In 1995, 1996 & 1997 LBAC took part with seventeen other teams in a developing event that was founded in 1987 called the Round Norfolk Relay. There are not too many current members who will have taken part in the events which were organised each year by former captain, chairman & secretary, Steve Goodlad. It was a pretty big undertaking as the relay is 195 miles around the edge of Norfolk, consisting of 17 legs of various lengths, from five to twenty miles.

Since those days the event has grown hugely and is now restricted to a maximum of sixty teams, but the basis is exactly the same. Still 195 miles over 17 legs. Each team picks their own start time based on a finish of 9.00am and every runner must have an escort all the way, of a bike during the day and a car during the night. read more

By Dan Webb

It was a cool, bright but breezy day in Nottingham, not too bad for a marathon. I was nervous lining up with my old school friend Ben, and two other members of Grantham Town AC. As the only representative of LBAC, I felt that I should put on a good performance – wouldn’t want those Nottingham runners thinking we were some backwater, small-town running club! I had stayed the previous night at my mom’s house in Grantham. My three brothers and my niece and nephew had also come down which was a lovely surprise. My mom had cooked pasta especially for me. Sadly, I had to sip water while my brothers got merry on beer and wine. I was to make up for it on Sunday evening though. read more

Race 4 of The Tour was a one mile track race at Stantonbury. This is easily the shortest race in the series which also means it is the fastest , and the four (and a bit) laps didn't provide any respite for aching legs. Conditions on the day were windy once again, but at least the wind was in the faces of the athletes on the back straight which enabled some fast sprint finishing on the home straight.

There were five separate races on the night with the current Tour standings used to split the runners so that they were racing against people of similar ability. By virtue of their high positions in the current standings, Pete Mackrell and Chris Norman both lined up in the first race which featured nine other athletes, many of whom are far more accustomed to wasting their lives running in circles around a running track. Feeling thoroughly miffed at having to do a race over such a stupid and short distance, Pete and Chris spent the entire first lap and a half at the back of the pack contemplating exactly how one should run a one mile race. At this point they both decided they should probably be putting in a bit more effort and so picked up the pace, making up a few places with Pete eventually finishing 5th and Chris 8th, in 5:09 and 5:16 respectively. Both held on to 4th and 7th places in the overall standings. read more