Tough at Therfield - Fairlands Valley Spartans

In a club participation battle the Fairlands Valley men nosed in front this time with 21 finishers compared with 20 women in the fifth and final cross country league race of the season. Some loved it but there’s no doubt it was tough on Therfield Heath Sunday morning. The hills are always there but this was the coldest race of the season to which was added rain, wet ground and a strong wind on exposed parts of the course.

MICHELLE REEVES was the highest placed Spartan. She completed the nine undulating kilometres in 44 minutes 47 seconds top be twelfth woman. YUKO GORDON won the women aged 65 plus category in the series. In this race she was 21^st woman in 47 minutes 27 seconds. ISABEL GREEN 29^th in 48:17; KELLY EVANS 60^th in 54:05 and ALICE POOLE 64^th in 54:36 completed the women’s “A” team.

The fastest Spartan was DAN McALPINE. He was 13^th man in 36:46. PAUL HEWETT also beat 40 minutes. He was 26^th in 37:53. The other men in the Top 100 were STUART ARCHER was 66^th in 41:58 and ADRIAN BUSSOLINI 92^nd in 43:40 and REECE McCULLAGH 94^th in 43:56.

Women’s captain CLAIRE EMMERSON stopped to help an injured runner from another club but still finished 103^rd in 62:06. Four FVS women’s teams of five runners completed the race.

Overall the Spartans were fifth out of the twenty clubs in the league.

(Times for all 41 Spartans can be found near the end of this release)

Love Welwyn – Ashley’s A Winner

On Sunday SU McANENY ran the Love Welwyn 10km with husband CIARAN. She said it’s a nice local run that was well organised. Despite the wind, wet and cold conditions she managed a new personal best (PB) of 52:24, which made her really happy!

NIC PATTMAN completed her first ever 10k run on Sunday morning at the Love Welwyn 10k. This is also her first run in her stripes since joining Fairlands Valley Spartans in January. She said, “Never did I think I would be able to run this distance so I am extremely pleased and grateful to all the Spartans for their support during both training sessions and the run today.” She finished in 63 minutes 22 seconds.

TREVOR and KAREN BROOM were with the fourteen Spartans who ran. It was the second time they’ve both ran this event. This time the route was reversed but they both got a course PB. Trevor finished in 1.05:55 which was a course PB by 13 minutes. Karen finished in 1:02:31 which was a 5 minute course PB.

ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER was the Spartans fastest runner. She was the fastest woman aged under 40 and her time of 40 minutes 39 seconds gave her 18^th overall out of about 400 finishers.

JOHN HARRIS was second man aged 50 plus with 41 minutes 52 seconds.

ERICA GRAYSON said, “The rain stopped and even the sun managed to shine a little on those at the Welwyn Love 10K. A group of Spartans spread the street love taking on the undulating 10K course around the streets close to Stanborough Lakes. The first mile was congested with runners but once the field thinned the narrow foot paths provided a solid footing before the last 1K hit the path around the lake.”

This was Erica’s first official race this year and her last race as a 49 year old. She finished in 53:43.

(Times for all fourteen Spartans can be found towards the end of this release).

Evolution Endurance

ROGER BIGGS ran the Darwin Day Marathon on Friday. This was a marathon to celebrate the life of Charles Darwin in his town of birth.

The event was held in the Shrewsbury Sports Village on a purpose built cycle track, just under 1km long. For the marathon distance, this meant 43 full laps, plus an initial shorter lap. Each lap finished with an uphill section, producing a 7 metre incline each lap, and 306 metres of climbing overall.

Looking to get under 5.5 hours, Roger was on course for much of the race, but had to walk the last seven laps after bad cramps set in on both legs. The race director kept the race open, and Roger managed to finish in 6:27:50 and got his finisher’s medal.

“Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of Species was a scientific bombshell in its day and remains a much-discussed work 150 years later. Darwin was the official naturalist aboard the British ship H.M.S. Beagle during its world voyage of 1831-36.”

Olympic Park Half Marathon

GERRY ROSEN ran the Olympic Park Half Marathon in 2 hours 24 minutes 45 seconds.

Parkrun Highlights Saturday 9 February

Double celebrations in Stevenage this week as Verity Fisher and Barry Osborne were joined by 32 stripy Spartans as they both reached their milestones of 250th and 50^th parkruns. Verity was the first to wear the specially designed green 250 cape in Stevenage parkrun and finished in 29:13 whilst Barry completed his 50^th parkrun in 23:25.

James McSweeney and Caren Dowsett ran new PBs this week in Stevenage. James ran in 23:00 whilst Caren finished in 43:37.

(More than forty Spartan parkrun results can be found at the very end of this release).

Spring Marathon?

Fairlands Valley Spartans are into week six 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 1^st March. Have a look at www.fvspartans.org.uk

Tables

Spartan Women at Therfield (20 out of 135 finishers):

Position	Name	Time	Comments
12	MICHELLE REEVES	44:47	“A” team
21	YUKO GORDON	47:27	“A” team
29	ISABEL GREEN	48:17	“A” team
60	KELLY EVANS	54:05	“A” team
64	ALICE POOLE	54:36	“A” team
77	LISA GRAY	57:03	“B” team
79	ANNE TRYSSESOONE	57:12	“B” team
81	JENNY GARRETT	57:53	“B” team
102	JULIE SHADBOLT	62:02*	“B” team.
103	CLAIRE EMMERSON	62:06*	“B” team. Delayed by incident
111	CATHY CRAIG	64:16	“C” team
115	PENNY SCHENKEL	65:30	“C” team
120	SHARON CROWLEY	67:30*	“C” team
124	CALLIE CHAPMAN	70:00*	“C” team
125	JANE WHITROW	70:05*	“C” team
126	SHERYL HANN	70:10*	“D” team
129	SOPHIE COWAN	1:12:00*	“D” team
130	HAYLEY YENDELL	1:12:10*	“D” team
132	ANGIE KEELING	1:12:15*	“D” team
135	MONICA SMITHSON	1:14:00*	“D” team

