Fairlands Valley Spartans

News Release                                                             
16th November 2008

SPEEDING ROUND STEVENAGE
And David Wins Gold

DAVID BOWKER was the Spartans’ star performer as hundreds of runners took part in the first of this year’s Stevenage 5K races on Wednesday evening.  He ran a new personal best of 17 minutes 7 seconds, was the second Spartan to finish and won the County Gold medal for runners aged 50 plus just 5 seconds ahead of the silver medallist and 51 seconds in front of the bronze medal winner.  In the process he beat about two hundred much younger runners in the whole race.

First Spartan to finish was SIMON JACKSON, 22nd overall, in a new personal best of 17 minutes 4 seconds.

Simon led in the Spartan team that won silver medals in the Hertfordshire County Team Open Championship.  They were Simon Jackson, David Bowker, DUNCAN CHOOSEY, TODD GRAY and BEN HARRIS.

The Spartans took bronze in the veterans’ team race with David Bowker, Les Betts, ANDY GARRETT, MARK BEASLEY and MARK GOODWIN.

Thirty two Spartans, and four second claim members, ran in the race.  Many more were marshalling and helping out in other ways on the night.

Spartan times:

Position      Name      Time      Comments
    22      Simon JACKSON      17:04      PB
    23      David BOWKER      17:07      PB.  1st MV50.  County Gold
    34      Duncan CHOOSEY      17:31      PB
    53      Todd GRAY      18:18      SB
    74      Ben HARRIS      18:57      YB
    92      Tristan EMPTAGE      19:33      PB.  1st 5K.
    93      Leslie BETTS      19:40      
  102      Andrew GARRETT      19:58      YB
  103      Mark BEASLEY      19:58      PB
  110      Sean THOMPSON      20:14      
  136      Annette BELL      21:22      
  146      Mark GOODWIN      21:56      
  150      Andy JAY      21:56      PB
  151      Robert SHAW      21:56      SB
  153      Darren STEPHENSON      22:06      PB
  157      Christine FEELY      22:21      YB
  194      Paul HOLGATE      24:05      
  210      Beverley AITKEN      25:27      PB
  215      Mark DRUMMOND      25:52      
  218      Nikki NATION      26:00      
  221      Sue CONNELL      26:54      YB
  222      Michael CONNELL      26:54      
  229      Karen WELLS      27:17      PB.  1st 5K.
  237      Emma CHAMBERS      28:10      PB.  1st 5K.
  239      Michelle LONG      28:26      
  244      Balwinder KANDOLA      28:56      
  245      David BATE      29:15      
  252      Joan RIDGER      31:47      YB
  255      Lisa POTTER      34:11      PB
  256      Karen WEEKS      34:34      PB.  1st 5K.
  259      Debbie PEMBERTON      37:06      PB.  1st 5K.
  260      Lesley COLLINS      37:10      PB.  1st 5K.

Second Claim Spartans

  117      Peter EAMES      20:29      SB
  236      Iris HORNSEY      28:06      County Gold (FV65)
  249      Chas AVIS      30:03      County Bronze (MV70)
  261      Ruby AVIS      37:37      PB.  County Silver (FV65)

St. Neots – PB for Birthday Boy

Despite the damp conditions Sunday’s St. Neots Half Marathon lived up to its fast course reputation as five Spartans achieved new personal bests, some by considerable margins, one a new season’s best and one a year best.

SIMON JACKSON improved his lifetime best by 1 minute 39 seconds to finish in 1 hour 18 minutes 51 seconds with a top twenty placing out of nearly one thousand finishers.

JIM BROWN edged slightly further inside the 1:30 barrier with his best half, of many, during the year 1:29:33 (166th).

CHRIS KING was second in her age category and trimmed two seconds off her personal best with 1:32.29.  TRACY PEZ took 1 minute 40 seconds off her PB with 1:38:59.

The biggest improvement was a birthday present for ROB EVANS who sliced a massive7 minutes 22 seconds off his previous best time with 1:39:08.  ANDREW HULL took 3:10 off his season’s best when he finished in 1:39:04.

SUE LEIGH cut her PB by 2 minutes 53 seconds to 1:59:29.

The other Spartans taking part were RICHARD SIDLIN (1:39:01); STEVE MAYFIELD (1:42:13); SIMON OWENS (1:55:03); PAUL HOLGATE (1:55:19); CHRIS LEIGH (1:59:28) and RON COHEN (2:07:21).

