News Release
1st June 2009

SPARTANS HOT IN EDINBURGH

As the temperature soared to 23 degrees thirty seven Fairlands Valley Spartans took part in Sunday’s Edinburgh Marathon and Marathon Relays.  Twenty five ran the full 26.2 miles.

RICHARD BATE was the first Spartan to finish the full marathon.  He was 57th out of the 8,257 marathon finishers in a new personal best (PB) of 2 hours 51 minutes 25 seconds.  

JIM BROWN also achieved a qualifying time for next year’s London marathon.  His time of 3:14:55 was Jim’s fastest for over a year.  He was in the top 5% of the field at 328th position.

Tracy Pez improved her PB to 3:45:19 (1,568th).  Mark Goodwin broke through the 4-hour barrier for the first time with 3:58:12 (2,423rd). Michelle Long took an impressive 7½ minutes off her London Marathon time from just five weeks earlier as she finished in 5:28:08 (7,403rd).

Six other Spartans were completing their 1st marathons – Adrian Donnelly, Jennifer Robertson, Petra Keller, Sarah O’Bryan, Lory Laskey and Ben Collier.  

DON PAPWORTH ran his first marathon for fifteen years and finished in a magnificent 3 hours 25 minutes exactly.  There were also season’s best (SB) times for Todd Gray and Gary Mulhern, and a year’s best (YB) for Paul Holgate.

All brilliant results on a day when many runners failed to finish in the hot conditions.  Full details for all 25 finishers in the marathon are shown below:

Name              Time              Comments               Position
Richard Bate      2:51:25           PB                   57
Jim Brown              3:14:55            YB                   328
Ben Harris              3:20:33                                 477
Don  Papworth      3:25:00            SB                   615
Adrian Donnelly      3:28:14            New                   756
Annette Bell      3:28:15                                 757
Todd Gray              3:38:09               SB                 1,188
Richard Sidlin      3:39:03                               1,224
Amanda Brook      3:44:11                               1,507
Tracy Pez              3:45:19              PB                 1,568
Mark Glading      3:49:56                               1,853
Mark Goodwin      3:58:12               PB                 2,423
Sean Thompson      4:09:10                               3,120
Gary Mulhern      4:11:04               SB                 3,256
Jennifer Robertson 4:15:06              New                 3,524
Mark Sanders      4:24:41                               4,266
Paul Holgate      4:30:12                YB                 4,698
Petra Keller      4:35:24               New                 5,038
Sarah O'Bryan      4:46:01               New                 5,649
Lory Laskey      4:46:44               New                 5,690
Julie Goodwin      4:51:01                               5,958
Tricia Hopper      4:57:40                               6,313
Michaela Sanders 5:21:15                               7,182
Ben Collier      5:27:24               New                 7,379
Michelle Long      5:28:08               PB                 7,403

In the associated Hairy Haggis relay, teams of 4 runners completed the same marathon course with leg A runners completing 8.1 miles, leg B runners 5.4 miles, leg C 8.0 miles and leg D 4.7 miles. First Spartan team to finish was team Drummond in a very impressive 4:00:06, with Mark Drummond completing the first leg in 1:14:18, Caroline Glading the 2nd leg in 47:32, Nikki Nation leg C in 1:12:54 and Lina Porecha the final leg in 45:22.  They were 343rd out of the 932 successful teams.


Mark Drummond      1:14:18            
Caroline Glading      47:32            
Nikki Nation              1:12:54            
Lina Porecha               45:22            
Team Drummond      4:00:06            

Marie Colucci led her team of runners all of whom joined the Spartans through the club’s Monday evening Starter Group last year to an excellent 4:14:06, with Marie finishing in 1:06:00, Maria Rushton 54:05, Sara Erne 1:23:07 and Emma Gilmore 50:54.  They were 529th.

Marie Colucci      1:06:00            
Maria Rushton      54:05            
Sara Erne              1:23:07            
Emma Gilmore      50:54            
Team Colucci      4:14:06            

Two more members from the Starter Group joined with Katrina Doyle and Ron Cohen to make up the Spartans 33rd team led home by Debbie Hall in 1:19:03, with Ron completing his 5.4 miles in 52:21, Ian Murray 8 miles 1:19:34 and Katrina 54:01.

Debbie Hall      1:19:03            
Ron Cohen      52:21            
Ian Murray      1:19:34            
Katrina Doyle      54:01            
Team Doyle      4:24:59            


Badger’s 100 Mile Challenge

Spartan MIKE NEWBITT (“Badger”) completed an incredible 100 mile off road event recently.  The Wessex 100 Mile Challenge started and finished in Alton, Hampshire and passed through the Western Weald and South Downs.  His time of 35 hours and 24 minutes was achieved in hot and sunny conditions (except over night) with the ground very hard underfoot.


Gold for Simon

SIMON HARRIS took two seconds off his personal best for 200 metres when he won a gold medal at Bedford International Stadium on Saturday.  His time was 30.32 seconds.

Northbrook 10K

STEVE MAYFIELD was up in the Midlands and ran the Coventry Northbrook 10k road race.  The description of "flat & undulating" downplayed the difficulty of a brutal 6k up followed by 4k down.  The hills and heat helped put an end to hopes of a sub 45 min time and crossing in 46:06 he was relieved not to be 300 odd miles further north with an extra 20 miles to run!

Roger Gets The Needle

ROGER BIGGS was on a warm Isle of Wight for the Needles Cross Country Marathon.  This was a trail marathon run from Freshwater.  Very warm and tough with the hilly terrain but some truly gorgeous views.  Roger was third “Vet 60” with a time of 4 hours 45 minutes 15 seconds.

The Midweek Road Race League

Last year Fairlands Valley Spartans were delighted to win promotion to the top division of the Mid Week Road Race League and turned out huge numbers for each event.  After 101 Spartans ran in the first race the club is preparing for the second fixture in this year’s series which is in Welwyn Garden City this Thursday 4th June.  The four counting events are all around ten kilometres.  If you want to support your local club why not join Fairlands Valley Spartans now?  See www.fvspartans.org.uk for details.

Coming Events

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

•      Second Mid Week Road Race League event in Welwyn Garden City on Thursday evening 4th June.
•      St. Albans Half Marathon on Sunday 14th June.
•      Third Mid Week Road Race League event in Chingford on Wednesday evening 17th June.
•      Borehamwood Half Marathon on Sunday 28th June.
•      Fourth Mid Week Road Race League event in St Albans on Thursday 2nd July.
•      Cranfield Five Mile Race on Friday 3rd July.
•      The Midweek “Mob Match” at Trent Park on Wednesday 15th July.
•      Fairlands Valley Off Road Challenge on Sunday 19th July.
•      Midweek Relays in Fairlands Valley Park on Tuesday 21st July.
•      Milton Keynes Half Marathon 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 230 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