Stevenage will be taking part in the 10th edition of the worldwide Fancy Women's Bike Ride. We took part for our first time last year. We have not yet finalised our plans but save the date, and plan your best outfits! This will be a combined effort from Cycling UK Stevenage, Stevenage Cycling Hub and Breeze.

Back in 2013, when Sema Gur invited her friends for a bike ride just to have some fun, in Izmir (Turkey), nobody could have imagined that this event would turn into a global parade of women on bikes. So thank you dear Sema for giving us the opportunity to get connected with so many like-minded women from all around the world. 

Highlights from 2021:

- 9th edition of the Fancy Women Bike Ride was a success. FWBR was hosted in more than 120+ cities in 30 countries. 

- We have applications from many new cities from India, Russia, Iran, Australia and New Zealand. Yeah!!!

- We had the privilege of being  on the stage as a success case for the second time during the Velo-city Conference in Lisbon. The first one was in 2017 during  Velo-city 2017 in Nijmegen. 

Please visit the PRESS section of our website to see the latest articles and podcasts about the FWBR. 

Fairlands Valley Spartan Jonathan Parr to Represent Hertfordshire!

As a result of doing so well in the County Cross Country race, speedy Spartan Jonathan has been selected to represent Hertfordshire Senior Men at the Inter Counties Cross Country race in Loughborough on the 12th March!

Subsequent to his selection he scored another top ten place in Sunday’s cross country league race on Therfield Heath.

Mental Health Newsletter

• Celebrate Time to Talk Day with 33% discount on Mental Health Awareness for Sport & Physical Activity+ eLearning
• Mind's new resources and campaign to raise awareness of the importance of developing a healthy and balanced relationship with physical activity
• The role of mental health champions and how to create your own scheme

Big hills and big puddles faced the seven Spartans who ran the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday. They splashed through to the finish.

On that course and in those conditions ROBERT WRIGHT ran an excellent 1 hour 42 minutes 27 minutes for the lumpy 13.1 miles. Five minutes later MATT CLARKE came in with 1:47:58.

Spartan YUKO GORDON broke the British road 5 kilometres age record for women on Friday. Running at the Last Friday of the Month Serpentine 5K in Hyde Park she finished in 21 minutes 53 seconds beating the previous record for women aged 70 plus of 22:08 set by Angela Copson by 15 seconds. It was also a race record. While many runners would be happy with an age related score around 70% Yuko achieved 96.5%!

Climbing the Table in XC

Fairlands Valley Spartans sent men’s and women’s teams to the county road 10 mile championships for veterans in St Albans on Sunday. Veterans start at age 35 for women and 40 for men with age category breaks every ten years. The championships were incorporated into the open Fred Hughes 10 race.

Symonds Green Carpet Bowls Clublookin are looking for new members, and we’re inviting you or someone you know to come along and give carpet bowls a try. Over the years our club has proved that people of all ages and from all backgrounds can enjoy a friendly social evening with a fun game thrown in. Particularly popular with families and those looking for a new hobby or interest.

We offer a more accessible alternative to green or “big” bowls, you don’t need to bring anything other than a friendly smile and sense of humour (we don’t take ourselves too seriously).

If this sounds like a game that you could have a go at please pop along see what it’s all about.

Thursday evenings 19.30 - 21.30.

Symonds Green Community Centre
Filey Close
Stevenage
SG12JW

Role of the Hertfordshire Club Advocate

As a Club Advocate, you will become part of a group that influences and informs the future direction and strategy of
Herts Sports Partnership’s work with clubs. In order to help us best support the thriving community sport network
across the county and embed clubs further within their community, we ask four things of you:
1. To champion the importance of community clubs and the power of sport.
2. To scrutinise and support the approach of HSP and act as a sounding board for new campaigns and
initiatives.
3. Share best practice between clubs of different sports and sizes.
4. To attend meetings (max 4 a year) and advise the Herts Sports Partnership on the challenges facing clubs
and to help us ensure that our work remains at the cutting edge.
To support you, HSP will provide:
 Regular contact with your club advocate.
 Access to training opportunities and ongoing support.
 Numerous opportunities to connect with other clubs and share best practice.
 The chance to be involved in new funding opportunities and pilot projects
We completely understand the demands and time-constraints on all volunteers that work tirelessly for the good of
their club. To make the best use of everyone’s time, we will only bring you together four times a year with a clear
and defined focus. Hopefully, these sessions are not only an opportunity to meet with likeminded volunteers, but
also valuable CPD opportunities in themselves.
Sports clubs across Hertfordshire are an invaluable resource and provide tremendous contributions to their local
communities. By working with you, we aim to identify common themes and best practice that will benefit all sports
clubs across the county, ensure that community clubs are sustainable and continue to support local communities for
years to come.

Quick Fire TIF News!

1. Happy New Year!
2. Coach Education Week. 
3. HSP Partner Survey. 
4. Moving More – Hertfordshire’s Activity Finder. 

For more details, see below.

Spartan JONATHAN PARR was a top ten finisher in Sunday’s Hertfordshire County Cross Country Championships for seniors (aged 20 and over).  Fifteen Fairlands Valley Spartans tackled the championships which were at Stanborough, Welwyn Garden City.