Saturday's Chiltern league cross country at Luton saw a fantastic turnout from the club as a whole, as we moved from 6th place to the top of division two in one event. With continued form like this, the club will gain promotion back to division one for the first time in three years. It is vital that there is the same effort for the next race at Slough on the 5th December, so please put it in your diary now!

The day started off with all of the junior races and it was great to have some under 11's competing in the boys race.  Jamie Stancombe put in an oustanding performance to finish in 7th place out of 74 finishers, while Luke Orlando gave him great support in 43rd place. In the U13 girls Beth Tippite finished in 27th in division two while Kirsty-Anya Shefford came hom ein 40th position. The real star team of the day was the U13 boys. Having struggled to get many runners over the last few years, we suddenly have a small squad of boys who are rapidly improving together. Jake Irvine and Lloyd Milliken came home in 20th and 19th respectively while Jordan Clay continued his good form in 12th, but the leading runner was Joe McGarry who sprinted home in 7th position. The boys now lead the division two team championship by four points and are only going to get better.

In the U15 girls Georgina Wright put in a great effort to finish in 18th place and making a good contribution to the overall club score. The final runner in the age group races was Billy Mead in the U15 Boys, and his result of 8th place was a superb, third top ten finish for the LBAC juniors.

The club's senior ladies put in an absolutely fantastic effort by having eight club representatives on the start line. We believe this is a record in the club's history and long may it continue. With Gail's next international race on the horizon, she lead the team home over the 6K course in 6th place out of the 55 finishers. Amy Inchley, Louise Flack and Laura Smith made up the rest of the scoring team in 30th, 32nd & 33rd respectively. In all races, it is crucial to get as many runners as possible because even those not in the scoring team take points away from other clubs for every place they gain and Liz Miller, Jane Sauer, Clare Kleanthous and Amanda Martin did a wonderful job of completing the scoring team. As a result the senior ladies gained an extra 123 points for the team.

The final race of the day saw the senior men taking on the 9K course next to Luton airport. We had Paul Douglas running for the club as a guest and he was the first to finish the three lap course in 13th position. Despite his continued injury Joby Hobbs chased Andy Inchley all the way to the end as they continued their recent run of close battles. On his debut for the club, new member Pete Foulkes  came home just ahead of club captain Tom May in 19th & 21st repectively. Mark Kleanthous, Stewart Blofeld, Nick Clay and Joe Hurley made up the rest of the scoring team which closed in 45 out of the 115 finishers. Charlie Thompson on his way back from injury gave great support in 47th before Pete Watkins ended the club's fantastic day out by doing an accidental extra bit of the course.

WELL DONE TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART AND BRING ON SLOUGH!!