Week Ending - 2023/07/16

BADGERS CLEAN UP OPERATION AT MAVERICK TRAIL SERIES

Five Badgers travelled to the Chiltern Hills at the weekend to participate in the Maverick Adidas Terrex X-Series Chiltern Hills event returning home with two race wins, a further podium spot and plenty more besides. Dave Hill went all, in taking on the ultra distance and taking first place with an incredible run in 4:02:29, which was some 44 minutes quicker than the existing course record. While this stat may lure you into thinking Hill had an easy ride to victory, the truth is he had to work hard to take top spot on the day. However, full-on industry is second nature to the Polesworth man who duly knuckled down to take the tape, two and a half minutes clear of his nearest rival. In the short-distance event, Ryan Preece took the race win in 44:56 a mere 17 seconds ahead of the field, yet this was a race in which Preece looked in control from the start. Poised on the shoulder of the veteran ace Matthew Hyett, the young gunslinger took his chance to gap his opponent with a kilometre to go and like so many others this season, Hyett was simply unable to live with the pace of punchy Preece. 

The medium-length event of approximately half marathon distance saw Danny Warren launch a bid to make it a Badgers hat-trick, yet despite his very best efforts, the club chair had to settle for a still superb second place in 86:38 with fellow Baddesley mon and club poster boy Adrian Payne following him home in 16th place in a respectable 1:44:10. The other Badger in action was veteran star and local multi-sport legend Jimmy Dewis (54:12) who bagged a top ten place in the hard-fought short event, showing the crowd that be it football, cricket or Subbuteo, the Atherstone craggy storyteller has still got what it takes. 

The Worthington Six race held near Ashby de la Zouche saw two Badgers in action, albeit for their other clubs. Matt Scarsbrook, representing his primary club Birchfield Harriers won the race, comprehensively too, in 31:13, just two days after his superb showing at the Steve Morris 5 race in Desford and Chris Horton, running here for Tamworth AC in their BDSL campaign, was the first vet to finish in 35:16 and a top ten finish to boot.  

In midweek, Danny Warren took a fine fourth place in the West End Windmill fell race earning the county bronze medal too with a quality performance of 33:27. Colin Lees acting with characteristic decorum, ran 1:43:34 at the Compton Verney half marathon and Pip Weston stepped out of her normal comfort zone with a bash at the ten mile trail run Brooksie’s Bash in Derbyshire finishing in a classy 1:44:42 and with it sixth place in her age category. 

Parkrun saw the latest group of new recruits earn their Badger stripes as Anna Tweed, Gemma Bevan, Alex Heyrick, Chris Cowan, Alex Peckover and Michaela Peckover ran the 5K at Kingsbury Water Park to complete their 12 week course in style. There were Badgers all over the event as it celebrated it’s 10th birthday. Jill Miller, in her 100th parkrun set a new PB in 24:58 as she finished fourth female overall, a terrific achievement. Rachael Browne finished fifth and such is the pace possessed by Megan Griffiths, she finished 8th female despite running as one of the event’s official pacers, pacing 26 minutes perfectly. Sharon Jackson made the top ten while Chris Horton ran seven seconds quicker than he did in the very first event a decade ago to take second overall in 18:40, with Chris Tweed (5th) and Ashley Taylor (9th) amongst a throng of solid operators spread throughout the celebratory field. Carl Ford made his parkrun debut. 

Elsewhere, Mark Cox paced 20 minutes to the second at Market Bosworth where he finished fifth overall and the speedy Eleanor Fowler took first lady in 22:15. Paul Grubb rolled back the years running his fastest time at Conkers for over half a decade. The Warton resident, who is pushing Ashley Taylor for the title of the fastest man in the village, despite his veteran status, managed a superb 23:18 on Saturday. Alice Belcher finished 6th at Oaklands parkrun and Wayne Repton competed at the Zuiderpark event in the Netherlands to complete his alphabet of parkrun locations run.