Danny Warren wins at the Gaddesby Gallop...
BADGERS star Danny Warren capitalised on his excellent current form by winning the 2023 Gaddesby Gallop cross country race on Saturday.
The 37 year old ploughed his way through and along a river, across a pond and through a drainage tunnel as part of the 5.25 mile course. His winning time of 34:28 earned the club chairperson a nice shield and comes off the back of what has been his best ever cross country season to date, after placing second twice and fourth in the first three races in the Derby
Runner XC league series this term. In 2022, he finished third in this race and he was delighted to go even better still this time around.
Club founder Nivette Chester was another in action over mixed terrain at the weekend as she took on the significantly longer Celtic Christmas Ultra in South Wales.
She battled for a shade under seven hours to get round the challenging 34 mile course, an impressive feat given there’s only around that much daylight so close to Christmas!
In sunnier climes, Justin Haywood was first V50 to finish in the Marcha
Corrida Do Pai Natal 9K race in Portugal, showing he still has what it takes to pick up silverware at both home and abroad.
The rest of the weekend’s action was limited to parkrun on Saturday morning, but there was once again no shortage of success across the various venues patronised by Badgers.
At Battlestead Croft, Burton, Dave Hill took first place in 17:50 with team mate Glyn Broadhurst making it a Badgers 1-2 with a superb second place finish of 19:47.
Megan Griffiths took third place at Tamworth Castle with Mark Repton clocking 19:07 to finish eighth overall. Carl Ford took an incredible five minutes off his personal best with a great time of 27:49.
Chris Tweed was first Badger back at a busy Kingsbury Water Park in 22:03 with Matt Green also making the top ten. Jill Miller finished third female with 100 Marathon club ace Karen Thompson also making the top ten ladies.
Other runners enjoying top ten finishes included Suzy Farrell and Colin Lees at Holbrooks, Laura Starkey at Woodgate Valley and Rachael Browne at Wyre Forest.
SUNDAY saw Shackerstone AC stage the final round of their members Club sponsored Winter League series fished along the Jockey straight section of the Ashby canal.
Strong winds made life difficult for some and the fish, if present, simply did not want to show and in consequence, weights were extremely poor and only five bites were had by all competitors and only two weighed in.
The winner on peg 1 was Colin Lane who sat for over three hours biteless but then his float disappeared and a small perch obliged on worm down the track. A short while later his float disappeared again and another perch a bit bigger was safely netted to see him win with just 7.5ozs and 1 point.
The only other angler to catch and secure valuable points was Andy Smith on peg 3. He like the winner sat for hours patiently waiting, then suddenly his float dipped twice but he missed it. Within the next ten minutes he caught two small perch on worm down the track to weigh a measly 2ozs but two valuable points.
The final League standings after four rounds were very tight indeed and had to be decided by weight countback. The winner for 2023 was Kev Cooper with 7 points and 2lbs 7ozs.
Second was Andy Smith with 7 points but just behind on 2lbs 5ozs. Third place went to Phil Baker again with 7 points but only 1lb 10.5ozs and Hubert Noar made third with 8 points.
On behalf of both Shackerstone & Measham Angling Clubs they take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.