Week Ending - 2023/10/15
WARREN LEADS THE WAY IN CROSS COUNTRY OPENER
The Derby Runner cross country league 2023/24 began on Sunday with a six-mile race at Ravenstone and it was Danny Warren who led his side home with a superb second-place finish in a sizeable field. The race made its debut as a fixture in the league programme last year and was remembered for being bone dry after a sustained period without rainfall and more akin to a road race underfoot than a classic cross-country course. This year was very different, with large portions of the two-lap course holding significant amounts of water following a deluge of rain in the week leading up to the race.
Warren hit the front end of the race early on, making his intentions clear and was locked in a battle behind the runaway race leader from Harborough Running Club. Feeling in good shape, the Baddesley man then kicked on to establish a gap over his nearest rivals to finish in a comfortable second place in 37:14, easing off the gas in the final mile too. It was his highest-ever finish for his club in a league event. There then ensued a bit of a wait before any teammates arrived back to join him at the finish area. Fellow club stalwart Chris Horton was next back in 22nd place, his first cross-country race since March 2022 when he finished a career-high 5th at Market Bosworth. Four spots behind him was key man Chris Tweed who along with Horton, had to step up to the plate in the absence of key men Neil Russell and Glyn Broadhurst. With eight men to count including at least two veterans, the performances of the more seasoned campaigners are often pivotal to the team’s outcome. On this occasion, however, the side was awash with vets as no fewer than five chipped in with vital points on the day.
Cameron Barnes put in a decent shift in 70th place, narrowly ahead of the hard-working Sam Starkey and the hard-hitting Mark Coggan, both of whom ran gutsy races. Ashley “T-Dogg” Taylor has been going well in training of late and was let off the leash here to break into the top 100 men overall with the team’s final counter Stefan Martin missing out by just two places in another excellent run from the scent-rich Nuneaton warrior.
At one point leading up to the race, there was concern that the club may struggle to find enough runners, but that fear was clearly unfounded as backup came in droves led first by an impressive outing from Ollie Wheldon. Chris Young continued his improvement since joining Badgers with another good effort and Dave Jackson took one for the team alongside Matt Green. Both vets had to battle through muscular discomfort to finish ahead of Colin Lees who was next home.
Bob Dawe made a welcome return to the club and weighed in with an excellent run on his return, despite being somewhat mis-sold on both race distance and terrain quality prior! Equally impressive was the run of Paul Grubb who somehow managed to go many minutes quicker than the previous season when conditions were far more conducive to fast times.
V50 8-mile club record Rob Crow was next back leading a gaggle of Badgers back inclusive of Wayne Repton, Andy Altoft and hard-grafting V75 star Pete Greenfield. Jamie Lawrence went one up in his renewed battle with Adrian Payne for the season and the race saw a return to action of Simon Currier, one of the most successful captains in the club’s history. The Hartshill man smoked his way past several runners on his way to the finish before ever-present Eamon Thawley and fellow vet Mark Reynolds crossed the line, leaving Rick Reilly to wrap things up in his very first cross-country race for the club whom he only joined this year as a complete running novice.
The ladies were also in action, and they were spearheaded by the imperious Eleanor Fowler who once again put in a tremendous effort to place in the top ten overall. Her 6th place means she has always finished in a single-digit position since representing Badgers as a second-claim athlete. The first Badgers scorer was the impressive Beth Woodward who strode home in a superb 24th place, a great feat for someone who only joined the club in the last twelve months. She was backed up by a quality showing from Millie Ridgeway, another relative newcomer to Badger colours. She came 28th overall and helped take the pressure off some of the ageing stalwarts of the ladies’ side that have helped carry the team through the travails of recent seasons. Janey Barrett ran a classy race to bag 41st and Cheryl Dewis, out injured for much of last season, made a welcome return to action and produced a peach of a run to land the final scoring spot, edging out a resurgent Nicki Bowman to the honour. Bowman is hoping to recapture some of her best form this season in a storied career that has seen her clock up more league appearances than any other Badger lady as well as race wins in events such as the prestigious Abbott Trail 5K.
