News Archive

A fifth Spartan woman has qualified for the British marathon championships! An injury meant SUZY HAWKINS couldn't target the same race as her amazing Spartan friends on the sub 90 minutes mission. But with a stripey team now entered in the championship start at London she really wanted to be on that start line with them. The deadline for entries is 31 December, so she thought would give the four laps of the Dorney Lake Half Marathon a go. Suzy honestly thought “if I do it I have a 1% chance of qualifying, if I don't zero%.” It was very windy. She was amazed and delighted at the pace she managed to maintain and was over the moon to win, and take almost three minutes off her personal best with 1 hour 27 minutes 14 seconds, but it was about joining the amazing women in the first ever Spartans marathon championship team.

Cycling UK Blazing Saddles Presentations and Christmas Lunch
65 members of Cycling UK’s Stevenage gathered in Tewin on Sunday for their prize presentations and Christmas lunch after a sunny ride from Fairlands Valley Park.

Five Stevenage and North Herts athletes represented Hertfordshire at the South of England Inter County Cross Country Championships on Saturday at a very muddy Oxford.

After a very congested start and a lot of surge running to clear some space during the opening three miles, ED HARE completed the Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon in 1:46:05 which is a 3 minute PB (personal best). Conditions were wet underfoot and very windy, with a tight technical course which made life tough but he was really pleased to have improved his half time along with some other great runs from fellow Spartans.

Marathons
Davie Stafford and Clare Wing were back in marathon action at the weekend, this time taking part in the Band of Runners event at Walton-on-Thames. Davie rang with a buggy and finished 16th overall in 04-20-02 whilst Clare finished 19th in 04-29-41. Sue Loughran managed to complete the half-marathon distance at the same venue in 02-50-54.

There were great runs by Fairlands Valley Spartans women with the whole “A” team beating 37 minutes for 4.8 minutes on a typical liquid mud Trent Park cross country course.

Kelly Herts Rag Run
Three Striders took part in the 10km (6.2 mile) charity event in Hatfield on Saturday. Leanne Mahoney (40th place) in 01-05-32, Ally Brown (48th place) in 01-18-42 and Chrissie Thomas (49th place) in 01-18-43. Both runners took on the event after doing the 5km parkrun course at nearby Ellenbrook Fields. There were 53 runners in the event.

Next July has been designated as Cultural Olympiad month – as part of the Hertfordshire Year of Culture 2020 – and as part of that programme, the Herts Sports Partnership is seeking to bring back together individuals and groups with a connection to Hertfordshire that were involved in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for a Spirit of 2012 lunch. 

So, if you were a:

• Torch Bearer
• Games Maker
• Athlete
• Coach
• Volunteer

And you'd like to be part of a celebration on Saturday 18 July, we'd love to hear from you! Please contact Kelly Fagan at k.fagan@herts.ac.uk.

Hertfordshire Service to Sport Awards 2019
On Tuesday 19 November the sixteenth annual Hertfordshire Service to Sport Awards took place at the University of Hertfordshire, celebrating the dedication and selfless efforts of sports volunteers from across the county. In advance of the night, a panel of independent judges considered more than 130 nominations from clubs and individuals, and awards were made to over 50 volunteers in recognition of their massive contribution to sport in Hertfordshire.

There were double figure Spartans at four events over the weekend – the Hatfield Five including county championships; Bass Belle 10; Hertfordshire Half Marathon and the Stevenage Parkrun.