Category: Race Report

London Marathon Preview

This weekend sees the 30th running of the London Marathon, now sponsored by Virgin. This year we have eight club members taking part, although it does seem that (almost) all of them are somewhat underprepared for beating the streets of London for 26.2 miles on Sunday! Or at least that's what they all keep saying!

Whatever their individual issues, it is our job to wish them all well as they prepare to line up in Blackheath for the 9.45 kick off. Each year the London marathon develop a new "tracking" system for the runners so that you can see how they are getting on as they go over each timing mat every 5K. Here are the instructions for this years effort supported by Adidas. read more

Flitwick 10K

Sunday 18th April saw the running of the Flitwick 10K, which was once again, both the county and club championships. There was a very strong turn-out, with 17 club members making it around the 6.2 mile course, with a small contingent of supporters making the trip over as well.

Six ladies took on the undulating course on a what was a warm spring morning in the middle of Bedfordshire and for the second week in a row, Louise Flack was the first lady home and will collect a gold medal for her efforts, this time next year! Louise' time of 47.36 and 28th female represents some really good form that she has come into recently. Following her home was Amelia Wallace in 50.01 and Amy Inchley in 51.52 to complete the ladies team in 40th and 60th out of the 269 ladies taking part. Just behind Amy was Ann Hirst, in her second race for the club, who has started her competitive year very strongly by completing both of the club championships so far. On her way back from injury Fiona Towell posted a respectable 56.30 before Rebecca Gooch crossed the finish line of her first ever race in 61.50. read more

Aldbury Cross-Country

Sunday also saw the annual running of the Aldbury open cross-country. This is a small five mile race hosted by the local sports club in the village of Aldbury near Tring. It is an extremely picturesque and challenging route, taking in part of the Ridgeway, and with the weather being so good this year, the 110 participants must have enjoyed the views.

John Adam and Dave Crawley are regular attendees at the event, and once more enjoyed a jog round the route together to finish in 83rd and 82nd respectively and earn their sandwiches and beers at the end. This year, they were joined on the course by Stu Blofeld who made a last minute decision to head over and enter. Early in the run Stuart was slightly surprsied to find himself in second place, but having won his last ultra race a few weeks ago, he was feeling confident and pushed on up and then down the hills. With half a mile or so to go, Steve Harrison from LFR got past him, but Stu did come home in third place and so is now looking for a podium finish in London on Sunday! read more

Sandy 10

The first club championship of the 2010 road running season took place this weekend over the picturesque (mostly) course from Sandy Upper School. The event also included the county championships and saw eight LBAC athletes taking part in very pleasantly warm conditions.

Firstly, there were three ladies who ventured out over the 10 mile distance with Louise Flack running a superb race to complete the course in 1:16:49 (which must have been a PB!). In her first race with the club Ann Hirst followed Louise home in a time of 1:27:34 which was an excellent debut performance. Jane Sauer, on her way back from injury completed the team in 1:32:24. read more

The Langmay Trophy

On Easter Monday, sixteen club members took on the challenge for the Langmay Trophy which is traditionally awarded on Boxing Day, but due to the icy conditions, was delayed a few months. It is a "blind handicap" which means that everyone is given a predicted time by our tame handicapper, Dave Adams, but no-one knows what their time is. Everyone then runs a flat race, but the results are in order of who beats their predicted time by the largest margin.

With sixteen participants, this was the largest group for some years (8 turned up on Boxing Day) and made for a very interesting competition over a course that starts and finishes at LTFC, goes out on Stanbridge Road, over the bypass to Billington and back again, including a very nasty hill in Billington village. read more

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