TRENT PARK CROSS COUNTRY - Fairlands Valley Spartans

Going to bed with a miserable forecast including light rain 30 Spartans woke up to a lovely morning to tackle the second in the season of cross country league races. This one was in Trent Park near Cockfosters.

The club were delighted two complete men’s and women’s teams finished. The 18 men and 12 women from Fairlands Valley Spartans were among more than 400 runners on the undulating 4.7 miles (7.58 kilometres) course.

In a very competitive race at the fast end Spartan DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT won a top ten place with eighth in just 28 minutes 5 seconds (28:05).

The third Spartan to finish and first female from Fairlands was NATALIE LAWRENCE having a great run for 48^th overall in 31 minutes 21 seconds (31:21).

The second Spartan was MICHAEL FISHER at 23^rd in 29:49.

The women’s “A” team was Natalie (31:21); SUZY HAWKINS (43:39); JACKIE PERRY (44:00); JAYNE RIDDELL (45:04) and LINDA GEORGE (45:52). SAM GENTRY led in the “B” team with 47:24.

The others in the top 100 were ADRIAN DONNELLY (33:11); DANNY SCANLON (33:54) and DECLAN TRAYNER (34:36).

Position	Name	Time	Cat	Comments
8	DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT	28:05	M40	Men “A” team.
23	MICHAEL FISHER	29:49	Male Senior	Men “A” team
48	NATALIE LAWRENCE	31:21	W35	Women “A”
74	ADRIAN DONNELLY	33:11	M40	Men “A”
75	DANNY SCANLON	33:54	M40	Men “A”
98	DECLAN TRAYNER	34:36	M40	Men “A”
123	CHARLIE ARNOLD	35:49	M60	Men “A”
134	ANDY SHAW	36:24	M50	Men “A”
139	DELVIN AUBURN	36:35	Male Senior	Men “A”
165	STEPHEN MASSEY	37:50	M50	Men “B”
176	MARTIN WOOD	38:15	M60	Men “B”
198	MATT COOKE	39:05	Male Senior	Men “B”
287	SUZY HAWKINS	43:39	W45	Women “A”
292	JACKIE PERRY	44:00	W55	Women “A”
294	NICK GILL	44:11	Male Senior	Men “B”
303	PETE COOK	44:34	M50	Men “B”
306	MARK FREEMAN	44:50	M60	Men “B”
309	JAYNE RIDDELL	45:04	W55	Women “A”
320	LINDA GEORGE	45:52	W35	Women “A”
341	SAM GENTRY	47:24	W45	Women “B”
359	JIM BROWN	48:51	M70	Men “B”
365	SHARON CROWLEY	49:47	W65	Women “B”
372	SAMANTHA SUTTON	50:02	W45	Women “B”
391	CALLIE CHAPMAN	52:10	W35	Women “B”
398	BECKY RAYNER	56:07	W35	Women “B”
400	PAUL HOLGATE	56:27	M60	Men “B”
401	NICK KLEANTHOUS	57:07	M60
404	JAYNE DYMOKE	59:39	W45
409	MICHAEL O’KEEFE	60:46	M60
410	JANE WADEY	62:58	W55

Bedford

Spartan MELANIE STALEY was 33^rd out of the 267 finishers in the Bedford Half Marathon with 1:38:05 which got her third woman 45 plus. There were three from Fairlands Valley Spartans in the Bedford 10K – ELLOTT WHTE and NATALIE WHITE finished together in 52:35 and LEE POTTER was successful in 1:44:22. 343 finishers in the 10K.

Knebworth House

Nine Spartans ran at Knebworth House on Sunday morning.

Hertfordshire 10K

In the Hertfordshire 10K ADAM HILL was really happy with his result as he was aiming for a sub 1 hour and got a personal best (PB) in for 10K! He finished in 58:20.

The first from Fairlands Valley to finish was CHRIS WATLING with 52:12. ALICE WELCH came in with an excellent 57:21; RYAN RIDDELL with 59:21 and SALLY PICKLES with 64:14.

