Trent Park

TRENT PARK – MIDWEEK LEAGUE

There was a lot on in the world on Thursday 4^th July but 30 Spartans – 19 men and 11 women made it to the final counting event in this summer’s Mid Week League race.

Run in Trent Park, Cockfosters this was a largely off tarmac event with some grinding climbs in the woods. It was dry!

On the night the fastest from Fairlands was KIRK NDUGU with 36:47 for 25^th place out of the 194 male finishers. ADRIAN BUSOLINI 38^th in 37:56; JONATHAN PARR 41^st in 38:02; BRIAN BRACKSTONE 43^rd in 38:14 and third man over 50 were also under 40 minutes on the tough course.

108 women finished. SUZY HAWKINS was the fastest female from Fairlands, 26^th woman in 46:56. YUKO GORDON won her age group with 51:14. She was 47^th woman overall.

The “Mob Match” will be in Welwyn Garden City on Wednesday 10^th July.

Race	Cat	Vet	No.	Time	Name	Surname	Cat.	M/F	Female Pos.
143	10	17	1020	46:56	Suzy	Hawkins	V 45	F	26
193	1	34	1100	51:14	Yuko	Gordon	V 65	F	47
217	18	44	1073	53:19	Jo	Cooksley	V 35	F	59
248			1090	56:55	Sophie	Parsons	S	F	77
259	28	64	1075	58:37	Wendy	Tharani	V 45	F	82
275	32	72	1091	1:02:36	Claire	Emmerson	V 45	F	92
280	16	76	1085	1:03:36	Judy	King	V 55	F	96
293	20	84	1078	1:08:06	Liz	Carvell	V 55	F	104
295	21	86	1099	1:10:32	Monica	Smithson	V 55	F	106
299	24	87	1086	1:13:19	Callie	Chapman	V 35	F	107
301	22	88	1079	1:17:08	Jane	Wadey	V 55	F	108

Race	Cat	Vet	No.	Time	First Name	Last Name	Cat.	M/F	Male Pos
25			1014	36:47	Kirk	Ndugu	S	M	25
38			1028	37:56	Adrian	Busolini	S	M	38
41	16	18	988	38:02	Jonathan	Parr	V 40	M	41
43	3	19	1027	38:14	Brian	Brackstone	V 50	M	43
74			1002	41:16	Jay	Papa	S	M	72
127	22	64	996	45:51	Matt	Gifford	V 50	M	107
131	43	68	997	46:19	Alexey	Zherdev	V 40	M	111
136	46	71	1010	46:41	Robert	Wright	V 40	M	114
145	4	75	987	47:11	Brian	White	V 60	M	119
180	8	94	990	50:25	Charlie	Arnold	V 60	M	140
211	38	110	992	52:42	Simon	Haigh	V 50	M	156
226	63	115	1011	54:31	Matt	Tutton	V 40	M	162
249			1022	56:55	Ryan	Riddell	S	M	172
262	45	130	1016	58:58	Pete	Cook	V 50	M	178
269	6	132	999	1:00:20	Jim	Brown	V 70	M	180
271	46	133	1024	1:01:05	Tim	Robinson	V 50	M	182
274	18	134	1021	1:02:14	Nick	Kleanthous	V 60	M	183
291			1026	1:07:37	Peter	Sach	S	M	188
298	20	142	986	1:11:37	Paul	Holgate	V 60	M	192

A Win For Yuko at the Newport Pagnell Carnival 5K

YUKO GORDON won her age group F70 (and 60 & 65 as well) at Newport Pagnell Carnival 5K, near Milton Keynes in 22:20 on Saturday 6th July. It was a flat fast course over traffic free main road with 500 plus runners. Crowds were surprisingly big along the course.

After Mount Chingford and the Trent Park Woods recently, she felt this was too good to be true. However, a fast course is one thing but she said my legs had a problem adjusting to the speed this time. Still, she was happy with the season’s best.

The Carnival 5K is a uniquely fast and flat 5k road race through the historic market town of Newport Pagnell. On closed roads in front of thousands, it’s run ahead of the annual town Carnival Parade. The race finishes on the carnival meadow in the show arena where there’s a day of entertainment and fun. For the 4th consecutive year, there were two different runs. One to suit all abilities: The ‘Serious’ 5K and the family fun 5K.

