Week Ending - 2024/09/01

A REAL HIGHLIGHT REEL WEEKEND FOR BADGERS

The weekend proved to be one of the most impressive yet in 2024, in terms of individually brilliant performances. Four new club records were set as well as a host of personal bests. Some 46 Badgers turned out at Rotherby near Melton Mowbray for the penultimate LRRL race of the season and the Champions Elect men’s team once again showcased their wares with their talismanic lead-out man, Matt Scarsbrook leading the team home in a superb second spot with an unbelievably rapid 41:47. The Rotherby course often produces personal best runs on account of there being very few races over the specific distance but the challenging gradients, especially over the first half of the race, make it anything but a quick course. To clock this kind of time with a race in his legs from 36 hours earlier and achieving a diamond county standard speaks volumes about Scarsbrook’s talent. As usual, he and race winner Mo Hussein were in a league of their own in the race which still saw a host of Badgers weigh in with epic performances. 

Veteran stars Chris Horton and Neil Russell helped Scarsbrook fill the top ten with phenomenal efforts. Both athletes ran inside a one-time seemingly unbeatable V40 club record, even pipping GB star Gemma Steel on the way to the line. Horton took 8th place overall in a time of 45:42, his fourth PB and club record in five races while Russell finished metres behind him in 45:54, both athletes bagging themselves diamond standards. In a particularly competitive V45 age bracket, the in-form duo now look well placed to scoop individual prizes once the season draws to a close at the Markfield 10K at the end of the month. Russell, who must surely be a contender for Badger of the Year after a magnificent cross-country season and taking second place in the LRRL Spring league, produced yet another huge PB, meaning he has improved over every one of the six distances raced this season, the only exception being his 10K race at Prestwold where extreme heat meant he lost out by one second! All while in his later forties too! 

The pacy Ryan Preece was somewhat under the weather but still had the wherewithal to battle it out for 12th place in 46:34. New vets signing Adrian Payne took the crucial fifth scoring spot with his excellent run of 49:23 and the ever-reliable Danny Warren filled up the sextet half a minute later to mean all six scorers were inside the top thirty, a superb achievement in a field of 535.

Glyn Broadhurst’s return to regular action has been pivotal to the fortunes of the league-winning vets team and he once again proved his quality with a gutsy 50:54, outpacing his good friend and younger teammate Dave Jackson to the line. Mark Repton ran an 8-mile PB in 51:33 with another vet, Chris Tweed going strongly in 52:13, showing the incredible strength in depth of the over-40 brigade. Jack Burton-Peet ran a PB in 53:49 as his super season continues in fine fashion. Ashley Taylor hit back at the critics with a solid 54:50 and Eric Fowler also made the top 100, this time with the second club record of the day, the V60 in 55:03 to give him the fourth and final diamond standard of the day. So good was his run, he ran nine minutes inside the old record and now has a faster record time than the age category below him, the V50! Rob Crow’s long-standing mark was finally eclipsed on the day by both Mark Coggan (in 56:29) and Stefan Martin (58:19), the latter being a fine 20-second PB. 

Wayne Repton managed yet another PB in his best season of running to date (56:43). Matt Green, Bill Gutheridge and Chris Young all put in excellent runs before 8-mile hero Rob Crow became the third Badger on the day to run inside an existing club record and not end up with the honour, with a quite wonderful 63:54. Colin Lees and Dave Purvis ran well ahead of PB’ing Paul Cooper, who lowered his best down by some nine minutes for the distance. Mick Bailey produced another vintage effort with Kieran Coopey (73:38) and Matt Smith (74:56) both chipping in with top-quality personal best times. Paul Restall and Ross Kilburn also appeared for the men as well as the oldest Badger of the lot, Peter Greenfield who crossed the line in 77:25 to take the race prize for the first V75 to finish, a terrific time and achievement. 

The in-form ladies' side were without some of their heavy hitters at Rotherby but a notable feature of Megan Griffiths’s side this term has been their strength in depth across the board. New recruit Sara Wilson was the first female back in a fabulous 59:56, the only lady to break the hour mark and just thirty seconds shy of the brilliant Becky Harris’s long-standing club record for the distance. Stacey Horner out in a quality shift to make the top 30, her 61:07 just edging out her skipper by two places and eight seconds, not that Griffiths was overly concerned as she landed yet another PB in what has been a superb season on all fronts. The scoring four was completed by another brilliant run from Grace Barsby who ran one of the biggest PBs ever seen, a 23-minute improvement ensuring that the scorers for once did not include a veteran athlete from a ladies' side more than overly dependent on them over years gone by. Barsby’s 67:49 enabled the rising star to reach the giddy heights of the top 70 before Victoria Jones ran her heart out in 69:48 to lead the vet ladies home and with it earn herself another personal best. 

Jo Davies showed remarkable courage to get around in a marvellous time of 70:34 and help Captain Sharon Jackson round out the ladies' vets side on the day. Alice Belcher, Hannah Burgess, Liz Peel and Jill Miller all finished within quick succession with Serena Baker following them home, albeit with 16 miles in her legs from the day before. Megan Church followed up her Friday night 5K PB with a fine time of 79:10 leaving Krystal Knight, Kate Rathbone, Ivana Babicova and Sara Hawkins to wrap up a super morning’s work for the side in black and white.

A clutch of Badgers were in action on Friday night at the fast and furious mid-Cheshire 5K race, nationally renowned as a place to run very quickly. Matt Scarsbrook ran a breathtaking 14:47, his first time inside 15 minutes and good enough for 23rd place in a huge field stacked with quality. His wava rating of 86.92% ranks as one of the highest in the history of the club and must rank as one of his best-ever runs in a career littered with quality. Ryan Preece ran a Duplantis-esque 15:57 to earn himself a one-second PB with a cracking effort. 5K club record holder Liberty Underhill returned to competitive action after a long layoff and showed just how much class she has on the road with a magnificent 20:47. Millie Ridgway ran a stellar race to bag a PB of 21:33 as did the up-and-coming Megan Church in 26:11.

Liz Peel, Karen Thompson and Serena Baker all took part in the 15.6 mile SVN Pick a Medal Challenge, completing the distance in 2:52. Lucy Marchi, Karen Thompson, Suzy Farrell and Maggi Savin-Baden all went well at the Belvoir Triathlon, the latter finishing second in her age category and the industrious Marchi ending up sixth female overall in the Olympic distance, a fine feat. 

At parkrun, Glyn Broadhurst and Megan Griffiths both took second at Abermaw where former Badger legend Sam Starkey was dusting off his trainers in anticipation of an unexpected London marathon training block this winter. Steph Phillips and Amber Nickless both ran excellent PBs at Conkers parkrun while Rachel Crump not only took first place at Kingsbury Water Park but helped herself to the V50 club record with her rapid run of 22:37 and the second-highest ladies wava ever behind Pip Weston’s fabled 78.01%. Hattie Lines ran a PB at Haverfordwest parkrun, Juliette Trollope notched up her 50th event and Yvonne Faulkner-Grant completed her Regionnaire award by having featured at every one of the 46 parkruns across the West Midlands and Suzy Farrell took 4th place at Rosliston.