Week Ending - 2022/10/09

BADGERS TRIPLE WIN AT MAVERICK EVENT

The inaugural Lincolnshire Maverick races took place on Saturday with Badgers picking up first places in each of the three men’s events. Matt Scarsbrook, Dave Hill and Adrian Payne have all triumphed at the established off-road Maverick series in the past but never before have three runners from the club managed a 100% success rate. In the long-distance race of 22K, it was newly appointed men’s captain Mark Cox who stormed to victory in a hugely impressive 87:25. The hard-hitting, floor-fitting phenomenon from Stoke Golding kept second place Adrian Payne (also of Badgers) at bay by a comfortable margin of six minutes. Cameron Barnes (1:41:02) finished 8^th overall after selflessly helping to pace the captain over the opening few sections of the race and Ashley Taylor (1:57:36) and the venerable David Craig (2:11:00) both gave good accounts of themselves on challenging yet scenic east of England terrain.

The medium distance of 10K was emphatically won by Danny Warren who strode home in 38:47, some four minutes clear of his closest challenger and Ryan Preece dropped down to the short event on account of feeling unwell and dominated the field there too with a time of 25:34, a massive five minutes ahead of second place. What made Preece’s feat all the more impressive was that he travelled over to watch his teammates having already signed up to run prior but felt the urge to run on arrival so borrowed some kit from lost property to beat off the opposition. For the ladies, Pip Weston bagged first in her age category and 10^th overall in the medium distance.

These were not the only exceptional performances from members over the weekend as down on the south coast, Rob Crow rounded off an outstanding season by taking his seventh personal best across as many distances at the age of 59. Competing in the Bournemouth half marathon, the Atherstone man crossed the line in 1:43:50, taking nearly half a minute off his old best set three years ago in Coventry. His partner Jo Davies was also in action, putting in a spirited effort to get back in 2:07:43. Paul “PB” Cooper as he is now known, postponed his London marathon recovery period to help himself to another personal best this week as he finished first Badger back in the Alcester 10K. His time of 54:39 was some two minutes faster than he’d ever been before.

The previous week saw Matt Scarsbrook, running for his first claim outfit Birchfield Harriers, in action north of the border in the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow over the half marathon distance. GB star Callum Hawkins won the race, but Baddesley man Scarsbrook took a fine 11^th place in 70:42 on a tough course. In a field stacked with talent, the 25-year-old was the first Englishman home in a race with around 10,000 competitors, a truly remarkable feat.

Stephanie Attenborough took on three races in as many days starting with Thursday’s Big Bear Half Marathon (3:20:58) at Newbold Comyn before moving on to Walton on Thames for the Phoenix Marathon (5:46:48) on the Friday. Saturday saw her in action at the Vampire 50-mile race at Denbies Wine Estates in Dorking completed in 13:48:06.

Justin Haywood was the sole overseas runner with a hard fought 1:45:01 in the heat of the Lisbon marathon, Portugal, another cracking effort from the popular part-time Tamworthian and master of football prediction-based games. Suzy Farrell ran the Dovedale Dash in 51 minutes, a good attempt.

There was a 5K personal best for Chris Young at Conkers parkrun, the Atherstone-based runner clocking 26:52 at the Conkers event where Megan Griffiths made the top ten ladies finishing fourth in 24:21. Other top ten Badgers included the indefatigable Glyn “Gee” Broadhurst who ran 19:36 in seventh spot at Chasewater. Fellow marathon runner of last weekend Sam Starkey was fifth at Edgbaston Reservoir with a time of 18:40 while over at Kingsbury, Dave Jackson produced the highest finish of all Badgers with a superb podium place in third with a battling 18:53, proof were it ever needed that he has finally turned a corner in his bid to recover peak fitness. Mark Repton, currently between marathons took a respectable fifth in 20:29