Week Ending - 2022/07/03

PARKES SETS NEW CLUB RECORD IN LINCOLN

Veteran Badgers star Adrian Parkes ran a super time at the Lincoln Wellington mile race last week. A relative newcomer to the club, Parkes has really excelled in the field taking his first club record as he eclipsed the legendary Alan Argyle’s long-standing V60 mark set back in 2016. The Bonehill flier managed a time of 6:40, cashing in on his recent good form which has helped the club perform well in the Leicestershire League again this term. He is not the first member of his family to achieve a Badgers club record however, as wife Judy is a former holder of the V50 8-mile distance.

At the other end of the distance spectrum, Mark Cox was in action at the Snowdonia Ultra Trail race, 50K of unforgiving terrain with over 11,000 feet of elevation. The in-form Stoke Golding man managed a hugely creditable 59^th place overall in a great time of 7:39:55, an event certainly not for the faint-hearted, attended by runners from all over the UK. Matt Smith ran 2:17:43 at the hilly Ashbourne half marathon with Liz Peel following five minutes later. Peel was also in action earlier in the week at the Gato Sports Summer 10K race. At the Cannock Chase-based Chase the Sun 10K, Martin Graham was the first Badger back in 49:55 with Suzy Farrell also going nicely in 57:34.

Holly and Andy Smith took three hours for the challenging Coalport-based Independence Day half marathon and over at the Black Country Half Marathon, some ten Badgers were hard at work on the point-to-point canalside race. A slight enforced amendment to the route meant that a little extra length was added to the 13.1-mile distance but this did not stop the speedy Sam Starkey from tearing it up in 13^th position overall, a fabulous time of 87:02 to boot too. Dave Purvis clocked a solid 1:55:20 and new recruit Laura Starkey helped herself to a super 2:02:28. Rachael Shelton managed a courageous 2:06:40 while a group of half a dozen Badgers ran together in support of London marathon-bound Juliette Trollope who is raising funds for Bowel Research UK after sadly losing her husband Simon to the cruel disease last year. Pete Mann, Fiona Reidy, Gail Gunn, Russell Lomas and Fiona Hutton all finished together with Juliette in a time of just over three hours. On the train to the race, they were given coloured garlands to wear by England cricket supporters off to watch the action at Edgbaston.

Parkrun saw plenty of action, Mark Repton taking second place at Kingsbury Water Park and Glyn Broadhurst 3^rd at Erddig near Wrexham. Mark Cordiner-Barton (24:03) and Warren Clamp (28:00) both set new personal bests at Kingsbury while Meghan Griffiths (24:18 - 3^rd) and Bill Gutheridge (7^th) also enjoyed high placings. Holly and Andy Smith recorded season’s bests too in 26:20 and 26:47 respectively and Cameron Barnes took 5^th place at Chasewater. Yvonne Faulkner ran her 100^th parkrun, this time at Oxford University, a super achievement. The fact that it took the Nuneaton-based runner to some 70 different venues across the parkrun community, making her one of the most well-travelled Badgers of all time at parkrun, is particularly impressive.

Last but not least, Stephanie Attenborough made the top twenty as she finished the pancake-flat Milton Keynes-based Enigma Retro TV marathon in a shade under six hours. She executed her unorthodox run strategy to perfection, managing the first ten miles at a steady pace, before run/walking to twenty miles, then walking the remaining miles to ‘ease the legs off’, earning her the dubious distinction of being one of the fastest ever last finishers it says here.