Week Ending - 2025/05/17

DOUBLE PARKRUN SUCCESS AT LONG EATON

Long Eaton parkrun has established a reputation for providing the backdrop for many a parkrun personal best over the years. Its pancake flat tarmac course, devoid of any meaningful twists and turns, makes it perfect for quick times, and on Saturday, two Badgers helped themselves to big new bests there. 

Dave Purvis, a figure perhaps better known for his major marathon-based exploits, turned his hand to cranking out a fast 5K and took over twenty seconds off his best with a time of 21:28. And in-form Erica Bassford went better still by lopping over a minute off her old mark, a perfectly executed run of pace, power and grit. Her time of 22:27 is just another great new achievement in a season full of them so far for the impressive 23-year-old.

Elsewhere, Juliette Trollope made it to 100 parkruns with her appearance at Market Bosworth, a great effort from her. Ahead of her was new signing Luca Belcher, who helped himself to a PB on his first parkrun since signing for the club on a free transfer; his 24:10 there will no doubt be improved upon further in the coming weeks, especially over a quicker course. Claire Bradford made the top ten for the first time ever with her 9th place finish at the Billdalsparken event in Sweden, and there were top ten finishes for mum and daughter combo Lilly and Kat Wilson, who took 7th and 8th place at Bedworth parkrun. 

At Mansfield, Glyn Broadhurst made the podium with his brisk 18:48, the men’s captain making it to third overall after a short injury layoff. Megan Griffiths took fifth place with a fast 23:24 to continue her good season. Closer to home, Martin Graham weighed in with a season’s best time at Tamworth Castle in 24:06.

Badgers power-couple Jim Cottom and Rachael Browne were in great form over at Perton Playing Fields, with Jim making a career best 3rd place finish in 21:30, just 23 seconds behind the eventual winner. Rachael continues her comeback from heart surgery with a fine fourth-place female time of 25:00. 

Finally, at Chasewater, Chris Horton took the 85th win of his long parkrun career in an all-time V50 record for the venue, which now stands at 17:23, despite taking two wrong turns! Michael Garrett finished 12th male and missed a parkrun PB by an agonising two seconds in 21:20.

Away from parkrun, and at the other end of the distance spectrum, Adrian Parkes took on the Merrell Trail marathon at Cannock Chase, finishing in 5:32 despite a wrong turn adding two miles to his length and having to deal with the small matter of 3,500 feet of elevation! Fiona Meldrum completed her seventh Leaden Boot marathon in the Peak District. Kevin Wright and Vicky Jennings completed the Great Wall of China half-marathon, and Anna Savin-Baden managed 64:53 in the Barry Island 10K. 

Last but not least, Badger best buddies Kate Rathbone and Sara Hawkins tried their first sprint triathlon at Banbury, Kate finishing the 400m swim, 20K cycle and 5K run in 1:59:16 and Sara managing the same in 2:23:23.