Tag: Trent Park Cross Country

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Club News Race Results

TRENT PARK CROSS COUNTRY

Going to bed with a miserable forecast including light rain 30 Spartans woke up to a lovely morning to tackle the second in the season of cross country league races.  This one was in Trent Park near Cockfosters. 

The club were delighted two complete men’s and women’s teams finished.  The 18 men and 12 women from Fairlands Valley Spartans were among more than 400 runners on the undulating 4.7 miles (7.58 kilometres) course.

In a very competitive race at the fast end Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT won a top ten place with eighth in just 28 minutes 5 seconds (28:05).

The third Spartan to finish and first female from Fairlands was NATALIE LAWRENCE having a great run for 48th overall in 31 minutes 21 seconds (31:21).

The second Spartan was MICHAEL FISHER at 23rd in 29:49.

The women’s “A” team was Natalie (31:21); SUZY HAWKINS (43:39); JACKIE PERRY (44:00); JAYNE RIDDELL (45:04) and LINDA GEORGE (45:52).  SAM GENTRY led in the “B” team with 47:24.

The others in the top 100 were ADRIAN DONNELLY (33:11); DANNY SCANLON (33:54) and DECLAN TRAYNER (34:36).

PositionNameTimeCatComments
8DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT28:05M40Men “A” team.
23MICHAEL FISHER29:49Male SeniorMen “A” team
48NATALIE LAWRENCE31:21W35Women “A”
74ADRIAN DONNELLY33:11M40Men “A”
75DANNY SCANLON33:54M40Men “A”
98DECLAN TRAYNER34:36M40Men “A”
123CHARLIE ARNOLD35:49M60Men “A”
134ANDY SHAW36:24M50Men “A”
139DELVIN AUBURN36:35Male SeniorMen “A”
165STEPHEN MASSEY37:50M50Men “B”
176MARTIN WOOD38:15M60Men “B”
198MATT COOKE39:05Male SeniorMen “B”
287SUZY HAWKINS43:39W45Women “A”
292JACKIE PERRY44:00W55Women “A”
294NICK GILL44:11Male SeniorMen “B”
303PETE COOK44:34M50Men “B”
306MARK FREEMAN44:50M60Men “B”
309JAYNE RIDDELL45:04W55Women “A”
320LINDA GEORGE45:52W35Women “A”
341SAM GENTRY47:24W45Women “B”
359JIM BROWN48:51M70Men “B”
365SHARON CROWLEY49:47W65Women “B”
372SAMANTHA SUTTON50:02W45Women “B”
391CALLIE CHAPMAN52:10W35Women “B”
398BECKY RAYNER56:07W35Women “B”
400PAUL HOLGATE56:27M60Men “B”
401NICK KLEANTHOUS57:07M60 
404JAYNE DYMOKE59:39W45 
409MICHAEL O’KEEFE60:46M60 
410JANE WADEY62:58W55 

Bedford

Spartan MELANIE STALEY was 33rd out of the 267 finishers in the Bedford Half Marathon with 1:38:05 which got her third woman 45 plus.  There were three from Fairlands Valley Spartans in the Bedford 10K – ELLOTT WHTE and NATALIE WHITE finished together in 52:35 and LEE POTTER was successful in 1:44:22.  343 finishers in the 10K.

Knebworth House

Nine Spartans ran at Knebworth House on Sunday morning.

Hertfordshire 10K

In the Hertfordshire 10K ADAM HILL was really happy with his result as he was aiming for a sub 1 hour and got a personal best (PB) in for 10K!  He finished in 58:20.

The first from Fairlands Valley to finish was CHRIS WATLING with 52:12.  ALICE WELCH came in with an excellent 57:21; RYAN RIDDELL with 59:21 and SALLY PICKLES with 64:14.

There were 661 finishers.

Hertfordshire Half Marathon

Over 13.1 miles WAYNE SIMMONS came in with 2 hours 6 minutes 29 seconds (2:06:29) and JESS CLARKE, organiser of the Stevenage Half Marathon, with 2:06:30. 

SOPHIE PARSONS finished in 2:12:03 and JUDY KING in 2:21:19.

There were 1271 finishers.

