Week Ending - 2022/02/13

BADGERS VERY OWN SUPER SATURDAY AT WALSALL

A decade ago, the nation was gripped as Super Saturday unfolded at the London Olympics and last weekend, Badgers did their very best to create a super Saturday all of their own at Walsall Arboretum parkrun as each and every one of the seven Badgers finishers emerged with their own tale of success.

First up was the in-form Dave Hill. His aim was to break 17 minutes for the 5K distance, and he passed his own test with flying colours. He sat with the lead runners for the first 800 metres before finding himself out on his own despite another high-quality field behind him. The 31-year-old Iron Man was pursued all the way to the finish but never once eased up and crossed the line in first place in a terrific time of 16:30, just one second ahead of second place, well and truly winning it the hard way and with a 43 second PB to boot.

Rising star Ryan Preece followed suit by lumping over a minute off his previous parkrun best. In only his second attempt at parkrun, he found the fast Walsall course very much to his liking and sped home determinedly in a wonderful 16:48, to make him one of the fastest five Badgers over the distance of all time. Two weeks earlier he would have won by over a minute with his time, but he had to settle for fourth such was the strength of opposition.

One man who stuck with him most of the way was veteran speedster Chris Horton who snatched a one second PB of 16:50 at the grand old age of 47, meaning his annual parkrun best times have never taken a backward step in the decade he has been running. His wava rating of 85.54% is another all-time Badgers best for any runner and he improved his own V40 club record to boot. The effort required to achieve a personal best having already raced 165 parkruns, most of them at full tilt, cannot not be underestimated.

Running the fourth fastest parkrun of his career, key-man Glyn Broadhurst took ninth position with a rapid 17:34. The Wood End man is just one of four current Badgers to achieve the milestone of an 80%+ wava score and he was at it again here with this display, another superb effort on a day jam-packed with them.

Following him home was Cameron Barnes in a phenomenal 17:53. To give some context as to just how amazing this was, his previous best was 19:17 so he joined the sub 18 club without bothering to even enter the sub 19 club first, a quite startling show of speed for a young man clearly going places. Regular readers of these pages will be well aware than Ashley Taylor scooped a massive PB at this course three weeks ago and on his first return, he went up a gear and came back in 19:24, yet another personal best. Gliding round like an f-bombing spectre of doom, the Warton wonder dished out yet another lesson in determination to those around him, encouragingly patting all and sundry on the three-lap tree-lined course.

Last but not least was his nemesis from the last visit and Badgers elite performance director Dave Jackson. The stocky veteran ace once again pulled all the strings to bring the event to bear in the first place and helped himself to a season’s best time 19:37, not to be sniffed at it says here. Such was the plethora of panache on show, Badgers only other attendee on the day, Nicki Bowman, was so overcome with excitement at all the goings on up field, that she selflessly sacrificed her own lofty ambitions and aborted the race early to cheer home her good-looking male counterparts.

At Kingsbury Water Park, Sam Starkey led the way for Badgers in 19:14 to take third place with Mark Repton coming fifth in 20:47 ahead of his half marathon challenge the following day. Rachael Shelton was third female overall in 23:33 while other runners included Wayne Repton, Neil Thorne, Colin Lees, Adrian Parkes, Lil Souter, Bill Gutheridge, Steve Perry, Sharon Jackson and Caroline Smith.

Elsewhere, Jo Hardy was at Braunstone while Austen Puleston was in action at Cannock Chase. Dave Grant and Yvonne Faulkner turned out at Chester with John and Anne Devenney strutting their stuff at Chasewater. Peter Black flew the flag at Sutton Park, Paul Restall similarly at Beacon and Andy & Holly Smith rocked it on tour at Henlow Bridge.

Bedworth saw Glen Thomas firing round ahead of teammates Sarah O’Donoghue, Paul Cooper, Vikki Smith, Terry Argyle, Ivana Babicova, Teresa Satchell and Gail Gunn. Babbs Mill saw Ian Orton rediscovering some of his better form as he finished 4^th in 22:25. Lee Millership also made the top ten with his pacy 23:52, backed up by Adam McElhone, Paul Wallace, Merv Jones and Leesa Dennis while Mark Reynolds got round at Conkers.

Away from parkrun, there were a handful of races that saw Badgers involved. Chris Tweed ran a sensational personal best at the Draycote Water 10-mile race, clocking a superb 66:07 to take fourth place overall as he continues to improve after turning forty. Mark Repton was in good shape at the Nottingham Holme half marathon, running a fine 83:51 for a top ten finish with Liz Peel following home later in 2:09:21. Finally, Stephanie Attenborough covered the Zig Zag Valentines half marathon in a shade under three hours as well as trundling safely around the Daventry based Big Bear marathon in 6:23:18.