Spartan Men at Therfield (21 out of 227 finishers):

Position	Name	Time	Comments
13	DAN McALPINE	36:46	“A” team
26	PAUL HEWETT	37:53	“A” team
66	STUART ARCHER	41:58	“A” team
92	ADRIAN BUSSOLINI	43:40	“A” team
94	REECE McCULLAGH	43:56	“A” team
115	DANNY SCANLON	45:46	“A” team
146	JAMES McSWEENEY	49:30*	“A” team
152	MARK GOODWIN	49:37	“A” team
154	STEVE SMITHSON	49:54	“B” team
157	ANDREW SMITH	50:23	“B” team
188	NEAL MUGGLETON	54:42	“B” team
196	TONY VICKERS	56:35	“B” team
197	JONATHAN JONES	56:37	“B” team
205	ANTON McCALLA	58:58	“B” team
207	SIMON SYPULA	59:51	“B” team
212	JIM BROWN	62:15	“B” team
214	TIM ROBINSON	62:34
215	ANDY JAY	63:00
216	KEN JUDE	63:10
223	PAUL HOLGATE	68:23
225	TAHER THERANI	72:30

Spartans at the Love Welwyn 10K

Pos	Name	Time	Category	Cat Pos	Gender	Gen Pos
18	ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER	40:39	Lady U40	1	Female	1 (winner)
26	JOHN HARRIS	41:52	M50	2	Male	25
138	CIARAN MCANENY	52:24	M40	43	Male	115
139	SUSAN MCANENY	52:24	W40	8	Female	24
162	ERICA GRAYSON	53:43	W40	11	Female	34
274	KAREN BROOM	1:02:31	W50	12	Female	94
295	NICOLA PATTMAN	1:03:22	W40	36	Female	109
308	MICHELLE HOLTON	1:05:00	W40	40	Female	119
315	TREVOR BROOM	1:05:55	M50	41	Male	192
322	TRACY HOUSE	1:07:23	W40	44	Female	130
369	PRIYA CLARKE	1:15:57	Lady U40	78	Female	164
376	MAGGIE MONTGOMERY	1:20:03	W40	61	Female	170
381	NICHOLA DURENT	1:24:23	W40	64	Female	175
382	HAYLEY PEACH	1:24:23	W40	65	Female	176

Parkruns: Saturday 9^th February

Parkrun	Pos	Gender	Parkrunner	Time	Notes
Stevenage	12	10	Danny SCANLON	00:21:11
Stevenage	32	29	James MCSWEENEY	00:23:00	PB
Stevenage	39	36	Paul MAGUIRE	00:23:23
Stevenage	42	39	Barry OSBORNE	00:23:25	50^th parkrun
Stevenage	46	42	Martin DUDLEY	00:23:35
Stevenage	60	8	Kelly EVANS	00:24:31
Stevenage	63	55	Ryan DUNNING	00:24:40
Stevenage	65	57	Jonathan JONES	00:24:43
Stevenage	69	59	Mark BEASLEY	00:24:58
Stevenage	73	63	Nigel STRONGITHARM	00:25:14
Stevenage	79	12	Zoe JACKSON	00:25:34
Stevenage	87	14	Tracy PEZ	00:25:57
Stevenage	104	87	Callum BEASLEY	00:26:43
Stevenage	141	115	David SCOTT	00:27:58
Stevenage	158	33	Jenny GARRETT	00:28:32
Stevenage	159	126	John NELMS	00:28:33
Stevenage	162	129	Paul HOLGATE	00:28:51
Stevenage	168	135	Ken JUDE	00:29:10
Stevenage	172	35	Verity FISHER	00:29:13	250^th parkrun
Stevenage	173	138	Darren EMMERSON	00:29:14
Stevenage	175	140	Daniel SUTTON	00:29:16
Stevenage	180	142	Paul JENNINGS	00:29:21
Stevenage	181	143	Andy JAY	00:29:22
Stevenage	183	144	Chris HOLLAND	00:29:26
Stevenage	189	42	Carol PAUL	00:29:37
Stevenage	204	52	Kerstin WEINER	00:30:21
Stevenage	205	53	Karen PALMER	00:30:26
Stevenage	214	60	Dzenana TOPIC	00:30:41
Stevenage	217	62	Debbie BLANTERN	00:30:45
Stevenage	238	74	Claire EMMERSON	00:31:29
Stevenage	250	79	Sally MCBRIDE	00:31:49
Stevenage	327	198	Simon SYPULA	00:38:44
Stevenage	340	136	Hazel JONES	00:39:42
Stevenage	349	143	Sharon CROWLEY	00:43:06
Stevenage	355	148	Caren DOWSETT	00:43:37	PB
Stevenage	364	156	Rowena RUTLEDGE	00:46:32
Brockenhurst	169	102	Darryl STEVENS	00:38:17
Panshanger	216	169	Tim ROBINSON	00:30:54
Castle Park	117	102	David PATTMAN	00:27:04
Castle Park	118	103	Steven DOBNER	00:27:05
Westmill	56	18	Tracy STILES	00:36:14