Week Ending - 2020/08/09

155 UP FOR MARATHON STARS BUT TEAM KNOCKED OUT OF LOCKDOWN LEAGUE

In an uncharacteristically slow news week, even during lockdown, two Badgers managed to complete their 78th and 77th marathons at the low key Railway Ultra event near Coalport in Shropshire. The race is laid on annually by How Hard Can It Be and COD Running Club, primarily to enable runners chasing 100 marathons to add another notch to their tally without having to wait for a large scale mass participation event to arise. In turn, this means that the events are relatively uncompetitive yet provide a friendly atmosphere for those within the marathon community and crucially are able to be made Covid-secure in line with the current regulations. The course follows a simple thrice out and back route along a scenic stretch of disused railway line, hence the name, and the full distance comes in at around 28 miles from start to finish. A variety of different distances are available to complete as well as the marathon which this year was taken on by 17 people. Current Badgers Chris Horton, Monika Lampart and Serena Baker have all done the event in the past as have former members Matt Tonks, Adie Kirkham, Damo Taylor and Chris Upton. Another ex-Badger, Olivia Stacey, now herself a fully-fledged member of the 100 club, was in attendance as both Liz Peel and Karen Thompson clocked up their combined 155 marathons of 26.2 miles or more in an officially recognised event. In keeping with the nature of the event, Peel, Thompson and Stacey ran together and completed the course in 5 hours 56, a long way shy of their respective personal bests. For Thompson in particular, she was simply glad to be back doing what she enjoys after having had some time out with sciatica.

In other news, the league tables were finalised after the Monster Mile race in the LRRL lockdown league, following a foreseeable delay caused by both the vast amount of entrants as well as the number of people finishing in identical times given such a short distance. The upshot of it all meant that Badgers, sitting in third place in their “group of death”, were unable to gain ground on the top two teams of Hinckley RC and Desford Striders and as a result are now effectively out of the running to qualify for the grand finals, with two races to go. The next race is this weekend and features the popular 5 mile distance, and the club are hopeful of yet another healthy turnout, despite the fact that they cannot make it any further in the competition. A handful of runners are in the mix for individual honours. Nivette Chester is currently 5h in the V45 female standings and Judy Parkes 8th in the V50 category. Alan Argyle is 10th in the V65 male ranks while Chris Horton leads the V45 age group and lies 6th overall male thanks to being one of just eight runners to achieve an impressive Rhodium county standard for the mile with Badgers team mate Pip Weston one of the select others to accomplish this rare feat.