By Nick Clay & Chris Williams 

The conditions and course provided a perfect cross country challenge, hills, mud and strong winds all had to be dealt with as the under 11 girls got our challenge underway, returning from the Luton event we had Chloe May, Melissa Chapman and Sadie Towell, all running a year young. They all ran well in the conditions finishing 52, 56 and 65 respectively.

The under 13 Girls were next away for the team and on her debut race for the club Sarah Plummer had a strong race over the 3km course. Competing a year young and running against some 13 year olds Sarah finished in 37^th position in a time of 13:09 which was very good in the slippy conditions. Becca Mead was glad of the company at this meet and ran well in 49^th position having a strong determined run and adding valuable points to the team tally. 

The individual achievement of the day goes to Sam Nicholas in the U13 Boys race, over the same course as the girls. Sam confirmed he was right for selection to represent Bedfordshire next weekend in the South of England Inter Counties Cross Country Championships along with Owen Drabwell (unavailable today) and Jordan Clay U15 at South Croydon.  Sam finished 7^th in a time of 10.21 the new spikes paid off!  Patrick Clay and Henry Mead made up the three U13 who both ran well finishing 35 and 37 bringing the team home 8th.   

We had record number out in the U15 boys! 6 athletes competed over a tough 4.5 km course. Having to contend with the finish funnel being reversed, that had made the course walk round difficult to navigate. We saw Kirk Swann on his debut in the league, a strong runner who never gives up backing the team. Joe Mcgarry showing signs of coming back to form after recent injury had a good run. The strength of this squad saw a change in order with Lloyd, Charlie and Tom Boozer fighting for supremacy in the middle of the field with Tom 22^nd, Charlie Mead closing the gap in 24^th and Lloyd Milliken 26^th  this grouping, is fantastic for overall team results and with Jordan Clay finishing 10^th the team closed in 26 and moved them up to 4^th team in this age group. Their best performance yet, there is more to come I’m sure, Milton Keynes were only 5 points ahead in 3^rd!     

It was good to see our under 17’s back after recent injury and both Billy Mead and Brian Foulger ran well keeping their chances for county selection going. Two great team members as they raced past the tail end of the ladies race both supporting and encouraging the ladies on.  Billy reversed the Luton order finishing 21^st with Brian 25^th securing 8^th place in the team event.

The support the juniors gave to their team mates and to the adults from the swings! and around the park was brilliant, well done. 

Certainly the Lanzarote sun hadn’t lured away all of the runners and the seniors put in not only a spirited performance, but a productive one too. For the ladies, the course was two laps of an extended loop of the park, and for the men, it was the same course, but over three laps. The course was new to everyone and proved to be a gruelling addition to the league fixture list. Spikes were certainly the order of the day; the first climb of the course was only gentle, but was in the trees and very muddy and slippy; the rest of the route was on grass, and for some the second climb straight back up the hill at about 2/3 of the way round proved to be the toughest section, especially as it had to be done twice for the ladies and three times for the men! Certainly this author really struggled on lap two!

 

The ladies set off and Gail proved that like a fine wine, you get better as you mature! Finishing in 15^th place overall and over 5minutes clear of the next F55 lady, it reinforced why she is an inspiration to the rest of us. Jane Sauer put in another strong performance finishing 39^th overall and 11^th F35 lady, with Amelia Wallace pushing hard to be the third lady home. Fourth and fifth with only 2 seconds between them were Lorraine and Janet, highlighting the work that Fiona has put in to develop and work with some of the club runners has really started paying off. Kelly Paine and Mandy Clay brought the team home in what was a great turnout, yet again, by the ladies team.

 

For the men, it had always been about the numbers, to ensure that with several of the faster runners away in Lanzarote, we still put in a strong team. We welcomed Tim and Tom Inchley to St Albans to show that you’re never that far away from an Inchley! We also had runner 334 (as shown in the final results!) who we know as Simon Coombes. Unfortunately, Simon is a non-scoring runner for us. Ben had indicated before the start that he was carrying an injury, and so we weren’t really sure how we would all fair. Of course though, in the event, we put in some sterling performances, with Simon in 17^th place (although not counted L) in 33:28, Ben finishing 21^st in 33:55 and the rest of us wishing we were also injured and able to run that time! Ian Grimshaw (37^th), Stuart Blofeld (minus the Christmas pudding costume, 72^nd), Tom Inchley (80^th) and Mark Field (91^st) all came home in sub 40 minute times.

 

Just outside the 40 minutes were Warren Rose (112^th) who had been setting a steady pace throughout the race, and Joe Hurley, who had languished in the middle of the pack for the first lap giving false hope to some of us who thought we must be running well to be ahead of him. However at lap two he pressed on and his stamina took him to a time of 41:09 and 116^th place. Tim Inchley (128^th), Chris Dimmock (140^th) with blood pouring from a nose bleed making him look as if he had done a round with Frank Bruno (local link!) and Chris Williams (145^th) brought home the ten runners needed. Gary Stratford (149^th) put in a good race with Fred Watt (170^th) and John Adam bringing the team home to cheers from us all, although the marshals had packed away the finishing post! Sadly Nick Clay picked up an injury during the week and although he started for us, was unable to complete the course, but his support was invaluable in even considering running.

 

In conclusion, the results may need updating as I think that they still include Simon’s 17^th place, but irrelevant of that, the report card should say “Great turn-out, fantastic and tough course, and a first rate performance by all present.” From the author’s point of view, this was the toughest race so far, but the camaraderie of all involved is an inspiration to others about teamwork. The ladies continue to improve and push ahead and we are a very lucky club to have some truly exceptional runners across the men and ladies, with some very dedicated runners in the lower orders continually pushing themselves for their own benefit, but also for the benefit of the club.

 

The next race is January 14^th at Slough and what a great way to burn off those unwanted calories. We welcome back the sun-tanned Lanzarote crowd, but encourage all those who haven’t yet experienced the atmosphere to come along and run for your club.