Week Ending - 2020/08/16

CRUMP TO THE PUMP AS BADGERS SEEK TO AVOID SLUMP

With qualification to the Grand Final impossible, Badgers had something of a dead rubber to encounter in the penultimate round of the LRRL Lockdown League at the weekend, a five mile race, a with it a noticeable drop off in participants from the relative excesses of the previous round. Some 621 runners from across Leicestershire took part and it was only thanks to big-hearted Rachel Crump’s late admission into the fray that Badgers were able to field a full side comprising of six runners of each gender.

Notwithstanding, there were some excellent performances from many in the side, a number of whom have firmly established themselves as solid operators in the Badgers ranks. The standard in the lockdown league appears to be considerably higher than the usual league races, probably on account of the ease of entry, unlimited entry numbers and the lack of races across the board attracting all and sundry including some GB athletes for example Gemma Steel.

First back for the club was veteran star Chris Horton who picked up an age category win in his brisk 28:34, good enough for 18th place overall. His form has slowly improved over the course of this competition after a relatively indifferent start. Team-mate Matt Scarsbrook would usually be some way ahead of Horton on the road, but he had a tough day and came back with a time of 29:42, hardly sluggish and still worthy of a top 40 place but below his usual fast standards. Sam Starkey battled hard to make the top 50 with a swift 30:13. He is another athlete who has found some good form during lockdown and he performed admirably in his mildly bloated post-holiday state. The jet-setting Dug Ladkin was the next Badger across the line in a quality 35:04 before a duo of giant striding striders strode home. Top local pensions advisor Rob Boland continued his successful streak in 36:34 before his rival in the recent shadow cup semi final inter club competition Matt Green powered his way home despite feeling a tinge of running malaise on the weekend. Reliably as ever, Bill Gutheridge was mixing it up midfield in a very respectable 37:55, the club’s youngest veteran showing no signs of slowing down just yet. Wayne Repton continued his good form in 38:37, for once not playing second fiddle to pacy brother Mark, who sadly did not feature. Kingsbury based pairing Lee Millership and Mick Bailey finished just four seconds apart in 39:40 and 39:44 respectively although Mick missed the registration, so his stellar effort ultimately did not count. Fantasy football whizz Justin Haywood was next to emerge in 41:07, the warm weather somewhat more humid to what he is used to when overseas. Alan Argyle dug deep to get a quality 41:13 and with it 4th place in his age category, although the efforst came at a cost, the genial ex-accounting specialist suffering an injury in the process, which we all hope turns out to be a minor one.

Newcomer Philip Bridge made a great first impression on proceedings with his fine 42:48 with seasoned former football great Merv Jones doing well in 43:19. Rob Crow continued his ever-present campaign with a brave 46:58, hobbling round with a distinctly uncomfortable looking big toe. His partner Jo Davies was another to maintain her streak as she rolled in a minute later for the girls although she was not the first to finish. That honour went to veteran ace Rachel Crump who stepped in at the eleventh hour to make the side up with a well-paced tempo run accompanied by Cameron Barnes and his Dad for much of the run. Her time of 40:04 was good enough to earn her fourth in her age category – a quality achievement from the big-hearted vocal Villa fan and gran. Lil Souter has been a model of consistency throughout the tournament and here she showed once again how pivotal she is to the side with a classy 42:32, a key player in the ladies side which was missing solid operators such as Nicki Bowman and Cheryl Dewis. Jo Hardy is running better than ever right now, and she clocked an amazing 43:40 before Judy Parkes left it uncharacteristically late with a Bowman-esque 44:46, just minutes before the deadline for submissions. Finally, Badgers owe Lesley Palmer a huge debt of gratitude for filling the final place. The V60 star ran a shade over the hour mark but her performance enabled all of her team-mates efforts to not be in vain, like team-mate Crump before her, showing true Badger spirit for the good of the rest. The final race of the season takes place in two weeks’ time and is over the classic 10K distance. This would normally be the weekend of the Badgers Atherstone 10K which like virtually every other race in recent months has had to be shelved, a great shame for the town, the organisers and most of all the charities that benefit so handsomely from the good fundraising the event helps to generate. While the club can only hope to consolidate their third place in the west division, there are high hopes for a grand finale and who knows, even a bumper turnout, especially when so many in the club would ordinarily be running the exact same distance and paying for the privilege on the very same weekend! In frontrunner Chris Horton, they have the current Leicestershire 10K County Champion (V40), an honour he won at the Carl Rutt 10K exactly one year ago and presumably retains albeit by default!