Times for all thirteen Spartans follow:

Position      Name      Chip Time      Comments
18      SIMON JACKSON      1:18:51      PB (1:39)
116      JIM BROWN      1:29:33      YB (0:19)
161      CHRIS KING (L)      1:32:29      2nd FV45.  PB (0:02)
283      TRACY PEZ (L)      1:38:59      PB (1:40)
284      RICHARD SIDLIN      1:39:01      
287      ROB EVANS      1:39:08      PB (7:22) on birthday
309      ANDREW HULL      1:39:04      SB (3:10)
370      STEVE MAYFIELD      1:42:13      
629      SIMON OWENS      1:55:03      
637      PAUL HOLGATE      1:55:19      
704      CHRIS LEIGH      1:59:28      
705      SUE LEIGH (L)      1:59:29      PB (2:53)
776      RON COHEN      2:07:21      

Cross Country

Twenty six Spartans raced in the cross country league event at Digswell on Sunday morning.  Their positions in the race were as follows:

Mens "A" Team

Dave Bowker (M50) - 39th; Steve Smithson (M40) - 67th; Alan Donald (SM) - 82nd; Anthony White (M50) - 157th; Nick Stewart (M40) - 166th; Mick Ling (M40) - 171st; Rob Shaw (M60) - 181st; Mark Glading (M40) - 189th

Other Spartan Men

Graham Stewart (SM) - 211th; Gary Mulhern (SM) - 215th; Pete O'Reilly (M40) - 224th; Mark Freeman (M50) - 227th; Mark Drummond (M40) - 232nd

Womens "A" Team

Chris Feely (W45) - 173rd; Alison Hopwood (W35) - 185th; Peta Wilson (W35) - 192nd; Barbara Wilson (W55) - 200th; Sarah O'Bryan (SW) - 235th

Womens "B" Team

Debbie Hall (SW) - 236th; Tessa Stephenson (W45) - 242nd; Tricia Hopper (W35) - 248th; Nikki Nation (W35) - 249th; Cally Glading (W45) - 258th

Other Spartan Women;

Tracey Stiles (W35) - 265th; Katrina Doyle (W35) - 266th; Michelle Long (SW) - 267th.

Please note: Men’s Teams 8 to score; Men’s Masters (Veterans) 4 to score; Women’s teams 5 to score; Women’s Masters (Veterans) 3 to score

Henlow

Several Spartans who were marshalling the Stevenage evening 5K on Wednesday enjoyed the unique Henlow 10 mile road race at lunch-time.  The race is the RAF ten mile championship but civilian runners are also welcome to take part.  It’s a point to point race.  Runners are taken by bus to the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Airfield and then race back to RAF Henlow via Shefford. 

SIMON BELL was under the hour, seventh overall and second veteran in 58 minutes 39 seconds.  ALISON HOPWOOD continued her steady improvement and cut her personal best by 2 minutes 24 seconds.  Congratulations to 68 year old ALAN GOODWIN.  He ran his fastest ten mile race for six years and improved his season’s best by 7 minutes 24 seconds.  Alan finished in 1:31:06.

On a lovely bright day the times for the seven Spartans were:

Position      Name      Time      Comments
7th      SIMON BELL      58:39      2V40
45th      JIM BROWN      1:08:34      3V55
129th      MARK GLADING      1:18:59      
134th      ALISON HOPWOOD      1:19:50      PB (2:24)
158th      SARA O’CALLAGHAN      1:25:18      
160th      PAUL HOLGATE      1:25:33      
182nd      ALAN GOODWIN      1:31:06      SB

There were 223 finishers.

San Antonio Marathon - Sunday, 16th November 2008

ROGER BIGGS ran in Texas on Sunday.  This is one of the Rock'n'Roll series of marathons, known for its live bands on the marathon course.  In excess of 30,000 runners entered the marathon & half marathon events.

Cold at the start in the early morning clear skies, becoming very pleasant at temperatures approached 20C on a mildly undulating in and around the City of San Antonio.  The course passed the Alamo, famous for the battle in 1836 between a small band of Texans and a few thousand Mexicans.

Roger was pleased to continue his return from an Achilles injury and finished in 4 hours 23 minutes 39 seconds.

Sorry But It Is Too Late To Enter The 5K Series

All the places in the series of three evening 5K races in Stevenage have gone but spectators and extra helpers will be welcome.  The second and third races will be on Wednesdays 26th November and 10th December.  They will be on the Fairlands Way, Verity Way, Martins Way, Grace Way, Fairlands Way cycleway circuit with the race HQ at Marriotts Gymnastics Centre and race starting between Webb Rise and Douglas Drive at 7.45p.m.

Coming Events

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

•      Second race Spartans Stevenage 5K series Wednesday evening 26th November.
•      Wolverton Five Mile race on Saturday 29th November.
•      Spartans Christmas Party on Friday 5th December.
•      Luton Marathon including County Championships on Sunday 7th December.
•      Third and final race Spartans Stevenage 5K series Wednesday 10th December.
•      Cross Country League Race at Watford on Sunday 14th December.
•      Bedford Harriers Half Marathon on Sunday 14th December.
•      Serpentine 5K on Friday 19th December (not Boxing Day!).

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 recently 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 Trac