On Tuesday evening (2nd July), nine Buzzards made the short trip across to Milton Keynes for the MK 10k. The race forms part of the East Midlands Grand Prix series and is not to be confused with various other 10k races held across MK throughout the year! The runners were greeted by slightly cooler but muggy conditions, and a tricky headwind along the final stretch.   There was a strong purple and yellow presence towards the front of the race. First home was Andy Inchley, whose modest performance by his standards the previous Friday in the John O’Callaghan 5m was probably due to all the sleepless nights, constant moaning, crying, feeding, etc (and that’s just looking after Amy!). However an impromptu power nap before the race worked wonders as he stormed round the course to finish in 35:49 in 14th place.   Half a minute and seven places behind Andy was Pete Mackrell (36:15, 21st), closely followed by Jordan Clay (36:32, 30th) who was the first U20 finisher in the race. Whilst Pete and Jordan started steadily and worked their way through the field, Billy Mead (37:48, 46th) took the opposite approach and found himself with the leaders in the first km before eventually slipping back. Surely he can go much quicker with better pacing? The team of Andy, Pete, Jordan and Billy took 3rd place in the team competition and it’s great to see the juniors contributing to the club and keeping the older boys on their toes.   Behind the front four were Chris Norman (38:35), Charlie Mead (41:02), Chris Williams (42:53), Fred Watt (48:57) and Aaron Carr (55:17).   The race completed the East Midlands Grand Prix series which started over two months ago with the Silverstone 10k. Runners need to complete at least five of the eight races to score in the overall series standings and only Chris W and Aaron managed this. Notably, both of them took a reasonable chunk off their 10k times between Silverstone and MK, which demonstrates how useful regular racing can be for improving fitness and speed.   In typical LBAC style, the productive evening was rounded off when the athletes were joined by three non-running Inchleys for beer and burgers at the pub!

Trail Marathon Wales 2013 (22nd June) – Marathon number two
By Helen Crossland

A couple weeks before this event I had decided that a reccie across the lake district was a really really good idea.  It was only 14 miles or so from Ambleside to Coniston.  Nothing could go wrong, could it.  Well, in true form, something did go wrong.  My left knee to be exact.  The Lake District is no walk in the park and the route I was taking should never have been done alone.  Two very valuable lessons learnt that day.  Strength training is all important for hill events and when attempting a difficult trail, try your hardest to drag along a willing participant.  All this before I tackle my second marathon.  Plus it was not only my second marathon but the toughest marathon I could find before the Lakeland 50 event.  A good training marathon.  That was my thought.  So, did I do it?  Did I make it to the finish?  Did I quit? read more

On Friday 28th July, LBAC held its 5 mile road championship. The race chosen this year was the John O'Callaghan 5, which also doubled up as the county championship, so there was plenty to race for. The race was hosted by Luton Athletics Club, so Friday evening saw 14 LBAC runners with nothing better to do on a Friday night along with 100 others meet at the Vauxhall Recreation club for a 7.30 start. It wasn't the best conditions with on off drizzle all evening, but it was not too hot or cold and not much wind. The course itself was undulating but nothing to give you nightmares. Taking fist place for the club was Peter Mackrell finishing on 29 mins exactly and fifth overall, so well done Pete. Only 10 seconds and one place behind was Tom Inchley. His brother Andy Inchley finished in 9th overall and 3rd for the club, proving that he's not loosing too much sleep from the recent birth of his first child, maybe he's not doing his fair share of nappy changes eh Amy?  Chris Norman was only one place behind and 10th overall just ducking under 30 mins with 29.51 meaning there were 4 LBAC runners in the top 10 of the race. James Bell was next in 16th position,  followed by Gary Straford. Chris Dimmock on 33.50 then Daniel Webb on 34.24 were both pleased to finish under 35 mins. Jane Sauer won the ladies club championship to continue her superb form in 36.08, Lynn Boddy got the second place with 37.19 and 3rd veteran 35 lady for the county. Following was Roger Seldon in 38.15 and the first veteran 60 for the county, Paul Douglas who took it easy finishing in 40.25, Fred Watt with 40.30 coming in 2nd veteran 65 for the county, Fiona Towell who got a PB with 41.51, and finally David Adams who graced us with his presence finishing in 42.25, making him 3rd vet 65 in the county.  A good turn out and some good results for the club. A few drinks in the Vauxhall Recreation club bar finished a pleasant Friday evening.

