Leighton Buzzard Athletic Club

By Dan Webb

It was a cool, bright but breezy day in Nottingham, not too bad for a marathon. I was nervous lining up with my old school friend Ben, and two other members of Grantham Town AC. As the only representative of LBAC, I felt that I should put on a good performance – wouldn’t want those Nottingham runners thinking we were some backwater, small-town running club! I had stayed the previous night at my mom’s house in Grantham. My three brothers and my niece and nephew had also come down which was a lovely surprise. My mom had cooked pasta especially for me. Sadly, I had to sip water while my brothers got merry on beer and wine. I was to make up for it on Sunday evening though. read more

Race 4 of The Tour was a one mile track race at Stantonbury. This is easily the shortest race in the series which also means it is the fastest , and the four (and a bit) laps didn't provide any respite for aching legs. Conditions on the day were windy once again, but at least the wind was in the faces of the athletes on the back straight which enabled some fast sprint finishing on the home straight.

There were five separate races on the night with the current Tour standings used to split the runners so that they were racing against people of similar ability. By virtue of their high positions in the current standings, Pete Mackrell and Chris Norman both lined up in the first race which featured nine other athletes, many of whom are far more accustomed to wasting their lives running in circles around a running track. Feeling thoroughly miffed at having to do a race over such a stupid and short distance, Pete and Chris spent the entire first lap and a half at the back of the pack contemplating exactly how one should run a one mile race. At this point they both decided they should probably be putting in a bit more effort and so picked up the pace, making up a few places with Pete eventually finishing 5th and Chris 8th, in 5:09 and 5:16 respectively. Both held on to 4th and 7th places in the overall standings. read more

Day 3 of The Tour was a 4.4 mile, 2 lap course around Campbell Park where the first mile is all downhill, followed by a steady slog back up to the start/finish on each lap. The swirling wind made the long uphill stretch particularly challenging in places.

Four LBAC athletes took part. First to run was Richard Inchley, who was absent on the actual night of the race as he'd decided it would be more fun watching England's finest footballers instead. For the record, Richard's performance was much more impressive, it is never easy 'racing' on your own but he still knocked a minute of his time from last year to finish in 34:48, which ultimately put him in 52nd position and moved him up two places in the overall standings to 40th. read more