Week Ending - 2019/06/02

CAPTAIN’S DELIGHT AS BADGERS UNITE AT SWITHLAND

Badgers 2019 road league season hit the half way stage on Sunday at the sell-out Swithland 6 event near Bradgate Park and the club continue to astound onlookers as they broke their attendance record yet again with a whopping 71 members representing the side, a far cry from September five years ago when Jason Husselbee-Orwin was the sole Badgers representative at the John Fraser 10.

The men were spearheaded once again by the in-form Chris Baxter who sped to a PB of 33:58 in 8th place, earning the shaven headed speedster 4th place in the final overall individual standings across Leicestershire. Danny Warren is back to his very best and was rewarded with his first PB over any distance in over a year thanks to his 34:16, one place behind team-mate Baxter. He too will pick up silverware as the 5th fastest male in the county for the half season competition, another superb effort. With star man Aaron Chetwynd an unfortunate late withdrawal at the start of the race, veterans Chris Horton (35:42) and the super-quick Neil Russell (35:50) stepped up to the plate to finish 21st and 23rd respectively. As a result, Horton finished 2nd vet 40 in the league’s overall individual standings, a fantastic performance given his recent injury troubles and the fact that everyone he is competing against is now younger than him! The quartet also bagged prizes each as the second fastest team on the day, being pipped by West End Runners who boasted the 2nd place runner amongst their ranks.

Key man Glyn Broadhurst was next home in 38:11, with former skipper Adi Payne rolling home seven seconds later. Jon Vardy ran a gutsy 38:58 and Mark Repton produced yet another PB in a season full of them in 39:02. Neil Clemons (39:07) and Dave Jackson (39:38) both dipped inside 40 minutes while sun-loving Justin Haywood found his extensive warm-weather training schedule begin to pay dividends in the humidity of Sunday morning as he romped home in a hugely impressive 40:08. Mark Cox (40:53) ran another PB with Jimmy Dewis (41:03) close behind. Youngster Matt Jackson is undoubtedly one to watch as he made an impressive debut in 42:07. Stefan Martin was next home one second later with Cameron Barnes hitting his second PB of the week in 43:24.

When it comes to laying bricks, there are few better locally than Bob Dawe, but here he was laying the foundations for what promises to be an exceptional second half of the season. The pacy 37-year-old rocketed down the home straight to finish in 43:16, a big PB for the poster boy of hod-carrying. The bearded Si Gilbert and talkative Rob Boland followed in next with Colin Lees, birthday boy Dave Earp, Chris Upton, Ian Orton and veteran Rob Crow all putting in good performances. Michael Bailey very nearly troubled Alan Argyle’s long-standing V60 club record with a top class run of 47:37 while John Hanson shows no sign of slowing down either despite his relative maturity, clocking a PB of 47:18 at the age of 58. David Craig went well in 48:01 with new captain Simon Currier leading by example in the effort stakes with his whole-hearted 48:12. Steed of speed Gavin Crockwell ran a fine PB of 50:47 and Stuart Youngs returned after an injury lay off with a quality 52:30. Wayne Repton, Adam McElhone (53:59 – PB), Richard Chester, Jared Karim, John Devenney (56:10 – PB), Terry Argyle, Paul Restall and Glen Thomas also featured as did the improving Paul Cooper who ran a PB in 70:44.

The ladies owed a debt of gratitude to their experienced veterans who filled the first three scoring places. Nivette Chester was first back in 25th overall with a terrific PB of 44:12. Cheryl Dewis was hot on her heels in 45:08, another PB for the dog-loving barber. V40 club record holder Esther Holyoak was next back in 45:30 as she is now just one race away from becoming only the fifth Badger and the first female to make 50 or more league appearances for the club. It was a case of doctors and nurses next as firstly Emma Vardy produced a strong run with her 48:51 (PB) as her good form continues while the popular Kay Whitehead rolled back the years with a classy 50:11. Katy Clemons was next back in 50:46 with veteran Sharon Jackson managing a splendid 50:19, although paying the price for her deep start position.

