This is the week that was…. The Return of parkrun!

This is the week that was... The Return of parkrun & So Much More! On Wednesday of last week we joined up with Bearbrook Running club for a variety of trail run paces starting and finishing at the Three Locks Pub. A huge thanks to JK and Andy Stocks who led two different pace groups out towards Rushmere and beyond. In total between the two clubs there were approximately 40 runners who joined in the trail fun on a very warm summer's evening. The post run drinks were most welcome. As we headed into the weekend, it was brilliant to see 12 of you at the Marston 5k.  Coach Matt led the way with a cracking 19:28 coming in 24th place. Also representing LFR were Mike Garner, Andy Griggs, Graham Cooper, Alice Tame, Julie Etherden, Megan Francis, Debbie Elborn, Sandra Dunsterville. The outstanding performance of the day goes to Paul Thomas who won MV 70 category! parkrun!! The long awaited return to parkrun came on Saturday and made headline news across the UK. We had runners spread far and wide. In Milton Keynes, Jim Buttleman, Nic Dimmock, David Pym and Andy Griggs all put in great times as did Phil Brogan who completed the 5k down the road at Linford Wood. David and Christine Ayres who’ve done so much to keep the parkrun ethos going through the pandemic raced in Rickmansworth while at Houghton Hall Family Laird got back on their usual Saturday morning family outing. David Parker was in Aylesbury (no doubt accompanied by James?) and in Salcey Forest, Northamptonshire were Mark and Clare Kleanthous. Over at Cassioury, VC Dougie completed his 100th parkrun with new member Nick Graefe with him who ran a PB. But by far the biggest turnout was at Dunstable Downs where Will Langdon led the team home with a new parkrun PB of 20:32. With our First Lady home being Dawn Kennedy at 30:15. Making up the team and proudly wearing the Red, White and Black were Andy Heale, Rosie Booth, Colin Larkins, Paul Doyle, Paul Thomas, Nick O'Connell, James & Sam Booth, Carrie Tyas and Anna Mead. I look forward to reports of more of you getting back to parkrun over the coming weeks. Away from running, multi sports again got some of you in the racing spirit. On the River Thames at the famous Leander Club in Henley; William Harry, James Basil, Jen and Mike Garner, completed the Club to Pub Swim. A 1600m swim that ends at a pub. Something completely different, sounds great! On Sunday, Mark and Clare Kleanthous were at the Running GP Bedford Aerodrome where Mark ran the half marathon at Clare the 10k. Also at the same event was Elle Laird who ran 16 miles using it as a training run for VLM. Lakeland 100 - By JK Over 2,000 runners from all over the UK met in Coniston on Friday for the 2021 Lakeland 100 / 50 challenges. A number of LFRs did not make the start line due to injuries but we were ably represented by Paul Little running the 100 (105 miles and 23,000 feet of ascent) and Lesley Wes at and Emma Davis returning for another crack at the 50 (50 miles with 10,000 feet of ascent). The event returned ‘live’ after a virtual race in 2020 and Coniston was bursting with runners, marshalls and supporters. For the first time in memory there was not a drop of rain during the Lakeland weekend, while this helped the competitors’ feet, the high temperatures caused a lot of dropouts due to heat related issues. The event is really tough, the dropout rate for the 100 is usually 50%! A combination of the distance, the relentless climbs, the navigation but for most people it’s the rocky trails, trashing the feet that causes the problems. After an amazing performance in the conditions, Paul crossed the finishing line after 34 hours and 45 minutes on the go, saying it was by far the hardest thing he has ever done and he will not be doing it again. (Although this last comment seemed to to be under review after sleep, a meal and a beer the next day). Emma and Wes smashed another LL50, arriving back in Coniston Sunday morning, looking fresh as daisies! They were particularly pleased at the 2021 medal, which had sparkles added. Conti24 - Thunder Run - By GP After the cancellation of the Continental 24 Hour Thunder Run in 2020, the eagerly awaited event took place this weekend at Catton Park in Derbyshire. What is Conti24? Read about it HERE. This year, LFR entered a mixed team of seven runners made up of myself (Gavin), Steve Ellerton, Chris Stenner, James Smith, Dora Parra, Kevin Hare and Martin Addrison. We were loyally supported by Mrs Addrison and James’ eldest Louis. We also had a solo entrant in the form of human/machine, Matthew Ma!! Chris and I pitched up early on Friday morning with the first item of kit to be setup being the LFR flag, this