Ware 10 + 10 – PB for Paul

GERRY ROSEN took part in the Ware 10 (miles). It was a two lap affair with a nasty uphill first mile. A tough little cookie. Gerry was hoping to beat 2hrs and well and truly did it, his time was 1 hour 52 minutes 10 seconds.

The fastest of the eight Spartans was PAUL SHELLEY 20^th of the 269 finishers with 1:07:25; third in his age group and a new personal best (PB) by eight seconds. ALISON SHELLEY was first female from Fairlands at 190^th with 1:33:06; ANNABELLE WHITE was 198^th with 1:35:09 and FIONA CLARKE 212^th with 37:47.

MATT DUTTON took part in the 10 mile race at the Ware festival of running with a chip time of 1:32:56. His first ever 10 mile race. Matt said he managed to miss the heavy rain showers but large puddles were an obstacle at mile 1 and 6 guaranteeing wet feet!!

CHRIS WATLING was 112^th in 1:21:51 and ROBERT WRIGHT 65^th with 1:15:30.

269 finishers.

JANE WHITROW ran the Ware 10K. She said the event was really well organised with lots of water stations and friendly marshals. Jane finished 239^th in 1:21:17.

Pos	MF	CatPos	Bib	Name	Cat	Gun	Chip
20.	19	3	8901	Paul SHELLEY	MV50	1:07:27	1:07:25
65.	55	23	2178	Robert WRIGHT	MV40	1:15:48	1:15:30
112.	91	36	2127	Chris WATLING	MS	1:22:09	1:21:51
188.	134	45	8942	Matt TUTTON	MV40	1:33:19	1:32:56
190.	55	9	8902	Alison SHELLEY	FV55	1:33:28	1:33:06
198.	60	15	8896	Annabelle WHITE	FS	1:35:30	1:35:09
212.	67	20	8906	Fiona CLARKE	FV45	1:38:09	1:37:47
254.	160	43	8829	Gerry ROSEN	MV50	1:52:32	1:52:10

Race for Life

Some Spartans including JIM BROWN and PENNY SCHENKEL ran the Stevenage Race for Life. Jim’s event was lucky but Penny’s finished in a downpour.

EMAC – Spartans 2 and 3.

Fairlands Valley Spartans were second and third in the latest Eastern Masters track and field league event.

The FVS women including SHARON CROWLEY, CHRISTINE LATHWELL; MARIAN MORLEY; JOYLYN SAUNDERS-MULLINS; TESSA STEPHENSON and ANDREA WESTCOTT were second with 118 points, just 19 behind the winners.

The men were third in their match with 86. Their team included CHARLES ARNOLD; MARK FREEMAN; NICK KLEANTHOUS; STEVE MAYFIELD; TIMOTHY SAUNDERS-MULLINS and DAVID STEPHENSON.

The event included running from 100 metres to one mile (1609 metres); walking 2 kilometres; throwing and jumping. The league is for male and female veteran athletes aged from 35 upwards divided in various age categories.

The next EMAC track and field fixture is in Sandy on Wednesday evening 31^st July.

Parkrun Highlights 6^th July

DANIEL VILJOEN achieved a major parkrun milestone on Saturday morning. His run at Stevenage was his 250^th which he finished in 24 minutes 4 seconds (24:04). There were 19 Spartans among the 363 finishers of the very wet 354^th Stevenage parkrun including SIMON JACKSON second in 17:40 and GRANT RAMSAY sixth in 18:57.

ANNABELLE WHITE ran her 150^th parkrun in 31:32.

19 of the 363 finishers at a very wet Stevenage parkrun were Spartans.

Spartans elsewhere included SUZY HAWKINS 25:03 at Henlow Bridge Lakes; NICK KLEANTHOUS 33:11 at Tamar Lakes near Bude and CHLOE CHAPMAN 34:05 at Lanhydrock, Bodmin.

