Week Ending - 2021/02/07

KATRINA MAKING WAVES WHILE CARL SAVAGES HIS PB

It was set to be another quiet week of action for the Badgers until they were invited at the last minute into a 5k team event by the legendary Simon Mayes of West End Runners and LRRL fame, along with 13 other Leicestershire league clubs. This kind of virtual event has been invaluable to competitive badgers to test themselves in as close as possible to a race event under the current covid restrictions. The point scoring was first based on numbers taking part to encourage members of all abilities to get stuck in and secondly on average club member’s finishing time. The team results were not available at the time of going to press, but individually there were some impressive efforts from several Badgers.

Sub-zero temperatures meant only the bravest Badgers donned their club vests and gloves and got out and had a go. Standout performances came from Carl Savage, who has got quicker and quicker since joining the club, due to his stubborn grit and determination. He was third fastest male badger in 20.19 (a new PB!), and it pulls him closer to the magic sub-20. Katrina Dawson, one of the clubs new V50 stars also beat her PB in 28.54, another courageous solo effort.

First lady back was Badgers racing regular and fast becoming club legend Cheryl Dewis, in a quality 23.40 narrowly beating Nivette Mullan (23.44) into 2^nd lady home. Badgers very own cheeky monkey Dewis was expertly paced by Glyn Broadhurst and bizarrely for the second time in a month they extended their time together out running by helping a stray dog get home….nice touch! V50 ladies favourite Dave Jackson was the first man home (17.52) also paced by Glyn Broadhurst beating off an under the weather Sam Starkey into 2^nd place (18.27). Dug Ladkin had broken the sub 20 a few months ago but was happy to do 21.24 after a period of illness. Another on the comeback trail was David Grant who ran beautifully in 22.18 in negative splits, whilst V60 pace prince Mick Bailey ran a speedy 24.30. Well respected V60 athlete Pip Weston ran a quality 24.55 in an inspiring effort.

Moving through the field, the efforts continued to impress. Always game Badgers Matt Green (21.40), Steph White (25.09), Kerry Clover (25.42) , Jo Hardy (25.46) and Leesa Dennis (26.53) pushed hard for the vest resulting in some credible times, Dennis, in particular, deserves a pat on the back for a determined return to fitness after injury. Credit to club captain Lil Souter for rounding up a crack squad of willing soldiers running at short notice, she ran a sweaty (25.57), another one returning from illness.

Local wine merchant Nicki Bowman is currently fighting a debilitating foot issue but made a step in the right direction, continuing her upward curve with 27.15 reportedly tapdancing the last 50m in a show of defiance to her niggly tootsies, always inspirational! Club ‘lookers’ Adrian Parkes, David Craig, Judy Parkes and Rachael ‘Bring the Shizzle’ Shelton romped home in 23.57, 24.30, 27.20 and 27.39 respectively. Judy was quoted as saying afterwards ‘I got inside and left my name spray-painted on the walls y’all’, always feisty and fired up that one! Captain Currier (24.34) courageously chugged home next after a period of inactivity, a well-earned rest after averaging 90 miles a week for 2020. Run streaking supremo Chris Davies always does 5k and was happy to help the team with a time of 26.03. Rounding off the men was Merv Dennis, another back after a bout of illness, he gave 100% in 27.47. Run leader Andy Smith 27.47 and John Devenney 29.47 rounded it off for the men.

The women had 4 more runners than the fairweather men, Holly McClay 27.47, the gorgeous Clare Whetton and newcomer Jill Miller both running 28.11. Hard-working Carla Boardman ran 30.33, a reward for her recent regular mileage, while club treasure Gail Gunn also braved the elements in 33.10. Anne Devenney ran her first sub 30 in years, special credit to her for exceptional training in recent months. Adrian Payne however, did not run ‘virtual running is rubbish, I’m a real man and real racer that does real races’ he was quoted as saying on Friday evening. Sadly, there was one disqualification to mention, Matt Scarsbrook fell foul of the flat route rules, running straight down Boot Hill and launching himself down a well in the final 100m for what would have been a PB in 15.37.

Many badgers are using the offseason to rack up the miles in training. Huge kudos to Mark Cox, Badger’s go-to ultra specialist and Glyn Broadhurst both doing upwards of 70-mile weeks in the past month. Broadhurst topping his running up with sessions on the bike, of also around 100km per week, national sportswear company Avec have picked up on his efforts from his weekly blog and sponsored him with free initialised running gear. Both tough Badgers, surely will be lean and mean and breaking PB’s in the summer. And finally, the ‘gumpesque’ Bill Gutheridge just kept going on his Sunday long run and finished his first-ever marathon, ‘I got to 17 miles and felt good so kept going, that last two km was particularly enjoyable as I knew I was almost there’. Proof that running marathons is really fun!