course with fantastic support the whole way round the city, and we were very lucky with the weather!
Serpentine 5K
Sunny, warm, light breeze, the odd parakeet and a cafe near the finish. “What’s not to like?” said JIM BROWN after finishing the second of the revived Last Friday of the Month 5Ks – the Serpentine 5K?
Jim achieved a marginal improvement on last month in this lunch-time race in Hyde Park.
His official time was 26:53 and 123rd. Last month was 26:58. Both on the two lap version of the Serpentine course.
Jim commented it was very enjoyable, more should try it, but I seem to be the wrong sort of consistent at the moment.
Parkrun Highlights 25th September 2021
Members of Fairlands Valley Spartans took part across 10 different UK parkruns this week. There were PBs for ANTON McCALLA on his second appearance at Market Harborough (26:30). It was PB o’clock for ED HARE at Lee-on-the-Solent (23:03) in his fourth run at that venue.
In Stevenage ADRIAN DONNELLY clocked a new PB of 20:26. Eighteen Spartans were running in Stevenage while several others were helping this week.
(The full list of Spartan parkrun times will be near the end).
The 72nd Fly 5K – Saturday 25th September.
Lots of “real” races going on including the London Marathon this Sunday (3rd) but the virtual Fly 5K races continue and two Spartans were in the action. NICOLA ANDERSSON was 65th in 28:34 and PAUL HOLGATE 78th in 30:27. He was third veteran man 60 plus and this was his 70th Fly 5K.
Fly 5K was one of the stars of lockdown keeping runners moving and in touch during the restrictions. The first of the free virtual races was in June 2020.
Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon
With only eight weeks 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 (a couple of weeks later than usual).
Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open. You can enter by following this link: Stevenage Half Marathon
Tables
Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.
28 Spartans took part in Thursday evening’s Handicap 5K around Stevenage.
Winner on the night was DAVID PRICE in a time of 24 minutes 34 seconds 3:26 better than handicap with FIONA CLARKE firstfemale in 26:14, 2:46 better than handicap. NICOLA HATHERLY was second female in 34:44 and CAROLYN LINSELL third female in 26:24, while CHLOE CHAPMAN was fourth female in 26:58. MATT CLARKE was 2nd male in 23:02 with DANNY HUKIN 3rd male in 18:34 and STUART ARCHER 4th male in 19:27.
The winners are, in effect, the best improvers. In a handicap event the slowest go off first with the faster ones following according to recent performances. In theory if everyone runs to form they will all finish together. In practice the first ones over the finish line will be those that have improved the most, or those that have slowed down the least.
DANNY HUKIN was fastest on the night with his 18:34 and STUART ARCHER second quickest with his 19:27, while BRIAN WHITE was third quickest in 21:15 and PETE SMITH fourth fastest in 21:40. MARIE COLUCCI was quickest female in 22:56, with TRACEY JACKSON & TRACY PEZ second and third fastest in 23:32 and FIONA CLARKE fourth quickest with her 26:14.
There were Season Best times for Chloe Chapman, Matt Clarke, Danny Hukin, Andy Jay, Marie Colucci, Jane McFarlane, Tracey Jackson, Tracy Pez, Peter Smith, Nigel Strongitharm and Sharon Crowley, and Year Best times for Fiona Clarke, Nicola Hatherly, Stuart Archer, Dean Carpenter, Mark Beasley, Sally Pickles, Nick Kleanthous, Kelly Evans and Dzenana Topic.
The race was in Stevenage on the Fairlands, Verity, Martins, Grace and back to Fairlands Way course with the start near Webb Rise and the finish under Douglas Drive.
The club thanked Paul Holgate, Cathy Craig, Mark Freeman, Angie Keeling and Adrian Busolini for their much appreciated support, assistance and photos which made the event a success.
Spartans at the Stevenage 10K
After months of cancellations and postponements it was great to enjoy the company of others at a “real” race in Stevenage. Twenty Spartans ran the Stevenage 10K on Sunday.
