Winter seemed to have arrived in Leighton Buzzard on Bonfire Night as most of the conversation before the start of the November Stag revolved around how chuffing cold it was. What was noted though was the distinct lack of wind to hold up any of the runners around the course so there was still potential for fast times if you were properly warmed up.

After returning to running last month, Mandy Clay was once again first to set off from Parson's Close with the aim of emulating her 25 points from October, but with twenty others trying their hardest to chase her down it wasn't going to be quite so easy this time around. The field included a guest runner in Chris Taylor from LFR and a couple of debutants in Chloe Broxup and Henry Wainwright. Fiona has been nagging Chloe to return to the club for a year after one training run in 2013 and Chloe brought Henry along for the ride.

As the race turned out, it was actually Henry who was the only one who managed to catch Mandy on the night. As something of a newbie to running but with a cycling background Henry didn't really know how quickly he would run, but now we do! As it stands we haven't awarded him the win, but if he becomes a regular it may be deemed appropriate to retrospectively adjust it.

So as it stands, Mandy was awarded the 25 points for a win for the second month running. This is not surprising as she smashed her PB by 2 minutes! However, Lorraine was only 11 seconds behind her in crossing the line as she also earned a huge PB by 40 seconds and now has 20 minutes in her sights.

There was then a flood of people as ten more crossed the line in a period of 24 seconds. Chloe took third place in 19:19 to complete an all female top three, just ahead of a whole bunch of people earning new PB's. David Killick (17.06) who was fourth, just ahead of a charging Jordan who edged a touch closer to the 13 minute mark he is searching for. Sam Dear (15:04) and Andrew Hallworth (17:45) battled it out for seventh and eighth to be the final PBers of the night. It might be noted that all four of the chaps mentioned here are fairly regular at the speed sessions on Monday nights!

So the standings overall clearly mean that Mandy is top of the table with a maximum 50 points, then Jordan and David are joint second on 44, with Sam Dear tucked in behind on 43. However, there is a very long way to go yet and quite a few people have won the Stag after only doing five races so whether you are yet to join in, or currently struggling with form it is still up for anyone to win. It's all about improvement from month to month.

The next race is due to be Wednesday 3^rd December so we will look forward to another excellent turn-out.