The second league fixture of the season took place at Cassiobury Park in Watford this weekend with 34 runners from the club taking part in the age groups ranging from U11 to V60.

The mission for the season is to establish the club in division one of the Chiltern League, having been something of a "yo-yo" club for a number of years. Following the first fixture at Oxford, the club lay in 12^th place out of 14 and one above the relegation zone, but only 43 points behind 11^th.

At Watford, there were 16 junior athletes representing LBAC which is the best turn-out in many years and huge credit goes to all the juniors and their coaches and parents for bringing them along on a chilly Saturday afternoon. The points scored by the junior runners makes a huge difference to the overall scores and the more that run the better, so long may it continue. The U11 girls were first off the blocks, and two out of three were making their debuts. Mathilde Sammons was first home, just one second ahead of Jade Landers in 64^th and 65^th respectively. Sadie Towell was grateful for the morning off school to come home 73^rd in her first ever event and contributed really well to the team.

The U13 girls were next over the start line and had a complete team of four for the first time in many years. Beth Tippite came home in 13.22 in 63^rd place, while Izzy Bidlake-Hull, Esme Saunders and Briony Nelson had a battle with each other in giving really great support and getting valuable team points. The U13 boys increased their numbers up to three for this fixture with Billy Hoskins making his first appearrance and coming home in 58^th. Patrick Clay, in his first year in the age group finished in 44^th, while Lloyd Milliken had a cracking run to come home in 12^th and score 46 points for the club.

In the U15 boys, Leighton had five runners again who are developing into a fantastic team. Four out of the five lads are a year young in the age group so the fact that they are competing well in the races is great credit to them. Brian Foulger was once again the first home in 18^th place with Jordan Clay having another solid performance to finish 26^th. Jake Irvine, Joe McGarry & Charlie Mead had a good battle all the way around the course and finished withing 14 seconds of each other to complete the team. As a result of the lads' efforts they finished as the 8^th team in the division and contribute greatly to the overall club effort. Billy Mead has been consistently improving over the last few months and finished 26^th in the U17 boys which is always a very high standard race.

The senior ladies had something of a challenge on the day, as the traffic around the Watford area was terrible and all were delayed on route so didn't really have ideal preperation and Jane Sauer was unfortunate to miss the start of the race. We did manage to get four ladies to the start line, including Kate Owens and Lynne Grimshaw making their first appearances over the country. Despite a distinct lull in training, Amy Inchley continued her good racing form and lead the team home in 34th place out of 88 runners in the first division. Kate and Lynne then finished 44 seconds apart in 48^th and 56^th respectively over the 3.8 mile course. Having been there all day with Sadie, Fiona Towell had to put on her racing flats and scored 21 very valuable points for the team, coming home in 68^th.

The senior men managed to get fourteen runners out for the second fixture of the year as they tried to follow up the great performance from Oxford. As we continually emphasise, the guys who are outside the top scoring ten make a huge difference by knocking back the other club's scorers and on this occassion Chris Dimmock, Steve Orlando, Richard Inchley & John Adam all ran well over the 5.6 mile course to make a great team effort. Andy Inchley finished in 40^th out of the 210 first division runners, while the next six finished within 80 seconds of each other as Pete Mackrell, Mark Field, Stuart Blofeld, Joby Hobbs, Tom Inchley & Chris Norman ranged from 75^th to 102^nd. Having been first to arrive in Watford to organise the juniors, Nick Clay (and Mandy of course) was 8^th home with V60 Fred Watt and the returning Ian Roberts completing the scoring.

On the day, the senior men finished 11^th overall and the club was 12^th out of fourteen in division 1. After two fixtures LBAC sit in 12^th place with 3041 points, just 45 behind Silson Joggers. This shows how important every single runner and place is in all the races as it is the bottom two who get relegated, which we are just outside as we stand.

Extremely well done to everyone who took the time and effort to come along. Please remember that its really appreciated by the rest of the team and encourage as many other members as possible to take part in the remaining three fixtures. Next up is Stowe School near Buckingham on the 4th December so please put it in your diary.