Week Ending - 2024/05/19

MATT WINS THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH

In-form Matt Scarsbrook enjoyed back-to-back wins in the Bosworth half marathon on Sunday running an incredible 70:48 on a hot, hot day. The race incorporated the Leicestershire Road Running League once again and Scarsbrook repeated his success of 2023 with another dominant display. From the off, the Baddesley man established a healthy lead, laying down the gauntlet to anyone brave enough to try and keep up, but sweltering conditions made a very difficult task virtually impossible as he stormed home by over two minutes to take the £100 prize for first place. 

Dave Hill put in a terrific shift in fourth place with a diamond standard time of 75:52, only four seconds down on his time from last year when conditions were slightly less oppressive than the hot ones endured around the course on Sunday. Hill’s co-captain Ryan Preece took a fine 5th place to ensure Badgers had 60% of the prize places bagged up. His 77:55 was another fabulous effort on a day of very few personal bests and set the club up beautifully for a result to help consolidate their position atop the men’s league division one. Preece’s contribution to the team’s success in recent years cannot be underestimated. He has never once been out of the points since making his LRRL debut in 2022, after bursting onto the scene at the end of the 2021 Reunion League campaign.

Five minutes later, Chris Horton got over the line after a titanic tussle on the run in, taking 22nd place in 82:59 and in doing so securing the win for the men’s team quartet on the day. Fellow veteran ace Glyn Broadhurst produced a super strong second half of the race as he marked his return to the big time with a classic scoring effort of 83:11, two places ahead of Danny Warren in 28th who dug particularly deep in his least favourite running conditions, his time and impressive 83:21. Marathon man Mark Repton returned to bolster the title-chasing vets team and he helped his side take second on the day to maintain their lead over closest rivals Huncote Harriers. He chipped in with a quality run of 86:54 to make the top 40 men before a resurgent Dave Jackson romped home in 89:51 to cement his status as a fully-fledged key-man in the Badgers machine. 

Chris Tweed returned to the fold after missing the last race due to the Leeds marathon. The Dordon man dragged his weary legs around to finish in a very creditable 92:13 before Jack Burton-Peet weighed in with one of a very small number of PB’s on a day not for the faint-hearted distance runner. His 94:40 was twenty-six seconds ahead of experienced team-mate Ashley Taylor who also managed to bag the unlikeliest of personal bests. Stefan Martin went incognito for the event in which he finished in a fine time of 98:13. Vice-captain Dave Jenkinson (98:55) and in-form Wayne Repton (99:01) both made it back in under 100 minutes, the latter with a personal best time too. 

Bill Gutheridge grafted hard in 1:44:43 and Dave Purvis returned with a PB of 1:49:01, his first half under 1:50. Chris Young, like many others around him, did not enjoy the morning and found his afternoon didn’t improve much as Champions League-bound Aston Villa got tonked 5-0 by Crystal Palace. V60 club record holder and now Yorkshire resident Martyn Barrett made a popular return to the club he joined at the very outset and came away with an excellent 1:51:38. Peter Mann ran a PB in 1:54:54, a terrific run from one of the most supportive members of a truly supportive club. Rob Crow was not far behind and with Peter Coogan, Paul Cooper and an injury-hit Matt Green all getting back within two hours, all that remained was for David Earp and Matt Smith to complete the 13.1-mile course to wrap up a great morning’s work for the men.

The ladies fielded a much-changed side from the one that performed so admirably at Syston the previous week. The one constant in the scoring four was skipper Megan Griffiths who ran a personal best time of 1:44:27 to lead from the very front. In her first run for the club since her London Marathon exploits, Beth Woodward showed a great turn of pace to finish in a course-best 1:48:35 and a place inside the top fifty females in a race that had near on 700 athletes taking part. 

Suzy Farrell has had a great season so far and here it continued with a hard-fought 1:57:12, a place in front of the fourth counter Victoria Jones who ran another excellent race. The ladies' B-team was packed with experience and quality as first of all Jane Barrett sneaked home just under the two-hour mark. She was followed by the hardworking Karen Thompson, one of the most capped Badgers ladies of all time and with her near neighbour Joanne Crow finishing in a hard-earned Copper standard 2:09:29 it was just left to another stalwart vet, Hannah Coogan, to round up the quartet in a sweaty 2:11:33. The action didn’t end there however as Krystal Knight, fitter than ever after her epic London Marathon journey, somehow managed to equal her half marathon personal best as the race ran into the afternoon. Her 2:13:36 was another great effort on an afternoon packed with graft. Alice Belcher ran a determined debut half of 2:20:16 and the evergreen Averil Caton rounded up the action in a super 2:27:08.

There were a couple of other Badgers in half-marathon action over the weekend but away from Bosworth. In a warm Gothenburg in Sweden, Rick Reilly, a sepsis survivor and relatively recent graduate of the club’s beginners programme, finished his 13.1-mile race in warm conditions in a marvellous 2:36, an incredible journey from one of life’s nice guys. Colin Lees took on the Cannock Chase half, an off-road race and emerged back in 2:23, leaving him free to support the runners the next day at Bosworth along with dozens of other members. Vicki Brunsdon was also in action there clocking 3:55 in her effort.

Parkrun saw plenty of action on the Saturday with Dave Hill winning well in 17:33 at Sence Valley Country Park and the indefatigable Glyn Broadhurst notching up a good fourth-place finish in 20:02. Rachael Browne took 5th spot at Tamworth Castle where Mark Repton finished 8th male. Beth Woodward made the top ten at University Parks parkrun with her time of 23:02 and Hannah Mayes was a top ten finisher at Oaklands. Luke Bennett ran a fine 21:56 to take 5th overall at Bedworth parkrun.