Ashby 20

Ashby 20: it’s tough, but hugely enjoyable

by Kassia Gardner

This is probably the most fun I’ve had in a race! OK, I wasn’t actually racing it; it was more of a 20 mile run with friends while getting soaked in water fights at the feed stations (disclaimer: I knew a lot of people at the feed stations so I wasn’t having water fights with strangers).

I was running with two friends from South Derbyshire Road Runners, James and Lisa (they are Ironmen), and despite trying to spot them in the pens before the start we’d missed each other but somehow less than a mile in I heard them yell my name and we finally found each other. read more

Mad March Hare 5km

Mother & Daughter team tackle Mad March Hare 5km

by Susan Johnson

Sunday dawned very foggy and I was glad I wasn’t racing until lunchtime as I hoped the visibility would improve! It was my third race in an LBAC vest in as many weeks, since joining the club in January. I had enjoyed my training with the beginners and improvers session and I was feeling confident after the Winslow 10km and MK Festival of Running.

The Mad March Hare is organised by the PTA of Great Horwood Church of England Combined School and it’s as much a race for the school kids as any adults. It’s an out and back race, barrelling down hill for the first 2.5km before you turn round and straight back up to the start on a closed country road. My daughter Kate and I had run this before and just loved the route, support and the medals. The kids tend to go pelting out of the start for a km and then grind to a halt and it’s great to see them all squished together on the start line. It is the ultimate feel good run for all involved. It’s pretty similar to the feel of a parkrun, but with some really fab medals. read more

And it’s “Go, go, go!”

By Kas Gardner

I was a bit nervous going into the Silverstone Half Marathon as this was the first, and probably only, real test of how my marathon training for the Boston Marathon was going. I suffered a bit from overtraining syndrome earlier on in the week which had meant I really backed off the training this week in order to be fit to go for it at Silverstone. I would love to have gone sub-1:45 for the first time but I honestly didn’t know if I could do it.

The race magazine had said that you should be parked up in the car park by 10:30 am, and I’d heard reports that it was a nightmare to get into Silverstone. My friend Karen and I decided to volunteer at Milton Keynes junior parkrun and then leave straight from there. But because we travelled to Silverstone via Buckingham and the Stowe road we were in the car park less than half an hour after we left Milton Keynes – while others were queuing from the Towcester direction we just breezed straight in. read more

Beginners Tackle Tough Parkrun

by Kate Johnson

Our Tuesday sessions for beginner & improver runners are proving popular, so we decided it was time to test their progress!

We took a trip to Rushmere parkrun, which for those of your who have done this course, it’s a tough one! It’s both undulating and on trails and the weather had left it in a decidely soggy state, so was a real test for our newbies.

5 of our runners met the challenge: Lucie, Susan, Kathleen, Modupe and our newest runner April, who has only been running for 2 weeks. read more

Biggleswade Sportshall Trophy

By Fiona Towell

I’m afraid we won’t be bringing it home this year, But ONLY because we didn’t have enough to defend it. NOT because the 9 athletes who turned up didn’t give it their all …

And they did! They sprinted, jumped, threw and ran paarlaufs until they collapsed in a heap at the end when the Grand Prix finished everyone off. And they made almost as much noise as last year.

Katie proved that being the only Under 11 Girl doesn’t stop you from racing relays and gave the boys a run for their Freddos. Our other Under 11 Boys were joined by Ampthill’s sole contestant, Jakob, who was a keen paarlauf participant. Sid had some time to make up however and showed tremendous strength of character as he fought hard from behind to gain some ground. Huge well done boys for making Jakob feel part of the team; and on that note I’d like to mention that two of the officials commented on the ‘lovely bunch of polite kids I’d brought along from Leighton Buzzard’. I was very proud of you all. Dan threw a good shot I was told and Fin PB I believe jumped extremely well. Both put 110% into the short distance races and Aaron made up about 10 metres in one particular Under 11 all out against Biggleswade in the finale. Ash made his Sportshall debut and jumped and ran in everything we threw at him (most Sportshalls won’t leave you quite as exhausted Ash but it was a good introduction). read more

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