quickly added to by numerous tents, tables, awnings, gazebos and so on. By the time we were finished, our spot was not dissimilar to the local Decathlon showroom. I in particular had way too much kit and a family tent for one (I don’t like to slum it)! The team was treated to an absolute treat of a feast on Friday evening by Chef Smiff and Chef Smiff Jnr who had prepared fresh dough for wood fired pizzas, all freshly prepared in front of us. Hats off to you both, they were amazing and caught the eyes and noses of others as they wandered past our plot. “All the gear and no idea” definitely did not apply here. After some discussion about who would be going first, an earlyish night ensued after a few beers has been consumed! Much scoffing of breakfast was soon followed by the start of the race at 12pm. Very exciting! All gathered at the start line with me going first. Did I mention the fancy dress theme this year? No? Roman togas! Yep, my first lap was in a roman toga! I got myself to the very front of the pack and led off maintaining 3rd for at least 100m if not more! My aim – to make a mockery of the serious corporate image, there’s no way that they can edit out a Roman toga! Mission accomplished. First lap complete, I handed over to Chris Stenner who blasted off to start his lap. As the laps started to accumulate, night fell meaning that James was the first to encounter the first night lap. Safe to say, it is a different race at night. Recalling from my own might lap which was at about 1am, the wooded sections were like an obscure video game, the path was there in front of you but you still couldn’t see the tree routes. Oh, and round the next corner was a disco, right in front of you in the middle of the woods complete with dance tunes, lights, sweets and water. Utterly bonkers. If you wanted a rest and a chat with other competitors, you could – not a problem. I pushed on and got myself back to hand over my video game experience to Chris and then off to bed for me in my (Roman) palace. During the night time laps, it’s important to get as much rest as you can, eat a little if you can and remember to wake up your buddy in readiness for their next stint. James had got this all sussed for us and it worked like a dream, giving you enough time to get up, get a coffee, put on some kit and get to the changeover. Day break, final lap for me. This one was a real struggle and thanks to a lady who gave me a talking to at km-3, I got round. 4 laps banked, that’s 40km in the space of 24 hours on a super tough course happy with that. Overall, the team managed an astonishing 26 laps! 26! This got us a final position in our category of 16th place! (out of roughly 140 teams). The winning team notched up an eye-watering 33 laps. I am so proud of us all on this achievement, I don’t think any of us could have imagined getting into the top 20 whatsoever but we did. Well done team! Fantastic efforts from all of us. Now speaking of efforts….. At the top of this report, I mentioned that we had an LFR solo competitor – Matthew Ma. Well, Matt managed a staggering 14, yes 14, laps! Unbelievable, his ability to just keep on going around and around and around is unfathomable to me. As a team, we were able to support Matt by providing him with gels, walking poles etc. as he came past our camp but really, our input into assisting him was NOTHING compared to what he did. Matt finished 10th overall notching up his 14 laps in 15 hours and 12 minutes before he took a rest. Since coming home and writing this, I can report that Matt has booked himself in for a 10,000-mile service which gets him an oil change, replacement air filter and plugs. This should see him through for another 10,000. He’s also already starting to think about next year. Perhaps a change to the fuel mixture, I hear red diesel is good! So, to sum up, a totally epic weekend away with like-minded individuals who just like to have a run, challenge themselves and most importantly, have a sense of humour. Conti really is an event for anyone, running, jogging, walking – doesn’t matter, you’ll be in good company on the course. Everyone you pass will say, “well done, keep going” and that gives you the incentive to keep moving. I have setup a FB album on our page which will hopefully be filling up with our pictures as a race report really doesn’t tell you everything but hopefully some photos will. Who’s up for it next year? I certainly will be! FINALLY.... A big thank you to Barbara Addrison, she is amazing, she literally feeds you at any time you need feeding with a selection of chilli, rice, bacon, egg, snacks, biscuits, drinks. Whatever you need. This alone, makes it all possible. Thank you, Barbara – from all of us.    