New York Marathon


Paul Shelley reports.  We ran NYC Marathon!!  Alison and our daughter Molly ran an amazing race, running the whole thing together finishing in 4.29.18.  Molly had a 15 minute PB (personal best).  I ran in the Abbott world age group championship in 3.29.46, struggled from mile 21, it was brutal from there until park lane.  Proud to have collected two medals.  Crowds were fab and with our other daughter, Daisy, spectating made it very special.  It was let down by the bus queue in the morning one hour and getting through security, another hour which meant I nearly missed my wave.  But what an amazing experience. 

Yuko Gordon beat four hours with 3:52:47.  She was fourth woman 70 plus.

She said she probably shouldn’t have run with her recent injuries (knee and Achilles), too soon after Berlin too, but too much to give away to withdraw so late, particularly all expenses spent were considerable, which are not refundable.


Nevertheless, she’s glad it’s over without dropping out.  Yuko said “It was a hell of a battle for me.  Marathon is a monster after all.  I need some rest before London.”

Serpentine

It was noticeably warmer in Hyde Park than Stevenage on Friday and despite the light rain and breeze JIM BROWN enjoyed the Last Friday 5K run at the Serpentine and the café stop afterwards.  He was happy with his 27:37 and improved a little in the year long overall championship table.

MARTIN WOOD was 124th in 23:08.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 1st November 2025

First parkrun of GMT and there were 501 finishers at Stevenage.  There was a Halloween theme and a stripes day for Spartans.

PERRI GENTRY was second at Stevenage with a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 18:22 and MEGAN SUTTON the fastest female from Spartans with a new parkrun personal best of 24:50.  SAMANTHA SUTTON was another with a PPB – 28:55.

The 501 Stevenage parkrunners included 216 women.  17 FVS women and 14 FVS men.

LLOYD DIAS got his Saturday morning parkrun in at Leavesden Country!  He clocked a 26:00.  It’s a nice, easy course, but it was super slippery out there today – his road shoes were not the best choice.  Lloyd to power-walk a few bits to avoid a slide!

53 Spartans ran parkruns around the country.  CHARLIE WHITE ran at the Stanborough parkrun.  A first timer he was sixth in 19:40.  There were 292 runners.

PositionGender PositionFVS parkrunnerTime
22Perri GENTRY18:22
2722Jay PAPA21:56
8465Martin DUDLEY24:48
8716Megan SUTTON24:50
8968Matt CLARKE24:52
10279Martin JACOB25:35
10984Daniel VILJOEN25:54
13398Darren EMMERSON26:39
169128Ryan DUNNING27:43
18139Susan MCANENY28:13
20845Samantha SUTTON28:55
21647Lorraine HILL29:08
225160Jim BROWN29:28
25064Sarah ILLINGWORTH30:14
29089Sally PICKLES31:29
303192Nick KLEANTHOUS32:00
307194Stephen SMITHSON32:05
314101Alice WELCH32:19
347210Michael O’KEEFE33:39
357125Pamela VILJOEN33:57
364130Caroline CROFT34:07
365131Carole SHELDRICK34:08
388146Jayne DYMOKE35:20
395227Keith MANTON35:49
424166Nicola HATHERLY38:03
448182Annabelle WHITE40:58
454187Nichola DURENT42:02
455188Hayley PEACH42:03
458190Julie MANTON43:17
464196Emma CHAPMAN47:26
469252Roger BIGGS50:05

Categories
News Race Results

BOOST AT TRENT PARK CROSS COUNTRY

28 Fairlands Valley Spartans – eleven women and 17 men – turned out for the third cross country league race in four weeks.  That’s a much stronger women’s team than last time and helped the club’s performance.  The race was in Trent Park.

This Sunday DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT ran 19 seconds faster than seven days earlier and moved up from 10th to sixth overall.  This time ADRIAN BUSOLINI was one second faster with his 29:12 and he was 15th.

TRACEY JACKSON led in the Spartan women with her 39:33 with YUKO GORDON second in 40:40.

It seemed warmer and drier in Trent Park than previous years.

The Spartan men improved to fourth out of 20 in the men’s race at Barley only a week ago.

The next Cross Country League race, race four, will be in Stevenage on Sunday 15th December.

Spartan One Two At Bedford

Spartan ASHLEY JOHNSON was first female in Sunday’s Bedford 10K with a brilliant sub 40 time of 39:50 chip time and Spartan MARIE COLUCCI was sixth with 48:52.

