Week Ending - 2021/11/28

COLD CONDITIONS CAP BADGER ACTION

The freezing cold weather and the aftermath of Storm Arwen put paid to a good deal of race action over the weekend as many parkruns particularly fell foul of the frosty conditions. That said, there was still a handful of Badgers in action at a number of events across the weekend with five hardy souls travelling to the village of Clowne near Bolsover, Derbyshire to run in the high profile half marathon event there. First back was veteran star Colin Lees in a quality time of 1:42:28. The hardworking Atherstone Town fan is getting back towards his best after a long period away from racing during the coronavirus pandemic. Ian Orton knuckled down to get home in 1:54:47, some way short of his very best, quite understandably given the temperatures on the day, the Wilnecote man just glad to be back in the warm at the end! Liz Peel ran her second half marathon of the week, this time in 2:04:15 following on from her 2:16:34 at the Bigfoot Challenge half in Daventry, where Stephanie Attenborough completed the marathon distance in a time of 5:37:39. Jo Hardy was next to finish, one minute and forty seconds after her esteemed teammate while Ann-Marie Currier marked a superb return to race action with an inspired 2:09:08 on a day so cold, even the race electronic timing devices failed to function properly! Maggi Savin Baden and her daughter Anna both ran in 2:23:36, two more excellent efforts from the studious academic duo. Over at the Derby Half, Wayne Repton managed a gutsy 1:54:26.

Only four parkruns saw some Badger participation on Saturday. At the fledgling yet jazzily titled Dallas Burston Polo Club event near Stratford upon Avon, Glyn Broadhurst and Nicki Bowman donned their best bib and tucker and ran round in 20:41 and 27:34 to finish 6^th overall and 3^rd female respectively. Snowy Evesham saw Holly McClay complete her 100^th parkrun, an excellent achievement for her, accompanied by Andy Smith and Anne-Marie Matthews for the occasion. Paul Grubb was the sole Badger at Conkers parkrun, clocking 29:25 while Yvonne Faulkner ran just four seconds slower over at Phoenix parkrun as she continues her comeback from injury, escorted to the finish once again by David Grant.