News Release      
5th April 2009

UNDULATING OAKLEY

Warm conditions and an undulating course made Sunday’s Oakley 20 mile road race a pretty tough challenge.  However the very scenic route went through some very attractive Bedfordshire villages. 

Challenging maybe but this did not stop Fairlands Valley Spartan RICHARD BATE slicing 4 minutes 30 seconds off his personal best to finish in a magnificent 2 hours 5 minutes 22 seconds for third senior in the race.  Richard was sixth overall out of 789 finishers.

And three other Spartans set new personal bests.  They were DAVE BOWKER (2:18:08); SARA O’CALLAGHAN (2:41:43) and MARK GLADING (2:42:04).

RICHARD SIDLIN achieved a new season’s best of 2:32:27.

The other six Spartan times were BEN HARRIS (2:13:28), STEVE TAPLIN (2:28:53), CHRIS KING (2:28:56), TODD GRAY (2:31:58), STEVE MAYFIELD (2:43:46) and ANDREW HULL (2:57:22).

Name      Time      Position      Comments
RICHARD BATE      2:05:22      6th      PB by 4:30
BEN HARRIS      2:13:38      23rd      
DAVE BOWKER      2:18:08      40th      PB
STEVE TAPLIN      2:28:53      104th      
CHRIS KING (L)      2:28:56      105th      
TODD GRAY      2:31:58      139th      
RICHARD SIDLIN      2:32:27      146th      SB
SARA O’CALLAGHAN (L)      2:41:43      242nd      PB
MARK GLADING      2:42:04      246th      PB
STEVE MAYFIELD      2:43:46      260th      
ANDREW HULL      2:57:22      440th      

Paris In The Springtime

RICHARD HAZELDENE ran the Paris Marathon in 3 hours 40 minutes 46 seconds.  This was the second marathon in his 3 marathons in 3 Countries in 5 weeks campaign to raise money for Alzheimer’s.

SARAH ERNE finished in 6 hours 29 minutes 7 seconds.

Crawley Track Marathon – Round and Round We Go

ROGER BIGGS ran the Crawley Track Marathon on Saturday.  This consisted of 105 laps of 400 metres plus 195 metres to make up the metric distance for the marathon of 42.195kilometres.  Drizzle at the start, sunny by the finish, and, of course, flat!

Roger ran a consistent run, pulling back several places in the closing laps to finish in 3 hours 42 minutes 39 seconds.

Blackpool Marathon

On a glorious day for running MARK SANDERS took the opportunity to set a season’s best time of 3:57:34.  Only the second time he has broken four hours.

Coming Events

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

•      Good Friday 10 at Maidenhead on Friday 10th April
•      Handicap 5K race on Thursday evening 16th April
•      Flitwick 10K on Sunday 19th April
•      Flora London Marathon on Sunday 26th April.
•      Track events at Ridlins, Stevenage on Monday 4th May.
•      St. Albans 10K (inc. county vets championships) on Sunday 10th May.
•      East Cambridgeshire Half Marathon on Sunday 17th May.
•      First Mid Week Road Race League event on Thursday evening 14th May.
•      Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday 31st May.
•      Second Mid Week Road Race League event on Thursday evening 4th June.
•      Fairlands Valley Off Road Challenge on Sunday 19th July.
•      Silver Jubilee Five Mile Race in Fairlands Valley Park on Sunday 13th September.
•      Silver Jubilee Gala Ball on Saturday 17th October.
•      Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 1st November.

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 170 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.  Last year the club 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 £25 per year.  Concessions are available.  Subscriptions and membership forms should be sent to Fairlands Valley Spartans c/o 19 Bellamy Close, Knebworth, Herts, SG3 6EH.

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