News Release      
29th November 2009

RACING ROUND STEVENAGE (5K)
Whizzing round Wolverton and a sleepwalker

236 runners raced around Stevenage on Thursday night in the second of the evening 5K series of races organized by Fairlands Valley Spartans.  In much better conditions than the first race the winner was DAVID MITCHINSON from Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club in 15 minutes 27 seconds.  ASTRID McKEOWN from North Herts Road Runners was first woman in 18 minutes 43 seconds.

Apart from the dozens of members helping to organise the event fifty two Spartans were able to race.

The race incorporated the Hertfordshire 5K Championships for veterans.  Spartan JO LAING won the silver medal with a time of 19 minutes 25 seconds; PAULINE DIMMOCK took bronze as first woman (55 plus) in 27:28; and IRIS HORNSEY won GOLD as first woman (65 plus) in 28:04. 

The Spartan women won team bronze with Jo Laing, CHRISTINE FEELY (22:56) and CHRISTINE McCULLOUGH (23:32)

There were big improvements by JILL MURRAY who accelerated by 2 minutes 9 seconds to a very respectable 24 minutes  24 seconds, ANDY PRIOR by 3:51 to 30:37 and HELEN SULLIVAN by 2:22 to 33:44.  Other Spartan personal bests included RICHARD MOORE (21:07), ELLA CERAULO (21:47), TONY ARGYROU (23:00), CRAIG BACON (23:18), SARAH KEARSEY (24:22), PHILIP RUSHTON (24:30) and ESTHER HAMILL (24:45).

After two of the three races in the series Fairlands Valley Spartans women’s team are in first equal position with Barnet and District.


Position      Name      Time      Comments
   13      RICHARD BATE      17:04      
   21      SHAW PYE      17:37      1st 5K
   45      JO LAING      19:23      Second FV 35.  County Silver.  PB
   48      TODD GRAY      19:38      
   65      RICHARD HAZELDENE      20:19      
   66      DAVE STEPHENSON      20:20      SB
   74      JAMIE DRACKFORD      20:41      
   77      SEAN THOMPSON      20:46      
   83      JIM BROWN      20:54      
   88      RICHARD MOORE      21:07      PB
102      DANIEL WATKINS      21:44      
104      ELLA CERAULO      21:47      PB
110      MARK BEASLEY      22:00      
111      DARREN WILBY      22:02      
114      ROGER BIGGS      22:07      
116      MARK GOODWIN      22:12      
117      ANNETTE BELL      22:15      3rd FV45
118      SEAN GRIFFIN      22:18      
121      MARIE COLUCCI      22:23      
127      CHRISTINE FEELY      22:56      YB
129      TONY ARGYROU      23:00      PB
131      ROSIE CANHAM      23:14      
133      CRAIG BACON      23:18      PB
141      CHRISTINE McCULLOUGH      23:32      
144      ROBERT SHAW      23:34      
160      SARAH KEARSEY      24:22      PB
161      JILL MURRAY      24:24      PB
162      PAUL HOLGATE      24:26      
164      PHILIP RUSHTON      24:30      PB
169      ESTHER HAMILL      24:45      PB
170      ROGER HARDMAN      24:46      
171      MICHAEL CONNELL      24:48      
173      RYAN DAVIS      25:00      1st 5K
183      TONY WILLSON      25:28      SB
185      TONY OSBORNE      26:09      YB
187      MARK CHEADLE      26:15      PB
195      CHRISTINE HARDMAN      27:15      PB
196      DANIA HEATH      27:16      PB
198      ALAN RIDGWAY      27:22      SB
199      SHARON CROWLEY      27:24      YB
200      PAULINE DIMMOCK      27:28      
202      JEANETTE COLLINS      27:38      SB
203      SARAH McLAUGHLIN      27:39      PB
204      TESSA STEPHENSON      27:48      
207      IRIS HORNSEY      28:04      1st FV65.  County Gold.
209      JULIE GOODWIN      28:12      
211      PENNY ARMSTRONG      28:27      
220      MICHELLE LONG      29:52      
222      MARIA RUSHTON      29:57      PB
224      ANDY PRIOR      30:37      PB
232      PIPPA OWEN      32:42      PB
235      HELEN O'SULLIVAN      33:44      PB

