Fairlands Valley Spartans promoted in Midweek Road Race League

The final round of the 2023 Division Two clash came at Trent Park in Cockfosters, with the Spartans getting ahead of Royston Runners to finish second to champions Watford Joggers.

The key part of the evening came in the men's event.

Royston had edged the Spartan women to finish second but the FVS men were able to take second place in their category.

And crucially the Royston men were only fourth.

Andrew Patterson of Fairlands Valley Spartans at Trent Park. Picture: KEITH FENWICK (Image: Keith Fenwick)

Among the 449 overall, Spartans had 43 and four of their men finished in the top nine.

Andrew Patterson was fourth, directly ahead of team-mates Simon Fraser and Adrian Busolini, with Simon Jackson in ninth.

There was also a fourth, fifth and sixth block of stripey finishers in the women's race with Samantha Pretty-Connors leading in Ashley Johnson and Christine Lathwell.

In Division Three, Hitchin Running Club finished the season in second with Stevenage Striders fourth and Stevenage & North Herts in seventh.

In the Trent Park race, Anna Bruce of Hitchin was sixth while Abigail Manson and Amelie Hobbs were ninth and 10th for SNHAC.

Lucy Crocker was the best female Strider in 12th

Isaac Whitten was fifth in the men's race for SNHAC with Peter Males, Joe Davis and Harry Woods of Hitchin finishing sixth, ninth and 10th.

The best male Strider was Joe Bateman in 14th.

There is one more round to go, the end of season mob match which sees all three divisions gather at Welwyn Garden City on Wednesday, July 12.

Elsewhere the Ware 10 miles was popular, as were parkruns.

Mike Jeffs of FVS ran a new PB, clocking one hour four minutes 14 seconds to finish fifth.

Among the Spartan highlights at parkruns was a PB for Matthew Newton at St Albans, where he finished sixth, and three women in the top five at Henlow Bridge Lakes.

They were Gabrielle O'Brien (second), Suzy Hawkins (third) and Kelly McHale (fifth).

Garry Wallace and Louise Chancellor at the Exeter River Run. Picture: STEVENAGE PHOENIX (Image: Stevenage Phoenix)

Denise Ricot ran at Ware for Stevenage Phoenix, finishing in 2:12:03 while the club had 12 at parkruns, including six at Millennium Country, just south of Bedford.

They were James Woodcock, Jay Papa, Gavin Cooper, Ian Young, Colette Cooper and Scott Crawford.

Phoenix also had two at the Exeter 10k River Run with Garry Wallace breaking the club's MV60 record with 59:19.

Louise Chancellor clocked 1:01:20, more than a minute faster than her previous 10k in May.

Lisa Liversidge also ran the challenging off-road Chiltern Ridge Half Marathon.

She finished in 2:42.

Stevenage Striders were busy with parkruns too, using 11 different venues.

Abdullah Athar was the fastest Strider, running the 5k on the home course at Stevenage in 19:21, while Sarah and Steve Kinsella took part in the Bolton 5k night run, both finishing in 30:54.

A day later, Steve tackled the Bolton Ironman event - a 2.4-mile swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride and a marathon.

It was his ironman debut and he finished in an overall time of 16:12:55.

Runners at the start of the First Saturday of the Month dawn race. Picture: NHRR (Image: North Herts Road Runners)

North Herts Road Runners hosted a double header First Saturday of the Month with a dawn and dusk edition of the5k round Norton Common.

Eighteen tireless runners took the opportunity to run both races with Nathaniel Rosa and Astrid McKeown finishing in the fastest times overall.

Four from the club were early risers at the Hitchin Sprint Triathlon on Sunday.

Starting at 6:30am, they tackled a 400m pool swim, a 20K bike and then a 5K run round the town.

Steve McKeown secured his fourth victory in the main sprint event in a time of 1:00:24 with the other Squirrels competing being Shahab Ahmad, Sarah Mitcherson and Lindsay Cook.

Trophies were presented by TV celebrity and professional boxer Tommy Fury.

The event also hosted a smaller nitro distance race and a kids' triathlon.