Week Ending - 2019/06/16

BADGERS TAKE 2ND PLACE AT WET WASHLANDS RELAYS

Torrential rain threatened to scupper the running of the annual Washlands Relays in Burton on Trent on Wednesday, but organisers gave the event the go ahead despite the appalling wet conditions and once again Badgers came ever so close to taking the race win. The in-form Danny Warren was fast out of the blocks and sped round in 11:13 to give the club a slender one second lead over Burton AC at the first change. Dave McGowan was next out for Badgers and he successfully managed to widen the gap over the home-town club with a quality leg although the overall lead was taken South Derbyshire as the race hit half-way. Chris Horton was on leg three and quickly regained the lead as standing water made parts of the course ankle deep in places. He handed over to club speedster Chris Baxter for the final leg with a seven second lead and hopes were high for a Badgers win. With defending Champions Tamworth AC back in the mixer, a new winner was looking likely. However, despite producing a blistering last leg of 11:13, the joint third fastest leg of the entire race, Baxter was powerless to stop South Derbyshire’s recent new signing Liam Bradbury from blowing the race apart as he stormed round in 10:53, the fastest lap of all to give the side in yellow outright victory by thirteen seconds. Badgers had to settle for second place with Burton AC almost half a minute behind Badgers in third. It was a valiant effort from the north Warwickshire based quartet but sadly they finished runners up for the second year in succession.

Helena Rean has been at it again as the multiple club record holder improved her own seven mile best at Sproatley in Humberside in midweek. She was part of a group of travellers that braved the wind and rain in their pursuit of achieving their club standards on fast, favourable courses. Dave Jackson was first back, the hard-drinking Scot bagging 20^th place with his time of 45:48. Jenny Davies (59:29 – PB) and Judy Parkes (61:34 – PB) both performed superbly in wet and wild conditions and the gutsy Colin Lees helped himself to an impressive personal best time of 51:21. Rean went through the line in a tremendous 61:43 to set a new V60 club record and a few days later, she secured her second new club record as she raced to a five mile PB at the Coventry based Sphinx 5 in 44:06 eclipsing her previous best of 47:01 set at Huncote last year. Yvonne Faulkner set a new PB too, this time in 41:51 but neither athlete was quick enough to catch the pacy Rob Boland who strode home in an impressive 34:07.

Three Badgers made the journey down to Exmoor to complete the Maverick X-Series trail marathon, a gruelling affair on the north Devon coast. It was former men’s captain and current poster boy of Badgers Adrian Payne, who produced a magnificent display of endurance running to finish fourth male on the day in a genuine quality time of 4:41:11. After leading the club to back to back promotions, a county title and two cross country league wins, the 34 year old will be a tough act to follow, but his value to the team as one of the troops this season cannot be underestimated as his performance here showed. The huge-engined Mark Cox revels in this kind of environment and he ran a superb 4:52:35 to finish 7^th male in the race while veteran Dave Jenkinson dug deep in the harsh conditions to complete the race in a very respectable 5:40:09.

The long-striding, headband-wearing Stuart Youngs endured torrential rain at the Rothley 10K in Leicestershire, coming home in 53:10 and in the Dr Ron Hyde 7-mile race in Hyde, Wayne Repton ran 61:57.

Parkrun saw Badgers turn out at ten different courses. At Long Eaton, Chris Baxter stormed round in a rapid 16:30 to take third place while marathon man Matt Tonks also made the top ten with a brisk 18:20. Keir Hardy was the third and final Badger present and he delivered a superb new PB of 19:07 as his season goes from strength to strength. With Kingsbury Underwater Park rained off, many Badgers travelled to Conkers and it was the in-form Mark Repton who led the way, clocking 19:02 in a fast field, earning the dad of two a great new personal best in the process. Matt Jackson, Tim Gould, Lee Millership and Mick Bailey all enjoyed good times with Sharon Jackson first back for the ladies in 23:50. Bill Gutheridge ran well as did Paul Grubb, Amanda Gould, Dawn Cross and Paul Wallace.

The highly respected Leesa Dennis celebrated her 100^th parkrun in style by turning out with friends at the Alvaston parkrun, Neil Clemons impressing in 19:17 (7^th place) and well supported by Chris Upton, Eamon Thawley, Merv Jones, Katy Clemons, Carl Savage, Richard Hill, Yvonne Faulkner and the super-fit Karen Thompson.

At Sutton Park, Matt Green was in amongst it alongside Rachael Shelton, Lesley Palmer and Mandy Hanson. John Hanson made his 280^th parkrun appearance, a stunning effort from the former boxer. At the inaugural Chasewater parkrun event, key man Glyn Broadhurst ran an impressive 18:56 while Nivette Chester finished first lady in 20:45, although some of the credit must be given to her young dog Truly who helped pull the club coach round Canicross style. Zoe Cope, Richard Chester, Jenna Davies and Nicki Bowman also ran.

Bedworth saw thirteen Bagers pounding the pavements on Saturday morning, Dave McGowan being first back for the club and second overall thanks to his breezy 18:03. Rob Oliver showed genuine pace in his 22:04 with Cameron Barnes, Colin Lees and David Craig all going well. Emma Masser was fourth lady back after running a speedy 24:01 ahead of team-mates Ashley T-Dogg Taylor, Becky Kinson, Lisa Barnes, Vikki Smith, Gail Gunn and Charlotte Oliver. Judy Haley achieved a season’s best 34:58 and Anne-Marie Matthews also went.

Over at Rosliston, Stuart Walton ran his 72^nd event while Karen Missen was the lone wolf at the scenic Cannock Chase parkrun. Holly Matts and Andy Smith ran identical times at Coventry and finally at Brueton Park, Solihull, both Dave Jackson and Adam McElhone put in a shift.