“CANN” YOU BELIEVE IT - BADGERS JOY AS CLUB RECORDS TUMBLE

It was a busy week for Badgers as no fewer than four new club records were set and a whopping 52 club members turned out for the 7th LRRL race of the 2018 season, the Joy Cann 5-mile race at Huncote. The 5-mile race is the most popular one on the league programme, this year selling out in under an hour of places going on sale and despite some excellent performances, the men’s team had their lead cut at the top of Division One as both Hermitage Harriers and West End Runners wheeled out several of their big guns in a race of genuine quality.

First home for the club was once again Aaron Chetwynd, who has arguably improved more than any other Badger this season thanks to his hard work, dedication and careful diet. The 30-year-old Baddesley man still had some fatigue left over from his TR24 heroics the week before but was somehow able to zip round in a time of 28:04 and therefore breaking Ryan Bennett’s club record by just one second. With Bennett nursing an ankle injury, Chris Baxter stepped up to the plate running a superb PB in 28:18 with veteran ace Chris Horton four places back in a rapid 28:31. Chetwynd’s fellow TR24 stalwarts Danny Warren (29:13), captain Adi Payne (31:00) and their esteemed team-mate, Badgers key-man Glyn Broadhurst (31:17) all battled hard with Jonathan Vardy (31:32 – PB) and David McGowan (31:51) both impressing in their first season.

The men’s vet team received a huge boost with the inclusion of Justin Haywood for this event as he stormed home to a personal best time of 31:56 and multi-sport maestro Jimmy Dewis also getting in on the action in 33:29 (PB). Matt Green looks to have finally put his injury woes behind him as he raced to a PB in 33:36, narrowly ahead of vice-captain Rob Boland (33:56) and local biking legend Bob Dawe (34:50). Colin Lees’ super season goes from strength to strength as he recorded an excellent PB of 35:26 with the rapidly improving Gavin Crockwell and new-dad Ian Orton both in the mix. John Restall enjoyed a terrific outing running a top quality 40:12 with Alan Argyle and Stuart Youngs a few places behind the seasoned campaigner. Richard Hill, Adam McElhone (44:05 - PB), John Devenney and Paul Restall all had good runs with 72-year-old John Shade back out of retirement running without doubt the performance of the day in 43:51, smashing his own V70 club record by over six minutes!

Richard Hamblett and Paul Cooper rounded up the action for the men while the women were once again indebted to their top-quality veterans who not only led the club home but show no signs of slowing down now over 40. Esther Holyoak showed her class as she was first back in 36:50 as she looks to feature yet again in the end of season roll call of category winners. Cheryl Dewis is another who has improved beyond recognition this term and she finished just 15 seconds behind her good friend and team-mate in a PB time of 37:05, like a fine wine getting better with age. Nicki Bowman ran like the wind and really came up trumps with a superb PB of 39:25, while relative youngster Karen Thompson became the club’s fourth scorer and incredibly first non-vet back, breaking 40 minutes yet again in a splendid time of 39:41.

Birthday babe Serena Baker crossed the line in an impressive 41:06 with Stephanie White close behind in 41:15. Emma Masser powered home in the finishing straight to make a fine 41:48 with Rachael Warren (41:49) and one-to-watch Lorna Jackson (41:44) helping herself to a new personal best. Newcomer Charlene Dunn continues to impress as she made 42:12 in her debut season. Club stalwart Judy Parkes (42:24) ran a terrific PB as did Emma Vardy (42:41), Sarah Vine (43:31), skipper Sarah Jane Chetwynd (44:57), Anna Dawe (45:12) and the experienced Leesa Dennis (45:15). Hannah Coogan, Yvonne Faulkner, Kerry Clover and Charlotte Oliver all finished in close proximity before the classy Helena Rean set the third club record of the evening by running a tremendous 47:01, the best ever by a V60 lady.

Lottie Farmer showed great determination to finish as did fellow ladies Vicky Cawley, Anne Devenney, Debbie Wilson and Mandy Hanson who also ran.

