News Release            
26th July 2009

RELAYS!
Spartans run from 3 to nearly 80 kilometres

434 runners took part in the Relays in the Park organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans on Tuesday evening.  Every runner ran three kilometres.  Men’s teams consisted of five runners and there were three in the women’s teams.  106 teams completed the event.

Sixty four Spartans ran in the relays and dozens more were helping to make the event a great success.

The men’s race, over a total of fifteen kilometres, was won by Herts Phoenix in 46 minutes 5 seconds, St. Albans were second in 48 minutes 12 seconds and Luton Athletic Club third in 48:25.  Fairlands Valley Spartans “A” team consisting of RICHARD BATE, SIMON BELL, ANDREW PATTERSON, BEN HARRIS and SEAN THOMPSON were 17th out of the 55 teams that finished in 53 minutes 23 seconds.

North Herts Road Runners won the women’s race, over a total of nine kilometres, in 33 minutes 4 seconds.  St Albans were second in 34 minutes 7 seconds and Orion Harriers third in 34:10.  The Fairlands Valley “A” team finished just five seconds ahead of the “B” team.  TRACY PEZ, CHRIS FEELY and KERRY JAMES were 13th out of 51 in 38:17 and SAM PRETTY, LYDIA CLARKSON and AMANDA BROOK 14th in 38:22.

Times for all the Spartans follow:

Position      Name      Time      Comments
32      Richard Bate      9:54      
41      Andrew Patterson      10:04      
50      Simon Bell      10:14      
127      Ben Harris      11:10      
142      Steve Smithson      11:17      
180      Graham Blackburn      11:40      
199      Dave Stephenson      11:56      
208      Sean Thompson      12:01      
211=      Kerry James      12:04      22= woman
211=      Sam Pretty      12:04      22= woman
220      Amanda Brook      12:07      28th woman
231      Mark Beasley      12:12      
232      Liam Herbert      12:13      
238=      Jim Brown      12:17      
238=      Steve Mayfield      12:17      
240      Bert Brown      12:18      
249      Darren Wilby      12:29      
266      Mike King      12:38      
272      Tracy Pez      12:48      44th woman
277      Andy Jay      12:52      
310      Chris Feely      13:25      64th woman
311      Lucy Eaton      13:26      65th woman
328      Paul Holgate      13:50      
332      Andrew      13:56      
336      Jo Bowdery      14:03      81st woman
343      Lydia Clarkson      14:11      86th woman
349      Sarah Kearsey      14:15      89th woman
350      Bill Tuck      14:17      
351      Monica Brown      14:20      90th woman
355      Ian Larman      14:22      
366      Sarah O'Bryan      14:56      102nd woman
367      Alan Goodwin      14:57      
374      Mandy Bullock      15:11      106th woman
375      Rena Dudhia      15:15      
376=      Becky Platt      15:17      
376=      Christine Sharman      15:17      
381      Tony Osborne      15:22      
382      Mark Drummond      15:24      
391      Rachael Stanton      16:00      
392      Nikki Tout      16:08      
393      Anna O'Sullivan      16:15      
396      Iris Hornsey      16:27      
404      Helen Broughton      16:50      
407      Lisa Jerrom      17:20      
408      Gemma Parris      17:22      
409=      Annika Carroll      17:26      
409=      Michelle Long      17:29      
413      Val Little      17:59      
414      Helen O'Sullivan      18:06      
415      Jill Leigh      18:10      
417      Maria Rushton      18:20      
419      Laura Stafford      18:41      
422      Terri Barker      19:10      
423      Chistopher Bwalya      19:18      
424      Angela Moore      19:42      
425      Alison Lewis      19:54      
426      Clea Onojeqhuo      20:06      
427      Theresa Shearing      20:18      
428      Anita Ramirez      20:21      
429      Lisa Potter      20:27      
431      Stephanie Larman      21:31      
432      Bernadette Millward      22:02      
433      Kaylee Potter      22:48      
434      Amanda Wright      23:15      

Lots of pictures are available in the gallery at www.fvspartans.org.uk ;

Doug Anderson Memorial 5K

In a week when Spartans raced from 3K to 78K the next distance up was 5K.  The day after the 3K relays ten Spartans enjoyed a 5K race in Bedford Park on Wednesday evening.  This was the Doug Anderson Memorial 5K and was a two and a half lap event on a flat course.

KEVIN SMYTH was first Spartan in 20 minutes 31 seconds (67th) and CALLY GLADING ran a new personal best of 25 minutes 27 seconds (226th).

JIM BROWN was 84th in 20:57; RICHARD SIDLIN 91st in 21:07; STEVE MAYFIELD 92nd in 21:09; MARK GLADING 104th in 21:19; ANDREW HULL 125th in 21:44; SARA O’CALLAGHAN 138th in 22:12; TRACY PEZ 150th in 22:35 and PAUL HOLGATE 207th in 24:39.

There were 383 finishers.

