Fairlands Valley Spartans

🏃‍♂️ Hitchin 10K 🏃‍♀️

A few weeks ago, 32 Spartans made the short trip over to Hitchin for the town’s ever-popular 10K race 💙🩵

Leading the way for Fairlands was Charlie White in a superb 36:22, describing it as “a fantastic event” with plenty of Spartans out running, marshalling and spectating 👏🏻

There were FOUR Spartan PBs on the day 🔥
⭐ Terry Sawyer – 40:25 (-7 seconds)
⭐ Anita Weltz – 50:10 (-42 seconds)
⭐ Sally Reeve – 50:15 (-1:13)
⭐ Lee Potter – 1:03:36 (-17:27!)

Category successes included:
💙 Jim Brown – 3rd MV70+
💙 Mike Jeffs – 4th MV40
💙 Gail Mackie – first Spartan female & 4th FV30
💙 Sharon Crowley – 5th FV60

There were also season’s bests for Carole Sheldrick, Monica Smithson and Sarah Illingworth, who summed up the day perfectly:
“Running through Hitchin and the surrounding countryside with loads of Spartans support – what’s not to like?” 💙

And of course, a special mention to Penny Schenkel who took on the course dressed as a jellyfish 🪼

A brilliant turnout all round, with 24 Spartans finishing under the one-hour mark 💪🏻🔥

📸-thank you Keith!

🔥 Huge PB for Jay at Battersea Park 10K 🔥

Jay absolutely smashed it at the Battersea Park 10K, flying round in an incredible 37:13 to finish 21st overall 👏🏻💪🏻

Skipping straight past sub-39 and straight into sub-38 territory 🚀 One of the races of his life and a performance to be seriously proud of.

Word on the street is that he’s an alright gardener too- 👀🌱

💙🩵 100 Parkruns for our Ladies Captain! 🩵💙

Callie reached the huge milestone of completing her 100th Parkrun 🥳 and we had such a lovely morning celebrating with her!

Not only that, but she’s also very, very close to reaching her 50th volunteer milestone too 👏🏻

Congratulations Captain we 🩵 you! 👩🏼‍✈️

Big turnouts. Big performances. Big heat. ☀️🔥

67 Spartans took on the first Mid Week League race of the season in Hemel Hempstead — the biggest club turnout on the night! Special shoutout to our women’s team who grabbed an outstanding second place by just ONE point 💪

Elsewhere:
🏃 Charlie White finished 3rd overall at Run The Wade 5K
🏔️ Kristian Atanasov WON the brutal Fox Trail Ultra 62K
🥵 Mike Jeffs smashed a sub-40 at the hottest Hatfield Broad Oak 10K on record
👏 Another huge Saturday at Stevenage parkrun with Simon Jackson 2nd overall and Nick Andrews setting a new PB

From ultras to parkruns, Spartans were everywhere again this weekend 💚

THE BIGGEST TURNOUT - Fairlands Valley Spartans Fairlands Valley Spartans had the biggest turnout of any of the clubs in their first mid week league race of the 2026 season. 31 women and 36 men from FVS finished the race based on Grovehill, Hemel Hempstead on Thursday evening. On an undulating, partly off road 10 kilometres course DAVID HARRIS-CH...

700m loops in *that* heat Tuesday night 🥵🔥💪🏻

Our coaching team adapted the session to help keep everyone safe and well during the hottest day of the year so far ☀️

It was a scorcher, but the team still smashed it! Well done everyone and thank you coaches 👏🏻🩵💙

Vienna Marathon 🇦🇹✨

Last month, Michael Fisher took on the Vienna Marathon and flew round in an incredible 2:51:35, finishing 193rd out of around 6,400 runners 💪🏻🔥

At the time Michael said he was too tired to tell a story about it… now a month later we’re still not sure if he’s recovered enough for one yet 😅👏🏻

Well done Michael! Such a massive achievement 💙🩵

Hot on the hills with Captain Callie 🥵🔥😍

An early start and hills conquered 💪🏻 Huge effort these ladies who joined Callie’s early riser session yesterday morning. Form was absolutely on point!

4, 3, 2, 1 Hills
(90s/2 mins between sets)

As we approach the summer months, remember to stay hydrated, wear sun protection, and adjust the effort where needed 🌞 Look after yourselves and each other 🩵💙

And of course… thank you Keith for the incredible photos as always ❤️

✨ Marathon Stories- Manchester✨

Looking back to last month’s Manchester Marathon, where nine Spartans took on one of the UK’s biggest marathon events 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

🔥 Leading the Spartans home was Simon Jackson in a superb 2:47:51, finishing 326th out of 28,077 runners 👏🏻

💥 Huge PBs were the theme of the day:
• Mike Jeffs smashed over 6 minutes off his PB with 2:52:12 despite picking up an injury late in the race
• Vicky Archer went sub-4 for the first time with 3:58:43, taking an incredible 21 minutes off her PB
• Andy Prior also achieved a massive PB, improving by 12 minutes with 3:43:10

⭐ Marathon debut success
Sophie Parsons completed her very first marathon in 4:37:36 and said it gave her “a time to improve on next time!” Perfect marathon weather too ☀️

👏🏻Jim Brown had a brilliant run after a difficult few weeks, finishing in 4:31:23, over 57 minutes faster than his marathon last year and achieving a Good For Age time with over 20 minutes to spare!

Strong running too from:
• Tony Randfield – 3:41:01
• Simon Haigh – 4:29:21
• Connor Eccleston – 5:32:02

With over 28,000 finishers, Manchester once again delivered an incredible big city marathon atmosphere 🏅

More Marathon Stories coming soon as we continue looking back on marathon season 👀

🏃‍♂️⛰️ Two Ultras, relay success and more Spartan PBs!

It’s been another huge week for Fairlands Valley Spartans with members taking on everything from brutal 50-mile ultras and mountain trails to track relays, half marathons and parkruns 💪

There were standout performances across the board, including ultra finishes on the North Downs Way and in Snowdonia, relay wins at Gosling Stadium, milestone parkruns and a brilliant half marathon PB at Hackney 👏

Another packed weekend of Spartan running!

👉 Click the link for the full roundup and all the results!

TWO ULTRAS - Fairlands Valley Spartans Ultra Martin The Centurion NDW50 is a 50 miles ultra marathon trail event along the North Downs Way and Spartan MARTIN JACOB did it! The 50 miles point to point started in Farnham, Surrey and finished at Knockholt Pond on the outskirts of London. Martin said he found the Box Hill stairs tough but he