Week Ending - 2024/08/04

PAYNE FEELING CHIPPER AFTER WINNING THE DIPPER

On the weekend before turning forty, one-time Badgers poster boy Adrian Payne marked his last race as a senior athlete in superb style by comprehensively winning the fifteen-mile off-road Dovedale Dipper race at the fourth time of asking. Taking in some of the finest scenery the Peak District National Park has to offer, the Baddesley man triumphed by an incredible 12 minutes with his winning time of 2:11:42, representing a three-minute course best for the latest addition to the title-chasing Badgers men’s vets team. It marked a real return to form after a sustained injury layoff following his aborted Manchester marathon attempt earlier in the year. 

At the British Transplant Games, Martin Graham won the gold medal in the 5K race walk event, with a personal best time of 32:03. This was a fabulous achievement for the 49-year-old, who has been living with his father’s kidney for many years and while it was not his first career gold in the games, it was at this year’s as a heel injury put paid to his participation in the 5K run. 

Away from the successes of Payne and Graham, there were some impressive results at parkrun on Saturday morning, none more so than in-form Neil Russell who stormed to a fine first place at Bedworth in a PB time of 17:28. The lightly raced parkrunner boasts an impressive resume of six parkruns in total, four of which he has won, and coming second in the other two! His was not the only PB of the morning however as Sara Wilson clocked a fine PB of 21:15 to finish sixth female at Walsall Arboretum. Dave Jackson recorded the highest wava rating of his storied career, one of 77.72% with a classic effort-drenched tussle of 18:15 at the same event. Elsewhere there was a fourth-place finish for Glyn Broadhurst at Riverside Walk near Hay on Wye in 20:11 with Megan Griffiths taking fifth at Tamworth Castle Grounds in 23:15. 

This week sees the eighth race of the 2024 Leicestershire Road Running League in the Joy Cann Memorial 5-mile race, set for Wednesday evening in Huncote. Hopes are high for the Badgers men’s teams who could seal victory in the league with two races to go should results go their way on the night.