Ashley and Marie were first and second in the women 40 plus category and 11th and 34th out of all the 263 finishers.

Ashley said, “It was a twisty, turny course.  Some muddy, cross country parts.  So not as fast as I’d hoped but a win is a win.”

Knebworth – A Win by 15 seconds and Penny was Early

Six Spartans ran the Hertfordshire Half Marathon from Knebworth House.

Spartan KRISTIAN ATANASOV had a top ten run finishing in 1:20:33.  He was ninth out of 1,362 finishers and second senior male.

CHRIS WATLING said it was a tough course, very undulating.  He didn’t feel overly prepared for today coming off the back of two injuries and only two x 5km treadmill runs during recovery over the last two weeks, but he was very happy with his time!  1:53:45.

Chris added it was good preparation for the Baldock Beast in Feb!  Great event and support. Good to see a few Spartans out there today too! 

JIM BROWN reckons he’s still trying to get out of marathon mode and didn’t think there was a sensible chance of getting under two hours on the rolling course but, but with a reasonable last four kilometres he got sight of the leading runner in his category, caught him after going through the gate into the grounds of Knebworth House and dug in to be first man 70 plus by a margin of 15 seconds.

PENNY SCHENKEL was early.  Clearly delighted she beat her predicted time by more than 28 minutes and finished in 2 hours 31 minutes 55 seconds (2:31:55).  The London plan is clicking in.

MARK COLLINS was 80th in 1:33:47 and CLAIRE EMMERSON finished in 2:15:05.

New York Marathon – a Spartan in the Big Apple

Spartan ROSS GALLAGHER ran the New York Marathon in 3 hours 2 minutes 43 seconds (3:02:43).

He ran on Sunday to complete his Abbott World Marathon Majors 6 Stars. 

Ross said it was a fantastic race and up there with some of the best crowds at any race with the Bronx a personal favourite.  The bridges were just as tough as people say… and he thought parks were flat… Central Park isn’t. 

Resolution Track 5K

Five Spartans were among the 39 runners who went 12.5 times round Ridlins Track on Wednesday evening.  This was the Resolution 5K, a guaranteed no hills event.

After spinning around for 19 minutes 15 seconds JAY PAPA was the first Spartan to finish.  SIMON JACKSON wasn’t far behind in 19:27 then MATT GIFFORD 20:49; BRIAN WHITE 22:31 and KARL SHREEVE in 27:12.

PosMFCatPosNameCatTimeAge Gd
773Jay PAPAMS19:1566.7 %
10104Simon JACKSONMV4019:2773.9 %
19196Matt GIFFORDMV5020:4972.5 %
26241Brian WHITEMV6022:3176.5 %
353010Karl SHREEVEMV5027:1256.4 %

39 ran.

Parkrun Highlights 2nd November

Exactly the same number of runners, 527, finished the award winning Stevenage parkrun this week as the previous Saturday.  There were 227 women and 300 men.

This time Spartan GRANT RAMSAY was well in the top ten at fourth with his 18:33.  KAREN ELLIS was fastest female from Spartans with 25:38.

PAUL SHELLEY has just one parkrun to go before a major milestone.  He finished his 99th in 24:49.  MARTIN JACOB ran his 20th in 26:20.

So far there have been 117,694 finishes by 15,674 different people at the 371 Stevenage parkruns.  They won the top award at the Recent Stevenage Together awards.

Spartans running parkrun 5Ks elsewhere included SIMON JACKSON 19:59 at Great Denham; ADRIAN DONNELLY tenth at Henlow Bridge Lakes in 22:15; YUKO GORDON 23:09 at Storey’s Field; SUZY HAWKINS was first woman at Wendover Woods in 23:34; MEGAN SUTTON 27:07 and SAM SUTTON 32:45 at Bedford; LUCY FIELD 27:43 at Sandhurst Memorial; CHRIS HOLLAND 30:20 at Rutland Water; CHLOE CHAPMAN 30:57 at the Pocket parkrun; and STEVE SMITHSON who was the lonesome Spartan at Panshanger.  He said he had a slightly slippy and challenging powerwalk.  He finished in 255th place out of a field of 317 parkrunners in 34:13

Recently Spartans ASHLEY JOHNSON and NIKKI NATION ran the South Norwood parkrun.

