Week Ending - 2020/12/06

SUPER LEAGUE APPROACHES THRILLING FINALE IN PENULTIMATE DRAMA

The conclusion of the hotly contested Badgers Super League will be fought over next week with three of the eight teams involved battling it out for the coveted top spot after results conspired against long term leaders Cool Runnings, led by Hannah Craig. With one week to go, just four points separate the top three sides and with ten points on offer for a race win, it will be hard to call a winner. This week saw Nicki Bowman’s Tight Nuts outfit don their shortest shorts and take a dominant race victory to leapfrog the in-form Queen Mother Blue team led by the charismatic Jackal of Jean, Dave Jackson.

Runners were able to select their own distance from one previously run in the course of the competition. Short distance specialists could look to improve their mile time but some opted to go for a longer race in the hope of finding greater gains. In Bowman’s team, Carl Savage ran a PB for the mile in a brisk 6:03 with Vicki Smith (8:16) and the mercurial Merv Jones (7:31) backing him up with bests of their own. Allied to some solid performances from solid operators such as Cheryl Dewis, the side romped to a convincing first place in the handicapped competition.

One of the reasons that Hannah Craig’s team sit atop the table is down to the consistency of their performances throughout the team and their steady improvements along the way. Once again, the rejuvenated skipper led from the front and it was Dave Jenkinson who was the star man this week as he ran a five mile personal best in 37:23.

In form Queen Mother Blue were looking for a hat-trick of consecutive wins but were thwarted in their aims despite some tremendous efforts within their ranks. Aaron Chetwynd produced arguably the run of the tournament with his 26:49 in the five mile event. This beat his previous best from a few weeks ago by the not insignificant margin of 52 seconds. To put this into context, his prior time was one second inside the current Badgers club record which almost defies belief. Team-mate Dug Ladkin ran 5:53 for his best ever mile time, while Katrina Dawson did similarly in 8:33 and Kerry Clover who must surely be one of the stars of the tournament improved her personal best mile with a speedy 7:33. Dave Jackson weighed in with a quality mile in 5:08 and Mark Reynolds clocked a PB of 7:16 over the infrequently raced but much-loved mile distance. Key man Glyn Broadhurst chipped away at his five mile best with a rapid 29:40.

Maggi Savin-Baden’s Chafing The Dream team have remained in the top four all season and with stars such as Jimmy Dewis heroically producing a 10K best of 42:14 at the age of 50, and Bill Gutheridge smashing his 5K best to pieces in 36:37, a Champions League place looks promising if not yet assured. The inspirational Karen Thompson, former Chairperson and now one of the top V40 athletes at Badgers ran a sparkling 7:28 mile and former ladies captain SJ Chetwynd managed an excellent 7:42 in the same distance.

Robert Boland led his side to third place in the race thanks to terrific performances from Wayne Repton (6:39 – mile) and Jason Clover (36:52 – 5 mile). Clover particularly has been in superb form since coming into the tournament as a late replacement in week two. Chris Davies has been running 5K a day all year so to produce a PB with over 300 efforts already in the bag and no rest day since 2019 was always going to be a long shot. Incredibly however he accomplished it and by some margin too. His time of 21:37 was significantly quicker than anything he managed before and a real fillip for him as he closes in on his goal having raised in excess of £2000 already for charity.

Karen Draper is a new woman these days running PB’s for fun. This week it was her 5K time that was put to the sword as she hared round in 28:54, a fantastic leap forward from someone who had never broken the 30 minute barrier not too long ago. Andy Smith recorded a PB of 42:03 in the five miler and with it secured the race win, with Anne-Marie Matthews taking second. An injury ravaged Team Sky Blue continue to prop up the table despite some noteworthy performances from the likes of Rachael Shelton, Charlene Dunn and Adrian Parkes.

The final week will see all fit runners attempting the 5K distance with a view to improving upon their time at the start of the tournament to see just how far they have come since setting out back in October. Only three teams can now win the main prize and we won’t have to wait long now to learn which one it will be. The race for the top in the individual standings is wide open with Hannah Craig usurping Hannah Merry in pole position. The speedy Chetwynd husband and wife combo are poised on the podium but any number of runners could triumph at a tightly congested summit.