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This is the week that was…. The Beer Mile & so much more!

This is the week that was... The Beer Mile & So Much More! The traditional Beer Mile event kicked off the weekend on Friday evening at the track of dreams AKA Astral park. The sun shone gloriously and the LFR masses were there to support the 17 runners who took to the start line, with only 2 ladies in the mix! Mike Garner was first away after beer no.1, with Matthew Ladds never too far away. Jack Heaver was soon regretting his BBQ an hour before, though to give him credit, he did manage to keep everything down. We learnt that although Will Langdon can run incredibly fast and drink pretty well, however, he most definitely cannot do the two combined! Dawn Kennedy kept her 1st lady home title staying nicely steady throughout the mile. It’s fair to say that both present and past Chairman’s Andy Heale and Steve Ellerton weren’t too hot at combining the two! Kudos to Jenny Hogan who kept going to the bitter end! The winner...  Matthew Ladds stormed home in a time of 7 minutes and 42 seconds which included the drinking time! Mike Garner took 2nd and Matthew Ma came in 3rd. Until next year, team, you’ve got plenty of time to practise!   Saturday started off with VC Dougie leading a long run around The Buzzard with Sagar, Nic and Gavin. Half the group were still recovering from the previous night’s exercise at Astral Park! The Linslade Parks Run continued on with some new recruits joining Dave and Christine for their first time. With some hope and a bit of luck, we can all dig out our barcodes and return to the real thing from this weekend! Click HERE to find out where the parkruns are running near us. We headed into Sunday with the mercury hitting 30 degrees. We had two teams in the LBAC organised Round Milton Keynes Relay. LFR Team Go Nearly Nuts consisting of Sam Heady, Tom and Steve Ellerton, Matthew Ma and Dan Green came a brilliant 3rd place and just a few seconds off 2nd place.  A great achievement. Team LFR All Stars consisting of Elle Laird, Matt Gilbert, Andy Heale, Will Langdon and myself who also put in a strong performance. Finding events further afield was Andy Griggs who put in another strong 10k performance at the Chester 10k. With 3,000 participants, it’s great to see racing and numbers continue to increase. Well done Andy, where is the next race? A little closer to home, Jen Garner, James Basil and Mike Garner took part in the self navigated Fairlands Valley Challenge Half. It looked very picturesque (once you got out of Stevenage). Again, a huge well done completing the 13 mile course in the heat. I’m sure you 3 had a lot of fun. But where was Will Burchell?   The award for the furthest run away from HQ this week goes to Alex Nixon who seemed to be putting in some effort in Majorca. Well done Alex. With the warm weather encouraging some of you to take on different forms of exercise over the weekend, it was good to see plenty of LFR’s take a dip in the open water lake at Box End. I hope to be reporting on successful triathlons over the weekend of 31st July and 1st August. On two wheels, Kevin Hare joined Michelle Evans-Riches and Deborah Macpherson on a pleasant ride out to Tring, and heading toward the hills of the Kimpton for a 50 miler were The Captain, JK and Peter Jones. Next week sees the return of the CONTI-24 and the epic Lakeland 100 and I look forward to updating you on how our members get on. In the meantime, continue to enjoy the summer sun, enjoy your holidays if you are getting away and hope to see some of you on the streets or trails next week.

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This is the week that was…. Emma’s 100 Marathons!

This is the week that was... Emma's 100 Marathons! Holiday Runs It was good to see that last week, some of you managed to get away again and soak up the summer sun. As a cycling fan, I’m very jealous of Celia Walker who treated herself to a delightful afternoon tea in the world famous Betty’s Cafe Tea Shop in Harrogate. On the cycling theme, our furthest traveled member last week was Brendan Thomas who was promoting LFR in Aix-en-Provance, France. Again making me doubly jealous as Brendan got to witness the Tour de France whiz past while he was out on his run. A bit closer to home was Michelle Evans-Riches who was debating whether it was jam on cream or cream on Jjam on her scones in Cornwall. I’m sure whatever way you had the scone Michelle,  it was well deserved!       Eyeing up the yachts in Cowes was Sandra Dunsterville who I’m told decided that none were suitable for The Grand Union Canal, so spent the day enjoying the fantastic scenery that the Isle of Wight has to offer. We hope you all had a great time. Running Back At Home Before we get to the weekend reports, a brief reflection on last week's runs. Emily tried something different last week with all Tuesday club runs being on the trails. A huge thanks to our run leaders who took on the challenge of leading somewhere different, including JK who planned a Fartlek session across the plains of Woburn, to Sam Heady who once again opened up her Farm to us where she led a fab five across the fields and tracks for a 5 mile run. Next week we have two teams entered in the LBAC organised “Around Milton Keynes Relay” and the teams were out checking out their specific legs. Coach Matt reported that Leg one was rather overgrown in places, while Andy and Will got very wet checking out Legs 2 and 3. On Sunday I had the pleasure of Elle’s company as we covered Legs 4 and 5. Also on Sunday, Team 2 had Richard Heady and Tom Ellerton out checking their routes with Dan covering off Leg 5 on Saturday. LFR’s were again out on training runs over the weekend with The Fab Four of Graham Cooper, Steve Lymbery, Stephen Moore and Christine Ayres running Sunday. It was especially good to see their route was amended for Graham to pick up just a segment as the trio completed a brilliant 16 miles. Also putting in a big number was Adam Carter with 17.5 miles as he continues on his quest to be ready for the London Marathon in October. Races Onto the races and again we’ve had runners out far and wide. Competing in the Vitality 10k in Hatfield were David Hanley and Steve Molyneaux. Both reported unappreciated hills and lovely warm weather. Not a great combination! Well done both. Love the T-shirt too! Saving the best bit to last... The annual Race to The Stones was held over the weekend and we had a few members take on the challenge. For those who don’t know, it’s a 100km event from Lewknor in Oxfordshire to Stonehenge in Avebury in Wiltshire. You can run the distance in one go or camp overnight halfway. Completing the 100km route non Stop was the amazing Jo Secker who completed the route in 20 hours, 8 minutes. That makes me super tired just thinking about it! Long time member Gordon Hill was going for non stop but sadly decided to retire after 78 miles. This is still an incredible performance, Gordon, we're proud of you! Also taking part were running partners Lesley Wes Barnard and Emma Davis. Now, making this extra special for Emma was that Day 1 of the event clocked up Emma’s 100th Marathon and Day 2 her 101st. It’s “only” taken Emma 10 years to complete her 100 marathons. Due to Covid, Emma’s plans for her 100th have changed several times but she persevered and can now join the 100 marathon club as a full member but says she can’t imagine running a marathon in anything but her LFR shirt. Fellow LFRs JK, Jane Crighton and Ali Scott with a few other family and friends turned up at the end as a surprise, which reduced Emma to tears.  We are all very proud of you Emma!    

