Watford Cross Country

ANDREW WINS CROSS COUNTRY

It just started to drip at the start then the rain got harder and harder throughout Sunday’s cross country league race at Watford’s Cassiobury Park but 27 from Fairlands Valley Spartans completed the testing six mile event with ANDREW PATTERSON winning in just 34 minutes 50 seconds.

GABRIELLE O’BRIEN was the fastest female from Fairlands with 49 minutes 32 seconds.

JONATHAN PARR and ADRIAN BUSOLINI were both top twenty overall with Jonathan seventh with 36:49 and Adrian 13^th with 37:30.

Andrew, Jonathan, Adrian and Gabrielle – Photo Credit Keith Fenwick

A good turnout of some of their faster men meant the Spartan men’s “A” team moved up to fourth out of 21 clubs compared with seventh at the first race on 15^th October. The club’s women were seventh. The men’s “B” team were second out of eight.

There were 18 FVS men and 9 women.

Position	M/F	Name	Official Time	Comments
1	1	ANDREW PATTERSON	34:50	V40. “A” team
7	7	JONATHAN PARR	36:49	SM. “A” team
13	13	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	37:30	SM. “A” team
49	47	NICK GILL	41:09	SM. “A” team
51	48	GRANT RAMSAY	41:19	V50. “A” team.
111	97	MATT NEWTON	46:12	V40. “A” team.
112	98	STUART ARCHER	46:14	SM. “A” team.
116	102	MIKE JEFFS	46:25	SM. “A” team.
154	133	MATT GIFFORD	48:39	V50
163	139	DANNY SCANLON	49:04	V40
169	27F	GABRIELLE O’BRIEN	49:32	SL
178	147	BRIAN WHITE	50:14	V60
240	184	TOBY ECCLESHALL	54:02	SM
241	57F	YUKO GORDON	54:05	FV65
251	191	DARREN EMMERSON	54:26	V50
252	61F	TRACEY JACKSON	54:27	FV45
260	65F	SALLY REEVES	54:39	FV45
322	226	TIM ROBINSON	59:28	V50
323	97F	WENDY THARANI	59:34	FV45
336	229	DAVID ACKERY	60:52	SM
345	113F	CLAIRE EMMERSON	62:07	FV45
348	115F	ANNABELLE WHITE	62:08	SL
356	235	MARK FREEMAN	63:57	V60
366	239	ANDY JAY	64:49	V50
379	243	JIM BROWN	68:20	V70
392	147F	CALLIE CHAPMAN	81:32	FV35
393	148F	MICHELLE HOLTON	81:32	FV45

Marathon Eryri – Snowdon Marathon

This years Snowdon Marathon, now known as the Marathon Eryri took place on Saturday. SHARON CROWLEY completed her 30^th consecutive Snowdon marathon in 6:18:29 and continues to have run more Snowdon marathons than any other female. But none of this year’s finishers have run more Snowdons than PAUL HOLGATE who despite having his preparations hampered by a hamstring injury still managed to complete his 33^rdconsecutive Snowdon marathon in 8:20:55. Both regulars were this year joined by a third Spartan, THOMAS SAUKA, whose comments at the end were “What an event, I can see why people love the Marathon Eryri so much, I thought I could sneak under 5 hours but it wasn’t possible in the end, now let the beer flow” as he finished in 5 hours 7 minutes 50 seconds.

Great South Run (10 miles)

Recently four from the Spartans Introduction to Running Group enjoyed the Great South Run race in Portsmouth. And each one achieved a Personal Best!!

The Great South Run is a flat course around Portsmouth and the docks with bag pipes, drums and a choir along the route – a really fun run!

SALLY PICKLES went round in 1:56:23; JUDY KING in 2:02:17; RACHAEL MILLER in 2:04:25 and NICOLA HATHERLY in 2:04:27.

Nicola and Judy had a sea swim later, to refresh tired legs – it was warmer in than out!

Our Introduction to Running ladies elated with their pb’s!

Serpentine Series

It was sunny, mild, with a light breeze in Hyde Park for the 31^st anniversary Last Friday of the Month 5K. JIM BROWN was 170^th in 27 minutes 20 seconds (27:20). Second man over 70 by 3 seconds – closing down towards the end but not quite fast enough.

That’s ten of the Serpentine runs done this year. More than enough for a series.

Parkrun Highlights for Saturday 28^th October

For the Consolidated Results please click the link

SPARTANS IN CASSIOBURY

Fairlands Valley Spartan JONATHAN PARR was in the top ten for a cross country race for the second week in a row. Last week he was eighth in the county championships. This time he was seventh in the cross country league fixture in Cassiobury Park, Watford covering the six undulating miles in 36 minutes 12 seconds.

The club had a good turnout of 24 men and 18 women in the race of nineteen clubs and 405 runners. That meant they had three men’s and three women’s teams finish the race. League teams consist of eight men and five women.

Their fastest woman was CHRIS LATHWELL, 45^th overall in 40 minutes 22 seconds. She was fifth woman out of 169. Next came SUZY HAWKINS, 124^th in 45:17 and TRACEY JACKSON, 186^th in 49:31. YUKO GORDON was 198^th in 50:12 and HAZEL SMITH fifth counter for the women’s “A” team in 225^th with 51:57. This time the Spartans had five women in the top fifty female runners.

In addition to Jonathan Parr the Spartan men had a strong team this time with ADRIAN BUSOLINI 17^th in 37:58; KELVIN BEYOKU 39^th in 39:47; GRANT RAMSAY 61^st in 41:48; STEVE WELLS 104^th in 44:10; DANNY SCANLON 106^th in 44:17; STUART ARCHER 121^st in 45:13 and NICK GILL in 46:48.

(All 42 Spartan times are near the end of this release. The team scores will be released by the league later this week).

