The Victoria Park 10k

Victoria Park 10k

by James Cusack

I have wanted to run a sub-40 10k for a long time.

The challenge is my running style.  Those who are kind call it “mesmerising” (Matthew Brooks), those who are honest call it “wonky” (Sam Dear), and those who are my friends from Scotland call it “running like a drunk giraffe”.  Basically, I am 6 foot 4 inches tall and I have poor control of my gangly, bandy limbs!

Despite this, since running 41:13 at the Bearbrook 10k last year, I’ve been gradually improving. Manchester Marathon is on the horizon for me, so I’ve stepped up the training to about 50 miles/week, whilst trying to balance a newborn baby and work (big thank you to my wife Jenny for tolerating this nonsense).  As part of my marathon plan (and because all of sudden a sub-40 10k looked possible) I signed up to the Victoria Park 10k in London. read more

Fred Hughes 10 – An Alternative View

Fred Hughes 10 – An alternative view

Diary of an injured Runner

7:00 AM – Alarm goes off. It’s early for a non-run day… my ankle is a bit stiff

7:15AM – Up for breakfast and the daily physiotherapy exercises. 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8…. repeat. Again. It’s boring. It hurts. It has to be done. Same again tomorrow.

8:15AM – My lift arrives. It’s driven by a runner. I grumpily get in as the sleet starts to fall

8:45AM – We’ve arrived in St Albans a mere 30 minutes later. I’m feeling quite warm by now but thirsty for water having discussed physios and injuries with Mrs Norman and Coombes in the pub the night before read more

Sophia Leads Us Home

The fourth fixture of our league cross-country season saw Sophia Watt as the first person to finish from Leighton on the day. Her race was over before 11:40am after completing her Under 11 two kilometre race in just under 9 minutes and 17th place. There were another 55 fantastic runners from the club who followed her home but none finished in a higher position.

Sophia was excellently supported by four others in the shape of Thalia Mason, Charlotte Williamson, Harriet Butlin and Emily Axten-Blackwell and their team finished 8th out of 18. If you can possibly get to Campbell Park a little earlier in February then all of our juniors would appreciate the extra support. read more

The Leaders Keep Leading

The January Stag trophy race was exactly what it should be about, with 31 runners all coming home in very close succession. 31 is one of the highest attendances ever, so was great to see after just 14 in December.

The first four finishers all got PB’s and gave a great example of the diversity that the event brings with Alison Bell continuing her improvement from the Tuesday beginners group; Chris Large getting a PB for the first time since he won it in 2013; Jordan Clay going into 4th place in the all-time list with a fantastic 12:42 and Joe Bidlake-Hull representing the juniors with his third PB of the year. PB’s were also earned Huw Morgan-Jones and Matthew Brooks, while we welcomed Caitrina Oakes for a baptism of fire on her first run with the club. read more

Secret Marathon? Pisa cake for Pete

Pisa Marathon

17th December
by Pete Mackrell

Every year since 2009 I have done at least one marathon each year. However 2017 had been different, I’d been injured for 7 months and hadn’t restarted light running until May. I’d missed the spring marathons and there was no way I was going to take my place at Berlin in September off minimal training and risk further injury. I had pretty much given up on 2017. In October I decided that I needed something to focus on during the final few months of 2017, so I decided to enter a marathon, as you do. read more

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