Week Ending - 2025/04/13

PODIUM AND RHODIUM AT STILTON 7

Badgers bounced back to winning ways in the third race of the 2025 Leicestershire Road Running League with some magnificent performances at the Stilton 7 race near Melton Mowbray on Sunday. And with many of their dependable heavy hitters unavailable in both men’s and women’s teams, it was far from cheesy for the North Warwickshire based side.

At the head of the race, Matt Scarsbrook was locked in a ding-dong battle with his long-term rival, Mo Hussein, who is a really nice guy if you ever get to speak to him. The lead changed hands repeatedly until two miles from the finish when the Roadhoggs star produced an acceleration burst that Scarsbrook could not match, establishing a lead that he held then to the finish. As ever, the top two were a long way clear of the rest of the field and Scarsbrook, who has been on the podium now in each of the first three events, took a high quality second place in a personal best time of 36:00.

Once again, Chris Horton sped his way into the top ten for the third race running and was the first vet to finish overall, repeating the situation at Kibworth and Desford in the opening rounds. At age 50, he is enjoying a proper purple patch, producing a personal best run of 39:42, his first time under 40 minutes in fifteen attempts. In addition, his effort earned him the accolade of being the only male in the race to achieve a Rhodium county standard. It has been a super season so far for the Atherstone man, who has now set fifteen club records and eleven personal bests in the last nine months, as well as winning his age category in last season’s LRRL. This performance was a new V50 club record by six and a half minutes and sets a bizarre precedent whereby the V50 record is quicker than the club V40 one!

With fellow key man Neil Russell a late injury withdrawal, expectations for a good team showing were a little muted but former captain Mark Cox returned to the side and stepped up to the plate in the best possible style with a magnificent run of 40:56, another personal best display earning the Stoke Golding speedster 21st place overall.

And in his first season as a member of the vets team, club stalwart Adrian Payne ran his socks off in 28th spot to ensure that all four of the first Badgers back had run PB’s, helping the team immensely and giving the side hope of a solid score in their efforts to chase down early season pace-setters OWLS. Luke Neal made his distance debut with a top-quality run of 43:08 which landed him a place in the top forty and when new signing Will Pickering crossed the line after a super rapid start, in 43:40.

There was great back up too from the likes of Danny Warren, returning to some better form after a nasty rib injury sustained while snowboarding. He made the top fifty overall in 44:06 while Sam Starkey produced an excellent run in 45:19 to ensure the vets team took maximum points to maintain their unbeaten start to the season. Super coach Glyn

Broadhurst hobbled round in 46:39 while 47-year-old Matt Green weighed in with yet another personal best this season thanks to his tremendous 48:04, still improving after a decade or so in the business. Wayne Repton was another to run a PB, covering the up and down two lap course in a brisk 49:46. Luke Bennett made a fine debut dipping nine seconds under 50 minutes as his super season continues. David Grant is enjoying a new lease of life in his fifties, healthier living no doubt helping him to achieve his time of 49:57, another great distance debut. Dave Jackson got round safely in 50:13 before Stefan Martin, Bill Gutheridge, Colin Lees and David Craig crossed the line with Dave Purvis helping himself to a PB of 53:09 in the process. Paul Cooper ran a PB in 57:24 ahead of Simon Payne and Adrian Parkes. Andy Altoft, Rhys Hopwood and a racewalking Martin Graham rounded up a fantastic morning’s work for the men. Against the odds, the men took maximum points by just three places from West End Runners with OWLS a close third to keep the championship race well and truly alive.

The ladies were without the pacy pair of Liberty Underhill (work commitments) and Lucy Marchi (foot problem) amongst numerous others and it was felt before the race that the team may not be able to maintain their hitherto unbeaten start to the season. However, co-captain Megan Griffiths continued her two year long improvement by taking nine seconds off Monika Lampart’s long standing club record of 51:48 and in doing so, set the tone for what was soon to come. This effort was yet another personal best and bodes well for her upcoming marathon debut at the end of the month.

The brilliant Beth Woodward was back in the saddle, and she weighed in with a big new personal best by over three minutes with her rapid 54:14 for a spot in the top forty. She spearheaded a trio of Badgers all finishing in quick succession, London marathon bound Susie Stringer running a quality 54:32 on her distance debut to score for all three teams, ladies, vet ladies and mixed team. And the ever-impressive Grace Barsby completed the scoring four with yet another personal best time (55:21). Both the men’s and women’s teams had every one of their scorers running the distance faster than they ever had before to help the team do well in a league race. Club statistician Willy Windmill remarked “We don’t have a record of it but it’s unlikely to have happened before, let that be known.” The upshot of all this was that the ladies took maximum points in their quest for promotion to the topflight, a great achievement.

There was still more to come, Jane Barrett ran a gutsy 58:14 on her first attempt at the distance. Suzy Farrell ran a PB of 60:39 and Yvonne Faulkner-Grant made a welcome return to league action in 61:59. The club’s rising stars in the U23 division both made excellent impressions as the speedy Megan Church embarked on a real nip and tuck affair with fellow quiz brainbox Erica Bassford. It was Church who got to the line the sooner in 62:16 with her up and coming team mate just four seconds behind. Vice-captain Sharon Jackson ran well after another early start. The experienced Joanne Crow, Judy Parkes and a resurgent Maggi Savin-Baden who clocked a PB in 70:56 for a silver standard and when Ivana Babicova crossed the line in 80:45, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a wrap, but no, Sara Hawkins finished 27 seconds later for a 12-minute personal best, the biggest of the day.

There were a handful of other Badgers in action away from the cut and thrust of the Leicestershire League. In Newport, Gwent, Chris Tweed ran the 10th marathon of his career. A troubled build up led to him wondering at one point whether he would even make the start line but in typical quietly determined fashion, the sub-three veteran did his utmost to get prepared as best he could and emerged with respectable time of 3:12:01. Matt Smith travelled to the principality and achieved his objective of survival.

On Friday, David Grant ran the half marathon distance Rasselbock Mudfest race in 95 minutes before his wife Yvonne ran her fastest parkrun for six years at the Donabale circuit in Dublin. There were no wins at the weekend but three second places as Glyn Broadhurst (18:27), Megan Griffiths (22:52) (both at Darndale) and Ryan Preece (18:02 at Tamworth) all did well. Lucy Marchi made the top ten at Sherwood Pines, Jim Cottom and Rachael Browne took 9th and 6th respectively at Kingsbury and Sam Starkey bagged a fine fifth at Gloucester. Last but by no means least, one of the select few Badgers ever to have won a race, the experienced David Craig, took ninth place at Babbs Mill in a swift 22:35.