Week Ending - 2023/04/09

WALSALL WONDERS

BADGERS of the WEEK

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Around this time last year, a group of Badgers travelled to Walsall parkrun and returned home with a bagful of personal bests. On Saturday, another visit was scheduled and with a somewhat reduced personnel list, there was yet more success for the team in black and white. First up, Ryan Preece bagged yet another win, a man who rises to the challenge of competition and has to date never finished outside of the top four at any parkrun in his entire career. He did enough to steer clear of a rampant second-place charger to win in 16:11. Chris Tweed cashed in on his marathon taper time by recording a massive new best of 17:53 in fourth place, his first sub 18 and no doubt a big confidence booster ahead of next weekend’s Manchester marathon. Liberty Underhill led the way for the ladies with a magnificent 4th place finish, helped by her sparkling PB time of 21:54 and expertly paced by in-form Badger Dave Hill. Megan Griffiths also made the top ten with her speedy time of 22:44 in eighth.

Mark Repton missed out on a PB by five seconds at Long Eaton with a gutsy run of 18:18 to fall just outside of the top ten in a stacked field, his second-fastest-ever time in well over 100 attempts. His brother Wayne, while not as quick, emerged with a well-earned PB of 21:33 however making it a productive morning for the Dosthill siblings. Sharon Jackson took 5th at Kingsbury Water Park in 25:13 with Paul Cooper finishing a minute behind with a course best. Elsewhere, Rachael Shelton took 9th at Sutton Park, Laura Starkey 6th at a tricky Alnwick Pastures parkrun and Caroline Smith a superb 6th at Babbs Mill. Anne Whitby-Smith was another 6th place finisher thanks to her brisk 24:13 at Northampton while the pacy Kat Wilson made her parkrun debut.

With the big city marathons of both Manchester and London on the very near horizon, races were a little thin on the ground this week. Liz Peel had to travel to Semaphore in Adelaide to find her half marathon fix as she coasted home in 2:07:47, no doubt hampered slightly by the very early 7am start there. At the Nice Work Chasewater Easter Egg 10K, Anne Devenney led the way in 1:08:46, closely followed by her husband John. Peter Mann and Gemma Spencer led the chase in 1:13:45 with Sarah Hawkins enjoying an excellent run in 1:17:28. Justin Haywood limped home in the Villamoura 16km nature run (trail), in 1.21.

Manchester marathon will see a number of Badgers toeing the start line next Sunday, with many hoping to replicate the successes of last year’s crop where there were PB’s a plenty and five sub-three times from Badgers earning them the right to do battle at London this year via the Good For Age ticket. Chris Tweed has demonstrated a particular high degree of dedication and hard work in a sterling training block, with a sub-three-hour time the ultimate aim and a personal best looming large regardless. Neil Clemons is another alongside Matt Green who are looking to do well. Clemons hopes to avenge the disappointment of 2022 when an ankle injury the week before the race hampered his chances of success. Green is an experienced marathoner and keeps coming back to the 26.2-mile distance, although a nasty tumble in training may now count him out. Jo Davies is back on the marathon trail too as is Andy Altoft, veteran Sam Starkey plus former men’s skippers Carl Savage and Dave Jenkinson.

London will see an even bigger batch of Badgers in action. Dave Hill and Ryan Preece are both expected to go well under the current club record of 2:39:43 set by Ryan Bennett in Manchester five years ago. They will be joined by fellow GFA protagonists Ashley Baldwin, Chris Horton, Adrian Payne and Dave McGowan while Judy Parkes and Maggi Savin-Baden are both lucky beneficiaries of the two places allocated to running clubs across the land. Both ladies are using the opportunity to raise cash for charity on the back of this opportunity, namely St Giles Hospice and Alzheimers Research respectively. Ashley Taylor previously won a club place on the day he broke his back so it is fitting that he should receive some good luck getting in via the general ballot, a circumstance shared with Karen Draper, and Adam McElhone also. No one deserves a slice of good luck more than the well-liked Sarah Vine and she too earned herself a place after a tough couple of years, helping her good friends Kerry and Jason Clover raise funds for Spinal Research. Eileen McElhone runs for local charity the Mary Ann Evans hospice with the hardworking Rob Crow (Asthma UK) also in the mix via the good causes route. Vicky Brunsdon is raising money for two charities (Phab Kids and Teenage Cancer Trust) in memory of her late partner Craig.

If that’s not enough, Sharon Jackson (The Royal Free Hospital), Gemma Spencer (MS Society), John & Anne Devenney, Peter Mann (Dementia UK), Trudie Cruddas, Fritz De Gracia Napatal and Juliette Trollope will be running the Tissington Trail marathon as part of the Virtual London marathon event. Everyone at the club wishes them all well.

Vicky Brunsdon

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/vickilondon2020

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/soldieringonforcraig

Judy Parkes

https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/judy-parkes

Rob Crow

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/robert-crow1

Maggi Savin-Baden

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tcslondonmarathon2023ballotplace-maggisavin-baden

Sarah Vine

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sarah-vine7

Kerry Clover