Week Ending - 2025/01/26

WARREN LEADS THE WAY BY THE GRACE OF GOD

Grace Dieu Manor, the former prep school that closed in 2020 played host to the latest round of the 2024/5 Derby Runner Cross Country League on a cold and damp January morning and it was club stalwart Danny Warren who led the way signalling an uptick in his form going into the new year. The 38-year-old dad of two sped around the hilly course in excellent time, making the top ten in a strong field. His teammate, Neil Russell, a long-time key man in the Badger ranks also performed superbly well, bagging himself and the team a fine 12th-placed finish. There was more than capable backup coming from the likes of sub-three marathon hero Adi Payne, who almost made the top twenty as well as the experienced duo of Glyn Broadhurst and Mark Cox who finished in 33rd and 35th respectively. Old warhorse Jimmy Dewis rolled back the years with a well-earned 64th place run while the ultimate team man Jim Cottom scored for the second race in succession with a fine effort. The dependable Matt Green, still on a high from his parkrun heroics the day before, trundled home to score vital points for the men’s A team. 

The cold temperatures meant that the turnout was a relatively low one amongst the Badgers ranks but able support still came in through the likes of Chris Young and Dave Jenkinson. Paul Grubb made his 48th appearance for the club in league events while Simon Payne basked in the glory of his Badger of the Week nomination with a solid display. Rob Crow moved past Ashley Taylor to become the fifth most-capped Badger of all time and Eamon Thawley continued his amazing streak of XC appearances for the club. 

The Ladies were spearheaded by Rachel Crump, who turned in yet another brilliant display of running with a 16th place finish, not at all bad at the age of fifty-four! Skipper for the day Megan Griffiths maintained her long run of points scoring with a quality 26th place return, backed up by a resurgent Rachael Browne and a great show of dynamism from up-and-coming Grace Barsby, both of whom made the top forty. 

Old stager Stephanie White ran a great race ahead of new signing Emma Breeze while Danni Gunn performed well once again in her debut XC season.

Away from the league action, former skipper Carl Savage ran the 22nd marathon of his career in the Big Bear Squirrel Challenge, an event that saw 100-Marathon club member Liz Peel clock up another half marathon after completing an impressive 20 miles of the same multi-looped course. 

Parkrun saw plenty of action with a host of top-ten finishes, a milestone moment, and a club record no less. At Bedworth, Susie Stringer ran a great new PB of 24:38 and missed out on the distinction of being first female home by an agonising five seconds. Luke Bennett dug deep and battled his way into the top ten men with his brisk 21:38. At Perry Hall, Rachael Browne ran her fastest time for three years with a superb 23:03 (third lady), expertly and selflessly paced by Jim Cottom who marked his 200th parkrun with a very good deed for the day. There were top ten finishes for Mark Repton (20:03) at Tamworth, Mark Cox (20:51) at Holbrooks and Anne Whitby-Smith (26:36) at Kingsbury. At Yarborough Leisure Centre, Janey Barrett ran the third fastest parkrun of a 257-event career with a brilliant 23:56, not to mention a career-high wava rating, a feat also achieved at the same venue by Matt Green who missed a PB by twelve seconds as he pulled out all the stops in 20:10. 

Last but not least was Chris Horton, running at Brunswick Park, Wednesbury for the first time. Not only did he come away with the win in 18:11, but set a new V50 club record in the process, so fast in fact that his old joint record set last week at Market Bosworth hadn’t even made it onto the club honours board before being beaten, by a margin of 52 seconds as well, let that be known.