DANNY DOMINATES AT DRAYCOTE 10K

In form BADGERS ace Danny Warren backed up his brilliant win at the Atherstone 10K in August with a comprehensive victory in the Draycote Water 10K on Sunday. The 32-year-old Baddesley man hit the front after two kilometres and never looked back as he raced home to an emphatic first place by over a minute from Wolverhampton star Rob Cartwright in a time of 35:36. He wasn’t the only member of his family in action at the scenic Kites Hardwick course as his wife and club mile record holder Rachael Warren galloped round in a rather impressive 53:41.

Several of the BADGERS men’s team, still basking in the glory at being crowned County champions last week, were back in action collecting yet more honours, this time at the Lichfield 10K. Dozens of BADGERS were running at the popular Staffordshire event and the quartet of David McGowan, Aaron Chetwynd, veteran David Craig and club hunk Adi Payne stole the show by bagging the prize for the top team. The improving McGowan ran an impressive 39:16 while the persevering John Dulson achieved a fine PB of 54:18 with Rachel Hudspith another who went well on the day. Mark Repton ran a rapid 41:45 and Ian Orton 48:00 while Amy Stredder (55:03), Jo Hardy (56:53), Dave Bailey (57:30) and Lee Millership (53:09) were also in action. The pretty Clare Whetton ran a season’s best 55:15 with Janet Crumpton (61:09), Judy Parkes (57:19), Paul Bruce (56:34) and the hardworking Emily Karim all doing well. Charlene Dunn continues to make waves as she stormed to a new personal best in 53:15. Sharron Fisher ran 77:17 and Debbie Wilson 72:42 with Sue Wilson (no relation), Pauline Morris and the experienced Vicky Cawley all getting the trip.

There were mixed fortunes at the Nuneaton 10K as Chris Horton was looking certain for honours before being inadvertently sent the wrong way a kilometre from the finish, costing him his race. Team mate Neil Russell however enjoyed a cracking race as the in-form vet runner bagged a tremendous time of 36:09 to finish 6th overall and with it the prize for the first over 40 runner back, a superb achievement from the in-form speedster. Matt Tonks made another positive step on his road to recovery with a quality run of 40:40 while Stefan Martin (43:31), Si Gilbert (45:16) and Rob Crow (49:01) all breaking 50 minutes. For the ladies, Emma Masser led the way with a strong performance resulting in a well-earned personal best time of 50:09. Serena Baker trundled home soon after in 53:25 with relative newcomer Mandi Stain making an impressive effort of 61:10, a great achievement from her.

At the Great North Run, a handful of BADGERS ate Mo Farah’s dust with Jason Clover first back in a gutsy 2:05:17. He was running with his wife Kerry (2:42:22) as they raised money for Back-Up, the spinal cord injury charity that has done much to help people such as their daughter Ellie. Hannah Coogan clocked 2:13:57 before Sarah Vine crossed the line euphoric after her fabulous run of 2:20, fulfilling a long-held ambition of completing the iconic 13.1-mile race, her first half-marathon. Cross country star Eamon Thawley ran a solid 2:14:03 with Yvonne Faulkner coming home in 2:42:22. Other runners included Zoe Cope and Paul Cooper.

Rapid Rachael Shelton impressed once again as she finished 6th lady overall in the Boldmere Bullets 10K thanks to her time of 48:11. Mandy Hanson appeared in Dorking at the Bacchus Wine half while Gavin Crockwell was a lone wolf at the non-scenic Northampton half marathon running 1:53 through some of the finest industrial estates of the county.

At parkrun, there was a plethora of pavement pounding as Chris Baxter placed 2nd at Kingsbury Water Park in 17:33 and Sam Starkey 4th with yet another 5K personal best, this time of 18:14. Youthful Tobey Brain showed plenty of promise as he powered through in 21:42 while old stagers Colin Lees and Ashley Taylor bot stepped up to the plate. John Restall enjoyed another good outing in 23:44 while Esther Holyoak showed her class yet again as she finished third lady in a super time of 21:54. Cheryl Dewis was close behind in 22:30 as she smoked most of the field with a new PB. Husband Jimmy was also in the thick of the action but had his hopes of a sub-20 time thwarted by the abject coaching provided by team mate Adrian Payne, who failed to finish. Star of the day was Pete Boardman who surged to a terrific 24:16, a big new PB while Darryl Johnson, Paul Restall, Adie Kirkham, John Hanson and Kevin Casey all got around. Amy Stredder and Leesa Dennis both showed a clean pair of heels while Dave Dugmore, Rachael Shelton, Dave Bailey, Paul Grubb, Tracy Piper and the returning Rob Frost all ran. Teresa and David Buck also went.

Key-man Glyn Broadhurst was another to penetrate the top ten, this time in 6th place (19:29) at the scenic Cannock Chase event where Nicki Bowman survived in 26:30. The fastest BADGER of the morning was Chris Horton as he narrowly maintained his top ten streak by taking 9th place in an ultra-quick field at Cannon Hill parkrun, Birmingham. He clocked 17:10 with team-mate Matt Tonks coming home in 18:42 in a race that saw no fewer than 54 of the 703 runners break 20 minutes! Dawn Cross ran 28:55 and Nicola Stanley 30:12 at Conkers and Jonathan Davies managed 24:25 at Worcester. Dean Bowd was in action at Brueton Park running 25:47 and Jared Karim clocked 24:47 at Corby. Holly Matts broke new ground as she ran 28:20 at Eastleigh parkrun, Alan Argyle (23:05), Eamon Thawley (24:05), Yvonne Faulkner (26:53) and Terry Argyle (28:30) tackled the Rother Valley parkrun while Adam McElhone led family members Eileen and Lucy home ahead of club-mate Charlotte Phillips at Bedworth parkrun.