What a difference a week, let alone a fortnight, makes! The daffodils were out on Sunday for a team from Fairlands Valley Spartans who took on the Bramley 20 road race in North Hampshire. This was the 25th anniversary of the event and it was a lovely mild, sunny day except perhaps for the headwind over the last five miles.
PAUL HEWETT ran a great race for 60th, top 10% out of the 633 finishers, and taking four minutes off his previous best for a PB of 2 hours 15 minutes 32 seconds. STUART ARCHER was 175th in 2:30:29.
JIM BROWN knew this was not a day for heroics from him and aimed for just under nine minutes for every mile. Apart from the first, at 9:36, having made a sensible decision not to start too far forward and inevitably getting caught in runner congestion in the early stages of the combined 20 and 10 mile start, that was achieved with a finish time of 2 hours 55 minutes exactly.
The Bramley 20 is a club organised two laps of ten miles event with mild climbs at 6 and 8 (and thus 16 and 18) miles. Huge potential for someone seeking a fast twenty and excellent preparation for a Spring marathon.
The Spartans were 17th team out of the 33 that finished.
Late News – Cross Country League
The Spartans are delighted to announce that Suzy Hawkins finished joint winner of Ladies V35 (women 35 plus) competition in the Sunday Cross Country League, both she and another woman scored 10 points so the League decided a tie was the best outcome from the five race series. Fantastic result. YUKO GORDON won the women 65 category and DAN McALPINE was third senior.
Entries for the County Veterans Cross Country at Trent Park on Sunday 3rd March close on Thursday Evening.
Richmond Half Marathon
It was the Richmond Half Marathon for NICK GILL on Sunday in the glorious sunshine. Great route along the Thames towpath – and very flat!
He treated it as a marathon training run so no PB (personal best) chasing today. His plan went perfectly – keep it steady for the first 5/6 miles and kick on from there… managed 21.25 for the final three miles to sneak under 100 minutes (1;40). His time was 1:39:58. Nick says it was a great, scenic PB course and would definitely recommend it.
Anton at EMAC Track and Field
ANTON McCALLA took part in the EMAC (East of England Veterans) indoor champs at Lee Valley on Sunday in the M40 (men 40 plus) category.
He came fifth in 8.69 seconds in the 60 metres sprint; got a long jump PB of 4.79 metres and took SILVER in the triple jump with 9.61 metres.
At the same venue ANDREA WESTCOTT won the British Masters Indoor Pentathlon for women aged 45 plus.
Stamford 30K
In the Stamford 30K Spartan YUKO GORDON won the FV65 (women over 65) trophy in 2:28:48. She had hoped to improve her course record but was more than three minutes slower, still recovering from the hard Royston XC the previous Sunday. This event was voted one of top 10 races in UK. Yuko says the event is extremely hilly but the beauty of the course more than made up for that. She said she could not hold back on the downhill and strongish tailwind of first few miles and went through the 5K and 10K marks in almost her 60 plus personal bests so you can imagine how it went for the remaining 20K!
30K is about 18.6 miles.
Half For Roger
Roger Biggs was running a half marathon at Holme Pierrepont (The National Water Sports Centre in Nottinghamshire).
The course was 4.5 laps alongside the rowing course, where half the lap was run with the wind, and the other half into 20mph winds. Roger finished in 2:42:21
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 16 February
Saturday saw lots of Spartan out and about getting some Parkrun action. Ashley Schoenwetter ran for the first time in St Albans and was first lady in 19:32. Tim Saban was fourth overall at Canons Park in 21:03.
Ricky Pearce was second overall in Stevenage in his first ever parkrun in 18:19. There were PBs for James McSweeney (22:14), David Ackery (27:38) and Paul Jennings (27:03). Welcome back to coach Ada Janusiene running her first parkrun.
Congratulations go to to David Scott running his 100th parkrun. 97 of these were at Stevenage.
Further afield Erica Grayson ran 28:21 at Barrow. Darryl Stevens was tail runner at Brockenhurst (51:05). John Roxborough ran for the first time at Lee-on-the-Solent (21:55).
