BRILLIANT BAXTER BEATS OFF THE OPPOSITION

BADGERS speed king Chris Baxter took the spoils at the weekend as he won the Wythall & Hollywood 5K in dominant style. Hot weather and a problem with the lead bike did not faze the 29-year-old as he strode home in a super time of 17:30, a comfortable nine seconds ahead of second place. Veteran Richard Hill was also in action although in the 10K event at the same meeting running an excellent 55:21.

A plethora of BADGERS made the trip to the village of Whissendine in Rutland on Friday evening and enjoyed the annual 6-mile race in some balmy conditions. Chris Horton was first back in 7th place clocking a great time of 36:17 and good enough for him to secure his third V40 prize in the sell-out event. Cameron Barnes bagged a PB in 47:05 while Ashley Taylor overcame his pre-race nerves to run 49:35. Rob Oliver returned to race action and ran a PB in 51:08. Alan Argyle and Stuart Youngs ran 51:49 with Richard Hill just behind in 52:46. Jo Hardy managed a fine PB of 56:07 accompanied by husband Keir with Charlotte Oliver (56:22), Judy Parkes (58:59) and Helena Rean (59:08) all completing the undulating course in good time. Yvonne Faulkner and Kerry Clover both ran (59:50) ensuring everyone broke the hour mark in the event.

Danny Warren just missed out on a top ten spot in his first run as a married man. He finished in 13th spot in the Coventry Northbrook 10K in a time of 37:31. At Draycote Water, Keir Hardy grabbed a terrific 8th place at the evening 7@Seven 7K race. His time of 28:40 was significantly quicker than his nearest BADGER team mate, on this occasion nephew Cameron Barnes who ran 35:57. Other runners included Jo Hardy (41:08), Sam Klucis (41:24) and Lisa Barnes (52:00).

Eamon Thawley battled the heat at the Wyre Forest trail half marathon, emerging with a time of 2:28. Matt Green tackled the same distance at the Ashbourne half and finished in a fine 1:51:19 with Sharon Jackson also running in 2:21:41 while Jonathan Vardy, Emma Vardy, Kerry Clover and Yvonne Faulkner all competed in the Black Country half marathon. In sunny Devon, Nicki Bowman finished 19th female in the gruelling 25-mile Man v Coast event, battling for over seven hours on tricky terrain and accompanied by BADGERS key man Glyn Broadhurst.

At parkrun, there was plenty of action too. John Hanson led the club home at Bedworth in 26:45 with Sarah Vine, Mick Judd, Andy Smith and Holly Matts all getting round. Maggi Savin-Baden became the first BADGER to take part in the Crissy Field parkrun in San Francisco managing a respectable 26:41 in the process. At Shrewsbury, the parkrun connoisseurs Richard Hill and Jared Karim ran 25:29 and 26:20 respectively and at Conkers, Shaun Coyle led the way in 23:07 accompanied by Alan Argyle, Katrina Dawson, Claire Bradford and Matt Bradford.

The fastest BADGER of the week was Sam Starkey who was narrowly run out of first place at Kingsbury Water Park. His time of 19:19 however meant that he was the only runner to break 20 minutes on a warm weekend. Mark Repton clocked 20:58 and Stefan Martin 21:02 while the evergreen Martyn Barrett ran 21:12, just four seconds off his own V60 club record. Matt Green, Tim Gould, Colin Lees, Darryl Johnson, Leon Millership, Liz Peel and Paul Restall all ran as did Paul Grubb, Jason Husselbee-Orwin, Adam McElhone and Karen Missen. Amanda Gould and Tracy Piper both got round safely before Teresa Buck completed her 92nd run alongside husband David.