Week Ending - 2020/10/11

SUPER LEAGUE STARTS WITH A FLOURISH WHILE KEY MEN SHINE

For the first time since before lockdown in March of this year, Badgers had close on 100 members out in action over the course of the week as the eagerly anticipated in-house Super League competition began with a preliminary round as well as a sprinkling of other activity supplementing this.

The Bournville Leafy 10K often attracts a good number of Badgers each year, however this edition was reduced to a series of individual time-trials kept local to each entrant’s home base. Three Badgers were signed up to the event which incredibly attracted just 16 fewer runners than the 268 seen in pre-Covid 2019. Key man Chris Horton finished second overall in a time of 37:52, a great effort after almost a month out. In fact, a fully fit Horton may well have fared even better as his time over the same course in the final LRRL Lockdown League 10K in September would have been enough to have taken first place here by 16 seconds. The weekend offered near perfect running conditions and both Vikki Smith and Dave Bailey took full advantage by clocking times of 63:18 and 63:45 respectively, some five minutes quicker than a year prior in Smith’s case.

In the Cotswolds Duathlon, another three Badgers were taking part and another key man, Glyn Broadhurst made his debut in the multisport discipline. Even better than that, the mild-mannered Man United fan finished in a superb 9^th place overall after his two 5K runs (19:57 & 21:07) punctuated by an 18K bike ride which took him 32:22. This enabled him to take a superb 3^rd place within his age group. Jimmy Dewis was another in action and he ran 23:02, 24:29 with a 37:02 ride to bag 62^nd overall and 8^th in his age group ahead of team mate Stefan Martin who was 10^th in the same category having ridden in 36:59 with two runs of 23:54 and 25:02.

In the trans-Pennine trail based Cookiethon marathon, the redoubtable Liz Peel ran 4:59:07 as she edges her way ever closer to her goal of 100 marathons.

The hotly awaited Badgers Super League began in the week with over 90 members signed up to take part. Eight teams will contest the tournament which should run until December and the first stage saw a 5K prologue taking place. Aaron Chetwynd was fastest overall clocking an impressive 17:35, but only just so as Dave McGowan, a fellow new dad in 2020, ran 17:42 in his attempt. In form Glyn Broadhurst clocked a quality 18:00 while the experienced Rob Boland and Jimmy Dewis both broke 20 minutes. Nivette Chester was first lady back in 21:58 with the athletic Rachael Shelton second with her second fastest 5K of 2020 (24:29).

Nicola Stanley produced a stunning run of 26:36, an unofficial personal best time while Simon Currier was in scintillating form too, the selfless men’s captain clocking 23:10 to also better his very best. Charlene Dunn and SJ Chetwynd both made great returns after having babies earlier in the year while Angela Stallings was back in action from afar which was pleasing for all to see. Arguably the stand-out run of the day was that of veteran Bob Lovegrove who ran a remarkable 21:31, scoring him a magnificent 77.4% WAVA rating. A handful of runners including Kerry Clover, even managed to get out despite having completed their version of the London marathon last Sunday, again, an impressive feat of determination.

A handicap system has been drawn up for the competition which should make for a fascinating battle between all the teams and effectively creates a pretty level playing field for all regardless of outright speed meaning the tournament is wide open at this stage with no favourites. Next week will see competitors do it all again as the points scoring begins in earnest and club bookmakers can start revealing the latest odds for all the Badgers charges.

One of the captains is the noted Professor of Education at the University of Worcester Maggi Savin-Baden. The published academic commented “This super league is so good. It has given everyone a fantastic focus and runners are all keen to improve. It’s fabulous that the club have managed to put the event together and I know my team are all really grateful.”