Fairlands Valley Spartans
There were medals of all colours for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the second in the series of Hatfield 5K races which included the county championships for veterans. ASHLEY JOHNSON won GOLD in the women 35 plus category with 18:56; ALISON WOOD won GOLD in the women 55 plus with 20:53; YUKO GORDON won SILVER in the women 65 plus with 22:19 and the men’s team of JONATHAN PARR (16:40); MIKE JEFFS (17:49); ROSS GALLAGHER (17:56) and GRANT RAMSAY (18:27) won team BRONZE.
22 Spartans ran and there were five new personal bests (PBs) – ROSS GALLAGHER by 35 seconds; PAUL SHELLEY by 11 seconds to 18:31; ASHLEY JOHNSON by 14 seconds; MATT TUTTON by 47 seconds to 22:53 and MEGAN SUTTON took another 22 seconds off her PB from only a week earlier with 26:48. ANDREA WESTCOTT equalled her previous PB of 25:53.
16 of the Spartans who ran in the first race of the series improved on those times including HAZEL SMITH by 2:08 to 25:02; JIM BROWN by 2:01 to 26:54; PAUL HOLGATE by 1:42 to 32:07; JANE WADEY by 1:27 to 35:06 and SHARON CROWLEY by 1:21 to 29:08.
The next Hatfield 5K race is this Wednesday evening 11th September.
Bedford Festival of Running
Several Spartans ran a half marathon or 20 miles at the Bedford Festival of Running. Despite a thunderstorm and some long sections of cross country, particularly near the end of the race, many got some really good times.
ANDY PRIOR said, “Myself and Kerstin ran Bedford Half Marathon today, a mixture of Road and trail which was a bit treacherous in the last two miles.
Luckily they were giving alcohol free beer to all finishers which helped with the wait to get away from venue!!!”
Andy finished in 1:43:06 and Kerstin in 1:57:12.
JIM BROWN needed a 13 mile training run and he got it with 2:02:19 for the 13.1, good enough for third in category, and CONOR ECCLESTON came in with 2:41:41.
CRAIG BACON said “20 miles for me at Bedford and finished in 2:44:56. This was a milestone run in preparation for the Stevenage Marathon in six weeks time.
The plan was to run the first seven miles at a steady 9 minute/mile pace, then run the next 7 at 8:30 pace and the final 6 miles at target marathon pace of 8 minutes/mile. Loved the first 7 miles despite the thunderstorm. Nice and easy. Second 7 I discovered that I can’t run at 8:30 pace and ended up with most of it at 8:15 minutes/mile. Last 6 was a slog, including a fair portion of it being off road and muddy due to the earlier rain. However, I managed to be on pace or under for 5 or 6 miles.
Final result was a 13 minute PB (although I’ve only run 1 other 20 mile race, which was 13 years ago). Very happy. 2 more big weeks of training and then it’s downhill all the way to marathon day.”
ROSS GALLAGHER was the fastest from Fairlands at 28th out of the 298 finishers, top ten per cent, and pretty much spot on three hour marathon pace with 6:52 per min.
He was followed by PAUL SHELLEY 2:39:30; Craig, SAMANTH TOPHILL 3:05:57 and ALISON SHELLEY 3:33:53.
On Saturday JAY PAPA ran the Bedford 5K race in 19:07 and was 11th out of the 350 finishers. CHARLES ARNOLD ran the Bedford Twilight 10k in 47:22.
Tremendous Trio at the Great North Run.
The biggest half marathon and three Spartans were at the Great North Run with MIKE JEFFS running an excellent 1 hour 23 minutes 54 seconds (1:23:54 and 587th); CHRIS WATLING 1:57:20 (13,305th) and SARAH ILLINGWORTH 2:14:24 (23,856th). There were 60,000 runners.
St Albans Stampede
Karen Liddle and Tricia Hopper took part in the St Albans Stampede 2024; a 12 hour endurance challenge on Saturday 7 September 2024, starting at 9am.
