Week Ending - 2022/01/09

MATT DEMOLISHES CLUB HALF-MARATHON RECORD

Badgers flying machine Matt Scarsbrook produced possibly the most staggering performance of his career to date as he powered to an emphatic win in the RunThrough Half Marathon at Victoria Park in London at the weekend. It wasn’t just the manner of his victory that stood out but the 23 year old’s finish time was quite simply phenomenal. Setting off with real intent, the Baddesley man was pretty much on his own from then on, making his time of 69:42 all the more impressive. His closest rival was some four minutes back and third place almost ten minutes adrift making it less of a race and more of a time trial. That did not stop Scarsbrook from slowing down in any way, to put some context on just how good this performance was, his time was almost three minutes faster than the legendary Ryan Bennett’s previous club record set in Brighton in 2019 and to date, Bennett is the only Badger to have run sub 75 for the 13.1 mile distance. Less than five years ago, the club record stood at 79:25 and only a handful of Badger runners have ever made it in under 80 minutes. Scarsbrook has trumped the lot and then some. His wava rating was one of the highest ever recorded at the club too, again impressive given the length of race involved, a quite incredible achievement. Needless to say, it was also a significant personal best time too.

His win in London more than made up for any disappointment incurred earlier in the week when he was the only fit member of the men’s quartet hoping to defend their title at the final round of the Starlight Relays at Calke Abbey. With injuries and illness ruling out his three other team mates and rules allowing only one substitution, the club were unable to get a team out and consequently missed out on glory as they sat top of the table before the race. The Badgers ladies showed up however and in some style too as their veteran foursome took second place on the night and third place in the series as a result. Pocket dynamo Monika Lampart powered her way round in typical muscular fashion at the start in 15:19 before the indefatigable Pip Weston took the baton for her two mile leg. She returned in 17:02 before Nicki Bowman sped round impressively in 16:01 setting the scene for superstar Cheryl Dewis to light up the night with the best run of the lot in an amazing 14:51.

Nivette Chester was showing her endurance skills with back to back marathons up in Liverpool over the New Year. On the final day of 2021, she ran the first leg of an impressive double, backing the feat up the following day with another 26.2 mile effort in the Liver Bird marathon event.

There was action too on Saturday morning with Badgers covering seven different parkrun venues on a muddy morning across most of the Midlands. The rapid Rachael Shelton was the fastest female of the weekend with her speedy 24:09 at Walsall, which earned the mum of two a 8^th place finish. She wasn’t the only Badgers lady to make the top ten either as Caroline Smith ran 28:33 at Babbs Mill to take 9^th spot with the experienced Liz Peel coming in a few seconds and one place behind her. Lee Millership was the quickest Badger at the venue running 24:11 in 14^th position with Adam McElhone (25:37) also going well. Andy Smith and Paul Wallace also ran. At Conkers, Leesa Dennis and Kidderminster Harriers fan Merv Jones were in action ahead of the big FA Cup shock to follow. Adrian Parkes ran well yet again at Oaklands in 25:35 with David Grant (22:00) leading a trio of Badgers inclusive of Jared “JK” Karim and Zoe “Zoe” Yeatman back at Watermead park.

Kingsbury Water Park saw the biggest Badgers turnout and it was Mark Repton who almost snatched the glory on another slippy course, failing by just 14 seconds to take first place overall. Conditions were certainly not conducive towards fast times which led to it being the first event in 368 occasions where the winning time has been in excess of 20 minutes. David Craig was marking his 250^th event, a tremendous achievement and he was rewarded with a top ten finish, 7^th male in 23:26. Cameron Barnes, Colin Lees, Glyn Broadhurst and Sam Starkey all made the top ten men with Matt Green going well too. Mick Bailey celebrated his 69^th birthday no doubt counting down the days to when he can tackle some of the club’s v70 club records. The local Kingsbury native had far and away the best wava rating of all runners on the day, a mark of just how good he is for his age. Other runners to star included Wayne Repton, Neil Thorne, Steve Perry and Jill Miller. Nicki Bowman was 10^th female with Lil Souter back after injury alongside Stephanie Attenborough, Vicki Fowler and Matt Heap. A gaggle of other Badgers were running at Sutton and they included Terry Argyle, Vikki Smith, Dave Bailey, Nicki Stanley, Paul Cooper, Ivana Babicova and Glen Thomas. The eagerly anticipated and well publicised race-off between rising star Ashley Taylor and former pool playing serial comeback merchant Dave Jackson at Walsall Arboretum did not take place after issues in the Jackson camp. A rematch has been mooted but as yet unconfirmed. This week sees the next round of the Derby Runner League Cross Country taking place at Martinshaw Woods, with Badgers looking to build on their solid start to the season.