Week Ending - 2022/08/14

HILL TAKES 6^TH PLACE AT HOT SOLIHULL HALF

The heat of the back end of the summer’s second heatwave did not stop Dave Hill from producing another superb run at the weekend as his stellar season continues apace, this time with a new half marathon personal best achieved in sweltering conditions at Solihull. The Polesworth man has been in top form throughout the summer and he led home a number of Badgers teammates in an event that went ahead despite a slew of cancellations across the racing nation. When he crossed the line some 78 minutes and 16 seconds after starting, he took a magnificent sixth place in a large field and a new PB to boot, although in more favourable conditions, you would expect that time to go even lower still given his current form. Chris Tweed has been putting the shifts in of late and he too helped himself to a new personal best in a time of 93:49, an eight-minute improvement off his previous best, again with surely more to come given the extreme heat. Badger stalwart and the club’s sole Southend supporter, Matt Green managed a highly respectable 1:40:01 and fellow vet Tim Gould rolled back the years with a quality 1:47:40. Dave Purvis ran well in 1:55:26, an excellent effort from the newcomer and Andy Altoft agonisingly missed out on a sub-2 time by just 41 seconds as he battled valiantly in the torrid temperatures. Medal man Martin Graham ran a gutsy 2:07:17 ahead of Liz Peel (2:30:43), Anna Savin-Baden (2:34:33) and Karen Draper (2:42:37). All three ladies were glad to finish as indeed was newbie Laura Cummings who managed a creditable 2:48:57. Elsewhere, Stephanie Attenborough managed the Tutti Frutti marathon at Walton on Thames in 6:20. And if that wasn’t brave enough, tackling the 30K Belper Rover race later in the week was probably a little too brave as the bespectacled race enthusiast got round safely in a touch under five hours.

Parkrun saw some Badgers in action too. Stefan Martin was the first Badger back in, wait for it, Lodz in Poland, running 22:18, first Brit back too for that matter. Russell Lomas clocked a PB of 24 minutes at Hastings High School where Sam Starkey (6^th), Cameron Barnes (9^th) Laura Starkey (5^th female) and Rachael Shelton (9^th) all made the top ten. Glyn Broadhurst was the club’s highest placed finisher as he took second at the Ruthin Memorial Playing Fields parkrun in north Wales, running a brisk 18:28 on his 201^st parkrun. Megan Griffiths was a superb 6^th at Kingsbury Water Park as she continues to impress. Last but by no means least, the inspirational and much loved Sarah Vine completed her 100^th event at Rosliston parkrun, accompanied by a batch of her Badger friends in the process.

The latest league tables are now out following the Joy Cann 5 race and in summary, they look like this. All of our teams have a place in the top division. The men’s team currently sit one point behind OWLS in 2nd place and therefore will need to better OWLS score at Rotherby to win the title again. The B team haven’t dropped a point all year and are already Champions. The ladies are bottom of their league and look likely to be relegated at Rotherby. The B team are 7th out of 19.

Our vet men could finish as high as 2nd and currently lie third by just a point from Wreake Runners. The B team are 2nd with a slender advantage over third but no prospect of catching leaders Huncote.

The vet ladies are 5th in their division of 8 with the B team currently 4th out of 19 teams showing our club’s strength in depth. The mixed team are 5th from 8.

Individually, Matt Scarsbrook is the top male overall but with four races from six to count, he will need to finish ahead of the speedy Mo Hussein of Roadhoggs at Rotherby to take top spot. Cheryl Dewis is the number one in the v50 category with one race to go and will only drop to 2nd if Tina Tosh from Huncote (who is not on the entry list yet) turns up at Rotherby and runs really well.

Other top ten runners include Chris Horton (joint 2nd v45), Mick Bailey (2nd v65), Glyn Broadhurst (4th v45), Dave Hill (6th senior), Pip Weston (6th v60), Ryan Preece (9th senior), Nicki Bowman (9th v45) and Maggi Savin-Baden (9th v60).