The route is 4.01 miles around Heartwood Forest, Wheathampstead, over varying off road terrain. Karen completed 9 laps (36 miles – 1st female in her age category) and Tricia completed 11 laps (44 miles – 2nd female in her age category) in 10 hrs.56 mins.
A thoroughly enjoyable day with perfect weather conditions, great support from the volunteers and friendly atmosphere
Inter Area Championships
YUKO GORDON represented Eastern Masters at the England Masters Athletics Association Inter Area Championships at Corby on Saturday 7th. She ran 400m, 800m and 1500m and came second in all of them. Eastern Masters won overall championship along with women’s and men’s trophies. Teams came from nine regions including Scotland and Wales.
Round The Garden
JOHN HARRIS did the Run around the Garden 5K in Letchworth.
He was second man 60 plus and 24th in the race with 21:21.
NIKKI NATION won her category with 31:25. There were three other Spartans – BRIAN WHITE 22:58; KEITH ABRAHAM 27:27 and NICK GILL 31:26.
Parkrun Highlights 7th September
Stripey Saturday drew out 43 Spartans on parkruns around the UK.
There were 31 Fairlands Valley Spartans running in Fairlands Valley Park including the second and third placed runners amongst the 461 who finished. SIMON JACKSON was second in 18:29 and GRANT RAMSAY third in 18:37.
MAURICE BALLARD ran a new parkrun personal best (PPB) of 28:11 and JUDY KING a new PPB of 29:15.
DARREN EMMERSON (24:56) and PENNY SCHENKEL (33:26) have only one to go to parkrun milestones. Darren is on 199 and Penny on 99. Penny has the century cape booked for this Saturday, 14th!
Meanwhile JIM BROWN (29:54) has run 170 parkruns; NICHOLA DURENT (42:56) 25 and JAMES SOUTH (44:59) 90.
It was great to welcome back ROGER BIGGS who completed the course in 66 minutes 40 seconds.
Spartans elsewhere included CHLOE CHAPMAN at the Y Promenâd parkrun, Aberhonddu which she finished in 29:49; JO COOKSLEY at the Eden Project (Par, Cornwall) with 24:56; SIMON HAIGH at Westmill (Ware) with 26:35; ROS INGRAM in Aberdeen with 27:21; GEORGIE HOOPER in Letchworth with 28:29; ANNABELE WHITE at Itchen Valley (near Southampton) with 29:10; MONICA SMITHSON at Chilton Fields (Stowmarket); PAUL MAGUIRE at Colwick (Nottingham) in 35:52 and DARRYL STEVENS at Reigate Priory in 39:15.
Still Time To Enter The Stevenage Half – Anniversary Marathon and Stevenage Half
Fairlands Valley Spartans are in their 40th Anniversary Year and a high point will be the Stevenage Marathon which they are organising on Sunday 20th October. The marathon is only organised every ten years. There will also be a half marathon on the same day.
The full marathon is FULL and there is a waiting list. There are still places in the half marathon but HURRY, HURRY. The events are licenced by England Athletics and organised by a local community running club. A total of 807 entries are already in. That’s 405 in the half and 402 in the full marathon.
There’s a new course with a start and finish will be in Hampson Park. This year the charity is Pancreatic Cancer UK. Entries are £40 for the full marathon and £30 for the half with discounts for members of clubs affiliated to England Athletics. The races will include county championships for Hertfordshire.
To enter please visithttps://stevenagehalfmarathon.org.uk/enter-stevenage-half-marathon
Stevenage Phoenix Running Club
ParkRun
This week saw Stevenage Phoenix do a ParkRun takeover. They had 35 volunteers (plus a few mini helpers) coming from the club. Roles included marshals, pacers, tail walkers and barcode scanners. Credit goes to the seven pacers for their impeccable timing.
Handicap 5k, race 5
On Tuesday 3rd September, we had 23 club members racing in number five of our six part 5k handicap series. The fastest man on the night was Lewis Green with a time of 21mins 18s and the fastest woman was Kath Phoenix with a time of 22mins 12s. The top spot went to David Poulter who took an incredible 4 minutes off his target time by running the course in 27mins 48s.
