Week Ending - 2021/11/21

MATT’S TRIO OF 10K TRIUMPHS

Once again, Matt Scarsbrook has been breaking records and this weekend he set a new 10K club record for the third time in a calendar year. The Baddesley flying machine was in action at the Leicestershire 10K race, held at Prestwold in cold and slightly windy conditions and ran a terrific race to emerge second over the line behind race winner Harry Lupton of Charnwood AC. The duo were well clear of the rest of the field and while Scarsbrook ultimately had to settle for second by just 21 seconds, his finish time of 33:07 bettered his previous best mark, coincidentally also at Prestwold in June but in a different event, by 18 seconds. This capped a superb season for the 23-year-old who was deservedly awarded the coveted Badger of the Year award at his club for 2021.

Over at Bakewell, there was more Badger joy as in the Peak District Autumn Trail Run #4, Danny Warren overtook his fast-starting team-mate Adrian Payne towards the end of the race to claim third position overall in a quality 62:55. Payne came fourth 35 seconds later in the 14.4km tussle around some of the national parks most spectacular vistas. Justin Haywood felt the cold, biting northerly wind distinctly not to his liking but battled hard to complete the Conwy half marathon in a very respectable 1:43:10. Rachel Crump won her age category at the Tamworth 10K with a speedy time of 44:43, a tremendous effort in the race which also featured Anne Wells and Paul Cooper amongst others. Steph Attenborough ran the Mallard Marathon in Milton Keynes in 5:10:57.

There were all manner of celebrations at parkrun too where the latest batch of new recruits completed their 5K beginners programme with flying colours at Kingsbury Water Park, all under the watchful eyes of the dedicated run-leaders who voluntarily give their time to help the fledgling runners get moving and motivated. The occasion coincided with the popular Adam McElhone running his 100^th career parkrun and speedster Ryan Preece making an equally impressive parkrun debut, finishing second male overall in a brisk 18:05. Mark Repton was once again in the top ten with his rapid 19:16. Pete Mann clocked a PB time of 23:50 to wrap up a terrific debut season for him and Rachael Shelton was seventh female in 25:08.

At the quick Long Eaton course, Chris Horton bagged the other club record of the weekend with his incredible run of 16:51. While this was only good enough on the day for sixth place, the veteran of 177 career 5K’s minded not one jot as he ran his second personal best in the last month, just a few weeks before his 47^th birthday. His performance also earned him a wava rating of 84.77%, the highest by anyone in the club’s ten-year history.

At Babbs Mill, fellow key man Glyn Broadhurst took second place after his win the previous week, this time in 19:27, while Liz Peel finished fifth female overall in a time just inside 27 minutes. Mick Bailey went well at Brueton in 23:18 as did fellow vet Adrian Parkes who ran 23:48 at Oaklands.