Danny and Verity Sutton-Fisher were in Lowestoft with Danny clocking a PB of 21:27. Verity finished in 29:41.
John Harris was seventh at Letchworth in 21:39. Ryan Dunning ran his first Letchworth parkrun in 25:21. Tracy Pez was eighth lady in 26:42.
(All the Spartan parkrun results can be found at the end of this release).
Spring Marathon?
Fairlands Valley Spartans are into week seven of their marathon training plan. Are you running a Spring marathon? Whether you want to get round and enjoy; are a first timer; want a personal best or expect to go “Sub Three” the Spartans are the local club for you, there are group training opportunities five days a week. Have a look at www.fvspartans.org.uk or the club’s Facebook page.
Join Our Celebration
Fairlands Valley Spartans celebrate their champions and a great year in 2018 with their presentation evening, dinner and dance on Friday 1st March. Have a look at www.fvspartans.org.uk
Tables
Parkruns: Saturday 16th February
St Albans parkrun
A total of 516 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 11 | 1 | Ashley SCHOENWETTER | 00:19:32 |
Stevenage parkrun
A total of 376 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 2 | 2 | Ricky PEARCE | 00:18:19 |
| 14 | 14 | Stuart ARCHER | 00:20:37 |
| 15 | 15 | Danny SCANLON | 00:20:38 |
| 33 | 31 | Dean CARPENTER | 00:22:10 |
| 36 | 33 | James MCSWEENEY | 00:22:14 |
| 38 | 35 | Gareth COWELL | 00:22:20 |
| 42 | 39 | David PATTMAN | 00:22:52 |
| 47 | 44 | Martin DUDLEY | 00:23:04 |
| 66 | 57 | Mark BEASLEY | 00:24:15 |
| 77 | 67 | Steven DOBNER | 00:24:53 |
| 79 | 69 | Jonathan JONES | 00:24:55 |
| 84 | 74 | Thomas SAUKA | 00:25:06 |
| 96 | 85 | Wills JENNINGS | 00:25:29 |
| 109 | 98 | Neal MUGGLETON | 00:26:11 |
| 125 | 112 | David SCOTT | 00:26:48 |
| 127 | 114 | Darren EMMERSON | 00:26:49 |
| 136 | 122 | Paul JENNINGS | 00:27:03 |
| 145 | 130 | Edward HARE | 00:27:25 |
| 150 | 134 | David ACKERY | 00:27:38 |
| 165 | 21 | Hazel SMITH | 00:28:01 |
| 167 | 23 | Claire EMMERSON | 00:28:02 |
| 168 | 24 | Jenny GARRETT | 00:28:03 |
| 195 | 38 | Sofia CARPENTER | 00:29:24 |
| 214 | 163 | Michael O’KEEFE | 00:30:19 |
| 217 | 53 | Callie CHAPMAN | 00:30:21 |
| 220 | 55 | Karen BROOM | 00:30:23 |
| 248 | 178 | Roger BIGGS | 00:32:07 |
| 341 | 126 | Hazel JONES | 00:38:53 |
| 345 | 129 | Ada JANUSIENE | 00:39:07 |
Barrow parkrun
A total of 179 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 91 | 27 | Erica GRAYSON | 00:28:21 |
Brockenhurst parkrun
A total of 206 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 206 | 101 | Darryl STEVENS | 00:51:05 |
Canons Park parkrun
A total of 184 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 4 | 4 | Tim SABAN | 00:21:03 |
Lee-on-the-Solent parkrun
A total of 463 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 49 | 44 | John ROXBOROUGH | 00:21:55 |
Lowestoft parkrun
A total of 386 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 25 | 24 | Daniel SUTTON | 00:21:27 |
| 237 | 63 | Verity FISHER | 00:29:41 |
Letchworth parkrun
A total of 150 runners took part.
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Run Time |
| 7 | 7 | John HARRIS | 00:21:39 |
| 37 | 33 | Ryan DUNNING | 00:25:21 |
| 50 | 8 | Tracy PEZ | 00:26:42 |