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Club News Race Results

SPARTAN EMAC WOMEN WIN AGAIN!

The FVS Ladies continued their winning streak in the Eastern Masters Athletics league meeting in perfect conditions at Cambridge on Wednesday evening.  The team of 14 greatly outnumbered the opposition, allowing everyone to focus on one or two events instead of having to cope with multiple shoe changes!  FVS had a clean sweep in the high jump competition, with Nikki Wilby (W35), Monica Brown (W50 – also second place shot put), and Karen Dodsworth (W60) all winning maximum points for the team.  Karen also claimed first place in W50 400 metres and placed second in W50 triple jump.  Other wins on the night came from Andrea Westcott in the W50 100m (also second place hammer throw with a PB!), Tessa Stephenson W60 100m, and Wendy Tharani W50 1500m.  Having such a large contingent ensured every event was covered. Important points were scored by Callie Chapman (fourth place in both W35 100m and 400m), Carolyn Linsell (second place W60 400m), Fiona Clarke (second place in both W35 1500m and her first ever triple jump competition!), Cathy Craig (third place W60 1500m), Sharon Crowley (fourth place 2k walk ‘A’ and second place W60 hammer), Yuko Gordon (third place 2k walk ‘B’), Stephanie Biggar (third place W35 hammer and fourth place shot put), and Joylyn Saunders-Mullins finished in second place in a hotly contested W60 shot put.  As always, the relays rounded off the evening with W35 team of Monica Brown, Callie Chapman, Fiona Clarke, and Nikki Wilby finishing in third place.  The W50 team of Carolyn Linsell, Andrea Westcott, Tessa Stephenson, and Wendy Tharani were unopposed, finishing in first place. 

A selection of our fab ladies at EMAC!

The men’s team had fewer competitors, seven, available but TIM SAUNDERS-MULLINS, STEVE MAYFIELD, DAVE STEPHENSON, NICK KLEANTHOUS, CHRIS WESTCOTT, GRANT RAMSAY and PETE SMITH still managed a credible fourth place finish.  Tim Saunders-Mullins won the M60 hammer throw by a huge margin, with other points from Steve Mayfield (4th place in M35 100m, shot put, triple jump, and high jump then moving to his own age group to finish 4th in M50 hammer!), Dave Stephenson (3rd place in both M50 100m and 400m), Nick Kleanthous (5th place M60 100m, 2nd place 2k walk ‘A’, and 4th place M60 shot put), Chris Westcott (3rd place in both M35 400m and 1500m), Grant Ramsay (2nd place in his new age group M50 1500m), and Pete Smith (2nd place M60 1500m, 5th place M50 triple jump, 2nd place M60 high jump).  The relay team finished in 4th place, just pipped to the line by 0.3 seconds! 

Not forgetting our amazing men!

The ladies team have now secured their place in the final but will still be aiming for another victory in Bedford net month on Wednesday 20th July! 

Two Wins At Welwyn  

There were eleven Spartans and two wins at the Welwyn 10K. 

MARK GOODWIN was really pleased and surprised by achieving first place in his age category.  He managed a negative split, rare for him, due to the challenging hill in the first half of the race.  Mark WON the Vet 60 competition with 48 minutes 1 second. 

JIM BROWN’s second half was 1 minute 39 seconds faster than his first, so another negative split, and he WON the 70 plus category by three minutes with 56 minutes 56 seconds. 

VISH SHAH came in with 53 minutes 53 seconds and new member HARRIET SMITH raced round in an excellent 54 minutes 27 seconds.  She was in the top half of the field, 160th out of 355. 

Smiles at Welwyn!

There was a new personal best (PB) for MICHAEL O’KEEFE – 61:42. 

JANE WADEY said it was tough but pleased to complete her first ever measured and chip timed 10K race in 67:09. 

It was a very hot run at the Welwyn 10K said CHRISTINE ZVEREV.  Sadly not the sub 60 she was hoping for but Christine said it was beautiful nonetheless.  She came in with 67:47. 

JANE WATT, 68:26, thought it was a lovely course.  Bit hot in places but it is June. 

LUKE GURNEY 63:01; NICOLA HATHERLY 74:00 and JUDY KING 74:55 completed the Spartan eleven. 

Hitchin Hard Half 

ROBERT WRIGHT took the Hitchin Hard Half Marathon at an easy pace and finished in 2.06.10.  There were 149 finishers. 

