Stevenage Striders Running Club
Stevenage Striders have been out in force across various races recently, braving the cold conditions and setting new personal and course bests.
ATW Welwyn 10K The Welwyn 10K proved to be a testing but rewarding course for the Striders.
- Russell Edwards achieved a personal best with a time of 1:12:00, improving his time by four minutes. He described the route as challenging but enjoyed the fantastic atmosphere.
- Fiona Davies set a course best with a strong time of 1:02:15,
- Tony Randfield stormed through to finish in 45:36, securing a course best and first place in his age category.
- Paula Heyes, competing in this race for the first time, achieved a course best of 1:17:07, overcoming cold conditions and personal challenges to cross the finish line.
- Adam Mead also put in a strong effort, finishing in 1:07:02.
- Neil McKinnon clocked 52:14:00, enjoying the camaraderie of fellow Striders on a chilly morning.
- Richard Longley put in an exceptional effort, achieving a personal best of 42:14:00. Despite struggling mentally early on, he focused on controlled breathing and consistent strides, ultimately pushing himself to a strong finish. He credited the Striders for helping him improve his times across all distances since joining the club.
Hampton Court Half Marathon
- Stuart Cuzner represented the Striders in the Hampton Court Half Marathon, finishing in a commendable 1:50:48 and placing 705th out of 1484 finishers. He enjoyed the flat course and used the event as a great way to stretch the legs rather than an all-out race effort.
Phoenix Feisty Phoenix Half Marathon
- Marc Hagland completed the Phoenix Feisty Phoenix Half Marathon with a solid time of 2:22:11, marking another strong half-marathon finish.
Fairlands Valley Spartans
Two weeks after the Watford Half Marathon and it was still chilly and hilly in Cassiobury Park but Fairlands Valley Spartans had a great turnout for Sunday’s cross country league race.
Racing over six miles ADRIAN BUSOLINI was first in for FVS and top 5% in the race with his 37 minutes 32 seconds (37:32) for 15th position. It was tight between MIKE JEFFS 27th in 39:40 and NICK GILL 28th in 39:41.
OLIVIA HAMILTON was first woman for the club in 48:42 with GEORGIE HOOPER and ELLA CERAULO not far behind in 50:19 (171st overall) and 51:05 (182nd).
Olivia was running her first cross country for FVS and it was great to see Ella back.
17 women and 17 men ran for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the event, one of the highest totals for any of the twenty clubs participating.
Love Welwyn 10K.
Meanwhile four Spartans were at the Love Welwyn 10K in Welwyn Garden City.
SUE HAMER ran 3 minutes 48 seconds faster than last year and set a new personal best of 54:27. MICHAEL FISHER finished 20th in 40:21; TONY RANDFIELD in 45:36 and MARIE COLUCCI in 56:52. There were 364 finishers.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 15th February
There were at least 46 Spartans at 14 different parkruns on Saturday 15th February. 29 Spartans were among the 493 finishers at Stevenage.
ANDREW PATTERSON from FVS won the Stevenage run with 17 minutes 5 seconds (17:05) and ASHLEY SCHOENWETTER was second woman with 21:55.
Spartan ANNABELLE WHITE enjoyed herself at the Hunstanton Promenade parkrun. Lovely and flat if a bit windy on the out and back course. Her time of 22 minutes 43 seconds (22:43) will have boosted her enjoyment.
On a trip back to Edinburgh GRANT RAMSAY ran the Holyrood parkrun in 19:25.
More than seventeen Spartans have already entered the Baldock Beast Half Marathon which will be on Sunday 23rd February.
Stevenage Phoenix Running Club
We had four races this weekend, with the largest turnout being Love Welwyn – where one of our members celebrated her birthday doing what she does best, running.
RunThrough Battersea Park 5k
With two laps around Battersea Park, starting and finishing on the athletics track, this is the perfect course to test yourself. On Saturday 15th February, Ashley crossed the line in 24:01, just two seconds shy of a PB and was really “pleased with the progress” he’s made over the past couple of months and is “slowly getting back” to where he wants to be.
ATW Love Welwyn Garden City 10k
Love was all around (WGC) this valentines weekend. The ATW Love Welwyn Garden City 10K is a popular and much loved event, starting in the beautiful Stanborough lakes. The race was made even more special for Katie Mitham, who was celebrating her birthday amongst friends and family.
First home was Aaron Reynolds who ran for SNHAC and bagged himself a 10k PB, coming 27th overall. Ben Murphy also earned himself a PB, with a time of 50:45. Birthday girl, Katie Mitham and her partner, Martin Harris ran the course together in 55:18.
John Harris completed the course in 01:02:29 and Charlie Day was “over the moon” with his PB of 01:09:17, shaving 4 minutes off his time from last year. Chloe Fox ran her first official race and clocked a PB time of 01:13:31 describing the experience as having “a few inclines followed by beautiful downhill recoveries, rather chilly but overall a great race”. Emma Wick celebrated her first race post-injury by running 01:14:47 and Jo Heasman was also there bringing the energy, marshalling with her cow bell.
Cross Country League Race 5 – Watford
Cross Country Race 5 was organised by the Watford Joggers (with support from the Ealing Eagles) and took place on Sunday 16th February around the undulating Cassiobury Park in Watford. The steep uphills and muddy downhills resulted in a tough course, however Ken Hall remarked that the combination of “good company and a great XC course” made it a pleasure to run. The results will be released later this week, but well done to Andy Chapman, Conor O’Neill, Ken Hall and Neal Crawley for taking part.
ZigZag Running: R.I.O.T Run
On Sunday 16th February Scott Crawford ventured to Brandon Country Park for the R.I.O.T run (Running is our therapy). Scott has completed this course before, and this time used the lapped course as an opportunity to try running without gels. Instead, Scott opted for a couple of bites of a jam bagel from his parked car. Scott completed the race in 02:33:18.
