Week Ending - 2022/09/25
CHERYL SHINES WHILE BADGERS BATTLE BOTH HOME & AWAY
BADGERS of the WEEK
Wayne Repton
Alicia Gutheridge
Badgers running ace Cheryl Dewis made club history this season as she became the first woman to ever win an individual league title in the Leicestershire Road Running League. She took the V50 age category by storm this term, winning outright by thirty-nine points from her closest rival, Stilton Striders star Vicki Lowe. Dewis missed the final race of the season, the Rotherby 8, with an injury yet with runner’s four best scores to count from the total six races, her lead was strong enough to withstand any late challenge. In the past, others at the club, including Becky Harris and Esther Holyoak have placed in their respective categories but until now nobody has achieved the ultimate glory. In their ten-year stay in the LRRL, Dewis is only the third Badger to have achieved this feat and the very first female, outstanding achievement and testament to her dedication, professionalism and high work ethic.
Badgers had plenty more to cheer about over the weekend with a host of excellent performances both close to home and further afield. While the eyes of the world were on Eliud Kipchoge beating the world record in the Berlin marathon on Sunday, the north Warwickshire outfit had three runners also contesting the famously fast 26.2-mile marathon major. Polesworth man Dave Hill was quick out of the traps, hoping to get close to his outstanding personal best of 2:42 set in Paris earlier this year. The 31-year-old covered the first half in a hugely impressive 77 minutes which set him on a projected finish time of 2:34 and what would have been a huge improvement on Ryan Bennett’s club record of 2:39. However, both Kipchoge and Hill were both unable to maintain their blistering starts and while the Kenyan hung on to clinch a new all-time best and the race win, Hill had to concede defeat to his older rival and battled on bravely to get home in 2:43:25, the sixth fastest marathon in Badgers history and the third fastest of his career to date.
Former men’s vice-captain Mark Repton was not far behind as he continues his quest to navigate all six of the world majors. Now exactly halfway there, he too was on for a personal best at the halfway stage but paid the price later on as energy levels deteriorated. Raising over £1000 for the Alzheimer’s Society charity, he crossed the line in a high-quality 3:06:49. One of only a handful of Badgers in the sub-three club, the Dosthill dad missed out on a PB by around nine minutes but take nothing away from another excellent run from him. Finally, Stephanie Attenborough ran 4:50:14 for the event which earned her a personal best time for the distance by over two minutes. She too was raising money for charity, more than £750 for Prostate Cancer UK.
There was another trio of plucky Badgers in action at the Robin Hood half marathon and it was the in-form Stefan Martin who led the side home in a super speedy 93:20. This was another big personal best for the Nuneaton-based star who is still achieving new bests in his 50’s, amazing stuff. Fellow veteran Colin Lees was next through in 1:48:27 as he continues his comeback from injury and the improving Suzy Farrell ran well to record a time of 2:07:33. Wayne Repton was one of four Badgers testing themselves at the Tissington Trail Half Marathon, and the older brother of marathon man Mark came home in 1:45:59, with Gemma Spencer making her distance debut in 2:48 aided by Fiona Reidy and Pete Mann. Eamon Thawley was also in action narrowly missing out on a sub-two-hour time by mere seconds.
Rising star Megan Griffiths travelled to Stafford for the 10K race there over the weekend and emerged with a wonderful new personal best time of 48:40, hot on the heels of her exploits at the Lichfield 10K earlier in the month. Danny Warren ran 68:44 at the 10-mile Croft Canter, a Leicestershire event peculiar due to its refusal to record finish times while at the JLR fun day 5K, the loyal employee clocked 18:17 to finish second with a highly impressive buggy run.
Parkrun saw yet more good runs, notably from last week’s hero Paul Cooper who went even better still with a time of 24:00 at Arrow Valley. This means he has shed well over four minutes from his old 5K best in the space of eight days. At Kingsbury Water Park, Dave Jenkinson was in PB form ahead of his run next week in the London marathon. The Badgers men’s vice-captain was in super shape as he blasted his way round the two-lap course in 21:13, over a minute and a half better than his previous best. Not only that, but his run was also one of just ten on the day with a wava rating in excess of 70%, another impressive milestone achieved for the Atherstone man. Liz Peel and Rachael Shelton have now clocked up four hundred parkruns equally between them after they both hit the 200 mark on Saturday morning, a terrific effort. Based on an approximation of their average times, they have each spent a full three and a half days of their lives simply running at parkrun. There were three Badgers in the top ten, Chris Horton romped to the 25th win of his Kingsbury career in 17:33 although it was made hard for him along the way. Big Dave Jackson failed to penetrate the top five, flopping back with uncharacteristic flaccidity in sixth spot (19:29) and Ashley T-Dogg Taylor ran 20:26 to take ninth place in a field packed with Badgers.
Glyn Broadhurst took a fine first place at East Park parkrun in 18:19 and Cameron Barnes managed second at Isabel Trail in 18:48. Carl Savage managed fourth place in 20:48 at Frickley Park and Stephanie Attenborough was fifth lady at the Germany-based Ziegelweise event in 32:07 ahead of her marathon effort.