Week Ending - 2019/12/08

TOP TEN NEIL’S THE REAL DEAL AT MALLORY PARK

Neil Russell put in a tremendous shift at the weekend as Badgers headed to Mallory Park for the second instalment of the cross-country league season. On a new course following a late venue switch with Bradgate Park, the youthful Bulkington-based speed merchant gave one of his best performances to date in a Badgers shirt as he finished a superb tenth place in a quality field of several hundred runners. Fatigued new dad Danny Warren battled hard in 23rd spot while Dave Hill continued his good form in 31st as the club had many members make a good showing in the top fifty. Adi Payne took 44th place with key man Glyn Broadhurst coming home in 46th, two places ahead of the hard-hitting Mark Cox who continues to hit hard at this level. Vice-captain Mark Repton ran well with veteran Jimmy Dewis becoming the final counter for the men on the day.

It was Jimmy’s wife Cheryl who led the ladies side home, the 42-year-old taking 31st spot overall in another fine display. Sharon Jackson finished second lady with a terrific run while Pip Weston performed as well as ever. Jo Davies dug deep to become the side’s final counter of the morning – the 41 year old has been a stalwart of the ladies side for several seasons now and her reliability and determination has helped inspire many others at the club, male and female alike, her foray into the top 100 was just reward for her fine efforts.

There were many more Badgers who were able to shrug off the excesses of the club Christmas party only hours earlier. Youngsters Matt Jackson, Cameron Barnes and Jack Reynolds all ran well as did the experienced octet of Stefan Martin, dancing Dave Jenkinson, Mark Reynolds, Rob Crow, Mick Bailey, Pete Boardman, Paul Grubb and John Shade. Rob Boland trucked round in good time ahead of the reliable Ian Orton while Eamon Thawley continued his streak of representation which is the highest of anyone in the club.

The ladies had Steph White giving it plenty of welly alongside Judy Parkes and Nicki Bowman who all made the top 100. Hannah Coogan, Mandi Stain and Leesa Dennis all performed heroically in testing windy conditions with veterans Lesley Palmer, Lisa Barnes and Teresa Satchell doing a great job collectively to boost the spirits of those in black and white.

On Thursday evening up in Heanor, Derbyshire, Badgers enjoyed more success at the off-road Starlight Relays with their men’s team coming out on top for the second successive race in the series of three. The quartet had two illness-enforced changes for this race with Ryan Bennett and Chris Horton stepping in for Adi Payne and Aaron Chetwynd. Danny Warren took the first two-mile leg and ran one of the five fastest times of the entire race in 11:59 but this meant that upon handing the baton to teammate Dave McGowan, his side were almost a minute down on race leaders Heanor AC who managed a truly blistering start. McGowan took a good chunk of time back on his superb leg of 12:04 and with Horton doing more good work on leg three including a brief spell as race leader, it meant that anchorman Bennett had a nine second deficit to pull back on Heanor’s last man to secure victory. The 27-year-old tore into the first 400 metres and continued to keep the hammer down with a terrific final lap of 11:44 to give his team a deserved victory by 58 seconds.

The other Badgers men’s team finished 25th overall with Dave Grant bravely having to run a double shift as only Richard Chester and Eamon Thawley could make the event in one piece. The mixed team of Bob Dawe, Pip Weston, Cameron Barnes and Anna Dawe performed well once again finishing in 4th place in their category, lead-off man Barnes producing the quickest leg in 13:49.

The Telford 10K is renowned as one of the quickest in the UK, traditionally attracting a stellar cast of running rivals helping keep the pace and competition high over the flat terrain. This year Badgers had two representatives in the elite race and it was in-form Dave McGowan who sped home first in a quite outstanding 35:44, a big personal best for the fleet-footed Arsenal fan. Following behind just one minute later in 36:44 was the determined Jon Vardy who helped himself to a stunning new personal best, rich reward for all his hard training.

The Sneyd Striders Christmas Pudding 10 Mile run saw another four Badgers in action. Veterans Matt Green and Tim Gould finished together in a respectable 74:02 apiece. The pacy Rachael Shelton clocked an impressive 88:26 with Lil Souter putting on a tremendous display of bravery to emerge through the haze in 90:50.

At parkrun, there was a phenomenal amount of success once again with three first place finishes and a healthy smattering of top performances along the way. At Kingsbury Water Park, Chris Horton bounced back to winning ways as he recorded the 20th win of his career there – his time of 18:39 taking him to second in the all-time list behind Canicross runner Elaine Sherwin. His team-mates packed the top ten as Dave Hill rolled home 4th in 20:00, ruing his late start which undoubtedly cost him valuable time. Matt Jackson clocked a quality 20:32 in slippery conditions to earn 5th place, his highest positional finish to date. This was a feat matched by the experienced Matt Green who took 6th in 20:47 while Sam Starkey, watched by his young son, continued his rehabilitation in 7th place. Matt Tonks was another in action who would easily have bothered the top ten, getting round in around 19 minutes but a hold up getting to the start meant his official finish time only registered at 26:31 in his 126th event. Veterans Justin Haywood and Tim Gould took 13th and 14th place respectively with Dean Bowd, Darryl Johnson, John Restall, Bill Gutheridge, John Devenney and Gervase Lancaster all going well. For the ladies, Sharon Jackson ran 26:21 to take 9th female overall with Amanda Gould (30:16) and Andi Venney also getting round.

In form Glyn Broadhurst showed another side to his complex multi-faceted character this week, after displaying his ruthless streak in seeing off Adi Payne in Wales, the Badgers key-man nobly allowed his step-son Ryan Bennett to take the spoils at Telford in 17:11, the fastest time of any Badger over the weekend. Broadhurst sauntered home in 5th spot in a gentle 18:59 with Nicki Bowman celebrating her 100th parkrun with a brisk 25:48.

At Babbs Mill, Nivette Chester took first place female thanks to her speedy run of 22:21 and was only 75 seconds off first overall from either gender, the Badgers founder settling for 4th place in the field altogether, a terrific achievement. Colin Lees was 5th overall in 22:31 with Richard Chester also in attendance mid-field.

Elsewhere, Paul Hadland scored a new PB at Bedworth in 24:42 followed home by Richard Hamblett, Gavin Crockett and Sarah Grant while Yvonne Faulkner took four seconds off her 5K PB with her time of 24:21 at East Park, Wolverhampton enabling her to finish 5th female overall. She was accompanied by Eamon Thawley, Jared Karim, Richard Hill and Anne-Marie Matthews. At Oaklands, Wayne Repton ran 22:37 and Mick Bailey a speedy 22:55 ahead of Andy Smith and Holly McClay. Karen Missen was in action at Cannock Chase and Jenna Davies sampled the delights of Clifton. Matt Heap was at Lyme Park while Merv Jones, Dug Ladkin, Leesa Dennis, Nicola Stanley, Sarah Vine and Lee Millership were all hard it over at Conkers. Well done to everyone who ran or volunteered this week.