Fairlands Valley Spartans
Remembrance Runs – Paul Excels At Debden
It was three laps for four Spartans on Saturday morning and PAUL SHELLEY was an amazing third overall in the Remembrance Runs Half Marathon at Carver Barracks near Debden in Essex.
He finished in 1 hour 23 minutes 18 seconds, a new personal best (PB) by three minutes, and WON his category. JIM BROWN won his category beating his nearest rival by three minutes. His 1 hour 56 minutes exactly (1:56:00) was his best this year by 2 minutes 59 seconds.
SAM TOPHILL ran an excellent 1:53:12 and DAVE ACKERY ran a well paced event to beat two hours with 1:59:43.
Jim said it was a bit chilly but no wind and no rain. Almost ideal. He was quite pleased to put it mildly. Jim’s recent parkruns have been 28:42 and 28:12. On Saturday his 5Ks were 27:36; 27:26; 27:22 and 27:34 taking him to 20K and the last 1.1K was at the same rate. And only six days after running a half at Knebworth in 2:02:15.
Gran Canaria Night Run
JAY PAPA ran the Night Run 10K at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. He finished in 56:40. There were a huge number of runners.
SAM GENTRY started with the Fairlands Valley Spartans run together group at the end of August and started her Spartans membership in September this year. Last Sunday she ran her first ever race, a 10K. It was the Hertfordshire race at Knebworth House. Her chip time result was 1 hour 7 minutes 15 seconds. As her aim was to do it in 1 hour 10 minutes she was very happy with her result.
Cross Country Update
28 Fairlands Valley Spartans – eleven women and 17 men – turned out for the third cross country league race in four weeks on Sunday 3rd November. That’s a much stronger women’s team than last time and helped the club’s performance. The race was in Trent Park. The detailed results showed that FVS have moved up to sixth out of 20 in the combined score and fifth in the men’s competition.
At Trent Park DAVID HARRIS-CHERGUIT ran 19 seconds faster than seven days earlier and moved up from 10th to sixth overall. This time ADRIAN BUSOLINI was one second faster with his 29:12 and he was 15th.
TRACEY JACKSON led in the Spartan women with her 39:33 for 40th woman with YUKO GORDON second Spartan and 45th in 40:40.
It seemed warmer and drier in Trent Park than previous years when the event has been a bit of a mudfest. There were 405 finishers including 152 women.
The next Cross Country League race, race four, will be in Stevenage on Sunday 15th December.
Parkrun Highlights 9th November
26 of the 449 at the 372nd Stevenage parkrun were Spartans. GRANT RAMSAY moved up to second, only missing out on the top sport by nine seconds, with his 18:30.
KAREN ELLIS ran her 30th parkrun and was the fastest female from Fairlands with 25:30. PAUL JENNINGS ran his 90th in 30:34 but PAMELA VILJOEN is only one away from a very special milestone. She ran her 249th in 29:24.
Elsewhere at Henlow Bridge Lakes JOHN HARRIS finished in 22:45 and SUZY HAWKINS in 28:23; YUKO GORDON ran Letchworth in 26:02; MEGAN SUTTON 27:54 and SAMANTHA SUTTON 34:09 at Panshanger; CHRIS HOLLAND 28:14 at Rutland Water; JONATHAN JONES 36:30 and DZENANA TOPIC 36:33 were at the Wimpole Estate and DARRYL STEVENS was in Cranleigh with 39:03.
Stevenage Striders Running Club
Parkrun Achievements
A huge congratulations to the following Striders for their outstanding Parkrun results this week:
- Richard Longley – 21:21 (Personal Best!)
- Gemma O’Donnell – 24:32 (Personal Best!)
- Sarah Kinsella – 27:19 (1st in Age Group)
- Teresa Sutherill – 1st in Age Group & Age Grade Score of 76.18%
- Steve Dennis – 21:49 (1st in Age Group)
- Steve Moore – 21:54 (Age Grade 75.88%)
- Russ Andrews – 25:48 (1st in Age Group, Dunstable Downs)
Race Results
It’s been a busy weekend for Striders, with plenty of impressive performances across various events.
Phoenix Lest We Forget Half Marathon
On Saturday, Marc Hagland completed the Phoenix Lest We Forget Half Marathon in a time of 2:27.
Phoenix Remembrance Half & Full Marathon (Sunday)
On Sunday, many Striders took part in the popular Phoenix Remembrance Half and Full Marathon events run in London along the river Themes.
Half Marathon Results:
- Stuart Cuzner – 1:52:43
- Chrissie Thomas – 2:21
- Marc Hagland – 2:30:00
- Pete Monk – 2:30:00
- Lianne Loosley – 2:35:07
- Jennifer Graham – 2:47:23
- Chris Newton – 2:54:40
- Sarah Goodyear – 3:02:58
- Ally Brown – 3:02:58
Marathon Results:
- Glenn Cuzner – 3:34:59
- Matty Robinson – 3:40:32
- Martin Scales – 3:40:32
- Andrew Manning – 3:47:09
It was fantastic to see so many Striders supporting each other on the out-and-back route, sharing friendly faces and encouraging words. Many of our runners benefitted from the camaraderie that makes this event so special. If you haven’t taken part in the Phoenix Remembrance event before, be sure to mark it in your calendar for next year!
Stevenage Phoenix Running Club
Handicap 5 Mile
On Sunday 10th November, 20 runners took to the footpaths of Stevenage to complete the annual Phoenix 5 Mile Handicap. First place went to Charlie Day, who took 5 minutes 14 seconds off his target time. In second place was John Harris with 4 minutes 6 seconds off his target time and in third place was Graham Eden with 4 minutes 5 seconds off his target time. The fastest male award went to Simon Lodge, and fastest female to Jodie Kantas. Also, Katie Mitham’s time broke the FS club record. Everyone did incredibly well, the proof is in the pudding with all those PBs!
Charlie Day 56:01 (PB)
Joanna Heasman 48:36
Myles Hammersley 47:16 (PB by 7:30mins)
Martin Wasley 46:03 (PB)
John Harris 45:09 PB (PB and 1st 5miler)
Gavin Cooper 44:46
Damla Akkul 43:49
Katie Mitham 42:46 (PB by 10mins)
George Bradshaw 42:03
Ken Hall 41:51
Katka Laughton 41:24
Ben Murphy 41:03 (PB)
Jodie Kantas 38:25
Neal Crawley 37:31
Peter Tungate 37:23
Graham Eden 36:55 (PB)
Ian Young 36:25
Conor O-Neil 36:21 (PB)
Aaron Reynolds 33:46 (PB)
Simon Lodge 31:10
ParkRun
This week we had 16 runners at 5 locations and one member volunteering.
