Eleven Spartans tackled the Watford hills for a chilly half marathon. They came back with a bronze medal and a new personal best.
ERICA GRAYSON has been running with the Spartans for twelve months and her first race last year was the Watford Half. This year she had a fantastic time running with JULIE SHADBOLT and took 5 minutes 29 seconds off last year’s time coming in at 2 hours 3 minutes 40 seconds. She’s very happy with that good start to this year’s running.
Spartan ADRIAN BUSOLINI ran a great new personal best of 1 hour 26 minutes 26 seconds.
JIM BROWN won the county BRONZE medal by 26 seconds having overtaken the fourth placed Vet 60 runner in the last 500 metres. He was exactly one minutes ahead of the fifth. The Watford Half is a popular open race but included the Hertfordshire county championship for veteran runners.
An eighty minute run is a tremendous minutes achievement on such a tough course and fastest from Fairlands GRANT RAMSAY was 49th out of the 1875 finishers in 1 hour 20 minutes 51 seconds. He was fifth in the county championships for veterans 40 plus.
RUTH REILLY ran a tremendous 1 hour 38 minutes 8 seconds for a category seventh, the same time as TIM SABAN. CHRIS HOLLAND came in with 1:47:22, JAMES KILROY with 2:01:18 and ROBERT WRIGHT with 2:03:01. Spartan SHARON CROWLEY may have been the last in for the club but she still had more than 250 runners behind her with her 2:11:34.
| Position | Name | Time | Comments |
| 49 | GRANT RAMSAY | 1:20:51 | County 5th |
| 137 | ADRIAN BUSOLINI | 1:26:26 | PB |
| 449 | TIM SABAN | 1:38:08 | |
| 450 | RUTH REILLY | 1:38:08 | County 7th |
| 833 | CHRIS HOLLAND | 1:47:22 | |
| 1048 | JIM BROWN | 1:52:38 | County Bronze |
| 1370 | JAMES KILROY | 2:01:18 | |
| 1409 | ROBERT WRIGHT | 2:03:01 | |
| 1410 | ERICA GRAYSON | 2:03:40 | |
| 1412 | JULIE SHADBOLT | 2:03:39 | |
| 1620 | SHARON CROWLEY | 2:11:44 |
Brian Qualifies For England Masters
BRIAN WHITE has qualified for the England Masters team in the Birmingham 10K by beating 40 minutes and finishing third veteran 60 plus in the Chichester 10K. He was 176th overall out of 1506 in 39 minutes 58 seconds. Brian enjoyed a very flat fast course finishing with a complete lap of the Goodwood Race Circuit.
Winter Fun
New members JONATHAN and HAZEL JONES competed in the Cancer Research 10K Winter Fun Run in London. Jonathan finished in 56 minutes 7 seconds and Hazel in 1:25:37. GERRY ROSEN improved his personal best (PB) by more than six minutes finishing in 1:00:22.
Ultra John
Spartans JOHN NELMS and RICHARD HAZLEDENE finished the Thames Trot Ultra Marathon on Saturday in 10 hours 50 minutes. The event started in Oxford and followed the Thames river tow path all the way to Henley. While the point to point distance between these two locations is only 22 miles following the meandering river makes it just under 50! In cold and wet conditions, not getting about five degrees, the main feature of the run was mud. In places the mud was six inches deep and the trail only just passable. This came just three weeks after John and Richard completed the Country to Capital Ultra – a mere 43 miles from Wendover to central London.
Top Tens
The Spartan open club championship results will be released at the champions’ night, presentation evening, dinner and disco on Friday 23rd February. 239 different individuals completed at least one event in the short championships and 156 in the long championships.
The long distance championships for women and men consist of the best three out of 10 miles; half marathon (13.1 miles); 20 miles and full marathon (26.2 miles). All performances must be in accredited, measured races.
The short distances are the best three from 1500 metres; 5K; 5 miles and 10K.
Presentation Evening, Dinner and Disco
The championship and other awards will be presented at the Fairlands Valley Spartans Champions Night in the Cromwell Hotel, Old Stevenage at 7p.m. on Friday 23rd February. Tickets £25. You can find more information on www.fvspartans.org.uk
Coach to London
Do you have an entry to the London Marathon on 22nd April 2018? Have you thought how you will get to London from Stevenage on the big day? Fairlands Valley Spartans have a coach from Stevenage and there are spare places. The cost is just £10. If you would like to join us, please contact Roger Biggs on roger@thebiggs.net.
parkrun Highlights
On a wet morning DANNY SCANLON filled his recent customary “first Spartan home” position at Stevenage, finishing 7th in 19:57. STUART ARCHER ran a new course PB of 21:04 in 9th and BARRY OSBORNE was 10th in 21:07. MARTIN DUDLEY, MARK BEASLEY and RYAN DUNNING all made the top 30, and there was also a new course PB for DAVID SCOTT, finishing just outside the top 30 men in 23:48.
CLAIRE EMMERSON was the first Spartan woman to finish, 5th in a time of 24:30. KAREN PALMER was the third Spartan with a new course PB at Stevenage, coming home 8th in 26:11. KAREN ELLIS was 24th in 28:55. ERICA GRAYSON and JULIE SHADBOLT also finished in the top 30.