The Spartan men’s team of four consisted of BRIAN WHITE in 42 minutes 21 seconds; LUKE GURNEY 50:12; JAMES McSWEENEY 51:19 and, to his surprise, JIM BROWN in 55:21.
Brian was third runner aged 60 plus and 23rd out of the 393 finishers. Luke said it was hilly but worth it for the cake and was 100th. James was 118th and Jim 171st.
NICOLA ANDERSSON was the fastest female from Fairlands. She was 168th in 55 minutes 11 seconds. CAROLYN LINSELL was second woman aged 65 plus and 177th with her 56 minutes 8 seconds. SARAH ILLINGWORTH was third Spartan woman and 188th overall with 56:59. Sarah said “It was certainly not a PB (personal best) but given the lack of races over the last 17 months and sporadic training not too bad. Great race, well organised, friendly and only five minutes from my front door. Post race cake is always a bonus!” PENNY SCHENKEL was fourth female from Spartans in 1:02:15. Penny, SUE HAMER and ERICA GRAYSON were 262nd, 263rd and 264th.
CHRISTINE ZVEREV recorded a chip time of 1 hour 8 minutes 40 seconds for the Stevenage 10K. She said, “The course was a bit hilly in places but I still kept the time under 1 hour 10minutes and I did manage a 5K PB of 29 minutes 5 seconds on the way round. That’s a win in my book.”
The County Championships for veteran runners (those aged 35 and over will be in the Standalone 10K this Sunday.
(All the Spartan results from the Stevenage 10K can be found near the end of this release.
Adrian’s Century Run
ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran the Cotswold Way Century, finishing in 25 hours, in ninth place. The Cotswold Way Century is a 102 miler along the Cotswold Way walking path, which runs north to south through the hills and villages of the Cotswolds, finishing outside the Abbey in Bath. It’s incessantly hilly, and navigation requires constant vigilance; however, weather conditions were favourable, there was great camaraderie out on the course, and the vegan chili at Painswick aid station was awesome.
Swansea 10K
Spartan ROBERT EVANS had a good run in the Swansea 10K with 52 minutes 54 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 18th September 2021
In this week’s roundup of Spartans on the Parkrun circuit, there was a first finisher (event winner) at Exmouth in Devon where Jonathan Parr powered home in a time of 16-46 whilst Steve Wells took on the Great Notley course near Braintree, Essex and tackled the ‘big hill’ twice to finish in third with a time of 20-11
Stevenage Parkrun Results: SAM SIMMONS 21-50 (31st) – Parkrun PB, EVA RAMSEY 23-02 (49th), PAUL SHELLEY 23-14 (56th), ASHLEY KING 23-16 (57th), CLIVE CANNON 23-40 (65th), DARREN EMMERSON 24-44 (83rd), GAIL MACKIE 25-23 (98th), JULIE SIMMONS 26-10 (117th), DAVID PATTMAN 26-52 (137th), STEVE DOBNER 26-52 (138th), JIM BROWN 27-41 (157th), MATT CLARKE 29-00 (183rd), CHLOE CHAPMAN 29-05 (187th), NICOLA ANDERSSON 29-07 (192nd), DEBBIE BLANTERN 29-31 (202nd), STEPHEN SMITHSON 31-51 (254th), FIONA CLARKE 33-28 (281st) and BETH FOLEY 33-34 (286th). In its ninth week back Stevenage parkrun was up to 358 runners.
The Spartans on parkrun away days were:
Brockenhurst (Dorset): DARRYL STEVENS 53-47 (156th out of 156 runners).
Canons Park (North London): TIM SABAN 24-46 (37th out of 192 runners).
Exmouth (Devon): JONATHAN PARR 16-46 (1st out of 313 runners).
Great Notley (Essex): STEVE WELLS 20-11 (3rd out of 221 runners).
Lee-on-the Solent (Hampshire): ED HARE 27-39 (175th out of 418 runners).
Letchworth (Hertfordshire): NICK GILL 21-49 (14th out of 128 runners), GEORGIE HOOPER 25-11 (33rd), CAREN THAIN 38-31 (113th).
