LBAC extended their lead at the top of division 2 of the Chiltern Cross Country League after the senior men had their best turn-out of the year, and had some excellent support from a small but vital group of juniors and ladies. With one fixture to go there are a number of individual and team medals available to various members of the club.

As always the junior races took place first with Jamie Stancombe leading the way as our only representative in the U11 races and he came home in 45^th place in the combined division results. Our U13 boys continue to lead the way at the top of the table after another solid performance with Joe McGarry coming home in 8^th place and leading Jordan Clay, Jake Irvine and Luke Pratt, making his debut, to 4^th place team on the day. In total however, they still lead overall on 188 points, but both Wycombe and Chiltern are within 5 points, so it is crucial that they have the strongest possible team out on the 13^th February to retain their lead.

The only other junior who came over to Shuttleworth College was Billy Mead who completed his fourth Chiltern League of the season in 14^th place. It is the continual turn-out and good performances of people like Billy that mean the club is top of the table. In the same vein, Gail Duckworth and Amy Inchley both completed their fourth league races of the season and had good support from Claire Kleanthous who added on a few more points for the team. Gail's run was her best of the year, coming home in second place and putting her into 3^rd overall, despite giving away a number of years to many of her rivals.

The senior men had their best attendance of the year to see them come home as the leading team on the day over the undulating three lap course near Biggleswade. Thirteen runners represented the club and this meant that the 599 points gained was enough for the win and put to shame the 5^th place finish from the Slough fixture last month. Overall the senior men lie in 2^nd place behind Gade Valley, with a gap of 130 points. It is possible to close a gap like that but would require fantastic performances all round by LBAC and a hope that the Hemel Hempstead club will slip up.

Individually, the team was lead home by Andy Inchley and Stuart Blofeld, with Charlie Thompson closing out the eight man scoring team in 47^th place. Between Stuart and Charlie we had Pete Foulkes, Mark Kleanthous, Tom Inchley, Nick Clay and Joe Hurley covering just 14 places which gives great strength to the team. However, the additional runners also did a fantastic job because they take points of the other teams who are challenging which is why quantity of athletes is very important as well so Chris Norman, Mike Bryant, Fred Watt, Richard Inchley and Pete Watkins are an equally vital part of the team. Individually, Joe Hurley's best position of the season has seen him sneak into the top three of the V50 category while Fred Watt's consistency means that he has a huge lead in the V60 category and a solid run in Wing will see hime take the title.

So, with one fixture left we need absolute maximum attendance for the club, both in racing and helping. As a club, we will need about twenty marshalls for the day and so the more friends and family we can enlist to help out, the more people can run and the more likely we are to get the results we want. Richard Inchley will be nagging everyone for help, both on the day and setting up the course on the Friday so please make sure that 13^th February is clear.

Finally, really well done to everyone who ran at Shuttleworth and may the form continue into next month.