BREAKER BREAKER – PARKRUN RECORDS TUMBLE WITH BADGER BAXTER LEADING THE WAY

The festive period saw the opportunity for runners to complete three parkruns in a week as the regular Saturday morning fix was supplemented by a variety of New Years Day double runs available in the area. Between them, Badgers racked up a staggering 188 parkruns which saw nine new personal bests and a new club record.

Regular readers of these pages will appreciate that the form runner over the last few weeks has been Chris Baxter and at Kingsbury Water Park, he lowered his club record for the distance, set ten days prior at Long Eaton, by a single second to a superb 16:43. Despite showing a speed never seen before, this was only good enough for 6^th place on the day, such was the volume and quality of the field assembled. Lisa Barnes was in fine fettle over the festive period as she helped herself to not one but two personal bests. Firstly, she hit the giddy heights of 32:39 on January 1^st before following it up with a 32:03 4 days later over the same circuit at Kingsbury. Dave McGowan produced a magical run in 17:40 (PB) over at Conkers to land 5^th place behind Badger of the Year 2018 Aaron Chetwynd (17:39). Mark Repton 19:13 ran his best ever time as he embarks on some serious training for this year’s London marathon, Vikki Smith bagged a PB of 31:08 ahead of the improving Helen Morgan who ran 32:05 (PB). Two long serving lady Badgers also got involved as Jo Hardy (26:09) and captain Sarah-Jane Chetwynd (26:35) both recorded new bests at a time of the year when it is least expected. Neil Clemons made it ten with his terrific 19:25 at Kingsbury Water Park.

New Year’s Day saw a plethora of Badgers on show across a variety of locations. Dave McGowan made the Rosliston podium in 3^rd place (18:21) with Glyn Broadhurst and Nicki Bowman, the Posh and Becks of Badgers, taking 3^rd male and female respectively at Newtown parkrun in Wales with their times of 19:11 and 24:16. At Belton House, Richard Hill, Yvonne Faulkner and Jared Karim all featured before trotting off to complete Newark parkrun while Stuart Youngs turned out at Braunstone and Carl & Esther Holyoak both running at Brierley Forest parkrun. Helen Smith was in action at Highbury Fields. Conkers saw a bumper showing inclusive of Tim Gould, Si Gilbert, Stefan Martin, Ian Orton, Nivette Chester, Dave Jarvis, Steph White, Pete Boardman, Charlene Dunn, Charlotte and Rob Oliver, Emma & Jon Vardy, Rich Chester, Darryl Johnson, Pip Weston, Fiona Meldrum, Sarah Vine, Helena Rean, Alan Argyle, Terry Argyle, Nicola Stanley.

Many of these runners went onto Kingsbury, specifically Mark Repton, Matt Green, Tim Gould, Matt Jackson, Graham Engley, Si Gilbert, Colin Lees, John Hanson, Lee Millership, Stefan Martin, Dave W Jarvis, Rachael Shelton, David Craig, Nivette & Rich Chester, Pip Weston, Becky Kinson, Darryl Johnson, Steph White, Alan Argyle, Sarah Jane Fletcher, Eamon Thawley, Sharon Jackson, Fiona Meldrum, Sarah Vine, Leesa Dennis, Adam McElhone, Rob Crow, Jo Davies, Karen Missen, Paul Restall, Amy Wakelin, Simon & Ann-Marie Currier, Amanda Gould, Nicola Stanley, Dave & Teresa Buck, Helen Morgan, Mandy Hanson, Debbie Wilson, Jo Hardy, Pete Boardman, Rachel Hudspith, Vicky Cawley, Vikki Smith, Stuart Batchelor, Jenna Shaw, Zoe Yeatman, Eileen McElhone, Joanne Haddon and Peter Black.

Gail Gunn was the sole Badger at Markeaton parkrun while Holly Matts and Andy Smith were out in force at Perry Hall. Rosliston saw Ian & Nicola Orton both in action alongside Charlene Dunn, Rob & Charlotte Oliver, Jon & Emma Vardy and Helena Rean. Jon Davies ran at Worcester Pitchcroft, Dug and Alex Ladkin at Upton Court with ten Badgers going at it over in Sutton park, namely John Hanson, Matt Green, Graham Engley, Holly Matts, Andy Smith, Rob Crow, Eamon Thawley, Jo Davies, Jenna Shaw and Sheila Benbow.

On Saturday, normal service resumed with Danny Warren leading the Badgers charge at Kingsbury Water Park. He finished third male, a place ahead of veteran Sam Starkey in 18:46. Matt Green edge towards that hitherto elusive sub 20 time in 20:10 with Graham Engley, Tim Gould, Matt Jackson, Rachael Shelton, David Craig, Jake Bradford, Cameron Barnes, Bob Rowland, Darryl Johnson, John Devenney, Jo Hardy, Sarah Vine, Fiona Meldrum, Leesa Dennis, Stuart Batchelor, Sharon Jackson, JO Davies, Adie Kirkham, Paul Restall, Ben Satchell, Amanda Gould, Vikki Smith, Helen Morgan, Keir Hardy, Dug Ladkin, Andy Venney, Mandy Hanson, Lesley Palmer, Alex Ladkin, Holly Matts, Andy Smith, Helen Smith (no relation) and Teresa & David Buck (relations).

Elsewhere, Gail Gunn ran a rapid 29:15 at Arrow Valley, Eamon Thawley, Alan Argyle, Yvonne Faulkner and Richard Hill appeared at Rosliston, Karen Missen bossed the show at Braunstone, Jon Davies showed up at Worcester and Ian & Nicola Orton ran at Perry Hall. Glyn Broadhurst made the top ten at Brueton as he finished 7^th in 18:53, Nicki Bowman also ran. John Hanson produced a season’s best 21:03 as he rolled back the years in fine style. Conkers saw Chris Upton return to action along with John Dulson, Dave Bailey, Katrina Dawson, Natasha Hole and the pretty princess of pace Karen Thompson.

Men’s captain Adi Payne was the highest placed finisher as he stormed to second spot at Bedworth in 18:44. Matt Tonks also made the top ten as he ran a steady 20:22. Stefan Martin ran an impressive 20:39 with Pete Boardman, Terry Argyle, Ann-Marie Scurrier, Vicky Cawley, Nicola Stanley, Karen Draper, Anne-Marie Matthews, and Pam Bridgwood all showing.

Finally, away from parkrun, there were just two performances to report, John Hanson plundered a season’s best 35:42 at the Centurion Grand Prix 5 mile race in Chelmsley Wood with Adam McElhone following through in 46:34. Next week sees the cross country league recommence with a trip to Bagworth Heath as the men’s and women’s sides aim to consolidate their strong start to the season in their respective divisions.