Race To The Tower  

SHARON CROWLEY ran a 52 mile Ultra, the Race to the Tower, which she finished in 19 hours 57 minutes 7 seconds at 4:30am.  It’s a tough and very hilly event in the Cotswolds, some of it quite steep.  She kept a good pace throughout and only slowed down a little near the end when it was dark.  She said she needed her poles for both up and down the hills.  She was supported by Mike, who was a great help, especially close to the end. An amazing achievement.  

Sharon said it was one of the hardest things she’s ever done! 

Amazing Sharon has done it again!

Serpentine 

It was bright dry and windy for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park where runners were entertained by the warm up for the BST festival.  Jim Brown was 105th and second in his category with 27:20.  He is twelfth in the year long series. 

Windy maybe but it was quite neat as it was headwind where there was shelter but tailwind out in the open on the back straight.  The race was won in an eye watering 14 minutes 58 seconds!  The Serpentine 5K is now in its 30th year with a celebration to come in October. 

Run Orwell 

DAVE SCOTT took part in the Run Orwell event near Royston today, and although he’d planned for the 10k, because of the heat he made the decision to do the 5k distance instead. 

It was a small event, with around 120 participants across both distances.  It was mixed terrain, including some sections across private farm land which were scenic but tough!  It was very much a social run for Dave, so he took it relatively easy and finished in 34:17. 
 

Parkrun Highlights  

The purple start and finish signs made a welcome return to Stevenage parkrun for the first time since March 2020.  There were 238 runners including 14 Spartans. 

It was a busy week for Spartans participating across 11 different venues including home base at Stevenage.  JONATHAN PARR was first at Stevenage (17:16).  He was exactly one minute ahead of his nearest rival. 

JIM BROWN won the category by three seconds with a little scamper to the line ahead of a Garden City Runner with the two of them 105th and 107th out of 238 in the race.  Jim’s time was 27:14, slightly faster than the Serpentine 5K the day before. 

Lots of “First timers” this week: ROGER BIGGS at Eastbourne (44:51), the Pattmans ran in Lowestoft (David 23:04 and Nicola 35:03), MO WARRILOW and STEVE DOBNER ran together at Jersey Farm (Mo 29:27) (Steve 29:28) and YUKO GORDON was at Henlow Bridge Lakes (25:11). 

There were new parkrun course PBs for PAUL MAGUIRE at Exmouth (23:48), MICHAEL O’KEEFE at Henlow Bridge Lakes (28:35) and NIKKI NATION at Stevenage (32:29), 

ANDY JAY was at Westmill (28:32), JAMES MCSWEENEY at Littleport (25:04) and DARRYL STEVENS at Brockenhurst (35:46). 

CATHY CRAIG ran a virtual parkrun in 31:51 to help celebrate her son’s 100th

Tables 

Spartans at the Welwyn 10K 

Pos Gender Cat Pos Name Category Chip Age Grade Comments 
82. 74 Mark GOODWIN MV60 48:01 70.1% 1st V60 
157. 137 44 Vishal SHAH MS 53:53 49.7 %  
160. 21 Harriet SMITH FS 54:27 54.4% New 
197. 164 Jim BROWN MV70 56:56 62.4 % 1st V70 
255. 197 56 Michael O’KEEFE MV50 1:01:42 51.5 % PB 
266. 203 62 Luke GURNEY MS 1:03:01 41.7 %  
299. 88 17 Jane WADEY FV55 1:07:09 52.9 % First 10K race 
304. 93 35 Christine ZVEREV FV35 1:07:47 44.8 %  
313. 100 37 Jane MCFARLANE FV35 1:08:26 45.5 %  
338. 117 30 Nicola HATHERLY FV45 1:14:00 43.9 %  
342. 120 23 Judy KING FV55 1:14:55 49.2 %  

Number of records: 355 

The full Spartan result for Stevenage parkrun is below: 

Position   Gender Position   parkrunner   Run Time   
Jonathan PARR 00:17:16 
42 39 Sam SIMMONS 00:23:29 
53 48 Toby ECCLESHALL 00:24:09 
57 51 Matt CLARKE 00:24:13 
62 54 Brian WHITE 00:24:32 
105 87 Jim BROWN 00:27:14 
116 22 Ashley SCHOENWETTER 00:27:49 
132 28 Fiona CLARKE 00:28:45 
139 31 Debbie BLANTERN 00:29:04 
153 41 Monica SMITHSON 00:30:20 
180 60 Nikki Katherine NATION 00:32:29 
197 67 Samantha SUTTON 00:33:37 
203 133 Stephen SMITHSON 00:34:56 
230 138 Paul HOLGATE 00:42:04