Luton 10K

Sunday’s Luton 10K was the last event in the Luton AC three race series.  Fairland Valley Spartan finishing times were STEVE MAYFIELD 46 minutes 48 seconds, DENNIS CANNON 53:14 and TRACY STILES 1:02:17.

Harlow 10 (Miles)

SHAWN PYE led in the twelve Spartans at the 20th Anniversary Harlow 10 on Sunday.  He was 15th out of the 460 finishers in 1 hour 2 minutes and 2 seconds.  An excellent time for a wearing course which including a fair proportion of off road running.

Next were men’s captain RICHARD BATE, 29th in 1 hour 4 minutes 10 seconds, and press officer JIM BROWN in a new year’s best time of 1 hour 10 minutes 32 seconds.  MALCOLM HOLMES, 99th in 1:12:14 and MARK GLADING 118th in 1:13:30 were not far behind. 

SEAN GRIFFIN was 194th in 1:20:10 and being chased in by the two Spartan women taking part, SARA O’CALLAGHAN and ALISON HOPWOOD, who encouraged each other round the course.  Sara was 200th in 1:20:30 and Alison 204th in 1:20:34.

SEAN THOMPSON  was 281st  in 1:25:35; PAUL HOLGATE 290th in 1:26:05; ANDY JAY 297th in 1:26:40 and ALAN GOODWIN completed the ten miles in 1:31:03 for 358th.

Position      Name      Time      Comments
15th      SHAWN PYE      1:02:02      
29th      RICHARD BATE      1:04:10      
81st      JIM BROWN      1:10:32      YB (38 seconds)
99th      MALCOLM HOLMES      1:12:14      
118th      MARK GLADING      1:13:30      
194th      SEAN GRIFFIN      1:20:10      
200th      SARA O’CALLAGHAN (L)      1:20:30      
204th      ALISON HOPWOOD (L)      1:20:44      
281st      SEAN THOMPSON      1:25:35      
290th      PAUL HOLGATE      1:26:05      
297th      ANDY JAY      1:26:40      
358th      ALAN GOODWIN      1:31:03      

Milton Keynes Half Marathon

Proving that he is slowly getting fit again KEVIN SMYTH did the second Milton Keynes Half Marathon of the year in 1 hour 37 minutes 34 seconds and came 199th out of 1,223.

This version of the MK Half is actually really quite picturesque taking in some nice parts of the city, including Willen Lake and two or three miles along the Grand Union Canal - and it's pretty flat!

Forty Times Round The Park

On Saturday MARK SANDERS completed the Faversham Marathon in 4 hours 57 minutes 35 seconds.  The race went round the local park 40 times!  Conditions were very warm and the gradient on the first lap did not seem anywhere near as steep by the 40th time of facing the same hill.

A Romantic 26.2

Spartans CAROL PAUL, MIKE NEWBITT, KEVIN LAWLOR and DAVE PAUL all ran the Königsschlösser Romantic marathon in Bavaria on Sunday.  The race started in Füssen south west of Munich and ran through parks, forests and around lakes.  There were lovely views of the famous Neuschwanstein castle (as seen in Chitty Chitty bang bang) and it was back to Füssen for the finish.  Temperatures reached 75 Fahrenheit.  Their times were Mike Newbitt 4:18:51; Carol Paul 4.51.32; Kevin Lawlor 4.51.32 and Dave Paul 5.09.

Swiss Alpine K78– 78.5 kilometres (48.7 miles)

ROGER BIGGS was in Davos in the South East corner of Switzerland on Saturday for one of the toughest races in the world.  The Swiss Alpine K78 is a mountain race over 78.5 kilometres (just under 49 miles).

The race started at 5000 feet in Davos, then dropped to 4000 feet, before rising to over 8000 feet on very testing terrain including lung busting climbs and fabulous scenery.

In a race with a 12 hour time limit Roger finished in 10 hours 43 minutes 29 seconds.

Coming Events

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

•      Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park on Friday 31st July.
•      Eastern Veterans Track and Field Match at Milton Keynes on Wednesday 5th August.
•      Burnham Beeches Half Marathon on Sunday 23rd August.
•      Open Race and County Ten Mile Championships for Veterans at Welwyn Garden City on Sunday 6th September.
•      Spartans Track and Field events at Ridlins on Sunday 6th September.
•      Silver Jubilee Five Mile Race in Fairlands Valley Park on Sunday 13th September.
•      EVAC women’s final on Sunday 13th September.
•      County 10K Track Championships on Sunday 27th September.
•      Standalone 10K in Letchworth on Sunday 4th October.
•      Great East Run in Peterborough on Sunday 11th October.
•      Silver Jubilee Gala Ball on Saturday 17th October.
•      Abingdon Marathon on Sunday 18th October.
•      Henlow 10 on Wednesday 21st October.
•      Stevenage Half Marathon on Sunday 1st November.
•      Stevenage 5K series on Thursdays 12th and 20th November and 10th December.

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 now has almost 300 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