Week Ending - 2025/06/01

BACK-TO-BACK WINS FOR BRILLIANT SCARSBROOK

Badgers star Matt Scarsbrook secured his third successive race win in the 2025 Leicestershire Road Running League with a closely fought victory at the West End 8 at Queniborough on Sunday. In conditions that were far from ideal, the Baddesley man gave another running masterclass to pip Desford Striders flyer Alex Adie by eight seconds in the end.

Warm weather greeted the runners for the undulating first half of the race but a strong headwind on the second half of the course made for a challenging morning for the 50+ Badgers. From the very start, Scarsbrook made his intentions clear but the plucky Adie just would not give up, forcing the league leader to work hard every step of the way to get across the line by around 50 metres.

There was plenty of individual success at the race but Badgers’ high flying teams had their wings clipped as Owls rolled out their superstars to take top spot in the mens competition as well as end the Badgers vet men’s hitherto unbeaten start to the vets league. The table topping ladies also had to settle for third place on the day after being unbeaten in all five of the races to date.

As has been the case all season, Chris Horton followed Scarsbrook home for the club with a superb run of 45:43, taking 10th place overall and winning a prize as the first over 50  Badgers to finish in the race. His time was one second short of his personal best and the only Platinum standard achieved in the club, which will give him great heart going into next week’s key duel at the Swithland 6.

Mark Cox was next through in a fabulous 47:05 and seventeenth place. The hard hitting floor fitter has been fine tuning his legendary dirty diesel engine of late, eating clean and reaping the rewards as seen here. Skipper Ryan Preece is edging his way back to fitness and produced a gutsy run of 47:30. The Swede of Speed sent it special delivery as they say and emerged with his unblemished record of always scoring well and truly intact.

Club stalwarts and near neighbours Danny Warren and Adrian Payne were next through, two seconds and one place apart in 48 minutes, the latter producing a stunning PB performance in his side’s quest for a sixth successive title. However, despite having all six scorers place within the top 27, a truly magnificent team effort from Oadby based outfit OWLS forced Badgers to settle for second in the team competition.  

Chris Tweed helped the vets team maintain their lead at the top of division one with his 51:36 with an improving Cameron Barnes striding home strongly twelve seconds later. One time 8-mile specialist and former senior club record holder Dave Jackson powered his way to a time of 54:01 before David Grant continued his excellent progress with a swift 54:44. Matt Green ran a remarkable PB in what is turning into a super season for the giant striding wannabe Dane.

Another aboard the PB train was the super-shoed Jim Cotton, donning some fetching orange pumps that put wind in his sails as he sped round in a brilliant 58:00. There were good runs from the likes of Wayne Repton, newcomer Neil Rose and Chris Young who helped himself to a big new PB of 60:32.

Ashley Taylor braved crippling hayfever to finish just ahead of the legendary Lee Talbot. Dave Purvis took a Copper standard home to Birmingham with Paul Cooper powering home in 65:36 for yet another personal best. Old stagers Dave Jenkinson, Rob Crow and Adrian Parkes all gave good accounts with Rhys Hopwood digging deep for his 67:36. David Craig, Mark Reynolds, Joe Jenkinson and a PB’ing Matt Smith all performed admirably for the men.

The ladies have streaked ahead of the field in division two and had a proud record of five from five going into this race. However, strong showings from rival sides allied to the absence of some solid operators mean that like the men, the ladies had to settle for third on this occasion. That said, there were a number of excellent  individual performances on show, particularly from front running skipper Liberty Underhill. The in-form Princess of Pace finished a superb 11th overall in a marvellous time of 54:44, almost five minutes inside the club record. This time, a licencing quirk deprives the 23 year old what would have been her second club record in ten days after her oblong course based PB.

Co-captain Meg Griffiths has been on an upward trajectory since joining the club a few seasons ago and once again she gave 100% and came away with yet another personal best of 60:39 and a place in the top 30. She was closely followed by a resurgent Rachael Browne who enjoyed a rapid ride of 61:48 care of her new footwear purchase. V40 ace Susie Stringer completed the scoring with a great effort of 64:02 meaning that once again she, like Browne ahead of her, scored in all three possible teams.

Hannah Burgess ran her socks off in 66:20 to record a massive new best, twenty seconds up on team mate Jane Barrett who also helped herself to a new best in fine style.

Under 23 league pacesetter Megan Church was in great shape again as she sped to a best time of 71:24 to maintain her lead into the second half of the 2025 season. Her time was a whopping seven minutes quicker than when she last raced the distance back in September. With Yvonne Faulkner-Grant in the form of her life, winning a crucial sprint to the line and the veteran trio of Sharon Jackson, Liz Peel and Joanne Crow all putting in top runs, the stage was set for Bryany Sherwood to make her long awaited league debut for Badgers which she did with style, ably paced by quiz brainbox Erica Bassford. Long serving former secretary Judy Parkes ran well and Maggi Savin-Baden wrapped things up with a Silver plus time – a brilliant effort on a tricky morning.