Week Ending - 2022/02/20

STORM EUNICE WRECKS BADGERS WREXHAM HOPES

The lure of a fast half marathon proved highly tempting for over twenty Badgers as they signed up for the popular Village Bakery half marathon in Wrexham but all had their hopes dashed as Storm Eunice left race organisers with little choice but to re-arrange the event until later in the year. Torrential rain and high winds were accurately forecast for the championship race on Sunday morning, a week ahead of the club’s 2022 Leicestershire Road Running League opener at Melton Mowbray which left only a handful of races being run by members as well as participation at some of the parkruns that didn’t fall foul of the adverse weather.

The Posh and Becks of Badgers, Nicki Bowman and Glyn Broadhurst had plans to take Wrexham by storm (pun very much intended), even making a weekend of it with accommodation organised. In the end, they had to settle for a day trip to a wet Rhyl and a bit of parkrun tourism at Ellesmere Port which ultimately proved highly profitable for the pair as Bowman scooped first unassisted lady finisher in 26:54 while old soldier Broadhurst went one better finishing first overall in a quality 19:28. The Wood End man wasn’t the only Badgers star taking first place on Saturday morning as at Brueton Park, Solihull, Mark Repton matched the feat in a time of 18:13 for a first-place of his own and with it a new PB to boot, in his 95^th attempt at the 5K distance no less, a terrific effort. Older brother Wayne also ran in 23:10.

Rachael Shelton was once again the leading lady of the weekend as the 35-year-old mum of two breezed round the course at Sutton Park to finish 4^th in 24:34, just ahead of teammates Lil Souter (28:31) and Matt Heap. Babbs Mill parkrun saw the biggest Badger turnout with eight hardy souls making their way over to Chelmsley Wood. Colin Lees led the way in 22:51 with Matt Green making a tentative return to action after an injury setback. Andy and Caroline Smith were the first Badgers husband and wife combo to finish, in 27:18 and 28:23 respectively. Jill Miller and Steve Perry ran 30:39 apiece with Merv Jones and Leesa Dennis clocking 32:31 each.

There were soloists too with Adrian Parkes running 24:05 at Beacon in Lichfield and Nick Miles making 27:18 at Bedworth. Very few Badgers have run more parkruns than Lee Millership who added another run to his tally with a windswept 24:11 at Conkers with Paul Wallace and Ivana Babicova following behind. Sam Starkey performed well once again at Walsall, combining fatherly duties with wife-pacing as well as nursing a bad back to great effect as he romped home in 22:28. Veteran stalwart and mister consistency himself, Mick Bailey, showed everyone else in his age group a clean pair of heels too as he ran a marvellous 23:20. Coventry welcomed serial Badger of the week hero Glen Thomas along with Sarah O’Donoghue, Terry Argyle and one-time Badgers kit legend Dave Bailey. Travelling lovebirds Zoe Yeatman and Jared Karim both ran Edgbaston Reservoir.

One runner who did see action in North Wales was the returning Anne Wells, pound for pound one of the best runners in the club. The holder of several V50 club records, she took on the ten-mile Rhyl 10 race amid torrential rain and thunderstorms. Her finish time was 95:58 although due to a rain-induced timing mat malfunction, a further half-minute could probably come off that, good enough, either way, to earn her third place in her age category, a super start to her racing year.

Russell Lomas ran the undulating Rugeley 10-mile race on Sunday in 88:49 while men’s captain Carl Savage paced Suzy Farrell to a time of 2:07:18 in the Birmingham Running Festival half marathon at Sutton Park on a wet and windy morning.

Next Sunday sees up to 49 Badgers travel to Melton Mowbray to take part in the Stilton 7, a two-lap seven mile race and the season opener in the 2022 LRRL. Making up almost 9% of the field, the club will be hoping to build on the successes of the last few seasons when the league ran proper as such. All teams, (men’s, women’s and the respective vets) feature in the top divisions but with the scoring changed to see just six men to count rather than the usual eight, the double defending champions from 2018 and 2019 could face some stiff competition from the likes of OWLS and West End Runners this term. Captains Lil Souter and Carl Savage are backed up by their more than able deputies, Nicki Bowman and Dave Jenkinson.