Week Ending - 2023/02/12

HILL STARS AS NEW BESTS SET AT WREXHAM 

Badgers ace Dave Hill is in the form of his life right now and he led the way as ten Badgers travelled up to Wrexham in north Wales for the Village Bakery Half Marathon on Sunday. The race is a typically fast affair with a high calibre of athletes covering a flat, speedy course, it came as no surprise to see over half the travelling contingent emerge with new personal bests for the distance. The Polesworth man has been training hard for the upcoming London marathon in April and enjoyed zero downtime en route to this race, which made his time of 73:05 all the more remarkable. His was the first of a hatful of PB’s on the day and a fully deserved reward for the 31-year-old who has quietly underpinned the success of the Badgers Leicestershire League-winning men’s team of 2022.

Following the speedy Hill home was another athlete cut from the same cloth of commitment and endeavour. Veteran star Chris Tweed has come on leaps and bounds in recent months and here he recorded a stunning time of 82:06, a big new best for the Dordon hard man. He too is in the throes of marathon training and was able to cash in on his improved fitness levels with a confidence-boosting reward in the Principality. Former men’s skipper Carl Savage was next back in 87:28, yet another PB and a time beyond his wildest dreams a few years ago. Once again, he demonstrated the power of hard work, commitment and dedication as he romped to a wonderful time, with potentially still more to come. 

Old soldier Colin Lees ran his best time for several seasons with 1:42:36 as he aims to be Ball Game ready come Shrove Tuesday, leading the club in the absence of hard man Dave Jackson who is ruled out with an ankle injury. London-bound Rob Crow was next back in a quality 1:49:26 with his fiancée Jo Davies following him home in an excellent 2:04:52. Jamie Lawrence ran 1:51:40, the second biggest PB of the day, smashing the two-hour mark with consummate ease and Judy Parkes, a relatively experienced runner by comparison, helping herself to a PB this time in 2:01:22, a terrific achievement from the 50-year-old star. 

Karen Draper was next through in a very respectable 2:16:02 as part of her London marathon training and last but not least was Eileen McElhone who ran a 16-minute PB in 2:21:12 making it two bests in a little over a week for the much-improved veteran. 

Elsewhere, the evergreen Justin Haywood bagged a top ten finish in a tough Cannock Chase 5, a five-mile trail race on an uncompromising yet scenic course, his time 40:42. 

At parkrun, there was plenty of action across the Midlands with Adam McElhone’s 23:14 (8th place) at Babbs Mill amongst the stand-out performances. This was a personal best for him on what is not generally regarded as a particularly quick course and he’s done one or two parkruns in the past making the achievement all the more impressive. 

There were high finishes for Mark Repton and Laura Starkey who were second at Kingsbury and Valentines Park, Ilford respectively. Jo Hardy and Jo Davies both made the top ten at Sandwell Valley and Sarah Vine made a welcome return to form at the Market Bosworth parkrun. Eamon Thawley was first Badger back at Chasewater with a streamlined Anne Devenney producing a course best time at Rosliston.

Key man Glyn Broadhurst is back after an injury lay-off running 19:07 in third place at Woodgate Valley, the quickest Badger of the weekend while Megan Griffiths and Rachael Shelton both earned top-ten finishes at Kingsbury Water Park.