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This is the week that was…. The Week We Beat The Germans

This is the week that was... The Week We Beat The Germans! Club runs got off to a great start on Tuesday following England’s superb victory over Germany in “The Euros”, no extra time or penalties needed, so all runs got underway as planned. With further success on Saturday against Ukraine, the Three Lions next face Denmark on Wednesday in the semi finals. As a result, Emily has cancelled Wednesday's run but if you’re not a football fan and would like to run on what will be very quiet streets, please feel free to find a run buddy on our Facebook page. After the amazing results of last weekend's MK Marathon weekend, this week has seemed a little quieter! Weekend Races On Saturday, Andy Griggs took part in the Furzton Relay in Milton Keynes. But before Andy raced he had a last minute panic when he realised the race was a day earlier than he had in his calendar! Ready to race on a full stomach, away he went, but then Andy then took a nasty tumble. We hope you’re healing well. Do we need to remind our members there are no prizes at the end of the year for the most falls?! In Milton Keynes on Sunday, Katy Garnham-Lee completed her 53rd marathon, this time the ‘Enigma Shaken Not Stirred’ in a very cool 3 hrs 51,  becoming the first lady home and 5th overall. That is a stellar performance! At the same event, Wayne Walker continued on his quest to complete 100 marathons with number 82, well done Wayne! I understand Wayne has the final 18 marathons all mapped out! Covering a little shorter distance was Jim Buttleman who completed the Gaddesden Gallop 10k, which celebrated its 10th anniversary over in Hemel Hempstead. My stand out result of the weekend goes to LFR's regular run leader and long term member Martin Addrison, who on Sunday completed the Outlaw Half (70.3) Triathlon in Holkham. He finished the 1.9km Swim, 87km Cycle and 21km run in a staggering 6 hours and 47 minutes, a PB by over an hour! Well done Martin, a fantastic achievement.       Training Runs Away from races it was good to catch up on what you are all doing. The Linslade Parks Run team were again out in force as they completed run number 65. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we can dust down the parkrun barcodes again and get back out in force on a Saturday morning. With that in mind, VC Dougie led a new run on Sunday from Bell Close up to  Rushmere, completing the parkrun course and back again. It came in at just over 9 miles and Dougie wants to run it as a club run when parkrun returns. Watch this space! We have two teams entered in the “Around Milton Keynes Relay” on Sunday 18th July and coach Matt took to the Redways to recce leg 1. The rest of the squad will be out next weekend in preparation for the event and we will report back on how we get on. Graham Cooper, along with Stephen Moore, Christine Ayres and Steve Lymbery again met up for their weekly 10 miler with a further 4 miles being added on by some to complete various training plans. Good luck hitting your goals, you’re all certainly putting in the miles every week.

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This is the week that was…… The MK Marathon Weekend