Hatfield 5k series, race 2
On Wednesday 4th September, Ken Hall ran the 2nd of the Anglian Water sponsored 5k races from their HQ in Hatfield. This race incorporated the Herts Veterans 5k County Championships and is Ken’s first 5k road race. Some 250 started the 2 and half circuits of a flat course in daylight finishing as dusk fell. Ken finished in a time of 23mins 51s to become the Herts Amateur Athletics Association MV70+ County Champion. (Photo credit: Graham Smith Photography).
St Albans Stampede – 12hr Enduro!
On Saturday 7th September Jamie Long – along with three friends – took part in the St Albans Stampede. This ultra marathon event is held in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside, covering parts of Heartwood Forest and Nomansland Common. Jamie and his team were aiming for a total of 21 laps of the 4 mile course, however ended up running 22 (despite one member turning up 9 hours late!) Jamie personally ran 7 laps (28 miles), making this his first time running more than a marathon distance in one day. (Photo credit: Graham Smith Photography).
Bedford Running Festival
It was a weekend jam packed with running and family entertainment in Bedford’s Russell Park. Stevenage Phoenix had nine members running one or more of the distances. A special mention goes to Sue Pudner for tackling the 5k and 10k in one day and to Ashley for powering through the 5k, 10k AND the half marathon. Saturday’s first race of the day was the 5k where Ashley ran in a time of 24mins 11s and Sue ran in 36mins 01s. Next up was the 10k which saw five runners from team Phoenix cross the finish line. First up was Ashley Bates and Melissa Tanti in 54mins 42s and 54mins 43s respectively. This was a 10k PB for Melissa and earned her the club’s Bronze achievement award. Sue Leigh was next to complete the race in 01hr 03mins 29s, earning her the club’s Silver achievement award. This was Wendy Summerbee’s second 10k race and she completed it in a time of 01hr 10mins 35s. Sue Pudner crossed the line in 01hr 22mins 05s.
Sunday was the day for the long distance races. Ashley Bates completed the half marathon in 02hrs 10mins 35s and Hayden Cooper ran it in 01hr 55mins 21s, making him the first in the under 20 age category. At age 18, this was Hayden’s first half marathon and part of his journey to running the London Marathon in April 2025. Gemma Holloway, Scott Crawford and Graham Eden stepped onto the start line for the 20 mile race. Graham was first home in 03hrs 17mins 52s. Next was Gemma in 03hrs 41mins 08s. Scott completed the trio in 03hrs 50mins 27s.
Run around the Garden
On Sunday 8th September Lewis Green returned to Letchworth with his sights set on beating his time from last year. Lewis knocked it out of the park and ran 1 mile in 6mins 12s (19 seconds faster than last year) and came first in the MV40 category.
Ponton Plod self navigation trail marathon
On Sunday 8th September Chris Leigh completed the Ponton Plod trail marathon. This self navigated course started and finished at the village centre in Great Ponton near Grantham. The majority of the route was on trail and the first quarter was in torrential rain! The sun eventually came out and then it was too hot! There were 5 checkpoints that runners had to visit to ensure they were on track (each was well stocked with food). Chris completed the course with no route mishaps in a time of 5hrs 57mins 10s, which is 44 mins quicker than when he completed the run in 2022. This was Chris’ 123rd marathon and 11th so far this year.
Personal Achievement awards
Well done to Melissa Tanti and Sue Leigh for earning club awards after their strong runs in Bedford’s 10k. Melissa achieved bronze and Sue achieved silver.
The Phoenix foundation
The Phoenix foundation kicked off this week and will be taking place once a week from St Nicholas Park. The Phoenix Foundation is our training group that enables both novices to reach 5km and for more experienced runners to get fitter over that distance. It can also be used for runners returning after injury. We use a run/walk approach to enable runners to progress and gain confidence over the 5k distance.
Stevenage Striders
Well what a weekend it has been! There’s been parkrun PB’s and milestones, there’s been night time trail races, the Bedford festival of running, Great North Run, and of course the Strider favourite – Bacchus wine half marathon.