Popular club chairperson Karen Thompson is another rapidly closing in on her 50th appearance and once again she produced the goods when it mattered, finishing the race in typical graceful fashion with a time of 50:47. Rising star SJ Chetwynd was next back, the inspirational ladies captain earning herself yet another PB as her hard winter training schedule begins to bear more fruit. Lorna Jackson, under the tutelage of her coach and mentor husband Dave, ran a magnificent 52:06, another PB and Charlene Dunn tried hard for her 53:23. Helena Rean scooped yet another club record, this time the V60 ladies 6 mile time thanks to her barnstorming 53:45 and Nicki Bowman made her return to action after recent knee surgery as she no doubt will look to be up amongst the leaders once again in due course. Anna Dawe, Kerry Clover, Judy Parkes and Charlotte Oliver all ran and Janet Crumpton yet again turned in a quality run of 56:37 to bag another PB in her marvellous season so far. Sarah Vine produced a brilliant 57:05 less than a week after her marathon debut and Leesa Dennis led home a cete of Badgers including Jenna Davies, Ann-Marie Currier, back after a mott injury, Mandi Stain (59:56 – PB), Gail Gunn (60:30 – PB), Hannah Coogan and Nicola Stanley. Veterans Karen Missen, Lesley Palmer, Lisa Barnes (65:27 – PB), newcomer Teresa Satchell, Mandy Hanson and Anne Devenney all rounded up the multitude of Badgers in action on the day.

So many Badgers turned out for the first instalment of the Leicester Summer Series 5K on Thursday evening at Victoria Park, that organisers were taken by surprise and suffered the embarrassment of a medal shortage for the later runners! There was no shortage of success however as Chris Baxter stormed home to win emphatically in a time of 16:49. Chris Horton took third place in 18:06 and Adi Payne finished 4th thanks to his 5K PB of 18:35. This meant that the men’s team prize was sewn up straight away, but the joy did not end there. Sam Starkey crossed in 18:59 to collect the V40 prize and Cheryl Dewis (22:23) scooped the ladies V45 award with another cracking run. Pip Weston (24:41) got in on the act with a dominant display to help herself to the coveted V55 prize and Sarah Jane Chetwynd was a popular winner as she took home the award for the 2nd senior female on the night. There were PB’s for Cameron Barnes in 20:00, Simon Currier (23:19) and Kerry Clover (25:37) while Dave Jackson tasted the scent of success once again as he crept into the top ten with a battling 19:42. Other runners included Emma Masser, Jenna Davies, Yvonne Faulkner, Helena Rean, Karen Missen, Teresa Satchell and Andy Venney.

The Sutton fun-run provided a welcome distraction, or not depending on your viewpoint, and seven Badgers were out in force for the annual 8.5-mile event there. Dave McGowan managed a superb top ten finish with a rapid 51:57 for ninth place while Sam Starkey (55:16) also running strongly. Matt Green (61:23) and Tim Gould also ran while Rachael Shelton was first back for the ladies in a spritely 67:19, her eighth time in the event. Lil Souter ran 80:37 and Amanda Gould clocked her longest run for decades in 87:00, an exceptional effort. At the challenging Tysoe Windmill 10K in South Warwickshire, Eamon Thawley lorded it round in 64 minutes while Monika Lampart was first female home overall in the Wolf Run.

Finally, there was plenty of parkrunning occurring on Saturday morning. Former club secretary Liz Peel notched up her 150th appearance with her run at Coventry where she finished ahead of Nivette Chester and Steph White. Current secretary Jenna Davies made her 50th appearance with a spirited run around Long Eaton in 25:33 and Pete Boardman made it to a milestone 100 parkrun events when he attended the Kingsbury Water Park parkrun where there were PB’s for Keir Hardy (19:10 – 7th place), John Dulson (25:50) and young Evie Whitehead (a superb 25:24). Mark Repton and Matt Green both tickled the 20-minute mark with Bill Gutheridge, Lee Millership, David Craig and Michael Bailey all running well. Other runners included John Restall, Mark Reynolds, Katy Clemons, Neil Clemons, Colin Lees, Darryl Johnson, Alan Argyle, Sharon Jackson, Wayne Repton, Matt Jackson, Harry Chesters and Vikki Smith. West Brom fan Mark Robinson got round in 31:14 with Sam Klucis, Mandy Hanson, Paul Wallace, Martin Povey and Anne Devenney following in behind.

At Aberystwyth, Dave Bailey ran a season’s best time of 27:44 while Karen Thompson was first Badger back of either gender at Rosliston. Richard Hill was in action at Longrun Meadow near Taunton while Stuart Walton powered round the Eden Project parkrun in Cornwall. Rich Hamblett led the club home at Bedworth with Adam and Lucy McElhone, Karen Draper and Gail Gunn also in attendance. Glyn Broadhurst ran a brisk 18:51 at the Isabel Trail parkrun ahead of John Hanson and Nicki Bowman while finally over at Conkers, Chris Upton was first back in 22:36 with Sarah Vine following through in 28:13. Dug and Alex Ladkin also went alongside Helen Jenkinson.