TRENT PARK TREMENDOUS

A big increase in Fairlands Valley Spartans participation meant the club did much better in race two of the Sunday Cross Country League which was in Trent Park, north London.

This time five of the first seven Spartans were seniors, the 18 to 34 age category, and there were eight Spartans in the first 100 finishers in the race. There were about 400 finishers from nineteen clubs and 37 of the 400 were Spartans.

Two complete Spartan men’s teams, teams of eight, and three complete women’s teams, teams of five, finished having survived Trent Park’s traditional helpings of liquid mud.

Muddy Spartan feet after the run – We wonder if they all clean their own shoes…

SIMON JACKSON led in the Spartan men’s “A” team. He was 16^th taking 28 minutes 24 seconds for the 7.5 kilometres event. It was tight between JONATHAN PARR and ADRIAN BUSOLINI but Jonathan got it by nine seconds at 25^th in 29:19 while Adrian was 26^th in 29:28. New member KELVIN BEYOKU and PAUL HEWETT were racing round together. Kelvin was 52^nd in 31:22 and Paul 54^th in 31:25.

STUART ARCHER came in with 32:29 and 79^th and STEVE WELLS was 88^th with 33:08. DANNY SCANLON made it count in the “A” team at 123^rd in 34:33.

CHRISTINE LATHWELL was the fastest female from Fairlands at 32 minutes 8 seconds and 74^th. Christine was the sixth woman out of 154 in the race. TRACEY JACKSON came in next, 203^rd at 38:10, with YUKO GORDON close up behind her, 206^th at 38:14. WENDY THARANI came in at 306^th with 45:19 and FIONA CLARKE completed the women’s “A” team at 320^th with 46:08.

CHLOE CHAPMAN and VICKY ARCHER have improved hugely recently. Chloe was 339^th in 47:49 and Vicky 340^th also in 47:49. The last time Vicky ran this course, it was before the first lock down, she took over 50 minutes. They were the first two in the women’s “B” team.

(The team results are not yet available from the league organisers).

The next cross country league race will be this Sunday (!) and it’s in Stevenage. It will be three laps of Fairlands Valley south park (the showground end) and starts at 10.30a.m.

Happy smiling Spartans despite the lovely mud!

Harriet Chases The Moon

Wednesday evening new Spartan HARRIET PACE ran the Chase the Moon 5km at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, finishing in 29 minutes and 12 seconds – a 35 second PB (personal best).

Massive congratulations on your PB Harriet!

Yuko Won In Spain!

It’s been confirmed that Spartan YUKO GORDON won her age category at the Valencia Marathon with her 3 hours 29 minutes 2 seconds. That’s a big boost to her chances of qualifying for next year’s Age Group World Championships.

Apparently the woman originally declared the winner in the 70 plus category did not complete the full 26.2 miles.

A Track Half

53 laps of Wodson Park running track in Ware saw PAUL HOLGATE complete the Ware Track Half Marathon in 2:24:16.

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 11^th December 2021 – centuries

Three Spartans KEN JUDE, NICK KLEANTHOUS and KAREN PALMER ran their 100^th parkruns on Saturday morning. Ken was 101^st in 27:25; despite a penguin outfit Nick was 111^th in 28:03 while Karen was showing off the century cape and was 179^th in 33:44.

ASHLEY JOHNSON ran a new personal best (PB) of 22 minutes 10 seconds and was second woman in the race and 23^rd out of the 224 runners. She almost certainly would have got under 22 minutes for the first time if it were not for the intervention of a loose dog at a critical moment.

BARRY OSBORNE won his age category with 22:22 and was 26^th in the race. JIM BROWN won his with 27 minutes exactly achieving a target to get in the first hundred with 85^th.

New member HARRIET PACE was first junior woman (15 to 17) in 31 minutes 16 seconds.

VICKY ARCHER new parkrun PB of 27:24 and was 100^th.

The fastest Spartan was JOHN HARRIS with 21 minutes 2 seconds and 16^th place. This week there were 28 Spartans.

A selection of our Stevenage Parkrunners.

Stevenage Parkrun Results where 224 runners took part.

