This year’s combined Beds/Bucks Cross Country Championships were held at Campbell Park in Milton Keynes. There is a myth that Milton Keynes is completely flat, but those who have run at Campbell Park know this is not true. The undulating course became increasingly muddy as the day progressed making this one of the more challenging cross country races. Despite being depleted by various illnesses and injuries more befitting of an episode of Casualty, the club sill had 30 representatives in all.

The day started with the U13 girls race (2.8k). One of the day’s best performances was provided by Sarah Plummer who finished 6th, less than a minute behind the winner. Backed up by Megan Westrope and Penny Grimshaw in 15th and 16th respectively the team finished in 4th, although the girls were the second strongest club in the county since all the top three teams came from the same club! (Bedford & County.)

The next race was the U13 boys (2.8k), which were represented by Kieran Philpott and Henry Mead who finished just six seconds apart in 13th and 14th. In the next age group up, Sam Nicholas finished 9th and Patrick Clay was 18th for the U15 boys (4.0k). Unfortunately neither of these age groups had a third runner to complete a scoring team.

The next LBAC involvement came in the combined U20/Senior/Vet Men's race. The men were running earlier in the day than they are accustomed too, and they took great pleasure in churning up the course for those that were to follow! Whilst everyone started together, the U20’s only had to complete three laps (8.4k) whilst the Senior/Vet men did 4 laps (11.2k). The club’s only U20 representative was Billy Mead, who finished 4th in his category. Whilst there were only four finishers, this is a particularly strong age group and Billy can be proud of his performance, he beat many of the Bucks runners competing over the same distance, and he would comfortably beat many of the Seniors over four laps.

In the Senior race, Andy Inchley (running in the Bucks Champs) was leading the way amongst the club’s runners  before he was struck down by a calf injury which forced him into his first ever mid-race retirement (he was probably overdue after a running career which must be approaching 30 years!). This left the way for Pete Mackrell to be the club’s first finisher, securing 11th place in the Beds standings. Following behind were Chris Norman (16th), Paul Douglas (17th), James Bell (20th), Tom May (30th), Warren Rose (32nd), Paul Plummer (35th), Gary Stratford (39th), Nick Clay (46th), and Joe Hurley (51st). Also in the race was Tom Inchley, who finished 38th in the higher standard Bucks race despite hobbling around on his own dodgy calves (defective calves must be in the Inchley genes!).

The first six men from Pete through to Warren took 2nd place in the team competition behind Ampthill & Flitwick, thus earning silver medals. The first six vets (Paul D, James, Warren, Paul P, Gary and Nick) also claimed silver for finishing 2nd in the separate Vet team competition. Meanwhile, Paul Douglas also took 3rd place in the V40 category, taking his medal tally to three, greedy!

Following the men, the women got their turn over two laps (5.6k). Despite claiming to have hated every minute of it, Gail Duckworth eased round to finish 8th overall and comfortably secured her age group title to take the gold medal. Behind Gail were Jo Breslin (12th), Jane Sauer (21st), Amelia Wallace (24th), and Fiona Towell (30th). The first three ladies narrowly missed out on team bronze medals, being just one point behind the 3rd place team. However all three are Vets (they won’t thank me for pointing that out) meaning the same team finished second in the Vets team competition, thus earning silvers!

The final race of the day was the U17 boys (5.6k). This race was almost exclusively LBAC vs Bedford & County with five runners from the former, six from the latter, and one from elsewhere. Bearing in mind B&C is a ‘super-club’ which attracts runners from far and wide, and it has a track for trianing, our boys were not to be outdone and were well in the mix with Brian Foulger in 5th, followed by Jordan Clay (7th), Charile Mead (10th), Joe McGarry (11th) and Tom Boozer (12th). The boys finished 3rd in the team standings, thus earning bronze medals to cap a productive day.

The cross country season continues next Saturday (12th Jan) with the Chiltern League at Luton (Wigmore Valley). It would be great to see you all there!