Week Ending - 2023/07/30

AMAZING DAY AT WALSALL PARKRUN

Every once in a while, a race produces all manner of fabulous statistics and high achievements and this Saturday at Walsall Arboretum parkrun was possibly the most emphatic one yet. Three club records tumbled and with a good gathering of Badgers in attendance, partly as a monthly social get-together, the rapid three-lap course threw up a raft of personal bests, some of which were breathtakingly good when put into context.

Firstly, in second place overall was Matt Scarsbrook. The second claim Badger edged out a narrow sprint finish with Birchfield Harriers teammate Jason Bennett in 15:05, which meant that he was the fifth fastest parkrunner of the weekend in the whole of the UK, despite not even being first back at his location! His wava rating of 85.52% is one of the highest ever achieved in the history of the club. With second-claim athletes precluded from Badgers club records, Dave Hill swooped in to bag himself yet another record in a season jam-packed with them. Before the day, only one Badger had ever gone under 16 minutes, (Ryan Preece in 15:58) but Hill, who bizarrely wasn’t even the fastest Hill at Walsall on the day, took 44 seconds off his personal best to lower the record to a jaw-dropping 15:31. Given that there have been tens of thousands of Badgers running parkruns, this feat surely ranks alongside his marathon and 10K records in terms of its magnitude. In addition, the 32-year-old recorded a career-high wava score of 84.10% another mind-blowing piece of data which demonstrates just how far he has progressed in the last twelve months.

Just scraping into the top ten was former record holder Ryan Preece who missed out on a PB by ten seconds, his time of 16:08 still ranking as the third fastest ever parkrun by a Badger and proof, were it needed, that he is an operator of the most solid variety, a sure-fire eleven on the Mohs scale of running hardness. 

Tom Garland made his long-awaited debut in Badgers colours and what a start he made. His time of 16:28 would have been the club record a few seasons ago and to achieve this level of performance in what was only his fourth parkrun certainly bodes well for both him and the club going forward. The experienced Adrian Payne equalled his PB with a quality run of 17:44. The poster boy of Badgers and occasional heart-throb has wowed all comers in seasons gone by and this performance showed he has lost none of his considerable touch. With his chiselled jawline and powerful thighs, the Baddesley bachelor cut a fine specimen in his revealing mint green singlet, itself perfectly shaped to enhance every one of the many finely toned muscles in his upper body, the colour too, complimenting the piercing blue eyes that have been the undoing of many a runner, the Hermitage twins to name but two. 

The results did not stop here. In 28th place running 18:12 was veteran ace Mark Repton. This was yet another personal best and quite remarkable feat given the Dosthill man was running in his 148th event and is now the wrong side of forty. To achieve this against the weight of history and indeed time is a quite superb achievement, make no mistake. 

Ashley Taylor is in his prime years and is the veteran of over 200 parkruns and here he was able to shave a second off his previous best, clocking a classy 19:16. Conditions were undoubtedly suited to fast times, a quick course, good levels of competition and favourable weather but the times did not run themselves. Another stand-out display came from Matt Green, one of the most experienced parkrunners in the club. He was an agonising two seconds shy of his personal best which when you put into context how many attempts he has made (254) and the fact that he is now in his late forties, he deserves huge credit for an absolutely fantastic run, his time was 20:00 and a wava score in excess of 70% was another feather in his cap.

The ladies were getting in on the action too, the fearless Liberty Underhill breaking Monika Lampart’s club record that had stood since 2014. In her first full season at the club, the 21-year-old ran a sublime 20:18 to lower the bar by another three seconds, yet another record for one of the rising stars at the club in only her fifth-ever parkrun. Megan Griffiths has over 100 parkruns to her name but none have been quicker than the 22:16 she managed here, just thirteen seconds behind the improving Chris Young who was another with a first-class ticket to the PB train. Underhill (6th) and Griffiths (9th) both made the top ten, more great efforts in such a high calibre field.

Jim Cottom weighed in with a decent 20:44 and Wayne Repton and Bill Gutheridge both ran two of their fastest times ever, each a handful of seconds outside of their PB’s. Mick Bailey ran 23:10 to further improve his already repeatedly improved V70 club record. The amiable Kingsbury-based star could add to his tally of records this week as the club travel to Huncote for the Joy Cann 5 league race. At Kingsbury Water Park, Terry Taylor ran a PB in 29:54. 

At the UK Transplant Games in Coventry, Martin Graham took bronze in the 5K road race as well as finishing fourth in the 800m with a quality time of 3:12, all at the ripe old age of 48, sterling work.