The final race of the Tour of MK saw the runners tackle the Willen Lake "6", a lollipop-shaped course starting on the River Ouzel at Woughton on the Green and taking in a lap of Willen Lake before returning the way it started. It is a flat course which would be fast were it not for the numerous gates and cattle grids, plus the fact it is actually closer to 6.5 miles! The long-ish nature of this final race means that there is still ample opportunity to move up the overall leader board, but only if you have something left in your legs after the first five days!

Glen Turner started the final race comfortably in the overall lead with very little prospect of being caught. And so it proved, Glen was content to just get round in one piece and not come to grief on the cattle grids. He still managed 3rd place in the race to secure the overall win by over two minutes. His total combined time of 2hr26 for 25.7 miles of races averages out at 5:40mm pace! When Glen joined the club a month or so ago we knew he was pretty useful, but we didn't realise quite how good.

Prior to the final race, Pete Mackrell was in 4th overall with a chance of moving up to 3rd (a 20 second deficit) but seemingly little chance of catching 2nd (a 1:18 deficit). However Pete saved his best race for last, running clear from everyone else to take the race win and achieving the unlikely 2nd place overall. After 2hr28 of running his gap over the 3rd finisher was just 7 seconds! Due to Pete also being a member of Milton Keynes AC, he won the prestigious Tour trophy for being the first MKAC finisher.

Not far behind Glen and Pete, Andy and Tom had been having a week-long battle for Inchley supremacy. Andy had a strong final race placing 4th to maintain his 6th place overall, with Tom finishing 7th on the night to secure 7th overall. The next intriguing battle was between Jordan Clay and Billy Mead to decide the leading U20 finisher. With just 16 seconds separating them before the final race, Billy went out hard to try and overturn the deficit but ultimately Jordan prevailed finishing 11th on the night and 12th overall. Billy was 16th on the night and 14th overall.

Chris Norman was content to just jog around the final two races and save his delicate shins for the Berlin Marathon in three weeks' time. Despite him 'taking it easy' he still finished 17th overall with a time four minutes better than he ran the previous year, showing how well he was running earlier in the week. Chris's performance meant there were 7 LBAC athletes in the top 17. Charlie Mead was the next club finisher taking 23rd in the final race and 22nd overall. As one of the youngest competitors in the Tour, the only way is up should he wish to apply himself!

Chris Williams was our next finisher, taking 31st in the race to move up one place to 33rd place overall. Last but by no means least, our sole lady representative Amy Inchley continued her comeback finishing the final race in 52nd. She was 48th overall, and 4th out of the 13 women competitors. Joining the 10 Tour finishers with a run out in the final race were Tim Inchley (24th place) and Nikki Elvin (64th).

Overall, it was a great Tour for LBAC and we somewhat overshadowed the home club! First and foremost, all 10 participants made it through the entire Tour which is an achievement in itself. There were four individual race wins for LBAC with two apiece for Glen and Pete. Glen effectively won three races if you include his 2nd place in the Potterspury cross country where the race winner wasn't doing the whole tour. In the overall standings LBAC took four of the top seven positions, including 1st and 2nd. And through Pete's infiltration of MKAC, we even managed to bring the main Tour trophy back to Leighton!