Week Ending - 2020/01/19

PAYNE BEATS OFF COX, YET AGAIN

Badgers enjoyed more top ten success at the weekend as three of their runners featured in prominent positions in the Wildest Peaks 16-mile trail event at the Longshaw Estate in the Peak District. Adi Payne and teammate Mark Cox have enjoyed some epic tussles over the years at multi terrain events and along with ladies star Cheryl Dewis who enjoyed a high finish herself, they flew the flag courageously for the north Warwickshire side. The challenging terrain drew the best out of the two men and Payne was as keen as ever to get on top of Cox. He was lying fourth at the first checkpoint with Cox back in 15th, but Cox came hard later in the race much to Payne’s delight. The hard-hitting floor fitter has endurance to burn however and he continued to make major progress through a flagging field. Always relishing the challenge, Payne was in his element with Cox pumping away behind him and as the race drew to a close, Payne gritted his teeth taking Cox all the way in an exhilarating climax. The Baddesley bachelor took 5th place overall in a magnificent 2:09:31 with dad of two Cox taking 9th in a quality 2:13:05. While Payne has been a consistent performer for a number of years, his team mate has risen to prominence in the last two seasons as a result of some real hard graft and it is well known that former men’s captain Payne is a big admirer of Cox and likes nothing more than seeing that tremendous spurt at the end of their trail races together that the Hinckley based star is now famous for.

Ladies star Dewis worked her way through the field and took 9th place in her age category after a cons, amongst the top 20 females overall too, thanks to her hard fought time of 2:49:33. Husband Jimmy was cruelly laid low by a mystery illness before the event and had to watch from the side-lines when he too could have been a contender.

There were a handful of runners taking part in the Buff Winter Trail Half marathon in Coed Y Brenin, Wales. Dave Jenkinson was first back in a shade over 2 hours with Carl Savage and Justin Haywood following home 3 minutes later in 2:05. Yvonne Faulkner and Kerry Clover both ran 2:53 with Nivette Chester also featuring.

It was a relatively quiet week overall for the Badgers as icy conditions at the weekend put paid to several local parkruns. A route change at Kingsbury Water Park enabled the event there to go ahead and some 24 club members made it round the 5K off road circuit. Star of the show was Esther Holyoak who continues to impress those around her with her work rate, the long serving Chapel End based hairdresser stormed to another superb second placed finish with a time of 24:30. Matt Jackson was third male back in a quality 19:58 while Graham Engley also made the top ten with his 21:02 (6th position). Veteran OCR enthusiast Carl Holyoak bagged 14th place with a rapid run of 21:40 as Tim Gould, David Craig and stalwart John Hanson all followed home. Sharon Jackson could not keep up with her son up top but still emerged with a fine 7th female finish spot of her own. Rachael Shelton, Lil Souter, Mark & Jack Reynolds all featured as did Paul Restall, Gavin Crockwell and John Devenney. Veteran stars Amanda Gould, Liz Peel, Teresa Satchell and Anne Devenney all got round in one piece as did the reliable Bill Gutheridge. Sue Thould, Iwona Jedro, Vicki Fowler and Sarah O’Donoghue also went.

Beacon parkrun in Lichfield held their inaugural event on Saturday and it was men’s vice-captain Mark Repton who was first back in 14th place due to his speedy performance of 19:39. Fellow runners Colin Lees, Ian Orton, Wayne Repton, Dave Bailey and Andy Smith all got round with key man Glyn Broadhurst once again showing his class mid-mixer. Holly McClay and Nicki Bowman also ran. Conkers saw a handful of Badgers strutting their stuff, Leesa Dennis leading the way with Merv Jones, Sarah Vine and Jason Husselbee-Orwin all going well. The highly respected Alan Argyle ploughed a semi-lone furrow with Alex Ladkin and Rich Hamblett also completing if not competing.

On the road, Mark Darby, Adam McElhone and Dean Bowd all made the trip to Babbs Mill in Chelmsley Wood while Stuart Walton ran at Rosliston. Anne-Marie Matthews travelled to Gorleston Cliffs with Karen Missen flying the flag at Cannock Chase. Darryl Johnson and Jenna Davies both turned out at Walsall Arboretum and Paul Wallace bossed the show at Forest Rec. Seasoned campaigners Eamon Thawley and Jared Karim were both in action at Wyre Forest as the club saw many members actively involved in the RED January initiative that sees people running every day for a month to raise awareness for mental health.