Leighton Buzzard Athletic Club

Last Wednesday saw Bedford Harriers host the Doug Anderson 5K in Bedford Park. This race doubled as both the club and county championships as 11 LBAC members made the trip up to the middle of Bedford.

The running conditions were practically perfect as it was a warm night with a very slight breeze. This helped contribute to a number of excellent times and PB's for many people.

On the ladies front, Amy Inchley finished first in a time of 21:25, which was a PB by a significant distance and saw her chasing Chris Williams all the way in his first ever 5K as he finished in 21:06. Behind Amy, Jane Sauer was also delighted with her new PB of 22:40 as she finished as 5^th V35 which pleased her even more. The third lady was Fiona Towell who only made the start by the skin of her teeth and finished in 27:06. read more

Thursday evening saw sixteen club members head over to Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage for the 3K road relays. This annual event sees many teams from clubs all over the area competing over an unusually short distance in teams of five for the men and three for the women.

The route is pretty simply a lap of Fairlands Valley Park, which is predominantly flat but the small inclines that there are make you pay if you've started off too fast as many do! The weather was dry by the evening but the earlier rain had left the paths slightly slippery. read more

The U13 boys relay team of Owen Drabwell, Patrick Clay, Henry Mead and Jamie Stancombe rounded off LBACs most successful team performance of the season so far at Luton.

It was great to see so many junior athletes competing with the team bolstered by athletes from the seniors who were just as willing to get stuck in and have a go!

The U13 girls team consisting of Jade Lindars, Izzi Bidlake-Hull, Becca Mead, Ellie Prophet, Bea Munday and Skye Longworth took the honours of the day coming 3^rd in their age group. Ellie battled hard in her 1500m experiencing the worst storm of the day and also having to compete against the U15 girls, all in her debut appearance. Bea and Skye had a fantastic day, again competing for the first time with victories for Bea in the Shot Putt and Javelin and a second for Skye in the Long jump. Becca performed well in the 100m and discuss with Jade continuing to improve achieving three personal bests in her events. read more

Last Sunday saw LBAC members spreading themselves across three different events. Dan Webb took Amelia's place in the Milton Keynes NSPCC half marathon and made the most of the opportunity despite the pouring rain. He completed the 13.1 miles in a new personal best time of 1:38. At the Luton 5K in Wardown Park Jane Sauer led home the contingent of three LBAC runners in a time of 24:11, with Dave Adams not far behind in 25:00, having completed his third race of 2011! Fiona's dodgy knee impeded her somewhat, but she still managed to get around the course in just under 28 minutes. read more

Following last Tuesday's Milon Keynes 10K your editor made something of an accidental omission. For quite a while Simon Coombes has been telling us that he wanted to get under 33:30 for 10K and whilst I did know the reason I had forgotten and thought it was a PB, until I checked on Power of 10 and saw that it wasn't, so assumed it was just his best for five years.

However, I have since been reminded that actually the main reason for that taregt time was to get inside Pete Watkins' club record of 33:31. Therefore, many congratulations should go to Simon for his excellent 33:07 and I will try to remember a little better next time! read more