Fairlands Valley Spartans delighted with performances and organisation of home cross-country race

More than 400 people ran round the five-mile course in an event organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans.

With the start and finish near the showground, the race consisted of three laps of the southern part of Fairlands Valley Park and this time was devoid of the "liquid mud" that plagued the previous round in Trent Park.

It did have a number of tough climbs though as it hugged the boundary of the park.

The third round of the Sunday Cross-country League took place in Fairlands Valley Park. (Image: Jim Brown)

Increased participation by club members between rounds one and two lifted FVS from 10th to seventh out of the 19 clubs taking part.

And they will hope a season's best showing of 45 is enough to push them further up the standings when the final team results are produced.

There were three Spartans in the top 10, Andrew Patterson coming fourth, Simon Jackson ninth and Jonathan Parr 10th.

The other counters in the men’s A team were Charlie White (46th), Kelvin Beyoku (57th), Stuart Archer (70th), Steve Wells (99th) and Danny Scanlon (104th).

The Fairlands women put in a good performance with Yuko Gordon 210th overall, Tracey Jackson (218th), Annabelle White (249th), Tracey Pez (284th) and Zoe Jackson (300th) completing their five-strong A team.

The club are also starting to get the makings of a good B team with Carole Sheldrick, Fiona Clarke, Nicola Andersson and Marion Morley.

Others who would have normally ran were helping with the event.

A spokesman for the club said: "It was good to welcome some new members trying their first cross country in what was a great event organised by race director Wendy Tharani and a good team of volunteers."

The next league fixture is in Watford on January 16 while the county cross-country championships are in Welwyn Garden City one week earlier.