Magical marathon day for Badgers...
THE full range of emotions were out at the weekend during the 44th London Marathon, with Badgers sending 15 runners to the capital with a further trio running the virtual event closer to home.
Over £17,500 has been raised thus far for charity and as well as a host of personal bests and individual triumphs, a new club record was set making it a weekend to remember.
Dave Hill was first over the line, hacking some four minutes off his marathon club record set here 12 months ago. The speedy men’s captain was in a determined mood as he finished 162nd out of almost 54,000 athletes crossing the line in a sensational 2:29:30, the first time anyone in the club has gone below 2:30, an historic achievement.
His co-captain at Badgers Ryan Preece was a late starter to his training campaign because of injury but fought back heroically to record a time of 2:37:46, a 31 second PB. Another flyer bagging a personal best was Dave Mcgowan, whose career in the marathon is hugely impressive. The Dad of two young children has trained superbly over the winter, often while the rest of his family slept and he was hoping to improve on his 2:46 set at Manchester two years prior. His disciplined approach paid handsome dividends as he cruised through halfway in 81 minutes and kept the tempo going right through to the line which he made in 2:42:48, a magnificent run.
No one at the club has run more London Marathons than Chris Horton who lined up for the eighth time in the iconic event, and he needed every drop of that experience to get back in 2:58:06, a course best by 17 seconds. Going through halfway in 90:30, he moved through the gears only to find top gear was missing when approaching the final few miles. He hung on well to the finish, even managing a negative split in a race where nearly all runners fade late on. And at 49 years of age, nobody older has run a sub-three hour marathon in Badgers colours, an even more impressive feat when you consider he only had seven weeks of run training before the race after breaking his foot at cross country late last year.
Fellow vet Chris Tweed had trained like a beast for the event and had high hopes of improving his PB of 2:59 set in Manchester last year, but the marathon can be a cruel mistress as he was soon to find out. The Dordon Dad has improved beyond all expectation since making his marathon debut 14 years ago in 4:24:26 at Brighton and here he set out with real intent, covering the first half in 85 minutes. Sadly, his energy levels began to falter in the closing stages and try as he might, his race was gone. Whether he went off a tad too aggressively or it just wasn’t his day, he crossed the line in 3:10:09, a time he would have bitten your arm off for two years ago but now left him heartbroken after what was an absolute textbook block of winter training.
One of the runs of the day came from Wayne Repton who won the coveted club place in the ballot. The veteran has run a number of PB’S this season and he added a 17-minute marathon best to his list with a cracking run of 3:35:22. Bob Dawe has been in the running wilderness for four years but an unexpected ballot place drew him back into the sport after a long hiatus.
He thoughtfully used his opportunity to raise funds for Dementia UK, even though he wasn’t a charity runner as such and the well-liked dad of two made excellent progress until four miles out when he skidded on a discarded water bottle causing a nasty calf injury, causing him to hobble home in a still respectable time of 3:46:56, a terrific effort all the same.
The first female home was the brilliant Beth Woodward who raised over £3,400 for her charity, Action for A-T. Her diligent training paid off too as she ran the biggest PB of the day with an enormous 29-minute improvement as she stormed home in a fantastic 3:51:45, a magnificent run from start to finish in terms of both time achieved and plan execution.
David Craig did superbly well as he finished in 3:57:57. His training was significantly hampered by injury setbacks but he did not let that stop him achieving his 26.2 mile goal. It was another amazing effort from a runner who made the best of the imperfect situation he was in. Brad Dukes was next through in 4:28:48. The Badgers newcomer raised over £2000 for Battersea Cats and Dogs, helping to make a significant contribution to the overall figure of £17,500 at the point of writing raised by members of the club.
Amber Nickless ran a great debut of 4:29:11, even achieving the unusual feat of even splits across a distance that so frequently sees anything but, apart from at elite level. She too was raising money in memory of her brother, for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Krystal Knight was next back with a wonderful consistent and measured effort of 4:53:16. Another charity place runner, she trained particularly hard and well for the event as did Clare Mellor who ran 5:17:37 for JDRF. Between these two athletes came Katrina Dawson, rejoining Badgers in 2024, who ran a good time of 4:55:53. Ivana Babicova completed the action, seventeen seconds inside the six hour mark to reward her with the second quickest marathon of her career.
In addition to all the action in the capital, three Badgers, namely Peter Mann, Fiona Reidy and Debbie Bremner all completed the virtual London marathon around Nuneaton and beyond in around five and a half hours.
Colin Lees ran the Malvern Hills half marathon in 2:25 and Stephanie White finished second lady in the Wyre Forest Super 7 in 69:21.