Week Ending - 2025/06/14

BADGERS DO BARMOUTH – AND MATT WINS!

Over fifty Badgers descended on the seaside resort of Barmouth at the weekend as part of the town’s annual 10K race and subsequent carnival celebrations, for their annual pilgrimage to the west coast of Wales. The sell-out race had over 1,100 finishers and was popular enough to have sold out already for 2027, a year in advance! As was the case in the previous year, Matt Scarsbrook was first across the line, albeit with a much bigger margin of victory in 2026 than before. In his previous attempt, he took the tape by just four seconds from his closest rival, but on Saturday, he had over a minute more in hand from the rest of the chasing field to win comfortably in 32:28. From the start, he bowled away from the rest of the field, crossing the iconic Barmouth Bridge with a helpful tailwind taking him to a 5K split of 15:53. The second half was slower for almost all the racers, Scarsbrook included, as the out and back nature of the course meant that a headwind was present on the return leg along with the traffic of other runners making their way out after a staggered start. After the race, the Baddesley man was presented with an unusually heavy bespoke trophy by the local mayor.

Running his fourth race in eight days, Chris Horton won the coveted V50 prize after an epic sprint finish. He crossed the line in the exact same time as Shrewsbury AC’s Richard McKenna (35:35) and unbeknown to each other at the time, the duo were battling it out in the same age category which Horton narrowly edged, finishing 7th overall in the race. The muscular Adrian Payne was next through in a pacy 38:26, making the top twenty men in good time despite his senior status. With his bulging biceps, chiseled abdominals and strong quads, the Atherstone man gave the packed crowds a real treat as he powered through the high street, drenched in sweat, on his way to the line. Glyn Broadhurst ran a gutsy 39:47, just 100 minutes after finishing second at Dolgellau parkrun! Jack Burton-Peet sneaked inside 40 minutes by the skin of his teeth in another good run for him. Lee Taylor is making big strides forward in 2026 and here he ran a quality race to end in 40:18. Sam Starkey, Jimmy Dewis and Jim Cottom all enjoyed good runs across the estuary and V55 star Michael Garrett ran well enough to make the top 100 overall with another solid performance. 

Matt Green ran a good race, proving the stellar season he enjoyed in 2025 was no flash in the pan. Megan Griffiths toiled her way to the line to finish first female Badger back and ninth lady overall in a cracking time of 45:28, exactly two minutes ahead of her veteran teammate Susie Stringer who put in another hardworking shift to finish 11th overall. Stefan Martin ran a quality 46:38 with David Craig back in action after missing the last league race. Bill Gutheridge, Andy Altoft and Adrian Parkes all broke 50 minutes before the female trio of Erica Bassford, Janey Barrett and the rapid Rachael Browne all finished together in 52:14. 

Barmouth enthusiasts Rob and Joanne Crow were next back with wife Jo pipping husband Rob on chip time by 13 seconds. Mark Reynolds provided another respectable run with his 52:12 and Cheryl Dewis showed glimpses of her dominant best as she ran a brisk first half before getting home in 54:39, nineteen seconds ahead of youngster Ryan Worrad who made an impressive Barmouth debut for his club. Megan Church is very much on an upward curve at present after a testing twelve months. The one-time Newcomer of the Year produced a sparkling effort of 55:43 to finish second senior female Badger back. Martin Graham ran an excellent 52:44 with Terry Taylor, Jill Miller, Lil Gillman-Taylor, Ross Kilburn, Lilly Wilson and Carl Ford all going strongly, the latter even managing a personal best of 57:10. 

The indefatigable Judy Parkes dipped under the hour mark as did Joe Jenkinson, who was first from his family to finish at this race. Club stalwarts Paul Restall, Liz Peel and Mandy Stain ran hard ahead of Debbie Bremner, Nick Miles and Sharon Jackson. Dave Ash ran solidly with Rhys Hopwood, Millie Upton and Sara Hawkins following similarly. Sarah Kilburn ran a PB of 70:42 with Christine Morris, Kate Rathbone and Eve King rounding up the action for the club on a memorable weekend.

Elsewhere, the Bosworth 5-mile race took place midweek. David Grant was first back for the club in 34:02. Jill Miller ran a PB of 40:32 with Wayne Repton, Yvonne Faulkner Grant, Colin Lees and Suzy Farrell all going nicely. Holly and Andy Smith ran in tandem to the tune of 46:52 with Stefan Martin and Ebony Fennell also running well. 

The Two Castles 10K set between Kenilworth and Warwick saw Karen Draper and Gail Gunn giving the course a good go. Carl Ford completed the event, held the day after the Barmouth 10K where he had run a PB. Gemma Spencer ran 83 minutes and Laura Robinson a PB of 65 minutes. 

Endurance wise, Vicky Brunsdon took on the 70-mile race, The Wall, an ultra-marathon that follows the route of Hadrian’s Wall across the north of England. Ryan Preece famously won this race back in 2024 and this weekend, Brunsdon managed to complete the challenge in 21 hours, 20 minutes, a mind-boggling effort. 

With all this action, parkrun was perhaps less busy than usual, yet there were still a handful of top ten finishers across the land. Megan Griffiths was first female at Dolgellau in 21:53 with Glyn Broadhurst 2nd overall in 19:05. Matt Green and Janey Barrett were both 6th in their respective gender categories. Mark Repton and Suzy Farrell both made the top ten at Tamworth Castle Grounds, Yvonne Faulkner-Grant clocked 28:34 for 7th place at Newent with Chris Tweed running strongly in 6th at Perry Hall. Finally, at Braunstone in Leicester, Luca Belcher helped himself to a new parkrun personal best time of 23:22 with a high-quality run.