Week Ending - 2023/01/15

BADGERS DO GOOD IN THE MARTINSHAW MUD

A somewhat depleted Badger outfit travelled to the first cross-country league race of 2023 hoping to re-establish themselves as the force to be reckoned with in the Derby Runner XC league. With several key men missing through injury and illness and the talismanic Eleanor Fowler forced to watch from the sidelines, the Badgers that were able to take part gave little short of 100% efforst on Sunday morning. With so much rain in recent weeks, it came as no surprise to see the Martinshaw Woods course holding gallons of water making for an extremely muddy and slippy spectacle.

Notwithstanding, Badgers managed two men in the top ten in a quality field too as in-form Danny Warren, in his 99^th representative league appearance for the club, took a superb 5^th place with up-and-coming (for everyone) Ryan Preece backing him up ably in 9^th. Dave Hill took time out of his hectic marathon training programme to take a gutsy 21^st spot with fellow poster-boy and marathoner Adi Payne following in soon after in 28^th, drawing level with Jamie Lawrence in the pair’s head-to-head battle. Chris Tweed has been putting the miles in of late ahead of his Spring marathon and it was noticeable seeing his efforts paying off already as he weighed in with a magnificent 39^th place on the day, arguably one of the stand-out performances from the side. With Glyn Broadhurst, Neil Russell and Chris Horton all out, key man Sam Starkey knew he had a crucial role to play and once more he delivered the goods with a reliably hard-fought display. Rising star Cameron Barnes and captain Mark Cox made up the scoring eight with Mark Coggan going particularly well ahead of Ashley Taylor, the returning Rob Boland and vice-captain Dave Jenkinson. The experienced Jimmy Dewis and Rob Crow battled hard over an unforgiving surface that deteriorated with every runner ahead of them churning the ground up for those behind. Jamie Lawrence, Simon Payne, Eamon Thawley and the determined Peter Greenfield all produced solid efforts for the men.

The ladies side was beset with unavailability and absenteeism to the point where only three of them made the start line. Leading the way in impressive style was newcomer Liberty Underhill who made light work of the difficult conditions, scooting home in a quality 36^th position, well ahead of stand-in skipper Sharon Jackson who made the top 100 home. Clare Whetton crossed the line minutes later, still as glamorous as ever, even in the mud! With two races to go, it remains to be seen whether Badgers will be able to retain their long-held title of Leicestershire cross country champions, one thing is for sure, it will be a much closer run thing this year than for some years. In the junior race, Badgers of the future Jimmy Boland and Martha Lawrence were among those in fine form, completely undeterred by the treacherous terrain.

Away from the cut and thrust of the league action, there were plenty of parkruns taking place the day prior. At Kingsbury, Megan Griffiths romped to her third victory at the water park, in a cracking time of 23:51. Steve Perry made the top twenty in 25:10 while Liz Peel took 10^th lady in 27:43 in a field that included other Badgers such as Mick Bailey who set a new V70 club record in 26:55 (expect that to be broken again soon mind you), Sharon Jackson, Jill Miller, Mark Reynolds, Dave Jenkinson and Andy Altoft.

Mark Cox took 5^th place at a muddy Market Bosworth in 20:21 with Colin Lees, Eileen McElhone, Janet Crumpton, Leesa Dennis, Merv Jones, Karen Draper, Nicki Bowman, Glyn Broadhurst, Cameron Barnes and Lisa Barnes all in accompaniment. The two Jo’s ran at Perry Hall, Jo Hardy taking 6^th spot in 27:16 and Jo Davies not far behind in 15^th. Adam McElhone and Lee Millership ran at Babbs Mill and Holly & Andy Smith, Vicki Fowler, Vicki Jennings and Anne-Marie Matthews all travelled to Ashbourne.

Laura Starkey took a superb first place female at the challenging three-lap course at Bedworth in 25:08 with husband Sam making 9^th male overall in 21:34. Stefan Martin, Gail Gunn and Badger of the week Kate Rathbone all ran too. Sarah Reynolds ran well at Conkers alongside Martin Graham and Natasha Hole while David Grant polished off a good time of 23:01 at Northampton. Mark Repton was the highest placing male Badger of the day with his excellent 4^th at Brueton Park, his older brother Wayne again playing second fiddle to his speedy sibling, although safe in the knowledge that his fantasy football knowledge leaves him top of the Badgers tree yet again, where he has been all season long. Adrian Parkes clocked 24:35 at the picturesque Isabel Trail parkrun and Zoe Yeatman ran at Graves parkrun.