John Harris 21-02 (16th), Ashley Johnson 22-10 (23rd), Barry Osborne 22-22 (26th), Sam Simmons 23-40 (40th), Martin Dudley 23-58 (46th), James McSweeney 24-39 (56th), Lee Pickersgill 26-30 (76th), Jim Brown 27-00 (85th), Vicky Archer 27-24 (100th), Ken Jude 27-25 (101st), Claire Pullen 27-38 (104th), Gail Mackie 27-40 (105th), Nick Kleanthous 28-03 (111th), Fiona Clarke 28-33 (120th), Matt Clarke 28-34 (121st), Chloe Chapman 28-57 (124th), Nicola Andersson 29-41 (133rd), Debbie Blantern 30-05 (139th), Andy Prior 30-19 (145th), Harriet Pace 31-16 (156th), Caroline Croft 21-21 (157th), Tracy Haygarth 32-11 (171st), Karen Palmer 33-44 (179th), Kerstin Weiner 33-45 (181st), Claire Emmerson 33-46 (182nd), Jenny Garrett 33-46 (183rd), Tim Robinson 37-05 (198th) and Helen Harris 51-26 (219th).  

Cranbrook County (Devon): Darryl Stevens 37-19 (78th out of 86 runners).

Tables

Full results for all Spartans when there are a lot at an event will be listed below.

All 37 Spartans at the Trent Park cross country:

Position	Name	Time	Official	Gender	Category	Team
16	SIMON JACKSON	28:23	28:24	M	40	MA
25	JONATHAN PARR	29:24	29:19	M	S	MA
26	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	29:27	29:28	M	S	MA
52	KELVIN BEYOKU	31:21	31:22	M	S	MA
54	PAUL HEWETT	31:22	31:25	M	S	MA
74	CHRIS LATHWELL	32:07	32:08	F	45	FA
79	STUART ARCHER	32:49	32:29	M	S	MA
88	STEVE WELLS	33:10	33:08	M	60	MA
123	DANNY SCANLON	34:32	34:33	M	40	MA
138	PETE SMITH	35:16	35:16	M	50	MB
142	THOMAS SAUKA	35:31	35:32	M	40	MB
150	JOHN HARRIS	35:46	35:47	M	50	MB
203	TRACEY JACKSON	38:07	38:10	F	45	FA
206	YUKO GORDON	38:14	38:14	F	65	FA
255	MATT CLARKE	41:15	41:16	M	40	MB
266	LUKE GURNEY	41:20	41:31	M	S	MB
292	ANDY JAY	43:20	43:27	M	50	MB
298	TIM ROBINSON	44:29	44:30	M	50	MB
306	WENDY THARANI	45:14	45:19	F	45	FA
320	FIONA CLARKE	45:57	46:08	F	35	FA
329	NICK KLEANTHOUS	46:52	46:56	M	50	MB
338	MARK FREEMAN	(47:31)	47:47	M	60
339	CHLOE CHAPMAN	47:35	47:49	F	S	FB
340	VICKY ARCHER	47:38	47:49	F	35	FB
357	MARIAN MORLEY	49:51	49:53	F	55	FB
358	TAHER THARANI	50:02	50:04	M	50
366	JIM BROWN	51:07	51:11	M	60
371	LIZ CROWLEY	52:06	52:40	F	S	FB
375	MICHAEL O’KEEFE	53:41	53:45	M	50
381	SHARON CROWLEY	55:45	56:00	F	55	FB
385	JONATHAN JONES	56:21	56:29	M	50
386	CATHY CRAIG	56:22	56:33	F	65	FC
389	JUDY KING	57:48	57:55	F	55	FC
390	MONICA SMITHSON	(58:48)	58:48	F	55	FC
391	JANE WHITROW	59:48	59:26	F	55	FC
396	SALLY PHILLIPS	1:00:38	1:02:39	F	55	FC
397	STEPH BIGGAR	1:02:30	1:02:50	F	35

A Win For Yuko at the Newport Pagnell Carnival 5K

Ware 10 + 10 – PB for Paul

Race for Life

EMAC – Spartans 2 and 3.

Parkrun Highlights 6th July

Parkrun Highlights 6^th July