17th November 2008

FVS TRI retained their overall lead in all competitions with a strong performance at the second Sunday League Cross Country match hosted by Garden City Runners at Digswell. With 44 runners competing, this was the best turnout in FVS TRI history lead by the record 15 strong female contingent.  Steve Harrison was 2^nd overall in 32:05 for the approximate 5.6 mile hilly course , consolidating his lead in the overall 5 match series. Sam Tophill was first home for the women in 114^th overall (12^th in the womens race) in a time of 43:03, just ahead of Gemma Sargent in 117^th (14^th women) in 43:10.  New members Steve Moakes and partner Elodie Irving represented the club for the first time in cross country as did Rachel Armstrong.  In the team event, the men were 2^nd on the day to retain 1^st overall in the competition. The B team and Masters team won on the day to consolidate their lead in both competitions. The women were 2^nd on the day in the A team and masters and still retain the lead in both competitions.  The 3^rd fixture will be in December at Southgate.

38 FVS TRI runners competed in the first event of the Stevenage 5K series with Steve Harrison finishing an excellent 4^th in 15:32 on the new course. Mark Robertson was 2^nd home for the club in 17:47 with Suzy Hawkins first club woman  in 21:27 just ahead of veteran athlete Jackie Perry in 21:31. Karen Parnell raced for FVS TRI for the first time and Gary Shanahan made a welcome return to competition.

Pete Bardell finished an excellent 55^th overall from 1950 competitors in the Hell Down South Race over 11 miles off road in a time of 1:16:31  in an event which included a river crossing, a “bog of doom” and  ”killer sandbanks”