Elsewhere there were new course PBs for DAVE SMITH at St Albans (17th in 20:02), ANDY JAY at Westmill (12th in 25:00) and NICOLA KENNEDY at Nobles (2nd woman in 24:44). There were also Spartans in action at Hyndburn, Alice Holt, Forest Rec, Panshanger and Harlow.
Coming Events
Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including:
- Bramley 20/10 (20 miles or 10 miles) on Sunday 11th February.
- St Valentine’s 30K at Stamford on Sunday 11th February.
- Serpentine 5K on Friday 16th February (please note change of date).
- Cross Country League at Royston on Sunday 18th February.
- Fairlands Valley Spartans Champions Night on Friday 23rd February.
- National Cross Country Championships, Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday 24th February.
- Baldock Beast on Sunday 25th February.
- UKA Club Run at Fairlands Valley Spartans on Thursday 1st March.
- Welwyn Half Marathon on Sunday 4th March.
- Big London Half Marathon on Sunday 4th March.
- Milton Keynes 5K and 10K on Sunday 11th March.
- Finchley 20 miles (including Herts County) on Sunday 18th March.
- Oakley 20 miles on Sunday 18th March.
- Serpentine 5K on Friday 23rd March (please note change of date).
- Orion 15 classic cross country at Chingford (Epping Forest) on Saturday 24th March.
- County Cross Country Championships for Veterans at Royston on Sunday 25th March.
- Maidenhead Easter Ten on Friday 30th March.
- Sandy Ten on Sunday 8th April.
- London Marathon on Sunday 22nd April.
- Flitwick 10K on Sunday 29th April.
- Stirling Marathon on Sunday 29th April.
- EMAC track and field event one on Wednesday 2nd May.
- County 1500 and veteran track and field championships on Monday 7th May.
- Pednor Five including county championships for veterans on Monday 7th May.
- Mid Week Road Race League 10K in Epping Forest on Thursday 10th May at 7.30p.m.
- Mid Week Road Race League 10K in St. Albans on Thursday 24th May.
- EMAC track and field event two on Wednesday 6th June.
- Welwyn 10K including senior county championships on Sunday 24th June.
- EMAC track and field event three on Wednesday 4th July.
- Fairlands Valley Challenge off road on Sunday 15th July.
- EMAC track and field event four on Wednesday 1st August.
- Standalone 10K on Sunday 7th October.
- Peterborough Half Marathon (GER) on Sunday 14th October.
- Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 4th November.
- St Neots Half Marathon on Sunday 18th November.
Tables
Full Spartan Parkrun results from Saturday 3rd February:
| parkrun | Position | Gen | parkrunner | Time | Notes |
| Hyndburn | 14 | 13 | Gareth COWELL | 00:23:30 | |
| St Albans | 18 | 17 | Dave SMITH | 00:20:02 | New course PB |
| Westmill | 13 | 12 | Andy JAY | 00:25:00 | New course PB |
| Nobles | 15 | 2 | Nicola KENNEDY | 00:24:44 | New course PB |
| Stevenage | 7 | 7 | Danny SCANLON | 00:19:57 | |
| Stevenage | 9 | 9 | Stuart ARCHER | 00:21:04 | New course PB |
| Stevenage | 10 | 10 | Barry OSBORNE | 00:21:07 | |
| Stevenage | 18 | 17 | Martin DUDLEY | 00:22:39 | |
| Stevenage | 21 | 20 | Mark BEASLEY | 00:22:57 | |
| Stevenage | 24 | 22 | Ryan DUNNING | 00:23:16 | |
| Stevenage | 35 | 31 | David SCOTT | 00:23:48 | New course PB |
| Stevenage | 38 | 34 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 00:24:09 | |
| Stevenage | 42 | 5 | Claire EMMERSON | 00:24:30 | |
| Stevenage | 50 | 45 | Darren EMMERSON | 00:25:23 | |
| Stevenage | 53 | 48 | Simon SYPULA | 00:25:28 | |
| Stevenage | 59 | 53 | Jonathan JONES | 00:25:48 | |
| Stevenage | 68 | 8 | Karen PALMER | 00:26:11 | New course PB |
| Stevenage | 71 | 62 | James SOUTH | 00:26:15 | |
| Stevenage | 121 | 24 | Karen ELLIS | 00:28:55 | |
| Stevenage | 122 | 25 | Erica GRAYSON | 00:28:55 | |
| Stevenage | 123 | 26 | Julie SHADBOLT | 00:28:56 | |
| Stevenage | 183 | 123 | Peter CARPENTER | 00:33:04 | |
| Stevenage | 204 | 74 | Tracy STILES | 00:35:25 | |
| Stevenage | 223 | 86 | Hazel JONES | 00:40:53 | |
| Alice Holt | 289 | 182 | Darryl STEVENS | 00:42:57 | |
| Forest Rec | 272 | 174 | Daniel SUTTON | 00:42:23 | |
| Panshanger | 106 | 92 | Tony BRADFORD | 00:26:58 | |
| Harlow | 70 | 61 | Clive CANNON | 00:28:11 |