XC – The Nationals

The National, Donnington Park, 27th February 2016

by James Bell

Jolyon Attwool, the Telegraph journalist who of late has been running the Southerns and National XC events and committing those experiences to his broadsheet, wrote in his article of The National at Castle Donnington that ‘It looked like a festival: a Glastonbury with greater lung capacity’. To me the start felt tribal and like others I wanted a sword and shield because it felt like I was going into battle.

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Start of the U13s boy’s race – On the count of three….Charge!.

There’s a report on the elite activities here so I shall not dwell on who won what races. A summary is that Chiltern League winners did appear in some of the top results and I am still in awe of anyone who is able to pull out the stops and beat their peers in this race. read more

Five Still Standing

The penultimate Stag of the season, as it always does, saw lots of people eliminated from the championship in terms of being potential winners. Prior to the March race there were 16 club members who technically had a chance. Now, with just April’s race to go there are only five who have the possibility of winning. This is actually more than normal, due to the much higher attendance this year and so will undoubtedly make for a competitive final race.

On the night, the first finisher was Mark Adkins who finished nearly 30 seconds ahead of brother-in-law Stuart Read who was at the front of a group of five that came in in five seconds with Tom Inchley, Sam Dear, Lisa Bowyer and Dominic Grimshaw making up the rest and all scoring points in the 20’s. read more

Wins, but not Slow

Winslow 10k

by Sam Dear

At the start of 2016, my 10k PB time was at a pace slower per mile than my half marathon PB, so something had to be done. Having not run one since August 2014 I entered three 10k races in early 2016, determined to get under that magic 40 minute mark, with the Winslow 10k being the first.

I arrived in Winslow with Jo and her sister Kathryn who were also running and quickly bumped into Kate and Andrew before walking to the start and finding Adam (with kids in tow), Susan and spotting David Marham across the Sports Hall. read more

Ex-stream-ely Keen in Hardwick

Hardwick X-Stream

by Gareth Bird

After a tough and enjoyable Chiltern Cross Country League race at Campbell Park, it was time to head home and get my spikes and club shirt ready for the next day’s event, the Hardwick X-Stream.

The name says it all; Hardwick is a rural village just outside Aylesbury on the A413 Buckingham Road and yes, there are several stream crossings! The event is put on by Bearbrook Running Club and is well managed with a friendly atmosphere.

This is the third consecutive year I have taken part in this event and I’m determined it’s the one that will keep me running until I drop. For me it ticks all the boxes; it’s challenging, makes great use of farm land and water courses, and generates funds for a running club. It also has a great medal in the form of a ‘horse brass’ to mount on leathers that are available on the day. I opted for a six medal holder, so three more years to go until that’s full. The medals vary from year to year, with this year’s being Valentine themed. read more

A Little Club History

The club has been in the Chiltern League since the 1980’s. In that time we have had some fantastic runners and excellent performances. We have spent much of that time in division two, with occasional (usually one season) forays into division one. In the early years we had a small but strong junior section, but low numbers in senior ranks with very few women indeed.

After a significant slump in the mid 00’s when we finished mid-table in division two, the last time we got promoted was the 2009/10 season. In our first season back in division one we had the grand ambition of trying to avoid relegation by keeping out of the bottom two of the fourteen teams and we were delighted to end up in our highest ever position of 9th. The club managed to repeat this in the two following years and then dropped down one place in 2013/14 when St Alban’s joined the league. read more

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