This is the week that was... The MK Marathon Weekend Before we talk about the fabulous achievements at the MK Marathon weekend, some of you were being amazing elsewhere... Maverick Frontier Chilterns Trail Run & The Aldbury 5 In Aylesbury, Jo Secker and Paul Little competed in the Maverick Frontier Chilterns Trail Run. Jo took on the 10k trail event, which probably felt like a walk in the park after her long distance events the previous 3 weekends! Paul continued his race preparations for the Lakeland 100 with the 50km event which he covered in 6hrs and 13 minutes.     On Sunday, the team were again out in force, this time in the quaint Hertfordshire village of Aldbury for the Aldbury 5. It was especially good to see Jim Buttleman back out in team kit. Well done to Jen Garner and William Harry who cycled to and from the event, a great way to warm up and cool down! Some of our GSRR team used the event to hone their trail running skills with Phil Brogan, Graham Cooper and Kevin Hare putting in good times. Backing up his recent half marathon performances, Mike Garner put in another solid run. Now for the long awaited event... The MK Marathon Weekend I guess it’s fair to say, this weekend has been a long time coming (402 days to be precise). If, like me, you entered your event in 2019, you probably even wondered if it would ever happen. Some of you probably did a virtual event during 2020, and when we thought we were good to go in the Autumn of 2020, but we had another postponement and maybe you did the event virtually for a second time? I’ve been watching your training efforts every week and getting some tips for my own marathon later in the year! The mental strength you’ve all shown has been impressive to get race ready for the weekend just gone. Disclaimer from me as I write the race report. Some of you may not have entered under LFR at your point of entry. Please excuse me if I miss you out, but I’ll do my best.  The race weekend started on Friday night with the Turing 10k, where Andy Griggs and Jane Crighton represented LFR, well done both! Andy Griggs knocked out yet another PB! As we moved into Saturday, it really did feel like the “old days”. The start line had a bit of a Saturday morning parkrun feel about it, nervous excitement of a race, chatter with friends who you’d not seen for a while and race day focus all in equal measure. Some of us thought it was a good idea to park our cars at the end and run-walk to the start but it was a little further than we thought!!! Some of you used the 5k as a warm up to the Half Marathon that was to follow later that day, or even for Sunday’s full marathon. But you got triple bling for that effort!   The results page showed that there were 18 of us who took on the 5k challenge of The Rocket. Will Langdon, Adam Carter and James Bassil all used the event as a prelude to their Half Marathon and Gavin Prechner as a warm up to Sunday’s Marathon and in doing so, guided Debbie McMillan to a new 5k PB! Steve Molyneaux also PB’d with a 24:38! Nolan Johnson completed his first race in a very long time following his knee injury and Alex Nixon celebrated breaking 30 minutes by quite some margin and narrowly missing a PB. A big shout out to Christine and David Ayres who performed well in their age group and speaking to Christine after the event, she was desperate to get back to the Buzzard for their Linslade Parks Run. I think they both made it back for the post run coffee and cake. To see how you performed the results by club for the Rocket can be found HERE.   After the Rocket it was the turn of the Half Marathoners, again, a huge turnout of 17 registered runners donning the Red, Black and White, all putting in some great performances. Leading the team home with yet another PB on the back of his great run in St Albans 2 weeks ago was Will Langdon with a brilliant 1:34:02. Other stand out performances came from Lee Garnell who ran his first half marathon in 2 hours and 4 minutes, I’m sure there’s a new target to be had there Lee! Just a few minutes ahead of Lee was Scott Myford who also ran his first official Half Marathon in 2:01:39, supported as always by his running buddy Adam Carter. Chris Stenner had a great run, knocking an impressive 7 minutes off his previous PB. Chris has been religiously following Coach Annis’ training plan and it’s clearly worked. So if you want to improve your own times at whatever distance, then why not drop Matt or Annis a message? New member Matt Grigsby completed the Half Marathon in 1:58:48 and is so new to LFR he isn’t showing on the results page which can be found HERE. Another new member Nicola Daley also had a great run clearing the 2 hour mark by an easy margin. Well done all! After the excitement of Saturday came Super Sunday, the focus turned to the Marathon and Marathon Relay where we were defending champions! The relay team of Dan Green, Matthew Ma, Tom and Steve Ellerton did us all proud. With a combined time of 2 hours and 38 minutes they came in second to what Dan described as a bunch of speedy youngsters! That’s still an average pace of 6:03 minute miles and a great effort by the team, I’m sure next year you’ll be eyeing that win and getting your trophy back! The results of the relay can be seen HERE. You will have seen reports in previous newsletters of how training has been going for our Fab Four marathon runners who took on the two lap course on Sunday morning. To get yourself ready for a marathon (I’m told) is hard enough. To peak once, then have the date moved and have to peak again I just can’t imagine! Leading the team home was Coach Matt in a stunning 3 hours and 22 minutes. Coming in next was Richard Heady in a new PB of 3 hours 38. Richard reported this as his first marathon in 5 years, I’m sure it won’t be as long until you complete another marathon Richard! Gavin Prechner, fuelled by some pizza (really?) came in next just a few minutes behind Richard in 3 hours and 44 minutes. This is Gavin’s first of 3 planned marathons this year with Brighton and Snowdon to come later in the year! What a machine! VC Andy completed the “awesome foursome” in a great 3 hours and 56 minutes ably supported at mile 23 by his support team. As Andy said, his first marathon where he’s run injury free. All the training has certainly paid off. To see the details of the guys runs, their official results can be seen HERE.        In a final note on the weekend, races like this can’t be run without the help of all the marshalls and volunteers. Out on the course we had James Smith and Annis and Steph Turner. So on behalf of all the runners, thank you for giving up your time to make the event happen.  

