Week Ending - 2020/11/22

DEE-LIGHT FOR JACKSON AS SUPER TEAM LIGHT UP THE LEAGUE

With just three rounds remaining, the Badgers Super League threw up some incredible results once again with the prospect of a real thrilling finale scheduled for early December. This week, it was the turn of Dave Jackson’s outfit, Queen Mother Blue, to dominate proceedings. Big Dee, as he is better known, is one of the top characters in the club (v40) and he saw over 70% of his expertly coached side achieve times in excess of their 10K personal bests. The distance is one of the most frequently raced in road running so seeing just one performance exceeding an athlete’s PB would have no doubt cheered race organisers, Pat Mycock and Mick Sturbes. However, no fewer than 17 Badgers managed the feat along with a healthy smattering of season’s best runs to make it an incredible week for the club in spite of lockdown conditions.

The race winner, thanks to the handicap system was the pacy Rachael Shelton who clocked a terrific performance (47:56), the spritely mum of two is in scintillating form in this competition right now. Baddesley based Dave McGowan was a close second, running the second pure fastest time overall irrespective of handicapping in 36:15 with Kingsbury veteran Mick Bailey third, another who seems to go from strength to strength.

Yet again, the quickest female overall in the event was Becky Harris who ran an impressive 45:22, a minute and a half ahead of Nivette Chester who posted the second-fastest time and just one of four runners along with Cheryl Dewis to break 50 minutes. One of the undoubted stars of the show so far has been Aaron Chetwynd, who once again was the fastest runner in absolute terms with a PB of 34:10. The Baddesley whippersnapper is in the form of his life right now and has the times to prove it. He spoke highly about his coach and mentor Jackson’s role in proceedings saying “Dee (Jackson) has given us free rein to go out there and do our best. He has created a warm and loving environment and we all want to go out there each week and do our very best for him. He has given me so much advice, it’s a wonder UK Athletics haven’t approached him yet – I’m sure once life is back to normal, they will be down Jean Street knocking on his door.

Jockson, the self-proclaimed “Jackal of Jean” helped himself to a season’s best 38:21, reminiscent of his halcyon days when he was setting PB’s for fun in Telford five years ago. Team-mate Glyn Broadhurst is another of Jackson’s charges in top form and he stormed away in 37:10 for a new best time. Dug Ladkin did not want to miss out either as the veteran in waiting ran 41:58 (PB) in his attempt while Katrina Dawson (60:34) and Kerry Clover (52:44) also ran personal best times over the distance. It came then as no surprise that their team took maximum points.

There were still a number of superb runs from runners in other sides however as Karen Draper continued her rich vein of form with a huge improvement in her best 10K time, running close to the hour in 63:12. Carl Savage has seen his form pick up noticeably in 2020 and he was another rewarded with a new PB, this time in 43:34 and Merv Jones bagged top marks for effort in his hard-fought attempt of 53:29 – PB. Their team-mates Vikki Smith and Anne Devenney rolled back the years with stunning season’s best times of their own and Anne’s husband John also weighed in with a quality time of 57:27.

Hannah Craig leads the league-leading side Cool Runnings, and she has been setting a fine example to her comrades. This week she managed a quality 54:14 to set a new bar personally while teammates Mike Wyant (48:32) and Jo Hardy (52:52) also managed to improve their hitherto best times at the distance. Kay Whitehead made a brilliant return to action after several months out and Vicky London dipped a second under 54 minutes to help herself to a new 10K PB.

The experienced Matt Green ran a gutsy 44:39, another season’s best performance from the long-striding Shrimper and Janet Crumpton bagged an impressive 57:55, again the fastest time of her life. Finally, Jason Clover joined the PB club alongside his wife Kerry as he tore round the mean streets of Warton in a rip-roaring 47:31, making it a double celebration in the Clover household.

Next week sees the teams having to split their runners up across two different distances, ten miles and five miles, playing to their strengths while minimising any weaknesses. With athlete’s best six results from a possible eight to count, everything is to play for both collectively and individually. Hannah Merry still leads the individual chart closely followed by Vicky London while Aaron Chetwynd is in third place as the leading male star.

With a handicap system devised to theoretically give every runner a chance, the initiative has been taken up by almost 100 club members so far, keeping people fit, motivated and engaged as they wait for running life to return to normal.