On Friday 2^nd July 18 LBAC athletes went over to Cranfield University to compete in the club and county championships over 5 miles. On a humid night on a fairly flat course, some excellent performances were put in by the various club members.

On the ladies front, Amanda Martin managed to go around the course at under 10 minute mile pace for the first time ever and so is already planning her next venture. In front of Amanda, both Jane Sauer and Amy Inchley were very pleased with their respective PB’s! It was Jane’s first 5 mile race but was nonetheless delighted at the time she acheived just behind Amy who crossed the line smiling as both ducked under 40 minutes. The only other lady to venture onto student territory was Jill Richardson who took the club title by being a second under 38 minutes.

On the boys front, a turn-out of 14 was excellent for a Friday night, the day after the brewery trip! This is obviously what we should do more often as we acheived 7 out of the first 16 finishers and took home the team title. This was all the more remarkable as Tom Inchley is permanantly injured, Ben Corfield hadn’t run for three months and Andy Inchley had debated running after spending rather too much time in his bathroom last week. However, times of 30:27, 30:21 and 29:28 respectively were enough to take the title well in front of Bedford Harriers.

The team then packed very well behind with Pete Mackrell a few seconds off Tom Inchley and then Tom May and Joby Hobbs also ducked under 31 minutes. In 31:14, Mark Field was 2^nd V40 in the county championships and 16^th in the race, just ahead of Chris Norman. The other award winner was Fred Watt who was 2^nd V60 in the county championships in 33:33. A full set of results are available via the Results page.