Fairlands Valley Spartans

News Release                                                             
21st September 2008

SPARTANS TRACK & FIELD DAY

Fairlands Valley Spartans are primarily a road running club but several enjoyed a track and field afternoon at Ridlins on Saturday.

Participants had to choose one throw (from discus, hammer, javelin or shot); one jump (high, long or triple); one sprint (100, 200 or 400 metres) and one middle distance (800, 1,500 or 3,000 metres).

MICHELLE LONG won the gold medal for senior women (21 to 34) with 131 points.

MONICA BROWN showed her heptathlon form in winning the women (34 to 45 category) with 251 points, TRACY PEZ took silver with 162 and LISA POTTER bronze with 93.

Only a week after her national heptathlon success CHRIS FEELY won the women (45 – 54) gold with 224 points.  SHARON CROWLEY took silver with 162.

There were eleven medal winners in the men’s events.

MATTHEW HOLGATE won the under 15 boys’ gold medal with 47 points and SIMON HARRIS gold for under 20 men with a tremendous 297 points.

RICHARD BATE won gold in the senior men’s category with a performance that included lapping some of the field in his 1500 metres race.  He finished with 295 points.

In a tight competition STEVE SMITHSON was victorious in the men’s 35 to 44 category with 275 points, ANDREW HULL won silver with 251 and ANDY JAY bronze with 241.

The battle for first in the men’s 45 to 54 competition was down to the last event where RICHARD SIDLIN won with 249 points compared with MARK GLADING’s 246.  PAUL HOLGATE was third with 193.

And there were those who started doing these things when they were measured in yards.

JIM BROWN won the men over 55 category with 165 points and ROB SHAW took silver with 142.

Personal bests included RICHARD BATE (1500 metres), TRACY PEZ (1500), CHRIS FEELY (1500) and JIM BROWN (javelin).

Chris Second in New Forest

CHRIS KING, AMANDA BROOK and MARK SANDERS ran the New Forest Marathon on Sunday.  Chris was second lady and 35th overall out of 494 finishers in 3 hours 17 minutes 23 seconds, Amanda finished in 3 hours 42 minutes 31 seconds and Mark in 4 hours 55 minutes 20 seconds.

Position      Name      Time      Comments
35      CHRIS KING (L)      3:17:23      2nd woman
139      AMANDA BROOK (L)      3:42:31      
456      MARK SANDERS      4:55:20      

There were also three Spartans in the New Forest Half Marathon.  BEV AITKEN was first to finish in 2 hours and 20 seconds.  She was followed by TONY OSBORNE in 2 hours 48 seconds and KEVIN WILLIAMS in 2 hours 3 minutes 54 seconds.

Position      Name      Time
955      BEV AITKEN (L)      2:00:20
968      TONY OSBORNE      2:00:48
1,065      KEVIN WILLIAMS      2:03:54

There were 1,732 finishers in the half marathon.

Evans in Wales

ROB EVANS was rewarded with a new personal best, sun and spectacular views at the Swansea Bay 1OK.  He finished in 46 minutes 39 seconds. 

Bonny Biggs

Dundee Adventure Marathon - Saturday, 20th September 2008
ROGER BIGGS was in Scotland for the Dundee Marathon on Saturday.  This circled the outer limits of Dundee on trails, paths and roads, including 10 miles along the shores of the Firth of Tay.  Light cloud made it a good day for marathon running.  Roger finished in 4 hours 5 minutes 1 second.

Brown at Buzzard

After Saturday’s efforts at the Spartans’ track and field day JIM BROWN ran in the Leighton Buzzard 10 mile race Sunday morning.  On a lovely morning for running there was a bit of a “grovel” up to Mentmore at about 3 miles but otherwise gently undulating.  Jim was 50th in 68 minutes 25 seconds.

Harvest Trail at Royston

SHARON CROWLEY and LORRAINE THOMAS both enjoyed the Harvest Trail off road event at Royston.  They both finished the six mile option in 1 hour 16 minutes 45 seconds and reported a lovely sunny morning with a nice big cake at the finish!

