The last race has taken place in the Fairlands Valley Spartans organised Stevenage 5k road race series. There were 184 runners competing in the third and final race in the evening 5k series and the leading male and female places went exactly the same way

The last race has taken place in the Fairlands Valley Spartans organised Stevenage 5k road race series.

There were 184 runners competing in the third and final race in the evening 5k series and the leading male and female places went exactly the same way as in the series as a whole.

Thomas Burke from Bedford and County won last Wednesday's race in a time of 15:36, just two seconds ahead of Chris Reynolds from Woodford Green AC (15:38) and four seconds ahead of James Tydeman from Basildon AC (15:40).

Astrid McKeown from North Herts Road Runners was fastest woman in 17:45. Katherine Philp (Garden City Runners) was second in 18:03 and Katherine March (Barnet and District AC) third in 18:11.

Seventeen Spartans ran the event and many more were helping to organise it.

Times: Simon Jackson 17:41, Declan Clynes 17:52, Graham Preston 17:58 pb, Todd Gray 19:15, Michael Green 19:26, Paul Maguire 19:35, Steve Smithson 20:46, Roger Biggs 20:48 pb, Chris Leigh 21:48 pb. Anthony Osborne 22:07, Sara O'Callaghan 22:44 pb, Kevin Williams 23:39 pb, Veronica Maguire 24:51, Sue Leigh 26:25, Simon Harris 28:51 pb, Mark Freeman 28:51, Sharon Jenkins 30:39.

More than 200 runners qualified for the series by completing at least two out of the three races. The Spartan men's A team were fifth out of 20 and the Spartan women sixth out of 15 teams. Leading Spartans in the series were Simon Jackson (30th), Declan Clynes (39th), Graham Preston (41st) and Andrew Garrett (49th).

North Herts Road Runners finished on a positive note in the series.

Astrid McKeown once again won the women's race in a time of 17:45 which resulted in her being declared both the series winner and county champion for the distance.

Nick Beresford (16:40) and Steve McKeown (16:59) were the first men home for the club who along with Gary Cook, Pete Northover and Pete Sibbett were both series and county runners-up.

So were the ladies' team with contributions from Astrid McKeown, Jane Chappell, Suzy Trott, Paula Adams and Melissa Winters.

Some of the club's older members also had a successful series with Derek Myall winning the Vet 60 plus category and breaking the club record for his age group at each of the three races.

Paula Adams was the fastest female veteran in the series while Karen Dodsworth was the runner-up in the FV45 age group.

In the team events, Sibbett, Richard Harbon, John Franklin, Adrian Sherwood and John Russell were veteran county champions and the trio of Chappell, Jo Harbon and Jo Summers were runners-up for the women.

Brian White from FVS TRI was first Vet 50 for the series without even racing the final event. Busy elsewhere with a coaching commitments, he had done enough to secure victory in the three-race series with only the best two results to score.

White was lead runner for FVS TRI by more than a minute with a best time of 17:06.

On the night, Rob Wilson was first home for the club in a new personal best of 18:47.

Race three times: Rob Wilson 18:47, Simon Patenall 19:30, Jeremy Prodger 19:32, Richard Easterbrook 20:39, Danny Brooks 21:39, Helen Shulver 22:35, Ian Hobbs 26:31.

Five young runners from Stevenage and North Herts AC made their marks at the final race.

Adam Searle was 11th in clocking 16:58, his best time of the three races, and Daniel Poulton was 25th in the overall race clocking 17:26.

Searle finished in 14th place overall in the series clocking 33:59 in his best two races.

Club youngsters performed brilliantly and were hard on the heels of many of the senior men and women.

Lewis Keeble, just 13-years-old, was 38th overall and second under-20 boy with 18:17 in the last race.

His overall series position was 52nd overall and fourth under-20 man with 37:16.

Sixteen-year-old Louis Naylor, after only a few months' training, got better and better during the series.

He finally clocked 18:44 for 50th overall (fourth under-20 man) which gave him 63rd in the series (fifth under-20 man) totalling 37:58.

The club's lone female, Joanne Mansell (15-years-old) was 63rd overall and first under-20 woman with 19:15 which added up to 69th overall in the series and second under-20 woman at 38:30.