The traditional cross-country season end event for club runners in England is the National Championships. These move around the country between the North, Midlands and South regions and last weekend took place at Wollaton Park in Nottingham.

Last year, the event in Sunderland was snow covered and in 2011 the Hampstead Heath event was the usual battle around muddy hills, so to arrive in the midlands and be greeted by firm parkland and some spring-like sunshine was a delight for just about everyone concerned. read more

While most members of Leighton Buzzard AC were battling the effects of a heavy night in Nottingham (I mean the Nationals), myself, Glen Turner and Adam Haylock were battling a 25 mile-per-hour breeze in my home town run – the Winslow 10k in North Bucks.

Having been born and bred in Winslow, and never having run the local 10k since it began back in 2009, I decided this was the year. The race is organised by the Winslow Lions Club and is one of the their biggest fundraising events. The other big event is the Winslow Beer Festival, which I have been a consistent competitor in for many years! read more

Another season in division one of the Chiltern Cross Country League has drawn to a close with plenty of highlights across the board. However, for the geeks amongst us, here are a few stats to sum up the season;

• 213 runs were completed by 73 LBAC runners at an average of 2.9 per runner
• We averaged 42.6 at each fixture with the highest attendance at Watford (52) and lowest at Slough (36)
• 29 people ran at least four races which gets them in the overall results
• 18 people did all five races which is just a great effort
• Highest position was 3rd place by Dominic Grimshaw in fixture 5
• 327 pieces of flapjack were consumed
• 13 pairs of spikes were put straight in the bin
• 36,243 photos were taken
• The phrase "Why are we doing this?" was heard 34 times (inc. 7 with expletives inserted)
• 837 beers, 234 glasses of wine, 27 ciders 3 half shandies and 1 Cinzano and lemonade were drunk in post race celebrations

In regard to the final fixture, before we get onto the running there should be a number of acknowledgements. Organising any fixture takes a lot of work, the last one is extra challenging and being let down by the host venue a month before is a nightmare! As it was though, we (and the CCCL) are extremely lucky to be able to call on Dickie Inchley to get it all sorted so thank you very much Richard. read more