With Christmas now just a distant memory and New Year's parties about to begin, it's about time to renew your annual subscription. Please can you send Helen a cheque or BACS payment before 31 January 2012.
Senior Members – We would be grateful if you could all complete the membership form below and return it to our treasurer Helen Crossland as soon as possible with your annual subscription. Anyone taking a family membership should complete a form for each family member.
With the usual frivolities of Christmas making it a challenge for most of us to get out running, we thought it would be advisable to put up a bit of a plan so no-one is caught out.
Wednesday 21st – If you want to run prior to going for a curry at 7.30 then please meet in the usual location at Tiddenfoot at 6pm. We're not too sure who will be there but a few is better than none!
Wednesday 28th – Normal Wednesday run with a 7.30pm departure. Uncle Pete has promised to be there so you'll be welcomed by at least one festive smile!
Leighton Buzzard AC were well represented by four lads in the South of England Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships held at Lloyd Park in Croydon.
Stars of the day were undoubtedly our U13 boys Owen Drabwell and Sam Nicholas who were making their debut for the county following a series of excellent Chiltern League performances.
In a very fast race in perfect cross country conditions over a 3000m course, Owen was just 7 places ahead of Sam finishing in a fine 28th place, and being the fourth scorer in the team. He gained himself a South of England bronze medal for helping the team to an excellent 3rd place. Sam was 5th home out of the eight team members and both look good to gain many more honours in the coming years.
In the U15 Boys Jordan Clay was the 4th finisher for Bedfordshire in 60th place, running a very solid race and beating some fellow team members who he would often struggle to finish in front of. The team finished in 9th place and Jordan’s run was an encouraging start to the forthcoming very tough season ahead.
The representation was completed with Billy Mead running very well by finishing 63rd in the Under 17 race with six Bedfordshire runners finishing within 35 seconds of each other, bringing the team home in 8th place overall.
It is good to see the youngsters performing well at this level, with several others knocking on the door for County selection. Richard Inchley (County Team Manager) will be watching closely the County Championship results and the final two Chiltern League races, to see who shows enough to make the county teams for the Inter Counties in Birmingham in March.
Fifteen LBAC members rocked up to Wootton Upper School on the edge of Bedford at around 9am on Sunday morning to take on the very popular Bedford Half Marathon. With a capacity of 2000 runners, the race is often full before the day and Bedford Harriers do a fantastic job on the organisation front, which is why it retains it popularity.
As the club half marathon championships, the turn out was pretty good on the male front, although the ladies were down to two, by the time we got to the start line. Amongst our line-up there were a couple of debutants with Ben Corfield well used to running the distance but never before in a race, while Laurie Parr hadn't run more than six miles this year so was really treading on new ground.
The December Stag Trophy race was run on a cold but still night in Leighton Buzzard. The numbers were a little low, presumably put off by the cold weather, but there was some excellent runs by the ones who were there.
Having started running just a few of months ago, Kelly Paine's efforts are really starting to show through now. She has improved so much over the last month that when she had a lap to go, four other runners still had two to go. This run meant that she cruised round the final lap to win comfortably and take the 25 points.
