Week Ending - 2025/12/21

DANNY'S CHRISTMAS CRACKER

The Gaddesby Gallop has been a good race for Badgers star Danny Warren in recent years. In 2022, he finished third before winning the race outright in 2023 and last year he managed a fine fourth place in the 5.2-mile cross country event. This year, and in some of the best form of his career to date, the 39-year-old stormed to victory once again. A sustained period of heavy rain led to underfoot conditions being worse than ever, but it was the same for all competitors, and Warren showed his prowess by leading the field by over a minute at the finish, his time of 35:28 plenty good enough for the win.

Veteran ace and sub-3 marathon star Chris Tweed ran the second quickest half-marathon of his career with a quality 84:17 at the Nottingham-based Holme Run. The Dad of three produced metronomic splits to dip comfortably inside his target time of 85 minutes on a flat, fast course.

Brilliant baking boffin Maggi Savin-Baden notched up a silver plus standard time at the Wolverhampton Turkey Trot 5 miler on Sunday. Her 47:40 was a few seconds shy of a sought-after gold but a fabulous performance nonetheless. 

There were parkrun milestones achieved with Ebony Key making her 250th appearance with her course best run at Bedworth, and Erica Bassford made it to 100 parkruns at a muddy Market Bosworth. Mark Cox was also in attendance, taking fourth place overall in 20:03. The fastest parkrunner of the weekend was the pacy Will Pickering, who clocked a PB time of 17:37 at the speedy Walsall Arboretum. Dave Jackson rolled back the years with a quality 18:41, and Adrian Payne was another to break 20 minutes with his third place efforst at Rosliston in 19:14. 

Chris Horton achieved the highest placing with his second place at Sence Valley Forest Park. In his 23rd and final parkrun of the year, the 50-year-old clocked 17:54 to end 2025 with a phenomenal record of twenty wins and three second places. Kat Wilson was the highest placed female with her excellent seventh position at Bedworth, coming home in 26:07.