Week Ending - 2022/04/24

HILL IS MAVERICK TRAIL WINNER

Fresh from his heroics at the Paris marathon earlier this month, BADGERS ace Dave Hill was back in action at the weekend as he romped to victory in the Maverick Adidas Terrex Original 22K trail race in Buckinghamshire. The Polesworth based athlete quickly assumed a lead he refused to relinquish for the remainder of the race taking the tape in a superb 98:05. Some challenging terrain and impressive scenery were on offer for Hill and his team-mates who took part in the event on the Saturday morning and in winning the main event, Hill followed in the speedy Matt Scarsbrook’s footsteps by becoming the second member of Badgers to triumph in successive years here. His time was quicker too although it must be noted that Scarsbrook ran wearing a weighted bum-bag.

The craggy features of Adrian Payne soon appeared over the horizon as the former men’s captain strained every sinew to cross the line in 1:51:34 and with it a commendable ninth place. Cameron Barnes (1:56:45) again ran well, some 21 minutes quicker than his 2021 efforst, to reach the giddy heights of 23^rd position with Stefan Martin and Ashley Taylor both running 2:05 to make the top 40. Veteran women’s icon Pip Weston ran the medium distance 14K event and returned in a superb 1:42:11, a terrific run from her yet again.

There was a raft of marathon action too with the Repton brothers completing a particularly unusual double. Older brother Wayne was in action at the Boston marathon in Lincolnshire coming home with a time of 3:52:35, a personal best by some seven minutes. Also running the Boston marathon, but this time, Boston Massachusetts, was younger sibling Mark who is now a third of the way through his aim of completing all six World Majors. The Tamworth runner clocked a gutsy 3:15:01, a decent attempt after being hit hard by the warm weather and the infamous Heartbreak Hill towards the finish. His next stop all being well is Berlin in the autumn, with New York following soon after in November.

Bill Gutheridge was tackling the Stratford marathon and hung on bravely for the final 11 miles after going down with leg cramps. The veteran athlete and fishing enthusiast achieved his goal of a sub-four hour time by the narrowest of margins, hauling his aching limbs across the line in 3:59:34, in the nick of time. Justin Haywood was also in action at Stratford, this time in the half marathon discipline, running an excellent 98:05, his first race on UK soil in over two years. Fellow vet and V60 marathon club record holder Mick Bailey was in hot pursuit of the sun-loving Portugal-based football prediction wizard, clocking a super time of 1:47.

Nivette Chester ran 3:55:29 at the Tissington Trail marathon to earn her a prize for the first V45 lady to finish. Lil Souter followed soon afterwards in 4:36:52 also with the prize of a new marathon distance best, something certainly not to be sniffed at. Ivana Babicova was at the Boston marathon in the UK and Stephanie Attenborough went to the Blackpool marathon. Babicova also featured in Doncaster at the Run For Wildlife 10K race.

At parkrun, there were a number of good performances including a new personal best from Sarah O’Donoghue who clocked 29:31 at Kingsbury Water Park. Justin Haywood was first Badger back in a respectable 22:06 while Sharon Jackson made the top ten with a season’s best 26:02. The highest placing of the weekend came from Rachael Shelton who finished an excellent second at Brueton Park, Solihull thanks to her rapid 23:15. This feat was matched by the enduring Dave Jackson who almost stole the show at Perry Hall as he was edged out of top spot despite running a brisk 19:15. Team-mate Glyn Broadhurst continues his recovery from a broken arm, taking fourth place after having selflessly paced Jackson to his earlier time.