Sunday September 4^th saw five Leighton Buzzard teamsters making the short trip across to Bottledump roundabout  to tackle the first race of the famed Tour of Milton Keynes!  The day started well with a good bit of cloud cover smearing the sky and providing great running conditions.  Despite Saturday evening beers, the spirits were high and all felt well prepared for the 6.75 mile jaunt around Tattenhoe Park.  The course was a relatively flat affair that promised quick times, but with continuous gentle undulations and a few hair-pin turns to break the stride, it did push the runners to bring out their best!

The race kicked off at 11am with a very sedate push out of the blocks, with only Pete Mackrell rising to the challenge and chasing off after the race leaders.  Sensing some serious pace at the front of the race, the following group including Chris Norman decided to wallow along at a fairly steady pace, convinced that they were biding their time for a late surge.  Chris Williams and Alex Britt followed swiftly behind, hunting as a pack of two to drag in those who went off too quick!  Richard Inchley, following on from a resurgent post-retirement performance in the East midlands Grand Prix series, rounded out the LBAC pack!

Over the three laps of the track Pete dragged in a number of MK athletes, grinding down a number of very talented runners, and cruising in to a superb 4th place finish in 40:56 mere seconds behind Matt Clarke, last year’s champion!  Just over a minute behind Pete was Chris N who stretched out from his Tuesday speed session colleagues in a time of 42:17 (8th).  Still hunting in a team of two, Chris W and Alex worked their way through the field, slowly bringing in the MK runners and pushing through to great times of 49:19 (35th) and 49:26 (36th) respectively – which as a first competitive race for Alex is a superb effort!  Rounding out the LBAC team, Richard powered through to a good finish in 53:34 (47th), showing plenty of strength for the remaining races of the series!

All in all a very successful day for LBAC taking on the vast juggernaut that is MMKAC!  1 race down and 5 to go!