Fairlands Valley Spartans running club were second in the whole south of England on Saturday. Their ladies team of Chris King, Tessa Stephenson and Sharon Crowley won silver medals in the South of England Veterans Cross-country Championships. The event w

Fairlands Valley Spartans running club were second in the whole south of England on Saturday.

Their ladies' team of Chris King, Tessa Stephenson and Sharon Crowley won silver medals in the South of England Veterans Cross-country Championships.

The event was held on trails through Mad Bess Wood in Ruislip in perfect conditions.

Running over a 6k course with women of all age groups over 35 years, Chris finished 34th in a time of 26:46 with Tessa 40th in 28:18 and Sharon 65th in 29:33.

This won them second place in the team competition for women 'supervets' (45 plus).

Andy Bramall was the sole male Spartan entrant for the men's race which was over 10k.

Having been delayed on his way to the event, Andy arrived five minutes after the race had started.

Showing commendable determination, he set off and managed to catch three of the back markers, finishing in 41:12.

The big event for many Spartans was the Watford Half Marathon on Sunday and several were rewarded with new personal best times.

First finisher was Simon Jackson, who took 15 seconds off his personal best when he finished 98th out of several thousand in 1-25:44.

Times: Simon Jackson 1-25:44 pb, Andrew Patterson 1-28:00 pb, Jim Brown 1-29:50, Kath Hardcastle 1-30:00, Phil Eaton 1-31:02 pb, Chris Leigh 1-45:14 pb, Sharon Crowley 1-50:46, Dave Paul 1-52:12, Tony Willson 1-55:21, Tony Osborne 1-57:30, Ann Tryssesoone 2-04:51 pb, Alison Suckling 2-06:09, Doug Hall 2-09:46 pb.

There was more weekend success for the Crowley family as 15-year-old Nicholas was second in the supporting 3.5k race at Watford in a time of 12:10.

Roger Biggs ran his fastest marathon for seven years and Michaela Norton-Lay her 50th marathon at the Apeldoorn Midwinter Marathon in the Netherlands on Saturday.

Times: Roger Biggs 3-40:04, Frances Ridgway 3-51:46, Carol Paul 4-12:54, Paul Holgate 4-31:42, Michaela Norton-Lay 4-57:34, Mark Sanders 4-57:34.

Paul Maguire was in Kent where he ran the Ashford and District 10k in 41:16.

* It was largely the veterans from North Herts Road Runners that carried the flag for the Letchworth club at the penultimate race of the Three Counties Cross-country League at Dunstable on Sunday.

A depleted team tackled a fog bound, hilly course and still managed fourth despite the loss of some key runners.

The men were again led home by Pete Sibbett (fourth), followed by Steve McKeown (11th), Gary Cook (30th) and Pete Northover (31st).

Paul Pearce, Richard Harbon and Dave Frampton also scored valuable points.

Jo Harbon (15th) ran her best race of the series to lead the women in, with Karen Dodsworth and Rachel Lancaster running well to complete the scoring.

The Squirrels are in third place in the league with one race remaining at Bedford Harriers next month. They need to keep ahead of the race hosts if they are to qualify for the national plate final.

Several members were at the Watford half-marathon the same day.

Johnny Spinks was the first member of the team home in a new personal best time of 1-30:56. Veteran Chris Priestley ran well to finish in 1-38:13 closely followed by Claire Messenger in 1-39:55.

There were three more personal bests recorded by Lysa Ralph and Jo Summers (both 1-40:35) and Helen Redwood (1-42:32).

* FVS TRI also had a number competing in the Watford half-marathon.

First home for FVS TRI was Simon Hall in 12th in 1-14:44 on a deceptively difficult course.

Mike Russell used the race as a build-up for the London Marathon, having won a place in the club ballot, and finished an excellent 98th overall with 1-25:52.

Andrew Forster just beat Sam Tophill with 1-31:30 and 1-31:52 respectively.

Dave Farthing ran 1:54:06 and Dave Robinson continued his return from a recent operation with 1-57:23. Chris Suckling also represented the club.

n Grant Ramsey from Great Ashby in Stevenage finished 12th in 1-14:39 at the Watford half-marathon.