There were 661 finishers.

Hertfordshire Half Marathon

Over 13.1 miles WAYNE SIMMONS came in with 2 hours 6 minutes 29 seconds (2:06:29) and JESS CLARKE, organiser of the Stevenage Half Marathon, with 2:06:30.

SOPHIE PARSONS finished in 2:12:03 and JUDY KING in 2:21:19.

There were 1271 finishers.

New York Marathon

Paul Shelley reports. We ran NYC Marathon!! Alison and our daughter Molly ran an amazing race, running the whole thing together finishing in 4.29.18. Molly had a 15 minute PB (personal best). I ran in the Abbott world age group championship in 3.29.46, struggled from mile 21, it was brutal from there until park lane. Proud to have collected two medals. Crowds were fab and with our other daughter, Daisy, spectating made it very special. It was let down by the bus queue in the morning one hour and getting through security, another hour which meant I nearly missed my wave. But what an amazing experience.

Yuko Gordon beat four hours with 3:52:47. She was fourth woman 70 plus.

She said she probably shouldn’t have run with her recent injuries (knee and Achilles), too soon after Berlin too, but too much to give away to withdraw so late, particularly all expenses spent were considerable, which are not refundable.

Nevertheless, she’s glad it’s over without dropping out. Yuko said “It was a hell of a battle for me. Marathon is a monster after all. I need some rest before London.”

Serpentine

It was noticeably warmer in Hyde Park than Stevenage on Friday and despite the light rain and breeze JIM BROWN enjoyed the Last Friday 5K run at the Serpentine and the café stop afterwards. He was happy with his 27:37 and improved a little in the year long overall championship table.

MARTIN WOOD was 124^th in 23:08.

Parkrun Highlights – Saturday 1^st November 2025

First parkrun of GMT and there were 501 finishers at Stevenage. There was a Halloween theme and a stripes day for Spartans.

PERRI GENTRY was second at Stevenage with a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 18:22 and MEGAN SUTTON the fastest female from Spartans with a new parkrun personal best of 24:50. SAMANTHA SUTTON was another with a PPB – 28:55.

The 501 Stevenage parkrunners included 216 women. 17 FVS women and 14 FVS men.

LLOYD DIAS got his Saturday morning parkrun in at Leavesden Country! He clocked a 26:00. It’s a nice, easy course, but it was super slippery out there today – his road shoes were not the best choice. Lloyd to power-walk a few bits to avoid a slide!

53 Spartans ran parkruns around the country. CHARLIE WHITE ran at the Stanborough parkrun. A first timer he was sixth in 19:40. There were 292 runners.

Position	Gender Position	FVS parkrunner	Time
2	2	Perri GENTRY	18:22
27	22	Jay PAPA	21:56
84	65	Martin DUDLEY	24:48
87	16	Megan SUTTON	24:50
89	68	Matt CLARKE	24:52
102	79	Martin JACOB	25:35
109	84	Daniel VILJOEN	25:54
133	98	Darren EMMERSON	26:39
169	128	Ryan DUNNING	27:43
181	39	Susan MCANENY	28:13
208	45	Samantha SUTTON	28:55
216	47	Lorraine HILL	29:08
225	160	Jim BROWN	29:28
250	64	Sarah ILLINGWORTH	30:14
290	89	Sally PICKLES	31:29
303	192	Nick KLEANTHOUS	32:00
307	194	Stephen SMITHSON	32:05
314	101	Alice WELCH	32:19
347	210	Michael O’KEEFE	33:39
357	125	Pamela VILJOEN	33:57
364	130	Caroline CROFT	34:07
365	131	Carole SHELDRICK	34:08
388	146	Jayne DYMOKE	35:20
395	227	Keith MANTON	35:49
424	166	Nicola HATHERLY	38:03
448	182	Annabelle WHITE	40:58
454	187	Nichola DURENT	42:02
455	188	Hayley PEACH	42:03
458	190	Julie MANTON	43:17
464	196	Emma CHAPMAN	47:26
469	252	Roger BIGGS	50:05