Lanzarote 2009

This year an elite squad of fifteen people made up of club members, families and friends of the club made the trip to the Canary Islands for a warm weather autumn holiday with a few races thrown in for good measure. The group included ten runners, of which two were friends from Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers and each one entered the four race series which took place over four days. The time between races was spent doing anything from badminton to bolas and cycling to wind surfing for the more active. Crazy golf, ice-creams and the odd beer also proved to be popular activities amongst most people at various points of the week. The weather was the best ever for having a holiday - if a little warm for running - with blue skies and a gentle breeze on most days.

The serious competition of the week started on Sunday with Fiona and Jill taking the annual egg throwing competition on the beach day, with a magnificent effort of 16.5m. Their team name of Strictly Don't Dance With Us was inspired by the previous evening's Cha-Cha-Cha and Jiving. This championship taken by the girls, was followed up by the bolas tournament where Mr & Mrs Inchley senior fought of stiff competition from tall blonde Danish girls and a small Irish contingent to win the final for another year. It just shows what experience can do when the pressure is really on!

Some people took up Ballroom dancing (Badly) and some don't really remember utilising the podiums in the disco! There were cycling trips around the island, a wine drinking trip to an old bodega, badminton tournaments, tennis matches and even a few miles swum. A wonderful time was had by all and most were already talking about next year before the week was out!

There was also some running........

 

Home Countries International

Last Saturday, saw LBAC's club president representing England in the British & Irish Cross Country International in Perry Park in Birmingham. Gail Duckworth has run for the country on a few occasions now, but is particularly pleased with her current form as she is at the top end of her age category this season.

The event is organised by the British Masters Athletic Federation and sees teams from the four home countries, plus Ireland represented by their top age group athletes over various distances. In Gail's race, a team of three were required to score points for each country over a 6K course and the ladies had the worst of the weather, with the heavens opening during their second lap. The horrendous conditions made the event all the more challenging and when Gail came home 3rd for England in 6th place overall, the team were celebrating victory. However, the different age groups all run together and what they hadn't realised was that the cheeky Irish had 1st, 4th & 5th places which gave them a win by one point in the team calculations. read more

Leighton Fly to the Top of the Table

Saturday's Chiltern league cross country at Luton saw a fantastic turnout from the club as a whole, as we moved from 6th place to the top of division two in one event. With continued form like this, the club will gain promotion back to division one for the first time in three years. It is vital that there is the same effort for the next race at Slough on the 5th December, so please put it in your diary now!

The day started off with all of the junior races and it was great to have some under 11's competing in the boys race.  Jamie Stancombe put in an oustanding performance to finish in 7th place out of 74 finishers, while Luke Orlando gave him great support in 43rd place. In the U13 girls Beth Tippite finished in 27th in division two while Kirsty-Anya Shefford came hom ein 40th position. The real star team of the day was the U13 boys. Having struggled to get many runners over the last few years, we suddenly have a small squad of boys who are rapidly improving together. Jake Irvine and Lloyd Milliken came home in 20th and 19th respectively while Jordan Clay continued his good form in 12th, but the leading runner was Joe McGarry who sprinted home in 7th position. The boys now lead the division two team championship by four points and are only going to get better. read more

Peter Smashes PB

Last weekend Peter Mackrell made the short trip over to the Stevenage for the annual half marathon hosted by Fairlands Valley Spartans. On what was a pretty wet and windy day, Peter's northern upbringing made him feel right at home. Not only did he finish in an excellent 14th position out of 677 finishers he smashed his personal best time by recording a superb 1.19.55, although he has commented that a V45 lady pipped him by 2 seconds – sorry Peter. This just goe sto show what a bit of serious marathon training can do for your times as Peter is in training for the Luton marathon at the beginning of December and we wish him well in that. read more

National Cross Country Relays

  

On the 31st October, LBAC took part in their first ever National cross country relays in Mansfield. The event has been going since the 1970's and the club had never competed before. As an event, it has tremendous support from all over the country and there is a vast range in standards.

Leighton entered a team in both the ladies and mens races, but due to a succession of injuries and illnesses, only Gail Duckworth was available on the day for the ladies team. Nevertheless, Gail ran well around the first leg of the 3K course and completed in 12.20. The boys team was made up of Simon Coombes, Ben Corfield, Joby Hobbs and Andy Inchley who eventually finished as the 80th team out of 151. Simon and Ben lead the team very well with times of 17.16 and 17.06 respectively for the 5K course. Joby and Andy then completed the team with Joby running 18.58 and Andy finishing with 19.09. read more

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