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This is the week that was…… Trail Races & Ultras

This is the week that was... Trail Races & Ultras After last week’s successful races in St Albans and at the Greensands Ultra, you guys got your race trainers on again this week and there were, as usual, some great performances. Kicking the week off were Wayne Walker and Lynda Peacock who raced the Cattle Creep 10k in Milton Keynes. This appeared to be a warm up for a bigger (and much longer) event over the weekend! On Sunday Andy Griggs donned his “GRIGGSY'' LFR top and ran the Eastbourne 10k in a very respectable 52mins41, well done Andy! Moving a little closer to home (just) were Mike Garner and James Bassil who ran the Hoppit Half trail Marathon in Basingstoke. James ran the race in 2hr03 and Eddy 2hr28. There were reports of mountain size hills on the course! I’m not sure if ‘Bleeding Nipples’ are classed as an injury but this is the second reporting in two weeks. Gents, we need to talk about compression tops or other preventative measures!!! Representing the ladies at this event was Jo Secker who took on the full marathon... I think this is Jo’s 3rd weekend in a row of over 20 mile races!!! Way to go Jo!   The LFR Ultra runners were out again in force over the weekend with Tasmyn Simpkins, Wayne Walker and Lynda Peacock taking part in the MK24 Event. An event where you run a set distance or as far as you can over the 24 hour period. Tasmyn and Lynda both ran 50km or 31 miles. A huge achievement from both of you! This was Tasmyn's longest run to date. At the same event, Wayne did something quite remarkable and ran an impressive 69 miles in the 24 hour period. For those modernists amongst you, that’s 111 kilometres. I’m not sure what you eat for breakfast Wayne, but I want whatever you’re on! I hope you are all blister and injury free... More ultra runners were out a little further afield with Anne Mason, Emma Davis, Lesley Wes and Niki Casey all completing the 53 mile Ultra “Race to the King”, which takes in the glorious South Downs Way from Goodwood in Sussex down to the magnificent Winchester Cathedral. Well done guys! This sounds like an awesome event and one that might just be on others race list for next year now. Finally, in Nottinghamshire, Mark Kleanthous completed the Holme Pierrpont, half distance triathlon at an Outlaw event. That's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile cycle followed up with a Half Marathon, well done Mark!    

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This is the week that was…… The St. Albans Half & an Ultra!!!

This is the week that was........ The St. Albans Half & An Ultra! As we continue to be blessed with this lovely weather, Nolan Johnson maintained his recovery programme with an easy run along Southend Pier. As the world's longest pier at 1.33 miles, I wonder if it has its own Strava segment? Hopefully we’ll be seeing you soon on club runs Nolan!  With the MK Marathon weekend and Greensands relay race just two weeks away, training runs continued at a pace, with many of you out very early over the weekend to try and avoid the sapping heat.  13 seemed to be the magic number... Chris Stenner completed a 13 mile run as he finished his training plan from Coach Annis for MK Half, and VC Andy and Coach Matt also ran 13 miles as they continued to taper for the MK Marathon. Scott and Adam were again seen out on the roads and trails around Dunstable Downs, bagging another 13 miles with both now ready for MK and Adam will continue with his long term training for London in October.  GSRR team members have been busy on their recce runs.  On Saturday Sam Heady and Michelle Evans-Riches had a lot of fun in the sun as they ran Leg 5, and Richard checked out leg 2 again for a second time. On Sunday, Kirsty Stocks and Jo Hogg ran Leg 1 (then turned around and ran back again for a 10 mile total), whilst Ash Henley and Phil Brogan met up at Deadman’s Cross and ran Leg 6. This I believe just leaves Mike Clarke and I to recce Leg 3, which happens to be longest leg (9 miles), Woburn to Millbrook. The two teams  will then be all prepared and ready to represent LFR on the day!    Anne Graff ran 11 miles around Leighton Buzzard getting to try out the newly repaired bridge around the back of Astral, whilst Graham Cooper ran 11 miles taking in all the climbs of the town! Kevin Hare completed his monthly half marathon and out in the villages Tom Ellerton partnered up with Richard Heady for 14 miles, but Richard then rounded it up to 20 miles! Two of our long serving members who have moved out of the area raced at the weekend. Katy Garnham Lee finished her 52nd Marathon The Enigma Guitar Heroes in MK and Paul Little took part in the Nene Valley 20, all in his continued preparation for The Lakeland 100 in July.  Sunday came and so did the St. Albans Half Marathon Will Langdon celebrating a new half marathon PB at 1hr37,  huge congratulations Will! Though for his efforts he was rewarded with a bleeding nip! Ouch!! Will wasn't the only LFR there; Eddy Guinness completed the event in 2hr09 with William Harry just a minute behind at 2hr10. All 3 are running MK Half in 2 weeks time and are probably hoping for cooler weather on race day! Suki Joy was also there and finished in 2hr46; Well done Suki, you are well on your way to London now!    Greensands Country 50km Trail Ultra Marathon also took place on Sunday. Alena Fielding completed her first Ultra in a brilliant 7 hours and 27 minutes. Jo Secker was also there finishing the course in a very respectable 8 hours and 14 minutes. An incredible achievement from both of you, especially in this heat!

