MAJOR IMPROVEMENT FOR POPULAR HANSON

Badgers veteran ace John Hanson’s hard graft over recent months is beginning to pay dividends as he stormed to an impressive finish at the Draycote Water 10K on Sunday. The well-liked Wilnecote man rolled back the years with a gutsy performance round the picturesque lakeside setting end up with a season’s best 49:00. Still the fastest man over 50 in the club over the one-mile distance, Hanson endured a torrid 2017 but has seen a marked improvement in times this season and hopefully this is yet another stepping stone as he seeks to recapture his very best form. Dave Buck was also in action running a PB of exactly one hour capping a good morning for the experienced duo.

At the Leicester Winter Series 5K, Mark Repton and Rob Boland both enjoyed high finishes with Repton running a rapid PB of 19:29 in 8^th place and vice-captain Boland 14 seconds behind in 11^th position, a personal best for the long striding chatterbox. Yvonne Faulkner was in the mix too running 26:48 for the ladies’ side.

Ian Orton featured at the Coalville 10K off road race managing a fine 48:39 at the weekend with Kerry Clover and Faulkner once again in action as they crossed the line in tandem in 62:32. Emma Masser finished a tremendous 3^rd place in the Melton Mowbray based The Beast 10 mile run, clocking an impressive time of 1 hour 40 on tough terrain, while Jimmy Dewis clocked a classy 42:10 at the Daley Dash 10K in Yorkshire, wife Cheryl following close behind in a speedy time of 45:50.

There was a host of top performances at parkrun on Saturday morning too. At Kingsbury Water Park, Chris Horton and Chris Baxter led the club to an emphatic 1-2. The duo have won 25 Kingsbury parkruns between them and never finished outside of the top ten in 140 events there. Horton powered past his team mate and current club record holder Baxter on the final mile finishing in a new V40 club record and PB of 16:53. In doing so, he also established a new all-time age grading for any Badger over any distance in the process, a super achievement. While Baxter finished second in a respectable 17:17, he was not the only club man to feature in the top ten as firstly Sam Starkey stormed home in 19:03 to take 7^th and then youngster Matt Jackson held on despite fatiguing badly on the run in to bag 10^th in 20:17, just three seconds off his all-time best.

The fleet-footed Tim Gould (20:36) lead a quartet of Badgers home including Graham Engley (21:00), Matt Green (21:13) and Gavin Crockwell (21:52) before the experienced Nivette Chester trotted home as 4^th lady in 22:43. John Hanson broke 23 minutes again with Leon Millership (23:07) and Pete Boardman both running strongly as they are running better than ever right now. Popular club chairperson Karen Thompson was a comfortable 7^th female thanks to her effortless 24:35 while Becky Kinson blew onlookers away as she romped to a stunning personal best time of 25:00, just missing out on the top ten.

Other runners to feature included Nicki Bowman, Alan Argyle, Adam McElhone, Judy Parkes, Leesa Dennis and Sharon Jackson while Liz Peel moved to second on the all-time list of female Badgers appearing at parkrun in her 136^th event – a fine efforst.

Rachael Shelton ran 27:57 and newcomer Amy Wakelin an impressive 28:30 (PB) alongside Fiona Meldrum while Terry Argyle also clocked a new PB of 28:49, a great start to his day which ended equally well as his team West Brom won handsomely that evening.

Young Evie Whitehead looked sharp as she managed 28:04, even making the top 50 females despite her tender years. Nicola Stanley, Dave Bailey, Yvonne Faulkner, Mark Robinson, Tracy Piper, Sue Wilson, Amanda Gould and Lesley Palmer all got round in one piece before Chelsea Miles along with husband Luke made a tentative return to action after a knee operation.

At Bedworth, men’s captain Adi Payne was narrowly run out of top spot ultimately having to settle for a gallant second in 18:57. His deputy, Roland Bulgington showed great courage to bag 5^th in 20:34 while the ladies’ side of the draw saw the top three all record the same time as Cheryl Dewis and Esther Holyoak both ran 22:38 to claim silver and bronze. Gail Gunn blasted round in 29:03, another PB from a runner who has found a new lease of life of late while Bedworth stalwarts Jenna Shaw and Rich Hamblett both featured.

On the road, Paul Grubb was once again the stand out man at Conkers parkrun. The Polesworth based multi-sport icon hammered home a magnificent new PB of 22:51 proving that he is in the form of his running life right now. Darryl Johnson, Jason Husselbee-Orwin and Karen Missen have run 472 parkruns between them and they all trundled home behind the impressive Grubb. Richard Hill is still out in front on 259 appearances and this week he starred at York racecourse on the Knavesmire recording a time of 24:36. Anne-Marie Matthews ran 33:41 at Cannock Chase and Colin Lees and Ian Orton both turned out at Sutton Park. Last by in no way least was Neil Clemons who made the journey to Long Eaton to run the flat and famously fast course there, emerging with a classy new personal best of 19:29 as his running also goes from strength to strength.

This week sees the next instalment of the Derby Runner Cross Country League at Holly Hayes Woods. The women’s team are looking to build on their positive start while the men’s team led by Adi Payne will be once again without cross country specialist Dave Jackson, out with a long-term injury but welcome back key man Glyn Broadhurst as they seek to consolidate their lead at the top of the table.