South Norwood parkrun ran an event for Black History Month and one of the local running groups called Emancipated Run Crew did a take over. 

Ashley was first woman out of 82 in 20:47 and NIKKI NATION 28th in 30:03.  215 ran and Ashley as fifth overall!

An official ParkRun film crew were there and they interviewed both Nikki and I.

It’s on Facebook if you want to watch it: 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/4Q61SH4SanLStP7y/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Categories
Club News Race Results

TRENT PARK CROSS COUNTRY 

Sunday saw the third Cross Country event at Trent Park which was a five mile race. JONATHAN PARR came in in eighth place in a time of 27:53 and ADRIAN BUSOLINI was 25th in 29:38. They were the first two finishers from Fairlands Valley Spartans while TRACEY JACKSON 273rd overall in 41 minutes exactly; GEORGIE HOOPER 308th in 42:31 and ZOE JACKSON 359th in 45:07 were the club’s first three women. 

From left to right – Jonathan, Adrian, Tracey, Georgie and Zoe – Photo Credit, Keith Fenwick and Richard Underwood

Altogether there were 24 Spartans.  17 men and 7 women and a total of 467 finishers in the race.  Male “A” teams consist of eight runners.  Female “A” teams have five runners.   

Photo Credits – Keith Fenwick and Richard Underwood
Position Name Time Official Comments 
8 JONATHAN PARR 27:54 27:53 SM.  Team “A” 
25 ADRIAN BUSOLINI 29:39 29:38 SM.  Team “A” 
50 NICK GILL 31:12 31:13 SM.  Team “A” 
114 STUART ARCHER 34:39 34:42 SM.  Team “A” 
132 ALEX ZHERDEV 36:02 35:26 M40.  Team “A” 
147 ROSS GALLAGHER 36:08 36:12 M40.  Team “A” 
171 MATT GIFFORD 36:59 37:01 M50.  Team “A” 
177 FRANCOIS SWANEPOEL 37:00 37:10 M50.  Team “A” 
190 BRIAN WHITE 37:43 37:45 M60 
273 TRACEY JACKSON 40:40 41:00 W45.  Women Team 
304 MIKE JEFFS 42:23 42:31 SM 
308 GEORGIE HOOPER 42:22 42:31 W35.  Women Team 
359 ZOE JACKSON 45:00 45:07 W35.  Women Team 
367 NICK KLEANTHOUS 45:27 45:31 M60 
379 ANNABELLE WHITE 46:16 46:24 SW.  Women Team 
380 TIM ROBINSON 46:23 46:25 M50 
381 DAVID ACKERY 46:24 46:33 SM 
395 MARK MacDONALD 47:11 47:47 M50 
400 MICHAEL O’KEEFE 47:53 48:00 M50 
402 MARK FREEMAN 48:10 48:11 M60 
422 ANDY JAY 49:36 49:55 M50 
432 LIZ CROWLEY 51:13 51:14 W35. Women Team 
449 SHARON CROWLEY 57:10 57:26 W65 
457 CALLIE CHAPMAN 60:05 60:20 W35 
Photo Credits – Keith Fenwick and Richard Underwood

Hertfordshire Half and 10K 

Happy Spartan LINDA GEORGE ran a new personal best (PB) at Sunday’s Hertfordshire Half Marathon based at Knebworth House.  She finished in 2 hours 2 minutes 45 seconds (2:02:45) an improvement of 3 minutes 48 seconds on her previous best which she ran on 22nd October. MARTIN JACOB paced her finishing 780th out of the 1400 finishers in 2:02:46.  They said they had a wonderful run.  Linda was jumping for joy at the finish. 

Linda was super happy with her new PB!

JIM BROWN was third man 70 plus in 2:09:54. 

In the 10K, new Spartan SOPHIE PARSONS ran her race in 1:00:10 which was a new personal best beating her previous time of 1:04 set in September. She was joined and supported by PENNY SCHENKEL who finished in 1:00:18 and CLAIRE EMMERSON in 1:00:24. 

Sophie and Claire with their wonderful medals!

Parkrun Saturday 4th November 

For the Consolidated Results click the link