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This is the week that was…… The Watchless 5!!!

This is the week that was........ The Watchless 5!!! Considering the weather had been so awful, it was great to see so many of you still commit to the club runs. Once again the trail runs are the popular choice, with the new favourite being the Heady Farm run, they missed the rain but splashed through waterlogged fields for 5 miles! On Gavin’s midweek run around the quarry we were fortunate to have glorious rare sunshine and on Thursday Dougie stood in for Andy Heale and took his group across the fields to Wing. On Friday we had two runs going out with Captain Emily treating her gang to a new route around Totternhoe with great views, while Vicky Green took a second group out around the quarry. On Saturday's run Michelle entertained her group to trails with emus and wallabies! Thank you to all our run leaders who give up their time every week to make these great runs possible! As we got to the weekend it would appear that some of you have managed to get away for a break, pack your running kit and find some sunshine. In the picture perfect setting of Croyde, Devon, Nicola Daley shared with us a beautiful view of her well earned post run cocktail and Alex Nixon ran 10 very hilly kilometres along the Jurassic Coast. Keeping runs closer to home Coach Matt was back on the long runs with 19 miles in cracking  2:26. Elle Laird volunteered at the local junior parkrun with a run there and back making it a 14 mile Sunday. In the villages, Tom Ellerton, Paul House and Richard Heady teamed up and completed a trail run of 14.5 miles.  In Peterborough, Wayne Walker completed marathon number 79….. and proudly ran it in our LFR colours, well done Wayne! Congratulations to Lynda Peacock who completed the same marathon in Peterborough. How many is that for you Lynda?!     Now the main event... The Watchless 5 Finally, after over a year we were able to host an internal event for you guys! All the prepping and planning went according to plan, the volunteers came forward, entries were received, cakes were baked, the rain stayed away and then the clock started to tick! 31 of you turned up on Sunday morning to run the new out & back 5 mile quarry route, it was said to be testing, nicely undulating, a few kissing gates to contend with and even the odd LBAC runner on the same path! Our wonderful Marshalls cheered you on, snapped photos and took some fun videos, Steve Molyneaux gave us all a cheeky flash and as far as the reports came through I believe everyone stayed upright!! In true LFR style we had a great selection of members taking part from our fabulous social runners to our equally fabulous faster runners, and everyone in between! Our team was described as a snake of red and black as they weaved their way around the course. Kevin Hare missed his start time, and had to run the race of his life to get close to 11am, and to give him credit he was super quick in an attempt to make up for lost time, the wooden spoon most definitely went to Paul Thomas who came in 6 min 38 sec too fast! That was incredibly impressive though! William Langdon estimated an optimistically fast time for the tricky route, yet went ahead and ran it even faster! A big shout out to Jenny Hogan who completed the 5 miles, saying it was the furthest she'd ran in a very long time! 3rd place came in the form of Nicki Atkinson who was only 15 seconds slow, Clare Kleanthous came is 2nd place at just 12 seconds too slow. 1st place went to one of our newest members, Tom Webster who was just 8 seconds too fast! Well done Tom! As we looked through the photos yesterday the one thing that was consistent through out all of you was your super big smiles! Everyone said how happy they were to be at a club event once again after so long, surrounded by running buddies doing what we all love. Thank you to everyone!    