Away from the cut and thrust of league action, five Badgers travelled to Hook Norton for the annual Hooky 6 race and it was Stephanie White who stole the show by setting a new V50 club record over six miles with her stunning performance of 52:04. Fellow V50 star Maggi Savin-Baden narrowly missed her target time yet still ran a personal best of 57:24. Nivette Chester clocked a brisk 48:09 with fellow vets Yvonne Faulkner (63:51) and Kerry Clover (63:42) also checking in.

At the 30-mile Peak Skyline Race, Monika Lampart found reserves of endurance she never knew she had as she emerged 5th lady on a scorching hot day that saw several athletes fail to finish the gruelling peak district event, her time of 6:51:51 even more impressive so soon after her 93-mile epic adventure at TR24. Ian Orton (48:05) ran a PB at the York 10K while Vicky Fowler and Holly Matts competed in the 30-mile Mendip Marauder race in Somerset.

At the Cannock Chase trail 10K and undaunted by the task ahead, Nicola Stanley tackled her first ever race and emerged with a fine time of 73:22. This represents a tremendous achievement for someone so new to the running scene and who has thrown herself into Badgers wholeheartedly. David Earp ran 51:53 at the same event with Sharon Jackson (64:26), Richard Hill (59:26), Adam McElhone (63:43) and kit-King Dave Bailey (66:58) all getting involved.

At parkrun, the summer holidays saw action spread much further afield than usual with a dozen courses seeing Badgers participating. At Long Eaton, Chris Baxter recorded the fastest time of the weekend as he finished second in 17:05. Seven Badgers travelled to Dolgellau in Snowdonia and very nearly bagged a 1-2-3 as Chris Horton (17:49), Danny Warren (17:55) and Damo Taylor (18:08) were thwarted as course record holder Tomas Roberts made a rare appearance to relegate them to second, third and fourth respectively. Birthday boy Adi Payne ran a respectable 19:19 in 8th place, Glyn Broadhurst 20:24 in 12th, while Nicki Bowman blew all but two other ladies away finishing third female overall in 25:21. Marathon man Matt Tonks continued his latest injury comeback with another positive jaunt around the scenic out and back 5K course.

At Cannock Chase, Sam Starkey was another top ten finisher in 18:39 – 4th place and Rachael Shelton was an impressive 7th lady in 24:21. Rob Boland was 7th at Bedworth parkrun in 20:16 which saw golf ace Helena Rean and Charlottes Phillips and Oliver all out in force. Jon Davies ran at Worcester and Tim Gould clocked 22:02 at Holkham, wife Mandy finishing not far behind. Richard Hill and Jared Karim both appeared at Huntingdon parkrun while the popular club Chairperson Karen Thompson was first Badger back at Rosliston ahead of the long-striding Stuart Walton. Andy Smith got in on the action at Moors Valley parkrun in Dorset and Ian Orton had a good trip round at York in 22:42. Katrina Dawson, Karen Missen and Kerry Clover all featured at Conkers.

Finally, at Kingsbury Water Park, David McGowan made the top ten running 19:11 ahead of Mark Repton (20:14) and Matt Green (20:44). PB machine Sam Klucis raised the bar yet again as she ran 27:32 on the less pacy summer course, while Colin Lees, in-form John Restall, Lee Millership and Pete Coogan all broke 25 minutes. Darryl Johnson, David Craig, John Devenney and Pat Cleall all performed well. For the ladies, it was Charlene Dunn (25:47) who was first back making it a nice double in the McGowan/Dunn household. Adam McElhone, Sarah Vine, Amy Stredder, Leesa Dennis, Nicola Stanley, Lesley Palmer, Paul Cooper and Terry Argyle were just some of the others who made it round, the others being Anne Devenney, birthday boy Alan Argyle, Mandy Hanson, the returning Leanne Farrington-Deeley, Peter Black, Eileen McElhone and her daughter Lucy.