News Release                   
20th September 2009

SPARTANS IN GERMANY

Four Spartans had good reasons to be pleased with their performances in Sunday’s Berlin Marathon.  SEAN THOMPSON was 1,806th in 4 hours 13 hours 51 seconds.  The three Spartan women were marathon first timers.  DAWN EASBY was 3,063rd in 4:23:58; MARIE COLUCCI 3,498th in 4:29:52 and RENA DUDHIA 5,573rd in 5 hours 2 minutes 24 seconds.

Helen Wins Paul Maguire Trophy

Last week’s Jubilee Five race in Fairlands Valley Park also included the race for the Paul Maguire Trophy.   To be eligible runners had to be first claim members of Fairlands Valley Spartans and to have supported the club by running in at least two of the races in this summer’s ever so tightly contested Mid Week League series.

There were 91 first claim Spartan finishers of whom 48 qualified.  The winner was the runner with the best improvement on a target time based on recent performances.

The trophy was won by HELEN BROUGHTON who improved against her target time by a massive 7.8%.  PETER SMITH finished second with a 5.4% improvement and DEBBIE DENNIS picked up the third place medal with a 4.3% improvement.

The top five mean and women were:

Women – 1st Helen Broughton 7.8%, 2nd Debbie Dennis 4.3%, 3rd Lina Porecha 3.7%, 4th Sarah Kearsey 2.3% and 5th Michelle Long 2.3%.

Men – 1st Peter Smith 5.4%, 2nd Simon Bell 2.4%, 3rd Andrew Hull 2.1%, 4th Robert Evans 2.0% and 5th Gary Mulhern 1.5%

More County Success For Spartans

Fairlands Valley Spartans dominated the team results for senior men and women in the recent County Five Mile Championships.  Senior men’s teams were made up of five runners.

DANNY HUKIN, MATT JAMIESON, ADRIAN DONNELLY, ANDREW HULL and GARY MULHEARN won GOLD.  DARREN STEPHENSON, DAVID HAMILL, ROB EVANS, RICH MOORE and RICHIE BATE won SILVER and  SEAN THOMPSON, JAMES DAY, ANDY SHERIDAN, MATT GATHERAR and DARREN BENNETT won BRONZE.

Teams of three were required for the other categories. 

SAM PRETTY, LEANNE HYAMS and DAWN EASBY took GOLD in the senior women’s race.   ESTHER HAMILL, DEBBIE DENNIS and SARAH KEARSEY won SILVER and MICHELLE LONG, RENA DUDHIA and TERRI BARKER won BRONZE medals.

Spartans’ PETE SMITH, MICHAEL GREEN and RICH HAZELDENE won silver in the veteran men’s competition.

In the team competition for veteran women (aged 35 and over) JO LAING, CLAIRE PULLEN and TRACY PEZ were GOLD medal winners.  ALISON HOPWOOD, CHRISTINE McCULLOUGH and CHRISTINE SHARMAN were BRONZE medallists.

Hundreds of pictures of the Jubilee Five race can be seen in the gallery at www.fvspartans.org.uk

Great North Rachael

Fairlands Valley Spartan RACHAEL STANTON finished her first half marathon at the Great North Run on Sunday.  In amongst about 54,000 runners she achieved a very creditable time of 2 hours 38 minutes 32 seconds.

Other Spartans taking part included TRISTAN EMPTAGE (1:32:04) and TRACY STILES (2:23:22).

Sunny Anglesey Marathon

It was hot and sunny for the Anglesey Marathon.  In an event where the last five miles was up hill, and the last three into the wind MARK SANDERS finished in 4 hours 32 minutes 42 seconds and MICHAELA SANDERS in 5:12:59.

Victory 5

On Sunday DAVE & TESSA STEPHENSON travelled to their old home in Portsmouth to take part in the Victory 5 mile road race.  Having recently finished running much shorter distances during the track season, they enjoyed the perfect conditions with Dave recording a time of 34 minutes 40 seconds and Tessa 45 minutes 22 seconds.

Ponton Plod

Six Spartans tackled the off road Ponton Plod event which took place near Grantham.  MIKE NEWBITT completed the 28 miles in 5 hours 31 minutes 7 seconds and was followed in by CAROL PAUL in 5:48:17 and ROBERT HARDY in 6:14:53.  DAVE PAUL and KEVIN LAWLOR finished together in 6:26:30.

PAULINE HARDY covered the 12 mile event in 3 hours and 9 minutes.

Biggs In Boulder

ROGER BIGGS has just completed three weekends running marathons in the USA and he says it’s getting harder, higher and hotter.  Hence slower.

This Sunday he ran the Boulder Marathon near Denver in Colorado.

This event takes place at between 5200 & 5600 feet altitude, about a mile above sea level, on the backroads of Boulder, Colorado.  It’s a marathon mainly on dirt roads in the foothills of the Rockies, about 40 miles west of Denver.  Wall to wall sunshine made this a very hard marathon to run.  Despite a relatively slow time of 4 hours 21 minutes 7 seconds, Roger managed to place for the third time in three weeks.  He was third Vet 60.

Count Down to the Stevenage Half Marathon

Not long now until the Stevenage Half Marathon.  It’s on Sunday 1st November.  Don’t miss out.  You can enter online now by going to www.fvspartans.org.uk and you can prepare now by training with the Spartans.

Coming Events

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

•      Watford Open Graded for all on Wednesday 23rd September.
•      Sandy Open Graded for seniors and veterans on Saturday 26th 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.
•      Wolverton Five on Saturday 28th November.
•      Hertfordshire County Marathon Championship on Sunday 6th 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