By Andy Inchley

Sunday seemed to be the day for it. It was chilly, but not the biting December days we sometimes get, nor was it pouring with rain, which could easily have been the case. Our team of Buzzards spread themselves across three events in the hope of strong performances and fast times. It’s far to say though that I don’t think the results achieved were quite what was expected.

The more low key event of the day saw Simon, Ben, Amy F and Alison testing out the new tarmac around Houghton Regis. The Fun Runners had kindly arranged with the builders and the council that we could have a 5K race on the new bypass before it opened and they invited runners from all the Leighton clubs. It was unfortunate that it clashed with the Winter Half but there was no choice and all four of the LBAC reps running well with Simon and Ben coming home first and second.

The second race that saw LBAC participation was not so well known but Chris Norman and Gail went over to Bicester for the Andy Reading 10K. At the beginning of November Gail ran the Leeds Abbey Dash 10K, which despite a succession of injuries in recent years saw her ranked third in the UK for F60 in 42:20. After that race I suggested that she pull her finger out and go and do another 10K to get the top spot as she only needed a eight second improvement! I was of course joking, but in Bicester Gail took me at my word and ran 35 seconds quicker to record 41:45 and lead the UK ranking list for the year.

Meanwhile, Chris was looking to improve on his 10K record. Many times we’ve thought he was in good shape for a time and mostly it hasn’t happened for some reason. Sunday turned out to be a better day though, as earned a PB of 36:04, even if he was fractionally disappointed to not duck under 36. As an aside, Rob Elmore, formerly (and hopefully in the future) of our club came third in the race in 34:03 so hopefully we’ll see him in purple soon.

The half marathon club champs in MK was the event that most people were at and you may well have seen that there were big PB’s for both Stuart Read and Maria Williams, but there were too many fantastic performances not to get special mentions. Whilst the course is fairly flat and there was no wind on the day it was also fairly slippy in places and very twisty in the first half as well as the “fluddle” we had to run through so quick times were not a given.

So the people who really should have a “shout-out”:

• Liz Miller was first F70. The fact she was the only F70 may say volumes about her determination.
• Alex Killick earned herself a new PB despite some huge blood blisters.
• Fiona Towell got a PB by 4 minutes when she was worried about breaking two hours!
• Amy Inchley ran 5 minutes faster than she hoped, with Juliet just 4 months old.
• Michael Furness earned a 3 minute PB and is now looking at possible sub 1:30 in the spring
• Stuart Dimmock obliterated his PB by over 7 minutes to be just over 1:30 and will surely crack it soon on that line of progress.
• Charlie Mead smashed his PB but we all reckon he’ll go much faster soon if he enters any more!
• Billy Mead has found a real chunk of fine form at the moment and ran more than four minutes quicker than he ever has before.
• Ellliot is running so well at the moment that there is now a level of expectation on him but we nor he should not take it for granted and he ran extremely well to finish third in the race and earn himself some new glassware.

In addition to all of these though there were also two new club records set. In both cases they actually beat their own records, but certainly in one case that is getting harder to do. Firstly the new record for an U20 man is 1:13:14. Jordan returned from university claiming to only be running 20 miles a week, carrying a load of extra hair and a cap to keep it out of his eyes but still finished 5^th in the race. Aren’t some people just really annoying!?

Jordan however is still to reach his peak. It is generally accepted that as you age beyond 30 (or maybe 40!) that you get slower. After setting a club record for the V70 age group in the same event last year the old man (Richard) was most concerned about being over two hours. However, as you can imagine this was completely unfounded as he not only broke his own club record but ducked under 1:50 again for the first time since 2012.

It should also be said that these were not the only good performances, but I could be here all night if I talk about everyone. One thing I have noticed while doing this is if you look at all our runners on RunBritainRankings the graphs are virtually all heading upwards………..

Great running everyone. There’s three cross-countries in January!

Pos.	M/F Pos.	Cat. Pos.	Name	Time	Note
3	3	3	Elliot Hind	1:12:21
5	5	1	Jordan Clay	1:13:14	PB & Club Record
17	17	15	Glen Turner	1:17:23
19	19	17	Billy Mead	1:17:59	PB
29	29	6	Andy Inchley	1:18:56
34	34	26	Chris George	1:20:21
53	53	11	James Bell	1:23:37
57	55	42	Charlie Mead	1:24:24	PB
60	57	12	Tim Inchley	1:24:53
67	63	46	Stuart Read	1:25:29	PB
104	97	26	Warren Rose	1:28:44
108	101	7	Nick Clay	1:28:57
135	128	39	Stuart Dimmock	1:30:48	PB
169	14	7	Laura Brine	1:32:51
181	167	53	David Killick	1:33:36
192	178	58	Michael Furness	1:33:50	PB
224	17	10	Jo Sharples	1:33:07
271	250	85	Gary Stratford	1:38:08
292	270	94	Gareth Bird	1:38:44
379	39	23	Maria Williams	1:41:58	PB
380	341	177	Richard Steeley	1:41:58
503	65	22	Coralie Anderson	1:44:02
534	75	40	Amy Inchley	1:46:38
577	494	1	Richard Inchley	1:49:34	Club Record
649	102	33	Kas Gardner	1:50:46
792	147	47	Fiona Towell	1:54:21	PB
1272	898	304	Conn Bardi	2:11:35
1358	430	127	Alex Killick	2:15:06	PB
1425	475	1	Liz Miller	2:18:54