News

On a wet and windy Sunday, Fairlands Valley Spartans hosted the 5th running of the decennial Stevenage Marathon. After a good autumn preparation period with some solid results ranging from 5k to half-marathon, Christopher Westcott was thrilled to finish in second place and be the first "local" runner home. His time of 2:49:43 on a challenging course also saw him take County V50 gold.

Whilst the weather was far from ideal, it was great to see so many supporters dotted around the course and as someone who has lived in Stevenage for almost 50 years of his life it was great to cross off the "to-do" list.

Other SNHAC runners in action were Paul Murray and Phil Turner who completed the marathon in 4 hrs 22 minutes 4 seconds and 5 hours 53 minutes 48 seconds respectively, while Paul Spicer sompleted the half marathon in 1 hour 39 minutes 33 seconds.

Having faced the very real prospect that the Chiltern League could fold, it was great the season was able to start yesterday at the Keysoe Equestrian Centre, Bedfordshire. 28 athletes competed for SNHAC, with turnout from our girls / women particularly impressive.

It couldn’t be more different to the summer. Laps of an all-weather track were replaced with laps of an equestrian horse course, including the notorious water-jump which hilariously one of our team said, ‘wasn’t that deep!’ Perhaps for horses!

The weather was variable. It wouldn’t be 2024 if there wasn’t rain intermittently, sometimes very heavy - those by the tents were asked at one stage if they would like to take cover in the big marquee there! Pity those running in it!

Well done to everyone. A great effort as usual and fantastic to see some new faces amongst the ‘old’ regulars (who have seen and done it all before of course!).

The results are on the results page. You will see that the juniors are doing brilliantly again, taking up 3rd place in Division 2…..out of 22!!! I am sure that we will get even stronger as the season progresses, next stop Milton Keynes on the 9th November.

There are photos of some of our athletes in action on the gallery page and others can be found at https://markeaston.zenfolio.com/f532397138

Sunday saw the England Athletics Regional Awards for volunteers and projects take place at the Athenaeum in Bury St Edmunds. The eight awards were made to the individuals and projects in the East Region that had seen volunteers and clubs go ‘above and beyond’ to ensure that athletes, athletics and communities thrived.
SNHAC were shortlisted for the Community Project of the Year for the Holiday Programme the Club organises at Easter and during the summer which provides 24 days of athletics for forty, 8 to14 year-olds, including youngsters on free school meals, who are provided with a hot meal while having fun. The programme gives everyone the opportunity to try all events including pole vault and hammer and introduces them to timekeeping and field judging. Nick ward collected the Runner Up Award on behalf of the club. Nick, along with Barry Mainstone, Libby Taylor and Dan Mainstone ran the programmes assisted by the Club’s coaching assistants and leaders.
Sarah Berry was nominated for the Newcomer to Volunteering Award and richly deserves winning the category. Sarah’s daughter joined the Club three years ago and Sarah volunteered to help at matches when her daughter was competing. Sarah became a L1 Track and Timekeeper in 2023 and officiated in all the leagues the Club participates in during 2024. In November 2023 Sarah became Club Treasurer and a member of the Club’s Management Committee.
Norma Harris was nominated along with two other stalwarts from the East Region for Services to Athletics and Running. Between them Noel Moss (Cambridge and Coleridge), Peter Cassidy (Loughton AC) and Norma have ‘clocked up’ over 135 years of volunteering between them, covering most positions in the sport over the years. Norma has coached, officiated and held many Club, County and Regional positions over the years. When interviewed at the awards ceremony Norma admitted that her most enjoyable moments have come from watching the many teenagers she has coached achieve success, but also grow up to become lovely people, many of whom have become friends, are still involved in sport at various levels and in various roles. Noel, Peter and Norma all received the award as joint winners from Mattthew Dalton, East Region Chair.

Last weekend 2 SNHAC runners joined the participants in the Stevenage 10k. U20 George had a really good race, and ran a PB of 39:21 for the 10k, coming 15th overall and was the 1st U20 Male. Trevor Mason finished in a time of 48:15, coming 63rd. There were 306 finishers.

Christopher Westcott took part in the popular Hatfield 5k series of races organised by Garden City Runners and RacesOnline in August and September. These took place on 3 consecutive Wednesday nights, with the first race incorporating the Herts Senior Champs, the second the Herts Veterans Champs and the third race crucial for overall series prizes. In the second race, Christopher won the V50 male category with a gun time of 17:07 and after the third race, he also took home the overall V50 male 1st prize with a combined time of 34:19 (best 2 from 3 gun times).

In between the second and third races, Christopher also travelled to Battersea Park to compete in a half-marathon. He finished that in 1:18:56 (chip time), which placed him second in the V50 male category. This was nice and flat, which helped with a decent time but not ideal preparation for the upcoming Stevenage marathon.

Last weekend Paul Murray travelled north to compete in a very damp Great North Run.