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Important Update on EA & Government Guidance 17th May 2021

Important Update on EA & Government guidance 17th May 2021 Dear All, As you are no doubt aware, the Governments Roadmap to easing lockdown restrictions takes affect from today, Monday 17th May. Detailed below is how it will effect us as a club, and you as our members. As we move into Step 3 of the roadmap, and having reviewed and considered the guidelines we are introducing the following changes to LFR club runs: Photographs before / after runs can now feature up to 30 people, although social distancing guidelines remain. The standard group size will be increased from 1 Run leader to 12 runners. Larger groups will be permitted providing there is also a designated tail runner and it is reasonable to do so. E.g., trail runs & social groups: The maximum being 1 Run Leader, 1 Tail runner and 24 runners. For this coming week, there will be no change to what has been organised, although of course you can have photos with larger groups. The club documentation on the website will be updated to reflect these changes. For clarity the following guidance remains in place: Run leaders should avoid busy areas, narrow alleyways and the towpath and give way to other pedestrians. The booking system will remain in place, and runs must be booked in advance, this is to comply with our Track & Trace obligations. You must follow Government & NHS guidance regarding hygiene and social distancing. Avoid socialising before and after the session. Do not run if you have symptoms or are isolating. Notify the Covid-Coordinators if you test positive following a run. We appreciate you may think that the group sizes could be larger under the new rules, so we have set out the rationale below: EA Guidance on Run Leaders to runners is 1:12, this is regardless of Covid considerations and therefore should be a normal group size. Larger groups, whilst technically allowed, may still seem intimidating and we do not want to tarnish the clubs reputation so will limit these to where it seems reasonable and still apply the EA ratios. Most of our runs are still based around town and 12 seems a reasonable manageable group size. If you have any concerns please feel free to contact Myself chairman@leightonfunrunners.org.uk Emily captain@leightonfunrunners.org.uk Or Andy Stocks & Dougie LFRcovidcoordinators@leightonfunrunners.org.uk I thank you all for your continued support as we move to the next stage of the road map. Stay safe and happy running! Andy Heale LFR Chairman

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This is the week that was… A Flurry of Races!!!

What You Did Last Week... Another great week’s running from Team LFR started on Tuesday with Jo Hogg reaching 400 miles on her Virtual Lands End to John O’Groats challenge, which puts her at Blackpool. A great effort Jo in just 4 months! Other LFRs doing the challenge include Lee Garnell, 300 miles last week and Kirsty Stocks now over 350 miles…. we'd love to know who else is taking part in this challenge and how you're doing?  Tuesday club night had loads of full runs once again, Wednesday and Thursday evenings were pretty busy too! Once again I have to thank the run leaders for their generous time in making it happen. While the evenings are certainly a lot lighter, I did note Captain Emily’s comments on one post where most of the runners were dressed in black. Please be sensible with choice of tops, and make it easier for road users to see you when out on the streets. Friday came and JK and Peter Jones took 2 full groups to the trails at Rushmere, as is customary, Kirsty Stocks supplied fresh cake (homemade malt loaf this week) and Peter laid on a fine spread! I really must take a day off work on a Friday, even just for the refreshments! Since we've been back running over the last month we have had 88 run leads and 536 run places taken! Virtual Racing and Actual Races! With this weekend being the original date for the MK Marathon weekend it was great to see some of you complete the event virtually. Well done Julie Etherden who completed the virtual Rocket in a “hungover” 26 minutes and a big shout out to Kevin Hare who completed the virtual Marathon, which included Dunstable Downs on the route in a very respectable 3 hours and 48 minutes. Super running Kevin! James William complete the Virtual Half in just over 2 hours with help from his running buddy Alena Fielding. Another excellent effort for your first half marathon, well done both.  It’s been great to see so many of you participate in real events as well over the past week. Wayne Walker completed marathon number 78 at the Salcey Forest, Spring 6 hour challenge while Lynda Peacock completed the 20 mile route at the same event.  Running buddies Lesley Wes Barnard and Emma Davis ticked off another marathon each, this time the Saxons, Vikings and Normans marathon in the Denby Hills, another great effort.  On Saturday, myself (Ian Bisby) and Mark Kleanthos both competed at the Ashridge Duathlon, which consisted of a 10km run, 40km bike and then another run at 5km! We both put in impressive times and had a great time. I had an interesting chat with Glyn Raymen in the week, who’s spent the past 3 years walking the “Wainwrights”,  there are 214 fell tops to conquer including Scafell Pike at 3209 ft. Glyn has completed over 270 Marathons and Ultras and wanted to do something different.  It sounds like you’ve had a great adventure, I look forward to seeing what’s next!  Back on The Training Runs Back on the training runs Gavin completed 18 miles which included negotiating the Eddlesborough ford. Matthew Ma ran another impressive 20 miles in preparation for some extreme distance events he’s planning later in the year… including the Conti 24 hour race - SOLO! Another of our Ultra runners Paul Little put in a 15 mile training run as he prepares for his first attempt at the Lakeland 100, which takes place over the last weekend in July.  To finish this week’s update, a HUGE LFR well done to Amanda Godden, Linda Rotich and Jo Green who, after weeks of training and increasing their distances,  have achieved their goal of running 10k. 

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