National Schools Cross-Country

With the end of March fast approaching, the only remaining the final remaining cross-country for any LBAC members was the National Schools Championships that took place this year in Heaton Park, Manchester on a very wet and miserable Saturday. (Some might say that it's always wet and miserable in Manchester, but not me!)

The National Schools is often considered to be the highest level of competition for the junior age groups because it pulls in kids from all the sports who may not run on a regular basis. With that in mind, simply qualifying is a great acheivement and one that two LBAC athletes can be proud of. Over the course of this season Billy Mead and Bryan Foulger have done an excellent job of being the stalwarts of the U15 team in all of the cross-countries, but with a school year between them and the schools agegroups being split differently, Bryan qualified as a top year Junior and Billy did particularly well to get into the Inter boys team a year young. read more

Silverstone Half Marathon

Those of you that have been following Ruth Conquest's progress over the last few months will be pleased to know that despite the difficulties she had last Wednesday night, Ruth was able to complete the Silverstone half marathon on Sunday. It was by far the longest race she has ever done and shows great determination to get around the course in two hours and forty-five minutes.

Round Ireland with some Spikes

Gail Duckworth went off travelling last weekend to take in the sites of Belfast and run in the British Masters Athletic Federation cross-country at Stormont. Very importantly Gail took the time to bond with the locals by visiting numerous bars and restaurants around the city and introducing herself to ian Paisley after she had been mentioned in the local paper in the build up to the event. She even took the time to visit the areas where the troubles have been and take in the site of the dockyard where the Titanic was built. read more

UK Inter-Counties

Leighton Buzzard had four representatives at the Inter County championships in at Cofton park in Birmingham at the weekend. For those who are unfamiliar, the event is a selection event where the best runners from each county are picked to represent the county as a team with a certain number making up the scorers, but this varies for each race. In short, you have to be a pretty good runner just to get selected.

In the incredible U13 boys race Jordan Clay and Joe McGarry were both making their debuts at the event. The first person home for Bedfordshire ran 11.06 and came 44th. Jordan and Joe were both within 45 seconds of him, yet finished 173rd and 175th respectively and were 4th and 5th out of eight for the county, such was the mass of quality runners crossing the line. The boys helped the team come 22nd out of the 39 counties, which is pretty good for the smallest one in the country. This was a great finish to what has been an excellent season for both lads and long may it continue. read more

Half Marathon Weekend

Last Sunday seemed to be the ideal day for clubs to host half marathon's, in preperation for the upcomin London marathon and eight LBAC runners were out running in three different races. The furthest distance was travelled by Joby Hobbs, who went down to Bath for their prestigious race. Despite having had an up and down last six months, Joby managed a PB over the 13.1 miles and completed the course in 1:25:19, finishing 280th out of over 10,000 runners.

In the Berkhamstead Half Marathon Chris Norman took to the streets and ducked under 1.30 for the first time with 1:28:44 despite spending Saturday sobering up after developing a new nickname on Friday at the bowling! Jane Sauer and Louise Flack also both ran with Jane achieving a new PB of 1:52:23 off the back of an injury prone winter and Louise clocking 1:52:44. read more

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