Kat Wilson made a return after an injury-enforced absence, putting in a particularly strong shift to set her season up nicely. Jo Hardy and Judy Parkes both made the top 100 with wholehearted runs before vice-captain Sharon Jackson crossed the line, a fortnight after her epic Loch Ness marathon exploits. Jo Davies and Kerry Clover finished in quick succession alongside Sarah Reynolds who returned to race action. Reynolds famously led the Badgers ladies quartet home at the Launde 6 race two years ago, to ensure the club fielded a complete side when numbers were cut back to the bone one weekend post-Covid. Ivana Babicova and Ann-Marie Currier rounded up the action, the best recipients of the semi-legendary Badger roar that welcomed all finishers (apart from Danny Warren who was first back for the club!)
In the earlier junior event, Badgers of the future Elsie and Martha Lawrence both ran excellent races, in tricky underfoot conditions. Elsie even opted to do the event despite it being her 11th birthday, both sisters emerging with great credit from a race well run.
A date clash meant that a handful of Badgers missed the league race while attending the Maverick Adidas Terrex Jurassic Coast Ultra event, however, there was plenty to cheer about as Dave Hill and Ryan Preece made it a Badger 1-2 in the 35-mile race with times of 4:48:07 and 4:53:36 respectively. Luke Neal had another excellent race as his good form continues – his time 5:43 for a top-twenty finish. With Dave Jenkinson featuring prominently in 7:02 and David Craig clocking 69:42 in the short distance event as well as Pip Weston, who took 1st V60 female in 1:20:52. There were a few tired bodies able to console a distraught Adrian Payne who had to withdraw 26 miles in due to a cloaca injury. The glass-ankled poster boy of Badgers took comfort in two servings of asparagus soup in an attempt to heal in time for the next cross-country race at Bagworth Heath next month.
At Milton Keynes, long-serving marathon mistresses Liz Peel and Karen Thompson notched up a half marathon in 2:18 as Peel closes in on her half-century. Fellow brainbox Kate Rathbone also featured in a half marathon, her very first, in Bath at the weekend, running a benchmark time of 2:41:31.
The Great South Run saw swathes of people join the fun in Portsmouth for a ten miler, with Birchfield Harriers and second claim Badger Matt Scarsbrook producing yet another scintillating time of 51:30, a personal best no less, right at the top of the field in 22nd place. Jimmy Dewis was the first Badger back in 71:42, teasing but not surpassing the legendary Martyn Barrett’s club record for the distance. Paul Cooper got back in 99:52 before a fundraising quartet of Peter Mann, Fiona Reidy, Terry Argyle and Christine Morris supportively finished together in an epic 1:57:01. Hannah and Pete Coogan also ran ten miles but up at the Yorkshire marathon festival, Hannah coming out on top in 1:39:33 to Pete’s 1:40:24.
Tamworth Castle held its inaugural parkrun on Saturday and some 27 Badgers set sail to test out the newest parkrun on the local block. Chris Horton romped home in first place, thereby setting a course record in the process of 18:10 with Sam Starkey (7th) also making the top ten in 19:53. The pacy Megan Griffiths almost made it a Badgers double, only to be thwarted by the arrival of Peel Road Runners ace Emma Pick. Griffiths took 2nd lady in 22:52 with Jill Miller and Anne Whitby-Smith also making the top ten. Nicki Bowman rolled back the years with a vintage display at Hanley parkrun, bagging sixth place in the process. Yvonne Faulkner-Grant also made the top ten at Perry Hall parkrun with Steph White doing similarly at Market Bosworth. Over at Aston Hall, Jim Cottom became the fastest Badger of all time at that particular venue with his fifth-place finish of 22:02.