What a season finale!

The Glowing Bit i.e. Leaving out most of the plethora of stats

The final league fixture, more than ever before showed what an exceptional club LBAC is. We have less than 50 senior members and a similar number of juniors but have just hosted the biggest and best fixture of the season while still giving everyone the opportunity to run and coming up with probably our best set of results ever.

On a day when it would be easy to get carried away with the fantastic running there are some very important things that should be remembered. Firstly the league itself is only the size and quality it is due the hard work put in by Dennis Orme who sadly lost his life to cancer a few weeks ago but would have been delighted to see the recognition given today by hosting the UK cross challenge.

Secondly, every year LBAC takes on the hosting of a fixture but the reality is that 95% of us only get involved on the day because Richard does all the work in the months beforehand. Now don't get me wrong he loves it really, but you wouldn't have thought that at 10:30 this morning! We've tried to get involved with helping him, and at some point (he's 70 next year) there will be a change of guard but as it stands we (and the rest of the league) should just be grateful that he continues to plan and deliver excellent events.

Thirdly, the reason we can deliver excellent events is because every year we have a fantastic response to our appeal for volunteers to come and stand in the cold/rain/snow all day for nothing more than a few words of thanks. For these people it isn't a short day with some being there at 8am and even the late arrivals turning up at 10:30 to put in a six hour shift on their weekend. Without these volunteers giving up their day it would make life much more complicated for all concerned. I therefore think that I speak for all of us that ran when I say we owe a huge thank you to Dennis, Richard and the thirty or so people who did that today.

We come on to the running. There is a huge amount of detail that can be gone into in terms of how people have performed today and across the season, and believe me I can't resist entirely but will cover it later so those not interested can stop reading at the appropriate moment, so in more general terms these are the facts of the season.

  • We have now been in division one for five consecutive years. Two was our previous record!
  • The U11 girls achieved their highest ever team position
  • The senior women achieved their highest ever team position
  • The U20 men took a bronze medal in achieving their highest ever team position
  • The senior men took a bronze medal in achieving their highest ever team position
  • And more cakes have been baked this season than the infamous 1983 season when we recruited Mary Berry as ladies captain!

For those that want to stop now there is just one more thing. We didn't make a big deal out of our overall club position as the men were focused on the team competition and we looked pretty set in 8th place but the amazing running by the whole club meant on the day we overhauled a 300 point deficit on Luton and took 7th place out of 14 overall in the division, our best ever and the first time we've ever beaten our two near rivals of Luton and Aylesbury. 

February Stag

A chilly and damp night in Leighton saw 19 members turn out for the fifth Stag Trophy race of this year's competition with many trying to work themselves into a position where they can challenge for the top spots in April at the end of term.

For someone who is usually running, it is intriguing to watch the race as gaps open and close and people fade after fast starts. Trying to guess who is going to come out at the front at the end of the race is remarkably difficult – although probably not as difficult as running up Grove Road into the wind with Pete Mack chasing you down! read more

The Mountains of Brighton

For those who don’t know much about the event, the Southern Cross Country Championships (SXCC) is a prestigious event in the cross country calendar attracting runners from all over the south of England to compete over a gruelling cross country course.  Most years the SXCC are held at the dreaded Parliament Hill Fields, reputed to be one of the tougher cross country courses around, however this year Parliament Hill hosts the National Championships, so Stanmer Park in Brighton stepped up to the role.  Many might have naively thought that the move away from Parliament Hill would be a treat, with a shorter, kinder course…..oh how wrong we were! read more

2015 Results

Provided below is a list of race results where LBAC members have taken part. If you would like us to add any performances please let us know.

There is a website called Power of 10 which records all performances in races which have a UK Athletics permit. You can add in any past performances for which the results are online. You can also add in a photo of yourself and a personal profile. It's ideal for keeping all of your races up to date with very little effort!

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2014 Results read more

January Stag

There was definitely something in the air this week as our recent excellent attendance levels at the Stag Trophy dropped significantly. Whether it was the new year lethargy, the bugs that have been going around or the gale that was blowing down Grovebury Road we do not know, but it meant that all those that did venture to Parson's Close were able to pick up good points for the overall standing.

The person who took most advantage from this was Fred Watt, who claims to have never won an individual Stag race in all his years of running with the club. However, running a time over a minute quicker than in December enabled him to finish comfortably ahead of the pack. Maybe it's all the parkruns he's been doing recently that has given him this fresh turn of speed. read more

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