Big hills and big puddles faced the seven Spartans who ran the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday. They splashed through to the finish.
On that course and in those conditions ROBERT WRIGHT ran an excellent 1 hour 42 minutes 27 minutes for the lumpy 13.1 miles. Five minutes later MATT CLARKE came in with 1:47:58.
FIONA CLARKE ran a well judged event to get close to two hours with 2:03:36. JIM BROWN said he had a terrible day in his running office but was in the middle of a little cluster with SUE HAMER 2:11:18; Jim at 2:12:23 and WENDY THARANI at 2:13:18.
SHARON CROWLEY ran a good steady half marathon and came in smiling with 2:33:30. There were 1,083 finishers.
Parkrun Highlights 5th February.
Fairlands Valley Spartan members were out in force on the first Parkrun of the month, aka Stripey Saturday. Forty four members took part at seven different venue across the country.
NICOLA ANDERSSON ran a Personal best of 26:01 at Stevenage in her 90th Parkrun, also taking the title of fastest Spartan lady this week. JONATHAN PARR was the fastest Spartan crossing the line at 17:01 at Stevenage and was first in the event.
New Spartan JANE WADEY completed her 20th Parkrun in 34:19, a new PB!
DARRYL STEVENS ran at Great Salterns Parkrun, Portsmouth, for the first time finishing with a time of 40:00. Astonishingly, this was the 94th venue he has tried out!
Special mention to TONY RANDFIELD who achieved the highest age grade percentage this week with 80.26%, getting into national class level.
Although there were no official milestones achieved by members this week, CHLOE CHAPMAN has reached 70 runs at Stevenage.
At least 32 out of another great total of 346 finishers at Stevenage were Spartans. Well done all!
Tables
Spartans at the Watford Half Marathon
| Pos | BIB | Name | Time | Cat | |
| 329 | 339 | Robert WRIGHT | 1:42:27 | Unknown | |
| 431 | 1183 | Matt CLARKE | 1:47:58 | 40-49 | |
| 754 | 1184 | Fiona CLARKE | 2:03:36 | 35-44 | |
| 866 | 988 | Sue HAMER | 2:11:18 | 45-54 | |
| 870 | 1181 | Jim BROWN | 2:12:23 | 60-69 | |
| 882 | 913 | Wendy THARANI | 2:13:18 | 45-54 | |
| 1028 | 908 | Sharon CROWLEY | 2:33:30 | 55-64 |
Spartans at parkruns Saturday 5th February
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time | Comment |
| Endcliffe parkrun | ||||
| 340 | 218 | Mike REYNOLDS | 28:56 | |
| Stevenage parkrun (32 FVS) | ||||
| 1 | 1 | Jonathan PARR | 17:01 | Winner |
| 10 | 8 | Grant RAMSAY | 19:20 | |
| 17 | 15 | Tony RANDFIELD | 20:31 | 80.26% age grade |
| 21 | 19 | Stuart ARCHER | 21:00 | |
| 27 | 25 | Paul SHELLEY | 21:32 | |
| 66 | 55 | Sam SIMMONS | 23:48 | |
| 70 | 59 | Martin DUDLEY | 24:04 | |
| 86 | 72 | Darren EMMERSON | 25:01 | |
| 107 | 11 | Nicola ANDERSSON | 26:01 | PB, 90th |
| 111 | 92 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 26:11 | |
| 112 | 12 | Alison SHELLEY | 26:12 | |
| 133 | 103 | Mark BEASLEY | 26:55 | |
| 170 | 130 | Tim ROBINSON | 28:08 | |
| 187 | 34 | Debbie BLANTERN | 28:36 | |
| 190 | 143 | Jim BROWN | 28:38 | |
| 203 | 42 | Chloe CHAPMAN | 29:19 | 70th |
| 204 | 151 | Matt CLARKE | 29:19 | |
| 212 | 43 | Monica SMITHSON | 29:38 | |
| 219 | 47 | Fiona CLARKE | 29:49 | |
| 235 | 167 | Karl SHREEVE | 30:44 | |
| 237 | 57 | Caroline CROFT | 30:46 | |
| 250 | 64 | Tracy HAYGARTH | 31:41 | |
| 259 | 69 | Claire EMMERSON | 32:15 | |
| 265 | 180 | Jonathan JONES | 32:39 | |
| 268 | 75 | Dzenana TOPIC | 32:51 | |
| 274 | 184 | Steven DOBNER | 33:10 | |
| 275 | 79 | Mo WARRILLOW | 33:12 | |
| 276 | 185 | David PATTMAN | 33:12 | |
| 295 | 92 | Jane WADEY | 34:19 | PB, 20th |
| 343 | 124 | Helen HARRIS | 47:08 | |
| 344 | 204 | Roger BIGGS | 48:53 | |
| Tilgate parkrun | ||||
| 350 | 218 | Darryl STEVENS | 39:22 | |
| Lee-on-the-Solent parkrun | ||||
| 69 | 61 | Edward HARE | 24:32 | |
| Letchworth parkrun | ||||
| 7 | 7 | Nick GILL | 22:21 | |
| 32 | 6 | Georgie HOOPER | 28:34 | |
| Sandy Water (Wales) parkrun | ||||
| 6 | 6 | John HARRIS | 20:53 |