News Release 17th February 2013
CROSS COUNTRY WINNERS
Eight at Bramley Twenty
Increased participation helped Fairlands Valley Spartans achieved their best place so far in the Sunday Cross Country League.
The club won the women’s B team competition. Over the whole series the Spartan women were seventh out of seventeen clubs and the club’s men were ninth.
The last race of the series was over a tough undulating course at Watford on Sunday. Eleven Spartan men and eleven Spartan women finished – both the male and female teams were seventh on the day.
There were outstanding performances from GRANT RAMSAY, fourth out of the 298 finishers in just 36 minutes 3 minutes; SIMON JACKSON, 13th in 37:48; ANDREW PATTERSON, 15th in 37:56 and RHIANNON GRIFFIN, 18th woman in 47:18.
But the teams’ improvement would not have been possible without the contribution of MARTIN WOOD, 69th man in 43 minutes 33 seconds; ADRIAN DONNELLY, 96th man in 45:19; DAVID BOWKER, 102nd man in 45:40; VISHAL SHAH, 151st man in 49:48; JIM BROWN, 169th man in 52:56; STEVE PIKE, 177th man in 55:02; NICK WITCOMBE, 189th in 60:32 and ANDY INGRAM-TEDD, 197th in 64:40 for the men and….
NIKKI ANDREWS, 27th in 49 minutes 32 seconds; JULIE SIMMONS, 38th in 51:46; ROSIE CANHAM, 41st in 52:17; CLAIRE COKER, 46th in 53:35; KAREN ELLIS, 49th in 54:27; KAREN LIDDLE, 61st in 56:42; TRICIA HOPPER, 65th in 57:16; MARIA THORNE, 75th in 58:34; HANNAH DAVIDSON, 77th in 58:58 and SARAH PIKE, 89th in 64:44 for the women.
Times on the Day: Women’s Team
| Position | Name | Time |
| 18 | RHIANNON GRIFFIN | 47:18 |
| 27 | NIKKI ANDREWS | 49:32 |
| 38 | JULIE SIMMONS | 51:46 |
| 41 | ROSIECANHAM | 52:17 |
| 46 | CLAIRE COKER | 53:35 |
| 49 | KAREN ELLIS | 54:27 |
| 61 | KAREN LIDDLE | 56:42 |
| 65 | TRICIA HOPPER | 57:16 |
| 75 | MARIA THORNE | 58:34 |
| 77 | HANNAH DAVIDSON | 58:58 |
| 89 | SARAH PIKE | 64:44 |
There were 98 female finishers.
Men’s Team
| Position | Name | Time |
| 4 | GRANT RAMSAY | 36:03 |
| 13 | SIMON JACKSON | 37:48 |
| 15 | ANDREW PATTERSON | 37:56 |
| 69 | MARTIN WOOD | 43:33 |
| 96 | ADRIAN DONNELLY | 45:19 |
| 102 | DAVID BOWKER | 45:40 |
| 151 | VISHAL SHAH | 49:48 |
| 169 | JIM BROWN | 52:56 |
| 177 | STEVE PIKE | 55:02 |
| 189 | NICK WITCOMBE | 60:32 |
| 197 | ANDY INGRAM-TEDD | 64:40 |
There were 200 male finishers.
Eight At Bramley 20
Training for Spring Marathons, including the London Marathon, is well under way and eight Spartans completed Sunday’s Bramley 20 mile road race.
After a cold and foggy start, the race mostly took part in beautiful spring sunshine. It was a big step up in distance for SHARON CROWLEY following the snow and cold bugs of recent weeks. She did wonder if she was mad attempting the event but it seems to have worked out! However she does have a large lump and blister on the back of her heel/Achilles from the ankle chip, so she was glad she stopped to take off the chip but wonders how much time she lost, especially with only 4 minutes between herself and Paul Holgate in the finish after she closed 6 minutes in the second half of the race! Sharon is now proudly displaying sock and short lines and the top of her chest/neck is red, as is the top of her arms. A suntan in February!
SIMON BELL was 56th in 2 hours 9 minutes 47 seconds; TODD GRAY 109th in 2:15:57; SAM PRETTY 193rd in 2:26:36; RICHARD HAZELDENE took two minutes off his personal best to finish 221st in 2:28:55; LEE LAWRENCE was 469th in 2:50:32; ROGER BIGGS 518th in 2:54:40; PAUL HOLGATE 746th in 3:38:37 and Sharon Crowley 752nd in 3:42:38.
There were 780 finishers
Brass Monkey 10 km road race – Rockingham Speedway Circuit – 1
DON GREGORY recently ran the Brass Monkey 10 kilometres road race on the Rockingham Speedway circuit. He was 46th in 45 minutes 46 seconds.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the:
- Handicap 5K in Stevenage on Thursday 21st February.
- County Veterans Cross Country Championships at Willian, Letchworth on Sunday 17th March 2013.
- Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21st April.
- Fairlands Valley Challenge on Sunday 21st July.
- Relays in the Park on Thursday 25th July.
- Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd November.