Week Ending - 2024/09/29

RESERVOIR JOGS

Badgers rounded off a super season in the Leicestershire Road Running League with an array of outstanding performances in the tenth and final race of the 2024 campaign. The Markfield 10K was something of a microcosm of the season overall with the blisteringly quick Matt Scarsbrook once again being part of a two-horse race as he and Roadhoggs Mo Hussein completely dominated the rest of the field with a speed that nobody else can get close to matching. Never off the podium in all the ten races, ever-present Scarsbrook, the Spring League individual champion had to settle for second in the race and the summer series despite churning out a quite magnificent 32:09. While the Birchfield Harriers ace is precluded from Badgers club records as a second claim runner, his time was still some 36 seconds quicker than the super speedy Dave Hill’s all-time club record and this on a much more challenging course with plenty of ups and downs. 

As has been the case all season, Scarsbrook has been backed up by two flying veterans in the shape of Neil Russell and Chris Horton. Prior to this weekend, nobody over the age of 40 had ever run under the magic mark of 35 minutes for the 10K distance, but both Russell and Horton achieved the feat in the SAME race! Russell ran yet another PB time of 34:49, 35 seconds faster than the old club record, while Horton finished two places ahead in 34:31 (11th place). It means the duo will take 1st and 2nd place in the V45 category in the Leicestershire Road Running League this summer, an outstanding achievement. 

Horton has scored points in all ten of the league races held this season and the consistently good Russell has gone even better by being a triple scorer (men, vet men and mixed team) in 7 out of the 8 races he has run, with personal bests across the board. This has helped propel the club to success in both the senior men’s and vet men’s competitions, a double last achieved in 2019. 

The most experienced league runner in the club Danny Warren strode home next in 35th place, just dipping under 37 minutes with a fit-again Adrian Payne weighing in with a 10K PB of 37:16 to make the top 40, coincidentally wearing race number 40 at the age of 40! His good buddy Mark Cox followed home on some weary legs in 37:49, possibly over-raced in recent weeks but still able to demonstrate why he is such an important part of the men’s team and vet’s team as from next year. Key man Glyn Broadhurst led the B-team home in a determined 39:10 with Dave Jackson finalising the scoring for his league-winning men’s vets side in 39:38. 

Whether he meant to or not, major marathon master Mark Repton paced 40 minutes to perfection in 76th place with Cameron Barnes speeding around in 40:18 not long after. The superb Eric Fowler secured yet another club record, taking nearly five minutes off Peter Mann’s hitherto excellent mark, with a rip-roaring 41:22, the club’s only Diamond standard of the day. Fowler is one of a very few number of Badgers to hold records across different age categories, a feat made all the more impressive given he only joined this year! 

Ashley Taylor tore it up in 41:35 before Wayne Repton (42:36) and Matt Green (42:55) both secured personal bests on a course far from conducive to such. Added to the fact that both athletes have been running for some time now and are in their mid-forties, it made their achievements all the more staggering. Luke Bennett chipped in with a quality bronze-level run of 43:56 and Bill Gutheridge celebrated a full house of league events with a typically belligerent 45:09. 

Chris Young ran a great PB of 46:55 with Rob Crow once again leaving nothing out there in 48:53. Paul Cooper broke 50 minutes for the first time ever in 49:37 while Jimmy Dewis, Dave Jenkinson, Paul Restall and Peter Greenfield all rolled back the years with some vintage running. There was still more to come from the men however as Ross Kilburn, Kieren Coopey and Andy Altoft all battled home with Martin Graham race-walking his way to the line to wrap up a brilliant morning. 

The ladies team were boosted by the return of co-captain Liberty Underhill, and she carried on from where she left off with a display of pace and athleticism to lead her promotion-chasing side home. Megan Griffiths has been a revelation in 2024 and once again she showed her quality with yet another personal best time, here in 45:27. On a day packed full of outstanding runs, Grace Barsby produced one of the real standout efforts with her magnificent 49:25, a huge personal best and first time under 50 minutes, all in her first full league season. 

The ladies' promotion hopes were dealt a hammer blow however when the fleet-footed Sara Wilson was forced to withdraw mid-race. First back at the preceding race, the pugnacious Wilson was nailed on to score heavily in what was always going to be a close encounter with a power packed Roadhoggs outfit, however, despite Cheryl Dewis stepping up to the plate in typically no-nonsense style as the fourth scorer in 73rd place, the second promotion spot ended up in the hands of their rivals, leaving the ladies having to reset and hope for top spot in 2025. 

There were more personal bests among the ladies' ranks. Victoria Jones ran a brilliant 50:55 and Steph Nickless also got in on the act in 60:39. Jane Barrett made the top 100 in the sell-out event in 51:48 and the hard-working Sharon Jackson rounded up a fine year for her personally in the vice-captain’s seat with a classy 53:29. Joanne Crow clocked a fine 54:29, seventeen seconds ahead of the pacy Jill Miller. Marathon buddies Liz Peel and Serena Baker soon followed before Danni Gunn made it back, two seconds over the hour mark with just Ivana Babicova and Kate Rathbone, running in tandem, crossed the line taking the total of Badgers finishers to an impressive 42. 

There was action away from the league event, notably in Berlin where Dave Purvis was taking on the marathon distance and doing so in fine style with an excellent debut attempt of 3:37:50, a result of dedicated training which has seen his times plummet due to his increased fitness. The Robin Hood marathon in Nottingham saw Stefan Martin lead the club home with a brisk 94:36. Colin Lees (1:42:42) and Suzy Farrell (1:50:52) followed the Nuneaton man home with Hannah Burgess recording her fastest half marathon for some time in 2:05:49. 

Saturday saw Emma Masser return to race action after an injury layoff, tackling the ten-mile Croft Canter with Sharon Jackson. At parkrun, Amber Nickless helped herself to a fine PB at Walsall, speeding her way to a time of 23:27. There were a number of wet weather cancellations across the region, but Market Bosworth went ahead, Mark Cox showing everyone who is boss with a dominant win in the mud in 19:35, Serena Baker and Liz Peel also making inroads into the top ten. Victoria Jones, Mark Repton and Jane Barrett all made the top ten at Babbs Mill but without doubt, the star of the show was Rachel Crump, a fine athlete but a relative novice over 5K. She lowered her own V50 parkrun club record by 43 seconds down to 22:11, on a course that is not renowned as one for truly fast times. She was 8th overall, first lady by some margin and her time gave her the highest ever wava rating recorded by any female Badger in the club’s history with a terrific 79.49%. This puts her on the cusp of more history should she become the first to break 80%, a given if she can repeat the same effort on one of the faster circuits locally. By way of recovery, Crump turned her hand to cheerleading on Sunday, firing out all manner of verbal diarrhoea to anyone passing in the closing stages of the Markfield 10K, to the amusement of all and sundry. Well done, Crumpy, on all counts!