Week Ending - 2021/10/17

SCARSBROOK SMASHES TEN MILE CLUB RECORD

In arguably his most impressive performance to date, Matt Scarsbrook claimed his fourth club record of 2021 with a startling display of speed at the Great South Run in Portsmouth at the weekend. The ten-mile race attracted some 15,000 participants and the Baddesley man finished 31^st male overall, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Olympians Chris Thompson and Eilish McColgan. His time of 53:45 was impressive enough but when you put it into context as to how it stands at club level, the previous Badgers best was three minutes and nine seconds slower, a massive difference between two quite exceptional times. In addition, his 5K and 10K splits are equally staggering. His 5K split was 16:03, some fourteen seconds quicker than Chris Baxter’s club record set in 2019 and his 10K time was quicker than his own record set at Prestwold in the LRRL earlier in the year, illustrating just how much he has improved over the summer from a very solid foundation.

A handful of Badgers made waves down on the Jurassic Coast in the Maverick Adidas Terrex X Series with five members tackling the 30-mile-long event, another six trying out the medium distance (12 miles) with David Craig taking part in the short 8-mile route. Each race was characterised by some ridiculously severe elevation but tempered by some outrageously impressive views across the English Channel and surrounding countryside. Newcomer Ryan Preece suffered the ultimate heartbreak as his quest for a podium spot was snatched away from him by an agonising margin of just two seconds. With runners going off in separate waves, Preece was closing the gap on the runner ahead of him but had resigned himself to his fate as he crossed the line around 100 meters behind, totally spent after 4 hours, 44 minutes and 4 seconds of relentless trudging. When the results were finalised, it materialised that the Atherstone man was only two seconds adrift in time terms meaning he started well behind his opponent and thus had to settle for fourth. The story may have been even more different had Adi Payne not been forced to withdraw after 18 miles. The Baddesley based athlete felt distinctly unwell and sensibly pulled out of the race despite lying in third place at the time. Keyman Glyn Broadhurst finished in 5:03:20 alongside Dave Hill who took 7^th place, his third marathon distance (or above) race in as many weeks! Young Cameron Barnes was 24^th with a highly industrious 5:57:54.

In the medium affair, Jimmy Dewis was 12^th back in 90:18, 2^nd in his age group with Stefan Martin having an outstanding race in 1:42:09 in 29^th. Nicki Bowman, Dave Jenkinson and Ashley Taylor all got back together in 2:07:22 while Cheryl Dewis stole the show with an age category win in 1:46:58, a tremendous effort from the glamourous grandmother. David Craig took the sensible option of taking on the short distance race and emerged back in 11^th place overall, second in his age group with a very respectable time of 62:21.

Elsewhere, eight Badgers made the trip to the Oxford half marathon with Bill Gutheridge leading his teammates home by some distance thanks to his time of 1:43:01. Paul Cooper weighed in with a PB with his run of 2:27:01 while the group of Peter Mann, Fiona Reidy, Ivana Babicova, Terry Argyle, Vicki Smith and John Dulson came home together in a shade over two and a half hours. Welsh star Serena Baker ran the Swansea half by the seaside in 2:09:46 and Mick Bailey produced yet more fireworks as he stormed to a superb 1:43:55 at the Weston Super Mare half, a terrific time from the Kingsbury man. The fastest half marathoner of the week was in far-flung Portugal however, as veteran ace Justin Haywood took on his first race in 19 months in the Lisbon half and returned with a course best time of 1:42:10, a great effort after a challenging summer.

In the Derby 10K, Sam Starkey flew the Badgers flag running as a representative of Age UK, his work’s chosen charity. The newlywed Tamworth man clocked a quality time of 38:28 as he edges his way back towards his very best form. Stephanie Attenborough completed the Rainbow Challenge Marathon in 5:36:28.

There was the usual smattering of parkrun activity too, predominantly at Kingsbury Water Park where Danny Warren took 2^nd place in a season’s best 18:09 with Sam Starkey (13^th) and Tim Gould (22:01) looking good after some enforced time away with injury. Rachael Shelton was third lady in 23:37.

Matt Green made the top ten with a 7^th place finish at Holkham in a brisk 21:11. Mark Repton went sub-20 at Sutton Park clocking 19:45 for another top ten finish. Adrian Parkes made the top 20 at Chasewater with a rapid 23:59 while Sarah O’Donoghue ran a super new PB of 30:25 in the same event. Finally, at Babbs Mill, Colin Lees took 7^th spot in his run of 21:41, another sterling effort from him.