Week Ending - 2022/07/10

BADGERS GET UP TO HIGH JINX IN THE HEAT

This week’s activities began on Tuesday 5^th July, as club stalwart Chris Horton, who seems to be improving with age like a fine wine, completed the Worthington 6 road race in Leicestershire with his second-claim club, Tamworth AC, with a brilliant pb of 34:12 in 8^th place.

The weekend saw several Badgers, including Ashley Taylor, Steph White, Paul Grubb, Lil Souter and Gemma Spencer, brave the heat with family and friends to support the Office Abbott (Fun) Run. This local event, based in Polesworth and now in it’s seventh year, raises much-needed funds for Cancer Research.

Further afield, 9 Badgers ventured to the Xterra Trail Festival in Snowdonia with a choice of events available. Jimmy Dewis (returning from injury) and David Craig completed the 10k in just under 70mins. Cameron Barnes came 45^th in 2:46:56 to be first Badger in the half marathon, with Cheryl Dewis, Nicki Bowman and Glyn Broadhurst finishing in just under 3hrs 30mins, the latter completing the course having had pins removed from a shattered elbow the day before. In the marathon, 3 Badgers tackled the challenging terrain, with Ada Payne once again becoming the top performer, achieving an excellent 23^rd place in 5:23:43. Dave Jenkinson, despite running without glasses and having a fall, completed the marathon in 6:47:36, whilst Ryan Preece, who sustained an injury, also completed the course.

Steph Attenborough and running buddy Jo Sharman, unfortunately, chose the hottest weekend of the year to take on the mammoth challenge of the 100km ‘Race to the Stones’. Their never-give-in attitude saw them complete this gruelling event in just over 26hrs, a fantastic achievement.

Not content with simply running, Vikki Smith and Ivana Babicova completed their first sprint triathlon of a 400m swim, 25k bike ride and 5k run, finishing in 2:13:53 and 2:14:21 respectively. Danny Warren tackled the Northbrook 10k with a superb time even in the heat of 38:13, whilst Paul Grubb completed the Whissendine 6m road race in 54:22.

As always, Badgers were active at multiple parkruns. This month’s takeover was at Oaklands parkrun in Birmingham, where Sarah O’Donoghue and Dave Purvis ran 5k pb’s, Pip Weston finished 2^nd lady and Jill Miller completed her 50^th event. At Kingsbury Water Park, Mark Repton and Dave Jackson finished in under 20mins for 4^th and 5^th place, and Rachael Shelton finished as first lady at Perry Hall.