Week Ending - 2023/10/29

BADGERS SENT TO COVENTRY TO PERFORM

Badgers sent dozens of athletes to the nearby Coventry Half Marathon at the weekend, and many returned home with new personal bests amid a flurry of super running. The first two runners back in 5th and 7th respectively were the fast-flying Dave Hill and Ryan Preece. The training buddies set off at the front and ran aggressively on what was a perfect day conditions-wise. The mild undulations of the Coventry course did not especially favour the fastest of times, but these pair do not do ‘excuses’ and simply put their heads down and ran as well as they possibly could. Hill was first back in a phenomenal 72:15, a big new best for him while his sidekick Preece came through in a rock solid 73:24. With his disproportionate cranium-to-torso ratio, the self-proclaimed ‘Swede of Speed’ used his high centre of gravity to make significant gains on the fast five-mile descent back to the city centre, earning himself a sick new half marathon personal best in the process and undoubtedly means Preece will be one to watch in 2024. 

One of the first veteran athletes to finish the race was none other than Badgers’ Neil Russell, who placed 26th overall thanks to his terrific run of 78:59. It was an incredible effort from a man bang in form right now. As an experienced runner, to be producing personal best performances when you are closer to 50 than 40 truly is something quite special and Russell was justifiably proud of what was one the runs of the morning on a day packed with quality outings. 

Danny Warren was next through in 79:32, still able to break the 80-minute barrier while incorporating an impromptu comfort stop to snap off an unwanted length of dirty spine. Seasoned campaigner Stefan Martin weighed in with a decent time of 96:29 with Matt Green (96:37) following seconds later. Jack Burton made his half marathon debut, clocking a very impressive 97:05, a sign of even bigger and better things to come no doubt. Chris Young has been improving consistently all year and here he raised his own standard for the distance by running a super PB of 1:41:48. Wayne Repton is a few years older than Young, but he got in on the act with a PB of his own in 1:42:57 before Bill Gutheridge crossed six seconds later. Megan Griffiths was the first female Badger home and another to put in a top-quality shift through the lanes around Brownshill Green. The pacy schoolteacher once again demonstrated real tenacity and a will to succeed as she took some four minutes off her old best time to come in at 1:45:02. Newcomer Jonathan Muir made a good start to his Badgers career in 1:53:12 before Paul Cooper bagged a brand new PB of 1:53:54, a whopping six minutes off his old record. It would have been hard for Cooper to have ever imagined running such a time for the distance when he first arrived at the club, at a Beginner Badgers session in his joggers, and this achievement marks an impressive turnaround in capability. 

Sharon Jackson and Pete Coogan were next through before marathon ace Ann-Marie Currier helped herself to a half marathon personal best time of 2:09:18. Hannah Coogan soon followed as did V60 star Nick Miles. Kerry Clover and Jo Davies ran in tandem with Karen Draper crossing the line shortly afterwards in 2:22:20, two seconds off a time full of twos! Last year’s Beginner of the Year Fritz Loma rounded up the action for Badgers showing just how far she has come a year after completing the couch to 5K programme. 

In addition to those racing, two veteran stars of the club, Chris Horton and Chris Tweed volunteered their services as official pacers for the event helping runners to achieve times of 1:30:00 and 1:55:00 respectively. As one would expect from such pillars of the running community (V40), they delivered the goods with high precision runs, enabling dreams to come true and being rewarded with hearty handshakes all round. 

The Tamworth 10K took place concurrently, attracting a number of Badgers at the Castle Grounds and beyond. Birchfield Harrier and second claim Badger Matt Scarsbrook swept to a comprehensive win in 31:30 as his year goes from strength to strength. The Baddesley man led from the off and showed no hint of weakness whatsoever as he completed the two-lap course in some style. Ashley “T-Dogg” Taylor romped to a respectable 42:04 with Lee Millership (51:46), Rachael Browne (52:38) and Ross Kilburn (57:08) all going under the hour. Kieran Coopey (62:58) and Carl Ford (64:33) both ran PB’s for the distance.

The challenging yet highly picturesque Eryri Marathon in Snowdonia saw three Badgers make the trip to north Wales on the Saturday. In form Suzy Farrell cashed in on her recent training endeavours to land the acclaim of being first back, in a time of 4:23:58. Carl Savage has done this race before but never as quickly as on this occasion, finishing in 4:24:41 with Badgers ball-game hero Colin Lees slipping in behind his more junior team mates in a fine 4:26:14, immediately announcing his retirement from road marathon running! 

Justin Haywood flew the flag on the Iberian peninsular, specifically in Lagos, Portugal, where he was first Badger back yet again, this time in the Meia Maratano Internacional de Lagos 21K race, which just leaves a handful of top ten parkrun performances to wrap up the week’s news. In first place, at Chasewater in a time of 16:52 was the imperious Dave Hill with Liberty Underhill, returning from injury managing second in 23:46. Pip Weston also finished second in her parkrun at Rosliston while Jill Miller made it on the podium at Kingsbury taking third place female, Laura Starkey (6th lady) Matt Green (8th) and Sam Starkey (9th) also going well at the Water Park. Dave Purvis ran a season’s best 22:43 at Walsall Arboretum in a weekend packed full of excitement.