Author: Sam

In the Clutches of the Heatwave

Beds AAA 10k

10k Road Club Championship Race

The Club Championships race for 10k this year was in Bedford. With Pete Mackrell involved in the organisation and 4 other club members helping him out, the race had a very LBAC feel around it.

As the 15 competitors wearing Purple and Gold rocked up at the Bedford Athletics track to collect numbers it was all rather friendly and could well have been the Leighton 10 that we had entered. Pete Mackrell and Chris Norman were hunched over a laptop working on a spreadsheet covered in numbers and figures, Stu Blofeld was handing out the numbers and pins with a cheery smile and words of encouragement, Richard Inchley and Uncle Pete were then milling about near the start and later marshaling and Chris Dimmock was proudly offering water to all those that finished. It was hard to avoid our club members! read more

Chiltern Challenge 50km

Chiltern Challenge 50km – well I was looking for a challenge!

by Jo Sharples

Why would you ever want to? Followed with, are you mad? Seem to be common reactions to me running the Chiltern Challenge 50KM ultra. Mad, in my opinion, no but lost maybe. So lets start at the beginning.

Berlin Airport 2017.

I had just run the 2017 BMW Berlin Marathon, and was queuing to check in at the airport. It seemed most other Brits had also chosen this flight home. Berlin had been a mixed bag for me; I was overall pleased with my time, but couldn’t quite stop the disappointment I was feeling. I had experienced very difficult family issues in the final part of my training, and had been struggling to work let alone have the motivation and determination to train. This alongside an attempted burglary the day before the marathon in our hotel room had me mentally on the next flight home. There were too many problems and worries I could not solve here and I needed to escape. What was I to do? My race pack was collected, I had even already pinned my number to my LBAC vest. I could not honestly tell you what MY decision would have been if Sam had not been there. His stern, fair, and supportive talk was 100% the reason I made it to the start line. So I should have been happy with 2min shy of a PB- but that had not been the goal at Berlin. read more

Miles & Miles of Miles – 1mile Club Champs

1 Mile Club Championships 2018

LBAC descended upon Stantonbury track on Sunday 8 July in baking hot sunshine. The track itself wasn’t the only thing on fire, with lots of fast miles completed, with many improving on last year’s efforts.

Parents and club members took up the stop watches and timed so firstly a big thank you should go out to all of those who made the mile possible.

Thirty three members took up the challenge across four different heats, which were indeed, incredibly hot as everybody ran well in difficult conditions. read more

5k Road Club Champs

5k Club Champs – Aylesbury parkrun

Another sunny morning greeted the  LBAC runners as they commuted to Aylesbury for the 5k Road Club championship race. As has been custom the last few years, the 5k race has taken place at a local parkrun and this year Aylesbury was the location of choice.

Purple and Gold vests packed the starting line with 28 runners turning out in the Meadowcroft area of Aylesbury.

As is custom with parkruns, the start was a fast one with runners haring off between the trees. The route itself follows the River Thame and is fairly flat and fast, but with a few tricky corners and slight inclines it can also sap your energy somewhat. read more

EAL Round 2 – Luton

EAL Round 2 – Luton

by David Killick After the success of round 1 East Anglian League, I was feeling confident of another good day and it didn’t disappoint. Bad new out of the way first, we finished 7th out of 7 for the match but in this match we were up against some of the big league teams and on their own patch it would be expected Luton would have a bigger squad than last time. That’s the end of the bad news because some age groups really delivered some great results.  Below are the highlights as I cant write everything that was great. Although the u11s don’t score its a great way to introduce them to competitive full match of athletics. 5 in the squad including 1 debut.  I did’t see much of the action but I did see the 600m with Thaila Jade Mason storming the last 300m out to win the race in a new club record of 1:58 and the first girl in club history to break the 2min barrier.  Being on a high she then went and claimed the 80m club record as well.  Great results but for me seeing the u11s enjoying themselves is what it’s all about. Squad – JH, Emily Axten Blackwell, Sophie Ford, Sophie Coleman, Thaila Jade Mason u13girls may have a small squad but they put in some serious efforts with a 5th place finish.  Katie Killick may have hated the 800m but she bounced back in the Discus with a PB and almost beyond 13m to win it. Squad – Katie Killick, Sophia Watt, Jessica Stenner, Harriet Butlin, Charlotte Keane u13boys slightly bigger in number on this match finished 4th and saw Oscar Butlin again break his 75m hurdles record.  Finlay Boyd won the Shot Putt by more than a metre and Toby Evans having been told on the day that he was doing discus, came 3rd. Squad – Ash Carter, Finlay Boyd, Toby Evans, Sid Mead, Oscar Butlin, Archie Wright u15girls were the highlight of the day with a big squad finishing 2nd.  Some athletes were not doing their preferred event but covered some other events to gain vital points.  Niquole Carter broke her HJ PB to 1.45, but a notable performance from Imogen Chesterton who smashed her 1500m PB and would not let the girl from Southend beat her (great elbows out technique!) and showed that hard work in training does pay off.  Annie Rose again stepped up her game and threw a discus PB to win alongside her hammer win. quad– Niquole Carter, Imogen Chesterton, Zara Brooks, Isabel Law, Alicia Down, Julia Bell, Amelia Butlin, Annie Rose u15boys is becoming lonely for Daniel Coleman but he just does what he does best and throws things far.  38m for the Javelin takes him to another PB and close to the magic 40.  Great to see Arty Mead compete at Long Jump but we could so do with more u15s boys coming along and competing. Squad – Daniel Coleman, Arty Mead u17girls  squad of 4 managed a good 5th place and only 1 point behind Southend.  Slightly off form for a couple of them as it is mid exam season but Amy Killick squeezed another PB in the 1500m.  It was also nice to see them get the relay baton around with no dramas. Squad – Amy Killick, Jenny Abington, McKenna Keefe, Dana Carter u17boys managed a 6th place with both of them jumping beyond 10m for the first time and the following up with some good long jump work.  Great results and hard work in training paying off Squad – Harry Bell, Max Rose Senior Women, with a must do attitude, Alex Killick decided to do 100m as long as I didn’t tell anyone so when she flew down the 100m straight in front of everyone there was probably the biggest cheer of the day before returning back to her throwing.  Llinos Coleman again put on the club colours and gave a solid performance Squad – Alex Killick, Llinos Coleman Senior Men managed 5th with what must be the biggest squad in ages and had all but 5 scoring places covered.  A welcome return on the track for us by Ben Corfield, supported by F1 globe trotter Will Ponissi and Matthew Brooks making his debut. Such was the strength of the team I couldn’t get into my own throws team but put on the spikes for the 100m and 400m Squad – Will Ponissi, Nick Stonehouse, Michael Watt, Ben Corfield, James Bell, Matthew Brooks, David Killick Big thanks to Warren Rose for sorting out all the officiating, Sheryl Carter for managing the Girls team and to the parents/carers who helped on the day. The next match is Sunday 22 July, also at Luton. For more details ask David or one of the other Coaches or Committee members. 
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