Luton Wardown (Bedfordshire): MICHAEL O’KEEFE 28-18 (94th out of 280 runners).
Medina (Isle of Wight), NICK KLEANTHOUS 28-29 (83rd out of 199 runners).
University of Stirling (Stirlingshire, Scotland): STUART STABLES 22-31 (18th out of 131 runners).
The 71st Fly 5K – Saturday 18th September.
Four regular Spartans competed in the 71st run anywhere Fly 5K on Saturday. JIM BROWN was 70th in 27 minutes 41 seconds; NICK KLEANTHOUS 79th in 28:23; NICOLA ANDERSSON 86th in 29:05 and PAUL HOLGATE 97th in 30:55.
Fly 5K was one of the stars of lockdown keeping runners moving and in touch during the restrictions. The first of the free virtual races was in June 2020.
Entries Open for the Stevenage Half Marathon
With only 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 (a couple of weeks later than usual).
Entries for the Stevenage Half Marathon are open and you can enter by clicking this link: Stevenage Half Marathon. This club and community event has a history going back 37 years and is organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans. With a break due to Covid 19 in 2020 it’s back for 2021.
Each Year the Spartans nominate a charity to support and the chosen charity for 2021 is Feed Up Warm Up.
Tables
Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 16th September
Pos
FIRST NAME
LAST NAME
OWN TIME
R
F
H’CAP
TIME
COMP H’CAP
PB
Impr
1
DAVID
PRICE
24:34
12
17:00
41:32
3:26
PB
2
FIONA
CLARKE
26:14
15
4
16:00
42:17
2:46
YB
1:52
3
NICOLA
HATHERLY
34:44
26
13
7:30
42:20
2:46
YB
4
CAROLYN
LINSELL
26:24
17
6
16:15
42:33
2:21
5
CHLOE
CHAPMAN
26:58
19
8
15:45
42:43
2:17
SB
0:33
6
MATT
CLARKE
23:02
7
19:45
42:45
2:13
SB
0:13
7
DANNY
HUKIN
18:34
1
24:15
42:51
2:11
SB
8
STUART
ARCHER
19:27
2
23:30
42:59
2:03
YB
0:22
9
ANDY
JAY
23:46
10
19:30
43:19
1:44
SB
1:40
10
DEAN
CARPENTER
21:53
5
21:30
43:23
1:37
YB
11
MARK
BEASLEY
25:39
13
18:00
43:41
1:21
YB
0:04
12
MARIE
COLUCCI
22:56
6
1
20:45
43:42
1:19
SB
13
SALLY
PICKLES
36:12
27
14
7:30
43:43
1:18
YB
14
JANE
McFARLANE
27:42
21
9
16:00
43:45
1:18
SB
15
TRACEY
JACKSON
23:32
8
2
20:15
43:47
1:13
SB
16
TRACY
PEZ
23:32
9
3
20:15
43:48
1:13
SB
1:09
17
PETER
SMITH
21:40
4
22:15
43:56
1:05
SB
0:54
18
NICK
KLEANTHOUS
25:58
14
18:00
43:58
1:02
YB
0:04
19
BRIAN
WHITE
21:15
3
22:45
44:00
1:00
20
VISHAL
SHAH
27:26
20
16:30
44:19
1:04
21
NICOLA
ANDERSSON
26:21
16
5
18:00
44:22
0:39
22
NIGEL
STRONGITHARM
24:07
11
20:15
44:22
0:38
SB
0:33
23
STEPHANIE
BIGGAR
36:45
28
7:45
44:30
0:30
24
JUDY
KING
33:29
25
12
11:30
45:05
0:01
25
KELLY
EVANS
26:54
18
7
18:30
45:24
(0:24)
YB
26
DZENANA
TOPIC
31:52
23
10
14:45
46:37
(1:37)
YB
27
SHARON
CROWLEY
32:20
24
11
14:45
46:53
(2:05)
SB
2:21
28
TIM
ROBINSON
28:29
22
18:45
47:13
(2:14)
Stevenage 10K – Sunday 19th September (394 finishers)
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.