Parkrun report for 15^th January

34 Spartans took part across nine different parkuns including the Spartans’ homebase of Stevenage.

Grant and Ashley both clocking fantastic times!

Numbers at Stevenage were still high with 27 Spartans contributing to a new post lockdown record of 353 people taking part. GRANT RAMSAY was fifth overall in 19 minutes 13 seconds; ASHLEY JOHNSON was second woman and got a new parkrun personal best (PB) of 21:48 as did NICOLA ANDERSSON with 26:34. MO WARRILLOW was absent from her marshal position of “Mo’s corner” as she was running her second parkrun after returning from injury. She finished in 46:52 which was great after such a long absence from running. JIM BROWN reached an unofficial milestone of 70 parkruns. 

It may of been damp and foggy but the weather doesn’t put the Spartans off from what they do best!

MARTIN WOOD was a “first timer” in Sheffield at Endcliffe parkrun (22:53) for his 15^th parkrun. Another first timer, CATHY CRAIG joined a large field of 546 runners at Bournemouth parkrun (31:04). Cathy said, “I was second in the WV65 age group with a time of 31:04. Due to temporary works on the path, the course had been changed this week to a mainly off road one which had teething problems – a long bottleneck after half a mile. They are likely to reroute again to avoid this problem.”

DARRYL STEVENS was “tail walker” at Brockenhurst (47:09).  MIKE REYNOLDS was at Panshanger (29:37); JOHN HARRIS was fifth at Letchworth (22:41),  

Fred for the Championship

Fairlands Valley Spartans will be sending mens and womens teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans this Sunday. Veterans start at age 35 with category breaks every ten years. The championships are incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race.

Tables

All 42 Spartans at the cross country league race in Watford on Sunday 16^th January.

Position	Name	Official Time	Gender / Cat	Comments
7	JONATHAN PARR	36:12	MS	MA
17	ADRIAN BUSOLINI	37:58	MS	MA
39	KELVIN BEYOKU	39:47	MS	MA
45	CHRIS LATHWELL	40:22	W45	FA. 5^th woman.
61	GRANT RAMSAY	41:48	M40	MA
104	STEVE WELLS	44:10	M50	MA
106	DANNY SCANLON	44:17	M40	MA
121	STUART ARCHER	45:13	MS	MA
124	SUZY HAWKINS	45:17	W45	FA..18^th woman.
141	NICK GILL	46:48	MS	MA
142	WILLIAM MORLEY	46:57	MS	MB
182	MARTIN WOOD	49:14	M50	MB
186	TRACEY JACKSON	49:31	W45	FA. 34^th woman.
198	YUKO GORDON	50:12	W65	FA. 41^st woman.
216	DAVID KENNEDY	51:25	MS	MB
218	MARK GOODWIN	51:31	M60	MB
225	HAZEL SMITH	51:57	W45	FA. 49^th woman.
228	DANIEL BATES	52:16	MS	MB
232	MATT CLARKE	52:29	M40	MB.
254	LUKE GURNEY	54:00	MS	MB
261	DARREN EMMERSON	54:23	M50	MB
293	TIM ROBINSON	56:34	M50	MC
304	NICK KLEANTHOUS	57:15	M50	MC
306	CAROLE SHELDRICK	57:22	W45	FB
307	MARK FREEMAN	57:35	M60	MC
319	WENDY THARANI	58:27	W45	FB
330	FIONA CLARKE	60:05	W35	FB
337	NICOLA ANDERSSON	61:14	W45	FB
359	MARIAN MORLEY	64:33	W55	FB
360	JIM BROWN	64:36	M60	MC
361	JENNY GARRETT	65:20	W45	FC
362	VICKY ARCHER	65:20	W35	FC
371	KEN JUDE	66:21	M50	MC
374	JONATHAN JONES	66:59	M50	MC
380	SHARON CROWLEY	68:38	W55	FC
381	JAMES KILROY	68:52	M40	MC
384	PAUL HOLGATE	69:29	M60	MC
392	CHRISTINE ZVEREV	73:03	W35	FC
393	SHERYL HANN	73:04	W55	FC
395	MONICA SMITHSON	73:25	W55
398	CALLIE CHAPMAN	74:24	W35
403	NICOLA HATHERLY	78:41	W45

24 Spartan men. 18 Spartan women. 405 finishers. 169 women. FA means women’s (female) “A” team and so on.

Fairlands Valley Spartans at the Stevenage parkrun

A total of 353 runners took part. 27 Spartans.

Position	Gender Position	parkrunner	Run Time
5	5	Grant RAMSAY	19:13
26	2	Ashley JOHNSON	21:48
37	32	Tony RANDFIELD	22:48
66	60	Martin DUDLEY	24:28
80	72	Nigel STRONGITHARM	25:02
81	73	Lee PICKERSGILL	25:03
82	5	Grace COVENTRY	25:05
96	84	Vishal SHAH	25:44
115	9	Nicola ANDERSSON	26:34
130	14	Ann TRYSSESOONE	27:06
134	111	Matt CLARKE	27:09
139	114	David PATTMAN	27:14
144	119	Tim ROBINSON	27:22
150	121	Nick KLEANTHOUS	27:35
161	131	Jim BROWN	28:02
188	35	Fiona CLARKE	29:19
206	40	Chloe CHAPMAN	30:08
207	156	Karl SHREEVE	30:12
213	45	Charlotte KEARNEY	30:48
215	159	Stephen SMITHSON	31:02
222	48	Caroline CROFT	31:29
226	51	Tracy HAYGARTH	31:39
281	83	Bonnie BRAZIL	35:38
336	121	Mo WARRILLOW	46:52
337	199	Steven DOBNER	46:52

345	202	Roger BIGGS	49:07