Week Ending - 2023/04/30

WARREN PIPPED INTO SECOND AS COGGAN TAKES CLUB RECORD

There was double delight at Mallory Park recently as Badgers had representatives in both the 5K and 10K races at their Run Mallory Park festival incorporating the 5K County Championships. Club stalwart Danny Warren tackled the 10K, with a relatively small field but take nothing away from his outstanding display of speed that enabled the in-form Baddesley man and solid operator, a super second place behind Simon Allen in 34:54, his fastest 10K time for several seasons. 

Newcomer Mark Coggan was enrolled in the 5K event and he produced a sparkling run to shave five seconds off Jimmy Dewis’s V50 club record with a fine time of 19:34. It was Coggan’s first club record and makes him the sixth different V50 athlete to hold a record in a highly competitive age bracket. It also means that Dewis has had both of his records, the 5K and marathon snatched away in a matter of weeks, which may force the multi-sport raconteur into a bout of more serious training.

Elsewhere, Chris Horton was in action at the Uttoxeter 10K, just a week after his heroics in the London Marathon. It was his third attempt at the race he won six years earlier in 2017 but despite recording his fastest time to date over the dastardly hilly course, he was run into his lowest placing so far, thanks to the efforts of Notts AC veteran John Muddeman and Cannock star James McCann. His 36:47 was good enough for a spot on the podium however, in third position. 

There was a number of good performances at parkrun on the Saturday morning. Ryan “The Rocket” Preece beat off all but one of the competition at Edgbaston Reservoir to take second in 17:10 making him the fastest Badger of the day. Mark Repton operated solidly in one of his final races as a non-veteran athlete, taking four places in a brisk 19:12 at Beacon, Lichfield. Sharon Jackson made the top ten once again, this time at Ford parkrun while Sam Starkey moved to 199 with a fifth-place finish at Wolverhampton in 19:34. Megan Griffiths made the top ten at Coventry with her rapid 23:40. Kingsbury Water Park saw Chris Tweed bounce straight back into form after his Manchester Marathon effort, the sub-3 star running 19:26 to take fifth place ahead of Cameron Barnes and Bill Gutheridge. Maggi Savin-Baden ran at Frederic Back parkrun in Canada, making her by far the most travelled Badger of the weekend for which there was sadly no physical award as such. 

Next week sees the first of a trio of Leicestershire Road Running League races coming in quick succession with the long-awaited return of the Bosworth Half Marathon, celebrating it’s 20th running and the first since 2019 prior to the onset of the pandemic. Badgers hope to have a sick squad assembled, with their men, in particular, looking to send it over the 13.1-mile distance around Upton, Shenton and Sutton Cheney.