Last Friday saw 11 finely tuned athletes from LBAC head up to Blisworth near Northampton for the Blisworth Friday 5. This race used to be a very popular one with club members "back in the day" and so we thought that this year we would support it by making it our club five mile championships.

The course is a pretty challenging one with some significant ups and downs in the first 1.5 miles and then it undulates a regularly right up to 4 miles before a relatively fast finish.

There were three ladies who made the journey up north and it was made worthwhile for Amy Inchley as she took the ladies club title with another new PB of 36:48 and 13^th lady overall, depite the challenging nature of the course. Jane Sauer's training has been significantly reduced recently due to work and riding commitments, but she still made it up to the race from Berkhamsted to complete the course in 38:33 before Helen Crossland finished in the bronze medal position recording 61:58.

On the boys front, a flying start from Tom May saw him in the top 5 for much of the first mile before a few people started to overhaul him. However, he and Pete Mackrell sandwiched the first lady as they came home 15^th and 17^th in 29:51 and 30:07 respectively. The team of three was made completed by Andy Inchley who started slow, battled up as high as fifth and ended up in 9^th place with 29:15 to take the club title.

Behind these three were Tom Inchley and Nick Clay who battled to finished five seconds apart in just under 33 minutes for both. The next man home was the ever improving Chris Williams who's time of 36:23 was just outside his PB and worth a lot more on a flatter course. He was pushed right to the line by Fred Watt who finished five seconds back. The final Leighton chap was the fourth Inchley as Richard completed the quiet rural course in 40:45 to earn a beer and a burger afterwards.

The presentations were held in the a little while after the race and much to our surprise and pleasure, the men's team of Andy, Tom May and Pete Mackrell took the honours by virtue of being the first club to get three runners over the finish line.

The next club event is the first Chiltern League cross-country of the season which is to be held on Saturday 8^th October at Wigmore Valley in Luton. All club members are encouraged to run, as we had our best year ever last year by getting lots of people out competing. The next and final road race championship of the year is at the Bedford Half marathon in Wootton on Sunday 11^th December. You will need to pre-enter this event.