In the 10 mile event TRACY STILES finished in 1 hour 54 minutes followed by DAVID BOWKER and his two dogs in 2 hours. 

Plonton Plod

Four Spartans tackled the Plonton Plod.  It was an off road ultra of 27.5 miles from Great Plonton near Grantham.  The course was through countryside and villages in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire with views of Bevoir castle. It was a great day with beautiful weather.

MIKE NEWBITT was the first Spartan to finish in 5 hours 14 minutes.  CAROL PAUL, DAVE PAUL and KEVIN LAWLOR finished together in 6 hours 4 minutes.

Entries Piling In For The Stevenage Half Marathon and 5K Series

The Stevenage Half Marathon is not until Sunday 2nd November but Fairlands Valley Spartans have already received over 400 entries – way ahead of the same time in previous years.  If you want to take part in this popular 13.1 mile run around the town which finishes on Ridlins Athletics Track get your entry in soon.

And more than half the places in the evening series of 5K races have already gone.  If you want to take part in one of these just over three miles runs in Stevenage you’ll need to move fast.

Entry forms for both events are available from the Spartan website www.fvspartans.org.uk ; The Half Marathon entry fee is £13 for members of affiliated running clubs, £15 for everyone else.  More information is available from half@fvspartans.org.uk

If you want to prepare for the races don’t forget you’ll be very welcome to join the Spartans.

Half Marathon and 5K runners must be at least seventeen years of age.  There will also be a two mile fun run during the half marathon.

The Half Marathon and 5K series will both incorporate county championships.

New Start for Starters

The Spartans Starter group had enormous success preparing people for the Stevenage “Race for Life.”  Now it’s been relaunched.  You can join in by meeting at the Marriotts School Gymnastics Centre at 7.30p.m. on Mondays and/or 7p.m. on Thursdays.  Just go along or get more information from www.fvspartans.org.uk

Coming Events

Many Spartans will be enjoying a busy programme of races, social and training events over the next few weeks including the: 

•      Biggleswade Open Graded track events on Saturday 27th September.
•      Hertfordshire 10K track championship on Sunday 28th September.
•      Standalone 10K in Letchworth on Sunday 5th October.
•      Great Eastern Half Marathon in Peterborough on Sunday 12th October.
•      Handicap 5K on Thursday 16th October.
•      Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd November.
•      Henlow 10 on Wednesday 12 November
•      Luton Marathon including County Championships on Sunday 7th December.

Entries have already opened for the Stevenage Half Marathon and for the late Autumn series of evening 5K races in Stevenage.  See www.fvspartans.org.uk for details.

Join The Spartans

Live in or near Stevenage?  Like running?  Fairlands Valley Spartans is your local running club and is on the up!  The club has well over 100 members and encourages participation by all.  The Spartans have a varied training programme to suit those who want to run 5 kilometres through to full marathons. 

The Spartans weekday training sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  The club have moved to better, more modern facilities at the gymnastics centre Marriotts School – a Sports College, Telford Avenue, Stevenage (SG2 0AN).  Meet them there at 7p.m.

The Spartan Starter group starts from Marriotts at 7.30p.m. every Monday and 7p.m. on Thursdays.

Most long Sunday morning training sessions start 9.30a.m. sharp.  Spartan track training sessions are held at Ridlins Athletics Track, Woodcock Road, Stevenage most Saturdays from 9.15a.m.  There are events to enter every Sunday.  Newcomers are very welcome – those who have not done very much running yet might prefer to start with a Thursday, Saturday or Monday session. 

Try a few sessions before joining.  Membership is only £20 per year.  Subscriptions should be sent to Fairlands Valley Spartans c/o Chris King 16 Redwing Close, Stevenage, Herts, SG2 9FE,  (07779 880 522).

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (01438 354505 or 0793 968 7509), Chris King (07779 880 522) or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 01438 354505 / 0793 968 7509, Chris King (Secretary) 07779 880 522 (christine-king@orange-ftgroup.com)

www.fvspartans.org.uk