Week Ending - 2022/01/23

TAYLOR‌ ‌TRIUPMHS‌ ‌IN‌ ‌EPIC‌ ‌INTER-CLUB‌ ‌TUSSLE‌

The high-profile and heavily publicised parkrun duel between Badgers rising star Ashley “T-Dogg” Taylor and stocky veteran ace Dave Jackson took place at Walsall Arboretum on Saturday and travelling supporters were in no way disappointed. Taylor was the bookies favourite, heavily fancied by his Badgers team mates, especially after attaining a new level of form following several months of hard graft culminating in a 5K PB of 20:19 at Coventry at the start of 2022. Jackson meanwhile, a one-time holder of the prestigious 8-mile (senior) club record, is battling his way back to shape after an injury hit couple of seasons that saw him go under the knife for his problematic ankle. His distance PB of 17:27 is significantly lower than his rival’s and with his jackal-like race nous, and astute tactical awareness, he for one could never be written off. Yet when it comes to injuries, Taylor trumps all Badgers, after suffering a freak broken vertebra in 2018. It is a testament to his determination that the Warton man is still running and now is even better than ever.

Plucky former pool playing Jackson was behind the eight ball from the off as Taylor took an early lead in the race, one which he failed to relinquish. Shepherded home by his mentor Glyn Broadhurst, he took an incredible 50 seconds off his PB to triumph in 19:29, a magnificent effort. Jackson was left trailing in his wake but still found the resolve to break 20 minutes by the slender margin of just two seconds, a brave effort, and another step on his upward curve to full fatness. No sooner had the duo both crossed the line, shaken hands and enjoyed a lingering sweaty embrace, the inevitable talk of a rematch began. You could say both men were winners as they well and truly lapped everybody else on the couch.

Ahead of them in the race, Dave Hill made the early running, the Polesworth flyer seeking to record his first ever sub seventeen time. He looked nailed on to achieve his goal before having to rein in his ambitions with a mile to go after stopping to deal with a minor injury scare which hopefully was a false alarm. He re-joined the race and ended up taking fourth overall in a respectable 17:33. The experienced Chris Horton was also going flat out from the start and missed out on a PB by just two seconds, finishing second in a wonderful 16:53, enough to give him the best ever wava rating in the club’s history, one of 85.29%. Ladies star Pip Weston did something similar, finishing eighth overall in a new v60 club record time of 24:49, over a minute quicker than her previous mark which in turn landed her a wava rating (age-graded performance score) of 78.19%, significantly higher than any Badger female in the club’s ten-year existence.

The performances did not stop there, however. Nicki Bowman powered her way into the top ten with a pacy 25:16 then Paul Cooper surprised himself by running a personal best in 28:24. As if this was not enough, Sarah O’Donoghue managed to break 30 minutes for the very first time with a super run of 29:38, no doubt the first of many. With Terry Argyle, Teresa Satchell, Vikki Smith, Dave Bailey, and Nicola Stanley all running in support, it really was a Badger packed show and that’s without even mentioning Peter Mann, Fiona Reidy, Ivana Babicova and Gail Gunn who also completed the three lap 5K course.

Elsewhere, former popular club chair and now 100 Marathon Club inductee Karen Thompson turned out at Rosliston with four Badgers making the jaunt over to Belvoir Castle parkrun, namely, Jared Karim, Zoe Yeatman, Yvonne Faulkner, and Carl Savage. Cameron Barnes ran 19:34 to earn a high placing at Beacon parkrun in Lichfield, seventh in the end with mum Lisa also making her way back after a long-standing injury. Andy and Holly Smith both ran the fledgling Dallas Burston Polo Club run near Stratford and Sam Starkey undertook some parkrun tourism at Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire.

Mark Reynolds and Paul Grubb were both in action at Conkers with Adrian Parkes (23:31) leading home a quintet of Badgers at Chasewater that saw Jo Hardy take seventh place (female) in 25:33. Merv Jones, Leesa Dennis and Karen Draper were the others. In form Colin Lees ran 21:52 at Babbs Mill accompanied by Ian Orton, Adam McElhone, Liz Peel, Serena Baker and the Restall brothers, John and Paul.

Kingsbury Water Park deployed a new route for the first time and here it was Mark Repton who was first back in a brisk 19:25 to take fourth spot. Bill Gutheridge was next home with Neil Thorne, Mick Bailey, Matt Green, Wayne Repton, and Amanda Gould all starring. Peter Black, Tim Gould, David Craig, and Paul Wallace all featured as did Andy and Caroline Smith and the hardworking Steve Perry.

This week, the club are off to the penultimate race of the cross-country season, at Mallory Park. Badgers men sit proudly atop division one but their lead over rivals West End Runners is just one point so a good performance will be key for their title hopes to remain in their own hands going into the last round. The ladies lead division two which could earn them promotion to the top tier while the mixed team sit second in the top flight.