And six second claim Spartans were running for their first claim clubs:

18      PETER SIBBETT      17:23      YB
69      GERRY CORRANCE      20:24      YB
132      NIKKI ANDREWS      23:17      
135      PAUL BOWAL      23:20      YB
217      MAUREEN MILLER      29:41      YB
221      CHAS AVIS      29:55      2nd Vet 70

The third and final race in the series will be on Thursday evening 10th December.

Simons Lead The Spartans As Ten Get Personal Bests at the Wolverton Five

Seventeen Spartans tackled Saturday’s Wolverton Five Mile race at Milton Keynes and ten of them came away with new personal bests.  They were STEVE SMITHSON (32:05), SEAN THOMPSON (33:28); KERRY JAMES (33:49); ANDY JAY who squeezed one second off to 38:05; ALISON HOPWOOD (38:18); IAN LARMAN (40:22); MARK CHEADLE (43:48); MONICA READ (43:54); DENISE NEE (44:30) and EMMA CHAMBERS (49:01).

SIMON JACKSON was first Spartan in 28 minutes 40 seconds (33rd position).  SIMON BELL also beat 30 minutes and was 40th out of the 395 finishers in 29 minutes 10 seconds. 

IRIS HORNSEY was first female veteran (65 plus) in 45 minutes 39 seconds.

Position      Name      Time      Comments
33rd      SIMON JACKSON      28:40      
40th      SIMON BELL      29:10      
86th      STEVE SMITHSON      32:05      PB
113th      SEAN THOMPSON      33:28      PB
125th      KERRY JAMES (L)      33:49      PB
136th      JIM BROWN      34:13      
176th      ANNETTE BELL (L)      36:58      
198th      ANDY JAY      38:05      PB (1 second)
201st      ALISON HOPWOOD (L)      38:18      PB
218th      PAUL HOLGATE      39:46      
226th      IAN LARMAN      40:22      PB
249th      BEV HARLOW (L)      43:13      
262nd      MARK CHEADLE      43:48      PB
263rd      MONICA READ (L)      43:54      PB
271st      DENISE NEE (L)      44:30      PB
276th      IRIS HORNSEY (L)      45:39      1st FV65
295th      EMMA CHAMBERS (L)      49:01      PB

Sleepwalker Spartan

Spartan JOHN WILDEN took part in Sleepwalker 2009 on Saturday.  Sleepwalker is a 20 Mile Night-Time Trail Race and is the UK's ONLY official Night Trail Race

It’s basically 20 miles across the Brecon Beacons, navigating by map and compass and carrying emergency equipment (just in case)...At night!!

Starting from Talybont on Usk, Powys, in the Brecon Beacons the route climbs steadily through the ancient forests of the Talybont valley, offering spectacular starlit views of the reservoir and mountains beyond and only mildly obscured by the horizontal, torrential rain, snow and hill Fog.

About eight miles in a flat forest section follows, before a couple of miles on a minor road brings you to checkpoint 3, where hot tea was available followed by the most testing part of the course through marshes and bogs which are waist deep in places.

Climbing past Dolygaer Outdoor Centre, you head for home climbing rapidly (over 600 feet again) then- just a barren windswept moorland section at nearly 2000 feet high to cross, skirting round crags and not thinking about the consequences of getting your compass bearing wrong (it dropped to about 30 feet visibility in places due to the snow and fog) then it's flat out downhill all the way back to Talybont.

John took 4 hours 10 minutes.  He says he will never complain about hill training again.  All in all a bit different…..

Eynsham 10K

Spartan Women’s Captain SUE LEIGH and Club Coach CHRIS LEIGH ran the Eynsham 10K on Sunday (29th November).  Eynsham is just to the south of Oxford and this was a Oxfordshire County champs race.  It always attracts a good size field and is run on a good two lap course around the town.  The weather was kind and the rain and wind held off until the race was finished!  Chris ran a new personal best (PB) time of 44 minutes 38 seconds (a 26 second improvement) and Sue ran 56:03.