Colworth Marathon Challenge, 21st-23rd June 2013 By Jane Sauer   Having always fancied the idea of the Colworth Marathon Challenge, but never entered due to it clashing with the Greensands Ridge relay, this year Paul Douglas and I decided to take the rebellious plunge and enter Colworth! For those who are unfamiliar with the Colworth challenge, it is a series of three back to back multi-terrain races, which add up to a total of 26.2 miles. The Colworth 5 is on the Friday evening and, yes, you guessed it… it's 5 miles. This is followed by the Colworth Trail race (8.1 miles) at Midday on the Saturday and the Colworth Half Marathon on the Sunday morning. All three races are almost entirely off road and all three are challenging in terms of hills and/or terrain… just the way we love it!  Having never even attempted two back to back races before, I was unsure how my body would cope with three and, therefore, trained really hard for it and was feeling really strong and positive… until three weeks prior to the race(s), when I managed to put my foot down a hole on a training run and damage a ligament in my ankle. Luckily the Pyhsio was able to immediately pinpoint the exact location of the damage and give me some pretty intensive treatment just in time (daily pinching of the TENS machine from the stable yard also helped enormously)! I was also given strict instructions to do absolutely NO running prior to the race and to simply keep fit on my bike, to minimize impact… my Physio is a runner himself, so knew exactly where I was coming from and how important it was for me to race after all my hard work in training. Despite assurances from both the Physio and my unofficial (but excellent) Coach (PD), that my most influential training had by this point already been completed and maintaining my level of general fitness was all I had to do, this made me rather nervous, since the only way I had ever previously trained for races was by running… and three weeks is a bit of a long taper, when you have to race three days in a row! Anyway I did as I was told and went to the start line on Friday evening very fresh indeed, but also with a completely revised objective of simply getting through the weekend, with absolutely no regard for times.  To my amazement, I ran the hilly 5 mile course (in extremely hot and humid conditions) feeling really strong all the way and didn't feel my ankle at all. I wasn't aware at the time, but I actually PB'd by over 1.5 mins and finished 5th V35 lady! Later that evening I did start to feel a bit of pain in my ankle again, but it wasn't too bad and I still felt positive for the rest of the weekend (with the help of plenty of ice, the TENS machine, lots of Rock tape and 2 ankle supports)! Saturday was really hard… it wasn't too hilly a course (although still pretty "undulating"), but had an extremely uneven and very rutted section of a couple of miles or so, which we did twice (out and back)… on the way back it was much worse, as we'd had a lot of rain overnight on Friday and after everyone had run through the section once (and the leading groups twice), it had also got really churned up and muddy. Lots of people took a nosedive within that section (including PD… oops, did I mention that?!)… I didn't, but still managed to pull my right calf so severely that, although I finished the race (running on adrenaline I suppose), I could barely walk to the car from the finish. So it was even more icing, TENSing and taping on Saturday evening and really was touch and go as to whether I'd make the start of the half marathon on Sunday. The deciding factor in lining up (feeling very negative about even getting round this time) was knowing that it was a two lap course, so I'd never be more than about 3 or 3.5 miles from base at any time… plus the previous courses had been extremely well marshalled, both in terms of numbers and support, so I was fairly confident at least that I would be rescued if the worst came to the very worst! For the first time ever, I actually managed to start near the back of the field and stay there for the first few miles, without getting swept away with the atmosphere more quickly than I should have done (as I usually do!) and, although I could feel quite a lot of pain in my calf, I refused to get carried away and push it too far (constantly reminding myself that the one and only aim was to finish) and thus the pain gradually decreased and my tempo gradually increased and I started to pick my way through the field. I finished the half marathon in 1:48:09, which wouldn't really disappoint me too much for a hilly off road half anyway, even without an enforced 3 week taper period and carrying two separate injuries for the race, so I was pretty happy with that!  My total time for the whole marathon challenge was 3:31:57, which put me in 68th place out of a total of 182 finishers… 12th lady and 7th V35 lady. Paul's total time was 2:58:17, which gave him 14th place overall and 7th V40. Despite my own personal issues and challenges, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of every race and would highly recommend the challenge (although I'd be lying if I said it wasn't intense)! It was really really well organised and marshalled and had a fantastic and friendly atmosphere. There's even the option to camp there for the weekend, with barbeques and evening entertainment etc. Such a great shame that it usually clashes with Greensands, as it would be fantastic to get some teams up there… perhaps we could start a little campaign to remedy this for future years if enough people are interested??? The date of the 2014 challenge has been confirmed as 20th-22nd June. NB – The 2014 Greensands Relay is provisionally scheduled for 28th June, a week after Colworth.