Week Ending - 2021/08/15
BADGERS IN GOOD SHAPE AS LEAGUE APPROACHES HALFWAY STAGE
This Sunday sees Badgers take on the Launde 6 race in north-eastern Leicestershire, part three of the five race league race series of 2021 and a number of key athletes have been continuing their good form ahead of the big event. Matt Scarsbrook is in scintillating form this year breaking records for fun and on Sunday he was one of a number of Badgers taking on the Solihull half marathon. In a field of over 1000 runners, the Baddesley man ran a superb new personal best time of 73:25 to finish an incredible fourth place overall, the second fastest half marathon in Badgers history and just one minute shy of winning the race itself, surely a strong contender for Badger of the year.
Carl Savage was next back, not quite as quick but certainly no less determined as he too ran a PB of 97:01. Veteran Matt Green crossed the line in 1:40:42 with Kingsbury based Mick Bailey running a quality 1:46:03. Peter Mann ran his first ever half marathon coming home in 1:55:26 with Bonehill based Adrian Parkes dipping under two hours with a good time of 1:58:51. Andy Altoft made his distance debut in 2:09, a minute ahead of Glen Thomas with Gail Gunn (2:26) and Paul Cooper (2:38) also getting round. Charlotte Oliver also recorded a PB.
Russell Lomas ran his first ever marathon, the Bath Two Tunnels race in 5:07:04, an excellent achievement for him and over a somewhat shorter distance, David Grant and Yvonne Faulkner ran the Shaves Cross 5-mile race in Dorset, across some tricky trail. Grant returned home in an impressive 15th place (38:34) with Faulkner finishing in 51:57. The Belper Rover is a popular race on the trail circuit with around 30K of challenging terrain attracting 254 entrants. Badgers had three taking part with Steph Attenborough first back in 3:53, 203rd position with Vikki Smith and Ivana Babicova following soon afterwards.
Parkrun saw a number of solid performances around the country with many members dropping into their most local event whilst on holiday. Key man Glyn Broadhurst has been one of the clubs most consistent points scorers of late in the league and he showed why with a PB of 17:41 at Walsall Arboretum at the age of 45, a week after his excellent second place at Crewe. Also featuring after suffering from another injury setback was Dave Jackson. The self-proclaimed Jackal of Jean was in super form earlier in the year and his time of 20:03 marked a positive step forward in his way to recovering that form. Mark Repton took 4th place at Holkham in 18:47, fifteen seconds quicker than his super second place the prior week at Ashford in Kent. Wayne Repton ran 22:07 to take 15th place at the Isabel Trail event and Merv Jones went well in 25:49 at Chasewater. Rob Crow led a handful of Badgers back at Conkers with Sarah Reynolds standing out in 25:52. Neil Thorne drew the shortest straw with a backbreaking run at Woolacombe Dunes in Devon, arguably the most arduous course of all parkrun events. Matt Green was first back at Kingsbury Water Park which also saw Rachael Shelton finish 10th female.
The club hope to welcome back some more familiar faces at Launde as the team continue their aim to qualify for the grand final. The league format has been modified for 2021 only and the top two from each of four groups qualify for a last race team shoot out. Badgers currently sit third in their pool with every chance of qualification should they build on their good work from the Joy Cann 5. The men’s team are ranked third overall and the ladies side 13th out of the 27 participating clubs. Individually, there are a number of runners faring well in the standings. Matt Scarsbrook is 3rd senior male with Glyn Broadhurst a fantastic 2nd in his age group with Chris Horton a place behind in 3rd. Pete Mann has set a couple of new club records in the V60 category and he currently sits 4th in the standings with Mick Bailey a superb 2nd in the V65 field and John Shade tops the lot as the 1st V75 runner in the whole league. Laura Bingham is the highest placed female in 16th with Pip Weston a marvellous 2nd in the V60 class.