Spartan Sanders Second Brit In Atlanta Marathon

Just five days after running the Philadelphia Marathon and again blessed with glorious weather for running, Spartan MARK SANDERS was second Brit home at the Atlanta Marathon in a time of 4 minutes 19 minutes 20 seconds.

Reindeer On The Move

KAREN LIDDLE took part in the muddy RNLI Reindeer Run at Woburn.

Cross Country Update

Fairlands Valley Spartans are doing much better in the cross country league this year.  After two races the Spartan women are third out of the seventeen teams and the men are fifth.

The third race in the series will be in Trent Park, North London on Sunday 13th December.

Annual General Meeting

Fairlands Valley Spartans celebrated a 57% increase at their Annual General Meeting which was held at Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre on Friday 27th November.  The club now has about 350 members!  What’s more there has been a 90% increase in female members and now more than half of all Spartans are women.

2009 will be remembered for the club’s hugely successful Jubilee Year celebrations.  At a time when the Club is experiencing huge growth and success and looking forward to a brighter and even more successful future, it was great to be able to look back and to celebrate the first 25 years of this magnificent Club. 

The Spartan coaching team, the very heart of the club, continues to grow stronger in terms of both numbers and quality.  Credit for this goes to Head Coach Tessa Stephenson.  Chris Leigh deserves special mention.  This year he spent months working towards, and successfully achieving, his Level 3 coaching award.  It was fitting that Chris was recognised as the best male coach of all sports clubs in the county at the Herts Sports Partnership Service to Sport Awards a few weeks back. 

And, on the subject of awards, huge congratulations go to Simon Harris for winning the Paul Pearce Disability Award at this year’s Comet Sports Award.   Congratulations also to Ron Cohen for being runner up in the Veteran Achievement category, and to the Club as a whole for being voted runner up in the Club of the Year category.

The Spartans made a huge contribution towards the success of the sport as a whole by hosting numerous races and events during the year.  Without the Spartan events there would be a lot less for others to enjoy.

As well as encouraging participation at all levels there have been many Spartan achievements in competition

Some highlights include:

At a National level, we have gleaned no less than 9 Gold Medals, 6 Silver Medals and 10 Bronze Medals!  Not bad for a little running club like the Spartans!

•      Iris Hornsey won Gold Medals in both the BMAF Outdoor Track & Field Champs, and at the BMAF Indoor Track & Field Champs, at both 400m and 800M. 
•      Chris Feely won a Bronze in the National BMAF Indoor Pentathlon Champs
•      At the back end of last year, Barbara Wilson won a National Gold medal in the ARC Half Marathon Champs
•      Simon Harris won 2 Silvers and a Bronze (200M, 4x100M, and 4x400M respectively) in the National Championships for Disabled Athletes.
•      In the 2009 National ARC Half Marathon Champs (also ran alongside our own Half Marathon), we picked up the following medals:
•      Gold in the Women’s Team Event (Jo Laing, Tracy Pez, Ruth Bradford)
•      Gold in the Senior Men’s category through Andrew Patterson
•      Gold in the FV35 Category through Jo Laing
•      Gold in the FV45 Category through Chris McCullough
•      Silver in the Men’s Team Event (Andrew Patterson, Shaw Pye, Richie Bate, Danny Hukin)
•      Bronze in the Senior Men’s category through Shaw Pye
•      Bronze in the FV35 category through Tracy Pez
•      Bronze in the FV35 Category through Ruth Bradford
•      Bronze in the FV45 Category through Cally Glading
•      Bronze in the Men’s Team Event (Mick Green, Pete Smith, Christopher Westcott, Jim Brown)

At a Regional level, Spartans won a total of  4 Golds, 2 Silvers and 2 Bronzes in various competitions as follows:

•      Congratulations go to Simon Harris for winning Gold, 2 Silvers and a Bronze at the Eastern Region Disabled Athletics Championships
•      Tessa Stephenson – Gold & Bronze at the EVAC Indoor Track & Field Champs (400M and 200M respectively)
•      Iris Hornsey – Golds in the EVAC Indoor Track & Field Champs at both 400M and 800M

The number of medal winners at County Championships is quite staggering.  A total of 32 Gold Medals, 48 Silver Medals, and 41 Bronze Medals – what a fantastic return, with still the Marathon Champs to come in December.  Here are all the Spartan County Medal winners (both Herts and Beds) in chronological order:

•      Herts Indoor Track Champs (at Lee Valley); 1500M Silver – Richie Bate
•      Herts Senior Half Marathon Champs (at Watford); Men’s Team Bronze (Dave Bowker, Ben Harris, Todd Gray, Jim Brown)
•      Beds 10M Champs (at Sandy); Senior Women Silver – Annette Bell; FV40 Gold – Annette Bell
•      Herts Disabled Athletes Champs; 100M Gold – Simon Harris
•      Herts Relay Track Champs (at Ridlins); 4 x 400M Relay Men’s Senior Team Bronze (Todd Gray, Nick Crowley, Andrew Patterson, Simon Harris); 4 x 400M Relay Men’s Vet Team Silver (Dave Bowker, Ian Larman, Mark Glading, Richard Sidlin); 4 x 400M Relay Women’s Vet Team Gold (Tessa Stephenson, Monica Brown, Peta Wilson, Chris Feely)
•      Herts Vets Track Champs (at Ridlins); 1500M MV35 Gold – Paul Carter; 200M MV40 Bronze – Dave Stephenson; 1500M MV40 Silver – Steve Smithson; 5K MV40 Silver – Richard Sidlin; 5K MV40 Bronze – Steve Smithson; Shot Putt MV40 Silver – Mark Glading; 1500M MV50 Gold – Dave Bowker; 1500M MV50 Silver – Jim Brown; 1500M MV50 Bronze – Paul Holgate; 5K MV50 Gold – Jim Brown; 5K MV50 Silver – Paul Holgate; 3K Walk MV50 Silver – Dave Bowker; 100M MV70 Silver – Ron Cohen; 200M MV70 Silver – Ron Cohen; 100M WV40 Gold – Monica Brown; 200M WV40 Silver – Chris Feely; 800M WV40 Gold – Peta Wilson; Long Jump WV40 Gold – Monica Brown; Long Jump WV40 Silver – Chris Feely; Shot Putt WV40 Gold – Monica Brown; Shot Putt WV40 Silver – Chris Feely; 1500M WV50 Gold – Sharon Crowley; 3000M WV50 Gold – Sharon Crowley; 1500M WV60 Gold – Iris Hornsey
•      Herts Vets 10K Champs (at St Albans); MV50 Gold – Dave Bowker
•      Herts Vets Road Relay Champs (at Stevenage); Women’s Team Bronze (Tracy Pez, Chris Feely, Kerry James)
•      Beds Vets 5M Champs (at Cranfield); MV40 Gold – Simon Bell
•      Beds 5K Champs (at Wardown Park); FV35 Silver – Rosie Canham
•      Herts Senior 5M Champs (the Jubilee 5 in Stevenage); Men’s Team Gold (Danny Hukin, Matt Jamieson, Adrian Donnelly, Andrew Hull, Gary Mulhern); Women’s Team Gold (Sam Pretty, Leanne Hyams, Dawn Easby); Men’s Team Silver (Darren Stephenson, David Hamill, Rob Evans, Rich Moore, Richie Bate); Women’s Team Silver (Sarah Kearsey, Esther Hamill, Debbie Dennis); Men’s Team Bronze (Sean Thompson, James Day, Andy Sheridan, Matt Gatherar, Darren Bennett); Women’s Team Bronze (Michelle Long, Rena Dudhia, Terri Barker)
•      Herts Vets 5M Champs (at the Jubilee 5); FV35 Gold – Jo Laing; MV70 Silver – Dennis Cannon; Women’s Team Gold (Jo Laing, Claire Pullen, Tracy Pez); Women’s Team Bronze (Alison Hopwood, Christine Sharman, Chris McCullough); Men’s Team Bronze (Pete Smith, Mick Green, Rich Hazeldene)
•      Herts Vets 10M Champs (at the Garden City 10) ;FV45 Bronze – Sharon Crowley; Men’s Team Silver (Steve Smithson, Jim Brown, Kevin Smyth, Mark Goodwin)
•      Herts Vets Track 10K Champs (at Bedford); MV55 Gold – Jim Brown
•      Herts Senior 10k Champs – (at Standalone); Women’s Team Silver (Jo Laing, Kerry James, Claire Pullen, Ella Ceraulo); Men’s Team Silver (Richard Bate, Simon Jackson, Simon Bell, Shaw Pye)
•      Herts Vets Half Marathon Champs (at Stevenage); FV35 Silver – Jo Laing; Men’s Vet Team Silver (Mick Green, Pete Smith, Jim Brown, Graham Blackburn); Women’s Vet Team Silver (Jo Laing, Tracy Pez, Ruth Bradford)
•      Herts Open 5K Champs (at FVS 5K Series); Men’s Team Bronze (Richie Bate, Andrew Patterson, Danny Hukin, Paul Carter, Pete Smith); Women’s Team Bronze (Jo Laing, Sam Pretty, Chris McCullough)
•      Herts Vets 5K Champs (at FVS 5K Series); FV35 Silver – Jo Laing; FV55 Bronze – Pauline Dimmock; FV65 Gold – Iris Hornsey; Women’s Team Bronze (Jo Laing, Chris Feely, Chris McCullough)

