Week Ending - 2025/07/27

LAKELAND 100 SMASHED BY HARD COX

Badgers Ultra marathon running tough guy Mark Cox enjoyed a magnificent top ten finish at the prestigious Lakeland 100-mile race in Cumbria at the weekend, laying to rest any demons from the event that caused him a DNF (did not finish) in 2024. 722 hardy souls made the start line in Coniston, but only 460 managed to complete the course, complete with over 21,000 feet of elevation. 

The route does not pass over any of the ‘popular’ Lakeland summits. Instead, it weaves its way through stunning valleys and cuts its own line through the amazing Lakeland topography. The event is continuous in nature, competitors don’t have to stop or sleep on the route, with the overall time available for the route being 40 hours, so sleep at intermediate checkpoints is possible, but time is not on your side. There are 14 staffed checkpoints on the course, which are compulsory to visit; food and drink are available at each. The climb, descent, rugged terrain, darkness and tricky navigation generally ensure a large failure rate over the 100-mile course. 

Cox has been running better than ever in 2025 despite turning 40 at the start of the season, and began at a sensible yet solid pace. This continued nicely until around 85 miles, when sore feet began to take their toll. When he crossed the line, back in Coniston, his time of twenty-four hours and five minutes was good enough for a superb 9th place overall. Attempting the feat is one matter, to complete it is another, and to make the top ten in a field of several hundred is an outstanding achievement and should not be underestimated by any stretch of the imagination. 

Also tackling some impressive length was a group of Badgers taking on the Yorkshire 3-peaks challenge, summiting the three highest peaks in God’s own county. Raising close to £2,500 for Multiple System Atrophy Trust, a horrendous condition that has affected Simon Currier’s dad, the durable group completed the task at hand within twelve hours, a pretty impressive effort. Rachel Crump, Wayne Fraser, Megan Church, Grace Barsby, Sara Wilson, Ann-Marie Currier, Adi Payne and Jimmy Dewis were amongst those showing their support for one of the club’s most successful ever captains. 

Badgers welcomed their latest clutch of Beginners, who graduated in style with a 5k parkrun at Kingsbury under the tutelage of Jill Miller, Lee Talbot and Adam McElhone, among others. Sarah Kilburn, Emelia Cole, Aimee Payne, Sarah Burge and Samantha Wyatt all did brilliantly to complete the 12-week course, during some particularly hot weather in recent weeks too it must be said. Also at parkrun, David Grant chalked up the 100th different location of his parkrun career with a run at Rutland Water, where his wife Yvonne made it 200 parkruns and 50 volunteer stints, making it a double celebration.

At Queen Elizabeth Grammar School near Horncastle, Meg Griffiths took first lady in 23:25 with her coach and mentor Glyn Broadhurst taking second overall in a pacy 19:26. Quicker still, down in Minehead in Somerset, Dave Jackson produced a season’s best 19:17 as he stormed to seventh place along the promenade, while the fastest Badger of the weekend was Chris Horton who sped to a first place finish at a busy Harrogate parkrun in 17:01. 

Elsewhere, Hannah Burgess took sixth lady at Linford Wood, Mia Cox a fine eighth at Rothay Park, Cumbria and fellow youngster Lily Wilson an excellent fifth place ahead of Emma Masser at Bedworth. Rachael Browne was tenth lady at Sutton Park, Sharon Jackson eighth lady at Dewsbury with Terry Taylor running a parkrun PB of 25:36 at Tamworth, rolling back the years as he edges his way towards the sub-16 times of his glory days.