Week Ending - 2022/09/18

SUPER COOPER’S WONDER WEEKEND

Badgers runner Paul Cooper was one of a number of Badgers who travelled to Walsall parkrun on Saturday, celebrating Janet Crumpton’s birthday and enjoying a 5K run around the fast three-lap course. A veteran of some 91 parkruns, he made his second trip to the famous Arboretum course and came home with a breath-taking new personal best of 24:43. To put this run into context, his previous best was some 3 minutes and 43 seconds slower, so it is quite possible that he has achieved the greatest margin of improvement ever seen by a frequent parkrunner in Badger colours. Weight loss and dedicated training saw him hurtling around the first two laps, but he had the strength to maintain his high tempo into the final lap, leaving everything out there for the final 100 yards. A magnificent effort from him but not the only one from a Badger on the day. Neil Clemons clocked a big new best of 18:07 in 13^th place in a stacked field, another terrific achievement from the Grendon flyer who looks set for even bigger things in 2023. Martin Graham bought a ticket for the PB train as he ran a gutsy 20:55, his fastest parkrun to date and V60 star Pete Mann bagged 22:18, a personal best for him too. His partner Fiona Reidy ran 28:46 to make it a very happy household with two new bests in the same event. Chris Horton made the top six overall in 17:11.

Cooper followed his Saturday morning antics up with a 57:22 time in the Bourneville Leafy 10K the following day which saw David Craig leading a dozen Badgers back in 47:45. 8-mile specialist Rob Crow dropped down to the 10K distance dipping under 50 minutes in 49:22, while Peter Mann, Pip Weston, Gail Gunn and Fiona Reidy all completed successfully. Gemma Spencer (78:00) and Teresa Satchell (72:35) made their Leafy debuts and Mandy Stain (61:10) ran well alongside Sarah O’Donoghue who managed a time of 64:38.

The Tamworth 5-mile race saw a fast field assembled for the conclusion of the Burton District Summer League with three Badgers being involved, Danny Warren the fastest among them as he stormed to a superb 9^th place in 28:52. Ashley Taylor ran well in 33:23, almost four minutes quicker than his last appearance in this race several years previously. Local lad Wayne Repton completed the trio in 38:01.

The Equinox 24-hour 10K event saw new recruit Megan Griffiths show her significant speed by making the podium after clocking a brisk 56:30 on her day one run and backing it up with a night effort of 54:15, two excellent efforts earning her second place overall.

Stephanie Attenborough completed her 26^th marathon in a 52-week period at Caldecotte Lakes near Milton Keynes where she also ran a half marathon earlier in the week.

Parkrun highlights for the week saw Glyn Broadhurst winning outright at Babbs Mill in 18:50, pushed hard along the way by his friend and mentor, Dave Jackson who took 3^rd spot in an encouraging 19:39. Nicki Bowman was 4^th female in a speedy 26:05. Sam Starkey took 4^th spot at Markeaton in 18:15 and Cameron Barnes managed 6^th in 19:43 at St Mary’s. At Kingsbury Water Park, the rapid Rachael Shelton finished in 8^th place thanks to her 25:46 and Liz Peel followed her home not long after. Both ladies ran their 199^th parkruns, with next week being scheduled for the milestone 200 event, of the current register of ladies, only Sharon Jackson has run more parkruns for the club.