Week Ending - 2023/07/02

PB CITY YET AGAIN AT WALSALL

The parkrun at Walsall Arborectum is synonymous with fast times and personal bests and in the middle of the summer, a fresh gathering of Badgers put the theory to the test and was certainly not disappointed. 

First back and first overall was a resurgent Dave Hill, in the form of his life in 2023 and still eager for more, the Polesworth pace machine zapped each and every one of his competitors to record a personal best of 16:15 and the second fastest parkrun of all time by a Badger, some going when you consider the fact that there have been well over 10,000 efforts. He was followed by club record holder Ryan Preece who clocked a rapid 16:39 in third position before Ashley Taylor sent it on the third lap to finish in a scintillating 19:17, some seven seconds off his previous best attempt. 

Liberty Underhill had club statistician Mick Sturbes furiously leafing through the record books. She finished a superb fourth female behind the like of Hayley Carruthers no less and in a personal best time of 20:35, a few seconds shy of Monika Lampart’s epic club record set nine years ago. With her current rate of improvement, it can only be a matter of time before that record falls and Underhill becomes the first Badgers lady to break the landmark 20-minute barrier. Newcomer Beth Woodward looks the real deal too as she raced to a PB of 22:33 and Megan Griffiths clocked 23:01 to make the top ten in what was a bumper morning’s work. 

Elsewhere, Laura Starkey notched up her 50th different venue with an appearance at the Thames Path parkrun. In-form Suzy Farrell ran a quality 24:00 to finish fourth at Dishley while Adrian Parkes and Jane Barrett were 8th and 9th at East Park and Kingsbury respectively. 

Away from parkrun, Farrell was in action on Sunday, running a brilliant new half marathon PB at the Ashbourne half in Derbyshire. Her time of 1:55:35 was proof that life does begin after forty. Holly and Andy Smith also ran in 2:29. Dave Purvis broke 1:50 for the first time with his 1:49:11 PB at the Black Country half marathon. Last but not least, the experienced Liz Peel who has done one or two of these half marathon things in the past, managed another with a fifteen-mile stint at the Ruddy’s Rothwell Cakeathon event.