The new club committee for 2009-2010 consists of MARK GLADING (Chair); SARA O’CALLAGHAN (Secretary); SEAN THOMPSON (Treasurer); RICHIE BATE (Men’s Team Captain); GRAHAM BLACKBURN; JIM BROWN (Press Officer); MARIE COLUCCI; KATRINA DOYLE; JAMIE DRACKFORD; SIMON HARRIS; PAUL HOLGATE; IAN LARMAN; CHRIS LEIGH; SUE LEIGH (Women’s Team Captain); SARAH O’BRYAN; TONY OSBORNE; TRACY PEZ; JOAN RIDGER; ROB SHAW; RICHARD SIDLIN; STEVE SMITHSON; and TESSA STEPHENSON.  More about all committee members will soon be available on the Spartan website www.fvspartans.org.uk ;

Coming Events

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

•      Hertfordshire County Marathon Championship on Sunday 6th December.
•      Stevenage 5K on Thursday evening 10th December.
•      Spartans’ Christmas Social on Friday 11th December.
•      Bedfordshire Half Marathon on Sunday 13th December.
•      Third Cross Country League Race at Trent Park on Sunday 13th December.
•      Buntingford Year End Ten on Monday 28th December.
•      New Year’s Day 10K in Hyde Park on Friday 1st January.
•      Fourth Cross Country League Race at Royston on Sunday 3rd January.
•      County Cross Country Championships on Sunday 10th January.
•      Fred Hughes Ten Mile Road Race on Sunday 24th January.
•      South of England Cross Country Championships on Saturday 30th January.
•      Watford Half Marathon (inc. county vets champs) on Sunday 7th February.
•      Bramley 20 Mile Race on Sunday 14th February.
•      St. Valentine’s 30K on Sunday 14th February.
•      Fifth Cross Country League Race at Watford on Sunday 21st February.
•      Southern and County Veterans Cross Country Championships on 14th March.
•      London Marathon on Sunday 25th April.

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 350 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.  Membership forms are available on the Spartans website www.fvspartans.org.uk ; Please ask if you would like a paper copy. 

If you want to know more about the Spartans please contact Jim Brown (01438 354505 or 0793 968 7509), Tracy Pez on 07903 002024 or visit their website www.fvspartans.org.uk

E N D S

More from Jim Brown (Press Officer) 01438 354505 / 0793 968 7509 or Tracy Pez (07903 002024)

www.fvspartans.org.uk