Leighton Buzzard Athletic Club

The new winter season got under way this weekend with the big first fixture of the Chiltern Cross-country League at Shotover Hill in Oxford. The first thing that has to be said is a huge thanks and congratulations to every one of the 34 runners who made it over to the event to support the club and do their bit. There were some great runs generally, but what stood out overall was what huge difference it made to have such a strong team effort.

The first runners out on the course were the U11's and Mathilde Sammons was the club's only representative, in what was her first race in the league. She put in a great effort to finish in 55^th position and then stayed for the whole day with her Dad Mark, to support all of the other races which was greatly appreciated. Exactly the same applies to Izzy Bidlake-Hull who ran in the U13 girls and finished in 65^th position and gained valuable points in our bid to stay in division one for the first time in many years. read more

The new Stag Trophy season started with a bang last night, with thirty club members completing the three lap course from Parson's Close. It seems that gone are the days where you only had to turn up on a chilly night to pick up fifteen points, and it is great to see. There were seven PB's run on the night, as well as seven other people running the event for the first time. All these times have now been plugged in to the historical records available on the Stag Trophy page and so each individual can set their own targets for next month. read more

Jon Hull & Gary Buckle, the intrepid travellers managed to resist the nightlife of Cologne on the Friday night – well almost… The local brew 'Kolsch' is a well known hydration tool for long distance runners in Germany. In addition, we discovered that the European ban on smoking doesn't quite extend to bars in Cologne (another story).

On Sunday we lined up in Koln Messe for a 'flat and fast marathon' clearly something they did not mention to me and Gary. On the 20th anniversary of German reunification, we all joined in with the German National anthem and choruses of Viva Colonia to set us on our way. read more

What better way to finish a week’s holiday than taking on the Chippenham Half Marathon. Well that's where two LBAC athletes ended up on a bright and sunny Sunday morning in Wiltshire. Now becoming well known as a fast course, a strong field of 1321 runners were present to take on the flat(ish) route through the surrounding countryside and villages. Having set a PB on the course a year ago Joby Hobbs was hoping to dip well under 1 hour 25 minutes this time around. However Joby had to make do with a time of 1 hour 25 minutes 21 seconds (2 seconds outside a PB) to finish in 54^th place. Jill Richardson on her maiden voyage around the very picturesque route clocked a time of 1 hour 44 minutes 1 second finishing in 357^th place. read more

So after three days, Richard was battling for the first V65 award, Chris was trying to get into the top 20 and Andy hoping to hold on to the top spot.

Race 4 of the series saw everyone take to the country with year's cross-country taking place in Potterspury on the North side of MK. The course consisted of two small laps to start then a couple of large laps. Five stream crossings and two stiles to contend with over the 5.4 miles made it a challenge for all concerned with legs starting to tire as the second half of the week started. read more