Starting off with parkrun tourism, PB’s and milestones, the club had the following achievements:
Lauren Pegg and Laura Duffield visited Chichester while on a Butlin’s weekend getaway. It featured 3 uphill laps with a downhill finish, and both completed in 29:45. Well done ladies.
It was Steph Thompson’s first running parkrun at 44:36 – brilliant running Steph, here’s to many more!
It was Paula Heyes 100th Stevenage parkrun visit as well – we love seeing your face every Saturday morning!
And the following PB’s at parkrun, you guys were on fire!!:
· Bethany Smyth – 31:45
· Michael Tillett – 30:22
· Francesca Mansi – 38:38
· Keith Dennis – 21:24
· Steve Moore – 21:25 AND 77.59% age grading!!
· Chris Rowlands – 20:29
Next, we’ll move onto the races:
- Marc Hagland did his first half of the weekend on Thursday evening with the Phoenix Jubilee River in 2:27. Great job Marc!
- Just the very next night Marc then went on to complete his second half with the Phoenix Track Wars in 2:45, with an absolutely massive medal to reward his efforts!
- Peter Moye ran La Gurrinada, which is an 11.5km night time race near Barcelona, covering trails and mountains. Well done Peter!
- Next we’ll move on to the Bedford running festival, which hosted a number of Striders over a variety of distances. Saturday afternoon and evening saw the 5k and 10k distances. Here is how our striders got on:
- Ben Ward – 5k 23:34, 10k 55:16
- Russell Edwards – 5k 37:15, 10k 01:20:00
- Chrissie Thomas – 5k 32:02, 10k 1:09:33
On Sunday morning Bedford hosted the half marathon and 20 mile distance races, which lots of Striders attended in training for marathons coming up!
- Helen Moye – half marathon,1:58:50
- Charlotte Moye – half marathon, 1:58:40 (PB!)
- Andrea Skidmore – 20 mile, 02:56:06, PB
- Dave Skidmore – 20 mile, 02:37:27, PB
- Glenn Cuzner – 20 mile, 02:27:26, PB
- Neil McKinnon – 20 mile, 03:45:37, PB
- Lianne Loosley – 20 mile, 04:28:55
- Chris Newton – 20 mile, 04:21:30
- Matthew Robinson – 20 mile, 02:15:12, 22ndoverall and 2nd in age group, PB!
- Jess Ives-Keeler – 20 mile, 03:07:57
Next, this past weekend was the Great North Run, and a handful of Striders were lucky enough to get entry into the biggest half marathon event in the world.
- Martin Scales – 01:34:58
- Jon Renney – 01:30:00
- John Odong – 01:38:58
- Claire Storey – 02:02:40
- Laura McClaughlin – 02:44:21
Jennifer Graham completed the Run Norwich 10k in 01:16:27 – well done on such a hilly course!
Ashley Harrison completed the South Coast Challenge 25k, a very hill and muddy course, finishing in approximately 4 hours – brilliant job.
Lucy Crocker and Steve Kinsella completed the Vitruvian triathlon, which is a 1900m swim, 89km bike, and 21km run. Lucy’s total time was 5:50:36 and her splits were 33:35 (swim), 3:27:16 (bike), 1:43:53 (run). Steve finished in 06:55:00, with splits of 58:36 (swim), 3:21:00 (bike) and 2:28:00 (run). Incredible job, well done! Sarah Kinsella also completed the Aquabike with a 1900m swim in 53 mins and a 89km bike in 3:21. Excellent job!
Moving on to a highlight of the Striders calendar, a group of grapes went down to Denbies estate for their Bacchus wine half marathon. Aaron Casper and Kirsten Jarvis finished in approximately 4:28, while Chrissie Thomas, Russell Edwards, Martin Watson, Kevin Fisher, Ally Brown, Marc Hagland, Julie Vooght and Jim Callagham all finished in approximately 4:46. Esther Dixon also completed the 10k at the same venue, finishing in approximately 1:37.
